Chapter – 49: Three Checkpoints 2024
Before I begin discussing three checkpoints of 49, it’s important to note that this lesson pertains to Believers only. I have walked these three checkpoints, I’m aware of them and I’ve seen others do the same. God’s path is not for the lazy. Picture a desert path, and there are three checkpoints for water and there is a lot of path between each checkpoint. Here’s the deal, there is water and supplies at each checkpoint but there is also real danger lurking for a Traveler on God’s journey. This is the story of this path and those dangers. Like I said, non-believers need not apply, this path is not available or necessary.
The world is in trouble, non-believers who understand the danger drawing nearer minute by minute, are afraid, nervous, they feel impending doom. True Believers stay the course, their fears of the world they give to Jesus. Now we get to the heart of the matter. Company owners, Believers who have corporations, a great deal more responsibility than people with a normal day to day job. There is money, independence, and a responsibility to be an example of Christ to many, not few.
If a non-believer fails the world says too bad, so sad, Bob didn’t have a chance, but he gave it his best shot, and most important the devil doesn’t care about these people, they are already lost.
However, a Believer is an example of God’s grace, mercy and strength. In success, the World is disgusted with a Believer in Christ, there is persecution. A True Believer abides by the rules of the Lord, and although a sinner, the heart of such a person tries diligently every day, asking forgiveness and strength, clarity and purpose, giving the Lord all the glory. A believer who is not strong in the faith or misrepresents the Lord and His purpose doesn’t look much different than a non-believer. So for the purpose of Chapter 49, I focus on True Believers who have been given corporations. With that miracle, the miracle of God and the Blessings of God, there comes a challenge. I call it, Three Checkpoints. Chapter 49 is the path of winners and losers. Believers who made it on the struggle, and Believers who just couldn’t do it. Like I said, on these checkpoints we stop for the proverbial glass of water and supplies, but there in lies an enemy who is in the shadows offering goods and services that are very dangerous.
Long story short, Non-Believers need not apply to Chapter 49. Believers, strap on your seat belt, it’s a wild ride and it’s meant to be just that. It is a test.
I’ve often said, don’t spend your second chance on stupid, Common Sense is not so Common, stupid is very expensive, rather be delivered from the hands of fate, into the hands of destiny.
What is fate? “My will be done.”
What is Destiny? “His will be done.”
We start the story of three checkpoints. Win or lose, they are what they are.
Checkpoint #1 – is easy, I need help, I’ll do anything to get out of (explained). trouble. God help me! And He does. God moves into your life and good things happen. You are more obedient than ever in your life, God blesses you because you have allowed Him in your house, in you. You feel the hand of God and you move accordingly. Is it possible for people to not even start, being offered a chance to proceed in Faith and goodness? Yep. People offered a chance to get out of trouble, turn it down. I liken it to a man in a hole. Throw him down a yellow rope to climb out and he looks up and says, “No way, I want a red rope.” Thus the man stays in the hole. There’s a joke about a helicopter saving a man,
I’m sure you’ve all heard it. Thus is Checkpoint #1.
2 Samuel 6:11
New International Version
11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household.
The point of 2 Samuel 6:11 is that God blesses the house that He is in. Use that to your discretion. Corporate turnaround is a funny thing. Money causes problems, either with it or without, there is perception problems and the enemy will say to you, one way or the other, as you are having a sip of much need water, “you don’t need this, there are much better watering places than this, just skip it.”
Checkpoint #2 – “I’ve been rescued, out of trouble, God is telling me to do it “my way.” And I’ll swear by that.” Right back to old thinking, telling all who will listen that God told me to do whatever it is I’m doing. I’ve prayed about it and I’m totally sure the Holy Spirit is directing. At this point nobody can tell me anything. Einstein couldn’t get through, neither could Moses himself. You still go to heaven, you’re a Believer, Jesus will ask you on the Bema Seat what you’ve done with your redemption, but you will still go to Heaven, and maybe He’ll never tell you what you missed. I think by then, you’ll probably already know. Again, you’ve made it through Checkpoint #1 and gotten money in your pocket, walked the desert path through all the difficulties in God’s teachings for you and now, you stop for a drink and the enemies sorcery talks you out of it. Why do you buy it? The devil is trick and appeals to your sense of fleshly desire — to want “your will to be done,” even if you have to pretend that it’s really God’s will. Well, it’s not and the fear of having money, keeping money or losing money will be replaced, not by Faith, but by treachery. Fear of having or not having…, it’s a test. It’s a shame when people get this far and then slip back to old thinking. But for all given there must be accountability to be given more.
Psalm 107:17-20 New International Version (NIV)
17 Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.
Few people survive Checkpoint #2. It’s a narrow road, you might say, like Moses, they never see the Promised Land here on Earth. God love ‘em, they chase their tail the rest of life, having an attitude against — anything good.
In comparison to Checkpoint 3, Checkpoint 2 would be a better place to get stuck for sure.
There at Checkpoint #2, at least you still believe in God, even though the window on that opportunity, as they say, has closed, stopped short of the full knowledge of God’s plan for me — the devil got me, I bought it, picked my own idea of what’s groovy, wasted my time and the assets God had given me, on a journey that started all the way back in the desert to Checkpoint #1.
Still C2, you believe in God and you’re still going to Heaven, hopefully in the process God, as He so often does, makes lemonade out of lemons you’ve served yourself up.
Psalm 71:20-21
New American Standard Bible
You who have shown [a]me many troubles and distresses
Will revive [b]me again,
And will bring [c]me up again from the depths of the earth.
May You increase my greatness
And turn to comfort me.
Let’s say I make through Checkpoint #2, I don’t buy the bill of goods that “I’ve got a better idea” than the path God has me on. Okay, cool, I’m on to Checkpoint #3 – Here a cup of water is served in a golden pitcher. Don’t be fooled, the Devil’s gotta getcha, True Believer. At this point you are doing really well, things have taken a turn for the best. The Lord has blessed you with plenty of knowledge and wisdom to bring you along the path. Why you might even bring a few non-believers to Jesus. Devil doesn’t want that, soooo. You’re looking too good. Hopeless people find strength in your testimony.
Here it comes. From the shadows the devil’s merchants appear. I’m feeling strength, and in the intoxication of strength I forget how I got here and Who got me here. People start to notice me, the wrong people, ..and they like me. And I like it that they like me and my new found success.
The deception is even more intoxicating than C2. C3 is the ultimate test and the most dangerous. You either pick God, or you don’t. In C3, people are rich and powerful and I want that. I don’t want to talk about scripture or prayer, anymore, it’s not cool with this group. The world is happy to have me back, it feels good. Power will become my everything, a false God. I lose myself into the black forest where hope of God in Heaven is replaced in the hope of important on Earth.
Hebrews 6:4-6
For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come — and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame. (NLT)
Each time one walks these checkpoints, one becomes stronger, but so does the devil. A Traveler is made stronger or broken here. Those who fail C2 or C3, I rarely see the results. When I get the call from back there, it’s very upsetting to me. The failed applicant is now filled with disappointment, discontent, loss, sickness, whatever it is, it’s all bad. Nothing more than a memory of being special, without being special anymore.
Luke 16:26
New International Version
26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
Fiduciary duty lost, important has ceased to exist. A very harsh reality to those who were offered so much. The gifts of the Holy Spirit or rich and good, exactly what one needs, not often what one wants. The strong prevail over self, only in the help of God and receive the blessings of responsibility in God’s honor.
Now, what of those who pass the test? If you pass all three, the third becomes the most prestigious. Onward and upward a Traveler goes out of the desert and onto the beach on the coast of the Sea of Opportunity, close to the Lord and His Destiny.
1 Peter 4:12-19
New International Version
Suffering for Being a Christian
12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
I walk through these checkpoints periodically, and each time — riddled, blistered, bruised and broken they make me better.
A sinner, a liar, cheat and a thief wrapped in the arms of God, His mercy over me as I am learning, re-learning, aligning, re-aligning, knowing I am better in the Knowledge, Wisdom and Grace of the One True God, not one that I’ve invented, the one that is speaking through the Word and answering prayer. I pray to Him that I never stumble when tested, and if I do, that He catch me before I fall. I pray the same for you. God’s Destiny requires fortitude. Preparation is necessary, thus what I call Chapter 49.
Isaiah 43:18-22
New International Version
“Forget the former things do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
The world looks pretty good in comparison to the life of a holy man of God. I’ve worked with many non-believers, they are hip, slick and cool. Motivated by cash, power and important, sometimes they got a lot, sometimes they got nothing. When the world is in good order, it’s just another shenanigan in the name of glory, but it ain’t glory and in today’s world non-believers are afraid. The market can be seized by the government at any moment. Believers, True Believers, cling to Jesus. In that prayer and the Word sustain all of us, if way stay consistent. But God is clear, especially in Chapter 49. There is no in between. It is either God in the book or not. In prophecy, we see the warning.
Matthew 25:31-46
New International Version
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
You see the checkpoints are about options, your options, you pick, that’s the challenge. With God or without God, your will or His will, nothing in the middle. Three Checkpoints — The Power of Him or the power of the World. You choose, I choose.
Revelation 3:7b
New International Version
7 b What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
How many times have you been through the test? Each time, the enemy’s deception more powerful than the last. As I said non-believers need not apply, the riches here are far greater than anything non-believers can imagine. For the Believer who has been given so much responsibility, and you will be rewarded.
Matthew 13:11
New International Version
11“Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
Scripture is brutal in this chapter 49, especially for a failure at Checkpoint 3. This is Wisdom’s answer to those who have lost their honor to self and arrogance — in the deception of darkness.
Proverbs 1:27
New International Version
27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. 28 “Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me,
Who wants to listen to that, the Sea or Opportunity following three checkpoints is way more fun, don’t you think?
James 4:7
New International Version
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Now, guess what happens if you pass the test, walk through all three checkpoints, find your ship on the beach of the Sea of Opportunity and sail out. Here, the Gatekeeper waits for you.
From the hands of the ordinary into the hands of the extraordinary.
John 10:3-4
3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
When God has forsaken you on the path, or at least that’s what you think, you might consider the following thought: “The Teacher is generally very quiet during a test.”
Isaiah 55:6
New King James Version
Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.
God’s speed, good luck, it is a good day to fight. Amen.
