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Developing Accountability Habits that will Change your Life

There are 5 areas of your life, and my life that growth is possible. They are listed below.

Intellectual, Social, Emotional, Physical, Spiritual.

Today though, were talking mainly about spiritual growth.

Everyone here needs what I’m talking about, everyone needs at least one real friend, an accountability partner.

Here is the definition of Accountability

“Accountability�? is a Christ- centered relationship, which encourages spiritual growth and life change.

Accountability means having at least one other person that you can count on that will encourage you to grow spiritually and change your life.

This person really can change your life.

About 2 years ago, a friend and I would always go to the gym to work out. We’d always go at the same time, on the same days. Had I have just been going by myself, I would have skipped many times, but since he was there to hold me accountable to going to the gym, I never missed because I knew he would have been mad, and he never missed because he knew I would have been mad.

An accountability partner is just that. Someone who will be there to challenge you when you don’t want to be challenged any more.

On a slightly different note, it’s a proven fact in my life, and many people’s lives…You either become better or worse because of the friends you have and the people you hang out with.

Illustration about rock climbing:

One day, a few of my friends decided to go stay at one of their cabins up in the mountains, and they invited me. A few days later, we get up at about 6:00am and drive up to this cabin in the mountains, somewhere near a river.

To make this very long story shorter, one of the days we were up there, we decided to go rock climbing…good idea then…bad idea now looking back.

So first we hike down to the river, and climb the steepest rocks near the river, but still not too much of a challenge. Then one of my friends remembers there are some rocks at the top of a mountain…bad idea #1.

So we start on our way up this mountain…but it’s not just a regular mountain, its takes about 30 minutes to get to the top…but the catch is that it’s a strictly four-wheel drive trail. And we really found out why it was a four-wheel drive trail.

After about 45 minutes we got to the top, and we go to this small building at the highest point, and inside we find a forest ranger who sits up there all day and looks for fires in the forest. This forest ranger stays up there for 1 week during the month, and to get up and down the mountain…they send a helicopter in…that’s how steep this mountain was.

Anyways, as we were up there, we see these huge rocks that we decide to climb.

One of my friends is short and couldn’t reach all the ledges, and he only makes it about ¼ of the way, the second guy was a chicken and stopped then too. So its down to just me and my friend Ruben. After about 30 minutes of figuring how were going to get to the top of this rock, we decide we’ll shimmy around the open face of the mountain, and climb that side.

Bad idea #2.

As were going over there, we dislodge a rock about the size of a softball, and it hits the side of the mountain and bounces out and lands about 500 feet down, and disintegrates. This was a very steep mountain.

Finally after about an hour we manage to get to the very top, and we take a picture to document our stupidity, and then we can’t get down.

To get up we had to help each other, and now there is no way down except jumping about 30 feet.

Once again, we stand up at the top for about 30 minutes…this is as close to the sun as I have ever been…and it was hot up there. So instead of just waiting for heat exhaustion to set in, we decide to just go for it and jump.

They decide I will go first…bad idea #3…so I lay down on my stomach to try to get as close I can to the ground…our two friends on the ground move all the big rocks out of our landing zone, and I jump.

As I was falling I remember thinking…this fall is not nearly worth the reward for getting to the top…

I decided before the jump that as I hit the ground, I would try to hit with my feet to break the fall, the try to kind of roll so I didn’t break my legs.

Well, it didn’t exactly work like that because I wasn’t jumping at an angle, I was jumping straight down.

So as I hit the ground, my legs broke my fall…but then I just smacked the ground with my back and shoulder.

Then Ruben decides to try what I wasn’t able to do successfully…and he wasn’t successful either.

The point of this story is that if I were up in the mountains alone, I never would have done that…it wouldn’t have been fun by myself.

Look at Roman numeral 1. Accountability helps me tackle the problems I face. In the word “Accountability�? circle the word count.

Do you have a friend who you will be able to count on when times get tough? Someone who will climb the mountain with you, and not just sit and watch you fall?

These 5 numbers under Roman numeral 1 are the 5 benefits of accountability. If you don’t have them, it’s not a big deal; these are the ideal list to aim for when you have an accountability partner.

ON PAPER
Read Ecc. 4:10 – Relationships
Read Gal. 6:2 – Relationships

God wants us to have friends so that they can bear our burdens.

Everyone wants to be completely known, and still loved.

Would your friends still be your friends if they knew every thought you had, and knew everything little thing you did?

Read #2 on paper

ON PAPER
Read Ecc. 4:78
Read Prov. 18:24

I’m sure there aren’t too many guys who say “Ya, I really want to share my feelings and thoughts, and I still want to be loved�?

But eventually you’ll come to a place where you’ll really be glad you have an accountability partner…I promise.

Read #3 on paper
Everyone needs advice from friends…not companions.

The difference between friends and companions is what they tell you when you ask for advice. Friends will tell you the honest truth whether you want it or not…companions will tell you what you itching ears want to hear…even if it’s not the best for you.

Read Prov. 12:15

Tell story about sunglasses in restaurant.

That is a silly example but it illustrates a good point.

Right this down: A good friends advice should be listened to.

My friend saved me from embarrassment and sin…had I of not listened, I would have yelled at our waiter.

Read Prov. 12:15 again

Read #4
This isn’t talking about every day problems; this is talking about deep issues, divorce, abuse, and addiction, stuff like that.

Read James 5:16 emphasize, “so that you may be healed.�?
Why have an accountability partner? “So that you may be healed�?

Read #5
Read Prov. 27:6
Explain “friendly wounds�?

Read Prov. 27:17

Here are some practical applications:

Roman numeral 2
Read #1
This can be done with SAG 5

Read #2
Admit struggles, but you have to be real and honest.

Read #3
Ask questions, you must genuinely care though.

If you say “Yeah, I’d like to try this accountability thing�?, either let myself or someone you know and trust and get connected with an accountability partner today.

By |July 13th, 2005|About Me, Christian|0 Comments
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Commitment like Noah

Tonight we are going to be talking about Noah. I know you all know about Noah…he built a big boat and it rained for 40 days, and after a few hundred days, they got off the boat…everyone knows that part…however, do you know Noah’s last name?

Noah’s last name is Z-A-R-K, Zark…even Sunday school kids know about Noah Zark (Noah’s Ark).

Well tonight we are going to be talking about Noah, and his vision. My wife and I recently got back from Moberly, Missouri. What is in Moberly, Missouri you might ask…Well nothing to be exact.

Well there is this one thing. There is Central Christian College of the Bible in Moberly that I got accepted to with a full tuition scholarship, so we had to go visit the college.

Before we left, we checked everything we could check, we looked a reviews and information, talked to everyone we could talk to, and then we bought our tickets. We got advice from people we believe are truly seeking God’s will.

Then we prayed that God would reveal His will to us in this situation.

We sought more Godly advice through our parents.

Then we prayed some more, all the time asking God to get rid of this opportunity if it was not his will for us.

A few weeks later, we were 99.9% convinced it was His will for me to attend this school, so we bought our plane tickets, reserved a car, and talked to the people we would be staying with.

Like I said, we were 99.9% sure that it was God’s will for us to go to Moberly, but we were leaving that .1% chance up to God at this point.

When we got to Moberly, we realized after day 2 of our 6 day trip that this was not God’s plan for us.

However, in my personal life, I learned a lesson that is so valuable to me that I would gladly pay all that money if I had to do it again.

The lesson I learned is this: When God calls, you listen.

It isn’t every day that we hear or feel God call, but when he does, you had better be ready to leave everything and follow him. Pretty simple, but lets look at my situation more.

My wife’s family is all local. My family is all local. Both of our jobs are here. My wife is still in school. We don’t have the money for this. There were discouragements along the way. Why should we go to this place?

We felt God leading us. Simple as that. We knew it was God’s will for us to go. When God calls, you listen.

In Genesis 6, God tells Noah to build this huge boat. This boat would fit almost perfectly in the Madera High stadium…it was gigantic.

God also tells Noah that he is going to destroy the entire earth and everything that has the breath of life.

You have to try to picture Noah here. He was about 500 years old, and God tells him to build a ship about half the size of the Titanic. And Noah listened.

If you have ever seen the Titanic movie, or watched a documentary on the Titanic, you’ll remember that there were approximately 3300 people onboard including crew and passengers and only enough lifeboats for about half of them…that is crazy!

However, do you know how many lifeboats Noah built? None. Why? Because when God called, Noah listened and trusted God.

For Noah, obedience meant a long-term commitment to a project. Many of us have trouble sticking to any project for more than a few weeks, whether or not it is directed by God.

Isn’t it interesting that the length of Noah’s obedience was greater than the lifespan of people today. For 120 years Noah worked at constructing the Ark. The only comparable long-term project is our very lives.

If a person wants to experience life as God intended, then he or she had better be seeking God’s vision for his or her life because it’s vision that give us purpose, it’s vision that drives us and it’s vision that enables us to live above mediocrity.

When we seek and embrace the vision that God has for our lives, it is then that we truly can find God’s will.

By |July 13th, 2005|About Me, Christian|0 Comments
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Super Ultra Mega Double Hold Hair Gel

So I was at the store trying buy some hair gel. One every bottle I looked at was a ridiculous claim of how well this particular gel would hold hair in place. Some were “Ultra Hold” some were “Mega Hold” and even some were “Super Ultra Hold”. Once you get away from the words, you get into the numbers. Some are 9/10 and some are 10/10, but there are a few crazy ones that are 11/10. They apparently hold better than the perfect 10/10.

In these crazy terms I don’t know which is the best so I pick one that is blue because I like the color more than the others and all the hold claims mean nothing to me anymore. When will this nonsense end?

I figure that by the next time I need hair gel, they will just start putting glue in the bottles.

You can buy glue that you put in your hair and be done with it for a few weeks.

By |July 13th, 2005|News|0 Comments
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Movie Review: Chicano!

I really enjoyed this movie. I had never realized the amount of pressure that was put onto Mexican Americans. I guess I always sort of looked at Mexican Americans and felt that they had already achieved great amounts of progress. This movie suggested that they had, but it didn’t come until many years later. I thought it was interesting when they talked about the revolts led by different Mexican Americans. I never realized that Mexican Americans were so willing to come together and stand up for what they believe in. I guess I just haven’t seen any of it really in my time. It was nice to see the amount of support that Mexican Americans had for their leaders. They were truly loyal to those who stood up and took charge. This isn’t so true in white cultures. I am really glad that I watched this movie. I didn’t know before that White Americans had treated Mexican Americans so cruelly. I guess I always thought that there was a certain amount of a feeling of racial equality. I guess this has not always been so true in the past. I have much more respect for the Mexican Culture after watching the film. I guess I had always had a certain amount of respect for them, but after watching and realizing the amount of persecution that they endured, it truly made me respect their position today. They have come a long way in the last few years and it is truly a wonderful accomplishment for any group outside of the white race to achieve the social mobility that they have. I really like how in the beginning of the movie the narrator discussed how the term Chicano had been made to sound like a bad thing. It meant poor, or lower class. So the Mexican Americans decided to turn a negative word into a word that they could have pride in. I truly admire that because if they had just kept being asked to not be called Chicano any longer it is likely that they would have not achieved it. But instead they just decided that if people were going to call them that anyway then they should make the best of it. They did a great job because now when someone hears the term Chicano they no longer think of a poor, lower-class Mexican, they think of someone who chooses to stand up for what they believe in. I was quiet interested to hear about the amount of persecution that came from the police as they tried to break up speeches and marches. These police officers used severe violence. A peaceful demonstration would turn into a bloody massacre. Police officers began beating people, even young children and women. I couldn’t hardly believe my ears when I heard it because I never knew that there was so much opposition to Mexican American marches. This movie really opened my eyes to the reality that the Mexican Americans had to endure much persecution.

By |July 10th, 2005|Reviews|0 Comments
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