Higher Aim with Dr. Curt Dodd

In today’s key passage of Scripture in Galatians 6, Paul talks about carrying our own load, but at the same time, carrying the burdens of other people. God has not called us to just live for ourselves; we are to be engaged in the lives of other people. That is why living in community with other believers is so important. As we live in this way, there are several things we learn about carrying other people’s burdens, and that is exactly what we are going to look at in this message.

Today’s key Scripture passage is such a great passage! If we could just do what this passage tells us, we could defeat any anxious thoughts that we will ever have. God has a plan for your life, and He is in control! But regardless of where you are physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, and financially, anxiety is always a temptation. You will be very anxious about those things which you cannot resolve. Our minds can wreak havoc on who we are. Sometimes, the silence inside of us doesn't calm us because we are full of anxious thoughts. Paul writes very clearly to the Philippians, just like he would write to us today, on how to deal with our anxieties. With this in mind, there are several things we need to understand if we want to handle anxiety in a God- honoring way.

What kind of decision-maker are you? Would you say you regularly make wise decisions? Do you make strategic decisions? Do you make delayed decisions? Or do you often find yourself making poor decisions? These are important questions to ask yourself because the decisions you make determine the direction you go in life. And if you’re making disastrous decisions, you’re going to be heading for disaster! But how do we know if you’re heading for disaster? Well, that’s what we’ll learn today as we dive into God’s Word.

In Luke chapter 15, we read three different parables Jesus told His disciples. There are many similar themes and common pieces within this trilogy of parables, and that is what we are going to dive into in today’s message. I firmly believe as we study these Scriptures, we will be given a guide as to how to find what we are looking for, using the words of Jesus as our North Star.

As a believer, you will go through different seasons. Some will be tougher than others. Therefore, you must make sure your head is screwed on straight. You need to correctly interpret the Word of God and know how to apply it to your life because there will always be issues that you will encounter. In light of this, I want us to look at today’s key passage in Acts and embrace and understand some key principles we can draw from this portion of Scripture and apply to our lives as we mature in our faith.

God is in the business of answering prayers in faith. Therefore, God wants each of us to know how to pray in faith. But sadly, many of us don’t know what it means or what it looks like to pray in faith. In this message, we are going to look at a passage of Scripture in the gospel of Mark that gives us some guidelines as believers on how to actually be involved in the lives of others through praying in faith. From this passage, we will learn several principles we can apply to our lives as we learn to pray in faith and watch God work as He answers our prayers according to His will and His timing.

Conflict is part of life. There’s no way around it. But it’s how we deal with conflict that is critical. We should not be afraid of conflict; instead, we should look forward to how God will use conflict in our lives. In this message, I want to look at the positive side of conflict. It is important that we learn how to handle conflict before we get into a conflict, and we do that by diving into Scripture and seeing what God has to say about handling conflict. This way, we can honor Him not just through the good times in life, but through the tougher, more uncomfortable times as well.

Have you ever felt stuck in your faith before? It just feels like the flow of God is not happening in your life. There is nothing happening spiritually, and you are just going through the motions with your wheels spinning. In today’s key passage of Scripture, Jesus was talking to a group of people who were stuck. They were average people who wanted to know God. This Scripture passage is important for us because Jesus wants the flow of His Spirit to happen in our lives. He wants us to move forward and not stay where we are. If you are feeling stuck today, I want to share with you a few things that will help you get unstuck in your walk with Christ.

I want you to ask yourself this question: “Where are you serving?” There are all kinds of places to serve. You can serve in the ministry of discipleship. You can serve in the ministry of worship. However, one of the greatest places you can serve is out in the community. God wants His children to be involved in serving. I pray that your Christian life is not about receiving, but more about giving. This happens when we choose to serve. In this message, I want us to look at the key characteristics of someone who serves so we can begin to emulate these characteristics in our own lives if we aren’t already.

The Christian life depends upon communion with God. It revolves around your prayer life. If it was important to Jesus, it should be important to us. In this message, we are going to look at a simple Scripture passage that will teach us how to pray like Jesus every day and give us steps we can follow to have a Christlike prayer life.