Rev. Brent L. White

In Part 1 of this sermon, I talked about the skepticism we usually have about Satan’s literal existence. In this sermon, I talk about the ways that Satan and the other “principalities and powers” often attack us. This sermon is both a warning and an encouragement for Christians: a warning because we need to take seriously the deadly Enemy that we face and an encouragement because we have all the power necessary to defeat this Enemy.

Sermon Text: Ephesians 6:10-17

The following is my original sermon text with footnotes.

I met a man recently named Bob, who goes to Hampton UMC, the church that I will soon be pastoring. Bob retired from Delta Airlines. But before that, he was in the Air Force. He flew U-2 spy planes 70,000 feet up in the air, at the edge of outer space, over enemy territory, at the height of the Cold War—probably while being fired upon by enemy missiles! I didn’t ask him where he flew U-2s, but I know U-2s routinely flew top secret missions over the Soviet Union, and China, and Cuba, and North Korea. They were used for surveillance, reconnaissance, intelligence-gathering.

Today, in Part 2 of our sermon “Devil in the Details,” I want us to fly over enemy territory ourselves and gather intelligence on our Enemy, which we identified last week as Satan and the “principalities and powers” that Paul talks about in today’s text. I talked about the challenge we modern people often face in believing in a literal Satan—even though Jesus himself certainly did. I also said that if Satan did exist—and he does—he would undoubtedly want us not to believe in him—then he could do so much of his work unimpeded.

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Too many of us treat our work as if, at best, it’s a necessary evil—something we have to endure in order to get to that part of our lives that we actually enjoy. Is work really so bad? Is is supposed to be? In this sermon, I talk about how God designed us to do good work—and to find joy and satisfaction in it. I also argue that all good work is the Lord’s work.

Do you believe that your job is a way of serving the Lord and loving your neighbor?

Sermon Text: Genesis 1:24-2:4

The following is my original sermon manuscript.

“Workin’ nine to five/ What a way to make a livin,’” Dolly Parton complains. “Barely gettin’ by/ It’s all takin’ and no givin.’” Some of us may not like our jobs, but that’s O.K.: The singer of another song says that everybody’s working for the weekend, anyway. The weekend, after all, is the only time of the week we have any fun. Nothing’s worse than “just another manic Monday”: when “I wish it was Sunday/ ’Cause that’s my fun day/ My I-don’t-have-to-run day.” Another singer never wants to work at all: he just wants to bang on his drum all day. Then some of us fantasize about that moment when we can tell our boss to “take this job and shove it/ I ain’t workin’ here no more.”

So many messages in our popular culture tell us that work is a problem that needs to be solved, that work is a necessary evil, that work is something we have to endure in order to get to the part of our lives that we enjoy. We’re working for time away from work. We’re working for vacation. We’re working for retirement—when we don’t have to work at all. That’s the ideal—not working at all. Read the rest of this entry »

Despite its title, Francis Chan’s new book Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples, is less about making disciples than being the kind of people who are disciple-makers. In this regard, the book ought to have more to say than it does about sanctification—that grace-filled, Spirit-led process of change by which God transforms us into the people he wants us to be. Most of us haven’t arrived yet—to say the least. In the meantime, however, we can still do good work for God’s kingdom, not by our own strength and power, but by the strength and power of the Holy Spirit. As I argue in this sermon, sanctification isn’t so much about trying harder as trusting more.

Sermon Text: Matthew 28:16-20

The following is my original sermon manuscript, with footnotes.

For nine years Angus T. Jones has been the one-half man on TV’s most popular sit-com, Two and a Half Men. He earns $350,000 an episode, which is a nice gig. Except now he’s telling his viewers to please stop watching the show. He calls it “filth.” Why is he jeopardizing his career in this way? Because he recently became a Christian.

A recent article in Christianity Today interviewed some prominent Christian intellectuals about whether or not a celebrity like Jones should come out so publicly so soon after his conversion. I personally think it’s great that Jones is witnessing in this way, but I appreciate the wisdom of something a professor at Calvin College said: “While conversion can happen in an instant, sanctification takes time… Christian wisdom isn’t implanted in us by some sort of magic, like a mental upload in The Matrix.”

He’s completely right about that. Conversion is often the easy part of being a Christian. In fact, conversion is to being a Christian what falling in love is to being married. Those of you who have been Christians for a while and are married know what I’m talking about. Learning to live our lives as Christians—learning to repent of the sins that were part of our lives before we found Christ, learning to resist the new temptations that come our way, learning to develop Christlike love for God and neighbor—these things take time and effort. For the vast majority of us Christians, it will take a lifetime and then some. Most of us won’t become perfect until the other side of death and resurrection. Read the rest of this entry »