Sermons on Joseph Smith: showing 916-930 of 26,428

Flesh And Spirit: Love And Peace Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 20, 2009

Achieving peace in the world must come from those who have achieved peace with themselves. That in turn comes from achieving peace with God. For the Day of Prayer for World Peace, for baptism, and for Communion

My mother-in-law made an arresting comment the other day. She had been reminiscing about what it was like to take care of two small children in a British bomb shelter, and then our conversation turned to the present situation with Iraq. "Oh, you men", she said. "You men, always getting us into ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:16-25

Denomination: Baptist

Flesh And Spirit: Love And Gentleness Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 21, 2009

Treating others with gentleness begins with understanding that God uses gentleness with us, and then moves to our being gentle with ourselves. Gentleness does shape the behavior of others.

Why is it that some situations cause us to lose our tempers? Why do we sometimes lose all sense of reason and just get angry all over? Why is it that when we are trying to get someone else to do what we want them to do, we can barely control our rage? A few weeks ago I introduced you to our new ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:16-25

Denomination: Baptist

Flesh And Spirit: Love And Joy Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 22, 2009

We cannot manufacture joy by trying to be good, nor can we survive game-playing. Joy comes from knowing that without Christ we would not be good at all, but that in Him we are freed from guilt.

The happiest people I know are not necessarily the most moral people I know. And the most unhappy people I know are among the most moral people I know. I’ll bet you didn’t follow that. Let me try again. The happiest people I know are not necessarily the most moral people I know. And the most ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:16-25

Denomination: Baptist

En Route To A Better Country

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 24, 2009

For Remembrance Sunday, celebrating the lives of those who had passed away during the previous year: We resist change because we fear failure and we fear temporariness. But faith launches us and God equips us to new things.

Why do some of us embrace change and others of us resist change? Why do some people look for new things to do, search for new things to learn? But others of us resist until our dying breath doing anything but what we’ve always done? Why is that? Why do we approach to life so very differently? ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 11:8-16

Denomination: Baptist

Pharaoh's Daughter: Enduring Rejection For The Sake Of God's Call Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 25, 2009

The princess of Egypt knew that God’s law superseded the state’s law; and chose to act for compassion and justice.

As I began this series of three messages on the theme, Designing Women, last week, I said that we were going to be looking for qualities of leadership out of the stories of those women mentioned in the roll call of faith known as the 11th chapter of Hebrews. You’ll remember that I pointed out ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 1:15-20

Denomination: Baptist

A Command For The Compulsive

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 27, 2009

Sabbath rest addresses our compulsive need to be busy by giving us a day for authentic enjoyment, by providing a vivid contrast with other days, and by giving us a glimpse of eternal rest.

God rested. Well, why not? After all, He had had a busy week, almost as busy as ours! Some of us have had weeks like that, when we’ve had to build the moon and the stars, separate the waters from the dry land, and bring forth swarms of living creatures, all in one week. Every parent knows what ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 20:8-11

Denomination: Baptist

Sanding The Floors Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 5, 2009

Developing leaders is like sanding floors -- acknowledging that flaws will be removed only by abrasion. But such weaknesses become a channel for strength and for God’s grace to work.

We could all have such perfect houses if people didn’t use them. The most beautiful and perfect rooms you will ever see are the ones in furniture displays at the store or maybe in a museum someplace, and the reason they are so perfect is that nobody uses them. But in the real world houses are ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Denomination: Baptist

Delivered From Among The Bricks

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 6, 2009

Labor Day sermon, Calverton Baptist Church: God is able to deliver us from work we do not like and which is focused only on the bottom line. Work faithfully but do not let work consume you. Believe that God is at work even in financially difficult times

We have a love-hate relationship with our jobs. If we do not have jobs, we are anxious, because no job means no income, and no income means trouble, so we want to work. But when we get those jobs, we begin a love-hate relationship. We say that we love our work, but then we want to take as ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Tearing Up The Ticket

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 7, 2009

God in Christ will enable us to remove the penalties of sin and our guilt and shame by creating a relationship with us and by taking into Himself our limitations.

This past spring, when my wife and I went to Britain, I knew that driving there would be quite a challenge. Not only do you have to drive on the left side of the road; and not only to you have to decipher the lingo on the road signs -- anybody know what a "dual carriageway" is? -- but also you have ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 31:31-34

Denomination: Baptist

To The Uptight: Son Of Man Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 8, 2009

Jesus challenged Nicodemus and us because He challenges our pride and status, or because we think that all we have done is now useless. The human Jesus shows us how to live without being uptight.

Two men standing in a garden to talk; so much alike and yet so different. Two men, with much on their minds, with eternal issues at stake, and yet with very human concerns too. Two men, very different and yet brothers, much the same. Two men standing in a garden to take one another’s measure. ...read more

Scripture: John 3:1-17

Denomination: Baptist

Telling What You Know

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 9, 2009

We can become effective witnesses if we acknowledge the need of the cross, experience the cleansing of the cross, and examine the way the cross works.

I know that most of you are Christians. But what I do not know is how many of you are effective Christians. How many of you can use your faith in an effective way? I know that most, though not all, of you are professed believers. You have publicly acknowledged Christ as Lord; you have followed ...read more

Scripture: Luke 24:36-48

Denomination: Baptist

To The Foolish: Beautiful Savior Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 10, 2009

December 1989: We choose not to participate in mission and ministry because we do not want to look foolish. Jesus transforms looking foolish into a redemptive model.

Most of us, especially in our younger years, spend an awful lot of effort in trying not to look foolish. Most of us, particularly when we are young and growing and think our bodies are all out of proportion anyway, will go to great lengths to hide our deficiencies and keep from looking foolish. ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Denomination: Baptist

To The Excluded: Lord Of The Nations Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 11, 2009

December 1989: Jesus is building His kingdom, and some who presume they are included are missing it, while some we think unworthy will be included. This is a day in which we must stretch our outreach to include all persons.

The folks who are into real estate will tell you that there are only three factors which enter into the value of a piece of property. Those three factors determine how much you should pay for that dream home, how much you should ask when you have decided to sell out and move up, and how loud you ...read more

Scripture: Luke 13:22-30

Denomination: Baptist

To Tell The Truth

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 12, 2009

We can and must speak truth to power. We can do so if we receive our own power through prayer; and so speaking makes a difference if there is compassion in it.

You’ll remember the old fable called "The Emperor’s New Clothes". In that story there is a crafty tailor, who persuades the emperor that he can make a suit of clothes out of a magic fabric, a fabric which can be seen only by the wise and intelligent. Stupid people, foolish people supposedly cannot ...read more

Scripture: 2 Samuel 12:1-13

Denomination: Baptist

Too Busy Not To Pray

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 13, 2009

When we think we are too busy to pray, we are succumbing to the issue of control: either we suppose we can manage everything or we want to abdicate. Prayer is the way to find priorities and strength.

Let me throw some numbers at you. Imagine that you were in charge of an operation that involves, on the average, some ten thousand people a week, almost all of whom come together at one time. Of these ten thousand or so, not all will get there every time, but sometimes many more than that will show ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-27

Denomination: Baptist