Wounded Warriors
About this sermon
In “Wounded Warriors,” Pastor Dean Odle presents a Scripture-centered message about the condition of the church, prayer, healing and faith. Drawing especially from Ephesians 6, Proverbs 18, John 14, Mark 16, the teaching emphasizes that the church is called to recover biblical faithfulness instead of accommodating compromise. 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 prayer while working through Ephesians 6, Proverbs 18. 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 family discipleship. 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 Satan’s work is described through deception, accusation, temptation, and opposition to God’s purposes. 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 John 14, Mark 16. The message argues that the church is called to recover biblical faithfulness instead of accommodating compromise. It connects this with the conviction that the gospel announces Christ’s saving work and calls every hearer to repent, believe, and obey. 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 John 10. The message argues that the church is called to recover biblical faithfulness instead of accommodating compromise. It connects this with the conviction that the inner life must be healed, guarded, and brought under the truth of God’s word. The practical emphasis is to test the teaching by Scripture and apply it through faithful obedience.
Odle focuses on salvation. The message argues that salvation is presented as God’s work in Christ that produces a changed life and continuing faith. It connects this with the conviction that demonic influence must be answered through Christ’s authority and the freedom He provides. The practical emphasis is to trust God’s promises and refuse decisions governed by fear.
Odle focuses on prayer while working through Proverbs 18. 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 message connects prayer for healing with faith in Christ, pastoral care, and submission to God. The practical emphasis is to seek God in prayer and act on what Scripture requires.
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 marriage is treated as a covenant requiring faithfulness, sacrifice, truth, and biblical order. The practical emphasis is to test the teaching by Scripture and apply it through faithful obedience.
Odle focuses on the condition of the church. The message argues that the church is called to recover biblical faithfulness instead of accommodating compromise. It connects this with the conviction that the promise of eternal life directs believers toward hope, holiness, and perseverance in Christ. The practical emphasis is to seek God in prayer and act on what Scripture requires.
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- 0:00:01
lord we thank you we praise you for your presence that you sent your holy spirit to be with us and to be in us and to lead us and guide us into all truth to teach us and show us things to come to give us power to be a witness well we thank you for that jesus name amen amen hallelujah you may be seated this morning i got one thank you uh everybody had their bibles this morning i hope should turn to ephesians chapter six this morning i want to talk to you about [Music] wounded warriors being a wounded warrior well let's get to ephesians chapter six first we're going to read a familiar passage of scripture there ephesians 6 go down to verse 10. let everybody get there ephesians 6 verse 10 finally my brethren be strong in the lord and in the power of his might and put on the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places wherefore take unto you the whole armor of god that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand stand therefore having your loins gird about with truth having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace above all taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of god praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints now you know a lot of people end when we talk about the the spiritual warfare that we're in against principalities and powers of darkness and wicked spirits in high places and uh we talk about the armor of god putting on the armor both literally and spiritually speaking and walking in those things but we forget i think a lot of people just kind of blow past or they don't finish that passage when it talks about praying always
- 0:03:01
with all prayer and supplication in the spirit with perseverance for all saints and then we didn't read it but paul added right after that and praying for me he said praying for me um but this church we're no strangers to the topic of spiritual warfare demonology fighting satan and the powers of darkness you've been taught about that you've been taught about deliverance you've been taught about binding and loosing and spiritual warfare and your authority so this is not so much about that this morning as it is about the fact that i love the bible how it is specific the bible's always very specific and he says here i want you to notice [Music] in verse 11 when he says put on the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand against the devil against the wiles of the devil he said may that you may be able maybe it's not a given just because you're a believer it's not a given that you're going to win every victory that you're going to be in this battle and be unscathed that's not what it's saying he's saying yes it's possible in jesus christ to put on the armor of god to walk in truth to always walk in faith and have that shield up and quench every fire of dark is it is it possible yes because jesus is sufficient for all all power and authority is given unto him and if we always walk perfectly in jesus and in the truth and in righteousness and in faith then you're right we would quench every dart but here's the the fact of the matter is is that in this battle we may be the best trained warrior the best trained soldier in spiritual warfare but do we always do what we need to do perfectly no we don't we don't always walk in faith perfectly we don't always walk in righteousness and holiness perfectly we don't always walk in the truth perfectly and so because of that there are fiery darts of satan that get through everybody knows what i'm talking about if you've got to lift up a shield of faith to stop a fiery dart what what what what is that dart it could be a dart of doubt it could be a a fiery dart an arrow a missile a bullet whatever you want to call it a fear it could be of lust it could be of pride it could be of deception and false teaching it could be a lot of things it could be depression it could be suicide it could be all kind of these darts
- 0:06:04
see i was as i was praying about this this morning and last night the scripture kept coming to me in proverbs 18 verse 14. you can look at it if you want to but i want you to hold your spot hold a finger in ephesians there but it's very simple it says that the spirit of man the human spirit within man man is the spirit of soul and a body that the spirit of man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear now i talked about that a little bit i've mentioned that in weeks past but i wanted to bring that out because i want you to see that you can be wounded in the spirit you can be wounded in your soul you can be wounded in your body we all know about that but the battle that we fight with satan is very real and the darts the arrows the bullets the missiles are real you know this morning when i was uh praying about this and looking in the scriptures and just meditating on what the lord wanted me to give i decided to look up some footage of of wounded soldiers because i started thinking about movies i've seen with soldiers getting wounded in battle now some of them are deadly wounds mortal ones one of the videos i watched on youtube this morning was a firefight the united states marines in afghanistan not sure when the footage was taken but the marines were pressing toward a hillside where they were being fired at and they moved across this field and they got in down into this ditch and they were down kind of hidden in a bunker and they were firing i mean they were kind of in a trench and they were just popping up and they were firing back at the enemy and the next thing you hear is this marine in not so nice language of course they're not known for their nice speech but starts screaming i'm hit i'm hit and he's cussing a blue streak but he took an ak-47 round to the neck but luckily it just caught him about right here and went in and went out oh it knocked him down he was laying down in the ditch and he was screaming in pain i mean this is a marine these are guys that are taught to take pain i can't imagine taking the 40 ak-47 round through the shoulder
- 0:09:04
the part of the neck and the shoulder there probably fractured this bone here blood everywhere but he was still alive and his buddies ran over and got him and patched him up you know they immediately started i mean they took their knives out and started cutting his pack off and cutting his clothes off and patching the plug in the bullet hole and calling for the the medics and the medevac and the next thing you see is him laying there and they're holding him and they carry him they pick him up and they carry him to the chopper and get him out of there and i was thinking about us as christians we don't do too much of that you know we're good at we're real good at saying you know why did you let yourself get shot you big dummy and i'm guilty of that some of that you know nancy and i were talking yesterday the day before because there many of you know about the singer you know jennifer knapp who was a christian singer and then she i think last year the year before she came out is she's lesbian but she's still a christian but nancy because a friend of her gave her an ipod years ago and brian just has he probably has every album known to mankind so he loaded all this stuff i mean it was over what four thousand five thousand songs on her ipod for and she had some jennifer nap on there so she was playing her ipod and came across some of this jennifer knapp stuff and started listening to some of her songs and some of the lyrics in her songs before she came out and said that she was lesbian homosexual and you can tell in her music you can tell what she was writing about everything she was talking about that she was struggling with that sin and struggling with that issue and struggling with that temptation in her life and trying to overcome it for a long time and never did and what made i i mean i almost we were talking about it i just really had to walk out of the room because i almost broke down in tears because it's overwhelming sometimes we can we can take a stand against say a sin of homosexuality as we should as christians the bible teaches it is sin and we take a stand against sin and we say it's wrong and it is wrong and it's a perversion but we cannot ever forget compassion
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