Sermons on Joseph M Stowell:

Hope Does Not Disappoint

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 8, 2009

Suffering, endurance, character, hope: the formula is not automatic. All depends on whether we learn to live in the resurrected Christ.

One of my friends begins nearly every conversation with the phrase, "You just can’t win.” "You just can’t win." One day recently he was wearing a long, long face. He had just gotten his car repaired, but some inebriated partygoer had slammed into it. He had just worked off his debts, but suddenly ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Where Is The God Of Justice?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 25, 2010

For Martin Luther King Day 1988: It is irresponsible to continue to whine about God's absence in the face of injustice. He is refining His church to address justice, and will bless us when we give ourselves without reserve to His purposes.

Some twenty-four centuries ago, when the prophet Malachi's ears were assaulted by an impertinent question, he heard it as a confession of irresponsibility. When the men and women of Judah shouted at this prophet, who had accused them of wearying God, who had charged that their blabbering talk was ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Unstoppable - The Unseen War Series

Contributed by Joseph Rodgers on Dec 10, 2018

The fifth message in a series on the book of Acts

Unstoppable – The Unseen War 10/15/17 Acts 4:32-5:12 If you’re just joining us, we’re in a series in Acts entitled – Unstoppable. From inception, God has intended that His church would be an unstoppable force to carry His good news of God’s love and Jesus sacrifice to the nations. Yet for ...read more

Scripture: Acts 4:32

Denomination: Baptist

God Speaks To Reveal Himself Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 21, 2003

Part 4 of a series on Blackaby’s Experiencing God: God speaks through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.

The children were gathered for Sunday School, and the teacher knew that she had a particularly hard lesson to teach that day. She was to teach about the Trinity. She was supposed to teach the children that God is one but in three persons, and how do you explain the concept of the Trinity to young ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 4:2-18

Denomination: Baptist

If You ... You Might Be

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 29, 2003

Done in "Jeff Foxworthy" style: If your religion is all in the head, if you think your good deeds mask your sin, you may be a lost person.

Jesus said some very tough things. He could be very demanding, very harsh. Jesus could also be funny. He didn’t draw back from using humor if it would make his point. He was tough! He was blunt! He minced no words! And so if your image of Jesus is Warner Sallman’s “Head of Christ”, bland and ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 7:21-23

Denomination: Baptist

Tomorrow Is Today

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 13, 2004

Preached at a rescue mission. Some face tomorrow in fear, some in denial. But you can face tomorrow by discovering what God is giving you today.

The other day I heard about a woman who was so upset because she was about to be forty years old that she got on an airplane, flew out over the Pacific Ocean, and crossed the International Date Line, where as you may know the calendar changes, just so that she would not actually be anywhere on the ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:18-28

Denomination: Baptist

Search Me, O God

Contributed by Joseph Daniel on Jan 7, 2007

The characteristics of God

SEARCH ME, O GOD (Psalm 139) Our Scripture reading for tonight is Psalm 139. Psalm 139 is a prayer of King David, and it would be well for us as a church to make this Psalm the prayer of our church for the year 2007. There are twenty-four verses in this Psalm and it would be more than a mouthful ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 139:1-24

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

No Fools Here: Job's Young Friend Elihu

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 20, 2008

April Fool’s Day. Brash young Elihu is angry at Job and his friends for their inactivity. And he sees the extravagant, "foolish" mercy of God that foreshadows God’s forgiveness in Christ, "foolishly" spending His life for us.

Of some folks they say, "He’s really just a big kid at heart". "He’s really just a big kid at heart." Which means that even if he is in his fifties and has grown-up children, a mortgage and a pension plan, even so he has that irrepressible urge to play. Even so he wants nothing more than to have ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Summer Disappointments

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 24, 2008

When we feel disappointment in life, we blame our own expectations, we blame those who love us, and ultimately we blame God. Repentance and acceptance of grace takes us away from self and toward contentment.

Those of you who attempt to grow gardens know that it takes infinite patience and infinite hope to be a gardener. It takes infinite patience because it can be a great deal of work and a lot of expense and much waiting to get any kind of results. Incidentally, I dispute the notion that you can ...read more

Scripture: Micah 7:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

Worship: Sense And The Senses

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 3, 2008

Too often it is true that those who pray do not work and those who work do not pray. Real worship will engage our entire beings and will empower us for action.

I’m sure you know the statement which Jesus made, "God is a spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." We want to think today about both spirit and truth. Worshipping in both modes. Over the door of the monastery hung a sign. It read, "To pray is to work; to work ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8

Denomination: Baptist

Whoopers, Nice Guys, And Rabbis

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 17, 2008

Some churches want entertainment, some want not to disturb anyone. But a Great Commission church will be interested in teaching everyone to obey everything commanded.

Funeral services always challenge me. It is always a high and solemn duty to speak a word from God to those who gather to remember someone’s life. I can hardly say that I enjoy funerals; they are a lot of work. But I can certainly say that I find them a challenge, I find them occasions that demand ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 28:19-20

Denomination: Baptist

Your Life Is Hidden

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 31, 2008

For Remembrance Sunday, commemorating members who have died the previous year. All want significance; some try to be remembered with material things, some with reputation. But the only lasting memory is to be hidden in Christ.

My father-in-law had an irritating habit of trying to identify and pigeonhole people. If you mentioned to him the name of someone he didn’t know, he would invariably ask, "Who is he?" "Who is he?" The question, "Who is he?", I soon learned, really meant, "Where did he come from, who are his ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 3:1-4

Denomination: Baptist

The Price Of A Kiss

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 19, 2009

Black History Month: There is a price to pay for friendliness: Christlike behavior even when others disappoint us, commitment to the development of others.

The passage I am about to read is the very ending of the Second Corinthian letter. It includes a verse which has a warm place in my memory because it was the favorite verse of lots and lots of male seminarians back in the 60’ s when I was in school. You see, in the 60’s there were not very many ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 13:5-13

Denomination: Baptist

The Parable Of The Lighted Cabinets Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 25, 2009

Story form sermon about a man who put all the symbols of recognition on display, but no one noticed. Finally someone asked who helped him attain all this. The world does not need to see display cabinets; it needs to see the God who empowers us.

Like it or not, every day, every moment, we send out messages about who we are. Whether it is about our work, our home, our civic life, our possessions, or our spirituality, we send out strong signals about what is in our very core. Those around us will receive those signals, make no mistake; ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:14-16

Denomination: Baptist