Sermons on Joseph In Prison:

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

Semper Paratus Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 2, 2007

The inbreak of God, whether now or in the day of His return, is both judgment and blessing. But if we are always prepared, we can handle the judgment without being destroyed and can receive blessings even though disguised.

If we prepare, we can handle just about anything. Preparation allows us to handle both negatives and positives. If we are ready, we can take the negatives and deal with the blows that fall on us. And if we are ready, we can also enjoy the positives and receive the blessings. When I was growing ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 24:36-44

Denomination: Baptist

Presumption

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 9, 2007

Religion does not create a relationship with God, nor does ritual. It is refinement born of repentance that shapes that relationship. Repent, relate, and receive.

“Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Famous words supposedly spoken by journalist Henry Morton Stanley somewhere in Tanganyika at the end of his expedition to find the missing explorer. “I presume”. It means, “I think I know what I am doing. Would you please confirm it for me? You look like what I ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 3:1-12

Denomination: Baptist

The Wise Men Who Missed The Saviour

Contributed by Joseph Marshall on Dec 11, 2007

As we enter the Christmas season, most people are familiar with the account of Christ’s birth and all the characters involved. We know that the wise men came from the East by following a star in the sky. When the came, they were baring gifts of gold, fr

As we enter the Christmas season, most people are familiar with the account of Christ’s birth and all the characters involved. We know that the wise men came from the East by following a star in the sky. When the came, they were baring gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. As they arrived in ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 2:5-6

Denomination: Baptist

He Left All Rose Up And Followed Him

Contributed by Joseph Marshall on Dec 11, 2007

Levi or Matthew was call to Leave all, rise up, and follow Christ. As we look at the Bible this morning, we will look not at the costs of following Christ but rather of the benefits of following Christ!

I. He will only allow you to go through something that He has not chosen for you (Job 1 jobs trials were initiated by God! A. He has gone through the Trial before us. (Heb. 4:13-14) Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us ...read more

Scripture: Luke 5:27-29

Denomination: Baptist

Acceptance And Rejection

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 25, 2007

We know what both acceptance and rejection feel like. What must God feel at our rejection of Him? In Jesus He turns around our rejection into His acceptance of us. We can accept our acceptance.

“He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.” Do you have experience with both acceptance and rejection? I imagine you do. No one is so fortunate as to have had everything he wants, and so we have all experienced rejection. And no one is so hard-up that she has been ...read more

Scripture: John 1:1-18

Denomination: Baptist

How To Stand For Christ

Contributed by Joseph Tew on Dec 29, 2007

A look into Esther’s decision to stand even though her situation was not so good.

Esther 4: 13-17 13. Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. 14. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; ...read more

Scripture: Esther 4:13-17

Denomination: Pentecostal

Insults Or Joy? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 11, 2008

Annas and Caiphas exhibit the truth that if we do not know God, we do not know ourselves. That produces insecurity, which, in turn, yields destructive defensiveness.

A riddle to begin with today. Can you answer this question? How do two porcupines hug one another? Very carefully! It’s one of those encounters in which, no matter how you approach it, somebody is likely to get hurt. And we all know some porcupines. Any one of us can be a porcupine on any ...read more

Scripture: John 18:12-24

Denomination: Baptist

It's Not About Power

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 13, 2008

For deacon ordination at Montgomery Hills Baptist Church: deacons are to be humble, secure, and serving, and thus to coach the whole church in Kingdom ways.

Power is what the world knows. You cannot live in the metro DC area without seeing that power is everything for this world. The power of a position in the government, where you can order people around like pawns on a chessboard. The power of access to huge sums of money, so that shopping sprees ...read more

Scripture: Luke 14:7-11

Denomination: Baptist

This Thorny Thicket Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 20, 2008

For Martin Luther King Day. The words we offer fall into the thorny thicket of anxiety, despair, and distraction. Like King with his dream, we the church can give hands and feet to help those so captured.

Our back yard is a thorny thicket. Other people have manicured lawns, with friendly plants laid out in neat rows. But our back yard is a tangled thorny thicket. Along one fence there are blackberries, growing in long canes that have to be tied up lest they wander into the next county. They ...read more

Scripture: Mark 4:13-20

Denomination: Baptist

Stand And Be Counted

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 23, 2008

At a church-sponsored rally for census involvement. Census taking may seem invasive, but the information leads toward justice; God is able to use the census for His purposes; and it reminds us of the vast task of redemption to which we are called.

When Rev. Gray asked me to preach, the answer was easy. I am just about always ready to preach! You know how it is with preachers, especially Baptists: we can come up with a Scripture to cover all occasions, we have an opinion about everything, and we believe that everybody is waiting to hear our ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 7:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

To Desire A Better Country

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 23, 2008

Funeral service for Anne Tlholakae, diplomat of the Embassy of South Africa. All of us desire a better country; that journey begins with faith. As Biblical wanderers sought that better country but died in a foreign land, so Anne sought and found Christ

The desire for a better country goes deep in the human heart. The desire for something more, something finer, than what our ancestors left us is an aspiration that transcends all boundaries. Just as here in the United States we celebrate those markers in our history that made us a greater nation, ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Keep Hope Alive

Contributed by Dieuner Joseph on May 10, 2007

To encourage believers not to lose hope no matter their circumstance.

Rev. D. Joseph May 4, 2007 Text: Jer. 17:7; Blessed [is] the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. Topic: Keep Hope Alive INTRODUCTION Contrary to popular belief, Jesse Jackson did not coined the saying: ‘keep hope alive.’ The Bible has been admonishing and encouraging ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 17:7

Denomination: Baptist

God's Great Woman

Contributed by Joseph Marshall on May 12, 2007

Despite how much we like to joke about our mother’s or mother-in-law’s, we are forever indebted to them for all they have taught us and given to us in our lives. So today, we take sometime from our busy scheduled to let our mum’s know how much they reall

Did you hear the one about the young couple who recently got married and went to the Holy Land on their honeymoon? the brides mother heard of where they were going and insisted on joining them in the holy land on their honey moon well one day they were out seeing the site and the mother in law got ...read more

Scripture: 2 Kings 4:8-37, 2 Kings 4:4

Denomination: Baptist