Sermons on Joseph Phillips:

On His Majesty's Secret Service

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 27, 2003

Funeral sermon for Ruth Gossage, age 97, one of the first female U.S. Secret Service agents.

But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. Life is mystery. It is not just that life contains mystery, nor that there are so many unsolved questions. It is that life itself is mystery, secret and hidden, as Paul says. It has often been ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:1-16

Denomination: Baptist

What Do You Want On Your Tombstone?

Contributed by Joseph Johnson on Oct 18, 2000

I went to Crown Hill Cemetary Thursday and walked around.

I went to Crown Hill Cemetary Thursday and walked around. Everywhere you look there are grave markers, tombstones, and monuments. As I walked through the cemetary I thought of members of the church whose graves are at crown hill Cemetary, and I thought about some of the words that I and others ...read more

Scripture: Luke 24:1-12

Appearances Are Deceiving Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 24, 2000

A quest for truth often begins with disillusionment, but is easily diverted to something that appears good on the surface; but when you find God's truth, even if it is in a strange place, embrace it quickly and fully.

The LORD does not see as [men] see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart. Ridgecrest is a large Baptist-run assembly ground, nestled in the mountains of western North Carolina. All summer long, every year, thousands of Christians come to Ridgecrest for training, ...read more

Scripture: 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Ephesians 6:10-18

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

Walk A Mile In Their Shoes Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 24, 2000

If I am going to do battle for peace and justice, I need appropriate equipping -- sometimes for hard work, sometimes for self-defense, and always for a teachable spirit.

There may be some things of which it can be said that one size fits all, but shoes are not among them. Shoes are very personal, and when they’re wrong, they’re wrong. If they hurt, they hurt. With some things, you can make do with the wrong size – a belt that’s too long, pants that are a bit ...read more

Scripture: Mark 2:1-12, Ephesians 6:10-18

Denomination: Baptist

A Lion In A Den Of Daniels Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 24, 2000

When you feel you are the only one who's wrong in the crowd of acceptable people, see how faith teaches us to find a shred of dignity in reaching out for help, and how complete faith gives us wholeness despite our past.

This message is dedicated to the memory of my deceased great-aunt, Adelia Miller. Aunt Dedie loved to tell how, when she was a little girl going to the Sunday School at the Cloverport Baptist Church in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, the pastor had all the children in Sunday School one day. He ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-18, Luke 17:11-19

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

Who Got Revived?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 1, 2000

Pulpit drama, imaginatively reconstructing Elijah

Elijah: Zarephath! What a lovely town! It’s always good to come to Zarephath. A man wants to feel welcomed, and I find that here. Out there, in some of the towns and villages of Israel, I have to watch my back. King Ahab’s agents are everywhere, and who knows what they will do? In some places ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 17:1-24

Denomination: Baptist

More Than Hatch, Match, And Dispatch Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 13, 2000

The church is for far more than empty ceremony on occasions demanded by tradition; it is the steward of new life, with a rich and full experience that employs the diversity of gifts God has given it.

Last week you seemed to get a big charge out of my little story about going to a wedding rehearsal and wasting time waiting for a key person to arrive. When I said that I didn’t know what we’d do on Sunday afternoon if he didn’t show up, you let out a belly laugh. You assumed I was talking about ...read more

Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-14

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

Strange Land, Foreign Land, Promised Land Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 1, 2002

A poetic, impressionistic rendering of Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, presented by two readers in dialogue

Every day is unique, every time is new. Never before have these same things happened, never again will this moment come. But the one who made this day, the one who is ever new, knows this moment. And knew that moment in which all things would be fulfilled. Each day is a gift. And each ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 1:1-17

Denomination: Baptist

Two Ways To Reclaim The Season Series

Contributed by Joseph Hughes on Dec 7, 2002

Jesus’ words in Mark 13 sound strange this time of year, but they remind us that the season is about the redemption of the world not the resurrection of the "bottom line."

First Sunday in Advent -December 1, 2002 The Holy Gospel - Mark 13:24-37 13:24 "But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 13:25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 13:26 Then they ...read more

Scripture: Mark 13:24-37

Denomination: Lutheran