Higher Aim With Dr. Curt Dodd

In this message, I want to address one of the biggest fears we face as human beings: the fear of failure. Surprisingly enough, there are pros and cons to failure. Sometimes, failure is a great teacher. But other times, failure creates unbelievable pain. Life is not pain free, at all. We know that. However, through the power of the Word of God, we can make sense of our pain; and yes, even make sense of our failure. So as we look at God’s Word today, we’re going to examine the lives of many prominent, biblical figures and look at how the dealt with failure. As we do, I would encourage you to take note of what stands out to you about their story and think about what you can learn about failure from each of their lives.

As we continue our discussion on prayer, I want us to focus specifically on what it looks like to pray for our fellow believers, whether that be other believers in our community right now, or the next generation of believers that will come behind us. These people need our prayers, and I want us to make it our goal to pray for them daily so that the Lord would use them mightily for His glory to further His Kingdom.

If there was ever a time you needed to be praying, it is now. Praying to God and spending time communicating with Him should be a regular part of your daily routine. However, many people are intimidated by prayer. They don’t know where to start and what to say. They don’t want to “bother God” with their requests and issues. Thankfully, we have someone to look to when learning how to pray. Jesus gave us a great example of how we should approach prayer when He prayed The Lord’s Prayer, found in the Gospel of Matthew. So with this prayer as our model, let’s look at four things you can include in your daily prayer time.

Drinking the cup that God often provides for us is difficult. Even though God's plan is for you to do His will, maybe what He has offered you to drink right now is too difficult in this season of your life. But you must decide whether you will make the difficult decision to do what God has called you to do or choose to navigate out of it. God has given each of us a cup from which to drink, so in this message, I want to help you and encourage you as you accept the cup you’ve been given and move forward in obedience to God’s will for your life.

Over the years, I have heard people use different excuses to justify why they are giving in a certain way, rather than doing what Scripture describes. This is a very personal and private thing. We give privately and yet collectively as the body of Christ. It is a personal decision and experience. We don't send bills to people; and we don't send notices that say you haven't been giving your tithe or offering. We don't send out letters like that. I know some congregations do that. I just want to teach you what the Bible says about your belongings, because this is part of the basics of living as a believer.

As we continue our conversation on learning to love, we’re going to take a look at a few other ways we can love others the way Jesus did during His time on earth. It’s not enough to just show up for people, like we talked about last week. In addition to that, we have to exercise several other characteristics of Christlike love if we want to love well. We’ll break down each of those characteristics in this message.

There is not one of us on the face of this earth who has it all together in this aspect of loving. Do you know why? Because we have a tendency to be very self-focused, self-centered, and self- absorbed. Most of the time, we are concerned about how other people are receiving us. We are wondering what other people think of us. That is not love. That’s a self-focused, self-centered life. If we want to learn to love, we need to look at the example Jesus set for us. So in this week’s message, we are going to take a look at the first thing we need to do if we want to learn how to love more like Christ.

The word “Ekklesia” is the Koine ́ Greek word for church. It is a compound word, “ek” (the preposition, which means “out of”) and “kaleo” (to call). The word “ekklesia” literally means “called out of ones.” In other words, we, as God's children, have been called out of the world to live for Christ. This is interesting: 90% of the time that the word “ekklesia” is used in the New Testament, it refers to the local church. Only 10% of the time, it refers to the body of Christ worldwide, the spiritual body of Christ. We are going to take a look at this word more closely in today’s message as we understand the importance of fellowship and community in the local church, and we’ll answer the question “Why do we need brotherhood in the church?”

John wrote his three epistles so that you and I could know without a shadow of a doubt that we know Jesus, that we understand the gospel, and that we have a personal relationship with our Savior. If you read through first John, the author gives us seven questions to answer. The questions are there to challenge us but also to give us confidence that we really do belong to Christ as His followers.

There are a lot of people who have already given their life to Christ. They are suited up. Many Christians have been trained up, but there is a problem. Many believers today need to get up. I want you to feel a little uncomfortable if you are not getting up. I want to talk to you who have been benchwarmers. You know Christ and you have been following Him for some time. You know the plays, but you are sitting on the bench; and you are not completely engaged. I don't know what is happening in your life right now, but I know that God doesn't have any benchwarmers! He doesn't want us to be sitting on the bench on the sidelines, talking to each other. He wants us to be ready to go. He wants us to either be on the field, or He wants us to be ready to get onto the field the moment he sends us into the game.

Have you ever trained for something before? Maybe you trained to run a race, or to play a sport, or compete in an event. Whatever the case may be, the training most likely wasn’t easy. It was strenuous and difficult, possibly even painful. You had to push yourself further than you thought you could go for the sake of preparing your body and your mind for the upcoming challenge. As believers, we have training to do as well. We have to be prepared spiritually, mentally, and emotionally for all that we will face as we follow Christ. The Christian life is no cake walk. We will face difficulties and obstacles along the way, which is why we can’t skip out on training, learning, and becoming disciples if we want to walk out our faith well. There are several truths that apply to us as followers of Jesus when it comes to the tough times we will face in our lives, and I want us to look at a few of those today.

Some of my most vivid memories from my childhood come from when I played football. I remember being so excited when I finally got the chance to suit up in junior high to play tackle football. But before the season began, I had to make sure I had all of the right equipment. I had to get cleats, shoulder pads, a helmet, a mouth guard. Each piece of equipment was important for success and protection as I played football. In a lot of ways, suiting up to play football is similar to suiting up as believers. The Bible talks about how as followers of Jesus, we are always in the midst of a spiritual battle. We are fighting against unseen forces every day to further the Kingdom of God and push back against the enemy. If we are going to be successful in this battle, it is important that we suit up. And to suit up correctly and effectively, we have to understand where we fit on God’s team. Let’s take a look at three things that are true of us as members of God’s army.