Sermons on Joseph In Prison:

What's Done Is Done

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 9, 2009

For Christmas Eve Communion: what God has done in Christ means that peace has been accomplished, and this world’s contradictions have been resolved. The Father’s love has embraced us.

“What’s done is done." We say it when we want to pronounce the final words, when we want to speak the ultimate truth. "What’s done is done", as if so obvious a truth really needed stating. "What’s done is done.” It becomes a way of insisting that there is no more to be said, no more to do, no ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 9:2-7

Denomination: Baptist

When All Else Fails, Read The Instructions

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 9, 2009

The Bible gives us understanding of human life and relationships, it equips us for effectiveness, and it is the standard by which a church becomes great.

Why do we prefer to stumble along and do a job halfway, when, with just a little effort, we could do it well? Why is it that we will take a stab at something we don’t know how to do, .we will fool with it, we will mess with it, but, if it takes some study to learn to do it right, we’re not ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:10-17

Denomination: Baptist

When All Is Said And Done, It Isn't

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 10, 2009

We come to a point when we feel depressed and think our lives have no meaning. Then God blesses us with physical, spiritual, and emotional sustenance, and sends us out to bless someone specific.

"What are you doing here?" What a question! Has anyone ever asked you that? "What are you doing here?" You were some place where nobody expected to see you, but you turned up, and that was the reaction. I have heard it in the grocery store. I cannot go to this Safeway up here without running into ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 19:1-18

Denomination: Baptist

Pointing To The Light Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 11, 2009

John the Baptist knew who he was not and who he was, and accepted his task of pointing to Christ. Our mistakes are imagining that we are more than we are, or that we are less than we are. The real task is: just point to the light.

My son and his wife live in a five-level townhouse in Reston, Virginia. You enter into a kind of combination corridor and stairwell at the second level. Typically I turn right when I arrive and go into the kitchen area. But when I leave that level to go to another one, I walk out of that kitchen ...read more

Scripture: John 1:1-28

Denomination: Baptist

A Mother's A Mother All Of Her Life

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 13, 2009

Preached in 1989. The Holy Spirit, like mothers, is stubborn. He will accomplish what He sets out to do, as mothers do not abandon their children; so we must not give up on each other but must become motherlike.

There’s just something about mothers -- they are without a doubt the stubbornest people on God’s green earth. Mothers are stubborn, mothers stick with it, mothers stay with something until the cows come home. Mothers are persistent, mothers are consistent ... I think I said it best at the ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 1:6-11

Denomination: Baptist

When Curiosity Isn't Enough

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 13, 2009

It is not enough to be curious about Christ, keeping your distance or living in the world unequipped. If you are merely curious, come closer and you will grow and mature.

We have a new puppy at our house. She’s about 11 weeks old. And is she ever curious! She is curious about everything. There is nothing that escapes her attention, and nothing that does not interest her. She has to sniff at the house plants; she pulls at the towels; she tugs at the bedspread ...read more

Scripture: Mark 14:43-52

Denomination: Baptist

Looking Good: Just One More Thing

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 14, 2009

Dinosaurs look good in the museum, but their bones are really disconnected, are not together, and are dry as dust. The church must learn to connect, to unite, and to be exciting, as God wills.

Dinosaurs fascinate me. Those ancient beasts which once upon a time roamed this planet, foraging for food and terrorizing smaller creatures. You’ve seen them on the late movies, enormous reptiles, roaring and raring up on their hind legs, grabbing the pretty girl between those giant jaws and ...read more

Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-14

Denomination: Baptist

When God Wrestles With Family Tensions

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 16, 2009

We use avoidance, anger, anxiety, and aloneness to manage family tensions. We even use self-centered prayer. But when we let God wrestle with us, we are changed and we accept vulnerability in family life.

The most critical issue in family life is not anger or argument. It is avoidance. What plagues most families is not that they are embroiled in fighting or torn by argument. What destroys families is that people drift apart from one another; they avoid one another. You see, if you fight with ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

If It's Light, Let It Lead Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 18, 2009

MLK Sunday: to work in the darkness, we need light, lots of it, but it may show us things we don’t want to know. The Bible is light for life; the church makes us see its truth in ways that claim us; and Christ leads us to a healthy integrity

If you are going to work in the darkness you need light. There is only so much you can do by feeling your way. You need light and lots of it. Last Wednesday night as my wife and I left Montgomery Hills Church, I noticed some poor soul in the driveway of the house next door. He had the hood of ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:22-23

Denomination: Baptist

Pain Turned Into Joy Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 12, 2009

It seems unreal that pain could be turned into joy. Yet pain is the very stuff of joy. It will come, not instantaneously, but completely. The risen Christ proves this, and can transform our disappointments, disillusionments, and shame into joy.

“You will have pain, but y our pain will turn into joy.” That brings back memories of the doctor’s office and that giant needle moving ever closer. “This will hurt a little bit.” A little bit! When you are a year old, it hurts a lot, and there is no joy in it. No, I do not remember being one ...read more

Scripture: John 16:17-24

Denomination: Baptist

In The Spin Cycle

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 13, 2009

Addictive behaviors are sins that we simply ought not to start; and they are sicknesses that stem from low self-esteem. Christ is able to deliver from both sin and sickness.

When washday comes at our house, I go on alert. I go on alert for a certain noise. If we are washing something heavy, like bathroom mats or a bedspread, I can predict that during the washing process, I will hear great clunks and thunks arising from the basement. It will sound as though somebody is ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 23:29-35

Denomination: Baptist

Heart Bypass (1996)

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 15, 2009

If we do not understand what God does for us every day, then we will not receive what He wants to do when we really need Him. Sometimes He must withdraw from us because our abundance blinds us. (Communion message)

If we do not understand what God does, every day, then we will not receive what He wants to do when we really need Him. If with both minds and hearts we do not grasp that it is God who provides for us, day after day, even when we don’t think we need Him, then our minds will be closed and our ...read more

Scripture: Mark 6:45-52

Denomination: Baptist

The Great Dismal Swamp And The Evereadies

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 15, 2009

Just as comic strip characters were saved from the Great Dismal Swamp because their Eveready batteries summoned the Fleet, so also if we will use the resources we have, we can save others from this world because the risen Christ is our resource.

The travel brochures say practically nothing about it, and yet it is one of the largest features on the landscape of two’ adjacent states. Two incorporated cities encompass include a great deal of it, but very few people live there. It’s mostly hundreds of square miles of nothing. The official ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 49:1-7

Denomination: Baptist

Knit Quilt

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 16, 2009

Jonathan and David demonstrate how people are joined to one another: acknowledging a Father, receiving validation, empowering one another, working together for life.

There is a group in our church which is planning a quilt. This quilt is to depict the history of our church, with each square representing a decade in the church’s life. The finished product will be put on display so that everyone can get a picture of our history. Now this is not the first time ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

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