One of the Three
About this sermon
In “One of the Three,” Pastor Dean Odle develops a Scripture-centered message moving through love that endures apostasy, peter, james, and john, a whole heart, not perfection, knowing the lord of scripture. 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.
The service begins by asking the Lord to draw His people closer and deepen their desire to obey and love Him. The appeal asks hearers to measure their response by that biblical priority.
Odle warns that end-time deception cools love. The speaker explains that biblical love can include correction and righteous anger.
The title refers to the three disciples Jesus repeatedly drew into moments of unusual closeness, revelation, and responsibility. This portion explicitly uses Luke 9, Matthew 17 and Mark 9 in developing that point.
Biblical servants are presented as imperfect people distinguished by wholehearted love and willingness to follow God. This portion explicitly uses Mark 14 in developing that point.
Odle contrasts religious pride and theological information with personally knowing and loving Jesus Christ. This portion explicitly uses Matthew 23, Matthew 16 and Luke 10 in developing that point.
He confesses that sermon preparation can become professional duty. The speaker insists that public service cannot replace private communion with God.
Stories from ministry illustrate that closeness to Christ requires hunger, perseverance, and choices others may not understand. This portion explicitly uses Psalms 25, John 17 and John 14 in developing that point.
At the Transfiguration the three disciples see Jesus’ glory and hear discussion of His death, resurrection, and atoning mission. This portion explicitly uses Ezekiel 13 in developing that point.
Odle emphasizes that Christ called the disciples upward, but they had to respond voluntarily and make the climb. The practical test is whether the listener will act on the warning instead of merely agreeing with it.
The final prayer asks for repeated encounters with God’s presence while remaining faithful to the work assigned below the mountain. This part of the message turns the doctrine into a question of loyalty and daily conduct.
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Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
- 0:00:13
In all of us, Lord, lead us and guide us, Lord, draw us closer and closer, we pray, Lord.
- 0:10:27
Lord, give us the hunger, the desire, Lord, give us, Lord, the want to, to be with you, to obey you, to walk with you, to love you with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. Lord, really, at the end of the day, that's all that matters is how much we love you. We don't have to question whether you love us or not. Do we love you with all of our heart? Help us, Lord, with that, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. You may be seated this morning. Welcome, everyone. Hallelujah. Everybody feeling all right today? All right. Well, I hope you have your Bibles with you today. The Lord definitely gave me a word for you today. Actually, it's not really something I think I've ever preached on or talked about. But yesterday, it's funny how some of these things happen sometimes. I was working out, lifting weights out in a shop by myself. And I just started talking to the Lord. And some of these things started coming out. And I realized how important this is because he just made me remember things. We were watching a documentary, a Brownsville documentary. I think it was really focused on lindall and worship. And didn't it just come out? Did it just come out? It was really good. But Steve Hill's first message at the Brownsville Revival was remembering the deeds of the Lord, or what the Lord has done, from Psalm 77. And then several years into the revival, he redid that message with an update, but remembering the deeds of the Lord. And I was there when he did the update that night. And it's one of the most powerful nights that I've ever been there. But I was on the bottom floor in the very back row. And I remember the Holy Spirit hitting me so hard that I was just weeping my eyes out. That's how powerful it was. But it all comes back to what I'm going to talk about. So y'all can put up the title today is one of the three. I want you to turn with me. We're going to go to Luke first. Luke chapter nine. We're going to be a lot of places here, probably. I'm going to try to convey something to you that I hope you can grab ahold of. Because we live in a crazy, crazy world.
- 0:13:27
The deception's only going to grow. The animosity towards Christians is going to grow. There's going to be a falling away. It's going to be that falling away apostasy. People falling away from Jesus is going to grow. The love of Christians is going to grow cold. And that love that's going to grow cold is not just for their fellow man, but the love that grows cold first is the love for God, for Jesus. And we hear that word love a lot. And I think we think we know what it means. But most of the time, we do not know what it means. Because love is not passive. It's not always sweet. Sometimes it has to be corrective. I mean, anything you see Jesus doing is a manifestation of love because he always walked in love. He was the only one perfect that never sinned and always walked in love. So the day he made the whip and drove people and animals out of the temple and flipped the tables over, that was love. The day he looked on the Pharisees with anger after he healed the man with the withered arm, that was love. Because if you love people enough, you will bring correction. And it's not always going to be pleasant. There is righteous anger that has to be demonstrated at times and patience. You have to know when those things are needed. Sometimes you can talk sweet all day long to a child, but they finally need to get a good, nice rebuke and yell and correction into their face. I've noticed kids sometimes over the years as I've been raising children that I can say real sweet voice, you know, don't do that. Don't do that, honey. Don't do that. And they'll just keep doing it. And then I say, hey, stop. I said don't do that. They'll jump and then guess what, they'll stop, all right? And that's not being mean, that's love. If I saw one of my children, especially when they were a little running out into this busy road, I can assure you I wouldn't be going stop, honey, right? And I'm only saying this because, again, we have in our minds what we think love is. And because we base it all in human emotions, we tend to think God is like us. And one of the things he says over and over again is I'm not like you. I don't think like you. I don't do like you do. And you need to understand that, okay? So when I throw out the word love today, agape has much more meaning than it just feeling fondness for someone. Maybe the Greek phileo means having a fondness or brotherly love towards someone. But agape means that you love somebody or someone enough that you are willing to do
- 0:16:31
what's best for them even if it harms you. That's why Jesus said greater love is no man than this than a man laid down his life for his friends. So this is something that a love that does not take its self-preservation, self-satisfaction into account. It's a total abandon of that. Remember what Paul said? He said, I don't even count my life dear to me anymore. I am here for one reason and one reason only, and that is to do the will of the one who sent me. That's it. And Paul was doing the will of God in his life and laying down his life and giving up his life he could have had because he loved the Lord Jesus Christ with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. It didn't matter to him whether he was famous or whether he was popular or whether he was loved by people, whether he suffered, whether he was beaten or imprisoned or shipwrecked or even dead. None of that bothered him because he loved the Lord so much. And that's why he said, I have such a desire to be with Jesus. He said, but. I can just see him saying, but to remain here with you is more needful at the time. He loved Jesus. And that's the mark really that we see, and I'm going to show you of the three disciples. You say the three? Yeah. The nine weren't there yet. The 70 weren't there yet. The multitudes weren't there yet. Let's read this. Luke 9, and we're going to go down to verse 28. The transfiguration is what it says in my Bible here. This is also in Matthew 17 and Mark 9. But it says here, and it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James. Say Peter, John, and James. Three, the three, not the 12, the three. He took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment or his clothing was white and glistening. And behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep.
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