Higher Aim With Dr. Curt Dodd

Today as we continue our study of Revelation, we will look at the entirety of chapter four. There are only 11 verses, but they are packed full of imagery that should blow your mind. Remember, this is a first century man, trying to explain what he experienced and saw in heaven. There is much symbolism, but with the greatness of what is mentioned, the reality is even greater. Open your mind and open your heart to allow God's Word to sink deeply down inside of you. Allow the Spirit of God to apply His words specifically to where you are right now.

For many people, the word “rapture” doesn't make much sense. They are really confused about what it is. In fact, for many, the Book of Revelation is extremely confusing. Some people have tried to read it and have so much difficulty wading through the prophecy and the unfolding that they sometimes quit right in the middle of it. They quit before they reached the good part. So today, we are going to continue our study of Revelation and take a look at what Scripture has to say about the rapture so that we can be informed, rather than confused, by the truth we read regarding the events that are to come.

Do you wrestle with theological issues on what you believe about God? Do you wonder what you believe about the Word of God and what it actually teaches? Do you wrestle with that? Or do you allow that to just go over your head, or in one ear and out the other? It is important for us to understand what we believe. Today is a good time for me to remind you of the basics. Thereby, you will be anchored correctly so that you can be squarely lined up in the right direction. God wants you to understand theologically and doctrinally what is important.

Today’s key passage in Revelation describes the church of Laodicea, the church full of believers, who were “caught like a deer in the headlights.” They were caught in the act. Jesus exposes what has been happening in their midst and in their own personal lives, publicly. And as a result, they froze. Maybe that is where you find yourself today. I pray that you will not just stand in the road, but you will move to do whatever God is telling you to do. Let’s look at how we can learn to do just that from reading about the church at Laodicea.

We are getting ready to take our next step by looking at the sixth church in the Book of Revelation. These seven churches are very important. They represent different kinds of Christians, different kinds of churches, and different kinds of church ages. The one we will look at today is the church at Philadelphia. The church at Philadelphia was a church that had an open door. This is an exciting church to examine. This is an exciting age to look at, the missionary age, and there’s a lot we can learn from this specific church within this age.

As we continue our study of the book of Revelation, we are going to take a look at the Church of Sardis, the church who fell asleep at the wheel when it came to their faith. They desperately needed a spiritual wakeup call. So if you are in a similar position today, if you’re on the right path but you’ve somehow fallen asleep at the wheel and need to wakeup, this message is for you.

The big question we need to ask ourselves today is this: Why do we continue to believe lies even after they have been proven wrong? Have you ever wondered that? Why do people continue to embrace things that are false even after they have been taught and informed on the truth? We’re going to take a closer look at these questions in this message as we study the church at Thyatira and see how they struggled to hold onto the truth as well.

Many old-time Christians say, “That's the problem in our culture today, we have compromised. We have compromised our music and our dress. We even read different translations of the Bible; we compromise there.” Those are not wrong compromises. However, there are compromises that are destructive. We need to realize that God has a plan for us. He does not want us to be men and women who compromise concerning the essential truths of God's Word, that we know are true. In the early church season, there was a church that was known to be a compromising church. It was the church at Pergamum. It is one of the seven churches that Jesus wrote letters to concerning their compromise. In this message, we are going to take a closer look at this church and see what we can learn from them so we don’t compromise on what really matters.

Have you ever been persecuted? Have you ever really suffered for your faith? Have you ever been passed over for a promotion because of your personal religious values? A few of us know what it really means to be persecuted. We may have experienced the dislike of individuals or the shunning of friendships because of decisions that we have made for Christ, but few of us know what it really means to be persecuted. So in this message, we are going to see what it looks like to remain faithful in the midst of persecution.

In today’s message, we will continue our conversation about the church at Ephesus and what we can learn from John’s writing to them. The book of Revelation is a book of encouragement and hope when we’re struggling and facing tough times, so there is much to be gleaned from this book, particularly when it comes to the church at Ephesus, so let’s dig in.

I really believe the message of Revelation is hope in the midst of unbelievable trials. It offered encouragement for believers who were being persecuted, who had no idea what tomorrow held. And it gave guidance and direction on how to reclaim your lost love. In the message, we’ll take a closer look at the letter to the Church at Ephesus and see what we can learn from their journey on how come back to our first love.

If you are a father, or you hope to be a father someday, God wants you to bless your children. More important than providing for them financially and physically, He wants you as a father to learn how to bless your children. So with that in mind, I want you to think about how you can be honoring and blessing your kids. If you want to bless your children, I encourage you to do each of the things we will talk about in this message.

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.

Billy Graham once said, “The influence of a mother upon the lives of her children cannot be measured. They know and absorb her example and attitudes when it comes to questions of honesty, temperance, kindness, and industry.” This is such an important reminder for all of us as we celebrate our mothers this time of year. And in light of the fact that we learn so much from our mothers, I figured it would be wise for us to look at the story of Mary, the mother of our Savior, because there is so much we can learn and glean from her story. So in this week’s message, I want us to take a look at some of the specific takeaways from Mary’s life.

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.