Sermons on Chuck Smith:

Good News To The Poor Series

Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 19, 2009

Jesus is anointed Messiah and he says it’s for three purposes. First is to proclaim Good News to the poor.

Good News to the Poor Isaiah 61:1-6 What’s this season really about? Jesus. It’s not so much what he taught as it is about who he is. In Jesus’ first sermon, he chose this Biblical text and in it, he gives his mission. When Jesus read this Scripture, he closed the book and dropped the bombshell and ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 61:1-6

Denomination: Methodist

The Gift With A Cost Series

Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 19, 2009

This time of year, we get excited and touched by Baby Jesus in a cradle but you can’t separate the cradle from the cross. This gift of Jesus comes with a sacrificial cost. A lot of us understand the cradle but we fail to connect the cradle with the cross.

The Gift with a Cost Isaiah 53:1-12 Christmas has become the #1 self-focused consumer day in America. It’s so interesting that Good Friday leads into Easter and Black Friday leads us into the Christmas holidays. The church needs to lead a movement of conspiracy to reclaim Christmas from ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 53:1-12

Denomination: Methodist

Are You Ready For A Miracle? Series

Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 19, 2009

Ever been between a rock and a hard place? Ever seen the dark circumstances around you and been afraid and frustrated, doubting whether God might intervene? Many of us have experienced the uncertainty of these days and allowed fear to invade our hearts an

Are You Ready for a Miracle? Isaiah 7: 1-14 Two men made their way to the city’s edge one day. One was quite young, only 20 years old, but with an awesome responsibility on his shoulders.
The other was more mature. He’d been around for a while and seen a few things. As they walked, he tried ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 7:1-14

Denomination: Methodist

Reclaiming Hope Series

Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 19, 2009

When we look out in the world at this time of year, we realize we have allowed our hope to be hijacked. It’s been hijacked by the materialism of the season, by the parties and overeating or even overindulging. It’s time to take back hope. It’s time to gro

Christmas Conspiracy: Reclaiming Hope Isaiah 9:2, 6-7 Let me ask you a question this morning: what is Christmas? Is it eating too much, going to too many parties, shopping too much and spending too much? Is it about giving and receiving gifts Is it about family get togethers? That’s what a lot of ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 9:1-7

Denomination: Methodist

The Questions Of Christmas Series

Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 19, 2009

Christmas brought three questions which every person needed to deal with as they encountered the Christ child. Christmas isn’t so much about what God has done for us as it is about our response to the Christ child and to these questions.

The Questions of Christmas Luke 2:8-20 It’s tough to miss Christmas if you live in America today. We hear the ads on the radio and TV, see the lighted houses and buildings, the decorated yards in our neighborhoods, and the displays inside every store remind us Christmas is coming in case we’ve ...read more

Scripture: Luke 2:8-20

Denomination: Methodist

The Amazing Race Series

Contributed by Tim Smith on Oct 19, 2009

Paul calls us to intense training. The challenge which lies before us is nothing short of reaching the world for Christ and building God’s kingdom here on earth with a multi ethnic church. It is far beyond our current ability and it will not happen overni

The Amazing Race Hebrews 12:1-3 Have any of you ever watched the Amazing Race? It’s a reality game show in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. Contestants strive to arrive first at the end of each leg of the race to win prizes and to avoid coming in ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-3

Denomination: Methodist

From Furnished Rooms To Fragrant Gardens

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 19, 2009

Now that this church has rebuilt its basic structure, it is time to go on and make it all work. To do so, go back to rediscover God’s intention for humanity and understand that the church is to restore the "garden."

One spiritual principle shows up over and over again in the Scriptures. One theme is repeated endlessly: and that is that the way to go forward is to go back. The way to move ahead with your life is to go back, to go back to its roots, go back to its foundations, where you discover what is valuable ...read more

Scripture: Hosea 14:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

Friend Of The Shut Out Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 20, 2009

We are not shut out: Jesus includes us by giving us knowledge, by giving us a place in His mission, and by paying the price to see that we are included in the Kingdom.

A number of years ago I saw a very provocative poster. It was a depiction of the doors of Washington. Nothing more than a series of doors, arranged in rows on the poster, probably twenty or twenty-five, all photographs of various doors in this city. Some of them were beautifully simple doorways ...read more

Scripture: John 15:12-17

Denomination: Baptist

Friend Of The Misunderstood Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 21, 2009

Misunderstand is accidentally or deliberate. Jesus dealt with the accidental by bringing witnesses, going to the root of the issue, and affirming the questioner; with the deliberate by refusing to make others happy, being true to Himself, letting actions

It’s easy to be misunderstood. Misunderstanding happens all the time. It is very, very easy to be misunderstood. One way to be misunderstood is to be vague and hazy. Just mumble under your breath and utter ambiguities, and I guarantee that you will be misunderstood. Some of you are devotees of ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 11:2-19

Denomination: Baptist

Friend Of The Full Heart Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 23, 2009

Christmas is a time for full hearts: weary, guilty, anxious, sad -- past, present, and future. Mary felt the same things, but Christ comes to forgive our past, empower our present, and assure our future.

Christmas is an emotional time. All kinds of feelings are involved with the celebration of Christmas. If you don’t feel some tension, some excitement, or some pressure, something at this time of the year, you are either dead or you’ve been watching the Redskins, which is about the same thing. ...read more

Scripture: Luke 2:1-20

Denomination: Baptist

Fresh Encounter

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 24, 2009

All of us need to hear God’s love in a fresh way. Some say they do not want an encounter, but they do. Some do not expect anything new. Some are just past their first thrill of knowing Christ. Some have never exercised faith. Christ waits to receive

Just about everybody ought to get married, at least once. There’s nothing quite like it in all the world. Everybody ought to have the experience of learning the difference between fantasy and reality. That’s what happens when you get married. Everything up to marriage is fantasy. It’s romance, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 9:14-17

Denomination: Baptist

Frantic Work Or Focused Life

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 26, 2009

Wisdom lies in knowing when to be busy and when to be reflective. Both Martha and Mary wanted the affirmation of Jesus. But it always comes by grace alone.

Author Sam Keen, in his provocative little book called Apology for Wonder, tells us the lesson he learned as young boy swimming in the Indian River inlet on the Delaware coast. Keen says that swimming there was very tricky, because the outgoing waters from the bay met the incoming tides waves from ...read more

Scripture: Luke 10:38-41

Denomination: Baptist

Sing With The Mind Also

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 26, 2009

Cantate Sunday, 1986: Music has power to involve every facet of our beings in worship, it helps build the body of Christ, and it can offer a credible witness to the world.

It was offertory time in the morning worship, and everyone had settled down quietly – settling down, I suspect, for a little nap to get themselves ready for the big nap they would take during the sermon! And, as was customary, the organist began the slow and solemn strains of an offertory: music to ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 14:6-15

Denomination: Baptist

Earning The Right To Be Heard

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 27, 2009

Jesus is God’s way of earning the right to be heard. He comes to where we live, and he experiences what we experience. He is therefore credible.

I invite you to eavesdrop with me this morning. Listen and we can overhear some conversations. Overheard in the grocery store aisle: a mother and a little girl, shopping dangerously close to the candies, the cookies and the other goodies. The little girl saying, "I want these and I want those and ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Remarriage Is Adultery Series

Contributed by David Smith on Oct 27, 2009

Jesus said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

Every now and then you find yourself tacking a Bible passage that just doesn’t lend itself to starting your sermon with a joke. Today’s Gospel reading is one such passage. For divorce is no laughing matter, and of course I know that first-hand. Indeed, not only did I experience the divorce of my ...read more

Scripture: Mark 10:2-16

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican