After the past few years of fairly mild summers, this July began with extremely high temperatures, heating things up here in Chattanooga. This is true in the national arena as well, with emotional temperatures escalating due to senseless shootings, racial unrest, and general turmoil in America.
With political conventions now underway, we have the promise of more controversy as we move toward the fall elections. Scandal, mistrust, and corruption seem to dominate the political scene. Political expert Dick Morris recently referred to the fall election as Armageddon!
So… what do we do? How do we respond?
Our current social climate is much like Biblical times. When faced with the turmoil of his day, the prophet Habakkuk was told to “write the vision“. This was another way of saying “pen a new future for the nation”, even as Paul testified centuries later…
“… God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” ~ Romans 4:17b
The content of that prophetic word was, “The just shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). Likewise, in the days of Jesus and the apostles, the nation writhed under the lash of a new world order led by the dominating international power of Rome, and local politicians who were cooperative surrogates to their overlords.
The call of Habakkuk to God’s people was to do kingdom work. Habakkuk didn’t call for street demonstrations, but rather for “demonstrations of the Holy Spirit and power”. In fact, amidst the chaos, oppression, and despair of His day, “Jesus went about doing good” (Acts 10:38).
The Apostle Paul cited Habakkuk’s vision of faith three times in his writings. Like Paul and those of the early church, our journey remains one of faith that does good in the face of evil — as salt preserving the good, and as light in the midst of encroaching darkness.
This is why The Big Event conference this year is built around the theme of Transforming Faith. We all need to have the gift and anointing of faith released in our lives. Faith will carry us through. In these chaotic and disturbing times in which we live, it is faith that will keep us on the solid footing of a firm foundation.
We need to gather together at this season prior to the election and empower ourselves for the journey ahead, building up our most holy faith.
Will you come worship and pray with me August 17-21 at The Big Event? I pray that all of you reading this can come and join me for these 5 days of teaching, encouragement and faith-building. I need all of you to stand with me this year as we, by faith, tell the truth in a time where truth is not tolerated. Unprecedented challenges face each of us. We need courage to launch out by faith and move forward with the life of faith to which we are called.
During The Big Event, Dr. Dwain Miller, Walter Hallam, Dr. Bob Rodgers, Dr. Ronnie Phillips Jr., and I will bring and release the word of faith. There will be passionate worship, dynamic teaching, and wonderful fellowship, as well as a few other sessions you may want to be a part of.
I would love to see you at The Big Event! Please register NOW at…
www.ronphillips.org/bigevent
“Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Does some racism exist in our nation? Sadly, yes. However, to call America racist because of the actions of a minority of its citizens is simply wrong… misleading at best. It appears that when you are a politician, calling someone “racist” is far easier than logically explaining your position, or why you may disagree with someone. In my opinion, the misuse of the word “racist” is, in many cases, racist in and of itself. It is a word with significant meaning that is bandied about far too often and far too carelessly.
Words matter.
Having just returned from Nicaragua, that is a pretty good summary of what God did in Nicaragua last week. From street ministry to a women’s conference to meeting with area pastors and evening crusades, God showed Himself mighty in the lives of the people of Nicaragua. Whether it is one of the over 1,700 people who put their trust in Jesus, or the over 60 people who traveled with us from America, lives were forever changed. Our young people shared their faith (for many, this was their first mission trip), and shared in worship through song at the crusades. My son Dr. Ronnie Phillips, Jr. brought the word and led powerful ministry. Paulette and many other of our women ministered mightily at the women’s conference. Thanks to Voice of Hope Ministries, as well as the many of our staff, youth, and laypeople who gave of their time and resources, and also to the people of Abba’s House and Abba’s House Media partners, who gave financially to make this trip possible.
If you would like to be a part of reaching the world with the Good News of Jesus, just click 
Abraham was alone when God gave him the revelation of Isaac.
As a Baptist preacher, I thought I had many friends. Yet after the Spirit baptized me and I began to operate in all the gifts, those friends vanished. I learned to be alone. I would throw my heart around someone, help someone, and think, “Here is a friend I can call on.” However, as soon as standing with me became difficult, they would leave. I learned to be alone – but alone is not alone. For me, the by-products of standing alone include:
Many people who read my blog are leaders in either church, community, or business. There are so many different styles and philosophies when it comes to leadership, with countless books, seminars, and self-help videos on the subject. Just typing in “leadership” on YouTube yields over 4.2 million results.
There must be a culture of mutual honor, respect, and teamwork. You cannot be an effective leader from a high and lofty tower. Former President Theodore Roosevelt once said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” A businessman in my church once told me that “I don’t ask anyone to do something I either haven’t done, or wouldn’t do myself. The people who work for me will do anything for me for one simple reason — because they know I will do anything for them.” Treating people with respect, honoring their time by being prompt and on-time, being forthright and honest, approaching each task with a well-thought-out plan, being conservative with criticism and liberal with praise, letting each individual know how important they are to the organization — all of these things help to build an atmosphere that goes beyond teamwork… it creates the atmosphere of family.
There must be disciplined financial principles that include healthy revenue streams, careful spending, and total accountability. Most organizations crumble because of financial woes. Bad financial planning (insufficient funding), mismanagement, and dishonesty are just a few ways financial problems can doom an organization. Being disciplined with how you spend, how you manage growth, and how you invest your resources will go a long way toward giving you a healthy bottom-line. Being realistic about projections, operating within a well-defined budget, and being an “open book” when it comes to accountability will not only give you a reputation for integrity, but can also provide others with confidence in investing in or donating to your organization.
A few weeks ago, there was a segment on the news where a dozen people were offered – for free – a Hershey chocolate bar or a ten ounce bar of silver. All of them took the candy. The candy bar was worth a dollar or two. The silver bar was worth $142.00 at spot prices on that day. People did not know the value of what was before them. There is a segment on the TV show The O’Reilly Factor (with Bill O’Reilly) called Watters’ World. In this segment, Jesse Watters asks people on the street simple questions about current events, history, and politics. Although often humorous, it is sad that people are so ill informed about this great country in which they live, and — not just our history — but current events as well.
Now we have a socialist being supported by the majority of college students and young adults in the presidential election. We have people worried about transgender bathrooms and the news media making it a big story, while ignoring the slaughter of 250 Christian women and girls in Mosul, a 16 year old beaten to death in an American high school, wild and godless gangs making our cities killing fields, the influx of Islamic radicals, the silencing of a middle school choir singing our National Anthem near the 9/11 memorial, and the continued murder of the unborn through abortion.
Several years ago, I was in Germany where we visited the 
So, I ask the same question… How can we NOT know? How can we not see the truth in front of our eyes? How can we continue to ignore the desperation of the times in which we live? How can we not see the writing on the wall, holding us accountable for our silence while our society slips further into the abyss? We will one day stand before a Holy God and, when asked about all of the souls we allowed to pass into a godless eternity, “We didn’t know” will not be an adequate response.
To hold to the truth of scripture is to be called a bigot. To have a problem with a grown man sharing a bathroom with a young girl is being “intolerant”. To demand that our leaders protect our borders is being “racist”. We are living to see our culture “calling good evil and evil good…” God issued a warning of “woe” to come on such. The worst of it is the awful silence in the contemporary pulpit — the failure to warn the nation. I for one will inform the uninformed, call sin by its proper name, and declare that people need to be saved. I will stand by the truth that the church cannot embrace the lies of culture and remain authentic. We must bear the scandal of the cross and refuse to be silent in the face of evil. We must care enough to speak the truth regardless of how we may be labelled — bigot, homophobe, racist, intolerant. Satan and his forces are stalking our families and communities. It is time to stop letting a liberal culture and media define us for simply believing in something and Someone. It’s time to stop being afraid of “ugly names” and start fearing for the souls of lost men and women heading into a hopeless eternity.
Not according to the Bible. In Luke 15, Jesus tells us a story…
Friend, when was the last time you mourned for the lost? When was the last time your heart broke for those emotionally wounded and bleeding souls who came across your path — possibly through the doors of your church — and left untouched and unchanged? For the Good Shepherd, his reaction was immediate. He didn’t wait until it was convenient. He didn’t wait until he had gotten the ninety-nine to the safety of a barn or pen; the Bible says that he left the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and went after the one. I think the Good Shepherd understood that time was of the essence, and saving the one depended upon his deliberate and swift action.
Dishonesty has been around since the Garden of Eden. 
Someone to believe. We all desire to be spoken the truth.Whether it is a doctor giving us a diagnosis, a politician making campaign promises, or a child explaining how the expensive vase ended up on the floor in a thousand pieces, we all want people to be straight with us. The fact is, however, that we have become accustomed to much less. In politics, lies and “back-room deals” have become expected, and we have grown too complacent to alter the modus operandi. On television, we see dishonesty given a pass — even glorified — as long as it serves some noble purpose, whether on a sitcom or the nightly news. As a pastor, I cannot tell you how many marriages and families I have seen torn apart because of dishonesty and deception.
I would contend that we are not too far gone. I would argue that we are not beyond expecting truth — regardless of how painful — from those around us. Getting back to a place of truth and honesty might be painful for a season, but once we you get there with God’s help, and make that your expectation, you will be amazed at the freedom that accompanies truth. As the saying goes… “The truth will set you free!”
We have now in America what is referred to as The Bystander Effect. This “psychological phenomenon” was brought to light on March 16, 1964 when a young woman named Catherine “Kitty” Genovese was brutally stabbed to death while walking to her apartment at Kew Gardens in Queens, New York City. A man named Winston Moseley had decided he was going to kill a woman that day, and it didn’t matter who it was. Driving around, Moseley spotted Genovese, and followed her to a parking lot. He got out of his car, and when she began to flee, he quickly caught up to her, and began stabbing her. As Genovese screamed, “Oh my God, he stabbed me! Help me!“, Moseley continued his attack. Amid her cries for help, a neighbor eventually yelled out of his window, “Let that girl alone!“, at which point Moseley fled the scene of the crime. Lying wounded and dying, not one of the estimated three dozen+ people who either heard her cries or saw the attack came to help Genovese. After ten minutes of lying there wounded, her attacker returned, and continued to stab, rape, and rob Genovese. By the time Moseley left, and help finally arrived, it was too late. Twenty-eight-year-old Kitty Genovese took her last breath en route to the hospital.
Is His sacrifice nothing to you?
The Heart of Abba - Ron Phillips 