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This is a quick and easy game to play with a small group. The idea is to have everyone draw a self-portrait of themselves and then everyone will try to figure out which drawing is of which person. Sound easy? Well, there are some extra rules.

The Rules

1. You must only draw your face - no body.
2. You may NOT draw ANY hair. (Not on your hear, not on your face)
3. You may NOT draw any accessories (such as glasses, jewelry, makeup, etc….)

Once everyone has draw themselves in secret (so no one has seen what you’ve drawn), gather all the pictures together and mix them up. Show the group the pictures one at a time and have them write down the name of the person they believe is in the drawing. Once you’ve been through all the pictures and everyone’s answer is locked in, reveal who drew each picture.

For every picture you guess right, you get one point. For every person that correctly guesses the picture you drew, you get a bonus point. The person with the most points at the end wins!

As a group, read Genesis chapter 4:1-16

Discuss:

Why do you think Cain killed Abel? Jealousy? Venting his anger at God?

Let’s try to figure out Cain’s brain: After each statement, discuss what thoughts may have been going through Cain’s head.

1. The Lord rejects his offering.
2. The Lord tells his that sin is waiting to destroy him, but that he must subdue it.
3. Just after Cain kills Abel.
4. God askes him where his brother is.
5. God tells him that he is to be a homeless fugitive.
6. Cain leaves God’s presence and heads to Nod.

Have any of us ever had those same kind of thoughts?

What’s the difference between us & Cain?

It comes down to what choices we make. God warned Cain that sin was waiting to attack him. Cain choose to give in and let sin destroy him.

Sin can only destroy or harm our lives if we let it. Romans 6:6-7

As Christians, we aren’t slaves to sin, but we can still choose to obey it if we want.

So what kind of choices have you been making? Have you chosen to give in to sin?

Begin by reading through Genesis Chapter 3

Hand out a printout of chapter 4 to each person. (You can find one here.) Have each person circle any sinful actions or statements. Also have them highlight any consequences of sin. After everyone has had a change to do those two things, bring the group back together to discuss their findings.

Here are a few additional topics of interest you may want to discuss:

• Talking Serpents?
• What type of fruit was it? An apple?
• Serpents had legs?
• Had Eve had children yet?
• Did Adam rule over Eve before?
• What happened to the Garden?

Lesson of the Day

There are consequences for our actions.

Have the group come up with a list of sins. Then list the possible consequences for those sins.

The biggest consequence of all is separation from God. Even as Christians, when we sin, that sin keeps us distant from God. We need to quickly confess, repent, and make things right with God.

This is the first in a series of Bible studies that gives a brief chronological overview of the entire Bible - from Creation to the imminent return of Christ.

Discussion Groups

Break everyone into three groups and give them the instructions as listed below:

Group 1

Read Genesis 1:1-8 and discuss the following questions:

• Verse 3 says that God created light on the first day, but later we read in verses 14-16 that God created the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day. What, then, was the “light” that He created on day 1?
• When God separated the light from the dark, calling the light “day” and the dark “night” - thus making up one day, was this the first rotation of the earth or is it talking about something else?
• What water is God separating in verses 6-8? Where is the water above the sky? Continue reading »
  Next in series

  Table of contents for Bible Overview

  1. The Creation of the World
  2. The Fall of Man
  3. Cain & Abel
  4. Noah’s Flood - Genesis 6 thru 9

Ok, so maybe there aren’t a million and one games, but there are a whole bunch. These are just a bunch of simple games I put together for a fun games night for my youth group.

Balloon Smack

One balloon is in the middle of the room. Everyone is divided into two teams and each person is assigned a secret number (between 1 & 6 or however many there are on each team). The leader calls out a number, the person from each team who was assigned that number must grab a pool noodle (on the floor in front of them) and try to smack the balloon against the opposite team’s wall. 1 point per smack. It up to you whether you allow ‘body’ smacks or not.

The Shoe Kick

Each person dangles their shoe on the end of their foot and with a mighty kick, tries to launch their shoe the furthest.

The Slurpie Run

This is a team relay. Each person has a straw. The objective is to suction a small paper square (2 inch square) to the straw and carry it to a pylon and back. If the paper falls, the person must suction it from wherever it falls and continue. First team with all their people through wins.

Pig

To prepare for this game, get enough brown paper lunch bags for about two per person. In each bag, place some sort of snack. You can use mini chocolate bars, mints, a potato chip, some breakfast cereal, a piece of a raw potato, three soup crackers, and whatever else you think of. Staple the bags closed. Divide your players into equal teams. Have them choose one ‘pig’ among themselves - this person should be willing to eat anything. Give eat team two dice. Once the game has begun, each member of each team will take turns rolling the dice. If they get doubles, their team stops all rolling and the person who rolled doubles runs to the center of the room and retrieves a brown paper bag. Once they have returned with their bag, the player will open it and must completely consume whatever snack is in that bag before their team can continue rolling. If the player is unable or unwilling to eat their particular snack, they can feed it to the pig. Once the snack is completely swallowed, the rolling resumes. The team who has eaten the most snacks by the end of the game is the winner. Continue reading »

At a “Computer Games” theme night at our youth group, we played this game in honor of the ol’ Minesweeper game. It was pretty intense and the kids really got into it.

Instructions

Make a small 6 x 6 grid (each square is about 1ft) marked by masking tape on the floor. In 10 of the 36 squares will be a mine (a ball or any other object that won’t hurt if someone steps on it) placed by the opposing teams. One person on your team will be blindfolded and must navigate through the minefield without stepping on a grid that contains a bomb (tape not included.)

They do this by listening to the instructions of one of their teammates. If they do step on a mined square, they must go back to the front outside edge of the minefield (escorted by one of their teammates). The time it takes them to navigate through successfully will be recorded. Once one person from each team has had their turn, the next person on the team will then be blindfolded, sent through the grid, and their time recorded.

When everyone on all the teams have gone through, the times for your team will be added together and the team with the fastest total time will be winners.