The culture may be changing and separating more and more from evangelical Christians, but that only emphasizes the importance of standing firm on the faith and standing out for the cause of Christ, a slate of pastors shared Feb. 29–March 1.
Pastors from across Alabama and the Southeast preached on ways to reach the changing culture with the gospel during the Alabama Baptist State Evangelism Conference, held at First Baptist Church, Montgomery.
Daven Watkins, pastor of First Baptist Church, Pelham, set the stage of his sermon around the dinner table of Simon the Pharisee. Drawing from Luke 7:36–50, Watkins pointed out that Jesus never ostracized or belittled those around Him.
“Jesus is desperate for those who are desperate for Him,” he said, referring to the “sinful woman” who entered Simon’s house and washed Jesus’ feet with costly perfume.
The woman was daring, Watkins said, to even step away from the wall where she was standing, as it violated the social custom of the day.
‘Picture of desperation’
“She has the audacity to come off the wall and approach the table. And she stands right behind the visiting guest. … I wonder to myself, ‘What would cause this woman to come off the wall?’
“There is only one answer — she is desperate,” he said.
Luke doesn’t disclose the name of this woman or even what her sin was, Watkins said. And he does that to invite us into the story.
“Luke wants us to identify ourselves as being as sinful as this woman.
“She is the picture of desperation,” he said. “Desperation can lead to daring devotion.”
This account is not given to us to be “models for morality but as mirrors.” We have been forgiven much, Watkins said, and that should influence how we treat others.
“Great grace leads to great love. If you have received great grace you will demonstrate great love — great love for God and great love for others.”
Leaning forward, Watkins asked participants, “How desperate are you for Christ?”
Along with showing love, the Church also must confront believers in their sin, said Dusty McLemore, pastor of Lindsay Lane Baptist Church, Athens.
After David commits adultery with Bathsheba, Nathan comes along and confronts him of his sin. “It’s our responsibility as pastors and Christians to do what Nathan did and confront the culture,” he said.
Just as David became numb to sin and the culture around him, McLemore fears the Church is becoming numb of conscience as it engages in “spiritual warfare with the culture.”
“It’s our responsibility as pastors and Christians to … confront the culture (of its sin). And by the way if we don’t do it, who will? … That’s why it’s imperative to be salt and light, to be the Church.
“Satan is in a battle for our mind and our conscience and our culture. … If we’re filling our mind with the Word of God and the Spirit of God then we’re working in the context of spirituality.
“The best protection against deception is to know God’s revealed truth — the Bible,” he said. “Let’s not put on our religious mask. Let’s not play church; let’s be the Church.”
Don Wilton, pastor of First Baptist Church, Spartanburg, South Carolina, added that “we’re not doing what God is calling us to do in the way in which He demands each one of us.” The urgency of evangelism calls each and every Christian to give their lives to Christ.
“You were made to look like God, love like God and live with God,” Wilton said. “God who is holy and righteous can have no place with sin.”
Pulling from the entire book of Revelation, Wilton urged participants to fully commit to the Lord, using the phrase “give your life to Christ” as a refrain throughout his message to drive the urgency of evangelism home.
“You see, friends, the Bible tells us in the Book of Revelation that when we have in our heart these things that are written, we’re going to want to do everything we can to tell everyone we can about the true love of God and that ‘the Lord Jesus loves you.’
“That’s what [Christianity] is all about. … It’s not about knowing all the ins and outs and understanding the right order. … It’s about trusting Jesus.”
Preaching from Acts 10, Mac Brunson, pastor of First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Florida, also emphasized the need for personal evangelism.
“We should never confuse the good with salvation,” he said.
Take Cornelius the centurion from Acts 10:21 for example. Cornelius was a man of dedication, of inspiration, of devotion, of devoutness, of reputation, Brunson said. By all accounts he was God-fearing.
“But don’t mistake goodness with salvation,” he said. “[Cornelius] was lost.”
Christians also should “never confuse God’s call with personal perfection,” Brunson said. Each one of us has been shown immeasurable grace. Because of that, he said, we must ask ourselves: “Am I really serious about the grace of God and can the grace of God be as great in [others’] lives as it is in my life?”
For most of the participants, God has “ordered us to preach. Preach just what He’s given you — the gospel.”
But preaching the gospel in the current culture may be harder than in years past, a few preachers explained.
Jimmy Jackson, pastor of Whitesburg Baptist Church, Huntsville, said, “For the first time in our history in the United States, we are a Christian in an age of terror.
“As ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ we have an awesome responsibility — even in times of peace and calm,” he said. “We have to keep the people stirred up in order to move forward. We have to stay on course.”
This is not the first age of terror, Jackson noted, and God gives pastors a job description for how to navigate in such times beginning in Jeremiah 1:8.
First pastors have to “root out” those heart conditions that hinder believers from having the caliber of Christianity that the persecuted Church exhibits on a daily basis. Second pastors must preach the full Word of the Lord.
“If we change it by adding something to or by subtracting something from it, it is no longer the Word of God,” Jackson said.
So how are Christians to act in a day of terror?
Referencing verse 17, Jackson said Christians, both in the pews and behind the pulpit, are to arise, speak truth and speak without fear.
Danny Lovett, pastor of The Church at Chelsea Westover, agreed that believers must be couragous.
“If there’s ever been a day that we need the Church to be courageous it’s right now,” he said. “We have been so defamed, so defeated, so discouraged because of political correctness.
“We’re living in a time when there’s never been a greater opportunity for the Church to stand in the gap for the lame so that God will not destroy. … There’s no doubt what we need — we need some men and women of God who will be courageous.”
Preaching from 1 Samuel about the young shepherd boy named David, Lovett said, “It’s not about the stature, the genius. It’s about having a heart for God.”
Employed by God
David was employed by God, Lovett said, and because he was employed by God the Scriptures pour out three encouragements for a Christian to be courageous:
1. Be ready for any call.
“Most of us are not ready for any call, we’re just ready for our call.”
2. Be ready for any circumstance.
“David rose early that morning … and nothing took him by surprise because he knew God sent him there (to fight Goliath).”
3. Be ready for any cost.
“David was not worried about fighting Goliath because He knew God was on his side. If it meant he was gonna die that was OK too. He was just gonna do what God asked him to do. You don’t worry about the outcome you just jump in and do what God says to do.
“If we will be courageous, any giant we face will fall,” Lovett urged. “Get filled up. Get studied up. And let the Church charge.”
Former Alabama Baptist Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis, Tennessee, shared seven “I wills” from Exodus 6 that God promised to do because He is the Lord and still promises today.
“I will bring you out … I will deliver you … I will redeem you … I will take you for My people … I will be your God and you shall know it … I will bring you to the land … I will give you the land for possession.”
Gaines noted, “So when Pharaoh said, ‘I don’t know the Lord and I’m not gonna let the people go,’ God told Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and tell him that I Am will bring you out, deliver you, redeem you and give you the land — and oh, by the way, now you’re gonna see what I will do.”
Olive Baptist Church, Pensacola, Florida, Pastor Ted Traylor told participants that the world’s rock — what they set their value on and hope in — is not like our Rock.
“You don’t have to be in this culture very long to know that there is a group that we love and are trying to win, but their rock is not like our Rock,” the Sand Mountain native said.
Drawing from Deuteronomy 32, Traylor said he came with good news: “The Rock does not move. … It does not change course.”
As we go into the culture we should build on the Rock. That means building our house, our church and our city on the Rock, he said.
Believers also have to run to the Rock and be willing to suffer for the Rock whose message is “offensive” to the world, he said. “You must be willing to suffer for the gospel. … You must be willing to let the gospel be an offense.
“Time is short. … Stand on the Rock and tell it for Jesus Christ.”
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There were a total of 710 guests watching and listening to the confernce over live stream.
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