Do We Love God?
About this sermon
In “Do We Love God?,” Pastor Dean Odle presents a Scripture-centered message about biblical love, family discipleship, the condition of the heart. Drawing especially from Matthew 22, 2 Timothy 4, Colossians 4, Jeremiah 15, the teaching emphasizes that biblical love is demonstrated through truth, patience, sacrifice, and conduct toward others. Odle connects that foundation with the conviction that faithfulness in the home requires instruction, loving correction, protection, and a consistent Christian example.
Chronological teaching outline
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Odle focuses on biblical love. The message argues that biblical love is demonstrated through truth, patience, sacrifice, and conduct toward others. It connects this with the conviction that following Christ requires self-denial, obedience, and perseverance rather than passive association with religion. The practical emphasis is to trust God’s promises and refuse decisions governed by fear.
Odle focuses on biblical love. The message argues that biblical love is demonstrated through truth, patience, sacrifice, and conduct toward others. It connects this with the conviction that the inner life must be healed, guarded, and brought under the truth of God’s word. The practical emphasis is to respond with honest repentance and concrete obedience.
Odle focuses on biblical love while working through Matthew 22. The message argues that biblical love is demonstrated through truth, patience, sacrifice, and conduct toward others. 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 remain watchful, grounded in Scripture, and ready to obey Christ.
Odle focuses on biblical love while working through 2 Timothy 4, Colossians 4. The message argues that biblical love is demonstrated through truth, patience, sacrifice, and conduct toward others. It connects this with the conviction that unresolved offense can become bitterness, while forgiveness releases judgment to God and protects the heart. The practical emphasis is to respond with honest repentance and concrete obedience.
Odle focuses on biblical love. The message argues that biblical love is demonstrated through truth, patience, sacrifice, and conduct toward others. It connects this with the conviction that biblical faith trusts God’s character and acts upon His promises. The practical emphasis is to trust God’s promises and refuse decisions governed by fear.
Odle focuses on family discipleship while working through Jeremiah 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 biblical love is demonstrated through truth, patience, sacrifice, and conduct toward others. The practical emphasis is to remain watchful, grounded in Scripture, and ready to obey Christ.
Odle focuses on spiritual vigilance. The message argues that believers are urged to remain sober, alert, prayerful, and ready amid spiritual danger. 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 remain watchful, grounded in Scripture, and ready to obey Christ.
Odle focuses on biblical love while working through Matthew 22, John 5. The message argues that biblical love is demonstrated through truth, patience, sacrifice, and conduct toward others. It connects this with the conviction that God’s commands reveal His standard and direct the obedient life. The practical emphasis is to seek God in prayer and act on what Scripture requires.
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- 0:00:00
hallelujah that's something i think that i want to talk to you about today i want you to turn to the gospel of john the gospel of john chapter 21 we'll start there i think i want to talk to you today about loving god i think it's something that we constantly need to check ourselves about do we love god do we love god more than anything else do we love god more than this world do we love god more than the things we have do we love god more than our family do we love god more than money i mean do we love god more than um than anything and this the reason this is on my heart right now is because i'm just burdened by what i see going on in christianity today because really what i think is going to get most people in the end most christians who fall away in this time and this season of apostasy that we're in i think what's going to get more than anything else is those who think that they're okay and they've really lost their love and passion for god but they say well i believe in jesus i believe in god i'm a christian i was saved but somewhere along the line they they just lost their their their zeal their passion their first love you know and this is something that you know you that ought to trouble you sometimes it ought to stir you up and go you know god do i am i really am i really passionately in love with you do i love what you love and hate what you hate do i want to be with you do i want to hear you you know even that song is beautiful as that song is and we love singing it i love your presence but you know it's easy to love god when he's manifesting his presence on you and you feel all that peace and that his love and you feel all that power and the reality of of jesus is is on you and all over you and it's easy to go lord i love your presence but do you still love god or do you love the feelings god gives you do you really love god or do you love the blessings you know and i think that's why it's one of the reasons why god lets trials and tribulations come into our lives do we still love him when things don't work out the way we would like them to work out i mean the greatest time of trouble and persecution and trial is about to come
- 0:03:01
on the world to end this thing out and i think the reason is is that god is going to allow these things to happen to find out who will love him when everything is falling apart when it is difficult when it is painful when it is a struggle when there is temptation on every side when there is darkness on every side will we still love him and trust him no matter what happens see the test is always going to be to see whether we love god with all of our heart i want to show you this because this is what jesus asked peter you know the question you know and i could preach on god's love for us everybody ought to know that one right i think god made it clear right bible says that god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life right it's amazing the bible says that while we were yet sinners christ died for us he's commended his love toward us and god has showed the fact that he loves us right and as i've said and you've heard me say many times that's not in question that's never in question the question is do we love him the question is how much do we love him the question is is our love for him growing or is it waning what's happening um this is after peter had denied the lord and of course this is after jesus had died on the cross and rose again from the dead and and jesus appears on the the shore so let's go i guess we'll go down to verse 12 and this is when jesus had appeared on the shore and they were all out fishing and they they came to the shore and jesus was sitting there cooking some fish for them and verse 12 jesus said to them come and dine and none of his disciples just asked him who art thou knowing that it was the lord so he must have looked a little different after his resurrection and he said this is now the third time that jesus showed himself to his disciples after that he was risen from the dead [Music] so when they had dined meaning after they had eaten their dinner or lunch or whatever it was in front of everyone now imagine this in front of all the other disciples jesus turns to simon peter just to simon in front of everyone and he turns and he says to simon peter simon son of jonah love us thou me more than these and he said unto him yea lord you know
- 0:06:02
that i love you he saith unto him feed my lambs and he saith unto him the second time simon son of jonah loveth thou me and he said unto him yay lord you know that i love you he said unto him feed my sheep then he saith unto him a third time simon son of jonah loveth thou me and peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time loveth thou me and he said unto him lord you know that all things you know that i love you and jesus said unto him feed my sheep now the reason i bring that out is because the lord asked us that question i mean peter in a way i mean peter demonstrated his his love toward the lord his commitment his discipleship he had forsaken his job his fishing career he'd even left his family behind for a season to follow jesus all over israel as he preached the gospel three years but then at the end of that time you know peter peter had some pride in his heart peter had some ambition in his heart he had some selfishness in his heart and all of that came bubbling up to the surface and and of course peter ended up denying the lord and even cursing him but do you think for a minute that that was really what was in peter's heart [Music] i mean sometimes our actions don't match what's in our heart but jesus didn't let it go [Music] jesus confronted the issue even further but the question he kept asking do you love me now what's interesting i can go into the the greek words in this verse because he asked him do you love me matter of fact let's look at it he said in the first verse he said simon peter verse 15 he said simon son of jonah do you love me more than these he used the word agape there do you agape me more than these do you love me with a supreme unconditional love even when things don't work out the way you want when you know i'm doing what's best for you no matter what that's the love he's talking about there [Music] do you love me like that so you know what peter answered him back with basically peter answered back and said lord no because he said lord you know i love you he used the greek word phileo meaning you know i love you i'm fond of you you know i love you as a friend i don't know that i can say that i love you with the love that loves even when things aren't working out so actually peter was thinking back about his failure he was being honest you know i i you know i i love you this way i don't know if i love you this way right so jesus asked him again let's look at this he said
- 0:09:03
verse 16 he said to him a second time simon son of jonas do you love me more than these and peter answered him the same way jesus do you agape me do you love me supremely do you love me unconditionally do you love me no matter when things are good or bad you love me this way and peter said lord i filleto you i'm fond of you i like you i love you i know you are the lord i love you the best way i know i i can but i failed in this when things got tough i failed so i don't know the reason the third time it bothered peter is because jesus asked him when he said in verse 17 simon son of jonah loveth thou me he used the word phileo do you even love me that way do you even are you even really fond of me and look at me as someone that you really care about so peter it says was grieved in his heart because basically what jesus was saying say okay you want it you won't say you agape love me but do you even fellow love me is it really real how much do you love me do you really love me and this question god asked of us i think all these last few days i've been praying about what the lord wanted for this sunday and it was just it just stayed on me i think that most christians in the world and most christians i think particularly in america do not understand what it means to love god the kind of love that god wants us to have for him if they did there wouldn't be so many idols in their lives there wouldn't be so much sin there wouldn't be so much compromise there wouldn't be it just wouldn't be that way and that's just you know and sometimes i think we end up loving church or we end up loving um we end up loving worship or loving things around god sometimes even more that that kind of inoculates us it you know well i i go to church and i worship or i read my bible so that means i love god and the lord does really do you really do you really do i really if you don't ask yourself these questions see sometimes i wonder and see the reason the reason that this bothers me is that i know that so many people are falling away right now i know so many people are falling away from from god from their relationship with god while they still think they're okay this is the one of the most troubling things to me in the world as a as a christian as a minister that you can fall away from god you can
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