Led by the Spirit
About this sermon
In “Led by the Spirit,” Pastor Dean Odle develops a Scripture-centered message moving through truth, conversion, and the gospel, spirit, soul, and flesh, the spirit convicts of sin, rejecting the voice of compromise. The sermon follows the speaker’s argument chronologically, grounding its principal appeals in biblical passages and practical ministry examples.
Chronological teaching outline
Select a section heading to play the sermon from that moment.
Odle opens by contrasting powerless religion with the Spirit-empowered witness Jesus intends for His people. This portion explicitly uses Romans 8 in developing that point.
He stresses that genuine evangelism must proclaim Jesus and depend on the Spirit to convict rather than merely entertain hearers. The example is used to move the teaching from profession into concrete obedience.
The sermon distinguishes the human mind and bodily appetites from the renewed life that submits to the Holy Spirit. This portion explicitly uses Romans 8, Galatians 5 and Ephesians 5 in developing that point.
Jesus’ teaching in John 16 anchors the claim that the Spirit exposes sin, righteousness, and coming judgment. This portion explicitly uses John 16 in developing that point.
Odle warns that thoughts minimizing sexual sin and disobedience do not reflect the Holy Spirit’s counsel. This portion explicitly uses Galatians 5 in developing that point.
Galatians 5 is used to contrast the works of the flesh with a continuing walk under the Spirit’s direction. This portion explicitly uses Romans 8, Galatians 5 and John 16 in developing that point.
The message calls believers to confess sin, leave darkness, and maintain honest fellowship with God. The example is used to move the teaching from profession into concrete obedience.
Acts 1 connects the baptism of the Holy Spirit with bold witness and ministry to people outside the church. This portion explicitly uses Revelation 21 in developing that point.
Odle challenges unbelief that resists Scripture’s promises. The speaker urges hearers to trust God’s power and character.
The closing appeal asks believers to be filled with the Spirit, receive truth personally, and carry it to others. This part of the message turns the doctrine into a question of loyalty and daily conduct.
Open each passage and read it in its complete biblical context.
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Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
- 0:00:07
You wanna be real, you wanna be empty inside You wanna be someone laying down your pride You wanna be someone someday, lay it all down before God we make this our declaration that we want more of you Jesus Lord more of your spirit in our lives, more of the Holy Spirit filling us leading us, guiding us into all truth, leading us to walk in the Spirit to walk in holiness and purity of both heart and mind and actions leading us to walk into the power of the gifts of the Spirit so that we can be not only a light God but a source of power and freedom to the world around us to people that are hurting God people that are bound by depression, they're bound by sinful habits they're bound by suicidal thoughts and Lord they need the power of Jesus to set them free, the power of the Holy Ghost flowing through somebody God to set them free and God we just pray that you will help us be prepared God cleanse the vessels, vessels of honor ready Lord God for you to flow through and to work through to people around us Lord God so that we can deliver them from the power of Satan and bring them to the power of Jesus Christ so that we can see them set free from a path of destruction and from the path that leads to hell to the path that leads to heaven now so many right now in our world they're deceived by doctrines of men by seducing spirits of devils they're deceived, they've been lied to many think they're okay when they're not okay God anoint us to speak the truth in love to speak your truth in love Father we just thank you for your goodness that there is forgiveness with you but there must be repentance and Lord help us to preach the repentance of Jesus to preach that people must repent for the kingdom of heaven in the end we thank you Jesus Lord I ask you to speak through me this morning as we get into your word Jesus name, I want to tell you something the devil is not happy about this morning because he keeps trying to interfere with stupid that is just crazy I'm telling you there's a word for you this morning and I want you to pay attention to it you can be seated, praise God I want you to take your Bibles this morning and I want you to turn to Romans chapter 8, we're going to start back where we started last week
- 0:03:08
Romans chapter 8, any Romans chapter 8, anybody need a Bible do we have any extras, got any extras who needs one angel Romans chapter 8 just so you know where we're going in the next few weeks as God leads I think I prayed last night and this morning and I felt like the Lord took a two part series and turned it into a three part series because I don't need to skip over this little part here because last week we talked about being led by the Spirit and what that means and started getting into about hearing the voice of God and being led by the Holy Spirit and we talked a little bit about that and we're going to talk more about that about being led by the Spirit today but some things that we need to know about the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Jesus when he's leading us I mean just some fundamental things that we need to know but I just want you to know where we're going here we're not going to be a church that just is satisfied to sit in church services on Sunday morning there's a world out there that needs to hear the true gospel of Jesus Christ that hasn't been watered down or compromised that's not just for money that's not just for to promote self but to promote Jesus because people people are being lied to many by their own churches by entire denominations they're being lied to about things and we have got to stand up some people have got to stand up and be able be equipped to share the truth so in the next couple of weeks we're going to be talking about the gifts because we need to understand how to flow in the gifts and that the power of God or the gifts of the Spirit are also to help get people saved and for God to help to use those gifts when you're out when you're witnessing or sharing with your neighbors or something but we're also so we're going to we're going to do that we're going to complete that and then we're going to get into some some just write down evangelism training and then we're going to just do it on Sunday mornings for the next couple of weeks this summer I just want to tell you this summer we're going to get prepared as a church and a people to go out in the street and lead people to Jesus whether they come to our church or not that's not the point the point is Jesus had to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and he didn't say a different gospel than what is preached in this Bible it's this one not a different one and we're going to learn how to preach it and how to share it and you know what there's a thing on YouTube you can look up how many of you know the comedy team Penn and Teller you all know about Penn and Teller you know that the big guy is Penn right am I right about that is that Penn I get them confused I don't know anyway the big guy that does the talking the other one doesn't talk but the big guy is an atheist
- 0:06:08
and there's I don't know how many of you have seen how many of you have seen the YouTube where he talks about the guy that brought him the Bible just okay so I'll go ahead and tell it but anyway he's an atheist and he is an outspoken well known atheist does not believe in God thinks Christians are stupid okay and he's very vocal about that and in their comedy routine and stuff they mock God they mock Christians they mock Jesus so I mean we're not talking about people that love Jesus but I want to tell you this move me you can you can watch this on YouTube but he talked about this man who came to Las Vegas to their show and walked up to him he said it was a very a very well spoken man very well dressed he said this man walked up and handed him a Bible and he said that after talking with this man for a few minutes and again I'm paraphrasing some of this but after talking to this man for a few minutes he knew that this was a good man and he said this he goes this Christian man was a good man he wasn't a wacko he wasn't a you know some crazy you know nut out there he said this wasn't an educated man this was a successful man in business he said this was a you could tell that this man was a good man and he said you know I really knew that this man cared about me and this is what he said now this is from an atheist he said you know that is what I call love he said because if Christians really believe that their way is the way of salvation it is the way to heaven it is the way to eternal life you know if they really believe that people who did not know Jesus as their savior were going to hell he goes how could these people not in love share the gospel with other people and he was moved by the sincerity and the genuineness of this man willing in a public place to walk up and I mean Las Vegas I've been there it is Sin City and not quite as bad it is almost as bad I think as New Orleans but they run a close race with each other but he said this man walked up and handed him a Bible and was willing to talk to him about his faith in Jesus Christ and he said a true Christian that is walking in love that loves his neighbor which share the gospel this is from an atheist y'all think about that for a minute they get it I thought when I heard that he understands better than most Christians who go to church every Sunday why do we let fear rule our lives why do we let the concerns of what somebody else might think rule what we do I don't understand that I'll say this about the spirit of fear the spirit of fear will either rule you it will overcome you or you will overcome it we have got to
- 0:09:08
quit worrying about what people think and tell them the truth and that's something I got over a long time ago people call me outspoken or blunt or whatever but it's just you know why I understand that eternity is too long to be wrong and I just made up my mind a long time ago that I wanted to be a light and a witness for Jesus and speak the truth and that it didn't matter what people thought about me and it didn't matter if they were offended and it didn't matter even if they got mad at me at first that I knew if I told them the truth that the Holy Spirit could use it and hopefully bring them out of darkness and deception into the light of God and so see I would rather offend you now and you end up being convicted of sin and repenting and get right with God on the right path and go to heaven than to tell you sweet nothings make you feel good every Sunday and then you end up going to hell because you never got the truth of what repentance meant or what following Jesus meant and that's the way I feel not only of a church as being a pastor but as when I go I've been to Africa and preached to thousands and preached to seminary students that are about to graduate and go out and preach the gospel I preached the same way because I believe that we have a responsibility everybody that I've ever preached to everybody in this room right here has an appointment with death you have an appointment with the judgment seat of Christ you have an appointment to give an account you've done said in the body and you're not going to be judged according to what you think is right in your own eyes you're going to be judged according to what is written in this book and so everybody in this room is going to stand before that judgment seat and they're going to go to heaven or they're going to go to hell and I take that very seriously as a pastor and we have got to wake up we have got some very bad attitudes about what God demands about who goes to heaven no, we want to be soft but I want you to see this in talking about being led by the Spirit of God we're going to see something today the people that are led by the Spirit of God will care about souls will care about lost people and backsliders they'll care enough to pray for them and to speak the truth to them so that they might be saved from going to hell so they can go to heaven and that the power of the Holy Spirit or the gifts of the Spirit are not just for church on Sunday morning and they're not just to show off and healing and miracles and things those aren't to show off all of the power of the Holy Ghost he is after one thing and I'm going to show you he is out to get people saved and not saved so they can sin, saved from sin see we've not preached the Gospel when we've told people Jesus will forgive you but you don't have to change but the Gospel is
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