Knowing Your Adversary
About this sermon
Dean Odle presents Satan as a subtle adversary who works through temptation, distorted Scripture, false doctrine, counterfeit spiritual experiences, and ungoverned thoughts. Beginning with the believer’s authority in Jesus and the armor of God, he argues that Christians must acknowledge spiritual conflict without becoming fascinated by it. Ephesians 6 frames the battle as a struggle against principalities rather than flesh and blood, while Jesus’ temptation in Matthew 4 shows that the devil may quote a true biblical text with a false application. Regular Scripture reading and prayer are therefore presented as essential defenses.
Chronological teaching outline
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Prayer and exhortation introduce Satan as an adversary who advances quietly when Christians ignore spiritual warfare. The image of an enemy creeping forward a foot at a time explains why casual tolerance can become entrenched bondage.
Ephesians 6 frames the conflict as a struggle against principalities rather than flesh and blood, requiring prayer and biblical readiness. He urges regular Bible reading and prayer because neglected disciplines leave believers unable to recognize or answer an attack.
Jesus’ temptation shows that the devil may quote Scripture selectively; Odle stresses careful knowledge of the Bible to resist doctrinal distortion. Matthew 4 and Psalm 91 show Satan quoting a true text with a false application; accuracy therefore includes context and doctrine.
He connects end-times deception with teachings he regards as false, including claims that Christ’s return was completed in AD 70. Matthew 24’s warnings lead him to place doctrinal seduction inside the church, not only in openly anti-Christian systems.
The sermon warns against assigning meaning through occult dream dictionaries or techniques instead of asking God and testing impressions biblically. A testimony about dependence on a dream-interpretation book contrasts formulaic symbolism with direct prayer and scriptural testing.
Odle argues that guided visualization can open people to a false Jesus or spirit because biblical faith does not manufacture encounters through imagination. He traces visualization practices to non-Christian religious sources and says biblical walking in the light is moral fellowship, not imagining light.
He names leaders and movements he believes normalized unbiblical manifestations, urging hearers to judge fruit and doctrine rather than excitement. The Toronto movement and Todd Bentley are discussed as cases where spectacular claims allegedly overrode biblical examination.
Examples from deliverance ministry illustrate how idolatry, lust, deception, and other practices can provide footholds for demonic oppression. A deliverance account involving Marian devotion is presented as the speaker’s ministry recollection, not as proof about every Catholic believer.
The practical battle includes governing the mind, rejecting lustful or fearful thoughts, and maintaining prayer over the church and home. Second Corinthians 10 grounds the instruction to bring thoughts captive; he applies it particularly to fantasies that are repeatedly welcomed.
The closing ministry and instruction emphasize Christ’s authority, brief direct commands, and refusal to entertain lengthy conversations with demons. After prayer, he adds a procedural warning: ministers should command spirits in Jesus’ name rather than seek hidden knowledge through them.
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- 0:00:02
at the cross be the dead I broke my chain for the first time let's go ahead
- 0:04:23
and give him praise and thank him for the blood thank you Jesus that you shed your precious blood on the cross Lord for our sins to give us power and victory over the devil to give us healing Lord you said by your stripes we were healed Lord you've provided everything that we need and we thank you for that we're gonna believe and walk in faith that you are the same yesterday today and forever we are grateful that the blood you shed that your death your sinless blood was shed there Lord to give us the keys of hell and death Lord that we can have victory over the powers of darkness that we can have authority that we become sons and daughters of God Almighty with authority and power over Satan and demons God we thank you for that and it's in Jesus name we pray amen amen well you may be seated this morning welcome everybody man everybody's well that's nice see everybody back we survived another biological attack all right it's crazy from December on I do feel like now I know which direction we're going this morning so I was firing Kelsey a bunch of stuff to put up on the screen here in a minute so she's madly working back there but let's go to 1st Peter chapter 5 and we're going to title this knowing your adversary a lot of you think you know him there's a lot of Christians that think they know spiritual warfare and they're getting all locked up in the devil's traps but I believe we need to read some scriptures and where I'm gonna show you some stuff it's troubling today and I I spent a lot of time studying this over this last week I have video clips and things that probably we won't get to just yet it's just so much but we're gonna go down let's see here oh let's see we'll just start from verse 1 that's good hallelujah so the Apostle Peter writes by the Holy Spirit the elders which are among you I exhort who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed so he commands these elders feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre or just for money but of a ready mind neither is being lords over God's heritage but being examples to the flock means you can't be a hypocrite and he says that when the chief shepherd shall appear he showers you shall receive a crown of glory that faith is not away likewise ye younger submit yourselves unto the elder a all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility for God resisted the proud and giveth grace to the humble humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God
- 0:07:27
that he may exalt you in due time casting all your care upon him for he careth for you then the command be sober not high on marijuana not drunk with alcohol he says be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour interesting enough the word seeking here is a present tense Greek verb which means ongoing continuous action taking place in the present means he never stops seeking whom he may devour and that means he's always looking for a place to get you he's always plotting a gift then this command whom speaking of Satan the devil and his demons whom resist steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brother and that are in the world but the God of all grace who has called you are called us rather than his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after that you have suffered a while make you perfect establish strengthen and settle you so he tells us here the apostle Peter that you have an adversary an enemy right and he tells you the devil and he's a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour now I've seen a lot of little clips lately of these lions hunting in the jungle and I'll tell you one thing about them they're patient they're patient and they're sneaky and they will creep they'll creep a foot and they'll stay still and they'll creep another foot and they'll stay still and what's amazing about them is that you talking about you know certain praise they like antelope or whatever that are fast that are very sensitive to their surroundings that are you know jumpy and a lion can sneak up on one of them and then I saw a lion kill a hippopotamus I mean these things are crazy they will jump on and latch onto that neck and they don't let go now he says here that it's like a lion seeking whom he may devour now what lions will do too they will follow a flock they'll follow close by try to stay hidden and then they want to see one stray a little bit stray a little bit away from truth away from fellowship away from worship away from holy living just stray a little bit they're watching you that's why when God spoke to Cain he warned him he said sin lieth at the door and in fact in the Hebrew that means it's crouched like an animal ready to pounce on you and this
- 0:10:27
is something I tell people all the time this is why we cannot as Christians you cannot entertain and play with sin because it's like playing with a rattlesnake or a cobra you keep playing with it long enough and you're gonna get bit as they say play stupid games and win stupid prizes right but what I don't understand is there's a lot of Christians to say oh yeah we're we've got you know we've got the devil out here we got demons out here but you know I remember Larry Lee who was a famous pastor back in the 80s and early 90s and he used to say you know when he was in the Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth Texas he used to say they were teaching pastors that that Satan is not active in North America demons are not active in North America that only happens we go to Africa or something but this is kind of the level that most Christians are don't talk about the devil you give him glory well then what's the Bible doing talking about talks about him all through the whole thing and it's important that we understand how he works and I'm gonna give you some of the basics how he works today but I'm also gonna give you some of the most tricky ways he's working right now and you better know because I'm gonna show you how that he is crept in and subverted nearly the entire church in the Western world and I mean into a completely false fake supernatural experiences now let's go and read Ephesians chapter 6 and get ready to put up the definition of wiles here I find this interesting just the word the Greek word here well let's start reading at verse 10 this ought to be familiar to everybody he says finally my brethren be strong in the Lord in the power of his might now that word power there there's different words in the Greek but that word is not the word for simply supernatural power it's talking about authority that we've been given so we have to walk in the authority that Jesus has given us now we can't walk in that authority unless we are submitted to God we're submitted to his word I'm gonna quote this verse we'll put you guys can put it up in a second but James 4 seven says submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil and he will flee from you a lot of people like to quote that resist the devil and he'll flee from you but the first part of it is submit to God meaning you have to have chosen to let Jesus be Lord of your life you have to choose to lay down your life take up your cross and follow him you have to have already chosen to repent and turn from your sinful ways and habits that God says
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