Archive for the 'America' Category
When is Enough Going to Be Enough? Racism Needs to End in America
Former President Ronald Reagan once said, “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.” I believe that great change can’t happen unless someone sets the table for tough conversations.
Will Washington and our leaders in America set this table for tough conversations, or will it be set by the pastors and churches in America? This table for tough conversations needs to be set by each of us, wherever we are located in America.
Hopeful Words From A Jail Cell
When Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his Letter From a Birmingham Jail on April 16, 1963, he noted he had never written such a long letter. When I read these words, it is the final paragraph that penetrates my heart. Dr. King wrote, “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.”
After 54 years, this deep fog filled with racism, injustices, and misunderstanding has not lifted fully. This is a sad commentary on where we are as a nation. For the past three years in America, it has become like a fire fanned by a mighty wind.
Rather than the fire coming from the Holy Spirit of God and His breath upon our churches, the fire is raging from the DNA of our hearts. Sin is in our DNA and is at the heart of our human condition. Prejudice and racism are offenses against God and one another.
Silence and Passivity
Silence is not the answer, and passivity is not our prescription for healing as a nation. Cloudiness on the sanctity and dignity of human life is unacceptable. We must hold high the value of every person in this world from the moment of conception all the way through the moment of death.
This generation of Americans must rise like never before, resolving that the sin of racism will stop now, and not be forwarded to generations in the future. The churches of America need to lead the way and model absolute acceptance and love for every individual.
Pastors and churches need to lead the way to speak up for every human life, and stand up and tell it like it is when certain groups of people want to declare their anti-Christ doctrine, shouting forth their nonsense. This is not just wrong; it is demonic. No group or race is superior to others.
4 Things Each of Us Need to Know
1. Each of us are created in the image of God.
No one is less than another. We are created by God and created for His glory on this earth.
2. Each of us are a part of one race—the human race.
Each of us came from one man, Adam. Every ethnicity on this earth came from him. Each of us have sinned and come short of God’s glory. The good news is that each of us not only has the same problem of sin, but each of us has the same solution: our Savior, Jesus Christ.
3. Each of us can experience the love of God.
When we receive God’s love found only in Jesus Christ at the moment of salvation, we become devoted followers of Jesus Christ. We become Christians who are unashamed followers of Jesus Christ.
I want to remind each of us today: We are not black Christians. We are not white Christians. We are not Latino Christians. We are not Native American Christians. We are Christians! We are followers of Jesus Christ.
Sin wounds. Grace forgives. Sin hurts. Grace heals. Sin divides. Grace unites. Sin destroys. Grace lives.
4. Each of us who know Christ are part of one Church.
The death of Jesus Christ on the cross makes us one in Christ. When we are forgiven, we become a part of one family, the church.
In this urgent hour in our nation when racial tension is building rapidly, the Church of Jesus Christ must rise together as one.
We are not black churches. We are not white churches. We are not Latino churches. We are not Asian churches. We are the Church of Jesus Christ. We are members of the same body. We need to model to our nation what true oneness means.
Enough is enough. Let’s speak up and stand up as one in this desperate and urgent hour.
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
In These Hard Times, We Need to Pray
We are living in perilous times. Inside and outside America, danger looms.
2 Timothy 3:1 says, “But know this: Hard times will come in the last days.” (CSB)
In these last days before the Lord returns, times will increase in their hardship, difficulty, and danger. The days will be fierce, harsh, and filled with trouble. This is a general and clear description of our condition in America.
If you want a more specific description, 2 Timothy 3:2-4 says, “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God”. These words represent a definite and specific description of our culture in America.
In fact, rather than standing out against the culture, an impotent church is marked by these same traits. I believe the culture and the Church oftentimes represent one another.
Sadly, 2 Timothy 3:5 paints this picture clearly. It says, “holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.”
Those of us who follow Christ and are members of His family possess an appearance of being holy and like Him, but simultaneously disregard His miraculous power and strength. We are instructed to shun people like this!
In These Hard Times, Believe in Prayer and the Power of God
I am a firm believer that each of us need to do all we can to make a difference in our culture by being the salt and the light. In fact, in this republic of America, “We the People” have the joy of not just participating in, but also determining the future of our great nation. But make no mistake about it – as much as I believe in this, much greater is my belief in the privilege and power of prayer, as well as the power of our great God and King. In these perilous and hard times, we must practice fervent prayer like it makes a difference.
When we pray, we are not talking to some make-believe spiritual Santa Claus. We are talking to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is the Great I Am! The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives in you! Therefore, in these hard times, we must pray like we believe in the power of God.
As We Pray for America, Pray for the Trouble Occurring Inside Our Nation
This past Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia, we saw the uprising of evil demonstrated in our nation. It resulted in the loss of human lives and turned a nation upside down. Hate was demonstrated to the point of chaos, violence, and death.
My personal belief is recorded in a statement I released on Saturday afternoon:
Dr. Ronnie Floyd on UVA Protests: ‘White Nationalism and White Supremacism Are Anathema to the Teachings of Christ’
These protesters do not represent in any form or way the Christian faith or the values followers of Jesus stand for. In fact, white nationalism and white supremacism are anathema to the teachings of Christ, who called us to love and to serve our neighbor – regardless of skin color, gender or religion – to give up our life for our friends and to even love our enemies. As Christians we do not tolerate or condone these protests, and we certainly and wholeheartedly denounce any form of supremacism, anti Semitism or white nationalism that promotes racism, violence or hate.
Knowing these things and believing them, we need to pray against what is currently happening in our nation
If we do not find a way to come together in America, how can we stand together against our greatest enemies of freedom in this world?
Therefore, in these hard and dangerous times, pray for:
- The American people to come together now
- The American people to stand together now
We need to call evil what it is and choose to stand against it as one nation under God. We are more vulnerable from the inside of our nation than we are from the outside.
As We Pray for America, Pray for the Trouble That is Looming Against Our Nation
The United States of America is under one of the greatest threats against our national security in our generation. We must find a way to come together in order to stand as one nation as our enemies come against us.
It is more than apparent that North Korea is a nuclear threat in this world. Whether the threat comes inside one of our states or one of our territories like Guam, we stand in need of God being our great shelter and hope.
In these hard and dangerous times, pray for:
- The security of our America, the people of Guam, and other nations under nuclear threat from North Korea
- The knowledge and wisdom of God to be upon all our leaders in our nation as they determine how to manage this looming crisis
- The protection of God to be upon those across our world who serve our nation in all branches of the military
Whether it is at your lunch table with friends or around a conference table as you begin your week at work, when it is proper, call upon everyone to pray for our nation.
2 Chronicles 20:12 says, “We do not know what to do, but we look to you.” (CSB)
Now is the Time to Lead and to Pray,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church
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Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the Senior Pastor of Cross Church, Immediate Past President of the Southern Baptist Convention, founder of the Cross Church School of Ministry, and host of the Ronnie Floyd on Life and Leadership Today podcast.
To request an interview with Dr. Ronnie Floyd
contact Gayla Oldham at (479) 751-4523 or email gaylao@crosschurch.com.
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Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.