Sermons on Joseph Smith: showing 271-285 of 26,421

Revived In God's Love: Revisioning

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 20, 2002

Post-revival sermon, calling us to see in our midst the possibilities of the new Jerusalem -- a church/community built on the basis of the old one, where all persons of all backgrounds are invited by our people and where those with challenges are given he

My mother had the habit of walking with her eyes fixed on the ground. Wherever we would go, my father and my brother and I would be looking all around, enjoying what there was to see, but mother would be plodding along behind us, looking at the ground. We used to tell her, “You’re missing ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 21:9-27

Denomination: Baptist

Getting Real With Your Self Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 9, 2003

Lenten series based on Mark 14 and Jesus’ encounters: Jesus was so comfortable with Himself that He could encounter threatening people without being threatened; could correct hostile people without being destructive; and could receive the heart of a tortu

We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes – This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties. Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us, ...read more

Scripture: Mark 14:3-9

Denomination: Baptist

Getting Real With God Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 16, 2003

Jesus showed how to get real, in prayer, with God: He admitted His true feelings; He told God what He really wanted; and He enlisted His imperfect friends as companions for the journey.

“Yes, God is Real” Don’t you like singing that song? You sing that with relish! So do I! “Yes, God is real, real in my soul.” We believe that. That’s our faith. Or is it? Do we truly believe that God is real? If we believe it, why do we play games with God? Why do we hide ...read more

Scripture: Mark 14:32-42

Denomination: Baptist

Getting Real With God Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 16, 2003

Jesus showed how to get real, in prayer, with God: He admitted His true feelings; He told God what He really wanted; and He enlisted His imperfect friends as companions for the journey.

“Yes, God is Real” Don’t you like singing that song? You sing that with relish! So do I! “Yes, God is real, real in my soul.” We believe that. That’s our faith. Or is it? Do we truly believe that God is real? If we believe it, why do we play games with God? Why do we hide ...read more

Scripture: Mark 14:32-42

Denomination: Baptist

Windswept

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 3, 2005

America is a land swept by the winds of change. Are they destructive? Yes, if we invest in religion without integrity and if we accept leaders committed to materialism. But refreshing winds are possible as we the church are in touch with the Spirit.

In the hills of eastern Kentucky, not far from where we once lived, there is a hidden-away estate called Windswept. If you crawl up the winding grade of US 421 to the wide place in the road called Morrill, off to your left there is a driveway that leads to a lovely stone house. Windswept was ...read more

Scripture: Hosea 8:1-7

Denomination: Baptist

From Goodness To Going

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 11, 2005

Preached at the National Baptist Memorial Church -- a congregation facing selecting a pastor, dealing with an aging building, and in decline. The issue is whether we will stop depending on just being "good" and will live out of grace to bear our witness

I heard not long ago about a very special automobile. It was built in the 1920’s by the Italian firm Bugatti, and it was designed for the outrageously wealthy. This car had 450 horses under the hood, it was 22 feet long and weighed 6000 pounds. It was hand-crafted of the finest materials, it ...read more

Scripture: Acts 9:1-19

Denomination: Baptist

Mourning The End Of Summer

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 20, 2005

We come to points in our lives when it appears to be too late to do what we felt called to do. Our problem is that we have expected God to do for us what we would not do ourselves. But the good news is that God is an empowering healer.

“What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore – and then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over – like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load; or does it just explode?” Langston Hughes, poet of the Harlem ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 8:18-22

Denomination: Baptist

Taking Risks For Homeland Security

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 29, 2005

For Men’s Day at Emmaus Baptist Church, Quinton, VA. Aquila is an example of taking risks to secure his self-knowledge, his relationships, and his contribution to the church.

Anything worth doing involves risk, doesn’t it? Nothing great has ever been accomplished by people afraid to take risks. I have seen a poster that showed a small fish, closing in on a worm and a fishhook, but unaware that he was about to be gobbled up by a large fish, which was itself about to be ...read more

Scripture: Acts 18:1-28

Denomination: Baptist

Sown In Peace

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Feb 4, 2005

Funeral message for Velton H. Edmonds, former chair of the church’s Music Committee. Gentleness and wisdom together, without an ounce of envy or ambition, yields a harvest for those who survive.

The poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson has the ancient Greek hero Ulysses say, “I am a part of all that I have met”. More completely, I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’ Gleams that untravell’d world, whose margin fades For ever and for ever when I move. How dull ...read more

Scripture: James 3:13-18

Denomination: Baptist

Shaping The Clay

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Feb 20, 2005

Inauguration message for new role as Executive Director of the D. C. Baptist Foundation: the treasure we have is the gospel, which supports, guides, empowers, and gives life. Like disposable clay pots, we are to be impervious, transporting, and shaped fo

Despite what you may feel in the air this morning, spring is coming. It really is. Spring IS coming. How do I know that? Have I consulted the wooly-worms? No, I wouldn’t know a wooly-worm if it bit me. Have I studied the groundhog and its shadow? No, since my birthday is the day after ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:1-12

Denomination: Baptist

Discerning The Body

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Feb 4, 2006

Communion service for Black History Month: discerning the body means seeing our connectedness, understanding one another, and living in hope beyond our history. For Montgomery Hills Baptist Church; reworking of message done in 2000 at Takoma Park Baptist

Several years ago my wife and I went with a group on a tour of Italy. It was a wonderful experience, most of it. Most of it, but not all. The part that was less than wonderful came when we had a few free hours in Florence. Margaret and I decided to set out on our own to find the Uffizi Palace ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Denomination: Baptist

Available For Liberation

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 8, 2006

To be effective as peacemakers in a warlike time, we must have a healthy self-doubt, we must understand God’s concern for justice, and we must use what is available to us, no matter how small. Reworking for Montgomery Hills Baptist Church of a message do

There is an old saying here in Washington that nothing ever happens in August. Government people head off on vacation to the beaches, to the mountains, or to beautiful downtown Crawford, so there is nobody to make things happen. So, it is said, nothing ever happens in August. Of course that ...read more

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

What Stands In The Way?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 22, 2004

For Ascension Sunday; and in preparation for my retirement as pastor. What stands in our way? Exhaustion? Gather all, gather the marginalized, and pray. Planless? Remember our core values and do them. Lack of urgency? We are accountable to God.

When a leader and those he leads part company, we learn a whole lot about both of them. Their true values become apparent. The things they are really about become clear. There is no more game-playing when it is time for a leader and those he leads to part company. Sometimes they separate ...read more

Scripture: Acts 1:1-14, Acts 28:23-31

Denomination: Baptist

Seeing From The Very Least

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 5, 2004

Dramatic monologue, done as if Paul himself were preaching, with references to all of the Pauline corpus. P A U L equals Pray, Avoid, Understand, Love. Next to last sermon for this pastorate.

Caris kai eirene, carix kai eirene. Jesous cristos soter kurios. En Cristw, en cristw. Here! You challenge me? You challenge my presence and my right to speak? Am I not an apostle?! Am I not, though born of the wrong parents, nonetheless one whom God has chosen to proclaim His unsearchable ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 3:7-13

Denomination: Baptist