Archive for January, 2015
SBC Churches: Own Up, Wake Up, and Rise Up
The 50,000+ churches and congregations of the Southern Baptist Convention must understand the urgency of this hour in which we live. As far back as I can remember, I know of no time more critical and more urgent than the one we are living in right now.
There is no great movement of God that has ever occurred that does not begin with the extraordinary prayer of God’s people. The time is now for us to come together before God in clear agreement, visible union, and extraordinary prayer for the next Great Awakening and for the world to be reached for Christ.
For the sake of our nation and the spiritually lost around the world, it is time for us to humble ourselves before God. Pastors, church leaders, and members of our churches, the alarm clock is going off in our nation. This is no time to push the snooze button. It is time for us to answer the call.
SBC Churches: Own up!
As the pastor goes, so goes the church. As the churches go, so goes the nation. Therefore, when you look at the spiritual and moral condition of our nation, our churches must own up that this has and is happening on our watch!
We need to resolve between one another and with the Lord that we must own up to this reality. We cannot blame the generation before us. We cannot blame the government. We cannot blame the justice system. We cannot blame the culture.
As the Church, we are responsible for where we are as a nation. We have gone to sleep at the wheel. We have settled for mediocrity. We have acted as though this is the way things are going to be. We have chosen to sit this one out. Now is the time for us to own up to the reality of our condition today.
SBC Churches: Wake up!
While our nation’s present condition is undeniable, much of the Church in America sleeps. Spiritual lukewarmness is plaguing the Church. Complacency and conflict categorize the Church more than contrition and compassion. We place more emphasis on announcements and promotions than we do on prayer.
Now is the time for our churches to wake up! We need to wake up from our slumber, indifference, and laziness. We need pastors to wake up to the fire of God and the anointing of God upon them while they preach God’s Word weekly. We need our members to wake up and stand with their pastor, holding his arms up in prayer continually.
The grim reality is that unforgiveness is the #1 sin in the Church. It builds a wall so thick one cannot break through it, so deep one cannot tunnel under it, and so high that no one can climb over it. While unforgiveness is choking the life of God’s Spirit out of many of our churches, we need to believe again that the power of the gospel is greater than the wall of unforgiveness. While the wall of unforgiveness appears to be impenetrable, Jesus came to tear down every wall, including the wall of unforgiveness.
Pastor, forgive your members. Members, forgive your pastor. Pastor, forgive other pastors. Church members, forgive other church members. Freedom awaits you on the other side. We need to wake up to the oceans of God’s grace. Open your arms to one another and to a world that needs the Lord Jesus Christ. Extend the hope of the gospel.
SBC Churches: Rise up!
Our churches must rise up in these desperate times. We must rise up to the challenges of this hour. We cannot sit this one out. We must get off the sideline and get into the game. The urgency is upon us, so rise up!
Rise up in compassion in your community. Rise up to actions of Christian love and grace toward others. Rise up, giving more than you have ever given to extend the gospel to the nations. Rise up, storming the gates of hell.
SBC Churches: Come to Columbus!
Join us in Columbus, Ohio, on June 16-17, 2015, as thousands of people converge on this city from across America. Our theme is
GREAT AWAKENING. This is why we are committing the entire Tuesday evening session of the annual meeting of our Southern Baptist Convention to come together in clear agreement and visible union at one place at one time with God’s people. We will unite in extraordinary prayer for spiritual revival personally, spiritual revival in the church, for the next Great Awakening, and for the world to be reached for Christ.
Therefore, in Jesus’ name, I plead with Southern Baptists to humbly come together before God in clear agreement, visible union, and extraordinary prayer for the next Great Awakening and for the world to be reached for Christ. This is why we need you to come to Columbus this summer!
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church President, Southern Baptist Convention
*******
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is currently serving as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Southern Baptist Convention is America’s largest Protestant denomination with more than 15.7 million members in over 46,000 churches nationwide.
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.
The Spiritual State of Our Union
This is State of the Union season, where our president will address the nation, governors will address their states and mayors will address their cities. They will unveil their dreams for today and their hopes for tomorrow.
Questions Worth Asking
Who is addressing the spiritual state of our nation? Are we really trusting only in governmental powers and processes to heal our land?
I love America and believe each citizen needs to be involved in charting the future of our nation. Our churches have compartmentalized faith and kept it from influencing our nation for far too long, just as most of America’s leaders compartmentalize their faith from their politics. Today, our nation has become a product of this sad reality.
We need to return to the conviction that a faith worth believing in is a faith worth dying for. Our faith cannot be checked at the door like a piece of luggage at an airport.
The Time is Now
The time is now for churches to rise up and address the spiritual state of our nation. With compassion, we need to tell it like it is. With hope, we need to share it like we believe it. With fervency, we need to pray like God alone is our hope.
The time is now for our nation to recognize that we cannot fix ourselves. The signs of our brokenness are glistening in our dark world. The blatant destruction of the family, the killing of unborn children, the continuing racial tension, the rebellion against authority, the ongoing reality of poverty, the rising threat of our security, the clear attacks against religious liberty and, of all things, the arrogance to believe the highest court in our land can rule on what the Bible says is genuine marriage testify to just how broken we really are.
Where Do We Go From Here?
I am just one man and one pastor of a local church. I refuse to be silent and see our nation continue to struggle. Therefore, I submit four actions that will change the spiritual state of our union.
1. We need to repent.
Repentance occurs when we have a change of mind. This change of mind changes our behavior.
As a nation, we need to personally and collectively repent of our sins. We need to ask God for His free gift of forgiveness for the sins we have committed, resulting in change from that point forward.
2. We need to return to God.
America is a nation that was built on a deep belief in God. A desire for religious liberty was the catalyst for the beginning of our nation. While we have gone through ups and downs in our history, God has been very merciful and gracious toward us.
It is time to return to God. It is time to stop making every issue about ourselves, posturing to ensure we get our way. God’s way is the only way. There is no other. Anything less than God’s way diminishes our happiness, our fulfillment and even our liberty.
3. We need the church to wake up.
Churches all over our nation need to wake up from the slumber we find ourselves in as a whole. We need pastors to return to their spiritual calling, be rekindled by the fire of God and declare the hope we have in the Lord. As a pastor goes, so goes the church.
As our churches go, so goes our nation. The evidence is overwhelming of just how broken we are as a nation. This is the greatest hour for our churches to rise up. Never more has America needed our churches to lead the way forward, serving and influencing our communities with compassion and hope.
4. We need spiritual awakening.
In our history, there have been seasons of spiritual awakening that have influenced the spiritual state of our nation dramatically. Lives were changed and subcultures became different. Spiritual awakening is our greatest need in America today. This is why I have written a free e-book entitled Pleading With Southern Baptists that calls us to spiritual awakening.
There are many who have probably never even thought about this need. Others may feel we have gone too far. But I want to assure you: God can do more in a moment than we can ever do in a lifetime.
Wherever you are in life, would you just stop for one moment and pray something like this: “God, would you please bring spiritual awakening to America? It is our greatest need.”?
America’s greatest need is the next great move of God. This is our hope.
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church President, Southern Baptist Convention*******
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is currently serving as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Southern Baptist Convention is America’s largest Protestant denomination with more than 15.7 million members in over 46,000 churches nationwide.
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.