Sermons on Joseph Smith: showing 796-810 of 26,428

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

Knowing One's Self: Listening To I Am Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 21, 2007

Listening to your own heart IS listening to God. Here I am: availability; God’s I AM is then heard in those who have gone before us. Who am I?: accepting responsibility. God’s I AM is His powerful presence. Montgomery Hills Baptist Church

Do you trust what you hear? You hear something, your ears pick it up, but you don’t quite trust that you’ve heard it right? Sometimes that’s because there is a speaker making rash statements and offering foolish promises. You may have thought that about some preacher! Did he really say that? ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 3:1-14

Denomination: Baptist

Recognizing Aging: Has My Life Been A Failure? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 29, 2007

Montgomery Hills Baptist Church: Built around the five "God is" statements of Avalanche Ranch Vacation Bible School, and punctuated by "Wahoo". God is real, God is with us, God is strong, God is awesome, God is in charge.

And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one thing has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you; all have come to pass for you, not one of them has failed. Not one thing has failed. It would ...read more

Scripture: Joshua 23:1-16

Denomination: Baptist

Facing The Consequences Of Mistakes: Thrashing Threshing Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 6, 2007

All have sinned; that holds back from being what we could be. Admit that sin is real; acknowledge responsbility for its consequences; see that always there is a price to be paid for sin, but Jesus paid it all. Montgomery Hills Baptist Church

The longer we live, the more we have to be thankful for. Isn’t that true? The longer we live, the more blessings we receive, and therefore the more we have to be thankful for. If you are thirty years old, you can count your blessings, name them one by one. If you are fifty years old, you can ...read more

Scripture: 2 Samuel 24:10-25

Denomination: Baptist

Managing Terrible Times: Windows Blown Out Or Open? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 13, 2007

Liiving large in stressful times requires prayer. We are targets of a conspiracy of hate, but prayer makes us genuinely missionary. We are victims of self-centered religion, but prayer makes us compassionate. Montgomery Hills Baptist Church

(Singing): “Sitting by the window praying, waiting for the break of day; sitting by the window praying, waiting to hear what the Lord might say.” (Repeat) The way to live large is not only to step out in faith, as Abraham did, leaving his comfort zone; and not only to get past old defeats, even ...read more

Scripture: Daniel 6:1-23

Denomination: Baptist

First Thank God Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 14, 2007

Initial sermon of interim pastorate. As Paul lived into relationship with God prior to theologizing, I thank God for the faithfulness in the congregation’s history; for mutual enrichment in its diversity; and for coming victory when no one need be ashame

God is not a problem to be solved. God is a mystery with whom we are to live. God is not an equation to be worked out in mathematical precision; God is personal, with whom we connect. God is a who, a where, and a when -- acting, living, and doing; and if God is sometimes a what and a why, an ...read more

Scripture: Romans 1:8-17

Denomination: Baptist

Getting On God's Agenda

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 16, 2007

God’s agenda is to give freedom to the oppressed, and He will not be stopped. But our disobedience can frustrate Him. The church needs to get on God’s agenda quickly.

A little book called “Kids’ Letters to Pastors” provides some fertile ground this morning for us to begin thinking about getting on God’s agenda. You see, you and I know the words we are supposed to say, whether we mean them or not. But kids say what they think, without editing. And so I suspect ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 6:1-13

Denomination: Baptist

Do You Really Want To Follow Jesus?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 18, 2007

We need to distinguish between needs and wants. Poverty can help us decide what we truly need; then we become eager to make happen what we truly want. Our relationship to God determines our priorities. Montgomery Hills Baptist Church

Some things I need, it is true. But many of the things I think I need I do not truly need. I only want them, but persuade myself I need them. They are not needs; they are wants. And, deeper than that, many of the things I think I want I do not truly want. I just hope they will make me feel ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:1-5

Denomination: Baptist

Second Chance In Christ Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 21, 2007

Deepening "whiles" become heightened "boasts". Weakness, sin, and enmity are our problems toward God. But in Christ there is help at the right time, conversion of consequences into positives, and sacrifical love for reconciliation.

“We have a problem here.” That phrase, in one form or another, runs through much of human history. We have a problem here. You know it, if you remember 1995, as almost what astronaut John Swigert said from Apollo 13. “Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” Changed a little and immortalized by ...read more

Scripture: Romans 5:1-11

Denomination: Baptist

Three Coins In The (Spirit) Fountain Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 28, 2007

Everyone wants fulfillment. Some try being good, but that only brings smugness. Some try religion, as Luther did, but that brings only busy-ness. Life and peace are found in the Spirit of God as our companion.

When I look deep down and ask myself what I really want out of life, one answer keeps coming back over and over: I want meaning. I want significance. I want fulfillment. When I look deep down and ask myself what I really want for my life, I know that the accumulation of things is not it. These ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:1-11

Denomination: Baptist

Promises To Keep Before I Sleep

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 8, 2007

We find it difficult to keep promises because we are focused on dealing with today’s issues. We back off our commitments to God because they are hard, but we can receive help from accountability partners, and can know joy and fulfillment.

To be a saint is not to be perfect; to be a saint is to be someone who makes promises and keeps them. Sainthood is not some magic status, conferred by the church for merit or miracles; sainthood is ordinary people living in extraordinary faithfulness, making promises and keeping them. Did you ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 1:48

Denomination: Baptist

Gifted For Ministry

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 10, 2007

We are a gifted church, with diversely gifted members, and we need to turn that into creative expressions of love for our community.

I don’t get to watch the Miss America pageant any more. Used to be, every September I would hunker down in front of a TV set and prepare to ogle. Gorgeous gals, we called them, in those Neanderthal days, before our language had to become politically correct. Beauty contest, we called it, before ...read more

Denomination: Baptist