7 Checkpoints: Spiritual Disciplines - What Will You Do? How Will You Know?

Spiritual Disciplines (Part 2) – What will you do? How will you Know?

Here’s a true story: (Read the story from the 7 Checkpoints pg 62,63)

You guys have the biggest decisions of life ahead of you.
Who will I marry?
Where will I work?
How will I fit into society?

You also have BIG decisions right now.
Should I obey my parent’s curfew?
Mom and dad won’t mind if I’m a few minutes late.
I’m old enough to be out past 10:00.
Which friends will I hang out with this weekend?
This friend is boring, but safe.
This friend is fun, but dangerous.
What do I want my life to be like?
What will I do if someone offers me drugs at the party?
I see other people here doing it.
I’m young, shouldn’t I experiment a little.
I didn’t know that he did drugs; they must be okay then.
What will happen if my date pressures me for sex?
If I don’t do it, then he’ll think I’m a goody-two-shoes
He wouldn’t ask me if he didn’t love me

If you can begin now to see the way that God sees, then you will be more inclined to do what He says in these decisive moments.

Ace Ventura, Pet Detective. He’s looking for a dolphin, and he comes out of the room waving his hand behind him, saying, “Do Not Go In There”

There is a movie called, Cape Fear. The movie is about a judge and his family being stalked and killed by a man that he had put in jail. Naturally, the guy is a psycho. I remember watching this movie. I was at a friends house and it was dark outside. After watching the movie, I was looking in my back seat the whole way home. When I got home I locked the door, turned off my bedroom light and jumped into my bed where I would be safe, sort of, except for the shadows in the room. That was a disturbing movie. This guy was showing up in all of those placed that you think someone might be when you are scared. You see a quick glimpse of him in the yard. You see his face in the window. You see him in the back seat of the family’s car. You see him in the kitchen. You see him underneath the car. But you know who doesn’t see him there? The family in the movie doesn’t. Every time, he kills someone. I see him in the kitchen, and the maid is going to the kitchen so what do you thinking I’m saying, “Don’t go in there” – In the car “Don’t go in there” I want the family to be able to see what I see so that they won’t get hurt, because I know what’s coming. If they saw the way that I saw, then they would stay out of the kitchen.

That’s just a movie, but this is real life. God sees my life and he knows what’s coming, and it’s as if He’s saying, “Don’t go in there”. If I was seeing the situation the way that He is, then I wouldn’t. But I don’t see the way He sees, and so I do. It results in hurt, shame, broken relationships, broken hearts, and sometimes broken bodies.

A friend of mine from Chicago (he was in Junior High). He got mixed up in a gang. Eventually, he realized that the lifestyle he was living was destroying him and his relationships with his family. The only way that he could get out of that situation was to get violated out (that means that you roll the dice, and what ever number comes up is the number of guys that get to beat you for 30 seconds). He chose to stay in the gang. Today, his life has been torn apart. Jesus said, I have come that you might have life, and that you might have it abundantly. Marcello doesn’t have an abundant life, because He chose to see his own way, and not how God sees. He has a life that is surrounded by drugs, by hurt, by pain, because he didn’t want to take a 30 second beating. Who do you hang out with? What does your life look like?

What do you spend your day thinking about? What do you spend your time doing? When you die, how will you be remembered? Will you be a really fun person, or will you be a really fun person who changed his world?

God gave us His word, The Bible, so that we would be able to know what the right way is.

2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is God breathed, and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

The Bible is literally, the Word of God. They are His words. In order to know what He has to say, you have to read it. (If you don’t have a Bible at home, then take one of ours as a gift to you)

God also gave us Himself. He gives each one of us the opportunity to have a relationship with Him. Jesus said, I have come so that you would have life, and that you would have it abundantly. You can’t have that outside of a relationship with him. No matter how hard you try you will never know life the way it could be without Him in it.

If you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then don’t let another day go by without it. That’s the first step to having an abundant life. Stop one of us leaders and talk to us, we would love to introduce you to Jesus. The biggest decision that you will ever make is, “What did you do with Christ?”