Higher Aim With Dr. Curt Dodd

If there is anything that I have personally struggled with in my life, it is waiting. Have you been waiting for the wins in your life, waiting for those promises to be fulfilled, waiting for the ‘Yeses’ to happen, and waiting for God to give you the answer that you desire?” As we take another step deeper into our series on Heroes of Faith, we will wrestle with the issue of waiting. It is an aspect of the believer's maturity process. And it’s one we can’t skip over if we want to become all that God wants us to be in this life.

Abraham's story is one that says there is hope for all of us. We can be men and women of real faith if we can follow Abraham’s example. Faith involves risk. If there is no risk, there is no faith. Faith is not a feeling. Faith involves standing on the Word of God, and sometimes that involves taking risks. Abraham's life was just one risk after another, one step of faith after another. So if we’re going to be people of faith, we can’t be afraid to take a risk.

Noah's life is applauded by the Lord, not for building an ark, not for collecting animals, not for preaching, but for living a life of faith resistance. If there was ever a message that God's people need to hear, it is simply this, “God wants us to understand what it means to resist our world system by faith.” With this in mind, there’s a lot we can learn from the life of Noah.

As we follow Jesus, we need to learn how to exercise faith in a clear foundational way. This will allow us to honor God and bring Him Glory. From today’s key passage, we will learn what faith looks like according to Scripture so we can have the kind of faith God desires for us to have.

As we close out this series, we’re going to be discussing two final characteristics of the church God blesses. We will see how being dependent on God and being gracious to other believers will lead to God’s blessings.

In this message, we are continuing our study of Hebrews and learning about the church God blesses. I want us as followers of Jesus to experience these types of blessings as we continue to live for Christ. So let’s dive in and learn some more characteristics of the church God blesses.

In today’s message, we are going to focus on verses 14-16 of Hebrews chapter 13. From these verses, we will zone in on three words: “Secure, “Sacrifice,” and “Service.” I want to unpack these words because they speak a great deal to us as followers of Jesus and how we are to live our lives.

Last week, we talked about how we shouldn’t focus on false teachings or strange doctrines that don’t line up with Scripture. But we can’t stop the conversation there. So this week, we’ll dive into what we should focus on.

We live in a culture that is easily distracted. With the internet and smartphones so easily accessible, there is always something to be doing, reading, or watching. Not to mention there are numerous sources of false teachings circling around us, tempting us to embrace lies instead of the truth of God’s Word. But there’s something to be said for being undistracted. And I believe when we as the Church choose to be undistracted, God blesses us. Let’s dive deeper into this reality in today’s message.

As we have been spending time in Hebrews Chapter 13, we have uncovered many different characteristics of the church God blesses. In this message, we are going to look at another one of the characteristics of the church and the believer who God blesses. Specifically, we’re going to look at how God blesses those who share the gospel and those who count on Jesus.

As we’ve seen throughout this series so far, there is great power and wisdom in Hebrews 13. It speaks of the kind of church that God blesses, and the kinds of believers God blesses. Today, we’re going to continue that discussion and see another truth about the church God blesses.

In today’s message, we will continue our study of Hebrews chapter 13 and discuss another characteristic of the church that God blesses. Specifically, we’ll be looking at how important it is that we value the Lord and our relationship with Him more than we value the things He gives us. Let’s dive in.

In today’s message we are going to continue our study of the book of Hebrews, specifically by looking at Hebrews 13. There’s a lot we can learn from this passage, but today, we’re going to dive deep into what it looks like to choose biblical morality as a church, and we’ll learn how God blesses us when we make that choice.

Every chapter of Hebrews is full of rich wisdom from the Lord for His children. This book applies especially to His children who are trying to make sense of their lives and are seeking His purpose and blessing in a very confusing world. So if that’s you, if you’re looking for clarity from God around who He blesses, let’s look to the book of Hebrews for the answer.

God will often use disasters to get our attention. He might use finances, relationships, and our own physical health to get our attention. But remember, He always has a purpose. We can learn some deep spiritual truths while going through tough times. Because of this truth, I want you to have a tough times theology. I want you to know what you believe about God, and what He is doing for you before tough times arrive. I want you to be ready. If you believe tough times will never come, you need to think differently. It is a false expectation to think you will be immune from tough times. So in order to help you develop a tough times theology, here are some principles for dealing with hard times.

A good question to answer from time to time is “Where are you?” It’s a question of self-awareness and self-evaluation, which are areas we should all be growing in on a regular basis, particularly when it comes to our faith. As we dive into this message, I want us to take a look at this important question in the context of today’s key Scripture passage and see how it applies to our lives as believers.

The last picture of Jesus that we are left with that introduces this Book is that of blessing and comfort. I tell you that for a couple of reasons, because verses 17 and 18, describe that specifically. Then he placed his right hand on me. Picture this as a blessing and also as a picture of comfort. When a person wants to encourage someone, they have a tendency to put their hand on them. God wants you to live a full life now. For whatever time He gives you, He places His hand of blessing and comfort upon you. Blessing comes from whose hand is on you. So in this week’s message we are going to take a look at what you can do if you want to sense the Father’s hand of comfort and blessing in your life.

In this passage of Revelation, John goes on to describe several images of Jesus that are important for us to visualize in our minds. Last week, we talked about the first image of His clothes: the robe going to his feet (picture of authority), and the golden sash around his chest (picture of priestly royalty). And we also talked about His hair being white as snow and how white represents purity and wisdom. Let’s continue this list today of things we need to visualize according to John’s description of Jesus.

The last couple of weeks, we’ve talked about John describing Jesus as being a picture of authority and partnership. This week, I want us to see that the Messiah is also a picture of power. Today’s key verses describe the powerful image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, I want us to take several steps to understand this picture of power and break it down into more specific parts.

In this message, I want us to take one more step in this perfect picture of the Messiah. This is, “A picture of partnership.” If you read Revelation 1:9-11, you will see that what John is describing is the perfect picture of partnership. More specifically, John wants us to understand that God calls us to be in partnership with three different entities: believers, the Lord, and the church.