Sermons on Joseph Freidman:

Enough

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 12, 2007

Wealth leads us to illusions wherein we lose sight of God; poverty leads us to spiritual disease. Pray for enough to satisfy real needs and to be able to give for others.

You don’t have to raise your hands on this one. But I do wonder how many of you spent some time this week fantasizing about that Powerball lottery. What would you have done with $250,000,000? What dreams would you have indulged? What unthinkable thoughts did you think? Well, now, I, being a ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 30:8-9

Denomination: Baptist

Living With A Ministry Outlook

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 17, 2007

Pulpit drama monologue as if Naaman the Syrian were reporting his healing. God’s gifts are free, contrary to what Gehazi thought.

It’s incredible. Truly remarkable. That I should look this good, after all I have been through. Maybe you wouldn’t understand. You did not see what I looked like only yesterday. Leprosy! I had leprosy! Great scabs on my skin. Whitish blotches here and there. Horrible sores, everywhere. ...read more

Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1-27

Denomination: Baptist

Living At Four Corners

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 25, 2007

For Christ the King Sunday and in support of international missions: using a metaphor of a complex intersection, we are to give, teach, heal and share as the four corners of our Christian life.

May I introduce you to my neighborhood? For two months now I have been burning up the Beltway and 270 coming up to your place two or three times a week. It would seem only fair that you should come down to where I live, if only in your mind’s eye. Let me introduce you to Four Corners. Four ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 11:10-13

Denomination: Baptist

Welcome

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 1, 2007

Memorial service message for James M. Wright, volunteer for a Florida Shriners Hospital. Focus on the welcoming of children meaning the welcoming of Jesus.

Images cross our television screens, and we turn away instinctively. Photos jump out at us from the newspaper, and we quickly turn the page. Brochures from charities arrive in our mail, and almost automatically we pitch them in the recycle bin. All because the media continue to show pictures of ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 18:1-5

Denomination: Baptist

What Then Will We Have?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 24, 2008

Gaining authentic riches means embracing the way of life over the way of death. The way of life means constant companionship and reconciled relationships, all in the risen Christ.

They promised me an income of up to ten thousand dollars a week. It would come in the easiest of ways; all I would have to do would be to sit at home and wait for it to pour in. They said the money would mount up effortlessly. Up to ten thousand dollars a week, made by promoting certain ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 19:16-30

Denomination: Baptist

Amid The Flood

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 26, 2008

Dramatic monologue as if Martin Luther were the preacher, telling his own story. Time period is the Wartburg stay; focus is on hope and trust in a changing world, "amid the flood" of change.

[Backstage] Walled up here in this fortress, kept practically as a prisoner, prevented from teaching, prohibited from preaching, what good am I? What can I accomplish in such a place? I was not born for idleness, nor for solitude. I was born for action. I was destined by Him who holds in His ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 46:1-11

Denomination: Baptist

What Good Deed Must I Do? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 30, 2008

The rich young ruler’s question was off-base. It assumes that we can do one overriding deed to win God over; it is possessive; and it is self-centered.

I am not very good at giving gifts. I just have a hard time, when Christmas and birthdays and anniversaries roll around, a hard time giving the right gifts. It’s not that the folks I want to give to are picky or unworthy; it’s just that I can’t seem to figure out what they want and get it. For ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 19:13-16

Denomination: Baptist

Together In Disappointment, Together In Hope Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 2, 2008

Church life is full of disappointments, but it can be equally full of hope and fulfillment. The key is to stay together and see what God will do. God is a God of abundance and not of scarcity.

We serve a God of abundance and not a God of scarcity. Ours is the God who possesses the cattle on a thousand hills. He is not a dilettante deity with nothing in His hands; He is the God who flung the stars into space and who has made all things. All things are made by Him and all things are at ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Denomination: Baptist

How To Lie With Statistics

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 5, 2008

For the Festival of Christ the King; We rely on false comparisons or we use half-truths to justify ourselves. Far better to find justification in committing ourselves to what God is about in the world.

There are lies, and then there are lies. Little lies and big lies. Deceptions of all kinds. Some say it was Mark Twain, others British Prime Minister Disraeli, but someone remarked that there are three kinds of lies: plain lies, flat-out lies, and statistics. Plain lies, flat-out lies, and ...read more

Scripture: Luke 18:9-14

Denomination: Baptist

Hot Heads, Cold Hearts

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 6, 2008

Anger drains us when it is either displaced or misplaced. But when we learn to replace it with a relationship to Christ, it becomes energizing.

One day when Margaret and I were college students, she said, “I think you ought to know that the deacons are going to ask for our pastor’s resignation.” We were members of the same church and had shared in appreciation for the thoughtful, exciting sermons our pastor brought us week by week. But ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

What Do I Still Lack? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 8, 2008

The young man raising this question with Jesus lacked historical memory, lacked self-awareness, and lacked a vision for one compelling pursuit. For Maundy Thursday

I: Remember The third of our ultimate questions sounds almost like a throwaway. Like a sarcastic castoff. “What do I still lack?” The young man had already asked the most sweeping question possible, “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?” As you may remember if you were here two ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 19:16-22

Denomination: Baptist

Absence Of Pain Or Pain Of Absence? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 9, 2008

We either want to disengage from conflict situations and save ourselves the pain, or we have to absorb the guilt of being absent and causing others pain. Trust an abundant God, who is able to take our pain and express abundant love.

We serve a God of abundance and not a God of scarcity. Ours is not a dilettante deity with nothing in His hands. Ours is the God who possesses the cattle on a thousand hills, who flung the stars into space, and who has made all things – all things. All things are made by Him and all things are ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Who Can Be Saved? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 11, 2008

Salvation seems elusive, whether it means personal peace, reconciliation, or productive life. Good Friday we see what God will do about that frustration.

I Everyone gets frustrated. In ways small or great, we feel the frustration of not being able to do what we want to do, not being able have what we want to have, not being able to achieve as we would want to achieve. Young people, by nature, dream great dreams. If you give them half a chance, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 19:16-26

Denomination: Baptist

A New Dimension Of Obedience

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 12, 2008

Dated 1985. Jesus saw that we live in a complicated age and are therefore called to love God with our minds as well as heart and soul and strength. Consider serious Biblical and theological study.

In order for you to understand fully what I am about to say, you would need to know my wife, and moreover, you would need to visit our backyard and find out that my wife is a wild flower nut. Now you will be very careful to get exactly what I said. I did not say, exactly, that my wife has lost her ...read more

Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

A World-Class Child For A World Of Children

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 15, 2008

Story sermon: a child watches her father being taken away charged with being disorderly, feels guilty, but does not understand why all the others in her family "receive him not."

No Scripture is more loved and more often quoted than the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verses 16 and 17. If you want to put: the good news in miniature, there it is. One sentence encompassing the heart of the good news. So as we cane to the Advent season, during which we shall remember the Lord’s ...read more

Scripture: John 1:10-13

Denomination: Baptist