The sermon’s tone was not condemning. Instead Scott Guffin urged Alabama Baptists to open their hearts by shifting their focus inward and asking God to “pardon us for our sin.” The topic was the first letter of the theme of the annual meeting, “PRAY,” and was the first of four theme interpretations of the Nov. 17–18 annual meeting of the Alabama Baptist State Convention held at Eastern Shore Baptist Church, Daphne.

With soft-spoken humility and sincerity, Guffin, pastor of Liberty Park Baptist Church, Birmingham, paired lessons from Psalm 51:1–9 with biblical truths for participants to hold fast to in their daily striving for Christlikeness.

Just as David cried out to God in verses 1–3, “we need to confront our own sin,” Guffin said. He challenged listeners not to avoid the sin by covering up, justifying, ignoring or comparing them with one another. (continued…)

– Read the full story from The Alabama Baptist Newspaper at: http://www.thealabamabaptist.org/print-edition-article-detail.php?id_art=35035#sthash.HfKzXqGD.dpuf