Sermons on Joseph Phillips:

We The People, Breaking Bondages Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 15, 2010

God does not want merely personal religion; He desires our investment in breaking the bondages that imprison others. America post-Vietnam is strikingly similar to Judah post-Exile. Neither can afford to retreat into comfortable religion.

A great nation had been humiliated by something they had never supposed could happen. Because they saw themselves as the people of God, chosen by him for a special role in the world's history, they had imagined themselves invulnerable. God would never desert his people, they believed. God would not ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 58:5-11

Denomination: Baptist

What God Wants On Sunday Morning

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 16, 2010

We are incurably religious, thinking that if we use the right formulas, we will be acceptable to God. But God wants our personal involvement and our investment in understanding Him.

Our most persistent sin is that we are religious. Of all the sins that men and women commit, of all the wrongheaded directions we take, of all the wayward wanderings on which we go, none is more persistent than this: that we are religious. As someone has put it, we are incurably religious. ...read more

Scripture: John 4:19-26

Denomination: Baptist

The Melody Lingers On

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 22, 2010

What we learn and share through the arts will build our reserves and will communicate memorably.

If you really want to leave a lasting impression on somebody, how do you do it? If you truly need for somebody to remember whatever you think is important, how are you going to make sure they won't forget? Well, one technique is, of course, to use words. Lots and lots of words. That’s ...read more

Scripture: Deuteronomy 31:16-22

Denomination: Baptist

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

Does America Still Trust In God?

Contributed by Joseph Stapleton on Jul 7, 2010

Great 4th of July sermon posing a challenge to Christians to set an example of TRUST

Does America Still Trust in God? (All my sermons use illustrations from sermoncentral.com and use the NIV unless otherwise noted) (This sermon was inspired partly by the lyrics from Diamond Rio’s song “In God We Still Trust”) In the world of country music, there is a group ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 3:5

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

May Day Mayday

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 11, 2010

We are called to turn the world upside down, as revolutionaries. But our energies dissipate and we become frightened. Let us look to the one who did not flinch from His mission.

The winter of 1780 and 1781 had looked bleak indeed for the American cause. If the English control of the seas continued; if the French did not move more decisively to help; if the supply arsenals could not be stocked and if the men did not keep their courage, all would be lost. Even General ...read more

Scripture: Acts 17:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

Dynamic Tension Body Building Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 18, 2010

Montgomery Hills Baptist Church: As the old Charles Atlas method used muscle against muscle to build young bodies, so the church may use its forces against the values of the world to build itself. Inclusion rather than clannishness, love rather than comp

If you are male and of a certain age, you will remember the little cartoon stories that ran in every comic book or came wrapped around your Bazooka bubble gum – stories about a 97-pound weakling who was always about to approach a curvaceous bathing beauty but was invariably upstaged by a ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 3:7-21

Denomination: Baptist

A Humble Walk

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 25, 2010

FBC Gaithersburg: funeral for Julia McNeely Vance, centenarian, physician, daughter of Irish Baptists. Text and poem requested by family. Julia's commitments, nurtured early, brought her into an unusual life. Not delivered by me because of illness.

That classically Irish face looks out at me from the printed page, and I wonder what it must have been like for Julia McNeely, born a century ago, to have grown up and to have followed her calling. On one side were all the customs and expectations of her day and time … that women would live ...read more

Scripture: Micah 6:6-8

Denomination: Baptist

How To Tell The Truth

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 25, 2010

Monologue, as if the speaker were James, illustrating points by incidents in the life of Jesus. Truth comes with compassion, it does its own convicting, and must be backed with a life of integrity.

One of the peculiarities of the letter of James is that it has so very little direct reference to the life of Jesus. If it was written, as has traditionally been believed, by the James who was the brother of our Lord and who became prominent in the Jerusalem church, then it does seem odd that he ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Alive Beyond This Life Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 13, 2008

God wants to give us life beyond this life, for God is love and live is never diminished. It is not something we attain by knowledge, but by trust. Two sweatshirts are pulled on and off to illustrate two ways of thinking about life beyond this life.

God is love. So the Bible says, and that is, in a sense, all we need to know. God is love; and just as when you love someone you do not abandon them, so also the love of God, richer far than tongue or pen can ever tell, reaches to the highest height and to the lowest hell, and keeps on going ...read more

Scripture: John 3:1-16

Denomination: Baptist

Alive In This World Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 20, 2008

For Earth Day -- We continue to deplete resources, but there are more to be found. We cannot ignore the mandate to make sure that all have material as well as spiritual needs met. God’s call is to care about all aspects of all people and all the earth.

The universal symbol of a person taking his ease – the sign on the door, “Gone fishing.” You came to the medical office to get a checkup, but the doctor decided he had done enough for one day; “Gone fishing.” You came to the lawyer’s office to put First Baptist Church of Gaithersburg into your ...read more

Scripture: John 21:1-14

Denomination: Baptist

One Year Toward Eternity

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 20, 2008

Preached for the first anniversary of Salem Gospel Ministries, a church for French-speaking Africans. Like the Christians of Antioch, you fled persecution, you reached out beyond your own group, and you have learned for a year from your pastors.

What a difference a year makes! Just one short year. Just twelve months. It is not long, but it can make a difference. It can be one year toward eternity. Just one short year ago I was still in my 60’s, but now I have started a new decade! Adrien and Barbara, I hope I do not show it too ...read more

Scripture: Acts 11:19-26

Denomination: Baptist

Can't Shake Off Mom's Voice

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 11, 2008

For Mother’s Day and Pentecost: We cannot shake off our mother’s voice. That voice needs to be one of faith, not just admonition. Yet we need to grow our own faith. The Spirit’s voice overrides all negatives.

Can you, in your own mind, hear your mother’s voice? Can you remember not only what she says or used to say, but how she says it? Many of us can remember those things. Even people whose mothers died young can remember distinctive things. It seems we can’t quite shake off Mom’s voice. It stays ...read more

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-7

Denomination: Baptist

To An Unknown God

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 15, 2010

Our world is incurably religious and is filled with people on a spiritual search. We find it easy to talk religion, but our calling is to share our relationship with the living Christ.

We are incurably religious! Wherever you go, you will find that people are religious. We are groping for something we never quite find. Ride with me up and down Sixteenth Street, here in the city, or out New Hampshire Avenue, past Colesville. The architecture is ample proof that people are ...read more

Scripture: Acts 17:16-33

Denomination: Baptist

Anticipating Grief

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 18, 2010

A grief anticipating what will happen is difficult, but can be handled if we ask and accept forgiveness. When the grief is fulfilled, then we are ready to do what our hearts tell us. God suffered anticipating grief and so understands.

Only someone who has done some grieving can help those who now grieve. A hundred "I’m sorries" and a thousand "I know how you feels" are worthless when you feel profound grief. You need at your side someone who has been through loss. And if yours is anticipating grief; that is, if yours is the ...read more

Scripture: 2 Samuel 12:13-25

Denomination: Baptist