Sermons on Joseph Smith: showing 1,171-1,185 of 26,431

The Heart Is Forgiving

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 9, 2009

Pulpit drama monologue as if the preacher were Simon, into whose house Jesus came, and where the jar of ointment was given. An emphasis on feeling, on forgiveness,and on generosity.

Frankly, I like things cool, calm, and collected. This business of lavish public display has always bothered me. It’s just bad taste, that’s what it is, when people feel they have to hang all over each other in public. Great day, what you do see down at the market sometimes, young people so ...read more

Scripture: Luke 7:36-47

Denomination: Baptist

To Us He Turned Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 9, 2009

Maundy Thursday message, designed to be interwoven with verses of "When I Survey ..." and with the elements of Communion. Jesus turns to us to interpret the power of wounded healing.

TO US HE TURNED: REVELATION “Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!’” This is a private moment. To the disciples He turned and spoke privately. There are some things not meant for the public arena, some things intended only for ...read more

Scripture: Luke 10:17-24

Denomination: Baptist

A Painful Visit

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 10, 2009

For Martin Luther King Sunday. Misunderstanding comes about because we do not hear one another, we do not have the context to understand, or someone deliberately creates distance. Racial understanding needs to take all this into account.

Misunderstanding is an inevitable part of life. Just because we are human, just because we have limitations and are imperfect, we are going to misunderstand one another. And the sooner we accept that as a part of life and learn to deal with it, the better off we’ll be. There are several reasons ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 2:1-11

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

So Near And Yet So Far

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 14, 2009

We will never be as close to Christ as we could be or think we are if we are oblivious to today’s issues or build monuments to past achievements.

We can be close to something, and yet miss it. We can be almost on target, almost where we want to .be, and yet, if we’re not exactly where we ought to be, we miss it. So near and yet so far. A couple of years ago, when my wife and I were touring England, we were in Victoria Station, one of the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 9:18-36

Denomination: Baptist

Stones: Defeat, Help, Victory

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 15, 2009

As Israel found that after their defeat at Ebenezer the way to greatness was through repentance, prayer, and sacrifice, so also this church needs to build, using the same ingredients.

They were a good people if not yet a great people. They were a good people, with much to be proud of. Over the years they had faced many obstacles and had overcome them. There had been dangerous moments, but they had weathered the storms and gone on. They were a good people if not yet a great ...read more

Scripture: 1 Samuel 7:1-12

Denomination: Baptist

The Stone, The Stink, And The Glory Of God

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 16, 2009

Remembrance Sunday, 1989: For us to see the glory of God in the face of death means that we have to move some obstacles and we have to live into the bitterness of what might have been; but then the great "Come Forth" can be heard.

At Easter it was not hard to think and to sing of the glory of God, was it? Not hard at all to imagine that God’s in His heaven, all’s right with the world. Triumphant music played, pronouncements came forth about victory and power and honor to our God. It was not hard at Easter to dwell on the ...read more

Scripture: John 11:1-44

Denomination: Baptist

Sarah: Defeating Your Own Purpose Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 17, 2009

You can defeat what you know you want and ought to do by using immoral means or by destroying relationships to do it. But Christ is able to give us a new spirit.

The membership of this church is almost two-thirds female. That would be reason enough for us to have a series of sermons on the lessons that women can teach us. But that is not the only reason I have planned a three-part series of messages around the theme, Designing Women. I have planned this ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Struggling When Others Disappoint Us Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 18, 2009

July 1989. When others disappoint us, it is often because they do not meet our expectations, and anger is natural. God feels that about us. But God allows us to reap the consequences of our sin in Christ’s cross takes into Himself that burden and transf

He was a fuzzy-faced young man with a twangy West Virginia accent and an angular chin as craggy as the hills from which he had come. You had to notice him, small though he was, because he carried a Bible as big as the side of a barn and painted in the same bright fiery color. It was obvious that he ...read more

Scripture: Hosea 11:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

Struggling To Work For Peace Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 19, 2009

August 1989, Day of Prayer for World Peace: Making peace in the world begins with making peace with God. It does not mean making peace WITH the world.

Just a few weeks ago they re-enacted, not very far from here, a small but crucial Civil War battle. The Battle of Fort Stevens did not get into a lot of the history books, but it was important in that it turned back the Confederate armies on the very edge of the capital city. Had the South taken ...read more

Scripture: Hosea 10:12-15

Denomination: Baptist