The truth is the Bible is several books written by several people.The writers were a diverse bunch that included shepherds, kings, priests, fishermen, farmers, poets, prophets and scribes to name a few. Both upstanding moral authors and morally challenged authors contributed to the writing of the Bible (examples would be traitors, murderers, tax collectors, embezzlers and even adulterers.

They wrote about things they experienced personally as well as events that took place before they were born. The Bible includes history, legal texts, music, poetry, personal correspondence, philosophy and prophecies.

* The word “Bible” comes from the word “ton biblion” which means “the scroll” or “the book”. It derives from the ancient city of Byblos. This city was the main supplier of paper products and thus made the ancient city (now called Lebanon) synonymous with the word “book” or “scroll”.

1. Feeling nervous: worried or afraid, especially about something that is going to happen or might happen

2. Eager: wanting very much, or in a desperate or nervous way, to do or receive something.

Being worried about something uses energy God wants us to use elsewhere. He knows we naturally worry, it’s in our nature to fear the unknown but God wants us to trust Him so completely that we don’t stress and worry about the little things.

Philippians 4:6-7 ~ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Why doesn’t God want us to worry?

Proverbs 12:25 ~ An anxious heart weighs a man’s heart down, but a kind word cheers him up.

God doesn’t want us to get depressed and worry causes depression. He tells us to cast our worries on Him. He warns us to be alert and watchful that we don’t fall prey to worry.

1 Peter 5:7-8 ~ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Is there ever a good time to be anxious? I think it’s o.k. to be excited about somethings. It crosses a line when your anxiety becomes consuming. Being anxious (excited) about Jesus returning is great!  Being anxious (excited) about sharing God with everyone we know and even those we don’t know is great.

Isaiah 26:3-4 ~ You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.

So if you must be anxious, be anxious, excited, about Jesus and serving the Lord. When you feel the nervous anxiety coming on, replace it with the excited anxiety of serving God.

This game is a great way to get your teens to share their thoughts on fairness and justice.

SUPPLIES:

Beach ball; Masking tape; Large empty trash can

1. Using the masking tape, make a line for your participants to stand behind.

2. Several feet in front of the line, put your empty trash can.

3. Divide your teens into two teams.

4. Each participant will stand behind the line and try to make baskets by bouncing the beach ball off their bellies (stomachs).  The team with the most points win.

5. Once they finish the first game, tell the teens they are going to play again. This time, the girls will be able to make baskets shooting normally while the boys must continue to make baskets by bouncing the balls off of their bellies.

DISCUSSION:

1. How did it feel to play the game when the rules were different for each team?

2. What are some things that you feel are unfair in your life?

3. Read Matthew 20:1-16. What way does God demonstrate He is fair and just?

4. Have you ever felt frustrated with God for things that feel unfair in your life?

5. Has God ever shown you grace by giving you something you didn’t deserve?

Things Needed:

A Bible
At least 16 Foam Balls of any size
Aluminum Foil
Transparent Tape
Masking Tape
A Strobe Light (optional)
Black Light (optional)
Glow-In-The-Dark Paint (optional)

To begin this Discussion Starter, Have someone read Philippians 2:12-18.

Cover the foam balls with aluminum foil and secure the foil with transparent tape. Divide your playing area with your masking tape.

Divide your teams into two groups. Evenly divide the foil covered foam balls between the two teams. Point out the dividing line in the middle of the playing field. Be sure to point out any boundaries.

The object of the game is for teams to throw the foam balls at each other. As they are hit, they must sit down without moving from that spot. The game ends when one team has someone still standing.

Turn off the lights and turn on the strobe light. Anyone who has played dodge ball knows it’s not easy to hit a moving target. With the added challenge of the strobe light and foil on the balls, your teens will enjoy this form of dodge ball even more.

VARIATION:

To add to the fun more, use a black light and glow-in-the-dark paint on some of the balls. Have all of the participants wear black clothes and white gloves.

DISCUSSION:

1. Was it hard to be a target in this game with limited vision?

2. Was it hard trying to hit a moving target with limited vision?

3. Does this game relate to the violence in today’s world? How or how not?

4. What are some causes of the violence we see around us?

5. What are some consequences of violence?

CAUTION:

Strobe lights have been linked with triggering seizures in people with epilepsy. If this may cause a problem for one of your teens, skip the strobe light and use the black light instead.

What you will need:

Pens or Pencils; Paper; Bibles

Scripture References:

Romans 5:1-5; 2Corinthians 4:18

A Little Better All The Time

As your youth group comes in, have them sit in a circle. If you have round tables available to you, these might be helpful. If you have a large youth group, break them into groups of 8 to 10 players per circle.

Give each participant a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. At the top of the paper, have the participants secretly (no one else can see) write a sentence about someone in high school. They should give their characters names (not real names) and their sentence should be about something lousy that happened to that person during the day. Examples would be “Billy lost his car keys”, “Susan failed her History Test”, “Mitch hurt his arm in gym today” etc.

Once they finish writing their sentences, have them pass their paper one place to their right. That person reads the sentence and writes another one to further the story. Once they finish their sentence, they fold the paper under the first sentence so only the second sentence shows. Now pass it to the next person on the right.

The third person reads only the second sentence then adds a third sentence. They then fold the paper so the second sentence is hidden and pass the paper to the fourth person. This continues until the paper reaches the original writer.

When the original writer receives their story back, they unfold the story and take turns reading their story out loud to the group. Hopefully some of them will have happy endings. Once the stories are read, ask the follow-up questions below.

Follow-Up Questions:

1. What does the old saying “When it rains it pours” mean?

2. What makes a bad day better?

3. Have you ever given up hope just before things get better? (encourage them to share their experiences)

4. Where does hope come from?

5. Can hope change our lives? (encourage them to answer more than yes or no)

Read the Scriptures again.

Close with prayer: (example)

Father, thank you for being with us through the tough times in our lives. Help us, Father, to remember You when we are faced with hardships. Keep Your hope strong inside of us as we go into this world. Let us be a shining example of You. In Jesus precious Name we pray, Amen.

* If you have a small group, say a line of prayer for each of them by name. Even if it is just “Thank you, Jesus for bringing Toni to our group” or “Be with Sam as he goes to the Orthodontist Tuesday”.

Punch two holes at the top of the blank index cards. Make as many cards as you want to put in the book (between 20 to 25 index cards work well but you can adjust it to fit your Bible Study, monthly theme, etc.).

Let your teens decorate the cover of their SCRIPTURE VERSE FLIP BOOK. They can color it, write on it or what ever they want to do to make it theirs.

Your teens write a memory verse on the first card behind the cover card. In the top corner, write what week you are working on. Putting the date there as well will help them know when they worked on that memory verse.

Thread your ribbon through the holes in the index cards. Now tie a bow to hold the pages in place. Yarn will work if you don’t have ribbon.

As your teens learn a verse, flip your card to the next blank page. It’s time to learn your next verse.

As you finish your booklet, say you were doing one to learn the Beatitudes, put it where you can take it out to review and start another one.

* You can do this to learn Bible stories. Just break the story down and put a highlight on each card.
* This also works with Children’s Ministry, VBS, or Sunday School.
* This will work to help teens grow closer to God as well.

TREASURE HUNT:

A Treasure Hunt is fun for all ages.The more active the Treasure Hunt the better teens respond.

1. Hide the treasure. Find a place that they would never think to look (this leaves out any place that has food). If it’s a CD they are looking for, think of safe places where the CD won’t be damaged in the process of the hunt or while waiting to be found (you probably should not hide it on top of the refrigerator where the heat could damage the CD).

2. Write clues on Index cards. Riddles work well for teens. If you can make your clues hidden in Bible verses, it’s a great way to help your teens get familiar with their Bibles. An example would be if you hide an index card behind a map of under a globe, the verse could be John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world…” Leaving off at “world” is the clue. Place an index card in a garden and write a line of rhyme about the Garden of Eden like “Roses are red, violets are blue, if you plant here, you can grow too.”

3. Have the teens read the clues from the index cards and figure out where the next clue(index card) is. Let them continue until they find the treasure.

4. Once the treasure is found, celebrate with food (pizza or ice-cream sundeas work great).

5. For a twist on this, make the treasure verses in the Bible. You can call out  a Bible verse, and the first teen to stand and read it out loud wins a point. At the end of the hunt, the teen with the most points wins a prize. A variation of this would be giving them a list of ten clues. Each clue leads to a certain Bible verse. They write the verse they believe to be the right verse beside the clue. At the end, the person with the most right verses wins something (this can be as simple as they get to be the first to go throught the pizza line or again a CD or gift card).

* The most important thing to remember is make it fun and active. The more active the hunt the more likely your teens will be to invite a friend to come next time. Using the Bible is a really great way to get teens searching their Bible.