Sermons on Joseph Smith:

Drowsy In The History Class

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 16, 2010

For both Transfiguration Sunday and Black History Month: We must not fall asleep to our racial and ethnic history, to the history of action for justice, or to our own personal histories and who has shaped us.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC February 13, 1994 This, as you know, is Black History Month. Black History Month. What image does the word "history" conjure up for you? It may be that you are with industrialist Henry Ford, who said, "History is mostly bunk". Well, that's short and ...read more

Scripture: Luke 9:28-36

Denomination: Baptist

Aquarius: Pointing The Way

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 16, 2010

The anonymous water-carrier whom Jesus asked Peter and John to watch for is like a sure signpost because he was available for God's purpose, immune to ridicule, and credible.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC March 29, 1987 When you are lost and do not know the way, nothing is as reassuring as a timely and well-placed signpost. You are roiling down the highway and suddenly you come to a place where the sign says, "Road Closed Ahead - Detour". Aside from ...read more

Scripture: Luke 22:7-13

Denomination: Baptist

Becoming

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 17, 2010

The popular notion of "the spirit of Christmas" does not recognize that pain and suffering are involved. But the coming of Christ foreshadows His cross.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC December 2, 1984 Here it is only the second day of December, and already we are bombarded with Christmas carols in the stores. Already the annual countdown of only so many more shopping days until Christmas has taken on an urgent tone, and some of ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 2:5-11

Denomination: Baptist

Be Still, My Foolish Heart

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 18, 2010

There is a worldwide awareness that God exists, but also a worldwide infection of sin. God in Christ comes to get our attention so that never can anyone say, in foolishness, that God is absent or does not matter.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC October 5, 1986 In some of the more strict religious communities there is the practice called “shunning.” When someone is shunned, usually because he or she has violated the moral code or has broken the way of behaving expected in that ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 14:1-7

Denomination: Baptist

I'm Late, I'm Late

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 19, 2010

Our witness is compromised because we dash about with urgency but no direction. We have not yet gotten past our fear of embarrassment when sharing our witness, nor have we acknowledged the urgency of witnessing.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC January 12, 1986 It was the Mad Hatter, wasn't it, who in one version of “Alice in Wonderland” spent his energies darting around the scene, here and there, hither and thither, screaming at the top of his voice, "I'm late, I'm late, for a ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 55:1-7

Denomination: Baptist

The Hands Of The Living God

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 20, 2010

When we are unwilling to finish our spiritual growth, we are inviting judgment. We need to seek the counsel of others and remember and learn from our victories. The same hands that hold us in judgment are nail-scarred for mercy.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC March 9, 1985 My house, I’m afraid, is a museum of unfinished masterpieces. Unfinished masterpieces. In every room of the house, in every nook and cranny you will find unfinished masterpieces. Now that is not to say that I have found the last ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 10:23-26

Denomination: Baptist

Living The Gospel: Black And White

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 21, 2010

We are prone to reduce tensions by choosing not to live in diversity. But the Gospel calls us to embrace diversity and yet to recognize that all sin, all are worthy, all need the Gospel. Our issue is our own insecurity, which Christ’s death can address.

Takoma Park Baptist Church February 21, 1988 All of us, it seems, have a tendency to choose comfort. All of us appear to prefer to choose a way to live that involves as little tension, as little discomfort as possible. I am not talking just about luxuries and material things; I ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 3:21-28

Denomination: Baptist

The Wounded Healer

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Feb 24, 2011

Jesus, going to the Cross, understands our aloneness and isolation, and heals it by identifying with it.

Calverton Baptist Church, April 4, 1982; Howard University Chapel, April 9, 1982; Takoma Park Baptist Church, March 31, 1985 Recently a Methodist pastor in South Carolina created something of a stir in his church, and all of it quite innocently. He asked a member of the congregation who was known ...read more

Scripture: Hosea 11:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

Mourning The End Of Summer

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Feb 26, 2011

We find that we have dallied or been irresponsible, and the things we said we want to accomplish are impossible at this late date. But God is capable of redeeming even that element of irresponsibility if we renew our commitment to Him.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, August 28, 1988 Here we are at the end of summer, or nearly so. It's the end of August, which is at least psychologically the end of summer. It's the end of the summer feeling, for now it's back to reality, now it’s back to business and a ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 8:18-22

Denomination: Baptist

The Word Made Flesh: A New Beginning

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Feb 28, 2011

We cannot repair our mistakes alone, because we keep on starting at old premises. What we need, and receive in the Incarnation, is a new beginning, modeled and taught.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, Nov. 30, 1986, Advent I One comic strip character aspires to be a writer. His crowning ambition is to write the definitive novel, the bestseller to end all best sellers. And so time and again he sits down at his typewriter, poises his paws (must be ...read more

Scripture: John 1:1-14

Denomination: Baptist

Safe At Home

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 1, 2011

Interactive sermon, asking what more we can be for our children: mutual submission means respect; parenting means sacrificial love; the church has a responsibility to provide safety.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, August 31, 1997: audience response involved There are times when all of us need to participate, times when no single person can speak all the truths or do all the work. There are times when a community of people must come together, and think together, pray together, ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 6:1-4

Denomination: Baptist

No Deposit, No Return

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 2, 2011

To fail to do what is right is not only sin, but is unproductive. What of our knowledge resources and our financial resources? Are they making a difference? If not, no gain.

Calverton Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD, August 15, 1982; Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, Sept. 30, 1984) Preachers find sermons in all sorts of strange places, and I found this one in a bottle! Now you can just stop thinking what you are thinking and listen to what I mean! ...read more

Scripture: James 4:17

Denomination: Baptist

On Not Giving Up On The Family

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 3, 2011

Baptists have a distinctive history, with some soaring moments and yet with some dismal ones as well. There is much to correct, but the good news is that we remain committed to missions and evangelism.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, Feb. 4, 1996 They came out of nowhere. From small villages and obscure city streets, from backwoods farms and hard labor coal mines; from workingmen’s cottages, but not from the plantations, and from the ranks of domestics and cooks, but not ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 6:7-10

Denomination: Baptist

A Mother's Loan

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 4, 2011

Hannah shows us that women today can turn their insecurities and their relationships over to God and can find fulfillment.

(First Baptist Church, Gaithersburg, MD, May 11, 1980; Calverton Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD, May 9, 1982; Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, May 12, 1985) One of God's great mercies is that He consistently takes our faltering insecurities and transforms them into something ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

All Your Anxieties?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 5, 2011

God is able to deal with all of our anxieties, not just a portion. He can relieve us of our fears for those things which will not really happen; for our concern for daily survival; and most of all, for our fear of death.

(Originally preached at Calverton Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD, Jan. 30, 1983; thereafter, with slight variations, at Clinton Baptist Church, Clinton, MD, July 29, 1984; Cresthill Baptist Church, Bowie, MD, Aug. 5, 1984; Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, Aug. 12, 1984; First Baptist ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 5:7

Denomination: Baptist