Sermons on Joseph Smith: showing 1,111-1,125 of 26,431

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

Why Some Cannot Sing Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 15, 2003

John saw the 144,000 singing around the throne and their characteristics. That tells us who "could not learn the new song" -- those with unresolved sexual issues, those with perfectionistic tendencies, those who had accepted lies about themselves.

Alongside every group that gathers to sing, there is also someone who cannot sing. No matter how professional, no matter how disciplined, Alongside any group that gathers to sing, there is also someone who cannot sing. Have you been to a sporting event, where we are supposed to sing, “The ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 14:1-5

Denomination: Baptist

Soon Is Sooner Than It Was Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 22, 2003

In light of the soon coming of Christ, we need to give ourselves to things that are urgent and important; and to things that are important before they become urgent. For the Festival of Christ the King

I like shortcuts. I like to find a road that gets me there in less time and less distance. I love shortcuts, even when they are complicated. You may have to be a trained navigator to follow my shortcuts, but I like them. Years ago, in order to take my son to sports events, I worked out the ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 22:6-21

Denomination: Baptist

Go Tell It On Mt. Sinai Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 6, 2003

Being a Christian is not a negative thing, nothing but thou shalt nots; it is first of all a relationship with God, but marred by fear. So God gives us boundaries to receive as a gift, not a burden. That’s good news worth telling.

The instant some people hear anything about Christianity they begin to conjure up negatives. For too many being a Christian is defined by what they are not allowed to do. “I don’t drink and I don’t chew and I don’t go with girls who do.” For too much of the world, being a Christian is a joyless, ...read more

Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:1-21, Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

Free At Last

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 13, 2003

Funeral sermon for Yvan Vital, Haitian freedom fighter. We lose our freedom if we allow ignorance and apathy to take us over; but to learn and to feel is to claim the justice that God will complete.

I God has made us free. That’s the very essence of what God did when He created us. He made us free. He gave each of His creatures a measure of freedom, limiting them to a degree, of course, but nonetheless free. The eagle that soars in the sky, the great whale that plays in the ocean, the ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:1, Galatians 5:13-14

Denomination: Baptist

That We May Flourish

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 10, 2006

God wants us to flourish. We plead dryness, incompleteness, or sin, but in the tiny infant of Bethlehem strengthening is coming. Hillandale Baptist Church, Adelphi, MD

I am persuaded that we are intended by our Creator to flourish. He created us to blossom and to grow. God wants our lives to be colorful, joyful, full. I am convinced that God does not intend for us to live like miserable little mice, afraid of our own shadows, scurrying for cover every time ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 35:1-10

Denomination: Baptist

Knee Deep In Sheep

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 10, 2005

For Advent III, preached at First Baptist of Gaithersburg, MD. "We may be knee deep in sheep, but let this keep you as you sleep, it is joy we reap". God in Christ transforms the ordinariness of everyday, humdrum life.

We may be knee deep in sheep, but let this keep you as you sleep – it is joy we shall reap. Did you get all that? Too many rhyming words? Ah, but every one of them is important. Listen again: we may be knee deep in sheep, but let this keep you as you sleep – it is joy we shall reap. Now you ...read more

Scripture: Luke 2:8-20

Denomination: Baptist

How Can You Compel? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 24, 2007

Second message for revival, Emmaus Baptist Church, Quinton, VA; done in costume as if Paul were the preacher. How can you compel others to live as you would want? You cannot; you can, however, love them and lead them toward the new creation.

This is astonishing! This is absolutely, totally astonishing! That you – YOU – in whom I invested so much and to whom I taught the Way so diligently, would turn away. It is just incredible. Do you not care about how hard I worked with you? Did you not think twice before you listened to ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Did You Experience So Much For Nothing? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 24, 2007

Third in revival series at Emmaus Baptist Church, Quinton, VA: Dialogical (sought testimonies from audience at selected intervals). We may feel that our investment in faith is a waste; but it will not be if we can learn to grow in relationships.

I hate waste. I despise it when I find out I have wasted something valuable – time or money or effort. Don’t you? Doesn’t it just frustrate you immensely if all your good work goes down the tubes? When I first learned to use a computer, I didn’t know you could set a word processor on auto-save. ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 3:1-28

Denomination: Baptist

Who Prevented You From Obeying The Truth? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 24, 2007

We must take responsibility for our failure to obey the truth. Two personality factors that contribute to disobedience are self-indulgence and competitiveness. Final message in revival at Emmaus Baptist Church, Quinton, VA

I’ve lived in the Washington area long enough now that I know the lingo. I understand what you do when you get caught doing something you are not supposed to do. I’ve discovered that if you cannot get away with a “no comment” and you don’t have a lawyer to send people to, you stand up and you ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:7-25

Denomination: Baptist

Insults Or Joy? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 11, 2008

Annas and Caiphas exhibit the truth that if we do not know God, we do not know ourselves. That produces insecurity, which, in turn, yields destructive defensiveness.

A riddle to begin with today. Can you answer this question? How do two porcupines hug one another? Very carefully! It’s one of those encounters in which, no matter how you approach it, somebody is likely to get hurt. And we all know some porcupines. Any one of us can be a porcupine on any ...read more

Scripture: John 18:12-24

Denomination: Baptist

It's Not About Power

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 13, 2008

For deacon ordination at Montgomery Hills Baptist Church: deacons are to be humble, secure, and serving, and thus to coach the whole church in Kingdom ways.

Power is what the world knows. You cannot live in the metro DC area without seeing that power is everything for this world. The power of a position in the government, where you can order people around like pawns on a chessboard. The power of access to huge sums of money, so that shopping sprees ...read more

Scripture: Luke 14:7-11

Denomination: Baptist

God's Own Among God's Strays

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 13, 2008

For the anniversary of the Lai Baptist Church of Gaithersburg, a Burmese congregation. You came as strangers, but God has made you His own. Now we American Christians, who have strayed from what we once were, need your passion among us.

Sometimes people of differing cultures fail to understand one another. Sometimes people with differing backgrounds cannot grasp what others are all about. So they end up hurting one another, when, really, they need one another. If you do not understand your neighbor, and if your neighbor is ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 2:9-25

Denomination: Baptist

Completing Christ

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 10, 2009

Our lives find meaning and completeness if we first recognize what God has already done in us, if we see that God never stops working in any life, and if we devote ourselves to His purposes.

If I were to take you to my home this afternoon, I could show you a parable of the human condition. My house would tell you a whole lot about our family, of course, but it also would tell you about the whole human problem. You see, our house is unfinished. It is incomplete. Oh, it was built in ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 1:21-29

Denomination: Baptist