Higher Aim With Dr. Curt Dodd

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.

In today’s key verse of Revelation 1:8, we see something that is very powerful. I would call it the perfect picture of the Messiah. And as we look over the next few weeks at how the perfect picture of Jesus is described, we will start with one thing, and that is that Jesus the Messiah is a picture of authority. There is so much we can learn about Jesus from this one verse, but all of that learning starts with understanding His authority in our lives and in our world.

As we continue our study of the book of Revelation, we are going to spend some more time looking at the perfect picture of God’s messenger, and that is John. In today’s key passage, John is still taken away with Christ alone even after all of the years of following Jesus. You can't read what he wrote (inspired by the Holy Spirit) without capturing his passion, love and worship of Jesus Christ. As we look at these words, I need to tell you that some of us have lost heart. How does that happen? How does someone lose the fire that was once in their heart to follow Christ? In the coming days, we will read about a church that lost its first love. But for now, I want us to become aware that we may have lost our fire. And when that happens, we need to know what to do to keep the fire alive in our hearts.

As we continue in our study of the book of Revelation, we are going to see the perfect picture of God's messenger that is described for us in verses four through seven. You see, the Book of Revelation was a letter. It was intended to be read as a letter, a letter that John intended for all Christians to read, then and now. More than likely, the book was written around 95 to 96 A.D. John describes that God gave him this book on the Island of Patmos. As the messenger, he was responsible for simply penning what he was seeing. He wants everyone to see what he was seeing. And so as we look at this picture from John, we are going to learn not only about the message he was giving us, but about the messenger himself.

Today, we are beginning a brand-new sermon series through the book of Revelation! In this verse-by-verse study, we are going to dive deep into this book that cause so many of us to be confused, lost, and frustrated as we try to understand it. But the Lord has packed so much information into this book that is pertinent for us to learn. So the goal for this series is to help guide you as you study the book of Revelation and aid you in your search for clarity in this amazing book of Scripture.

God does not want you to see yourself as a failure. Instead, He wants you to learn from the failures you go through. Sometimes, the only lesson you will learn is, “Don't do that again.” In today’s key passage, there are three basic lessons that you will learn from failure. We discussed the first two last week, so we’re going to add the third this week. I pray you will learn from these failures in your own life and that you will find encouragement and comfort even when you fall short.

God does not want you to see yourself as a failure. Instead, He wants you to learn from the failures you go through. Sometimes, the only lesson you will learn is, “Don't do that again.” In this passage, there are three basic lessons that you will learn from failure, which we will discuss over the next two weeks. I pray you will learn from these failures in your own life and that you will find encouragement and comfort even when you fall short.

As believers, we need to be mindful of where we are going. It is like we are headed down a road where there is a huge sign across the road that says, “Bridge out.” If you keep driving, you are headed for disaster. Many people are looking at the signs that are occurring today, and they are heading into disaster. This is very important for you to understand. The Bible says that in the last days, terrible times will come. Great Tribulations will come. The New Testament explains the characteristics about those End Times. The Bible says there will be terrible, despicable, periloustimes. But at the same time, God promises to pour out His Holy Spirit during those last days. That’s not a contradiction. It’s a both-and situation. Our world is falling apart, and yet we’re seeing God do amazing things for His Kingdom. With this in mind, let’s look at some of the signs of the End Times as described in Scripture.

The cross was a watershed moment for the Apostle Paul and for us. It is important that we understand the cross and the power of the cross. It is more powerful than a piece of jewelry or a symbol that others see. In the early church, the symbol was not the cross. The cross was a Roman instrument of death. As we look back 2,000 years, the cross represents the power of God. What kind of power are we talking about? That’s what we’re going to discuss in today’s message.

Many of us have the mentality that says, “God, I want to do this. I want to go there.” We find ourselves upside down when we want God to bless our plans rather than be part of His plan for our lives. Oswald Chambers once said, “It is not right for the servant to tell the master what he will do and what he will not do.” As children of God and followers of Jesus, the most important thing for us to know is the will of God for our lives. But how do you find God's will? What does it look like? In today’s key passage, Jesus gives us a glimpse of God's will. So as we look at this passage, we will discuss some key principles for God’s will.

In this week’s message, we are continuing our conversation around forgiveness, discussing the steps we can take to forgive those who have hurt us and seeing what we can learn from the life and teaching of Jesus about Christlike forgiveness.

The story in today’s key passage of Scripture is a tough one. Forgiveness is always a tough subject in this broken world of ours. But as Jesus addresses this issue, He was being tougher on the person who withheld forgiveness than the person who committed the offense. Why would Jesus do that? That’s what we’re going to look at in today’s message. As we do, we need to ask and answer three specific questions. We’ll answer the first one today and then we’ll dive into the other two next week.

If you look at the entire book of 1 John, you’ll see very clearly the characteristics of someone who is a child of God. When you have given your life to Christ and surrendered your life to Him, I believe there are seven characteristics that will be true of you. In today’s message, we’re going to discuss these seven characteristics in depth.

As we continue our conversation around what we believe as followers of Jesus, we are going to reiterate some very important truths today. We’re going to look at why we believe what we believe surrounding communion and baptism and how these are symbols in our faith walk, but not the things that actually save us. Let's dive in together.

We are in week three of our series entitled, “What We Believe.” In this series, we’re discussing just that: what we believe. We’re diving into Scripture and making sure we have a clear understanding of our beliefs and our faith so that we are prepared to give a reason regarding the hope that is in us, as Peter says in his first epistle. Today, we’re going to continue this conversation by discussing what we believe about salvation and church membership. Let’s dive in together.