); 1 Kings 18:36-39 (“God of Abraham”); 1 John 4:1-6 (Testing the spirits) (International Children’s Bible)
Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God, the King of the World
For the director of music. A song of the sons of Korah.
47 Clap your hands, all you people.
Shout to God with joy.
2 The Lord Most High is wonderful.
He is the great King over all the earth!
3 He defeated nations for us
and put them under our control.
4 He chose the land we would inherit.
We are the children of Jacob, whom he loved. Selah
5 God has risen with a shout of joy.
The Lord has risen as the trumpets sounded.
6 Sing praises to God. Sing praises.
Sing praises to our King. Sing praises.
7 God is King of all the earth.
So sing a song of praise to him.
8 God is King over the nations.
God sits on his holy throne.
9 The leaders of the nations meet
with the people of the God of Abraham.
Even the leaders of the earth belong to God.
He is supreme.
36 It was time for the evening sacrifice. So the prophet Elijah went near the altar. He prayed, “Lord, you are the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. I ask you now to prove that you are the God of Israel. And prove that I am your servant. Show these people that you commanded me to do all these things. 37 Lord, answer my prayer. Show these people that you, Lord, are God. Then the people will know that you are bringing them back to you.”
38 Then fire from the Lord came down. It burned the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the ground around the altar. It also dried up the water in the ditch. 39 When all the people saw this, they fell down to the ground. They cried, “The Lord is God! The Lord is God!”
Warning Against False Teachers
4 My dear friends, many false prophets are in the world now. So do not believe every spirit. But test the spirits to see if they are from God. 2 This is how you can know God’s Spirit: One spirit says, “I believe that Jesus is the Christ who came to earth and became a man.” That Spirit is from God. 3 Another spirit refuses to say this about Jesus. That spirit is not from God but is the spirit of the Enemy of Christ. You have heard that the Enemy of Christ is coming. And now he is already in the world.
4 My dear children, you belong to God. So you have defeated them because God’s Spirit, who is in you, is greater than the devil, who is in the world. 5 And they belong to the world. What they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 But we are from God, and those who know God listen to us. But those who are not from God do not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit that is true and the spirit that is false.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.