Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Andrew Hedges has been engaging students for more than a decade. He holds a B.A. in Christian Education from Cedarville University and a M.Div. from Columbia International University and has focused his efforts on family and intergenerational ministry. When he's not serving families near Dayton, Ohio, Andrew spends time loving on his little girls or sitting down with a cup of coffee and sharing life with his sweetheart.

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As a youth worker you have certainly spent much of your time addressing the current issues facing teens, but have you stopped to think about what may be behind students' behavior? Many of the not-so-wise choices students make are the result of a confused worldview that comes from uncertainty about who God is. It's easy for students to dismiss the truth when they learn from the world that all truth is relative.
Creative Bible Lessons: Essential Theology uses a conversational approach to give students a theological foundation to better understand God and his purpose for how to live their lives. Throughout the twelve sessions of this study students will--
• learn how creation provides evidence of God's existence.
• look at how God has chosen to reveal himself through his Word.
• learn to live lives that reflect God's love for them.
• understand their need for God's direction.
• commit to following God's will as they make life decisions.
• discover how God's invitation to enter his kingdom affects the direction of their lives.
• examine where they are with God on a personal level.
Following in the tradition of the bestselling Creative Bible Lessons series, you'll find audio, visual, and hands-on activities to engage your students in the pursuit of theology. And because every student learns differently, each lesson includes options to help you reach your particular group of students, whether they learn best from imaginative, analytic, common sense, or dynamic teaching styles. With all these tools at your disposal you are guaranteed to get your students fired-up for seeking God and his plan for them.

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Creative Bible Lessons in Essential Theology

Zondervan

Contents

PREFACE......................................................5INTRODUCTION.................................................9SESSION 1 WHY YOU SHOULDN'T GO TO CHURCH.....................15SESSION 2 IF ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER ...........................25SESSION 3 THE ALMIGHTY ... REVEALED!.........................35SESSION 4 DESCRIBING THE INVISIBLE...........................45SESSION 5 THREE IN ONE.......................................57SESSION 6 NATURALLY SPEAKING.................................67SESSION 7 IT'S ALL ABOUT LOVE................................77SESSION 8 WHAT'S IN A NAME?..................................89SESSION 9 WHO'S IN CONTROL?..................................101SESSION 10 GOD'S MYSTERIOUS WILL.............................111SESSION 11 KINGDOM LIFE......................................121SESSION 12 KNOWING YOUR FATHER...............................131

Chapter One

OVERVIEW

This lesson is designed to provide students with a foundation for the knowledge and study of God. Students will discover proofs of the existence of God, understand how they can know God, and increase their belief in the possibility of God.

SETTING THE TONE

Students receive a wealth of information regarding the existence or nonexistence of God. Their friends come from various religious or nonreligious backgrounds. Their teachers share varying views of God in virtually any subject, especially in consideration of science, history, and literature. It's become apparent that the church should be more involved in teaching students what God has revealed about himself in Scripture.

Students desire to learn more about God-in spite of their initial responses. They long for purpose and meaning in their lives, too; yet they also want strong evidence upon which to stand. In these first three sessions, students who may not believe in God may be brought from a place of not knowing to an understanding of how they might begin to know God. This first session is just the beginning of a more logical development of the concept of God and personal faith. The ultimate desire is that students will come away with an understanding that there's only one true and living God (Genesis 1:1; Matthew 4:10) and that they can know him personally.

BREAKING THE ICE (7-8 MINUTES)

OPTION 1: DOES GOD EXIST?

Begin by saying something like-

If there were no God, would you have a reason to come to church? Of course not! Beyond a chance to see friends or a fun experience, church would be pointless if God didn't exist. But how can you know something exists if you can't see it?

Or grab students' attention from the start by playing the video "Does God Exist?" (You can find this and many other illustrations, including others used throughout this book, at www.highwayvideo.com.)

QUESTIONS TO ASK

1. How do most people feel when they're asked about God? What do they do or say?

2. What are some ways through which people believe they can know about God?

3. How can you know God exists?

OPTION 2: THE GRAVITY OF THE SITUATION

Begin by saying something like-

If there were no God, would you have a reason to come to church? Of course not! Beyond a chance to see friends or a fun experience, church would be pointless if God didn't exist. But how can you know something exists if you can't see it?

At this point hand each student a Super Ball. When everyone has one, tell the students to drop their Super Balls but not to catch them. When the balls settle, ask the students what they observed. They'll probably discuss how the balls kept hitting the ground. Ask them why. The logical response will deal with gravity.

QUESTIONS TO ASK

1. Can you see gravity?

2. How can you know it exists? (Note: Answers will have something to do with seeing the effects of gravity.)

3. Can we see God?

4. How can we know God exists?

TRANSITIONAL TRUTH

Though we can't see God with our eyes, we can see the effects and proofs of God's existence all around us. Just as a Super Ball will continue to return to the earth and settle, we should have a similar response to growing in the faith and knowledge of God. God has chosen to reveal himself to us-now the response rests with us. Deuteronomy 4:29 states, "But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul." For our time together, let's remain open to the possibility of the existence of God.

There are two presupposed truths that we need to accept by faith. This might sound a bit "out there," but think about your life for a moment. You exist. There was a beginning to you-and to all life. There's no way for you to scientifically prove the origin of life because pure science is confined to what one can observe in a controlled setting, including time. Since we can't repeat the experience, we can only create a theory about the origins of life. So regardless of how you think life began, you accept it by faith and probably based upon the information you've seen that would point to the origin.

With that said, let me ask you to suppose two things are true-just as you would with any other scientific theory in order to test it. Both ideas are found in Genesis 1:1-"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." In other words, (1) God is, and (2) God acts. The two go hand in hand. We couldn't know God exists if he never acted, especially since we can't see God.

We looked at this at the beginning of the lesson, but let's take a closer look at the proofs of God's existence.

SHARING YOUR PERSPECTIVE (8-10 MINUTES)

YOU ANSWER YOUR QUESTION

Begin by saying something like-

God's first recorded act-creation-provides a wealth of visible proof of his existence.

Then play "3D Animation of the Human Body" (which is downloadable from YouTube). (Note: This is just one of several pretty cool 3D animations available on that Web site. There are also some extremely eye-opening comments posted about this and the other videos that may help you formulate how you might respond to your students' comments regarding what they see and hear during this session.)

If a video isn't available, consider using a diagram of the human body from a student's health or science textbook or from a similar resource in your local library.

QUESTIONS TO ASK

1. What evidence is there that the world came together by chance?

2. What evidence is there that the world was created by an Architect or Designer?

3. Which theory do you think is more logical? Why?

TRANSITIONAL TRUTH

Psalm 19:1 states, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Romans 1:20 follows up on that thought with, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being...