0:00

Hi there. I am thrilled you are downloading this

0:02

podcast and it is my hope and my prayer

0:04

that you're going to hear something that's going to

0:06

change you, encourage you, edify, equip you, and then

0:08

get you out there into the marketplace of ideas

0:10

where you can let your light so shine for

0:12

him. But before you go, just a minute, can

0:14

I talk to you one second about this month's

0:16

truth tool? I love it. I love the title.

0:18

I love the author. It's called How to Talk

0:21

About Jesus Without Looking Like an Idiot. Hello. How

0:23

many of us feel that? How many of us panic?

0:25

We don't want to talk about Jesus. We're afraid we're

0:27

going to be marginalized. We're going to look stupid. We

0:30

know that it's tough to talk about faith

0:32

in this cancel woke culture, but you know

0:35

what? We're told to go. Jesus knows the

0:37

culture we live in, but we're told to

0:39

go and tell. And that's what this book

0:41

does in the most pragmatic way. This brilliant

0:44

man, Andy Bannister, who really and truly understands

0:46

apologetics, teaches us how to step into natural,

0:48

fearless, effortless conversations to share the good news

0:50

of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't

0:53

know about you, but none of us is

0:55

ever too old to learn how to do

0:57

this because the directive to go and tell

1:00

has never changed. That's for every single one of

1:02

us. So I really encourage you this month, get

1:04

a copy of How to Talk About Jesus Without

1:06

Looking Like an Idiot. It's my way of saying

1:08

thank you when you financially support the program. We

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are in fact, listener supported radio. So you can

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give one time and get that month's truth tool,

1:14

or you can give every single month and I'll

1:16

tell you about that in a moment. But again,

1:18

this month, if you want a copy of How

1:20

to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like an Idiot,

1:23

just call 877-Janet58 and we'll get a book in

1:25

your hands.

1:29

Again, a gift of any amount and How to

1:31

Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like an Idiot is

1:33

yours. Or you can do that same thing online

1:35

at In the Market with janetpartial.org. You

1:38

have to scroll to the bottom of the page. There's

1:40

the cover of the book. Click it on and you

1:42

can make your gift right through the website. While you're

1:44

on the website, link there for a minute and see

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what it means to be a partial partner. These are

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people who give every single month at a level of

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their own choosing. You always are given the opportunity to

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get the truth tool, just as our way of saying

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thank you for being a partial partner. But in addition

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to the truth tool, we'll also give you a copy

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of How to Talk About Jesus of our

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newsletter which goes out once a week only to our

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partial partners that does include an audio segment for me

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as well so a gift of any amount you become

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a partial partner you get the truth tool and you'll

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get the weekly newsletter again how do you do it

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8 7 7 Janet 58 8 7 7 Janet 58

2:12

or online it in the market with

2:18

Janet partial.org scolded the bottom of the

2:20

page and that's all you do now

2:22

please enjoy the broadcast here

2:24

are some of the news headlines were watching

2:26

time the conference was over the president won

2:28

a play so our Americans worshiping government over

2:31

God extremely rare safety move by

2:33

a nation 17 years the Palestinians and

2:35

Israelis negotiate hi

2:52

friends welcome to in the market with Janet partial

2:54

thank you so much for spending the hour with

2:56

me I hope what you hear

2:58

this hour will edify and encourage you as

3:00

we open up God's Word and discover even

3:02

more who he is how much

3:04

he loves us and what it means to walk

3:06

intentionally with Christ that's going to be very much

3:08

of a focus of our conversation this hour I'm

3:11

excited I get to spend the hour with dr.

3:13

Ronnie Floyd this is a man I have admired

3:15

and respected for oh so many years he's

3:17

a speaker he's an author he is passionate

3:20

about inspiring influencing and

3:22

investing in leaders who will then turn around

3:24

and change the world he's the

3:27

founder of the summit which is a

3:29

weekly luncheon that takes place in Northwest

3:31

Arkansas it's been attended by more than

3:33

one hundred thousand business leaders since it's

3:36

all started and the fall

3:38

of 2001 for over 32 years he served

3:40

as a senior pastor of cross church in

3:42

Northwest Arkansas during that time that little

3:44

old church grew to over 20,000 members

3:47

expanded to three campuses and then he

3:49

served as the former president of the

3:51

National Day of Prayer the president of

3:53

the Southern Baptist Convention the president and

3:56

CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive

3:58

Committee and he holds degrees from

4:00

Howard Payne University and the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

4:02

So why is he with us? It's got a

4:04

brand new book out. It is a physically beautiful

4:07

book. I have to say this because it's radio

4:09

and I have to paint on the canvas of

4:11

your mind. So it's a beautiful book. It's

4:13

the kind that you're going to keep on your nightstand but it's

4:15

also the kind of book that you want to give to someone

4:17

else. What's the book?

4:19

It's called Day by Day

4:21

and Night by Night. 365

4:24

Morning and Evening Devotions for

4:26

Leaders. What would you expect

4:28

from a man who's passionate about training leaders?

4:30

Dr. Floyd, what a joy to spend the hour

4:32

with us. Thank you for the gift of your

4:35

time and thank you for your leadership and all

4:37

that you have done to inspire and help grow

4:39

the church many, many, many years. I

4:41

want to start with a question because sometimes I pull

4:43

back from books about leadership because I know so many

4:46

people and you're talking to folks from Guam all the

4:48

way over there that came in islands and a boatload

4:50

of places in between who will say I'm

4:52

not a leader. There's a shepherd

4:54

in my life. I go to a church.

4:56

I've got respected people that I look up

4:58

to the elders, the pastor, those in authority

5:00

and those are the leaders. I don't

5:02

consider myself a leader so this is

5:04

a narrow-nitched conversation. Is it? No,

5:08

it's not Janet. Great to talk to you again.

5:10

Thanks for all you do for the Lord. But

5:13

no, it's not a narrow group. In fact,

5:15

I believe everyone is a leader in one

5:17

way and that is they have to lead

5:19

themselves. If they don't lead

5:22

themselves then they cannot lead children.

5:24

They cannot lead their grandchildren. They

5:26

cannot lead anything from

5:28

a sports team to you know

5:30

something at the business world or the marketplace

5:32

or whatever they do for a living. So

5:35

I believe we need to rethink what

5:37

we think about a leader and not

5:39

imagine somebody that is in charge of

5:41

millions of people or thousands of people

5:44

because the bottom line is is that

5:46

we know Janet that there are gifts

5:49

of leadership. We know there's a spiritual

5:51

gift of leadership and God

5:53

raises up people to do that

5:55

in certain realms of

5:57

leadership, certain arenas of leadership. But

6:00

each one of us, we have a

6:02

responsibility before God to be everything we

6:04

need to be and

6:07

leading ourselves to walk

6:09

with the Lord, experience the presence of

6:11

God day by day and

6:13

night by night should be our utmost

6:15

priority in life. Well,

6:18

I had a hint to your answer when you

6:20

dedicated the book to your grand babies, who I'm pretty

6:22

sure are not world leaders yet. But yet you

6:24

say at the end of the dedication, now go out

6:26

and lead. So this really is a conversation for

6:28

every one of us. You said something important. I want

6:30

to pull that out because I think it's substantive

6:32

both to the book and to our conversation. And

6:35

that's this idea of really walking in the

6:37

fullness of God. What does that

6:39

mean? That sounds oh so lofty

6:41

spiritually, but what does that mean in terms of

6:44

my everyday breathing in and out in my relationship

6:46

with my Savior? Well,

6:48

I believe that ultimately that when

6:50

we have Christ in our life, which

6:53

is obviously the most important

6:55

thing, we already experience the

6:57

fullness of God in Jesus Christ through

6:59

the person of the Holy Spirit. But

7:02

to walk in the

7:05

power of the Holy Spirit, to

7:07

walk being filled with the Holy

7:09

Spirit, to walk in

7:12

not in the power of our flesh, but in

7:14

the power of the Spirit of God and

7:17

learning what it means to

7:19

experience the presence of God

7:21

is pivotal. What

7:23

I have learned, Janet, on

7:26

numerous occasions, not just recently,

7:28

but numerous occasions, but

7:30

really got stamped deep on my heart the

7:32

last 18 months, is

7:35

that when you walk through any kind

7:37

of crisis, any kind of adjustment, any

7:39

kind of transition in your life, it's

7:42

like everything stops in

7:44

your life. But

7:46

the world keeps on going. Now,

7:49

God pulls you aside for that

7:51

series of days or weeks or

7:53

months or even years, but

7:55

He pulls you aside. And

7:58

if you have the right heart... If

8:00

you really want to hear the Lord speak to

8:02

you, you

8:05

will humble yourself. You

8:07

will listen to the Lord.

8:11

You will begin to seek God

8:13

and His Word, and all of

8:15

a sudden you will learn that

8:18

if you had not been through that crisis,

8:21

if you had not gone through

8:23

that challenge in your life, that

8:25

transition, you would know that level

8:27

of God's power and presence in

8:29

your life. God is with

8:31

us through it all, and

8:33

we just need to become aware of that more

8:36

and more and more day by day

8:38

and not by night. Amen

8:40

to that. I'm going to ask a

8:42

question. You may hear the music, and please take

8:44

the liberty to respond again after the break. But

8:46

I was thinking particularly about for anybody who has

8:48

a crisis in leadership, for anybody, my dad was

8:51

a football coach. One of my prayers always to

8:53

the Lord is, please don't bench me. I don't

8:55

want to sit down. I want to be able

8:57

to still continue to play. So I don't want

8:59

to be benched. But there are times when God

9:01

does bench us, and it is easy. The temptation

9:03

before every single one of us, when we've got

9:06

those timeouts is, he's mad at

9:08

me. He can't use me anymore. I'm an abject

9:10

failure. I'll turn and walk away and back into

9:12

the shadows. I'm going to ask the question because

9:14

the music is going to start in about five

9:16

seconds. Dr. Flood, when you had those dark nights

9:19

of the soul, how did you combat that? That

9:21

idea that God was basically saying, I'm done

9:24

with you. It's a permanent time out. You

9:26

know, don't call me. I'll call you sort

9:28

of thing. And I don't mean to be

9:31

disrespectful, but that feeling of distance, of abandonment,

9:33

of uselessness, of shame often

9:35

comes into play for leaders who have fallen.

9:37

So how does one handle that when you

9:39

have those kinds of circumstances? This

9:41

is going to be a theologically rich conversation for

9:44

every single one of us. Dr. Ronnie Floyd is

9:46

with us. His newest book is called Day by

9:48

Day and Night by Night, 365 Morning and Evening

9:50

Devotions for Leaders. It's

9:54

a marvelous book. It's a beautiful book. It's a

9:56

thoughtful book. Back after this. Every

10:01

day conversations can

10:04

open the door

10:06

to evangelism. We

10:20

just need to know how it's done. That's why I've

10:22

chosen How to Talk about Jesus Without Looking Like an

10:24

Idiot is this month's truth tool. Learn

10:26

easy ways to talk about Jesus and discover painless ways

10:29

to share the gospel. Ask for your copy of How

10:31

to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like an Idiot when

10:33

you give a gift of any amount to In the

10:35

Market. Call 877-JANET58. That's 877-JANET58. Or

10:38

go to In the Market

10:41

with janetpartial.org. Day

10:44

by day and night by night, 365 morning

10:47

and evening devotions for leaders. A brand new

10:49

book by Dr. Ronnie Floyd who has for

10:52

a long time been a very significant leader

10:54

in the church. He is the founder of

10:56

The Summit. Again, that's a weekly

10:58

luncheon. It takes place in northwest Arkansas and

11:00

it has been attended by more than this

11:02

number is almost incomprehensible to me. 100,000

11:05

plus business leaders since it all started in the fall

11:08

of 2001. So

11:11

I asked a question, Dr. Floyd, just before

11:13

the break because again, you clarified correctly that

11:15

all of us have a sphere of influence.

11:17

Therefore every single one of us in

11:19

our sphere of influence is a leader. And

11:22

so God has some directions for us as

11:24

he calls us to service through leadership. But

11:27

leaders will fall. We're humans, we're

11:29

fractured, we're flawed. And when

11:31

that happens, you said, and I wrote

11:33

it down because it was profound, we need to be

11:35

humble. We need to listen and we need to seek

11:37

God. When you get to that place

11:39

though, you're in a teachable moment. Sometimes

11:41

it's preceded by anything but it's a

11:44

visceral response that says, God's

11:46

mad at me. He can't use

11:48

me anymore. I'll just slip away and maybe he won't notice.

11:50

How do you fight that temptation when failure comes? Well,

11:54

I do believe that, you know, Jan,

11:56

when you talk about moving into a

11:58

crisis, or

12:00

being brought into a crisis. Some

12:04

crises in life we

12:06

can cause ourselves by

12:09

choices we make or perhaps even

12:12

sinful choices relating

12:15

to a marriage or something that

12:19

is just immoral, something

12:21

that is wrong, but there are also

12:23

crises we face that come as a

12:25

part of life. I mean, we don't

12:28

control when we get cancer.

12:30

We don't control when somebody dies

12:32

in our family. We don't control

12:34

those tragedies that come. But

12:37

I think what we have to

12:40

understand is whether we get there

12:42

on our own foolishness or

12:45

we get there because of

12:47

the sovereign hand and will of God

12:50

relating to something, permitting that to go

12:52

on in our lives, then

12:55

we have to really

12:57

believe that God is

12:59

calling us unto himself. And

13:01

I think that is critical. God

13:03

is calling me aside. There were

13:05

times where Jesus just really called

13:07

aside some of his disciples. Sometimes

13:10

he didn't call all of them, but

13:12

he called a few of them. And time

13:14

was spent and they learned and they

13:16

grew. And I think that's what God

13:18

wants us to do. We have to

13:21

be teachable, which a lot of people are

13:23

not teachable. But I tell you

13:25

what, when you become broken, you

13:28

will become teachable. And

13:30

the challenge is once that's there,

13:34

okay, can I get back to

13:36

where I was or whatever? Well, if you've

13:38

gone through major loss in your life relating

13:41

to disease or death, obviously

13:44

you look to heaven. But

13:47

when we make mistakes

13:49

in our own life that we

13:51

have chosen, let's say, for example,

13:53

let's say a minister has fallen

13:56

or a lay person has fallen in the church and they

13:58

have chosen to be a minister. made a

14:00

terrible decision. I mean they have

14:03

they have been unfaithful and

14:05

they have just embarrassed the church and

14:07

all those things. Well listen, those things

14:10

that changes everything and

14:12

in reality the issue there should not

14:14

be about restoration of ministry as much

14:17

as it ought to be. Get your

14:19

life right with God period

14:21

and from there only

14:24

the Lord knows what the future is and nobody

14:26

else. Yeah, it

14:29

seems to me that there has to

14:31

be a volitional choice here because you

14:33

talked about going through that crisis and

14:35

coming out teachable. The antithesis of that

14:37

would be if you're not teachable you're

14:39

going to be bitter. So

14:42

how, I want to be

14:44

to the point when there's a failure. I want to be able to say

14:46

I messed up. You promised me

14:48

that you would forgive me, that you

14:50

would wash me, that you would cleanse me, that

14:52

you would stand me upright again and I can

14:55

step forward and you reminded me that nothing and

14:57

no one can separate me from your everlasting love.

14:59

So having believed all of that, what

15:01

do I need to do to make sure that I

15:03

become teachable? Are there certain things I need to put

15:05

into practice? Well

15:08

I do believe obviously above all

15:10

you need to really spend moments

15:13

with God every day. That's the first thing

15:15

and I think you have

15:17

to discipline yourself to really

15:20

learn what it means to be filled with

15:22

the Holy Spirit, to be

15:25

controlled with the Spirit

15:27

and let the fruit

15:29

of the Spirit begin to flow through you

15:32

and sometimes that takes time because

15:36

people are hurt and they're damaged

15:38

and all but we

15:40

need love and joy and peace

15:42

and patience and kindness and goodness

15:44

and faithfulness and gentleness and and

15:47

self-control. We need those things, okay?

15:49

But then there's also the battle

15:53

of something that I have really

15:55

really zoomed in on a lot

15:57

over the last year to

16:00

two years of my life, is

16:02

this whole element of not

16:05

grieving the Spirit, choosing not to

16:08

grieve the Holy Spirit. Grieving the

16:10

Holy Spirit is when we make

16:12

the Holy Spirit sad. We

16:15

have fint him by our

16:17

conduct. Now what offends the

16:19

Spirit? The Bible tells

16:21

us in Ephesians chapter 4 what

16:24

does. Matters like bitterness,

16:27

matters like anger and

16:29

wrath, matters like

16:32

slander and yelling and

16:35

malice. Those are

16:37

real clear things that he says these

16:40

things grieve the Holy

16:42

Spirit. We have to make a choice. R.T.

16:46

Kendall talks about this in his book Total Forgiveness.

16:49

It's this, Janet, is that we have

16:51

to make a choice. Do we want

16:53

the anointing of the Holy Spirit more

16:56

than we want to hold

16:58

bitterness in our heart about a situation

17:01

or about a person? The

17:03

only way to get through that is to

17:05

pray for that every day and to pray

17:07

for those even who may have

17:09

offended you every day and leave

17:12

it in the hands of God, just like Jesus

17:14

said in the

17:16

book of Matthew and walking with the

17:18

Lord. Wow. Let

17:20

me take a break. We're having a conversation with

17:22

Dr. Ronnie Floyd. He's got a brand new devotional

17:24

out. It's called Day By Day and

17:27

Night By Night 365 Morning and Evening Devotions for

17:29

Leaders. It's

17:32

beautifully laid out. When we come back, I'm going

17:34

to ask Dr. Floyd to explain the page of

17:36

how it's divided into four parts, why he laid

17:38

it out that way. And we're

17:40

also going to dig deeper into leadership and

17:42

how we learn to discern and how we

17:44

learn to really have that quickening of the

17:47

Holy Spirit in these latter days where we're

17:49

required to really test all things. Excellent

17:51

conversation. And by the way, I have

17:54

a link to Dr. Floyd at the

17:56

bottom of the information page. For leaders.com

17:59

is rather passionate. about teaching and

18:01

investing and influencing those who will in turn lead.

18:04

For leaders.com you might want to check that out.

18:06

It's pretty pretty amazing. Back with Dr.

18:08

Ronnie Floyd right after this. Dr.

18:25

Ronnie Floyd is with us. He is the founder

18:28

of the summit. It's a weekly luncheon that takes

18:30

place in Arkansas where business leaders come and

18:32

they learn and they exchange with one another. We're

18:34

going to find out more about that in a

18:36

bit. But primarily Dr. Floyd is

18:38

here today because he has a brand new devotional

18:41

and it is a beautiful book. It's called Day

18:43

and Night, Day by Day and Night by Night

18:45

365 Morning and Evening Devotions for

18:48

Leaders. And it is one of those gift books if

18:50

I can put it that way. Not only will you

18:52

treasure having it on your nightstand but give it to

18:54

someone that you're praying for who's in the

18:56

leadership position. I know they'll be blessed. So

18:58

Dr. Floyd you lay the pages out. They're

19:00

short. They're important. One a day,

19:02

365 that's self-evident. But there's actually a few

19:05

components on each page. Explain to our friends

19:07

how you laid this out. Sure.

19:10

Well there's only 260 words

19:13

per page Janet as

19:17

an average is what it is. And

19:19

that was the formatted use by the

19:22

publisher on this. But you

19:24

have a title and then you have a

19:26

verse or two verses. And

19:28

then there's an explanation of those

19:30

verses to some degree. And

19:33

then there's a declaration that someone

19:35

can make throughout the day.

19:38

And then there is another section

19:40

with just a few words obviously

19:42

because you only have 260 total.

19:48

And then you end with a prayer. But

19:50

it is with application and then a prayer.

19:52

You take today for example June the 20th.

19:55

The devotion is on who will

19:58

lift you up. stretch

28:00

of the imagination. When a leader falls, a

28:02

leader who has influence in our lives, what's

28:04

our response biblically? How should we handle that?

28:08

Well, I believe above all

28:10

we need to remember a

28:13

harsh reality, which

28:16

we don't like to embrace. We are but

28:18

men. We

28:21

are but women. We are frail

28:25

individuals, and

28:28

decisions can be made in

28:30

life that are just absolutely

28:33

180 degrees from

28:35

what we really may even believe.

28:37

And we may not understand that,

28:39

and I certainly don't understand it, but

28:43

it does hurt. It is

28:46

a major, major challenge to

28:48

the Church of Jesus Christ.

28:51

I mean, we know exactly the feeling

28:54

of that. We know we

28:56

have to talk to people about

28:58

that, and there's no

29:00

way to try to make it pretty.

29:03

Sin is sin, and

29:06

men and women commit sin.

29:08

Men of God, sin. Women

29:10

of God, sin. Yes,

29:13

there's grace, but many

29:16

times their sin leaves

29:18

people really hurt

29:20

in deep pain, whatever the

29:22

situation may be. And we need to be

29:24

concerned about the people that are left behind

29:27

by the pain that's caused by the leaders.

29:29

We need to be concerned for their families.

29:31

We need to be concerned for the leaders'

29:33

families, and we need to be concerned for

29:36

the leader as well. But

29:38

oftentimes the concentration of the focus is

29:40

on the leader, and obviously

29:44

it should be on the leader to some degree,

29:46

but there's a lot around that leader

29:49

that will never be the

29:51

same because of that leader's

29:54

choices, and that is a

29:56

sad, sad, sad testimony. to

30:00

ever overcome in someone's life. Yeah.

30:03

And it seems to me also, and just

30:06

using as an example, let's say a pastor

30:08

that falls, it's not, yes,

30:10

there's 1000% of the accountability, responsibility of

30:13

the person who failed, but isn't there also

30:15

a preeminent role that the leaders to the

30:18

leader must play? So in other words, if

30:20

it's a church, your board of elders, those

30:22

to whom you're supposed to be accountable to,

30:25

if they acquiesce, if they retreat from their

30:27

position, doesn't that beget more failure in leadership?

30:29

And that's tough stuff because, boy, and you

30:31

would know this better than me, far better

30:33

than me, Dr. Floyd, but it seems to

30:35

me that, you know, political pressure comes to

30:37

forbearance, not just in my town here in

30:39

Washington, DC, but it happens in the church.

30:42

And if you decide to pull back because of

30:44

political pressure, there's a legacy, it seems

30:46

to me, that can be resulting in that. Am I

30:48

right or wrong? Absolutely. No,

30:50

you're right. And the sad part is, is

30:52

that, you know, that

30:55

does happen. What happens is, is

30:57

that it's real hard for people who

30:59

are sitting in positions

31:01

of leadership around the leader

31:04

to believe that's happened, especially

31:07

on their watch some, or maybe it

31:10

didn't happen on their watch. It's hard

31:12

for them to come about, did this

31:14

really happen? They're concerned immediately about the

31:16

church. Well, you know, and

31:18

there's a protection mode that kicks in,

31:21

but the ultimate thing is, is

31:24

that, is that the testimony

31:26

of the church is

31:28

at stake on how the leaders

31:30

respond to the situation. And

31:33

if they don't lead effectively, and Janet,

31:35

I want you to really

31:37

have your heroes understand what I'm about

31:40

to say. If they don't lead correctly

31:44

by the Bible in how to deal with

31:46

those matters, then

31:48

they will fail the church because

31:51

the testimony can rise even

31:53

from the ashes, even

31:55

from the pain and the hurt and

31:58

the embarrassment. do

32:00

it in a proper and a

32:02

biblical way. Well, you

32:05

know, the press is never going to treat

32:07

any of it fairly. We know that. But

32:10

the best case scenario would be they

32:13

responded when they knew, and

32:16

they did the right thing when

32:18

they did it. And that's,

32:21

you know, we need to know that

32:23

that, and the Church of America, for

32:26

example, needs to know that with leaders

32:28

in America that fall, they need to

32:30

know that the Church has done the

32:33

right thing in every way.

32:37

And, you know, there's

32:39

no easy answer to those things. And

32:42

none of it's good. You know that? I know

32:44

that. But it's part

32:46

of life. It's part of living.

32:49

And it's part of really trying

32:51

to be the Church. We

32:54

have to be the Church. And if we will

32:57

be a Bible Church, regardless of

32:59

denomination, if we will be standing on

33:01

the Bible and do what the Bible

33:03

says in the midst of things

33:06

like even that, then God

33:08

will be honored. And

33:10

we will see a day when

33:12

that will be honored

33:14

and praise to God will occur

33:17

and let God determine what that looks

33:19

like. It doesn't need to be manmade.

33:21

It doesn't need to be fabricated. It

33:23

doesn't need to be produced. It

33:26

needs to happen because it's the right thing and

33:28

let the Holy Spirit bring it about. Amen.

33:31

Beautifully stated. So in

33:33

the restoration of a fallen leader in

33:35

dealing with someone who has fallen committed

33:37

to sin that becomes very public, you

33:40

just talked about the way in which this

33:42

needs to be handled vertically. It seems to

33:44

me that there's also a mandate on how

33:46

it's handled horizontally. So I contextualize this with

33:49

this very problematic increase in

33:51

the numbers of people who

33:53

call themselves NUNS. And they've

33:55

walked away when you look at the people who

33:57

study this for a living and they break down.

38:00

national press as we've talked about before, but

38:02

sometimes it's mission creep. And I

38:04

want to ask you again, as a man who's

38:06

been in the pulpit for decades and is now

38:09

is pastor emeritus of Cross Church, what

38:11

happens when there's theological drift from the pulpit and

38:13

we're seeing this more and more? This goes right

38:15

to, oh, look at my watch. It's Matthew 24.

38:18

It says we're going to see more and more

38:20

of this. And that time is coming now when

38:22

we're absolutely not receptive to sound doctrine, not holding

38:24

fast to the word of life and that which

38:26

is good. And so the person

38:28

who is not biblically grounded,

38:30

you made this point earlier. Can I really

38:32

just underscore it again? I don't

38:34

know how you can lead without being in his word. I don't

38:36

know how you can serve without being in his word. I don't

38:39

know how you hear him without being in his word, but I

38:41

digress. Being in his word also

38:43

becomes, if you will, the metric to know

38:45

that what you're hearing from the pulpit over

38:47

the radio anywhere, whether or not it's

38:49

far afield from what the word says. Talk

38:52

to me about a we again downstream

38:54

from the leaders. How do we learn

38:56

to discern when there is mission drift,

38:58

when something inside your heart goes, that

39:01

just doesn't seem right. How

39:03

can we come in a word better Bereans? Well,

39:06

I believe, Janet, the ultimate of

39:09

that is that laypeople, as they

39:11

tune into the word of God

39:13

and they read the

39:15

Bible and they try to just

39:17

grow whatever that means to them

39:19

in their faith. I

39:22

believe that they're going to be able to measure

39:24

whether or not what they're hearing is matching

39:26

up with the Bible. If they

39:28

don't think it matches up with the Bible or

39:30

they get something in their heart, I

39:32

don't know if I've ever read that in the Bible.

39:35

Why are they saying that now? Our

39:37

church has never done that like that.

39:39

Now we're going to begin to do

39:41

this. Let's say it's

39:44

some element of Scripture that

39:46

is being compromised or something where

39:48

they need to be able to

39:50

know the Bible enough to call

39:52

it into account. And

39:54

I think one of the biggest challenges is

39:57

pastors have to preach the Bible and teach the

39:59

Bible. You see, we have

40:01

a church today that

40:03

is more interested in having

40:05

cultural conversations than they are

40:07

biblical conversations about the culture.

40:10

That's the problem. We want to

40:12

talk about this issue and that issue and

40:14

this issue and that issue and what we

40:17

think about it. Listen, it doesn't

40:19

really matter what we think about it. What matters

40:21

is what God thinks about it. When

40:24

we have a biblical worldview, everything

40:26

we hear from our pulpits, it

40:29

needs to be filtered through the Scripture. Everything

40:33

that lay people here while they are

40:35

listening to their pastor, is

40:37

this in the Bible? Is

40:40

he referring to the Bible? Is he teaching

40:42

me the Bible? Is he wanting me to

40:44

read the Bible? Is

40:47

he motivating me to want to read the

40:49

Bible? I mean, listen, the Bible

40:51

will change. The Bible is what God uses

40:53

to help change our lives to be more

40:56

of what Christ wants us to be. We

40:59

need Bible preachers who

41:01

are faithful to the Scripture. Listen,

41:04

the mission drift is real and

41:07

denominations are working on all this. Associations

41:11

of churches around the country are trying to

41:13

figure this out. Networks around the world are

41:15

trying to figure it out. The

41:17

bottom line is, Janet, we

41:20

have to do what the Bible says. This

41:22

isn't about being cute to

41:25

the culture. What it's about is

41:27

saying what God says. If we want to

41:29

see revival in the church and we want

41:31

to see awakening in America, it's not going

41:34

to be through compromise and mission drift. It's

41:36

not going to happen. The

41:39

world sees through that. It

41:41

looks fake. It sounds fake. It

41:44

is fake because the only thing

41:46

that lasts forever is the Word

41:49

of the living God, the Bible. That's what we

41:51

need to be committed to. Amen

41:53

and amen. You talk

41:55

about your thinking that unity is

41:57

something that's supernatural in a divided

41:59

world in a divided church. How

42:02

does that come about? If in fact it's supernatural,

42:04

I can't do anything as a mere mortal, how

42:06

does God move to bring unity? Well,

42:09

I believe it's the, I think when we

42:11

unite around the Word of God and we

42:13

unite around Jesus Christ, the Bible

42:16

says the Holy Spirit becomes the bond

42:18

of our unity. It's

42:20

like he becomes the adhesive

42:23

of the realm, the church over in

42:25

Ephesians 4 chapter 3. We

42:27

make every effort to keep the unity

42:29

of the Spirit in the bond of

42:32

peace. Unity cannot be

42:34

by my mind clicking, I need to

42:36

get along with that guy. Okay,

42:38

yes, I do need to make that

42:40

volitional choice and yes, my heart should

42:42

go there if I love Christ. But

42:46

the ultimate of that is God's got to

42:48

do something in the hearts of people. I

42:51

mean, you look at where the nation is

42:53

today. Why is America so divided? Well,

42:56

I'll tell you why, because the church is divided. I

42:59

mean, a divided church doesn't

43:01

have any spiritual authority to

43:03

call a divided nation into

43:05

unity. And what we

43:07

have to do is understand we are

43:09

in a battle and that battle is

43:11

against the enemy, the one who steals,

43:14

kills, and destroys. And we

43:16

have to promote Jesus Christ being

43:18

the one who gives us life and

43:20

gives us life more abundantly, who is

43:22

the light of the world and wants

43:24

to raise you up to be the

43:26

light of the world, wants to raise

43:28

me up to be the light of

43:30

the world. And every other Christ follower

43:32

on this earth, God wants to use

43:34

to bring the light to the world.

43:37

Amen. One last question in an

43:40

hour that's gone far too quickly. We're

43:42

called to leave a legacy. Scripture makes that very,

43:44

very clear. I think how do I as a

43:46

follower of Christ with my sphere of influence? And

43:48

I'm asking for all of us, how do we

43:50

leave a legacy for the next generation? I

43:54

think you leave a legacy by investing your

43:56

life in those people. And

43:59

because the bottom line is, is that one

44:01

day, unless Christ comes again, we're going to

44:03

die. And the seed

44:06

of the Word of God in

44:08

a teenager's life or in our

44:10

grandchildren's lives or in somebody that

44:12

we have mentored in ministry or

44:14

mentored in the business world, the

44:17

marketplace, whatever that is, they

44:19

can keep living and keep doing what

44:21

they know to do because you have

44:24

invested in them. And that is

44:26

the legacy we can lead. What

44:29

a strong and important note to end on.

44:31

Thank you so much, Dr. Ronnie Floyd, for

44:33

the gift of your time, for your clear

44:35

biblical exhortations. Just so many of us appreciate

44:38

you and all the work that you've done

44:40

for so many years for Christ in His

44:42

kingdom. Thank you also for this

44:44

brand new devotional. Again, let me just underscore

44:46

friends. You can see it in the kind

44:48

of 2D on my website. But

44:51

it is a physically beautiful book, and it is

44:53

a gift book, the kind that you're going to

44:55

give to yourself, but then perfectly consider to whom

44:58

you can give this book as well, that they

45:00

might be encouraged in their own sphere of influence.

45:02

Again, it's called Day by Day and Night by

45:04

Night, obviously harkening back to that verse I read

45:07

from Nehemiah earlier. And also you can

45:09

learn more about Dr. Ronnie Floyd, particularly the work

45:11

he does for leaders. For leaders.com

45:13

is the website. Check it out. My

45:15

heartfelt thanks to Dr. Ronnie Floyd and you friends. We'll

45:17

see you next time on In the Market with Janet

45:19

Marshall.