In Sermons: showing 1-15 of 870

All Your Anxieties?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 5, 2011

God is able to deal with all of our anxieties, not just a portion. He can relieve us of our fears for those things which will not really happen; for our concern for daily survival; and most of all, for our fear of death.

(Originally preached at Calverton Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD, Jan. 30, 1983; thereafter, with slight variations, at Clinton Baptist Church, Clinton, MD, July 29, 1984; Cresthill Baptist Church, Bowie, MD, Aug. 5, 1984; Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, Aug. 12, 1984; First Baptist ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 5:7

Denomination: Baptist

A Mother's Loan

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 4, 2011

Hannah shows us that women today can turn their insecurities and their relationships over to God and can find fulfillment.

(First Baptist Church, Gaithersburg, MD, May 11, 1980; Calverton Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD, May 9, 1982; Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, May 12, 1985) One of God's great mercies is that He consistently takes our faltering insecurities and transforms them into something ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

On Not Giving Up On The Family

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 3, 2011

Baptists have a distinctive history, with some soaring moments and yet with some dismal ones as well. There is much to correct, but the good news is that we remain committed to missions and evangelism.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, Feb. 4, 1996 They came out of nowhere. From small villages and obscure city streets, from backwoods farms and hard labor coal mines; from workingmen’s cottages, but not from the plantations, and from the ranks of domestics and cooks, but not ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 6:7-10

Denomination: Baptist

No Deposit, No Return

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 2, 2011

To fail to do what is right is not only sin, but is unproductive. What of our knowledge resources and our financial resources? Are they making a difference? If not, no gain.

Calverton Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD, August 15, 1982; Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, Sept. 30, 1984) Preachers find sermons in all sorts of strange places, and I found this one in a bottle! Now you can just stop thinking what you are thinking and listen to what I mean! ...read more

Scripture: James 4:17

Denomination: Baptist

Safe At Home

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 1, 2011

Interactive sermon, asking what more we can be for our children: mutual submission means respect; parenting means sacrificial love; the church has a responsibility to provide safety.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, August 31, 1997: audience response involved There are times when all of us need to participate, times when no single person can speak all the truths or do all the work. There are times when a community of people must come together, and think together, pray together, ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 6:1-4

Denomination: Baptist

The Word Made Flesh: A New Beginning

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Feb 28, 2011

We cannot repair our mistakes alone, because we keep on starting at old premises. What we need, and receive in the Incarnation, is a new beginning, modeled and taught.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, Nov. 30, 1986, Advent I One comic strip character aspires to be a writer. His crowning ambition is to write the definitive novel, the bestseller to end all best sellers. And so time and again he sits down at his typewriter, poises his paws (must be ...read more

Scripture: John 1:1-14

Denomination: Baptist

Mourning The End Of Summer

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Feb 26, 2011

We find that we have dallied or been irresponsible, and the things we said we want to accomplish are impossible at this late date. But God is capable of redeeming even that element of irresponsibility if we renew our commitment to Him.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, August 28, 1988 Here we are at the end of summer, or nearly so. It's the end of August, which is at least psychologically the end of summer. It's the end of the summer feeling, for now it's back to reality, now it’s back to business and a ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 8:18-22

Denomination: Baptist

The Wounded Healer

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Feb 24, 2011

Jesus, going to the Cross, understands our aloneness and isolation, and heals it by identifying with it.

Calverton Baptist Church, April 4, 1982; Howard University Chapel, April 9, 1982; Takoma Park Baptist Church, March 31, 1985 Recently a Methodist pastor in South Carolina created something of a stir in his church, and all of it quite innocently. He asked a member of the congregation who was known ...read more

Scripture: Hosea 11:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

What Do You Say To A Hungry World?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Feb 2, 2011

The clear demand of Jesus, seen against the spread of hunger in our time, is that we make lifestyle changes and that we understand that the Gospel calls for outward obedience as well as inner faith.

First Baptist Church, Gaithersburg, MD, March 9, 1980; with minor alterations at WHBC radio, June 28, 1981; Calverton Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD, Oct. 10, 1982; First Baptist Church, Camp Springs, MD, March 11, 1984; Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, Oct. 13, 1985) If today is an ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46

Denomination: Baptist

Open Windows

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 25, 2011

Annual Theme for the church for 1988, announcing a program of enhancing the educational ministries.

(Annual Theme Sunday, Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, Jan. 24, 1988) A little over a year ago I brought you a report on the rebuilding of Takoma Park Baptist Church. In that report I said that our rebuilding and renewing process could be compared to the business of building a building, ...read more

Scripture: Malachi 2:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

We Have A Light To Shine

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 21, 2011

Stewardship message, designed as a dialogue between the pastor and a lay reader, and focusing on all the light we as a church now shed, but also could share, with adequate personnel and finances. Ends with a candlelighting ceremony.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, Nov. 11, 1990 Pastor: One Christian organization that is concerned with helping people who have emotional problems uses as its slogan, "It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." Today we are going to test that theory. This morning we ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:14-16

Denomination: Baptist

God's Nobodies

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 20, 2011

We as the church, facing today's challenges, think of ourselves as nobodies. But we are God's kind of nobodies, those in whom He has been at work to make changes, and we are needed by the world around us.

(Originally preached at Luther Rice Memorial Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD, Aug. 12, 1973; subsequently, with variations, at Woodbrook Baptist Church, Baltimore, MD, Aug. 19, 1973; Viers Mill Baptist Church, Rockville, MD, Sept. 9, 1973; Bethesda First Baptist Church, Bethesda, MD, Oct. 14, ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 2:9-10

Denomination: Baptist

In And For The World

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 15, 2011

God calls us to follow the example He set in loving the world, not simply reproaching it; and it loving it with self-giving and the intent to redeem.

Initially preached at Central Baptist Church, Lexington, KY, June 9, 1968; subsequently, with minor variations, at Capton Baptist Church, Campton, KY, August 18, 1968; Reid Village Baptist Church, Mt. Sterling, KY, March 1, 1970; Campbellsville BSU Retreat, Sept. 1970; Berea BSU Missions Banquet, ...read more

Scripture: John 3:16-21

Denomination: Baptist

Owning Our Exile

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 7, 2011

That we are different from the world is not a license to withdraw. We are to engage and to transform the world around us, for that is the key to our church's future.

Luther Rice Memorial Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD, August 26, 1979; with minor changes, Forest Heights Baptist Church, Oxon Hill, MD, Sept. 9, 1979; Howard University School of Religion Chapel, Washington, DC, Oct. 10, 1979; Twinbrook Baptist Church, Rockville, MD, retreat, Jan. 19, 1980; ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 29:1-14

Denomination: Baptist

Water For Drowning, Water For Thirst

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 4, 2010

After Christmas it is easy to feel overwhelmed with the return to reality, responsibility, and even depressing weather. The psalmist also felt overwhelmed until he remembered what God had done in and for him and that God was still present, even when unfe

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC January 6, 1985 Well, Christmas is over, isn't it? Christmas is over and done with, except for a few remaining lights and poinsettias … over, done with, finished. It was great while it lasted, but Christmas is over. How do you know that ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 42:1-10

Denomination: Baptist