Reality Check Home: creationsafaris.com Teacher’s Resource: creationsafaris.com/teach.htm Bwana’s Guide: creationsafaris.com/leader.htm

“Reality Checks” are devotional outlines for outdoor preachers and teachers that have worked well on Creation Safaris, in line with our motto Escape to Reality.  These lessons should be thought out with additional Scriptures, explanations, illustrations, and personal testimonies to make them your own.  Above all, handle with prayer.  – David F. Coppedge

CREATION CURES: BENEFITS OF OUTDOOR MEDITATION
Practical benefits for those willing to get out and explore creation.

Theme:  Creation fortifies your Christian walk and cures many spiritual ills.
This outline can be taught in a few minutes when a short outdoor devotional is needed.

Key Verse: (to memorize): Nehemiah 8:10b–
“The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

1. Cure for Worldliness
   I John 2:15-17: “Love not the world.”
   Here, “world” in context refers to fallen human society, not creation.  The natural world shows forth God’s wisdom and power.
2. Cure for Inadequate Theology
   Psalm 8, Psalm 19, Psalm 104, Psalm 148
   These and many other creation passages provide the context for God’s message.  Without a creation context, nothing in theology makes sense.  Theology comes alive when understood in the context of a vast universe displaying God’s power and wisdom, and when the details of God’s smallest handiworks are explored.
   
3. Cure for Spiritual Fatigue
   Need a faith lift?  Try creation:
   • Nehemiah 8:10b (key verse): the joy of the Lord is your strength (see Nehemiah 9:5-6ff for context).
   • Matthew 14:13: Jesus went to a deserted place by Himself.
   • Mark 6:31: Jesus told disciples, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while" after a period of hard work among the crowds in the towns.  Getting out into creation can recharge your batteries.
   • Luke 5:16: Jesus Himself withdrew OFTEN into the wilderness and prayed.