Archive for the 'America' Category
11 Minutes to 1 Hour on Sunday, September 11: Focused Prayer for America During Church Worship Services
As a people of faith, many followers of Christ would love to see prayer become part of our schools in America again. But I would suggest we first bring prayer back into the churches of America. The vast majority of churches in America give more time in their worship services to promoting their next event than they give to practicing prayer.
This Needs to Change on Sunday, September 11
Sunday, September 11, needs to become the day thousands of churches move from prayerlessness to prayerfulness. The subject at hand is one thing: America!
You may have given up on America, but God hasn’t. As the foundation of our nation is cracking and our culture is crumbling before our eyes, never and I mean never in our generation, have we needed to call out to God in prayer more than on Sunday, September 11.
Why Sunday, September 11, is a Key Day
Fifteen years ago on September 11, terrorism struck our nation in a devastating manner. A total of 2,996 people were killed in America on that day and more than 6,000 others were injured by the deadliest terrorist attack in world history. It was the most devastating attack on American soil since the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor seventy-five years ago, December 7, 1941.
On September 11, 2016, on the 15th anniversary of 9/11, with great conviction, I want to ask each pastor and church in America to allocate the day to praying for our nation. The churches of America need to pray for our country in our worship services. Not just mention it, not just pray, but pray extraordinarily.
What You Could Pray About
There are so many things we could pray for our nation on September 11. A few of these are our upcoming elections, our President, our Congress, our Supreme Court, our governors and state legislative bodies, our mayors, city councils, and school boards, our first responders, our schools and universities, our military, our law enforcement officers, and the racial crisis in America.
Additionally, we could pray for our own church and for all the churches in America to be revived by the power of the Holy Spirit and for God to bring the next Great Spiritual Awakening in America. Make no mistake about it: America’s greatest need is the next Great Spiritual Awakening. Only revival in the church, a gospel explosion through the church, and awakening in the nation will turn around the church and nation. We need a Jesus revolution in America!
If we truly believe the Bible, we must apply the Bible. We need to live and pray for a moment like in Acts 4:31,
“When they had prayed, the place where they had assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak God’s message with boldness.”
Surely, as the churches in America, we can agree on one major thing: America needs prayer now! Surely we can unite on this day to call out to God for our nation. In this desperate hour in America, we need to see Sunday, September 11, as a day to pray for America: From 11 minutes to 1 hour… you determine it… your church determines it… let’s just come together for this strong day that could change America and change us into being more of what God wants us to be!
Pastor and Church Leaders, Lead Your Church to Pray for America on September 11
So many pastors and church leaders have said a service devoted entirely to prayer was the greatest day their church has ever had! Pastor and church, you will not regret it!
We have no right to prognosticate doom about America, upon evangelicals, upon the church, or anyone else unless we are willing to humble ourselves before God and pray.
Prayer brings the walls down! Prayer crosses over the perceived barriers of ethnicity, race, and generations, bringing down the walls that divide us. Let the walls fall down! Our sinful choices have built these walls, but Jesus’ work on the cross has brought them all down.
God is Calling Us to Him on September 11
I believe the polarization and division in America, the multiple crises in America and across the entire world, and the extreme division occurring in the church of America is a strong call from God to us: Come back to Me!
We need to wake up! We must come back to God! On Sunday, September 11, we need to give our worship services or at least 11 minutes in each service to praying for America.
Now is the time for us to repent, return to the Lord, plead for mercy, and call our nation back to God. Let me be more than clear: The church cannot call America to repent until the church repents. We need to repent of our prayerlessness. We need to repent of our unbelief. We need to pray for ourselves to get right with God and right with one another.
The Stakes Couldn’t Be Higher!
The stakes couldn’t be higher in America. Now is the time for the church to be the church, praying for our nation!
Our hope cannot be in politics, parties, positions, possessions, or people. Our eyes need to be fixed on Jesus alone. Our hope is not in Washington, DC or your state capitol, but in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Yes, make no mistake about it. While the stakes could not be higher in our nation today, my faith is becoming stronger each day. Why? How?
I believe that our God can do anything, anytime, anywhere, with anyone. God can do more in a moment than you could ever do in a lifetime.
Imagine this for a moment: Thousands of churches praying on the same day for America on September 11, for 11 minutes to 1 hour in each Sunday worship service.
Just think what God may do!
Now is the Time to Lead and to Pray,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church
Immediate Past President, Southern Baptist Convention
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Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the Senior Pastor of Cross Church, immediate past President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and founder of the Cross Church School of Ministry.
To request an interview with Dr. Ronnie Floyd
contact Gayla Oldham at (479) 751-4523 or email gaylao@crosschurch.com.
Visit our website at http://ronniefloyd.com
Follow Dr. Floyd on Twitter and Instagram @ronniefloyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Dear Democratic and Republican Parties
Dear Democratic and Republican Parties
An Open Letter by Dr. Ronnie Floyd
As you near your respective conventions where you will make final decisions regarding your nominees for the Office of President, I—as an evangelical leader and fellow American—feel deeply compelled to make this humble request of you:
Tell the American public what you truly believe about the things that matter to us.
As leaders in our nation, in your formulation of your respective platforms, please leave your conventions with a clear message about your stance on the subjects we care about.
Live out what you say you believe.
Americans as a whole, not just evangelicals, are weary of words alone. Our nation needs more than rhetoric. We need to act, to do our rightful duty of honoring God with the way we confront the issues of today and prepare a future for tomorrow.
Please tell us what you believe about these things that are important to us as evangelicals:
The Supreme Court and Its Future
The next president will appoint at least one justice to the Supreme Court, but some believe as many as four could be appointed if the next president serves eight years. This is important to us because a president can shape a generation, but his or her appointments can shape generations. This could tilt America further toward the precipice of moral decadence we are barely hanging over or move us in the direction of rebuilding our society on the truths it was originally founded upon. I pray the mercy of God would be extended to us as a nation.
The Sanctity and Dignity of Human Life From the Womb to the Tomb
For evangelicals, and as it’s clear for many Americans as well, protecting the sanctity of each human life living in the womb of each mother is a priority. If we destroy human life in the womb, our view of human life between birth and death becomes distorted, which leads to a de-valuing of each person created in the image of God. This trajectory paves a way to a disrespect of one another, increased violence, crime, poverty, racial unrest, and terrorism. Even our country’s view of death has been influenced by the ramifications of this view. As a society we must return the value of human life to its God-given status if we are to overcome these other issues.
Religious Liberty in America and Across The World
We desire that our government live up to the first amendment in our constitution, which grants the blessing of religious liberty for all Americans. Enough is enough. This is America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. Any political party, leader in our nation, or Supreme Court justice, including the government itself, needs to stop trying to redefine what our constitution states and what our heritage has been. America was birthed because of a conviction in religious freedom.
National Security
The Bible makes it more than clear in Romans 13:4-7 that the role of government in society is to exist for our good. Unquestionably, the government’s responsibility to protect the people within our nation. How national security is done may be debatable, but it is not debatable that our government is to protect us—not just from one another, but from those outside of our nation that want to do us harm.
Economy
As you know, America is more than $19 trillion in debt. This is not healthy for our present or for our future. A healthy economy can create more jobs, more opportunities, contribute to building families that are successful, and help provide our nation with an even greater defense.
Therefore, as evangelicals, we want you and your respective nominees to tell the American public what you truly believe, and then to live out what you say you believe about these things that matter most to us. For the sake of integrity and trust, hold your nominees accountable. Given the unusual nature of the primary season, the clarity and conciseness of your respective platforms may speak louder than ever before in our generation.
I am praying for you. May God grant mercy upon the United States of America.
Dr. Ronnie Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church, Northwest Arkansas
Immediate Past President, Southern Baptist Convention
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.