Unity & the Anointing
About this sermon
In “Unity & the Anointing,” Pastor Dean Odle presents a Scripture-centered message about the condition of the church, the authority of Scripture, faith. Drawing especially from Psalm 92, Psalm 133, Acts 18, Proverbs 13, the teaching emphasizes that the church is called to recover biblical faithfulness instead of accommodating compromise. Odle connects that foundation with the conviction that Scripture is presented as the standard for doctrine, discernment, and daily obedience.
Chronological teaching outline
Select a section heading to play the sermon from that moment.
Odle focuses on holiness while working through Psalm 92. The message argues that God calls believers to reject compromise and pursue practical holiness. It connects this with the conviction that spiritual anointing is given for service and must remain joined to character and obedience. The practical emphasis is to test the teaching by Scripture and apply it through faithful obedience.
Odle focuses on the anointing while working through Psalm 133. The message argues that spiritual anointing is given for service and must remain joined to character and obedience. 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 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 the church is called to recover biblical faithfulness instead of accommodating compromise. The practical emphasis is to practice patient, truthful love in relationships and conflict.
Odle focuses on faith while working through Acts 18. 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 faith while working through Psalm 133, Proverbs 13, Proverbs 13:10. The message argues that biblical faith trusts God’s character and acts upon His promises. It connects this with the conviction that repentance involves turning from known sin and bringing conduct into agreement with God’s word. The practical emphasis is to respond with honest repentance and concrete obedience.
Odle focuses on the authority of Scripture. The message argues that Scripture is presented as the standard for doctrine, discernment, and daily obedience. It connects this with the conviction that the church is called to recover biblical faithfulness instead of accommodating compromise. The practical emphasis is to trust God’s promises and refuse decisions governed by fear.
Odle focuses on the authority of Scripture while working through John 17. The message argues that Scripture is presented as the standard for doctrine, discernment, and daily obedience. It connects this with the conviction that biblical faith trusts God’s character and acts upon His promises. The practical emphasis is to trust God’s promises and refuse decisions governed by fear.
Odle focuses on pride and humility. The message argues that spiritual pride blinds people to correction, while humility receives truth and depends on God. It connects this with the conviction that Scripture is presented as the standard for doctrine, discernment, and daily obedience. The practical emphasis is to test the teaching by Scripture and apply it through faithful obedience.
Odle focuses on the condition of the church while working through Matthew 24, Ephesians 4. The message argues that the church is called to recover biblical faithfulness instead of accommodating compromise. It connects this with the conviction that spiritual pride blinds people to correction, while humility receives truth and depends on God. 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 the church is called to recover biblical faithfulness instead of accommodating compromise. The practical emphasis is to seek God in prayer and act on what Scripture requires.
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Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
- 0:00:00
God, we thank you. That you made a way, God, for us not to just have a creed that we believe, but Lord, that we can know you, we can experience your presence, we can feel the witness of the Holy Spirit within us that we are children of almighty God. We thank you that we can know that we have eternal life by the witness of the Holy Spirit, by what you've written in the word of God. Lord, by those two witnesses, we know God, that we have a relationship with you by the witness of the Holy Spirit and by the witness of your word. We are grateful for the blood of Jesus shed on the cross for our sins. We are grateful, Lord, that you rose from the dead. We are grateful, Lord, that we can come into your presence by the blood of Jesus. That there is a way that we can be righteous and stand in your presence. Lord, I pray that your anointing and your glory and your presence and your power would increase upon your people, not just here, but worldwide, Lord, that there would just be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. There would be a fresh anointing as David prayed in Psalm 92 when he declared, "I will be anointed with fresh oil." And so, Lord, I pray that there would be a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit to come upon the church, Lord, to come upon your people, Lord, that are hungry for you, that are thirsty for you, that are crying out for you, Lord. That you would lead us and guide us into all truth. That you would reveal and expose every lie and every false teaching and every doctrine of man would fall by the wayside. Lord, that you would give us discernment of the wolves in sheep's clothing. That you would anoint us with power, Lord, to be a witness. That we would be able to preach the gospel and there would be Holy Ghost conviction to bring people to the and faith in Jesus. That there would be power to break the demonic strongholds off of people, to cast out demons, and to heal the sick, and to raise the dead, and to do everything that you said we were to do in the New Testament, Lord. We know we all have fallen short. We've doubted at times. We've not believed at times. We've not fasted when we needed to. We've done a lot of things that we shouldn't have done, but Lord, we thank you that there is grace and there is mercy and there is forgiveness with you and that Lord, you hear the prayers of your people. And I believe there's a greater anointing that you're going to pour out on your people that are pressing in, that want you, that want the truth at all cost. Father, we pray today for your grace and your help today. And help this preacher, Lord, share what you want me to share today. Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Praise be to God. You may be
- 0:03:01
seated this morning. We welcome you to Fire and Grace Church. Those of you listening through BlogTalkRadio. It's awesome to know we have people listening from all over the country and even other countries. They listen live and and and many listen to the archive service, the the show afterwards. So, we just praise God for that. You know, there's something on my mind today. I really wrestled with what the Lord wanted me to share and it really didn't start becoming clear until I was ironing my shirt this morning. And uh it began a little bit there and then it began to get clear as we were setting up here and getting ready for church. I'm just going to call this this morning unity and the anointing. And even though I've preached the message in the past about what true unity is versus false unity, this is going to be a little different though it will touch on some of the same aspects. But there's a direct connection to unity in the church and I'm talking about among the true believers and the anointing or the flow and power of the Holy Spirit. And I can just say this to you that the reason we don't see very much of the anointing and the flow of the Holy Spirit in the broader church world around us is because there is so much disunity. There's so much division. There's so much so many doctrines of men that divide us. Now I want to say this very clearly this morning because there is well there are I should say two kinds of unity. There's a unity that we can come to in the Holy Spirit when we both agree when there is agreement of what the truth is and what the word of God says. Now there's a unity that's a false unity that the the church world and I would say the harlot church mystery Babylon, Roman Catholicism and her prostitute daughters are trying to bring together. That unity throws truth out the window. That unity compromises the truth and throws the word of God and the and true clear biblical doctrines out the window so everybody can get along. So please understand this morning when I say the word unity, I am not talking
- 0:06:02
about ecumenical Roman Catholic throw out the truth, throw out the the Bible, throw out the word of God unity because there is no unity in the church unless we're willing to agree what the word of God says on a subject. I'm going to I'll show you that in a second. We have to agree. So if if we have to agree to have unity, if we have to agree on what the scripture say, then what is getting in the way? Well, I'm going to show you this morning from the scriptures that really pride is really the source of all of our disunity among true believers. And when I say pride, I mean the pride that refuses to admit when it's wrong. See, this is a huge problem. There are too many Christians and I'm talking about born again Christians who are believing and adhering to the traditions and doctrines of men that are making the word of God none effect. And these traditions and these doctrines of men and their refusal to accept when someone comes along and says, "Hey, it's not that way. Here's what the scriptures say and let me give you a list of scriptures and let me show you how they all fit together." We just have a lack of humility of people who think they know the Bible to say, "You know what? I've been wrong about that." If we had a little more of that, we would see a greater unity in the body of Christ and we would see a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the anointing of God would increase upon the church. Now, how do I know that? Let me Let me just Let's just look at a few verses here. Go to Psalm 133. And I know the Holy Spirit impressed this upon me this morning. Even our church is not in the unity of the spirit that we need to be in. But, let's look at this. Psalm 133. A song of degrees of David, it says. Verse one, we're going to read. It's only three verses. He says, "Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard,
- 0:09:04
even Aaron's beard, and went down to the skirts of his garments. As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore." You see, this is this is so full of truth here. This passage. Because he said, "How good and pleasant is it brethren to dwell together in unity and then he said it is like the precious ointment or the anointing oil that represents the Holy Spirit. He said that flowed down from the head. Now this is when God told Moses to take the anointing oil that was holy, sanctified, to take that anointing oil and pour it on Aaron, his brother, to be the high priest of Israel. If he didn't have this oil on him, if he wasn't anointed with this oil, he could not enter the tabernacle and do his ministry and do his service to God and to the nation of Israel. If he went in without this anointing on, he would he would die. Now this is how critical it is because the anointing of the Holy Spirit is critical to ministers, to leaders, but to all of us. We need the anointing. Everybody just say that with me. We need the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is not automatic. Uh you know, the church world here's a here's a doctrine of men that just needs to go out the window. This this idea that when we get saved, we got everything. I'm sorry, but that theology is false. The anointing is something the the increase of the anointing on your life is something that you have to pursue, that you have to desire, and that you have to get into the word of God and say, "What what do I have to do to increase the anointing upon myself, upon my church, upon the ministry that I do? What what do I have to to do to have the anointing and power and flow of the Holy Spirit?" And I'm not talking about just for miracles. I know we need the anointing just that our words would be anointed. That when we preach and share the gospel, our words would have power BEHIND THEM. THAT'S THE GREATEST ASPECT. LISTEN, more than any miracle, I want the gospel that I preach and the word that I preach and the witness that I am for Jesus to be anointed with power from on high so that when people hear me, they fall under conviction or God presses them in.
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