Supplies for this Youth Bible Study.
You’ll need Bibles for each student, a place to sit outside (if possible, and if not, meet near an outside window). [Optional: Print copies of the following online articles: Mt. Everest (climbing.about.com/od/mountainclimbing/a/EverestFacts.htm); Platypus (animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/platypus/); and Oceans (abc.net.au/science/articles/2014/06/04/4018335.htm).
After your teenagers arrive, gather in an outdoor location (or by a window that allows you to see outdoors), then ask:
• What’s your favorite outdoor activity, and why?
• Where is your favorite outdoor place on earth, and why?
• What’s the most amazing large-scale aspect of Creation?
• What’s the most amazing small-scale aspect of Creation?
Say something like: Today we’re going to explore how Jesus is revealed to us through the created world.
Ask someone to read aloud Romans 1:20, then have kids each choose one thing in nature to study—it could be a leaf, a rock, a flower, a bug—anything. Ask them to focus their entire attention on this one thing for a few minutes. As they study their object, ask them to consider this question: How are the invisible attributes, eternal power, and divine nature of Jesus evident in the thing you’re studying?
After a few minutes, gather back together and ask a few students to describe what they noticed. After a few have shared, read aloud Psalm 104:1-9, then ask:
• What do these large-scale aspects of Creation teach us about Jesus?
Pass out the article on Mount Everest, and quickly highlight the facts in it. Then ask: How would you complete the following statement: Thinking about Mount Everest makes me realize that Jesus is ___________.
Read aloud Psalm 104:10-22, then ask:
• Why does God’s Creation—a stream or a tree or an animal—often create a response of awe in us?
• What do the small-scale details about Creation teach us about the nature of Jesus?
Pass out the article on the platypus, and quickly highlight the facts in it. Then ask: What can the quirky aspects of the platypus reveal to us about Jesus?
Read aloud Psalm 104:24-35, then ask:
• What does the variety of life on earth reveal to us about Jesus?
Pass out the article on the ocean, and quickly highlight the facts in it. Then ask:
• What do the oceans teach us about the Jesus?
• Look at verse 30—what does the created world teach us about what the Spirit of Jesus is doing in us?
Close your time together by asking someone to read aloud Psalm 104:33-34, then join together in a prayer of praise.
Co-authored by Zach Castor. This is the fourth in a series of Youth Bible Studies that explains what it looks like to get closer to Jesus. Click the titles below for individual studies in the series:
One: Jesus Invites us to be close
Two: Closer to Jesus through prayer
Three: Jesus Revealed in Scripture
very good article