Sermons on Joseph Remembered:

Drowsy In The History Class

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 16, 2010

For both Transfiguration Sunday and Black History Month: We must not fall asleep to our racial and ethnic history, to the history of action for justice, or to our own personal histories and who has shaped us.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC February 13, 1994 This, as you know, is Black History Month. Black History Month. What image does the word "history" conjure up for you? It may be that you are with industrialist Henry Ford, who said, "History is mostly bunk". Well, that's short and ...read more

Scripture: Luke 9:28-36

Denomination: Baptist

Pray Daily Series

Contributed by Joseph Daniel on Jan 15, 2007

The importance of prayer in church growth.

PRAY DAILY (We Will Grow In 2007, IF #2) (The Importance of Prayer) The Scripture reading for this morning is from Philippians 1:3-11. I encourage you to follow along in your Bibles as I read. Grace Memorial Baptist Church will grow significantly in numbers in the year 2007, but more importantly, ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 1:3-11

Denomination: Baptist

Why We Partake Of The Lord's Supper

Contributed by Joseph Rodgers on Jun 6, 2004

A message on the Lord’s Supper.

Why We Partake in the Lord’s Supper 10-27-02 1 Corinthians 11:17-14 Sunday AM Intro: Little girl trying to find out why her mom cuts of the end of the ham – b/c her mom did it – little girl discovers from Nana the pan was too short. Note: Sometimes we do things for the wrong reason or out of ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Denomination: Baptist

How Much Do We Care About God?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 15, 2009

We can measure our care for God by our willingness to equip ourselves for witness and to share the Gospel with our neighbors and to be missions supporters.

The plumber came this week. You remember, those of you who were here last Sunday, how I was waiting for the plumber to come and solve our drainage problems? The plumber did come this week. He did the job I wanted, and even did it better than I knew it could be done. Not only did he unstop the ...read more

Scripture: Romans 10:9-15

Denomination: Baptist

Swallowed Up Or Spewed Out Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 6, 2003

God disciplines us when we turn aside from His will: either we get swallowed up in addictive behavior, churchianity, busy-ness, and controversy; or God spews us out as ill-equipped, unreceptive, divisive. Confess our distress, admit our limitations, and

What parent does not dread this awful experience? In your care is a small child. You turn your back for just an instant –to answer the phone, to get a drink of water – and when you come back to that child, she is coughing and choking, clutching at her throat. Those curious eyes saw something ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 42:1

Denomination: Baptist

Playing Follow The Leader

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 20, 2006

Leadership and followship demand truth, grace, and sacrifice to be effective. A story-sermon, reworked from one originally done in 1999.

The desire to be “somebody” is deep within all of us. We want to be distinguished, we need to be acknowledged, we must be somebodies, not nobodies. That desire to be “somebody” can lead us to glorious accomplishment, or it can lead to the depths of degradation. It’s all in what motivates us. Do ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 13:7-16

Denomination: Baptist

An Extra Letter

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 21, 2010

For Remembrance Sunday 1995, commemorating those who had died in the previous year: their lives remind us to embrace but not misuse our freedom, to love without limitations, and to serve concerns wider than our own lives.

Before I begin, let me ask you first to turn to Galatians 5: 13, and be ready to read it with me in a little while. [Read II Corinthians 3: 1-3] I have an announcement to make. The most amazing thing has happened. We have found another letter from the Lord to the churches. We have discovered an ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:1-3

Denomination: Baptist

Seeing Now

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 6, 2009

People and churches can settle down and forget where they came from and lose sight of where they could be going. Now is the time for the church to venture forward, or lose its place in God’s plan.

There are two problems with settling down: one of them is that you forget about where you came from. The other is that you lose sight of where you could be going. Here is a young couple. They start out married life in just a small place, with room for themselves and maybe that first child. They ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Earthen Vessel, Feet Of Clay

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 29, 2009

Ordination of Troy L. Dixon, Nov. 1989: We pursue the trappings of religion instead of what is truly value. As a common clay vessel, be wary of power games, know that your foundation can crumble, focus on the treasure of the Gospel.

Somehow in men’s minds the paraphernalia of religion get to be more important than the faith itself. It is one of the enduring problems of religious life, how it is that we get far more caught up and invested in the trappings of religion than in the faith itself. In your average church, you ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:5-18

Denomination: Baptist

Brothers: Rivals, Partners, Or Soul Mates?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 17, 2010

For Masonic Divine Service: Brothering can be an accident of birth or proximity, but it often becomes competitive because of insecurity or exploitive because of sin. Christ chooses us to be brothers and lays His life down for us.

It's almost time to elect a president of the United States. Every four years we go through this little exercise called a national election. And even though every four years we tell one another that the election is about issues; about the economy and about foreign policy and about defense and about ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 4:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

Come On Down Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 30, 2008

The times, like those of post-Exilic Jerusalem, require us to wait. Will it be passive, impassive, or active waiting? Active waiting means seeing that what God has done He will do again. God will enlist us and shape us to work for His purposes.

“We wait. We are bored. No, don’t protest, we are bored to death, there’s no denying it. … A diversion comes along and what do we do? We let it go to waste . . . .In an instant all will vanish and we’ll be alone once more, in the midst of nothingness!” So speaks one of the characters in Samuel ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 64:1-8

Denomination: Baptist

Without A Trace

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Feb 18, 2004

Funeral sermon for Paul Quick, member of the cleaning crew. A gentle spirit without a trace of negatives help others, labors in the house of God, and has received gentle treatment from a Christ who understands our weaknesses.

Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom ... the wisdom from above is ... gentle ... without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. He is able to deal gently with the ... wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness. In this noisy world, it is easy to miss ...read more

Scripture: James 3:13-18, Hebrews 5:2

Denomination: Baptist

From Crisis To Christ

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 30, 2006

Funeral sermon for Andrew Maybin, Navy veteran who had gone through a spiritual crisis about a forced retirement.

When you reach a crisis point in your life, you have only a few choices about how to respond. When those crisis moments come, all you can do in response can be boiled down to three things and three things only: either you can give up; or you can stand and fight; or you can learn something ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Expressions Of Love

Contributed by Joseph Rodgers on Mar 6, 2006

This message focused in on how baptism and communion are expressions of worship to God’s. We show Him love because He first loved us.

Expressions of Love March 5, 2006 Baptism and Lord’s Supper Intro: I am reading a book entitled, The Air I Breathe, by Louie Giglio. In the book Louie defines worship as “the pursuit of that which you value most.” I like that b/c I believe our greatest purpose for living is to honor God through ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:11-25

Denomination: Baptist

Two Thousand Years Of Patience

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 25, 2010

Lent, 1987: We are impatient for God to do something, but do not notice that already He is bringing aspects of the Kingdom, slowly but surely. Have faith and wait to see what He is certain to do.

When I was a boy of about eight or ten years old, I undertook a brief experiment in gardening. I was told that a particular piece of ground in our back yard was mine to use, and I was given some packages of seeds and a few instructions and set to work. Well, that morning I cleared that plot of ...read more

Scripture: James 5:7-11

Denomination: Baptist