Finish the Race
About this sermon
In “Finish the Race,” Pastor Dean Odle presents a Scripture-centered message about biblical love, grace and mercy, Satanic opposition. Drawing especially from 1 Corinthians 10, Matthew 16, Luke 22, Mark 14, the teaching emphasizes that biblical love is demonstrated through truth, patience, sacrifice, and conduct toward others. Odle connects that foundation with the conviction that God’s grace forgives and also trains believers to leave sin and live in obedience.
Chronological teaching outline
Select a section heading to play the sermon from that moment.
Odle focuses on spiritual leadership. The message argues that leaders are accountable to teach faithfully, serve the flock, and model the character they proclaim. It connects this with the conviction that God’s wisdom confronts human pride and teaches believers to judge life from an eternal perspective. The practical emphasis is to seek God in prayer and act on what Scripture requires.
Odle focuses on the authority of Scripture while working through Matthew 16. 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 trust God’s promises and refuse decisions governed by fear.
Odle focuses on Satanic opposition. The message argues that Satan’s work is described through deception, accusation, temptation, and opposition to God’s purposes. It connects this with the conviction that God calls believers to reject compromise and pursue practical holiness. The practical emphasis is to test the teaching by Scripture and apply it through faithful obedience.
Odle focuses on faith. The message argues that biblical faith trusts God’s character and acts upon His promises. It connects this with the conviction that leaders are accountable to teach faithfully, serve the flock, and model the character they proclaim. The practical emphasis is to trust God’s promises and refuse decisions governed by fear.
Odle focuses on Satanic opposition while working through Luke 22. The message argues that Satan’s work is described through deception, accusation, temptation, and opposition to God’s purposes. 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 practice patient, truthful love in relationships and conflict.
Odle focuses on biblical love while working through Luke 22, Mark 14. 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 remain watchful, grounded in Scripture, and ready to obey Christ.
Odle focuses on the cross and Christ’s blood while working through Romans 1, Hebrews 10. The message argues that Christ’s sacrifice and shed blood are presented as the foundation of redemption, forgiveness, and victory over sin. 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 practice patient, truthful love in relationships and conflict.
Odle focuses on holiness while working through 1 John 1, Luke 13, Luke 14. The message argues that God calls believers to reject compromise and pursue practical holiness. It connects this with the conviction that biblical love is demonstrated through truth, patience, sacrifice, and conduct toward others. The practical emphasis is to trust God’s promises and refuse decisions governed by fear.
Odle focuses on prayer. The message argues that prayer expresses dependence on God and prepares believers to hear and obey Him. It connects this with the conviction that biblical love is demonstrated through truth, patience, sacrifice, and conduct toward others. The practical emphasis is to seek God in prayer and act on what Scripture requires.
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
[Music] lord god we without you we can do nothing that's what you said lord you told your disciples without me you can do nothing and lord i know what that means nothing of substance nothing of real eternal value lord i don't know how much wisdom we think we have and how much knowledge we think we have no matter how much lord we think we're anointed bottom line lord you have to move you have to touch and in the end it's all yours it's all done by you father we thank you for this lord we pray it in jesus name amen praise be to god that's an old song there by ken henry in the end there spirit touching church boy do we ever need that somebody say amen you know there's a there's a few passages that i want to look at this morning and share some things with you that i think is important um you know one of the big problems in the body of christ and it has been for centuries is that we can't stay in the road we can't we get in this ditch over here or we get in this ditch over here we go too far this way or too far that way um i'm going to talk a little bit about leadership this morning talk a little bit about the gifts and when i talk about the leadership gifts i'm talking about you know people that god has called to be leaders in the church apostles prophets evangelists pastors teachers elders deacons um because in the sense of you know we got one of two extremes in the body of christ and i've watched it for years we've got the group over here in this ditch on this side that doesn't respect or honor leaders and elders and those that are called or have gifts and that are older and have more experience or more wisdom and so you got this group over here that they just pretty much reject leaderships a lot of people that just rejected leadership they've gone they've gone aside and don't even attend a church they don't even have a pastor they don't have any spiritual fathers or spiritual mothers in their lives they just kind of an island unto themselves and and and i understand because there's a lot of junk out there and there's a lot of counterfeits a lot of wolves and sheep's clothing a lot of people who are abusing their authority and things of
- 0:03:00
that nature so but you got that ditch okay then you've got the other ditch on the other side the other ditch is that any man or woman of god that's used of god to do anything gets exalted above measure almost to the point of being worshiped um you know i saw that in the brownsville revival where god was moving so powerfully through steve hill through john kilpatrick through dr brown through dick rubin and some of the other guys and and women that were being used in the revival in a powerful way and you saw people literally chasing them around um every night and um almost like to the point of they were you know more holy than everybody else and could do no wrong and you know and and and i've i've watched this i mean if you're going to be in the ministry at all in any regard of leadership you're going to face the two extremes they're going to be people that love you probably uh and lift you up and love you more than you ought to be not that you shouldn't be honored and respected if you're a leader but they're gonna be people that that that push that too far i mean i got somebody right now you know and and when you're when you're a minister you know you like to hear the nice things because you hear the bad things plenty you hear you know because you got the two extremes you got those people that that love you thank you on the moon and you got these people that hate your guts and wish you would die i mean you really have both people right both extremes and paul the apostle paul wrestled with this he wrestled with this and tried to explain that we need to be balanced i guess what i'm saying today is it doesn't matter what you see in a man or woman of god's life no matter what great revelation they might have no matter what great wisdom they might have no matter what great miracles might jesus might work through them or what gifts they have you still have to be careful to focus yourself on jesus and focus yourself on the truth and on the message more than the messenger amen god's going to use look i look at the the story of solomon it's probably one of the most revealing stories in the bible of the vanity of men of the emptiness because god appears to solomon first of all god picks solomon to be the next king just to follow david king david one of his sons david had many sons could have picked any of them but god picked solomon the son of the of
- 0:06:01
bathsheba that he had an affair with doesn't sound like something god would do does it but yet that's how he is he doesn't always pick the most holy the most righteous or what looks the most holy and most righteous in the in the eyes of men and women god knows what he's doing but he picks solomon and then solomon becomes king and david has given him instructions on how to build the the temple david has seen the entire layout and blueprint from heaven god revealed it to him then david also saved up all the the finances to build the temple all solomon had to do was do it when it was time because god said he wouldn't let david do it because david's hand had blood on him because he'd been a warrior so he said a man with blood on his hands not building my temple right so solomon builds it and then solomon builds his own house and then solomon goes and he prays and god appears to him now think about this you guys god appears to solomon two times but when solomon was young he prayed this prayer he prayed for wisdom and discernment he didn't pray for his enemies to be crushed under his feet he didn't pray for finances and wealth and everybody knows the story and god comes to him and says because you've asked this thing you've asked for wisdom and discernment above everything else to be able to judge correctly between my people and to do right because you didn't ask for your enemies to be subdued under your feet and you didn't ask for riches i'm going to give you air all of it and the bible says that god gave solomon more wisdom more understanding more revelation and understanding of spiritual matters and earthly matters than any man that would ever live until god himself would become flesh and become a man this is this is beyond our comprehension and solomon described he said i had a great experience of wisdom i mean god just opened his spirit and his soul his being up and filled him with supernatural understanding wisdom and revelation more than me more than you more than anyone think about that jesus even said it he said the queen of the south speaking of the queen of sheep queen chiba so she came from far distance to hear the wisdom of solomon solomon wrote proverbs ecclesiastes
- 0:09:02
song of solomon we have these in our bible they are part of the holy bible part of the inspired infallible inerrant word of almighty god yet this man did not finish the race he made statements and and he made statements about you know ecclesiastes what's what's beautiful about ecclesiastes is the raw honesty of a man who knew god walked with god had great wisdom and revelation understanding of all spiritual matters and earthly matters and human matters but yet wrestled in in in admitted how he wrestled with discouragement depression realizing how much of of of obtaining all these things ultimately was vanity he said emptiness it's it's really mind-boggling that the man that god gave the greatest amount of wisdom in the world ended up not using it i mean we know the rest of the story about solomon that he knew god's word he probably knew god's word as good as his father david did or maybe even better but he knew god's word about not multiplying wives to himself not multiplying silver and gold to himself not doing all these things but but he began to disobey the scriptures the word of god even though he would preach he called himself the preacher i'm going to read it in a second he called himself the preacher who laid down many proverbs and many much wisdom for men to live by men and women to to follow and obey and it was inspired by god it is part of god's word and yet solomon himself could not control his lust could not i mean 300 wives and 700 concubines can somebody say houston we have a problem right then the bible tells us that he let his wives and he took many pagan heathen wives as well and he let those pagan heathen wives it says turn his heart away from the lord and he turned to idols to worshiping idols did he ever leave worshipping god no he believed in god almighty yahweh
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.