Sermons on Greg Smith:

Waiting For Full Joy

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 22, 2010

Delivered 1989, on the 25th anniversary of the reception of the church's first black member. We wait for full joy and unity, which come from embracing all people and from being the agents of redemption for all needs.

Exactly twenty-five years ago, two things happened which were destined to have a profound effect on my life, and I want to share them with you this morning. These two unrelated happenings took place without the people involved in either one being aware of the other one, but, as I have said, both ...read more

Scripture: John 17:6-18

Denomination: Baptist

Shaping The Clay Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 24, 2008

For Memorial Day/Christian Legacy Sunday: We must not protect the vessel in which the Gospel is carried more than the Gospel itself. The Gospel is power; the vessel must be impervious to popularity, a good transporter. Legacy giving encouraged.

I am not much of a gardener. The Scripture says that there is a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted, but I must tell you that I don’t know the difference. I pluck up only what I am told to pluck up, because I don’t know a weed from a willow. However, the mistress of our little ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:1-12

Denomination: Baptist

What Do These Stones Mean? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 31, 2008

For a Children’s Day message; twelve varying stones used as visuals to speak of original innocence, sin and accountability, and the redemptive work of Christ.

For centuries, people have raised up stones as a witness. Stone monuments testify as to who they are and what happened among them. Just this week news came of discoveries at the ancient monument of Stonehenge on the Salisbury plain in England. Those great Sarsen stones were raised to honor the ...read more

Scripture: Joshua 4:8-24

Denomination: Baptist

That They May Be One (A Sermon On John Chapter 17)

Contributed by David Smith on Jun 3, 2008

Jesus said, "I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by your name, the name that you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one." (John 17:11)

“Kiss me Hardy” “Et Tu, Brute” “Strike the tents!” What do these statements have in common? They were each the last words of famous men (Lord Nelson, Julius Caesar and Robert E. Lee, respectively). Let me add one from a famous woman: "Hold the cross high so I may see it through the flames!" ...read more

Scripture: John 17:1-26, John 17:11-17

Denomination: Episcopal/Anglican

So Filled We Cannot Stand Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 8, 2008

The Presence comes not because we manufacture emotions, but because we complete what our history calls us to and because we cultivate holiness and unity.

Prayer, in the words of hymn-writer Charles Wesley: Finish then Thy new creation, Pure and spotless let us be; Let us see Thy great salvation Perfectly restored in Thee! Changed from glory into glory, Till in heaven we take our place, Till we cast our crowns before Thee, Lost in wonder, love, and ...read more

Scripture: 2 Chronicles 5:1-14

Denomination: Baptist

You Missed The Point Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 14, 2008

Like Josiah’s sorry sons, we have missed the point of our fathers’ messages about the value of Scripture, the worth of the church, and the meaning of the work ethic.

Why is it that on Mother’s Day we honor our mothers, we talk of saintly moms who worked their fingers to the bone to cook and clean and sew for us? But on Father’s Day we scold the dads! Why is that? Have you noticed? We honor mothers for their industry, their wisdom, their prayer life, and ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 22:11-23

Denomination: Baptist

It's All About Fruit

Contributed by Steve Smith on Jun 21, 2008

Jesus teaches us the definition and requirements for finding "true joy" - joy that will last! Are we a ’no’ fruit, ’more’ fruit, or ’much’ fruit Christian? Your fruit determines your joy!

INTRODUCTION Last week – - Giving up the “bondage in our lives” that satan uses with his “bag of tricks” to rob our joy: - What is the “bag of tricks” he uses on your life? sickness, disease, temptations, habits or addictions, failures, relationship hurt, children, etc. Today – What do we ...read more

Scripture: John 15:1-8

Denomination: Baptist

Be Ye Loosed!

Contributed by Steve Smith on Jun 21, 2008

Seeing one who was suffering from Satan’s trickery, Jesus reminded us that we do not have to ’live in bondage’ but can ’be set free’!

INTRODUCTION After our Deacon’s Mtg, and on the way home, I began to think about our Prayer Time and discussion The Lord over the rest of the night began to really tug and speak to my heart. In fact, this message has been being formed all throughout the week It speaks to us as individuals It ...read more

Scripture: Luke 13:10-16

Denomination: Baptist

The Father Heart Of God

Contributed by Joel Smith on Jun 24, 2008

If your heart beats like the Father’s, you’ll love lost people too.

A several summers ago Laura and I witnessed every parent’s nightmare. As we soaked up the sun at Myrtle Beach, enjoying our annual vacation, watching Drake and Anna Gray, who were then still young enough to enjoy just playing in the sand, we noticed a man acting rather strangely. A barely ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:1-32

Denomination: Baptist

Seeing A New Thing

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 29, 2008

Some of us are just not observant and do not see what God is doing. We let fear paralyze us, we do not see what an international church means, and we need to bear a testimony of excitement about all that God is doing in this church.

Many of you know that I recently spent a week in Kentucky and Indiana doing a family history search. My companion for that week in archives rooms and on cemetery grounds was my younger brother, who is a professor at Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Texas. We planned for that particular week, as ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 43:1-21

Denomination: Baptist

The Bald Eagle Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 6, 2008

Micah’s symbol of the bald eagle, a sign of grief, applies to America. We are abandoning justice, kindness, and the humble walk with God. Our collapse is from within rather than from without. Yet God has sent a different kind of conqueror to redeem us.

What we see is more powerful than what we hear. The visual always trumps the audible. I learned a long time ago that what people see is more powerful than what they hear. I learned it when I sat through an education professor’s hour-long lecture about why lecturing was the least effective way to ...read more

Scripture: Micah 1:1-16

Denomination: Baptist

The Declaration Of Eternal Independence

Contributed by Duane Smith on Jul 7, 2008

This was an Independence Day message. A nation is only as free as its citizens, and if they are in bondage to sin so is the nation. This message is intended to stress the necissity to be set free from sin. Only then shall we be free indeed.

THE DECLARATION OF ETERNAL INDEPENDENCE John 8:31-36 INTRODUCTION: A. The Pledge of Allegiance B. Many came to the Americas to find freedom but after many years of injustice and indignities brought about by King George the III the colonists had had enough. 1. The citizens of the ...read more

Scripture: John 8:31-36

Denomination: Baptist

Give Up Or Get Up?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 8, 2009

Never consider anyone hopeless. Pray intensely, watch out for the naysayers or for your own negativity, and then participate in the redemption Christ wants to bring.

He’s just hopeless! She is beyond redemption! I am never going to make it! They have no future whatsoever! They are hopeless! Are you ever tempted to speak like that? Do you ever feel that way about somebody, maybe even about yourself? Hopeless? Watch out. Because there is nothing more ...read more

Scripture: Luke 8:40-56

Denomination: Baptist

Revived To Die?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 9, 2009

What must it have felt like to be revived, only to know that you will die again? It is true of a church that has undergone revival. Some will even try to kill the revival. Embrace it, unbind it.

We always welcome visitors in our church from wherever they may come. But I do wonder today if we have any visitors from the other side. The other side, you know. No, I don’t mean the Catholics. I mean the other other side. Do we have any visitors from beyond the grave? Thus begins the sermon ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Plight Of The Living Dead Series

Contributed by Joel Smith on May 13, 2009

"I see dead people."

One of my all-time favorite movies is The Sixth Sense. It stars Bruce Willis as a child psychiatrist working with a young boy played by Haley Joel Osment who claims to be able to see dead people. The kid figured out that the dead people, who he alone can see and converse with, don’t know that ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10

Denomination: Baptist