Three Alabama Baptist pastors speak at evangelism conference for first time

Three Alabama Baptist pastors, speaking for the first time at the State Evangelism Conference, delivered messages of living as a warrior, carrying people to Jesus and being a watchman on the wall.

Matt Brady, pastor of Carolina Baptist Church, Andalusia, and director of evangelism for Covington Baptist Association, told Tuesday morning attendees, “Today one teenage girl will have to tell her parents she’s pregnant. Today one homosexual will find out he’s got AIDS. Today one person will be sentenced to life without parole. Today one father will go about his business and go to work and go home and think he’s done all he needs to do to work his way toward heaven. But they’re depending on me and you to carry them to Jesus.”

And that’s just what the men in Mark 2 did, he said, recognizing five key characteristics of the men who let their lame friend down through the roof to Jesus — care, courage, consistency, confidence and carelessness.

They cared for the man by bringing him to Jesus, showed courage in doing what they had to do to get him there, were consistent in their participation and selflessness, were confident in their faith that Christ could heal him and were careless in that they weren’t looking for recognition but were looking for the Guy inside, Brady explained.

It is up to every person to be active in bringing the lost to Jesus Christ, he added.

“If not you, then who? If not now, then when? If not here, then where? Are we willing to be one of these four guys to do evangelism? To get people it’s this simple — tear the roof off, pick them up and carry them to Jesus.”

Getting people to Jesus requires active participation, Scott Harris pointed out Tuesday afternoon. “God has called you and me to be a watchman on the wall. If the watchman doesn’t wake up, people die in their sins. And if they die in their sins, they bust hell wide open. And if they bust hell wide open, then the King of Glory is robbed of His due,” said Harris, pastor of Southside Baptist Church, as he gave four experiences a watchman is faced with in Ezekiel 33:7–8.

1. Call of the watchman
   This includes a call to people — not based on personality or potential but the providence of God — and a call to proclamation of the truth.
2. Challenge of the watchman
   Christians wrestle with the challenge to be a bold, yet broken, witness.
   “I think sometimes we in the Church struggle with being broken over people. … To be a broken witness requires someone to be alone with God and get God’s heart for people,” Harris said.
3. Confronting of the watchman
   The watchman’s purpose was to watch for the enemy and sound the alarm when he saw him coming, Harris explained. “If you don’t do the task of watching and warning, then that person will die in their sin and go to hell but you’re the one [God will] hold accountable for their being in hell.”
4. Conviction of the watchman
   In order to fulfill the call Christ has given, then there are three convictions believers must have, Harris explained, noting a conviction:

• about the position of the lost as separated from God,
• about Christ’s passion for the lost and
• that God has already made provisions for the lost through the sacrifice of His Son.

But not only must believers set up as  watchmen on the wall, they also must rise up as warriors, said Roy Hill, pastor of First Baptist Church, Satsuma, at the Monday afternoon session. Noting that people of faith are constantly in a battle, Hill shared the story of Eleazar (2 Sam. 23:9–10) and his battle through which four categories of people can be found — wimps, watchers, waiters and warriors.

“You’ve got wimps in every battle that just look for a way out,” Hill explained. “You’ve got watchers that are just watching to talk about it later. … You’ve got waiters that are waiting on an opportunity. They want the benefits of victory without doing any work.

“But I praise the Lord we’ve got warriors,” Hill added. “That’s what the Lord Jesus has called us to be. I find we are in a battle every day to serve Him, please Him and honor Him. … We’re called to get into the battle.”

Hill noted in order to be warriors in the battle, Christians must be fast equipped with the Sword, alluding to God’s Word.

But a small sword won’t do, Hill said holding up a butter knife; nor will a weak sword, he added revealing a soft foam sword.

“Eleazar knew how to take a sword and go into battle,” Hill said as he swung a large metal sword. “He clung to his sword to the point that they had to pry his fingers off it. If only people could look at your life and say I can’t tell where the Word of God stops and where he or she starts, that you have such a grip on the living Word that you can’t put it down. … Hold on to your Sword to the point that people will not be able to tell you apart from it.”