Sermons on Joseph Cook:

I Have The Keys Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 1, 2003

For All Saints/All Souls: the Lord has the keys to the church, so we need not fear its future despite our locking up its resources; and He has the keys to our lives, so we need not lock ourselves in privacy; and He has the keys of eternal life.

Keys. I have keys. Lots and lots of keys. Thanks to keys, we can keep safe the things we consider valuable. But we are also kept from access to those things. Keys; we all have them, we all need them, we all appreciate them, but we all resent them at times. If you don’t have the right keys, ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 1:4-18

Denomination: Baptist

Listening For Freedom Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 6, 2003

We fear freedom for reasons both internal and external -- "broken spirit and cruel slavery". Choose to be a liberator for someone else and you can break that slavery.

We are made to be free; in fact, we need freedom. Every person needs freedom. That’s obvious. That’s what God has made us for. The Scripture says, “For freedom Christ has set us free.” We say we want to be free. We want to be free. But therein lies a problem. The problem is that that’s not ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 6:1-13

Denomination: Baptist

Listening For Leadership Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 6, 2003

Our view of leadership is that it is aggressive, know-it-all. But in reality it is bearing witness to God’s power, not our own; and leaders are qualified to be leaders by what they do NOT know.

Do you know the story of the woman who liked to sit for an hour or so every evening at her front window? She would just sit, looking at the traffic racing by. After the children had been coached through their homework, after her husband had been reminded about the jobs on his "To do" list; after ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 19:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

Listening For Abuse Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 6, 2003

Many of us are only a short step from the abuse of other races, of women, or of children. We must listen to our own hearts and must correct this by exposure to others and to the power of Christ.

I For the last several Sundays we’ve been doing an exercise in listening to ourselves. We’ve put ourselves into Moses’ life and we’ve listened to what we feel about ourselves. I hope it’s been productive. It certainly has spoken to me. I hope you’ve been able to listen to yourselves under the ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 22:21-23, Colossians 3:5-11

Denomination: Baptist

Michael, Row That Boat Ashore! Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 10, 2003

We are engaged in spiritual warfare, not just minor disputes, and so must take on the enemy. God calls not only "Michaels", leaders, but also "ordinary angels". When we engage evil, we create the opportunity for salvation, wholeness, to be done. Victor

Imagine that it’s Sunday afternoon. You are on the turf at FedEx field. You have been assigned to play defense for the Deadskins ... er, I mean, the Redskins. Yes, you. You have been assigned to play defense; why not? Nobody else is doing it! Spurrier says to you, “When one of them gets the ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 12:7-12

Denomination: Baptist

It Wasn't The Pacific Ocean Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 12, 2001

Jesus’ handling of and interpretation of His witness at the seashore is a parable of our witness in shaky, stormy circumstances.

A few weeks ago I caught the TV show, “America’s Funniest Videos.” You may know that on that show there are clips of poignant scenes from the human drama, as captured by someone’s home video camera. This particular clip caught my attention. A father was trying to show his small son how to fish, ...read more

Scripture: Mark 4:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

Lasting Love

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 13, 2001

Funeral sermon for Mrs. Lola Black, who died suddenly only five months after her husband’s death.

In March, when we gathered in this place to say farewell to a creative, innovative man, we did not dream that five months later we would gather again to bid adieu to his cherished helpmate. Charlie and Lola are together again, in death as in life; and it’s almost beyond belief. It just does not ...read more

Scripture: John 15:12-17

Denomination: Baptist

Pain Ignores The Appointment Book Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 20, 2001

Many of us dislike dealing with unplanned events, but those who need us need us now. So either we paralyze or we panic, unless we learn to work together inside God’s grace and unless we discern that He is giving us time in which to grow our faith.

I have the utmost admiration for anybody who can live amid constant crises. I cannot do that very well. If you are the kind of person who can keep your sanity when there are ten unplanned things happening around you, I salute you. How do you do it? That’s not me. That’s not my skill. I like ...read more

Scripture: Mark 6:30-56

Denomination: Baptist

Put Your Pencils Down

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 1, 2001

A Labor Day and Communion message, dealing with the sources of satisfaction in work. Designed for audience participation.

Labor Day, and school is starting again. I wonder, do they still do the same things as when I was in school? Do they still have the same rituals? Maybe not. Things do change. Dodgeball, for example. Now that was THE game in my day. You had the right to throw the ball as hard as you could and ...read more

Scripture: John 17:1-6

Denomination: Baptist

Never Abandoned Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 19, 2002

Sermon for Pentecost Sunday, intended as the first of three on the Trinity, all based on John 14. The Holy Spirit does not abandon His church, but if we are not obedient before claiming His support, we may forfeit His power. And if we do not acknowledge

If you believe you’ve been abandoned, you have two choices: either you can indulge in something that may soothe you temporarily, or you can watch for the power that will lead you out to success. If someone that matters to you has walked off and abandoned you, you can either pretend ...read more

Scripture: John 14:15-17, John 14:25-27

Denomination: Baptist

A Prevailing Church: Loosing Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 20, 2002

A prevailing church is one which lives like those persons others thought Jesus might be -- like John the Baptist, loosing himself from tradition; like Elijah, living out of grace; like Jeremiah, let loose in the world.

I walked into the Baptist Student Center at the University of Kentucky, about to take over as chaplain. My predecessor was still on the scene, filling up garbage cans with files. In those pre-Watergate days, nobody had thought of shredders, I guess. He was throwing away every record, ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Never Powerless Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 26, 2002

We are powerless to change things only because we give power away and do not know how to reclaim it. We can do so first by affirming that change comes only through Jesus Christ, and then by believing that He partners with us when we pray. To do any less

We are never powerless. We think we are. We think we cannot change the things that trouble us. But in fact we are never powerless. We just give away our power. We give away our power and do not know how to claim it again. Those who have power over us have it only because we let them ...read more

Scripture: John 14:1-12, John 14:28-31

Denomination: Baptist

Never Unloved Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 2, 2002

Some receive love, but reject it; others never know that they are loved. In either case, the Cross is evidence that we have never been unloved.

We need to think not only about the way we relate to other people, but also about how we receive them. It is not enough simply to be friendly and cordial. We also need to look at how we receive people when they extend themselves to us. I went to a meeting this week, where all the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:11-32, John 14:18-24

Denomination: Baptist

Knee Bowed And Body Bent Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 19, 2000

Since body language communicates our real feelings, we must pay attention to how we present our bodies to God -- in the words of James Weldon Johnson, "knee-bowed", ready to submit our wills to His; and "body-bent", ready to work for things that matter.

You may not speak a great many foreign languages, but there is one language other than English at which most of us are proficient. That is body language. Whether our mouths can pronounce strange sounds or whether our eyes can make any sense out of different alphabets, we can see body language. ...read more

Scripture: Romans 12:1-10

Denomination: Baptist

Teary Eyes, Stumbling Feet, Hands Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 19, 2000

Deepseated shame and objective guilt arise from a self-serving spirit, but the Cross delivers us from both and frees us to live out of gratitude.

Mark it down. Memorize this. Engrave it somewhere. It is an ironclad rule. This will always happen: when it is the least convenient for you to respond, someone will want you to respond. When it is nearly impossible for you to get up and do what someone wants you to do, that is the very moment ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 116:1-19

Denomination: Baptist