Sermons on Joseph Cook:

Flesh And Spirit: Love And Peace Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 20, 2009

Achieving peace in the world must come from those who have achieved peace with themselves. That in turn comes from achieving peace with God. For the Day of Prayer for World Peace, for baptism, and for Communion

My mother-in-law made an arresting comment the other day. She had been reminiscing about what it was like to take care of two small children in a British bomb shelter, and then our conversation turned to the present situation with Iraq. "Oh, you men", she said. "You men, always getting us into ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:16-25

Denomination: Baptist

En Route To A Better Country

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 24, 2009

For Remembrance Sunday, celebrating the lives of those who had passed away during the previous year: We resist change because we fear failure and we fear temporariness. But faith launches us and God equips us to new things.

Why do some of us embrace change and others of us resist change? Why do some people look for new things to do, search for new things to learn? But others of us resist until our dying breath doing anything but what we’ve always done? Why is that? Why do we approach to life so very differently? ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 11:8-16

Denomination: Baptist

Pharaoh's Daughter: Enduring Rejection For The Sake Of God's Call Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 25, 2009

The princess of Egypt knew that God’s law superseded the state’s law; and chose to act for compassion and justice.

As I began this series of three messages on the theme, Designing Women, last week, I said that we were going to be looking for qualities of leadership out of the stories of those women mentioned in the roll call of faith known as the 11th chapter of Hebrews. You’ll remember that I pointed out ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 1:15-20

Denomination: Baptist

Sanding The Floors Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 5, 2009

Developing leaders is like sanding floors -- acknowledging that flaws will be removed only by abrasion. But such weaknesses become a channel for strength and for God’s grace to work.

We could all have such perfect houses if people didn’t use them. The most beautiful and perfect rooms you will ever see are the ones in furniture displays at the store or maybe in a museum someplace, and the reason they are so perfect is that nobody uses them. But in the real world houses are ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Denomination: Baptist

Delivered From Among The Bricks

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 6, 2009

Labor Day sermon, Calverton Baptist Church: God is able to deliver us from work we do not like and which is focused only on the bottom line. Work faithfully but do not let work consume you. Believe that God is at work even in financially difficult times

We have a love-hate relationship with our jobs. If we do not have jobs, we are anxious, because no job means no income, and no income means trouble, so we want to work. But when we get those jobs, we begin a love-hate relationship. We say that we love our work, but then we want to take as ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Tearing Up The Ticket

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 7, 2009

God in Christ will enable us to remove the penalties of sin and our guilt and shame by creating a relationship with us and by taking into Himself our limitations.

This past spring, when my wife and I went to Britain, I knew that driving there would be quite a challenge. Not only do you have to drive on the left side of the road; and not only to you have to decipher the lingo on the road signs -- anybody know what a "dual carriageway" is? -- but also you have ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 31:31-34

Denomination: Baptist

To The Uptight: Son Of Man Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 8, 2009

Jesus challenged Nicodemus and us because He challenges our pride and status, or because we think that all we have done is now useless. The human Jesus shows us how to live without being uptight.

Two men standing in a garden to talk; so much alike and yet so different. Two men, with much on their minds, with eternal issues at stake, and yet with very human concerns too. Two men, very different and yet brothers, much the same. Two men standing in a garden to take one another’s measure. ...read more

Scripture: John 3:1-17

Denomination: Baptist

Abused And Used But Not Used Up

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 3, 2010

We must determine that the children with whom we are surrounded are God’s gift and God’s assignment for us, no matter how difficult or inconvenient they are.

I received a letter the other day from someone very close to me. His letter was written hurriedly, because I had written him asking some questions. He felt he needed to answer those right away. He had a conviction he wanted me to hear immediately. I had asked him if he was going to leave his ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 2:17-22

Denomination: Baptist

A Deadly Virus

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 3, 2010

Sin is not excused by good works, and unrepentant self-indulgence is destructive. Sexual integrity is not just a private matter; how we handle it will determine what happens with our church.

This has the potential for being the shortest sermon I’ve ever done. At first glance, it seems all I need to do with this text is to praise the church for doing so well, declare myself to be against sin, and wrap it up. The shortest sermon I’ve ever done, and maybe the shortest on record! Anybody ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 2:18-29

Denomination: Baptist

Every Barrier Down: Mary Magdalene

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 6, 2010

Commitment to the living Christ will let Him break down circumstantial, cultural, and spiritual barriers to our success. Illustrated with the story of Marian Anderson.

I think it was John Lennon, one of the Beatles, who once observed, "Life is what happens while you are making other plans." That really is the issue, isn't it? Getting a fix on our lives. Getting hold of life. Being able to make it go the way you want it to go. And the trouble is that life just ...read more

Scripture: John 20:1-18

Denomination: Baptist

Every Mother's Child Matters

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 7, 2010

Sarah's me-ism blinded her to Ishmael's value; Abraham's comfort blinded him to how best to support Hagar and Ishmael; Hagar, like many of our mothers, had to trust God in the desert. We today must support the Hagars of this world.

The barren landscape seemed to dance before her eyes, as she looked toward a horizon littered with debris, strewn with the rubbish of thousands of careless people who had gone this way. Filthy and dirty as it was, though, it seemed to dance before her eyes, for the sun was high above and hot; the ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 21:8-20

Denomination: Baptist

Eyewitnesses Of Majesty

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 8, 2010

We tend to see only what we expect to see, and thus at Christmas we do not see the glory and majesty of the Christ child in the homeless, the downtrodden, the ashamed.

They say that "seeing is believing". Well, that depends. That depends on whether you can trust your eyesight. And it depends on whether you have decided to see what is really there or just what you think is there. "Seeing is believing." It depends on whether you can trust your eyesight. My ...read more

Scripture: 2 Peter 1:3-19

Denomination: Baptist

Doing More With Less

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 9, 2010

In times of scarcity or stress, two personalities respond: fear, the cup half empty; and faith, the cup half full.

A few moments ago we sang, "Drop Thy still dews of quietness, Till all our strivings cease; Take from our souls the strain and stress, And let our ordered lives confess The beauty of Thy peace." Those are beautiful words; they are lofty sentiments. But how? How can such things happen? In an ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 17:1-24

Denomination: Baptist

Doubt, Dignity, And Discovery

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 10, 2010

Often we are not credible because we do not accept others’ doubt as real, nor do we permit them to retain their dignity. We are called simply to invite them on a voyage of discovery where they will find that their hurts are healed.

What do you do when you try to help, and those you are helping are not sure they want that help? What do you say when someone has a need, you propose an answer to that need, but they don’t believe that what you want to give will really do any good? How do you help people who are not sure they ...read more

Scripture: Luke 7:18-23

Denomination: Baptist

Driving Under The Influence

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 11, 2010

Energy and passion in worship are fine, but they must push us toward authentic living and toward dedicated mission, else they will be destructive.

I could not help noticing this car that morning. It was a tiny little car, one of those that looks like a sardine can on wheels. The rust spots and the dents suggested that it had survived more than its share of bumps and bruises. But that was not all that made me notice this little puddle ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-20

Denomination: Baptist