Come Home Before Dark
About this sermon
In “Come Home Before Dark,” Pastor Dean Odle presents a Scripture-centered message about family discipleship, salvation, the authority of Scripture. Drawing especially from Luke 15, John 10, John 3, Romans 8, the teaching emphasizes that faithfulness in the home requires instruction, loving correction, protection, and a consistent Christian example. Odle connects that foundation with the conviction that salvation is presented as God’s work in Christ that produces a changed life and continuing faith.
Chronological teaching outline
Select a section heading to play the sermon from that moment.
Odle focuses on the authority of Scripture while working through Luke 15, John 10, John 3. The message argues that Scripture is presented as the standard for doctrine, discernment, and daily obedience. It connects this with the conviction that faithfulness in the home requires instruction, loving correction, protection, and a consistent Christian example. The practical emphasis is to test the teaching by Scripture and apply it through faithful obedience.
Odle focuses on salvation while working through Romans 8. The message argues that salvation is presented as God’s work in Christ that produces a changed life and continuing faith. It connects this with the conviction that God calls believers to reject compromise and pursue practical holiness. The practical emphasis is to trust God’s promises and refuse decisions governed by fear.
Odle focuses on family discipleship while working through Luke 15, Matthew 13, Matthew 25. The message argues that faithfulness in the home requires instruction, loving correction, protection, and a consistent Christian example. It connects this with the conviction that Scripture is presented as the standard for doctrine, discernment, and daily obedience. The practical emphasis is to test the teaching by Scripture and apply it through faithful obedience.
Odle focuses on family discipleship while working through Luke 15. The message argues that faithfulness in the home requires instruction, loving correction, protection, and a consistent Christian example. It connects this with the conviction that the promise of eternal life directs believers toward hope, holiness, and perseverance in Christ. The practical emphasis is to test the teaching by Scripture and apply it through faithful obedience.
Odle focuses on family discipleship while working through Peter 3, Ephesians 5, Galatians 5. The message argues that faithfulness in the home requires instruction, loving correction, protection, and a consistent Christian example. It connects this with the conviction that salvation is presented as God’s work in Christ that produces a changed life and continuing faith. The practical emphasis is to respond with honest repentance and concrete obedience.
Odle focuses on salvation while working through Numbers 22, Peter 2. The message argues that salvation is presented as God’s work in Christ that produces a changed life and continuing faith. It connects this with the conviction that faithfulness in the home requires instruction, loving correction, protection, and a consistent Christian example. The practical emphasis is to practice patient, truthful love in relationships and conflict.
Odle focuses on endurance. The message argues that faithful endurance is necessary when obedience brings testing, opposition, or suffering. It connects this with the conviction that believers are warned to test persuasive claims and religious appearances by Scripture. The practical emphasis is to respond with honest repentance and concrete obedience.
Odle focuses on family discipleship. The message argues that faithfulness in the home requires instruction, loving correction, protection, and a consistent Christian example. It connects this with the conviction that God’s grace forgives and also trains believers to leave sin and live in obedience. The practical emphasis is to examine the heart, receive correction, and finish faithfully.
Open each passage and read it in its complete biblical context.
Read and follow along
Read representative excerpts here, or open the complete indexable transcript to search every timestamped section.
Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
- 0:00:00
i want you to turn with me in your bibles um let's just go ahead and turn to luke chapter 15 just quickly i do have a message from the lord this morning that god spoke to me very very clearly and i i want to explain i feel like the lord wanted me to tell you kind of how this came about so you'll understand you know we've been on a series talking about being led by the spirit and and it's kind of shifted over in uh last week talking about uh last week i entitled the message evangelism 101 because just basic basic things that you need to know if you're going to share the gospel with somebody but there's something else that we need to delve into and i was working this week with kevin and and the guys and and and really i've been very busy my mind's been scattered it's not always uh i've been very tired uh getting up at 4 15 in the morning every morning that which when you're not used to doing that is a changes everything in your life there but it's been good but i remember earlier in the week i was working and i was asking god i said what do you want me what is the message for sunday and just as clear as a bell now not like you hear me this morning but i know it was the lord spoke with that still small voice and he said the prodigal son and i said okay and then i got on something else and you know how your mind gets on other things and then a couple of days goes by and i'd forgotten you know you can forget what god says to you because sometimes it's very subtle and i'd forgotten and so i'm sitting there praying again lord what do you want me to preach on sunday what is the word and he said it's just as plain as day just like he was standing next to me he said the prodigal son and then i i said oh wow you said that earlier in the week i remember now and he was like yeah and i thought for him to tell me that clearly twice i said hmm okay then we will do that now before we look at this there's something that i need i want you to just hold that spot because we may go to a few spots but let me just explain something about the kingdom of god in the kingdom of god you are either you are either in the in the world you're either born again turn from your sins had a supernatural experience with jesus been born again regenerated on the inside and walking with god with all your heart or if that has never happened in your life then you are not a child of god okay the bible clearly says and i'm going to go to some things that the bible says that if we are not born again we are of our father the devil we are children of the world we are children of the wicked one we are children of darkness there's this lie coming forth and from uh churches even and in our society now that everyone's a child of god and god loves everybody and everybody's gonna make it eventually that's the lie we don't want to hear the fact that some are children of god
- 0:03:01
because they've been born again they've turned from their sin they've made jesus lord and they're following him they people don't want to hear that there are going to be many who are wicked who are not considered sheep they are goats they are not considered sheep and they are going to be lost and and put into everlasting destruction in the lake of fire which the bible says now that's you know that's what so many churches will not tell you anymore and the world wants to pressure in on your minds and your thoughts that you know really everyone's children of god and everyone's kind of basically good at heart and everyone's really going to make it only the real evil ones aren't going to make and then there's some nuts out there or universalists that actually believe even the nuts like hitler are going to make it to heaven okay now they can believe that if they want but that's not what the bible teaches now is it i want you to go with me hold luke 15 because we're coming right back but i want you to look i want you to look at first of all let's look at john chapter 10 real quick now i could quote these verses for you but you need to see them because i don't want you thinking i'm making stuff up all right john 10 verse 27. so pretty basic this is going to be just laying the foundation before we get into our story about the prodigal son john 10 27 now what does that say there my sheep jesus said this is jesus talking he said my sheep hear my voice or my sheep hear my voice and i know them and they follow me and he says and i will give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand now of course some people try to use this scripture to preach eternal security but or once saved always saved but this scripture is very clear when he says my sheep hear my voice that's a present tense greek verb which whenever you get a present tense greek verb it means an action that is ongoing continuous and taking place in the present that is the greek word verb tense therefore here and for follow so what this verse translated literally in the greek language would be those my sheep are continually hearing my voice they are hearing my voice right now and they're doing it right now and they're following me now they're hearing me always and continuously and they're following me now so he said my sheep hear my voice and they follow me okay now let's go back back up a little bit let's go to john chapter three everybody ought to be familiar with this yet it seems to not be preached anymore hardly john 3 and let's just start reading at verse 3.
- 0:06:03
and jesus answered speaking to the nicodemus the rabbi who was a very moral man but not saved and jesus answered and said unto him verily verily i say unto you except a man be born again he shall not see the kingdom of god and then nicodemus said and how can a man be born when he is old can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born and jesus answered verily verily i say unto you except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter in to the kingdom of god that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit marvel not that i said unto you that you must be born again let's just get this across you are not a child of god unless you are born again and that is a supernatural experience it is an encounter with the holy spirit i like what john wesley said about his encounter you know john wesley is the founder of the methodist church though he would roll over in his grave if he heard what was being preached in the most methodist churches now but for the for the most part when john wesley was at oxford he made the holy club at oxford him and george whitefield and his brother charles and i i think one other guy i can't remember who it was but anyway they had the holy club and they believed in christianity or said they they acknowledged christianity and they were more holy and righteous than than most christians were at that time but they were not born again they had not yet had a supernatural encounter with god where they knew that their spirit had been transformed on the inside and so john wesley goes and comes across over here to the american colonies in the 1700s and becomes a missionary to the indians in the georgia territory okay he comes over and he tries to convert the indians the american indians that were living there yet he was not converted is it any wonder that he was a miserable failure in that missionary effort you need to be converted if you're really going to get other people converted you need to have the spirit of god in you and working through you if you're going to really see some effect so he kind of he gets back on a ship after being here for some time he gets back on a ship and is headed back to europe a miserable failure wondering why he could not do anything effectively well on that same ship were some moravian christians the moravians were a bunch of nuts that were truly converted and on fire for god and the ship got in a terrible storm and it looked like it was going to sink and everybody was going to die it looked hopeless and these people were singing and john wesley was terrified and he goes i don't have what they have so when he talked to them a little bit but when he got back to england he went to one of their bible studies and it was interesting that in that bible study they were going through luther's preface on romans and in that bible study john wesley realized
- 0:09:03
that he had truly not exercised faith [Music] in jesus blood and the resurrection of jesus and had the witness of the holy spirit and when he did that he said and i quote this is john wesley and i quote he said and he said i felt my heart strangely warned and the bible clearly says in romans 8 that if we are children of god the holy spirit will bear witness with our spirit listen if you can be saved and not know it you could lose it not miss it you understand this is not something that is just intellectual ascent it has to be an encounter with god so being born again is a total surrender it is a faith that says i will give up everything i will follow you jesus i will believe in the bloodshed on the cross i will believe in your resurrection and i surrender my life from this point forward and when that truly happens in you there will be an encounter inside you that you will feel some will experience it as warmth and heat some will experience it as a great peace and love but you will know the living god he is not dead and if you meet him and your spirit is saved and regenerated and renewed and resurrected to life you will know that you're saved if you haven't had that witness of the holy spirit in your heart i question whether you're saved no matter what you say you believe okay because the scripture says if you have the spirit of christ he will bear witness inside of you and let you know all right so you have to be born again not everyone that calls themselves a christian either is born again but let's go on let's go over now go to john chapter eight hanging out in john for a minute i want you to see that jesus didn't call everybody children of god matter of fact he was very direct with some all right john chapter 8 the pharisees had just brought the woman caught in the act of adultery jesus must have discerned that she had genuine repentance and sorrow in her heart because he forgave her and didn't condemn her and let her go but then he begins to converse with the pharisees and they were the religious leaders and they were going back and forth arguing about things but jesus finally starts getting truthful to them and telling them right where they were so i want you to go down let's go down and look at uh oh what verse are we going to go down to oh let's look at uh goodness there's so much here i don't want to read it all well let's look at verse 38. he says i speak that which i have seen of my father this is jesus speaking he said you do that which you have seen with your father and they answered and said unto him abraham is our father jesus said unto them if you were abraham's children you would do the works of abraham but now
The complete timestamped transcript is published as a crawlable reading page so every sermon topic remains searchable without making this video page unnecessarily heavy.
Read and search the complete transcriptThe overview attributes the sermon’s interpretations and disputed claims to the speaker; inclusion does not indicate independent verification.