Overcoming the Darkness
About this sermon
In “Overcoming the Darkness,” Pastor Dean Odle presents a Scripture-centered message about prayer, faith, endurance. Drawing especially from Luke 19, John 11, John 7, Luke 10, the teaching emphasizes that prayer expresses dependence on God and prepares believers to hear and obey Him. Odle connects that foundation with the conviction that biblical faith trusts God’s character and acts upon His promises.
Chronological teaching outline
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Odle focuses on biblical love while working through Luke 19, John 11. The message argues that biblical love is demonstrated through truth, patience, sacrifice, and conduct toward others. It connects this with the conviction that Scripture is presented as the standard for doctrine, discernment, and daily obedience. The practical emphasis is to practice patient, truthful love in relationships and conflict.
Odle focuses on Jerusalem while working through Luke 19, John 7. The message argues that Jerusalem is presented as a biblical and prophetic focal point in God’s purposes. 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 remain watchful, grounded in Scripture, and ready to obey Christ.
Odle focuses on healing and faith while working through Luke 10, Luke 17. The message argues that the message connects prayer for healing with faith in Christ, pastoral care, and submission to God. 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 endurance while working through John 17. The message argues that faithful endurance is necessary when obedience brings testing, opposition, or suffering. It connects this with the conviction that prayer expresses dependence on God and prepares believers to hear and obey Him. The practical emphasis is to seek God in prayer and act on what Scripture requires.
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 prophecy should produce discernment, readiness, and faithfulness rather than speculation alone. The practical emphasis is to remain watchful, grounded in Scripture, and ready to obey Christ.
Odle focuses on the condition of the church while working through Daniel 11, Psalm 60, Isaiah 60. The message argues that the church is called to recover biblical faithfulness instead of accommodating compromise. It connects this with the conviction that material stewardship reveals priorities and should be governed by generosity, integrity, and obedience to God. The practical emphasis is to remain watchful, grounded in Scripture, and ready to obey Christ.
Odle focuses on Bible prophecy while working through Psalm 60, Isaiah 60, Psalm 91. The message argues that prophecy should produce discernment, readiness, and faithfulness rather than speculation alone. It connects this with the conviction that Satan’s work is described through deception, accusation, temptation, and opposition to God’s purposes. The practical emphasis is to remain watchful, grounded in Scripture, and ready to obey Christ.
Odle focuses on Israel in prophecy while working through Psalm 60. The message argues that the sermon relates Israel’s place in Scripture to the unfolding prophetic picture. It connects this with the conviction that prayer expresses dependence on God and prepares believers to hear and obey Him. The practical emphasis is to seek God in prayer and act on what Scripture requires.
Odle focuses on endurance. The message argues that faithful endurance is necessary when obedience brings testing, opposition, or suffering. It connects this with the conviction that prayer expresses dependence on God and prepares believers to hear and obey Him. The practical emphasis is to seek God in prayer and act on what Scripture requires.
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- 0:00:00
spirit lord if we have you and nothing else we have everything lord you're the creator you're the beginning and the ending you're the alpha and the omega you are everything the way the truth the life jesus you're you're the only thing we need to be very very close to so lord we just thank you for that we praise you for that this morning and we pray it in jesus name amen amen you may be seated hallelujah a lot going on i want everybody to turn to john chapter 11 and then we're going to go to luke 19. before we go much very far in this message this morning there's a few things i want to share anybody thinks that being a pastor is easy or being a minister of being in the ministry is easy they are one deceived individual sometimes it is not easy [Music] i was looking at these two times in the scriptures where we see that jesus wept or jesus you know just broke down in tears and we forget sometimes i think we we know jesus is fully the lord he's fully god in the flesh he's fully the creator we know that from the scriptures he's the fullness of the godhead bodily it's what it says in colossians it says in the beginning was the word the word was with god and the word was god and all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made right [Music] we know he's god but he chose to put himself in a human body to limit himself so the bible says so that he could feel all of the infirmities and the weaknesses and the temptations
- 0:03:01
that we deal with and the emotions so as as much as jesus was fully and is fully god he is also he was fully man and still is fully human this is a hard concept for us and when we watch him his ministry in the new testament we read the gospels we watch what he did and what he preached and what he said we see a lot of times the miracles and we see a lot of times the power but we tend to not see his humanity we tend to not to miss his emotion his broken heart at times his um sadness sometimes we we see reports where it says he was he rejoiced and uh you know when the 70 returned after casting out demons and healing the sick and he they returned and it says jesus rejoiced in spirit and the word literally means that he jumped up and spun around um so jesus was fully human he had the full range of human emotions and human emotions are not wrong for a christian now we can't be governed by them but as i've told my wife when we first met you know god didn't call us to be cyborgs either we're not robots we're not machines we're not we've got a formula you know as christians we always want a formula for everything to work in a certain way and we look at jesus and we see you know he was operating and going to raise lazarus from the dead but that didn't take away from he i mean he knew what the father said for him to do but they didn't take away from his humanity because he loved mary and martha and lazarus and they were his close friends they weren't just his disciples they weren't just his followers they were people that he loved dearly and so when he gets there he's dealing with all of these issues going on all of this you know it says he groaned in the spirit was troubled in john 11 here when he got there it literally means that he he groaned and he snorted or huffed with anger he was fighting the devil he was fighting unbelief in people he was fighting doubt he was fighting fear he was fighting you know uh people being disappointed with him because they thought he should have been there and he should have done it this way and he should have done that and jesus is wrestling through all this and you see him finally get to the tomb you know the shortest verse in the bible everybody knows it that's a christian or been a christian any amount of time john 11 35 jesus wept
- 0:06:01
he asked where have you lain him and the lord you know verse 34 and they said to him lord come and see and jesus wept and then said to jews behold how he loved him and some said could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind if caused even that this man should not have died and therefore jesus again groaning in himself coming to the grave and it was a cave and the stone was laid on it you know the rest of the story but i wanted you to see that because you see i want to show you i'm going to show you two things that's going on because i'm just going to be very very honest with you this morning okay i mean and this is for younger people that may be listening people that think you their call to the ministry may know for sure you're called to ministry don't think for a second that this job is easy or glamorous or always fun matter of fact i really believe that you don't know whether you're truly called or not until you don't want to ever do it ever again and god makes you i really don't i i see people with you know these glossy ignorant ideas of what it is all about and it's just it's not always it's not always easy but here we see jesus break down weeping because his friends he knew mary and martha and the people i mean he knew everybody was confused they were brokenhearted they were wondering what in the world is jesus going to do but he goes ahead and he does a miracle right we know this story but then there's the other time jesus wept and and this is when this is where i'm you know kind of dealing with two of these aspects but luke go to luke chapter 19 because i'm some people think sometimes i i guess they may think that i'm just a preaching machine or that i'm so strong in my personality that i don't get very very sorrowful and sad sometimes about things going on with you guys things going on with people around me and with what i know is coming upon the world i had some government troll and they pay when i say government troll for those who don't know what i'm talking about the government actually pays people to go on to christian websites and and alternative news sites that are giving truth and try to you know when discussions get started on facebook or whatever they come in and try to so discord and put
- 0:09:02
uh you know false stuff there and attack you and all this stuff so i had this guy come on i knew immediately he was a government troll uh i even told him he said are you a troll and uh i'm sure that shocked him when because when i looked at his background it was clear he worked for some internet security firms and so i'm sure he was a government contractor sitting in the basement of his mom's house eating hot pockets and getting paid by the government to harass christian websites i love the band feature on facebook right y'all laugh but you know it's true but anyway he came on there and he made a comment you know about that to the effect and i can't say it like he said it because it wouldn't be appropriate but um but to the fact that that christians who talk about the end times bible prophecy and what's coming upon the world as if we uh we long to see this as if this is joyful to us as if it is um what we desire to happen i i you know i don't because i talk about the war that's coming or whatever else is coming that we've discussed just because i talk about those things don't mean i i that as a christian as a minister as a pastor it does not mean i want to see that happen i just know it is going to happen there's a difference there's a vast difference of you know wanting it to happen and just knowing that it is going to and trying to warn everyone you can possibly warn of what's going to come simply because god wants us to well this is in luke 19. i want to read this part and this is when jesus was coming in on palm sunday this is luke chapter 19 and we won't read the whole part there but we get down and of course he's coming into the city verse 37 we'll start there i guess and when he was come nigh even now at the descent of the mount of olives the whole multitude of disciples began to rejoice and to praise god with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen saying blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the lord peace in heaven and glory in the highest and some of the pharisees from among the multitudes said unto him master rebuked thy disciples and he answered and said unto them i tell you that if these should hold their peace the stones would immediately cry out and when he was come near he beheld the city and he wept over it now we usually just read over this verse but here is probably you would think one of the most um would be one of the most satisfying moments of jesus because he's writing into jerusalem
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