Sermons on Joseph Smith:

Dressed In His Righteousness Alone

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 24, 2006

Funeral sermon for Buford Pervall: deacon, usher, church clerk. To know your own value means that you learn to trust God in large matters and you seek positive change.

Someone once remarked that a cynic is a person who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Isn’t that an apt description of our time, when we will pay inflated prices for houses, we will spend $75.00 to fill up our SUV’s, and will hire basketball coaches for forty million dollars ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34

Denomination: Baptist

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

First Thank God Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 14, 2007

Initial sermon of interim pastorate. As Paul lived into relationship with God prior to theologizing, I thank God for the faithfulness in the congregation’s history; for mutual enrichment in its diversity; and for coming victory when no one need be ashame

God is not a problem to be solved. God is a mystery with whom we are to live. God is not an equation to be worked out in mathematical precision; God is personal, with whom we connect. God is a who, a where, and a when -- acting, living, and doing; and if God is sometimes a what and a why, an ...read more

Scripture: Romans 1:8-17

Denomination: Baptist

Getting On God's Agenda

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 16, 2007

God’s agenda is to give freedom to the oppressed, and He will not be stopped. But our disobedience can frustrate Him. The church needs to get on God’s agenda quickly.

A little book called “Kids’ Letters to Pastors” provides some fertile ground this morning for us to begin thinking about getting on God’s agenda. You see, you and I know the words we are supposed to say, whether we mean them or not. But kids say what they think, without editing. And so I suspect ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 6:1-13

Denomination: Baptist

Do You Really Want To Follow Jesus?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 18, 2007

We need to distinguish between needs and wants. Poverty can help us decide what we truly need; then we become eager to make happen what we truly want. Our relationship to God determines our priorities. Montgomery Hills Baptist Church

Some things I need, it is true. But many of the things I think I need I do not truly need. I only want them, but persuade myself I need them. They are not needs; they are wants. And, deeper than that, many of the things I think I want I do not truly want. I just hope they will make me feel ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:1-5

Denomination: Baptist

Second Chance In Christ Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 21, 2007

Deepening "whiles" become heightened "boasts". Weakness, sin, and enmity are our problems toward God. But in Christ there is help at the right time, conversion of consequences into positives, and sacrifical love for reconciliation.

“We have a problem here.” That phrase, in one form or another, runs through much of human history. We have a problem here. You know it, if you remember 1995, as almost what astronaut John Swigert said from Apollo 13. “Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” Changed a little and immortalized by ...read more

Scripture: Romans 5:1-11

Denomination: Baptist

Three Coins In The (Spirit) Fountain Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 28, 2007

Everyone wants fulfillment. Some try being good, but that only brings smugness. Some try religion, as Luther did, but that brings only busy-ness. Life and peace are found in the Spirit of God as our companion.

When I look deep down and ask myself what I really want out of life, one answer keeps coming back over and over: I want meaning. I want significance. I want fulfillment. When I look deep down and ask myself what I really want for my life, I know that the accumulation of things is not it. These ...read more

Scripture: Romans 8:1-11

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

Freedom: Devotion Or Devouring?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Feb 11, 2007

Black History Month and Amazing Grace Sunday: there is much to celebrate about freedom, when we review history. But we either devote ourselves to freedom (political, social, spiritual) or we devour ourselves. Newton’s story illustrates. Montgomery Hill

It’s a glorious thing to discover that you are free. Freedom tastes good, smells good, feels good. But after you find out you are free, then what? What do you do with your freedom? There are only two answers to that question: freedom either leads you to devotion; or it drives you to devour. ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:13-15

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

My Soul Looks Back

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jun 10, 2007

We blame failure on "social ills" and that is a factor. But most of the time we are scapegoating, when we do not have to, for Jesus has turned our failure into potential. Clifton Park Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD

There is at my house a picture I treasure. In that picture I am about three years old, and my father is holding me in his arms. You look at my father and you see that he is wearing the cap of a service station attendant. Shell Oil, it says. Nothing especially remarkable about that, except that ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 50:15-20

Denomination: Baptist

I Know Where I Need To Be Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 25, 2007

Our sin is that we do not know who or where we are, or where we need to be. We can discover that by setting no boundaries, taking risks, and finding that in God we are already where we need to be. Luther Rice Memorial Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD

“Watch where you plant your feet!” That’s the command I hear every time I work in the garden. “Watch where you plant your feet!” My job is to clear out dead leaves and old twigs. I open up the flowerbeds for spring. But to do that I have to step into the flowerbeds; I cannot reach all the ...read more

Scripture: Job 13:1-27

Denomination: Baptist

Declare If You Know Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 1, 2007

Declare if you know. Interesting word, “Declare”. As in the Declaration of Independence, or the Balfour Declaration. The word suggests speaking with force and clarity, with certainty and intensity. Some folks do not declare, they merely suggest.

Declare if you know. Interesting word, “Declare”. As in the Declaration of Independence, or the Balfour Declaration. The word suggests speaking with force and clarity, with certainty and intensity. Some folks do not declare, they merely suggest. They offer timid little ideas and apologize ...read more

Scripture: Job 38:1-21

Denomination: Baptist