Walking in the Light
About this sermon
In “Walking in the Light,” Pastor Dean Odle presents a Scripture-centered message about the authority of Scripture, prayer, family discipleship. Drawing especially from Psalm 23, Hosea 4, 1 Corinthians 5, James 1, the teaching emphasizes that Scripture is presented as the standard for doctrine, discernment, and daily obedience. Odle connects that foundation with the conviction that prayer expresses dependence on God and prepares believers to hear and obey Him.
Chronological teaching outline
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Odle focuses on family discipleship while working through Psalm 23. The message argues that faithfulness in the home requires instruction, loving correction, protection, and a consistent Christian example. 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 test the teaching by Scripture and apply it through faithful obedience.
Odle focuses on prayer. The message argues that prayer expresses dependence on God and prepares believers to hear and obey Him. 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.
Odle focuses on the authority of Scripture while working through Hosea 4. The message argues that Scripture is presented as the standard for doctrine, discernment, and daily obedience. It connects this with the conviction that God’s judgment is treated as righteous, certain, and a reason to repent while mercy is offered. The practical emphasis is to seek God in prayer and act on what Scripture requires.
Odle focuses on faith while working through James 1. The message argues that biblical faith trusts God’s character and acts upon His promises. It connects this with the conviction that Scripture is presented as the standard for doctrine, discernment, and daily obedience. The practical emphasis is to trust God’s promises and refuse decisions governed by fear.
Odle focuses on biblical love. The message argues that biblical love is demonstrated through truth, patience, sacrifice, and conduct toward others. 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 seek God in prayer and act on what Scripture requires.
Odle focuses on the authority of Scripture while working through Exodus 20. The message argues that Scripture is presented as the standard for doctrine, discernment, and daily obedience. 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 test the teaching by Scripture and apply it through faithful obedience.
Odle focuses on prayer while working through Ephesians 1, Psalm 19. The message argues that prayer expresses dependence on God and prepares believers to hear and obey Him. It connects this with the conviction that Scripture is presented as the standard for doctrine, discernment, and daily obedience. The practical emphasis is to seek God in prayer and act on what Scripture requires.
Odle focuses on prayer while working through Amos 3. The message argues that prayer expresses dependence on God and prepares believers to hear and obey Him. It connects this with the conviction that Scripture is presented as the standard for doctrine, discernment, and daily obedience. The practical emphasis is to seek God in prayer and act on what Scripture requires.
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- 0:00:01
for our Lord Our Savior Our Redeemer our healer our deliverer you give us peace in the midst of the storm you are a Shepherd you're the Good Shepherd and we shall not want Lord even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil as you are with us the rod and your staff they Comfort us Lord I Thank you for being there to comfort us when we have lost when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death with friends and family God we thank you that you are our comfort you're our strength that we know that if we walk with you Jesus we have hope of eternal life and it doesn't stop even with death we looking for that God We Praise You In Jesus Name amen amen you may be seated this morning um you don't want to say this because today today is uh October 2nd 2016. it's the sixth year anniversary of the day I lost my mom but I've noticed that there's we actually have three families in here today that have lost family members Mike lost his uncle to cancer this past week Patrick lost his grandfather to a complication that probably could have been solved but he was what 90. and Melinda just got word that she lost a long time friend who was only in her 40s to cancer today so I want y'all to know something that Psalm 23 came to my mind and I'm going to tell you why as Christians especially we need to learn better learn how to deal with death because it is a part of life I remember one time I was uh when I lived in Montgomery years ago there was a fire across the street from my house when I got out there firemen had pulled out three young people in their 20s early 20s then and I actually asked the Lord Lord do you want me to pray for him do you want me to believe and raise them from the dead you know what the spirit of God said to me no and I said well why he said because they need to understand that death is part of life
- 0:03:03
and they had heard the gospel and they had rejected it and continued to live in drunkenness and fornication and sin and unbelief but I say that this morning I'm afraid to have to tell you that as hard as it is deal with losing someone close to you um we're going to have a whole lot more to deal with than meet the end so what I'm saying is you need to find that place in your relationship with God where you can find comfort and strength and peace in him you're not gonna find it in other people if you think you're going to find that in other people you're not always going to find it in other people sometimes yes sometimes no because people sometimes they help you sometimes they don't help you sometimes they fail you but you learn if you learn to let the Lord be your Shepherd truly be your Shepherd you shall not want you shall not whack you shall not be without amen that doesn't mean you're not sad listen it was a it was a tough day it was a sad day when my mom passed away and it's not wrong you know Miss the ones that you've lost not wrong to miss them not not wrong to wish you could pick up the phone and call them or go visit them there's nothing wrong with that but some people let it devastate their lives to the point that they get get into depression they quit functioning some even backslide saying God why did you let this happen or let it happen this way if that begins to happen then you're you're letting it take you away from God instead of Drawing Near to God Amen that's all up to you it's an important thing though because we're going to see a lot more of that as the world gets worse and worse men hate to be that bring that to you this morning but that's just a fact right uh this morning I want you to turn first of all to uh John the Gospel of John actually we'll go there in a second go to First John chapter one first John chapter one I've entitled this today walking in the light what's interesting is I could have entitled it walking in darkness because I actually want to cover both issues what that really means I pondered this in the last few days and I think the Lord has opened my eyes to something or to see it in a way a little bit deeper than before and I and I hope that you I'll stay with me and and catch what I'm trying to say this morning and by the way I welcome those listening my Blog Talk Radio mixler or watching on
- 0:06:05
Facebook live we welcome you this aspiring Grace Church uh here in Opelika Alabama we welcome you um but first John chapter one is where we're going to start today and we're going to start at verse one that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life and he's speaking the word of life is another name another term for Jesus himself the word made flesh Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life the Gospel of John says in the beginning was the word the word was with God the Word was God in verse 14 and it says and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and that of course was Jesus Christ when he became flesh he says for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the father and was manifested to us that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you may also have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ now these things right we unto you that your joy may be full this then is the message I'll just say that this then it would be this then is the message it says which we have heard him and declaring to you that God is light and in him is no Darkness at all if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie right and do not the truth but if we walk in the light notice it says if and notice he says we please talk to Christians do you know the Christians can walk in darkness so we're gonna we're gonna understand better what that means today but he says here but if we Christians he's speaking of himself including himself but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have Fellowship one with another in the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin if we walk in the line notice I'm going to point out today he didn't say if you walk sinless in fact he makes it Point here to show us that we will not walk sinless so see I'm gonna share this little nugget real quick with you we've always assumed we just read something like this and we assume that walking in darkness means walking in sin not necessarily okay let's keep reading but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have Fellowship one with another in the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin if we say
- 0:09:07
that we have no sin notice this is Christian we the Apostle John is including himself he says if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves I'm telling you there's a lot of Christians walking around they think that they don't have any sin in their life they think they're perfect are they or at least minimum they think they're better than somebody else let me tell you let me just inform you of something not only does the Bible say oh have sinned but this clearly says all still have sin okay I don't know one of you in fact I know being your pastor none of you are perfect little angels all the time I know that okay right so if you say we if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in US right Joseph Prince that's for him if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar in his word is not in us that's pretty strong I mean it literally a bunch of Christians running around Joseph's friend fights saying they have no sin and that they don't sin right but that's not what first John chapter one teaches first John chapter one is clearly teaching you that even as a Christian even as a serious Christian even as a Godly Christian even as a Christian who's hungry and pursuing the Lord you cannot ever say I have not sinned or I don't have sin in my life all right everybody say that is it it's not just Pastor Dean okay all right because I'm gonna make some statements that you know are not taught in most churches today all right but let's back up and let's look at something when he says let's walk in the light as he is in the light if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness now I'm going to read the Greek word for Darkness here all right I'm going to pull it up here not just from the strongs but also from the Thayer's Greek Lexicon but it is the Greek word scotus or scotus let me uh let me get it here and I was studying this this past week and this just kind of leaped off the uh leaked off the page at me the definition and I got to find it here I made my my notes in here and sometimes there we go all right in the strongs it is four six five five scotus all right and here's the definition of
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