Sermon Tone Analysis

Pearl Harbor

The attack came out of the sky on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941.

The surprise attack, which caught the U.S. completely off guard, had been launched from 200 miles north of Pearl Harbor from the decks of six aircraft carriers belonging to the Japanese Imperial Navy under the command of Admiral Yamamoto.

In less than two hours, Japanese airmen destroyed the U.S. battleships and badly damaged six others.

Only 6 U.S. planes managed to get into the air to defend against their Japanese attackers.

The assault took 2,330 American lives and left 1,145 wounded.

It was the most humiliating defeat ever suffered by American forces.

The attack had tremendous consequences.

Responsibility for America’s unpreparedness has never been completely defined.

Most military historians submit that America’s leaders were convinced that Japan would never dare attack, primarily because its navy and economy were too weak to wage a major war.

(Paragon Publishing).

4 Things I learn from that:

Self Reliant

Misjudged our enemy

Ill Prepared

Caught off guard and unable to stand against it.

We are in a war, and if we underestimate the enemy, we too will be taken by surprise.

God’s strategy for the church in Spiritual warfare:

ephesians 6:10-20

SOUTHEASTERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

WAKE FOREST, NORTH CAROLINA

God’s strategy for the church in Spiritual warfare

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT

OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE

DOCTOR OF MINISTRY: DMN 8305

BY

bENJAMIN HUTSON

January 6, 2020

God’s strategy for the church in Spiritual warfare:

ephesians 6:10-20

From Scripture, it is obvious that there has been a war going on from the very beginning of the world.

In fact, there are only two chapters of peace in Scripture and those are at the very beginning.

In , God creates the earth and fills it with life, and everything he creates meets his holy approval.

In , “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.”[1]

However, we all know how the story develops...

Man falls in after being tempted by God’s enemy.

From the get go, you should see that Satan’s plan from the beginning was to thwart and distort all God had done in Creation.

The fall of man was just the beginning of that battle.

In fact God told them that.

Enmity- means strife, struggle opposition, hostility.

You and face that.

If we are Christians, we still fight this battle today.

we as individuals and our church is at war.

But God gives us a strategy for defeating Satan and his attacks and its right here in

The Armor of God

The first step is that we must rely on God’s power.

He emphasizes the importance of relying on God’s strength when it comes to the fight against Satan.

The first thing off the bat that you should know about this battle is that it is not a fair fight.

Paul in verses ten and eleven emphasizes the importance of relying on God’s strength when it comes to the fight against Satan.

Rankin and Stetzer rightly note, “The victory will not come through our efforts and ability but only as we take our stand in Christ who is victorious and in the power of His vast strength.”[3]

Satan is a defeated foe.

He is powerful, but he is no match for Jesus Christ who according to “upholds all things by the word of His power.”[4]

Satan is a defeated foe.

He is powerful, but he is no match for Jesus Christ who according to

“upholds all things by the word of His power.”

Satan is a created being, and like all created beings, he must answer to his Creator.

Clinton Arnold writes, “[God] created everything in heaven and on earth.

All of the spiritual powers derive their life from him.

He holds them in the palm of his hand and can do with them as he wills.”

So for us, wemust rely upon the power of God who provides the only adequate armor for firm standing in the middle of the battle.

I would just remind you that Christ and His power have proven the ability to defeat Satan and his attacks.

Look at the cross.

Look at the resurrection.

Read Revelation.

Christ wins and we also win in Christ.

But we do not outside of him.

We must rely upon God’s power.

Next, in this passage, we see the church must properly identify its enemy.

Next, in this passage, we see the church must properly identify its enemy.

Who is it that we are fighting against?

If we don’t get that right, it could mean two things.

We get distracted and fight the wrong things.

We don’t fight at all.

We have to identify the enemy and thankfully, Paul does that for us here.

It is not against flesh and blood.

We fight against and entire realm of satanic and demonic forces.

What Paul is doing here is encouraging the church of Ephesus not to sleep on this enemy.

Peter does the same thing.

The church of Ephesus could not afford to misidentify the enemy, and neither can our church today.

We are in a real fight, with a scheming, strategic con artist who is good at what he does.

But we are not left defenseless.

Look at verse 13.

In addition to relying upon the power of God and properly identifying the enemy in spiritual warfare, the church must also “take up the full armor of God.”

The majority of Paul’s exhortation regarding spiritual warfare is identifying the armor of God that the believer must put on in order to be able to stand against Satan and his deceits.

Paul mentions six specific pieces of armor in verses 14-17 of Ephesians.

The first piece of armor in this passage is the belt of truth.

One of Satan’s greatest tools is deception and lies.

The truth as a centerpiece of the armor keeps the believer from falling prey to Satan’s lies.

In addition to relying upon the power of God and properly identifying the enemy in spiritual warfare,

The church must also “take up the full armor of God.”

And he makes it clear here, that doing this or not doing this will determine our ability to stand.

Paul going to mention six specific pieces of armor in verses 14-17.

We are going to walk through all of them.

The first piece of armor in this passage is the belt of truth.

One of Satan’s greatest tools is deception and lies and we see that in Scripture.

He did this in the Garden of Eden.

He is the Father of Lies.

So to combat the Father of Lies, the believer wears the belt of truth.

But what does that mean?