Sermons on Joseph Smith: showing 601-615 of 26,427

A Motley Crew, In Chains

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 3, 2008

Tychicus, Onesimus, and Aristarchus chose to chain themselves to ministries of encouragement, inclusion, and support.

If you follow the rock music scene, I guess I should hurry to assure you that the sermon today is not about a heavy metal group, nor is it about some kind of kinky fetish. The theme, "A Motley Crew, In Chains" is evoked by the long list of names which Paul singles out as he finishes the Colossian ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 4:7-18

Denomination: Baptist

My Gospel

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 4, 2008

Dramatic monologue as if given by Paul. Against trusting in ritual, correct ideas, or emotion, trust the grace of Christ given in personal relationship with Him.

Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. Oh.. almost didn’t see you there. See what large letters I make when I am writing ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 1:6-13

Denomination: Baptist

My Home In God's Heart

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 6, 2008

Dramatic monologue as if Hosea were speaking; his mixed feelings of anger and compassion toward Gomer become the clue for understanding God’s feelings about Israel.

It had been a hard day in the fields. The sun had beat down without mercy on my back. Twice or three times, my team of oxen had stumbled and I had had to stop and help them up out of the miry clay, lest they break their legs and be useless. I’ve always found that it’s not hard to stop and care for ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Healed Hearts His Home Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 7, 2008

Two obstacles must be removed before we may receive the peace God wants to give us, so long delayed and frustrated: our false pride and our negative spirit of self-accusation. Then His victory will be ours.

The neighborhood, if you could call it that, was one of the most rundown and poverty-stricken in the city. For fifty years the housing had decayed, and, as the original residents left, absentee landlords jammed far too many people into the old dwellings. Diseases became epidemic, and fires not ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 57:14-21

Denomination: Baptist

My Three Sons

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 7, 2008

Dramatic monologue as if David were speaking: he starved emotionally his son Adonijah, he indulged his son Solomon, and he distanced himself from his son Absalom.

"Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and do not forget all his benefits ... as a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him." As a father has compassion for his children … When I first ...read more

Scripture: 2 Samuel 18:1-33

Denomination: Baptist

Whatever You Get, Pass It On

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 8, 2008

Deacon ordination: Christ has won the victory, so yours is the opportunity to roll up the score with no fear of losing. Pass on what you have received in comfort, conversion, gifts.

Some things, once they get started, cannot be stopped. There are just some things, once they get rolling, which cannot be interrupted. It’s just impossible. You’re a student and have an exam tomorrow. When the morning dawns and the sun begins to rise, no amount of wishing that the day light would ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Denomination: Baptist

Within, Without Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 11, 2008

Paul and John Mark, a study in maturing relationships. John Mark starts out young and conflicted; he is insecure around the powerful Paul; but Paul grows to accept him and think of him as useful.

The Scripture texts I will be using today are scattered through several chapters in the Book of Acts, plus other locations in the New Testament. And so instead of simply reading passage after passage, let me put together a vignette, a character sketch, in order to make the life of John Mark ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Without Shifting From Hope

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 12, 2008

For Day of Prayer for World Peace: Peace is shattered because of social, personal, and spiritual relationship breakdowns. It is restored through spiritual healing, which leads to personal and then social healings.

Introduction A All around us lies the evidence that peace is a sometime, fragile thing. Everywhere we turn we discover that peace has been broken, peace has been shattered. 1 We have the international scene to remind us. A few years ago we hardly knew where Yugoslavia was, but now we are having to ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 1:21-23

Denomination: Baptist

Without One Plea Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 13, 2008

Like Paul, we cannot plead that we are either too broken or too privileged to engage in service. Brokenness is what God can use for the Kingdom.

No excuses. No excuses. We are accountable for what we do. We are accountable to God. And what God has called us to do, we can do. No excuses. If God has chosen us, then He has expectations. There are Kingdom tasks to be performed, there is a witness to be made, there is something that each of us ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Denomination: Baptist

Wonderful Words Of Life

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 17, 2008

Knowledge of the Bible is essential for us to life fruitfully, and it is critical to pass on that knowledge to our children, for whom it can be made exciting.

I’m glad they’ve brought "All in the Family" back on TV. I never did see what the fuss was, frankly, when it came out the first time. And now it still seems fresh and insightful and funny. To me, the best pieces of business in "All in the Family" are those scenes in which Edith starts out to ...read more

Scripture: Deuteronomy 32:44-47

Denomination: Baptist

Wonders Of His Love

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 17, 2008

God has, in Christ, transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary, through the power of His love.

Which would you rank as the finest Christmas present you ever received? If you can go back in your memory and recall several Christmases, which was the gift that impressed you the most? Fellows, was it that electric train? I can’t explain it, but there is a touch of little boy in every man, no ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 61:1-11

Denomination: Baptist

Whoopers, Nice Guys, And Rabbis

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 17, 2008

Some churches want entertainment, some want not to disturb anyone. But a Great Commission church will be interested in teaching everyone to obey everything commanded.

Funeral services always challenge me. It is always a high and solemn duty to speak a word from God to those who gather to remember someone’s life. I can hardly say that I enjoy funerals; they are a lot of work. But I can certainly say that I find them a challenge, I find them occasions that demand ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 28:19-20

Denomination: Baptist

Who Lost His Head?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 18, 2008

When we lose our ways emotionally or spiritually, we hurt ourselves and others. Herod, Herodias and Salome demonstrate the ways we can be seduced into losing our heads. John only lost his physical head but not his integrity.

Do you know the poem, "If’, by Rudyard Kipling? I’m sure you’ve heard it a hundred times. But let me quote just a part of "If’. "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you; if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their ...read more

Scripture: Mark 6:17-29

Denomination: Baptist

Unbind Us All

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 20, 2008

Funeral sermon for Richard Dean Lewis, a young man who had a great deal of potential, and whose death caused his family to rethink their relationships.

There is no binding so tight as the one we wind for ourselves. Others may strap you into a seat or use restraints on your hospital bed, but those are never so confining as the bindings with which we confine ourselves. For the bindings we use on ourselves are generally so snug that we cannot ...read more

Scripture: John 11:1-44

Denomination: Baptist

About To Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 21, 2008

If God is about to create a new world, it needs to be one that realizes His promises of fulfillment, reconciliation, and peace. In the babe of Bethlehem those promises, though not yet complete, have come to be.

When I was a boy, my brother and I slept in an upstairs bedroom, and always, on Christmas morning, the door at the bottom of the steps would be shut tight. Normally it was kept open, but on Christmas morning, not so. Things were happening on the other side of that door, things we were not to see ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 65:17-25

Denomination: Baptist