YOUTH GROUP GAME ON CREATION
*CLICK HERE FOR A FREE YOUTH GROUP LESSON ON CREATION*
Bible: Colossians1:15-16; Romans 8:20-21; 2 Peter 3:13
Bottom Line: Everything was created by God and finds its purpose in Him.
SUPPLIES
- Balloons (one per person)
- 16 Solo Cups
- 2 Tables
- 16 Slips of paper and a pen
GAME PREP
Divide students into two teams of equal size and give each person a balloon.
Set up two tables at the front of your youth space and place 8 Solo cups on each table.
Divide the slips of paper into two stacks of eight.
Write the individual letters of the word CREATION on each slip of paper in the stack (one stack for each team).
Fold the slips of paper in half and place one piece in each team’s cups.
Now, each team has one letter to the word CREATION on individual slips of paper in each cup.
Make sure the letters are mixed up and not in order of the spelling of the word.
Have teams form single file lines, with the first person in line standing directly in front of his team’s table.
Note: Don’t share the subject of today’s lesson before the game, or you will give away the word the teams will be unscrambling.
HOW TO PLAY THE GAME
Say: As we jump into this game, I need each of you to blow up your balloon, but don’t tie it. Just hold the end tightly in your hands.
This game will be played as a relay. You will take your turn after the person in front of you takes his turn.
When I say GO, the first person in the front of each line will use the air in his or her balloon to try to shoot down or knock over a Solo cup.
When the air in your balloon is gone, you will run to the back of your line and the next person in line will take his turn.
While you are waiting in line to take another turn, you will re-inflate your balloon and hold it in your hand.
At no point throughout the game can you touch your Solo cups or attempt to knock them over in any way other than with the air in your balloon.
There will be a 10 second penalty for your team if a team member touches a cup.
In each Solo cup is a piece of paper with a letter on it.
Once all of your team’s cups are knocked over or knocked off of your table, your team will quickly grab all of the pieces of paper and unscramble the letters to reveal the topic of today’s lesson.
The first team to knock down all their cups and unscramble the words WINS!
TEACH
Say: We really went through a lot to discover the topic for today’s lesson, but you got it right! We’re talking about CREATION.
By this time in your life, you have probably heard the story of how God created the heavens and the earth dozens of times, if not more.
Today, I want us to talk about something you may have never thought of before now.
Read Colossians1:15-16.
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.
Raise your hand if you already knew that Jesus was present with God at the time the world was created.
Ask: Okay. If you didn’t raise your hand, where do you think Jesus was when the world was created?
Allow a few responses from students.
If you didn’t raise your hand, maybe it’s because you’ve never thought about it or you have never read this portion of scripture in the Bible.
Maybe some of you thought that Jesus didn’t exist until He was born on the earth.
But throughout the Bible, we read repeatedly that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit have always existed.
That’s one of those things that, no matter how long you sit and think about it, your mind simply cannot grasp: that God has always been and will always be.
Everything in our lives has a beginning and an end—a time when it was created and when it will no longer exist.
Ask: List some things that have been around forever that we can’t imagine living life without.
Allow a few responses from students. Share a couple of things you couldn’t live without.
Every single thing you mentioned was created, either by God Himself, or by the wisdom He has given man.
We know that because we just read it: “…God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.”
Each of us have a beginning and an end. We were born and someday our bodies will die.
But, listen to this:
Read Romans 8:20-21.
Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.
Did you know that it was never God’s plan for any of His creation to die?
When sin entered the world through man’s disobedience to God, not only did we become subject to the effects of sin, but all of creation was now under its curse.
Jesus was present when the world was created, He was there when mankind sinned against God, and He came to the earth to redeem it all back to God.
In these verses in Romans we read that “with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom…”
In the Bible we read that all of creation (trees, rocks, flowers, animals, mountains, oceans, etc.) worships God. Right now, it suffers the effects of sin: death.
But there is hope.
Read 2 Peter 3:13.
But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth He has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
One day, God will restore all of creation back to the way He intended it to be.
Everything was created by God and finds its purpose in Him.
Right now, we have the opportunity, as part of His creation, to willingly love God and fulfill the purposes He has for our lives.
Not everyone responds to this opportunity; it’s a choice that God gives to us.
Without God as the center of who you are and what you do, you will never live the life He has for you… and it’s a pretty amazing life.
The next time you look at your phone and think, I could never live without this, I want you to remember the great lengths that God went to in sending Jesus because He doesn’t want you to live without Him.
You’re a really important part of His creation.