Sermons on Joseph Ondu:

Declare If You Know Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 24, 2002

The Palm Sunday crowds, like Job’s friends, shouted their slogans too glibly, communicating only popularity and prejudice, substituting religiosity and mere activity for knowing Jesus personally.

Declare if you know. Declare. Interesting word, “Declare”. It suggests that when we communicate, there are a variety of levels at which we can speak. There are different intensities we can use when we want to say something. Some folks merely suggest. They offer timid little ideas ...read more

Scripture: Job 38:1-27

Denomination: Baptist

I Know Your Schemes Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 29, 2002

Poetic reflection for Maundy Thursday, in which the Jesus who is about to go to the cross tells His disciples that He knows their schemes to harm, their unwillingness to travel difficult roads, and their failure to accept the burden of testimony, so that

"Oh, I know your thoughts, and your schemes to wrong me. ... Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony?” ‘Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me." They began to be distressed and to say to him one ...read more

Scripture: Job 21:27-29, Mark 14:18-20

Denomination: Baptist

What Do You Know? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 29, 2002

An imaginative reconstruction of the dialogue between the repentant and unrepentant thieves, to be spoken by two preachers. Focuses on the old dilemma, whether God hears prayer.

Unrepentant Thief (U): "Should the wise answer with windy knowledge, and fill themselves with the east wind? Should they argue in unprofitable talk, or in words with which they can do no good? ... What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not clear to ...read more

Scripture: Luke 23:32-43

Denomination: Baptist

I Know My Redeemer Lives Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 30, 2002

Beyond all of the cultural reasons to come to Easter worship, we come to know that our lives are anchored. But it’s hard to know. Job points the way by affirming a redeemer despite the lack of evidence. Today we know a living redeemer, life changer.

 I If I were to ask you why you’ve come here today, how would you answer? Tell the truth, now; you’re in church. What do you expect and why are you here today? I’d guess that a number of us would give out what Mayor Williams calls the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 24:11-12, Job 19:23-27

Denomination: Baptist

Enron, Easter, And Eternity

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 8, 2002

Our church uses the Sunday after Easter for Remembrance, honoring those of our church deceased in the previous year. This sermon mines eternal values from each of their lives.

We are ready to fight for security. The one thing we all want, whether we be aggressive and hostile and always ready to strike out, or whether we be quiet and retiring and always ready to run – the one thing we all are ready to fight for is security. We need to know that our futures are ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 12:1-2, 1 Timothy 6:6-19

Denomination: Baptist

Walking, Sitting, Standing

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 29, 2003

Funeral service for Marcia Jean Tucker, single mother and immigration officer.

Our third-grade teacher was very concerned about our posture. Day after day she would command her students to watch their posture. “Sit with your back straight and your feet flat on the floor; don’t slump in your seat.” “Stand erect, with your weight equally distributed on both feet; ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 26:1-12

Denomination: Baptist

Getting Real With Your Friends Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 29, 2003

Jesus used the principle of understanding our weaknesses but trusting our possibilities in order to transform people-pleasers into persons of integrity, ambition into selfless commitment, and immaturity into responsibility.

History is full of stories of betrayal. Those who look like friends sometimes turn on you. Friendship means nothing to people who are bent on preserving privileges or feeding ambitions. Some of us have friends who would sell us for even less than Judas’ thirty pieces of silver if they ...read more

Scripture: Mark 14:37-42

Denomination: Baptist

Getting Real With Your Enemies Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 5, 2003

Hostility comes from the obsessed, self-absorbed heart, and often offers permission for random acts of violence. Jesus got real with His enemies by naming their madness but trusting His own defense to God.

Stress strengthens. That is a physical fact. It is also a spiritual truth. Stress strengthens us. When we face opposition, we grow. When we deal with differences, we become stronger than we were. Strange as it may seem, and unpleasant though it may feel, give thanks when you ...read more

Scripture: Mark 14:43-50

Denomination: Baptist

Certainly -- At A Distance

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 18, 2003

For Good Friday: sometimes we no longer see things because we are too close to them. The disciples saw the cross "at a distance", but the centurion saw it through his callousness, cynicism, and skepticism, and affirmed, "Certainly".

Sometimes when you are too close to something you cannot see it. Or at least you cannot recognize what it is. You can be so close that you do not know what you are looking at. You need somebody else to give you a fresh perspective. My wife and I buy grocery items when they are on ...read more

Scripture: Luke 23:44-49

Denomination: Baptist

Nailprints Don't Lie

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 19, 2003

Thomas dealt with his loss by postponing his choices and by absenting himself from the community. We do the same; but the nailprints of our shame and our guilt tell the truth about us.

 We respond to loss in a variety of ways. There is no predicting how people will act when they lose something they cherish. I have seen everything from screaming and wailing to solid stoicism to outright laughter. I have conducted funerals where people have wept openly, and others ...read more

Scripture: John 20:19-29

Denomination: Baptist

In A Better Place

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 26, 2003

For Remembrance Sunday, when we honor the memories of those who have died in the previous year: Those who suffer loss go to a better place emotionally when they cast off unproductive patterns and allow themselves time to receive unconditional love. They

There is something we say to console ourselves when someone dies. It is a phrase I have heard over and over. We say,“I know she is in a better place.” My friend, my parent, my spouse has passed away, but it feels good to think of one truth: “He is in a better place.” By that, of course, ...read more

Scripture: Acts 18:1-23

Denomination: Baptist

Can God Trust You?

Contributed by Joseph Comage on Nov 8, 2002

Can God trust you when you are under attack and all hell is breaking loose?

CAN GOD TRUST YOU 2 Corinthians 1:8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren of our trouble which came to us in Asia; that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even life. CAN GOD TRUST YOU? To be able to trust the ones we love is important to almost all ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:8

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Jesus Chilling Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 10, 2002

Jesus understood when, how, and why to "chill": when His emotional energies had been drained; how to back off the need to be needed; and for the purpose of providing a still point of healing for others.

If there is any one thing that distinguishes my generation and later generations, like the Gen-xers, it is that we have totally different attitudes about work and play. We are light years apart about what we expect from work or what we want from play. People born before and during the ...read more

Scripture: Mark 6:45-56

Denomination: Baptist

Jesus In Love Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 18, 2002

Jesus, in dealing with sexual sin, did NOT make an object out of the woman involved, nor did He feel it necessary to do anything but give her space to work out her own spiritual issues. He DID determine that His aim was redemption, not shame, and He love

All these years of preaching and teaching, and no one has ever asked me why Jesus didn’t have a wife or a girl friend. No one has even so much as wondered out loud whether Jesus the man felt what most men feel. Are you afraid of that question? Or do you just suppose that, after all, ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Jesus Partying Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 24, 2002

We have taken our cues about how to have fun from the wrong places. When Jesus parties, he includes rather than excludes the misfits; he goes not to participate nor to criticize, but to listen and redeem; and when you party with Jesus, you have joy and z

Suppose you gave a party and Jesus showed up! What would that do to your party? He wasn’t on the invitation list, He didn’t RSVP, but here He comes, making a beeline straight at you, with arms outstretched in greeting, and about twelve of his best buds looking eagerly at the buffet table. ...read more

Scripture: Luke 5:27-38

Denomination: Baptist