The Seven Checkpoints Student Journal: Seven Principles Every Teenager Needs to Know - Softcover

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Andy Stanley, like his father, Charles Stanley, carries on a tradition of excellence in ministry. A graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and the founding pastor of North Point Community Church, Andy serves as keynote speaker for the Big Stuf Student Camps in Panama City, Florida, each summer. Stuart Hall serves as the director of training for XP3 Students and also leads DASH INC, an organization he founded in 2000 to develop spiritually influential students that engage culture. He has co-authored three books: The Seven Checkpoints: Seven Principles Every Teenager Needs to Know, MAX Q: Developing Students of Influence with Andy Stanley, and the leadership edition of Wired: For a Life of Worship with Louie Giglio. In his spare time, he serves as a community varsity girls basketball coach for the two-time defending state champion Buford Lady Wolves.
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Stuart Hall serves as the director of training for XP3 Students and also leads DASH INC, an organization he founded in 2000 to develop spiritually influential students that engage culture. He has co-authored three books: The Seven Checkpoints: Seven Principles Every Teenager Needs to Know, MAX Q: Developing Students of Influence with Andy Stanley, and the leadership edition of Wired: For a Life of Worship with Louie Giglio. In his spare time, he serves as a community varsity girls basketball coach for the two-time defending state champion Buford Lady Wolves. Stuart, his beautiful wife, Kellee, and their three incredible children reside north of Atlanta.

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Introduction

The Seven Checkpoints for Students

Jared is a hard person to figure out. Many of his peers call him two-faced, a hypocrite. Their tainted view of Jared is justified. Even Jared would admit that he is a different person than he was four months ago. Back then, he was active in his church and a leader in his youth group as well as in a Christ-based club at his high school. He was considered a young man of strong faith. 

But something happened. Those who don't really know Jared, who don't know about his relationship with Christ, would say that he is just being a normal, fun-loving teenager. Those closest to Jared, however, see that he is spiraling away from God, and they blame it on her.

Jared's about-face seemed to have started when she entered his life. What began as a simple attraction now consumes his attention almost twenty-four hours a day. The high standards Jared once held in regard to dating and girls have gone the way of the dinosaur. 

Lauren is having a difficult time believing this whole God thing. It's not because she doesn't want to. In fact Lauren hopes more than anything else that God is real and that He cares. But there are too many unanswered questions, too many tragic circumstances that don't make sense. 

It's not that Lauren has never given God a try. She was brought up in church. Her parents were very active in their congregation, and Lauren had no choice but to be in church too. At first she resisted, but as time went on she started to understand how much God loved her. She began to enjoy the worship, the teaching, and the fun she had with her friends there. She received Christ as her personal Lord and Savior, and her faith began to grow. 

But the phone call that dreadful night in January literally knocked her to her knees. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't move. In a shower of despair, shock slowly overtook her body and mind. My mom is dead? She just left the house! Is this a bad dream?

Lauren never woke from that nightmare. Her mother had been killed in a car accident barely two miles from her home -- and God was to blame. If her mom hadn't been so involved at church, she never would have left for the Bible study that night. Surely if God really loved Lauren, her mom would still be alive.

In the process of spiritual renewal and growth, faith is a critical, foundational element. For that reason it is imperative that you understand what faith is and what it isn't. Unfortunately, confusion over the definition of faith is rampant in the Christian community. Often faith is spoken of as if it were some kind of force or power -- something you can turn on when you need it -- if only you could find the right switch. But that's a faulty definition of faith. 

Confusion in this one area is the primary reason so many students abandon Christianity. It is the reason students have such difficulty trusting God with every area of their lives. It is also the reason so many students are unsure of their salvation. Conference after conference, meeting after meeting, camp after camp, they raise their hands again to indicate that they are receiving Christ as their Savior. They're not sure it "took" the last time. 

To be a Christian, you must have faith. But what exactly is faith? Let's talk about it.

Checkpoint #1: Authentic Faith

Read Job 1:6-22

What was Satan implying in verses 9-11 about Job's faith?

List everything Job lost that one day. How would you feel if this happened to you? Explain your feelings. 

Why do you think Job was able to respond the way he did in verses 20-22?

Think about It

Define faith in your own words. Be as detailed as possible. 

Was Job's faith based in the present or in something else? What do you think Job's faith was rooted in? 

How could a good God allow all these bad things to happen to Job? Why didn't God stop the bad circumstances from happening? 

The Old Testament character Job was faced with a series of terrible circumstances that we wouldn't wish on our worst enemy! Fortunately, Job's faith didn't depend on his circumstances. He had faith despite his circumstances. 

Circumstantial faith is fragile. It is totally dependent upon our ability (or inability) to interpret events. Kim prays and prays and prays for God to help her pass a test -- but she fails. So Kim interprets that failure to mean that God doesn't answer prayer or that maybe He is mad at her. She concludes that God can't be trusted. Her faith is shattered by her interpretation of the circumstances around her.

We are all prone to misinterpret events. Ask a four-year-old being carried by his father into the doctor's office if Daddy loves him. When the doctor brandishes a needle for a tetanus shot, the little boy might have his doubts! But years later, ask that same child about the doctor's visit. He will have a completely different perspective. He will know that his father showed his love by caring enough to protect his son's health. 

Just as a child cannot correctly judge his parent's character based on one scary trip to the doctor, so we dare not draw conclusions about God's goodness based upon the immediate circumstances of life. God's faithfulness and loving character do not hinge on the unfolding of circumstances.

Circumstantial faith is fragile because our frame of reference is too small. It is hard for us to look at the significance of events in the context of a lifetime, much less weigh those events on the scale of eternity. 

Consider Joseph, the boy who spent fifteen years as a slave in Egypt after being sold into slavery by his own brothers. His "tragedy" was a part of a beautiful tapestry that God was weaving behind the scenes to save an entire region from famine. (You can find Joseph's story in Genesis 37-45.) Then there was Moses, the great leader who spent forty years in the wilderness before God sent him back to Egypt -- freeing a nation from slavery and unfolding a wonderful purpose in Moses' seemingly purposeless existence. (Read Moses' story in Exodus 2-14.)

For many teenagers, the ever-changing landscape of circumstances defines God. How about you? If God doesn't answer your prayers by next week, do you wonder if He even exists? If you don't see God at work in your immediate circumstances, do you lose your confidence in Him? Do you get stressed out over things like taking a test, getting a date, winning a game, or being left out? (Neutrogena and Oxy10 are making a killing off of your stress!)

Can your faith be summarized by this statement: "What's happening now and what I'm feeling now determine what I believe for now"? If so, you may have a faulty understanding of faith. Are you ready to replace that faulty understanding with an authentic faith? In the spaces below, journal what God is saying to you in regard to your faith. 

Read Hebrews 4:14-16

When the writer urges us to "hold firmly to the faith," what does that suggest to you? 

Why does the fact that Christ is our high priest hold so much significance?

This passage seems to imply that the Hebrew Christians had a faulty understanding of the nature of their high priest, Jesus. What were they missing, and why? 

Think about It

Could you describe the...