Archive for September, 2015
The Surrendered Pastor and Church
There continues to be a deep need for a spiritual revival in our churches today. I am often asked how we experience such a revival. My answer continues to be that until we make a decision to deal honestly with God’s questions about full allegiance to Him, there will be little or no prospect of a revival in our hearts, no stirring of the Spirit in our churches, and no awakening in our land. True revival is nothing less or more than the manifest presence of God in our lives. It is when Jesus is free to be who He wants to be in, through, and around us. A surrendered pastor and a surrendered church will experience spiritual revival.
What Opens the Heart Fully to God
One of the greatest keys to get us to this point is prayer and fasting. It opens the heart to God fully. Revival comes when we give ourselves to God completely. Revival is the manifest presence of God in our lives. Until the church of Jesus Christ regains its spiritual power, recaptures its spiritual passion, is willing to pay the price, and begins to demonstrate an unfailing love for Jesus Christ, it will remain lukewarm, out of touch, ineffective, purposeless, nonproductive, ingrown, and something so tepid that the only sensible thing to do is to spit it out.
Personal Surrender and Transferring All Ownership
A spiritual breakthrough begins with personally surrendering oneself fully to God, transferring all ownership to the one true Owner, Jesus Christ. We do not need to grab but to release. We do not live with our hands in fists, but with our hands open. We will never choose to let God have His way with us if we continue to hang on to our own desires, our own dreams, and our own bondage.
Abandoning All to Receive All
In wartime, if our enemy captures us, we are commanded to surrender. At that moment we have a choice. We can take our chances, make a run for it, and hope for the best. But if an armed enemy pursues us, we have little chance of physical survival. When God asks us to surrender to Him, the analogy is the same except for one key point: God is not the enemy. He is our Father and our Friend. He knows what’s best for us. We need to surrender our lives to God in the same way a child holds up his arms surrendering to his parents.
Surrendering to God is abandoning all that we have to receive all that God possesses. Personally, I do not know of a better way to experience this fully surrendered life than through the gateway of prayer and fasting. When we surrender, we transfer all ownership to the one true Owner, Jesus Christ. We exchange our lives for His life! And when we enter God’s gateway to supernatural power for living, we begin to learn what an exchanged life is all about. We begin to hear God speak to us in a voice we’ve never heard before. It’s not a harsh voice, but rather the voice of a waiting Father who will always tell us the truth.
Only God Can Remove Our Blind Spots
Whenever God calls me to fast, where I deny myself the natural act of eating to focus on specific spiritual goals, I ask God to show me those areas in my life that I’m still keeping for Ronnie Floyd, asking, “God, what am I still not surrendering fully to you? Show me. I cannot see the blind spots in my life without your divine counsel.” The more we live in God’s holy presence, staying focused on Him through the joys of the disciplines of fasting and prayer, the more we will learn of who Jesus really is; and that’s what we must desire more than life itself. What in your life is keeping you from fully surrendering to God?
Therefore, Surrender
Pastor, surrender your life and ministry to God completely. Church, surrender all you are and have to God fully. Whatever it is Pastor, and whatever it is Church, surrender it to God fully. Right now. Not later. Today.
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Tithing is Not Taboo: Generosity is Better Than Greed
Tithing is the spiritual practice of honoring God by giving the first tenth of your entire income to your local church. Tithing is not taboo, meaning it is not banned, prohibited, or forbidden. Your church may not emphasize the importance of tithing from your entire income, but it is a very important part of the Christian life.
Generosity is a lifestyle that gives freely and lives openhandedly. Generosity is the amount beyond the first tenth you give to your church. I can assure you that generosity is better than greed.
Greed is an insatiable desire for more. Greed is about grasping, craving, acquiring, and hoarding, while generosity is about giving, charity, blessing, and handing.
Greed is Not Godly
Christians ignore and mock God’s Word when they do not honor God with giving at least the first tenth of their entire income to their local church. They try to rationalize or even justify it, and some even attempt to explain it away biblically. I have never discovered anyone who practices tithing and generosity try to explain why tithing and generosity are not biblical.
Somehow, we must grow in our faith enough to understand that when we do not give biblically by both tithing and practicing generosity, we are not walking in godliness. Greed is not godly.
No One is Exempt from Tithing and Generosity
Pastors, staff members, elders, deacons, lay leaders, and all Christians are not exempt from tithing and generosity. In fact, when we do not practice giving the first tenth of our income and enter into the sphere of generosity, we are practicing and choosing greed.
Greed is like a rattlesnake that many of us want to snuggle up with in our hearts. While on a run last week, I ran upon a Copperhead snake lying right beside the curb. I did not cuddle with it; in fact, I ran with a chill up my spine for the rest of the week.
Greed is not about how much a person has or does not have. Greed is a matter of the heart. I have seen greed exist in the lives of those who have little and I have seen it exist in the lives of those who are overwhelmed with wealth. Nice things are not wrong until you violate God’s principles of giving in order to attain them.
There is Only One Way to Avoid Greed
There is only one way those with much or those with little avoid greed: Giving the first ten percent of their entire income to their local church and moving into the sphere of practicing generosity. They completely embrace a lifestyle of giving freely and living openhandedly.
Pastor James MacDonald is correct when he says that giving the first tenth of all God has given to you is the on ramp to the highway called generosity. Wherever you are in your life educationally, vocationally, or financially, ALL BLESSINGS flood the person and family that get on this on ramp that leads to the highway called generosity.
Living on 90% with God involved will go much further than living on 100% without God involved.
When you obey God’s Word about giving and generosity, you are getting God involved in your life supernaturally. You are never more like Jesus than when you give.
Living on 90% with God involved will go further than living on 100% without God involved. I have never met any person who practiced giving the first ten percent of their income through their local church that ever regretted it or did not have their needs met in life.
Three Important Things to Remember
1. Pastors need to preach unashamedly and uncompromisingly what the Bible says about tithing and generosity.
When you speak on tithing and generosity, there will always be some who will complain or crank up the rumor mill. But just remember pastor: Many who do so do not give as they should biblically. Many who cause this stir are carnal and do not want to face the reality of their greed. Pastor, you and your family should model giving at least the first ten percent of all God gives you through your local church and practice generosity beyond that.
2. Laypeople, encourage your pastor to preach on tithing and generosity.
Lead the way laypeople, encouraging your pastor to preach on tithing and generosity. Encourage and defend him both privately and publicly. Rebuke people who want to criticize him for doing it. People who do not want to hear and be challenged in giving are people who are not practicing giving God’s way.
3. Give freely and live openhandedly.
Be a giver, not a grabber. Live generously, not greedily. Give freely because God gave all He has given to you freely. Live openhandedly, sharing it with your church and other people because none of it is yours anyway. You own nothing; God owns everything. Give it away freely and live your entire life openhandedly. By the way, even when you die, leave at least the first ten percent of all God had given you in your life and legacy to your local church. Additionally, practice generosity by giving to your church even beyond the first ten percent and then to other Christian ministries that are advancing the gospel globally.
We are never more like Jesus than when we give. Allow God to be part of your life in a supernatural way by giving biblically.
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church
President, Southern Baptist Convention
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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 51,094 churches and congregations 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
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Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.