# Elijah on Mount Carmel - The Book of 1 Kings

An episode of [Kids Bible in a Year with Julia Jeffress Sadler](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1696638708), 27 Nov 2023, 16 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/f8ddd7fd-69c6-48d0-804f-b4d6010c327c/3000a7bc-a2ca-45ec-aceb-b4d70000de72/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=14e8ed60-20b2-4d5c-a832-b4d6010c3283

Join Julia Jeffress Sadler as she takes us on an incredible adventure in Episode 96. Elijah bravely faced King Ahab and challenged the prophets of Baal, but Baal didn't respond. When Elijah prayed to the Lord, a powerful fire came down, showing everyone that the God of Israel is the strongest. This proved that idols like Baal have no real power, and God is the one who answers prayers. Sign up to receive Kids Bible in a Year devotionals in your inbox every weekday: https://www.kidsbibleinayear.com/ Get ready to experience the Bible designed specifically for children with the official KidsBibleinaYear.com podcast, led by Julia Jeffress Sadler. This captivating audio series presents the age-old wisdom of the Bible in an engaging format that will captivate your kids. Each episode Julia translates biblical teachings into real-life applications, making Bible comprehension a breeze for young minds. And if you want more Christian resources and content, you can download the Pray.com app. Pray.com is the digital destination for faith, offering over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime Bible stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible. For more resources on how to live a successful Christian life, visit Julia Jeffress Sadler's website at https://ptv.org/julia/. This episode is sponsored by Little Passports. Visit LittlePassports.com/blessed and use promo code BLESSED to receive 20% off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Elijah came near to all the people and said, How
[0:04] Speaker 1: long will you waver between the two sides? If the
[0:08] Speaker 1: Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him.
[0:13] Speaker 1: 1 Kings 18.21 Dear God, you are the true Lord
[0:21] Speaker 1: of heaven and earth. You are the living God, the
[0:25] Speaker 1: God who has been here from the beginning of time.
[0:29] Speaker 1: Thank you for hearing us when we pray and answering us.
[0:33] Speaker 1: You know us and you love us so deeply. Help
[0:37] Speaker 1: us to learn even more about how powerful you are
[0:42] Speaker 1: in our story today. Thank you. In Jesus' name I pray.
[0:48] Speaker 2: Amen.
[0:50] Speaker 3: Thank you for praying with us today. The Kids Bible
[0:53] Speaker 3: in a Year podcast is sponsored by Little Passports. delivering
[0:56] Speaker 3: monthly activity kit subscriptions that help kids explore the world,
[1:00] Speaker 3: cultivate curiosity, and discover new interests with hands-on crafts and
[1:05] Speaker 3: activities in cooking, science, crafts, and more, all with a
[1:09] Speaker 3: unique cultural twist. Visit littlepassports.com slash blessed to learn more
[1:14] Speaker 3: and save 20% with code blessed.
[1:24] Speaker 2: Elijah on Mount Carmel In our last story, we learned
[1:29] Speaker 2: about Elijah and how during the famine, he stayed with
[1:32] Speaker 2: a widow in Zarephath. Elijah also, by the power of
[1:36] Speaker 2: the Lord, revived the widow's son who died. In this story,
[1:41] Speaker 2: we learn about Elijah's battle on Mount Carmel against other prophets,
[1:47] Speaker 2: as inspired by 1 Kings 2.
[1:54] Speaker 1: Hi there, it's Joya Sadler with the Kids Bible in
[1:56] Speaker 1: a Year podcast. I'm so happy you're here. Today we
[2:01] Speaker 1: hear an exciting story about a great big showdown with
[2:05] Speaker 1: huge crowds and a lot at stake. What's going to happen?
[2:10] Speaker 1: Let's jump in and find out.
[2:15] Speaker 2: The drought was severe and went on for three years.
[2:19] Speaker 2: The Lord told Elijah, Go tell King Ahab that I
[2:23] Speaker 2: will soon send rain. So Elijah left to tell King Ahab.
[2:27] Speaker 2: The drought caused a great famine, which became very severe
[2:32] Speaker 2: in Samaria. So Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge
[2:37] Speaker 2: of the palace. Obadiah was devoted to the Lord and
[2:40] Speaker 2: hid 100 of the Lord's prophets in caves when Jezebel
[2:44] Speaker 2: tried to kill them. He supplied water and food for
[2:48] Speaker 2: the prophet's and put fifty in each cave Ahab said to.
[2:54] Speaker 4: Obadiah we should check every spring and valley to see
[2:57] Speaker 4: if we have enough grass to save some of my
[2:59] Speaker 4: horses and mules they divided the land between them Ahab
[3:03] Speaker 4: by himself and Obadiah by himself as well.
[3:08] Speaker 2: When Obadiah was walking he saw Elijah walking towards him
[3:12] Speaker 2: and he recognized him at once Obadiah bowed to the
[3:16] Speaker 2: ground and said is that you My lord, Elijah? Elijah replied, saying, Yes,
[3:24] Speaker 2: it is. Go and tell your master that Elijah is here.
[3:29] Speaker 2: Obadiah replied, saying, Sir, what harm have I done to
[3:34] Speaker 2: you that you would send me to my death at
[3:36] Speaker 2: the hands of Ahab? By the Lord your God, the
[3:40] Speaker 2: king has searched every nation and kingdom in search of you.
[3:44] Speaker 2: Wherever he went, he was always told Elijah is not here.
[3:48] Speaker 2: So King Ahab forced them to tell the truth of
[3:51] Speaker 2: his claim. But you tell me to say to my master,
[3:55] Speaker 2: Elijah is here. I will die if I do that.
[4:00] Speaker 2: But Elijah replied, I swear in the Lord Almighty, whose
[4:06] Speaker 2: presence I stand in, that I will present myself to
[4:11] Speaker 2: King Ahab today. Obadiah went to tell Ahab that Elijah
[4:16] Speaker 2: has come. So Ahab went out to meet Elijah. When
[4:20] Speaker 2: he arrived, he said to Elijah, Is it really you,
[4:24] Speaker 2: the troublemaker of Israel? Elijah replied, I did not make
[4:29] Speaker 2: trouble for Israel. You and your family are the troublemakers.
[4:33] Speaker 2: You refuse to obey the Lord and worship images of Baal.
[4:38] Speaker 2: Summon all of Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel
[4:41] Speaker 2: with 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah.
[4:46] Speaker 2: who support Jezebel. Ahab summoned all of the people of
[4:50] Speaker 2: Israel to Mount Carmel. Elijah stood in front of all
[4:54] Speaker 2: of them and said, How much longer will you hobble
[4:57] Speaker 2: between two opinions? If the Lord is real, then follow him.
[5:02] Speaker 2: But if Baal is God, then follow him. Then there
[5:06] Speaker 2: was nothing to be said from the people of Israel.
[5:10] Speaker 2: Elijah replied to them, I am the only prophet of
[5:14] Speaker 2: the Lord that is left. Baal has 450 prophets. Bring
[5:20] Speaker 2: two bulls. Let the prophets of Baal choose the bulls,
[5:24] Speaker 2: cut one up, and lay it on the wood of
[5:26] Speaker 2: the altar. But do not set the wood on fire.
[5:30] Speaker 2: I will prepare the other bull, lay it on the altar,
[5:34] Speaker 2: and not set that on fire either. Then call on
[5:37] Speaker 2: the name of your God, and I will call out
[5:40] Speaker 2: to the Lord. The God who answers first by setting
[5:43] Speaker 2: fire to the wood is the true God. The people agreed.
[5:48] Speaker 2: Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, You go first.
[5:52] Speaker 2: Choose the bull and prepare to call your god. But
[5:56] Speaker 2: do not set fire to the wood. They prepared one
[5:59] Speaker 2: of the bulls and put it on the altar. Then
[6:02] Speaker 2: they called the name of Baal from morning to noon.
[6:05] Speaker 2: They shouted, Baal, answer us! But there was no answer
[6:10] Speaker 2: from their god. They danced and hobbled all around the altar.
[6:14] Speaker 2: When noon came, Elijah started making fun of them, saying,
[6:18] Speaker 2: Shout louder! He is a god. Maybe he is daydreaming,
[6:22] Speaker 2: maybe on a trip, or needs to be wakened. They
[6:26] Speaker 2: shouted louder, cutting themselves with swords because that was normal.
[6:31] Speaker 2: They continued to rave all afternoon until the time for
[6:34] Speaker 2: the evening sacrifice. There was no sound, reply, or response.
[6:40] Speaker 2: Elijah said to the people, Come here. They crowded around him,
[6:45] Speaker 2: as he made the altar of the Lord that had
[6:47] Speaker 2: been torn down. He took twelve stones, each representing the
[6:52] Speaker 2: tribes of Israel. He used those to rebuild the altar
[6:55] Speaker 2: in the name of the Lord. He dug a trench
[6:58] Speaker 2: around the altar that was big enough to hold almost
[7:01] Speaker 2: three gallons. He placed wood on the altar, cut the
[7:05] Speaker 2: bowl into pieces, and laid the pieces on the wood.
[7:09] Speaker 2: Elijah said, Fill four large jars with water. pour them
[7:14] Speaker 2: over the bowl and wood. After the people did this,
[7:18] Speaker 2: he said.
[7:19] Speaker 4: Do it again.
[7:19] Speaker 2: After they did it a second time, he said, Do
[7:23] Speaker 2: it again. So they did it again for a third time,
[7:28] Speaker 2: and the water filled the trench. When the time for
[7:32] Speaker 2: the offering of the evening sacrifice came, Elijah prayed at
[7:36] Speaker 2: the altar. Please, Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
[7:42] Speaker 2: show today that you, Then the Lord sent a blazing
[7:46] Speaker 2: fire down from heaven, which burned up the bull, wood, stones,
[7:49] Speaker 2: and dust. It also evaporated the water in the trench.
[7:52] Speaker 2: And the people saw this. They fell face down on
[8:13] Speaker 2: the ground and cried out, saying, Lord, he is God. Yes,
[8:19] Speaker 2: the Lord is God. Elijah commanded, saying, Seize all the
[8:26] Speaker 2: prophets of Baal. Do not let a single one escape.
[8:30] Speaker 2: The people seized them all. Elijah took them down to
[8:33] Speaker 2: Kishon Valley and killed them there. Go get something to
[8:37] Speaker 2: eat and drink. There might be a rainstorm coming. he
[8:41] Speaker 2: told Ahab. Ahab went to get something to eat and drink,
[8:46] Speaker 2: while Elijah went to the top of Mount Carmel and
[8:49] Speaker 2: prayed with his face between his knees. He said to
[8:52] Speaker 2: his servant, Go and look out towards the sea. The
[8:56] Speaker 2: servant did as Elijah told him to do and came
[8:59] Speaker 2: back saying, I did not see anything. Elijah told him
[9:03] Speaker 2: to go back seven times and look. Finally, on the
[9:08] Speaker 2: seventh time, the servant told him, I saw a little
[9:12] Speaker 2: cloud the size of a man's hand. Elijah shouted to
[9:16] Speaker 2: the servant, Go and tell Ahab to cling to your
[9:20] Speaker 2: chariot and go back home. The rain will prevent you
[9:23] Speaker 2: from getting home if you don't go now. The sky
[9:27] Speaker 2: soon was filled with black clouds. A heavy wind brought
[9:32] Speaker 2: a terrible rainstorm, and Ahab quickly left for Jezreel. The
[9:37] Speaker 2: Lord gave necessary strength to Elijah. he tucked his coat
[9:41] Speaker 2: into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab's chariot to
[9:45] Speaker 2: the entrance of Jezreel.
[9:51] Speaker 1: Whoa, what an exciting story. It felt like something you'd
[9:56] Speaker 1: see on TV. But although Elijah's contest with the prophets
[10:01] Speaker 1: of Baal felt like a strongman competition at the beginning,
[10:05] Speaker 1: by the end, it was clear there was no real
[10:09] Speaker 1: competition at all. God showed everyone that he is the
[10:14] Speaker 1: undefeated champion of the world. Do you remember how Elijah
[10:21] Speaker 1: got to the showdown? The people of Israel had turned
[10:25] Speaker 1: their backs on God. They'd forgotten how to rescue them
[10:29] Speaker 1: and gave them their land and homes. They'd forgotten that
[10:33] Speaker 1: God loved them and that he's the one who gives rain, food,
[10:39] Speaker 1: and good health. In fact, the people of Israel hadn't
[10:43] Speaker 1: just forgotten God was taking care of them, They believed
[10:47] Speaker 1: fake gods were doing it instead. These gods had names
[10:52] Speaker 1: like Baal. To worship them, you had to do terrible,
[10:57] Speaker 1: awful things. This made people miserable. They became mean and
[11:03] Speaker 1: cruel to one another, but didn't stop following fake gods.
[11:09] Speaker 1: God knew it had to stop. If the people didn't
[11:12] Speaker 1: turn back and follow him as the one true God,
[11:17] Speaker 1: their sin would destroy them. You see, even though his
[11:22] Speaker 1: people had turned away from him, God never turned his
[11:27] Speaker 1: back on them. He loved them too much. So Elijah,
[11:32] Speaker 1: his prophet, set up a showdown to show everybody once
[11:37] Speaker 1: and for all who the real God was. And he
[11:42] Speaker 1: called all of Israel to Mount Carmel to watch. Elijah said, Look,
[11:49] Speaker 1: I know I'm the only prophet who still believes in
[11:52] Speaker 1: God around here. And Baal and Asherah have 850 prophets.
[11:59] Speaker 1: But when this is over, you'll see it doesn't matter
[12:03] Speaker 1: which God had more people believing in him. It matters
[12:08] Speaker 1: which God is real. So you guys build an altar
[12:14] Speaker 1: and put a sacrifice on it and I'll do the same.
[12:17] Speaker 1: Then you ask Baal to set the wood on fire
[12:21] Speaker 1: and I'll ask the Lord. Whoever's God answers is the
[12:27] Speaker 1: real God. Deal? Deal, the prophet said. Then Elijah turned
[12:33] Speaker 1: to all the people. Listen to me. There's only one
[12:38] Speaker 1: true God. If this contest shows that it's Baal, then
[12:43] Speaker 1: follow him. But if it's the Lord, follow him. The
[12:48] Speaker 1: people agreed and the showdown began. Baal's prophets went first.
[12:55] Speaker 1: They called, hey Baal, come burn the sacrifice. But no
[13:00] Speaker 1: fire came. When shouting didn't work, they started dancing. Then
[13:06] Speaker 1: they danced faster. Then they danced so fast, sweat ran
[13:11] Speaker 1: down in their eyes. But there was still no fire.
[13:16] Speaker 1: So the prophets did the terrible, awful things they thought
[13:20] Speaker 1: Baal wanted. It hurt a lot, but it didn't work.
[13:25] Speaker 1: Still no fire, no matter what those prophets did. Baal
[13:29] Speaker 1: never sent fire to burn the sacrifice. Then it was
[13:34] Speaker 1: Elijah's turn. Do you remember what he did? He asked
[13:39] Speaker 1: the people to make his sacrifice and everything around it
[13:44] Speaker 1: soaking wet. Why do you think he did that? Yes,
[13:49] Speaker 1: because wet wood won't burn. Elijah wanted everyone to know
[13:54] Speaker 1: for sure that God is real and that things which
[13:58] Speaker 1: seem impossible are easy for him to do. Elijah prayed, Lord,
[14:05] Speaker 1: show everybody that you are the one true God. Help
[14:10] Speaker 1: them turn back and love you again.
[14:12] Speaker 2: Whoosh!
[14:15] Speaker 1: Fire fell from heaven and burned up the sacrifice, the
[14:19] Speaker 1: wet wood, and all the water on the ground. God
[14:23] Speaker 1: is the undefeated champion of the world. Elijah stood up
[14:29] Speaker 1: for God even when he was the only one. He
[14:33] Speaker 1: knew God would never ask his people to do terrible, awful, mean,
[14:38] Speaker 1: cruel things because he is a good God and he
[14:42] Speaker 1: loves us so much. I'm so happy you joined me today.
[14:47] Speaker 1: Come back next time to hear what Elijah did after
[14:50] Speaker 1: this huge victory and what God did to help him. Remember,
[14:56] Speaker 1: the Bible is the best story ever told. It's God's
[15:00] Speaker 1: story to you. And it's all true. Enjoyed the podcast?
[15:06] Speaker 1: Leave a review and help parents discover us and help
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[15:23] Speaker 1: for free today. Thanks for listening to Kids Bible in
[15:34] Speaker 1: a Year. I want to invite our adult listeners to
[15:37] Speaker 1: check out my other show, Unapologetic, God's Truth on Today's Topics.
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[15:54] Speaker 1: Robert Jeffress, Shannon Bream, Maddie Pruitt, and so many others.
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