Sermons on Joseph M Stowell:

Peter: The Power Of Peer Pressure

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 5, 2010

Calverton Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD, 1983: Our denials, like Peter's, reflect our confusing loudness with loyalty and our seeing ourselves as victims rather than victors. But Christ is able to look at us, evoke repentance, and turn us around.

The fire crackled in the crisp air, casting shadows on the walls not five yards away. It looked inviting, this bonfire, for not only was the night air chilly, but also this whole episode had been so draining, so terrifying, that the body cried out for comfort, for something, anything, that would ...read more

Scripture: Luke 22:31-62

Denomination: Baptist

Making Sense Of Life And Death

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 3, 2009

Life has to be more than what many in our time think it is. It does have meaning, as does death, if we live out of our sense of the purposes of God and if we have Christ as our constant companion.

He was all of thirteen years old, just beginning to emerge from boyhood and to fill out a little. He seemed, to look at him, alert, intelligent, full of the mischief you would expect from somebody entering the awkward years. His voice wavered between high-pitched laughter and the creaking croaking ...read more

Scripture: Luke 24:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

This Town Ain't Big Enough

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 28, 2003

The demonstrations on Palm Sunday show that good and evil cannot coexist easily; but there is always room for those who repent and receive grace.

Today the city is jammed with people who have come to demonstrate. They have a point of view, and they intend to speak their minds. It may be crowded, it may be inconvenient, it may disrupt business; but the issues are too important. The demonstrators will speak their minds, they will march for ...read more

Scripture: Luke 13:29-33

Denomination: Baptist

Turn You Pressure Into Praise

Contributed by Dieuner Joseph on Feb 11, 2012

The pressures of life should complel us to praise God with more passion.

Introduction Have you ever been under pressure? I mean, real pressure. The type that makes you sweats and keeps you up at night. I have a friend who used to be a vice-principal of an elementary school. His boss was a 50 something year old single woman with a Napoleon complex. This brother was so ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:8-11

Denomination: Baptist

Diagnosing Illness Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 11, 2001

Jesus diagnoses our illnesses as primarily spiritual and/or connective; the fatal illness He diagnoses is the one which cannot see God at work.

We all know people for whom illness is a way of life. It is not just incidental, it is every day. Every day is spent dealing with sickness or pain. Every day is invested in physicians, treatments, medications, therapies. People who struggle just to stay alive, or to manage pain. Their lives ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 9:1-17

Denomination: Baptist

Oneness Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 13, 2003

Receiving the gifts of oneness means that we love one leader and commit to one calling. Those things are not the same as having doctrinal agreement or being socially compatible.

This week I met a young man who was very clear about what he needed. He came here to the church to participate in a wedding rehearsal. We began to talk about weddings. He expressed the hope that this wedding would not be like the last wedding he had attended. In that earlier wedding, he had ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-6

Denomination: Baptist

Specks And Planks And Pigs

Contributed by Joseph Daniel on Jan 19, 2007

Are we truly never supposed to judge anything? Is this what Jesus was saying?

SPECKS AND PLANKS AND PIGS (Matthew 7:1-6) (Judging Others) The Scripture reading for tonight is from Matthew chapter 7, verses 1 through 6. The message is entitled “Specks and Planks and Pigs,” and we’ll be talking on the subject of judging others. If you have a red letter edition of the Bible, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:1-6

Denomination: Baptist

A Mutual Assurance Company

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 23, 2010

In order to feel fully at home in the church, we begin with praying for one another, we learn both to receive and to give to one another, and we abandon top-down thinking.

Isn’t it astounding, the power of the group? Isn’t it amazing that an otherwise normal, there, healthy, together person can be in a group and feel so wrong? Have you ever been in a group that was sending out such negative vibes that you just wanted to get out of there? Somehow you even felt ashamed ...read more

Scripture: Romans 1:8-17

Denomination: Baptist

Mothers And The Sword

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 3, 2008

Mothering in our time is mirrored in the one prostitute, who decided just to take what she could, though it was destructive. But the true mother was willing to sacrifice that her child might live.

Preface Who is the real mother? How do you measure authentic mothering? Is it by the mere accident of birth, or is it by something deeper? Who is the real mother, who is the authentic mother? Is it simply the woman you gave you birth and who wiped your messy nose during your growing up years, or ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 3:16-28

Denomination: Baptist

Dressed In His Righteousness Alone

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 24, 2006

Funeral sermon for Buford Pervall: deacon, usher, church clerk. To know your own value means that you learn to trust God in large matters and you seek positive change.

Someone once remarked that a cynic is a person who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Isn’t that an apt description of our time, when we will pay inflated prices for houses, we will spend $75.00 to fill up our SUV’s, and will hire basketball coaches for forty million dollars ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34

Denomination: Baptist

Greater Things - The Great Provide Series

Contributed by Joseph Rodgers on Dec 13, 2018

A new sermon series - 4 Greatest Teachings of Christ

Greater Things – The Great Provide 8/9/15 Matthew 11:1-30 (28-30) Sunday AM Bumper – Howell Tucker Testimony God is doing great things in our church – and I believe He wants to do even greater things. This AM, we’re starting a series entitled, Greater Things – focusing on the (4) ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 11:28-30

Denomination: Baptist

Surrounded By Something Better

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 13, 2002

Funeral message for Gary Pervall, Air Force veteran who died of the effects of Agent Orange.

Being surrounded is threatening. Even when what surrounds you is not dangerous, you still feel threatened. How do you feel if you are closed in? Suffocated if there is too much of anything surrounding us. I know of people, for example, who don’t like to be in a small room; they get ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Screen Doors For The Kursk Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 24, 2000

Doing battle always requires protection, but we often try to use something flimsy, not employing the help which God gives through others.

No one in his right mind goes out to do battle without protection. You won’t last long on to any battlefield, whether it be the beaches of Normandy or the sands of Kuwait, if you don’t have some kind of armor. Tanks, flak jackets, bulletproof vests – you must have something to protect your heart, ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-18, Romans 1:13-17

Denomination: Baptist

Survivors And Castaways Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 24, 2000

The fundamental stance we have before God is critical to everything else in our lives, for personal idolatries, failed intimacies, and low self-esteem are all results of our not experiencing salvation.

When I was young, and riding a bicycle, we didn’t wear helmets. Nobody had thought of such a thing. And even if they had, no government was telling us we had to wear helmets. I haven’t even worn so much as a hat since I reached the age of 13, much less a helmet. So when we spilled, we spilled, ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-18

Denomination: Baptist

Our Prayer Series

Contributed by Joseph Rodgers on May 16, 2007

Sometimes as believers we neither know what to pray or how to pray. In this study of Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians we learn both.

Live Out Loud – Our PRAYER May 12, 2007 Ephesians 4:14-21 Funny: I can only begin to imagine the strange requests that God hears. I recently heard about a lady who had a parrot that she taught to be spiritual and so the parrot would always say, “Awwk! Let us pray. Let’s pray.” She met a ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 3:14-21

Denomination: Baptist