Sermons on Joseph Smith: showing 1,051-1,065 of 26,430

A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 2, 2010

Martin Luther King Birthday 1989: Solomon began with promise, but lost his identity and squandered his gifts. African-Americans and the church must recommit to solid teaching, to evangelizing, and to fighting the scourge of drugs, lest we waste a whole

There is a kind of presumptuousness involved when a white preacher stands to offer any words on this the anniversary of the birthday of Martin Luther King. It is audacious indeed, as Janice Williams pointed out when she was teaching our foreign mission study on South Africa about a month ago, for ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

We The People: Rediscovering Sabbath

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 3, 2010

Fall 1987: Sabbath is about far more than doing whatever you feel like doing. It is a chance to be authentic, in relationship with God, and it is meant to be a delight and not a burden.

Be honest now. This morning when the alarm rang or when your wife nudged you in the ribs; when your mom screamed something about being late -- what was your reaction? What did you feel about getting up and going to church? I asked you to be honest – but not necessarily out loud! Now thus ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 58:13-14

Denomination: Baptist

One Breath, One Flesh

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 4, 2010

Pentecost 1986: We crave intimacy, and cannot live without it. It is not found in ceaseless work and striving, but in simply receiving grace.

The peculiar thing about our times is that while we seem to be so free and easy, so relaxed about what used to be thought of as intimate, yet at the same time we are hung up, truly hung up, about intimacy. I say the strange thing about us in this last half of the 20th century is that on the one ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 2:4-25

Denomination: Baptist

Storm, Sleep, And Sacrifice

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 4, 2010

New Year's Day 1989: Jonah, running from his responsibility, fell asleep. It might have been the sleep of a rationalized conscience; or depression. But a greater than Jonah is here, Christ, who can heal both conscience and soul.

It's not easy to stay out of the storms, no matter what escape you plan. It's just not easy to keep from getting rained on and buffeted around when the storm is coming, no matter what means you use to take shelter. This week, on the afternoon of the sudden squall, I had gone home to attend to my ...read more

Scripture: Jonah 1:1-17

Denomination: Baptist

Fear, Love, Liberty

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 4, 2010

Independence Day 1986: Fear leads to oppression, and vice versa. We overcome our fears by discovering the love that empowers us in the sacrificial death of Christ.

I've noticed that what older people fear is very much like what small children fear. Older people fear going out alone into the darkness; they are afraid they cannot find their way, they are afraid they may have some kind of difficulty and will be vulnerable to people with evil intentions. ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 4:13-21

Denomination: Baptist

Hardening Of The Hearteries

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 8, 2010

October 1986: We are like Pharaoh; we become stubborn when our plans do not go as we expected, and we attempt to force our way. But the difference between being merely good and being great is to be radically obedient to God's will.

The physicists used to speak of the hypothetical question: what happens when an irresistible force meets an immoveable object? What happens when a force defined as beyond the capacity of anything to resist it comes into collision with an object so firmly fixed, so deeply rooted, that it can, by ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Jesus The Servant: Boundless Stores Of Grace

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 11, 2010

Christmas Sunday 1987: The way to be free is to give oneself away, as Jesus did. We exalt Him because He became servant of all. That is the way to freedom for us too.

At Christmas time, all the rules change. At Christmas time, the boundaries get opened up and widened. Children who for eleven and a half months of the year are told, “We can't afford that, suddenly are permitted to spring to Santa's knee and express their desires for the latest and most ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 2:5-11

Denomination: Baptist

The Holy Spirit, Victory's Vision

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 12, 2010

Memorial Day 1986: God is at work in history. He restrains evil and, in Christ, He absorbs evil into Himself and provides complete redemption.

All during this month, as we have thought together about the work of the Holy Spirit, we have been in familiar territory. It wasn't hard to think about the Holy Spirit in the heart, speaking to me, leading you, dealing with each one of us as individuals. That we know about, that's familiar ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 7:1-17

Denomination: Baptist

Struggling To Know Who We Are Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 14, 2010

Like Hosea's children, we name our selves by our sad history, by our isolation, and by our alienation. But in Christ our Brother all these defects are remedied.

A good many of us, I would guess, are less than happy with our names. What Mom and Dad decided to call us before we had a voice in the matter. Well, I suspect a good many of us would like to change. Some of us just refuse to use our real names. We go by Butch or Bud or Sissie or some such ...read more

Scripture: Hosea 1:1-11

Denomination: Baptist

Fading Light

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 14, 2010

The light we have in Christ is a fading light; we are not assured that history as we know it will remain, and it may be nearing its end. Feel the urgency of following and using that light while we can.

A foursome on a golf course, in the late afternoon. It's getting late, and the sun is beginning to go down. Harder and harder to see the flags in the distance, more difficult to tell just where the fairway leaves off and the rough begins. They have two choices: either they can decide to call it a ...read more

Scripture: John 12:27-36

Denomination: Baptist

Securing The Foundations

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 16, 2010

As the church enters a new era, many things appear to have changed. But the foundation in Christ is secure and is therefore the basis for the future. We must secure our intellectual, spiritual, and relational foundations in order to succeed.

For a number of years the building had stood in the community, serving our children as their elementary school. It had weathered the coming and going of several generations of children. It had withstood not only the storms that beat on it from the outside, but also the onslaughts of thousands of ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:10-23

Denomination: Baptist

Knowledge (Not Opinion)

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 6, 2010

Some of us handle truth by simply asserting ourselves forcefully. Paul's way was to root truth in revelation rather than logic; to find authentic confidence in personal experience; and to submit himself to transformation. First Baptist Church of Gaithers

If there’s one thing I have a strong opinion about, it is that I do not like people with strong opinions! I have a hard time with the person who declares what he thinks with absolute hard-core certainty, riding roughshod over any contrary thoughts I might have. I struggle with that. I have ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 1:11-24

Denomination: Baptist

Ripe Ritual And Redemptive Righteousness Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 20, 2008

Dramatic monologue as if it were from Micah himself, summarizing the entire book around the contrast between practicing ritual in order to avoid judgment vs. living God’s requirements of justice, mercy, and the humble walk.

[Outside the sanctuary] Justice, O God! Justice! We must have your justice! And righteousness! Without that we are lost! Oh, Lord God, the Temple and the city – what I see there sickens me. That ripe and rotten ritual, those empty gestures, those paid and padded priests! O God, ...read more

Scripture: Micah 7:1-20

Denomination: Baptist

A Completed Appointment

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 30, 2008

Funeral sermon for Alfred Bailey, long-term chair of the church Building and Grounds Committee, civic activist, and Martin Luther King Memorial founder. His unfinished tasks and his missed appointments are completed by a God who gave him many assignments

It’s tough to be on time. And it’s tough to get things finished. In fact, those two items are closely connected. It’s tough to be on time precisely because it is so tough to get things finished. And if you are involved in a great many things, chances are you will never complete them all, nor ...read more

Scripture: Job 23:1-14

Denomination: Baptist

Stumbling Into A Quantum Leap

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 3, 2008

When we stumble, but repent, God gives us a chance to leap like a deer and rejoice.

The best discoveries are the discoveries made by accident. The things you did not set out to find, but found anyway. The five dollar bill tucked in between the pages of the book you picked up to read. The charming little boutique around the corner from where you really intended to go. The best ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 35:1-10

Denomination: Baptist