Sermons on Joseph Smith:

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

Promises To Keep Before I Sleep

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 8, 2007

We find it difficult to keep promises because we are focused on dealing with today’s issues. We back off our commitments to God because they are hard, but we can receive help from accountability partners, and can know joy and fulfillment.

To be a saint is not to be perfect; to be a saint is to be someone who makes promises and keeps them. Sainthood is not some magic status, conferred by the church for merit or miracles; sainthood is ordinary people living in extraordinary faithfulness, making promises and keeping them. Did you ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 1:48

Denomination: Baptist

Gifted For Ministry

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 10, 2007

We are a gifted church, with diversely gifted members, and we need to turn that into creative expressions of love for our community.

I don’t get to watch the Miss America pageant any more. Used to be, every September I would hunker down in front of a TV set and prepare to ogle. Gorgeous gals, we called them, in those Neanderthal days, before our language had to become politically correct. Beauty contest, we called it, before ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

A Harvest Of Peace

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 11, 2007

As gardeners grow beauty, so also we must grow peace: speak truth without prejudice; pass judgments but do something to help the troubled grow; pay attention to our own hearts; and settle for nothing less than Christ as the full truth.

As if we did not have enough yard work to do at home, my wife and I have taken on a gardening project at the church to which we belong, Montgomery Hills Baptist Church. The landscaping had deteriorated, and so a gardening team was formed to take care of it. My wife volunteered; I got volunteered. ...read more

Scripture: Zechariah 8:9-17

Denomination: Baptist

Getting Real With Your Enemies Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 10, 2007

Opposition actually helps us grow. Hostility is destructive not only of others, but also of one’s self; and it spreads without reason. Jesus named its absurdity and then left it in the hands of God. Montgomery Hills Baptist Church

Stress strengthens. That is a physical fact. It is also a spiritual truth. Stress strengthens. When we face opposition, we grow. When we deal with differences, we become stronger. Strange as it may sound, give thanks when you are opposed! For stress strengthens; enmity empowers; and ...read more

Scripture: Mark 14:43-50

Denomination: Baptist

Thelema: Thelma's And God's

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 12, 2007

Funeral message for Thelma Green Mann, known for her direct manner and strong will. The name Thelma is derived from the Greek, "Thelema", meaning will. A turning point is reached when one no longer focus on her own will, but on God’s will. Takoma Park

Grandchildren will teach you much about life. One of mine, Jackie, age 5, taught me about human nature recently. My wife and I had gone to take care of the girls while their parents were away, and we came, as always, armed with things to do – arts and crafts, games, books, the whole gamut of ...read more

Scripture: John 1:1-14

Denomination: Baptist

From The Very Least

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 16, 2007

Done as first-person, in costume and character, summary of Paul’s teaching; built on acronym of the name PAUL -- prayer, avoidance (of immorality), understanding, love. Montgomery Hills Baptist Church

Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. As an apostle, charged to preach the Gospel, I am here today to say to you ... What?! You challenge me? You challenge my right to speak? Am I not an apostle?! Am I not, though born at the wrong time, nonetheless one whom ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 3:7-13

Denomination: Baptist

Acceptance And Rejection

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 25, 2007

We know what both acceptance and rejection feel like. What must God feel at our rejection of Him? In Jesus He turns around our rejection into His acceptance of us. We can accept our acceptance.

“He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.” Do you have experience with both acceptance and rejection? I imagine you do. No one is so fortunate as to have had everything he wants, and so we have all experienced rejection. And no one is so hard-up that she has been ...read more

Scripture: John 1:1-18

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

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

Discerning The Body

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Feb 4, 2006

Communion service for Black History Month: discerning the body means seeing our connectedness, understanding one another, and living in hope beyond our history. For Montgomery Hills Baptist Church; reworking of message done in 2000 at Takoma Park Baptist

Several years ago my wife and I went with a group on a tour of Italy. It was a wonderful experience, most of it. Most of it, but not all. The part that was less than wonderful came when we had a few free hours in Florence. Margaret and I decided to set out on our own to find the Uffizi Palace ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Denomination: Baptist

From Crisis To Christ

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 30, 2006

Funeral sermon for Andrew Maybin, Navy veteran who had gone through a spiritual crisis about a forced retirement.

When you reach a crisis point in your life, you have only a few choices about how to respond. When those crisis moments come, all you can do in response can be boiled down to three things and three things only: either you can give up; or you can stand and fight; or you can learn something ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

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