Sermon Tone Analysis

! Introduction

* One day many years ago there was a young boy minding sheep on a hillside in Israel.

* The boy's country was in political, moral and military turmoil.

* The king's ability to solve national problems and govern the land had eroded.

* His army found himself on a battlefield against superior forces.

* On one side of the battle ground stood an army of superior numbers and equipment.

* The other side was an army of lesser numbers and lesser equipment.

* If the truth were told the smaller army should have been the superior army because God was supposed to be their true king.

* But times had changed and that was no longer the case

* The little shepherd boy was aware of the situation and decided to come to the battlefield to survey the situation.

* His arrival was met with disdain.

* His brothers who were in the army were upset by his arrival who thought he was coming to put on a show or upstage them.

* The enemy met him with disdain because as a warrior he saw this little shepherd boy as a toy and not a warrior.

* To the enemy this was seen as a big joke.

* We all know the story of David and Goliath.

* But let me share with you one important element of this confrontation.

It is found in 1 Samuel 17:38-47.

/Then Saul clothed David with his armor.

He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, and David strapped his sword over his armor.

And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them.

Then David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them."

So David put them off.

Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch.

His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.

And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him.

And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance.

And the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?"

And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field."

Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head.

And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear.

For the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hand."/

* The very first thing that happened that day was an attempt to fight outnumbered forces and a huge giant with human weapons.

* Thankfully the little shepherd boy was wise enough to know that this would not work and chose another method.

* You see the shepherd boy understood that the battle the Lord's!

* Neither Saul or David would be able to pull this one off alone!

* One day in September a 32 year old young Christian man by the name of Todd Beamer boarded a plane in Newark, N.J.

* The plane was bound for San Francisco, Ca.

* The plane departed at its usual time around 8 am.

It looked like any other day.

* Todd worked as an account manager for a rather large computer company and he was flying to Ca. on business.

* Not long after take off three men armed with knives and a bomb hijacked the plane with the suspected destination of Wash.

D.C.

* The hijackers had forced the vast majority of the passengers into the first class compartment of the plane in order to keep an eye on them.

* A few had been instructed to lay on the floor in the rear of the plane.

This is where Todd Beamer found himself that morning.

* He managed to get to the inflight aircraft phone and made a credit card call.

* His call was routed to customer service and redirected to a GTE supervisor who talked to him for 13 minutes.

* It was during this phone conversation that the last words of Todd Beamer were heard.

* He was heard very clearly saying “let's roll”.

* He was credited with organizing resistance against the hijackers that caused them to change course.

* Thankfully they never reached their destination or target.

* The experience of the little shepherd boy hundreds of years ago and Todd Beamer just a few short years ago are a perfect illustration of victory against overwhelming odds.

* You and I are in a struggle today.

We are in a war!

* We who are members of the body of Christ are outnumbered and out financed.

* As it stands today the prospects look grim.

* This week we lost a giant for the faith (Falwell).

* Who will be the next Jerry Falwell?

Who will stand in the gap for him?

* But just as it was for David, and just as it was for Todd, so it is with us today.

* Both the stakes and the consequences are incredibly high!

* The church of Jesus Christ in America is in a struggle today.

* We are in a great fight and things don't look good.

* You see, we are fighting against complacency.

* What is complacency?

* We live in the land of “who cares”!

* People no longer care about the things of God.

* People no longer find the church relevant.

* Not only is our world full of people who don't care but our churches are also filled with people who just don't care.

* They don't care if those in the community die and go to hell.

* People in the church want the blessing of God on everything from the singing to the eating but don't want the responsibility of being obedient.

* We want our cake and we want to eat it too!

* Not only are the churches in jeopardy but our country is in a struggle against internal forces seeking to destroy us from the inside.

* The media is stealing our kids.

* The media is “dumbing us down” nationally.

* The media puts a “good looking spin” on sin.

* We have allowed our kids to be indoctrinated with media that teaches open rebellion, destroys basic human dignity and minimizes the worth of individuals.

* Our country is also in a struggle against the forces of liberalism who are driving us all away from good, clean, traditional, moral values.

* We are being told that we are NOT a Christian nation and the liberals have begun to rewrite American history.

* My friends, we have arrived at a crucial time in church history and a crucial time in American history.

* The words of Todd Beamer are incredibly relevant today and it is time for the church of Jesus Christ to rise up and say, “Let's roll”!

#. *LET'S ROLL WITH DIVINE WEAPONS*

with an outline.

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Look at 2 Corinthians 10 verse 4.

/For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds./

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The weapons we are supposed to be fighting with are NOT conventional weapons.

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They are NOT fleshly weapons.

We are not to fight these problems with worldly weapons.

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We need to STOP fighting with:

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Money

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Intellect

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Programs

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Worldly advice

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We need to START fighting with divine weapons.

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What are these divine weapons?

How are we to fight?

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The very first weapon is the armor of God.

Listen to Ephesians 6:10-18.