Sermons on joseph smith: showing 946-960 of 26,530

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

Light The Candle: Jesus Has Come

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 24, 2008

For Christmas Eve, just prior to the lighting of the Christ Candle. When we take our light from the Light of the World, we will be changed and we will leave traces of that change behind us.

One of the world’s great natural wonders is Mammoth Cave, in my home state of Kentucky. In Mammoth Cave there are more than 300 miles of caverns, there are mineral deposits that supplied the American army during the War of 1812, there are fish that have no eyes and need no eyes since they live ...read more

Scripture: Luke 1:68-79

Denomination: Baptist

Who Is My Next-Of-Kin?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 26, 2008

The world needs Boazes, who will see others as ntext-of-kin who create opportunities for ministry, not merely depersonalizing obligations.

It’s summertime, and various ones have been telling me about their vacations and their trips. One thing I keep hearing over and over again is the phrase, "family reunion". Lots and lots of you have attended family reunions. Now there are family reunions and there are family reunions. For Margaret ...read more

Scripture: Ruth 3:10-13

Denomination: Baptist

You Can Just Fill In The Blanks

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 27, 2008

The work of Christ is not complete until we fill in the blanks of justice not yet done, kindness not yet given, and witness not yet shared. He wants our very cores.

To do anything these day, you have to fill out a form. Have you noticed? To get anywhere with anything you want to do, you have to fill out an application. Some of you have been job-hunting. So what happens? You go to the personnel office, you pull out your beautifully polished resume, the one ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 1:15-29

Denomination: Baptist

All Things New: Even Me

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 28, 2008

Interactive sermon, asking the people to identify what old things God is taking away, what new things He is leading us toward, what evidence there is of His work in the world and the church, and to what we will commit in prayer for 2009.

You would have to be obtuse indeed not to notice that the Bible is all about making old things new. The early pages of Genesis tell the story of our expulsion from the garden of delights because of our disobedience, and we discover how it so pained the heart of God for us to ignore Him that He ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17

Denomination: Baptist

You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 30, 2008

For Graduate Recognition Sunday, June 1989. Christ promises that if we ask, we will do greater things than He. Trusting Him means that in this room there are those who can heal, can bring life, can teach, can exceed all expectations.

The most memorable line spoken by singer Al Jolson in the 1927 movie classic The Jazz Singer was the ungrammatical but prophetic word, "You ain’t seen nothin’ yet". I don’t remember what that line contributed to the story, but it was really there as a kind of canment about this wonderful new ...read more

Scripture: John 14:8-15

Denomination: Baptist

You're Fired

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 30, 2008

Pentecost: When the Holy Spirit comes, He fires us from past traditions, old exclusivism, and tepid temperatures,and gives us passion for the future.

If you have ever suddenly and unwillingly joined the ranks of the unemployed, how did that feel? When you got that pink slip, what was that like? Oh, you jumped up and down and shouted, "Oh, goody, I don’t have to get up early tomorrow morning! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord, I’ve always ...read more

Scripture: Acts 2:1-21

Denomination: Baptist

Your Life Is Hidden

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 31, 2008

For Remembrance Sunday, commemorating members who have died the previous year. All want significance; some try to be remembered with material things, some with reputation. But the only lasting memory is to be hidden in Christ.

My father-in-law had an irritating habit of trying to identify and pigeonhole people. If you mentioned to him the name of someone he didn’t know, he would invariably ask, "Who is he?" "Who is he?" The question, "Who is he?", I soon learned, really meant, "Where did he come from, who are his ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 3:1-4

Denomination: Baptist

When Jesus Went To College

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 2, 2009

Student Day at Christmas message. Jesus demonstrated curiosity, He shared what He knew, but above all He understood that relationships are paramount.

Aren’t babies wonderful? Babies are so sweet and so soft and cuddly. Everybody loves babies. Never mind, as some wit has put it, that a baby is nothing but a digestive system with a loud voice at one end and total irresponsibility at the other! Despite all that, everyone loves babies. That, of ...read more

Scripture: Luke 2:41-52

Denomination: Baptist

Of Superstars And Starlight Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 4, 2009

We have not yet learned the difference between superficial superstars and the starlight wisdom of Jesus. He transforms gold into Kingdom power, frankincense into respect, and myrrh into the preface for resurrection.

In 1970 Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber brought out a rock opera with the provocative title, Jesus Christ Superstar. Predictably, not everyone was amused. Some condemned it as sacrilegious. But if you listened carefully and let your defenses down a notch or two, their work communicated the ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12

Denomination: Baptist

Earning The Right To Be Heard

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 27, 2009

Jesus is God’s way of earning the right to be heard. He comes to where we live, and he experiences what we experience. He is therefore credible.

I invite you to eavesdrop with me this morning. Listen and we can overhear some conversations. Overheard in the grocery store aisle: a mother and a little girl, shopping dangerously close to the candies, the cookies and the other goodies. The little girl saying, "I want these and I want those and ...read more

Denomination: Baptist