HEY, YOUR HEAD IS ON FIRE!

1st Angle

2nd Angle

What you need:

• 4ea hand sponges from dollar store (roughly 3.5” x 5.5”)
• 50% alcohol in a small Tupperware container.

NOTE: the 50% alcohol is very important. If you use higher concentrations of alcohol such as 70% you will need to add water or the sponges will burn. Play with the mixture ahead of time to see what works best.

• Lighter
• Fire resistant surface to work on such as a metal tray
• Spray bottle with water

Prep:

• Cut the sponges into rough human shapes.
• Bend a metal coat hanger or other wire to make a structure to prop them into standing positions.
• Beforehand, discretely dip the 4 sponge figures.  Make sure that you dip only their heads into the alcohol.
• Stand the pre-dipped sponge figures up on a fire resistant surface

Lesson:

Tell the story of the day of Pentecost.

What is Pentecost?  This is a very special time in the Bible when the disciples and other Christians received the Holy Ghost.

Just before Jesus was taken up to heaven he told them that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on them and they’d be his witnesses in the whole world (Acts 1:8).  Even more, he told them much earlier that the counselor (or Holy Spirit) would be sent by the Father, that He would teach them all things and remind them of everything he said to them (John14:26).

Make sure that there is nothing flammable above the sponges and then light the heads of each the sponges. This illustrates the day of Pentecost when it says that fire sat upon each of them.

The disciples and other Christians had come together to thank God and suddenly a sound like the blowing of a strong wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Next they saw tongues of fire that separated and came to rest of each of them.

Light the sponge heads

When the tongues of fire came they were filled with the Holy Ghost and began speaking in different languages!  It says that there were people of many different nationalities staying in Jerusalem from all over and many of them speaking different languages.  These people ran over to see what all the noise was about and were surprised to hear their own languages spoken throughout this group.  The Bible even lists up to 16 different places people were from and could hear their language spoken!

Things must have sounded crazy!  Imagine all these people speaking many different languages at the same time and shouting out praises to God excited that something amazing from God had just happened to them.

As the flames burn down a bit, use the spray bottle to put out the fire before it starts to catch the rest of the sponge on fire.

The Holy Ghost was exciting when it was poured out on the day of Pentecost but WE CAN STILL GET IT TODAY!

As always, whenever you use fire be very careful to not hurt yourself or others. Keep the children a safe distance away the entire time this is taking place.