Sermons on Joseph Smith:

Back To Basics

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 27, 2010

There are times when a church, however successful, must review the basics: do we love those whom we serve, are we able to love those with whom we disagree, and can we feel sheer, passionate love for Christ Himself?

Where I come from, the real religion is basketball. Baptists, Methodists, and Catholics all take a distant back seat, because the real religion in the Commonwealth of Kentucky is basketball. No spring day goes by without every schoolboy finding his way to the hoops to do lay-ups and to dream about ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 2:1-7

Denomination: Baptist

Born Old

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 29, 2010

To experience new life, even in the senior years, means using old knowledge to gain new knowledge; to set aside pride in order to learn; and to be fully open to Christ.

We had been talking about a mutual friend. We had laughed a little at how rigid he was, how staid. We had commented that he didn’t like change; he could easily be "all shook up" when something didn’t go his way. I asked the other person in this conversation, "How long have you known John? Has he ...read more

Scripture: John 3:1-16

Denomination: Baptist

Envisioning A Dream For Your Joshua

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 30, 2010

1988. We may be at a point in our lives where we know we will never fully realize our dreams, but we can find fulfillment if we can identify and encourage others to embody our values.

Several years ago a rather childish and tasteless movie, but nevertheless one good for escape purposes, made the rounds. The movie was called National Lampoon’s Vacation. It starred Chevy Chase, a batch of kids, fleeting glimpses of seductive models, and a monster station wagon that developed a ...read more

Scripture: Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Denomination: Baptist

Blood And The One Blood

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 31, 2010

All of us are more alike than we are different, even those who are well outside our values. We need to see the broken as brothers and sisters in search of God, and to feel urgency about reaching them.

If blood is supposed to be thicker than water, meaning that we have a primary responsibility to our families, then I guess we had better know who our families are. I guess we’d better know who our blood kin are if blood is thicker than water, as the saying goes, and there is some kind of special ...read more

Scripture: Acts 17:22-31

Denomination: Baptist

Bread Of Adversity, Cup Of Affliction, Begone!

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Feb 2, 2010

For Black History Month: The "world the slaves made" (Genovese) was one they chose to make, seeing hope and possibility in what God had done and in following the Teacher, Christ. He ate the bread of adversity and drank the cup of affliction, but rose in

By the light of the flickering bonfire you could see them. Gathering from the little cabins down by the creek, coming up the road from the brush arbor, a few of them on a creaky old wagon pulled by two mules. Something exciting was happening here tonight! Their laughter told you, too, that this ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 30:18-22

Denomination: Baptist

Breakthrough For Joy

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Feb 2, 2010

Every now and then something happens, after a long struggle, to give us a breakthrough. So with God in Christ, planning from the foundation of time for the cross and achieving a breakthrough victory at the empty tomb. So count nothing impossible.

Every now and again, in human history, we achieve a breakthrough. Something which we have worked for, hoped for, fought and died for, finally happens. There has been struggle and agony and seemingly endless defeat, but suddenly it all works out. That’s called a breakthrough. You know the feeling. ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 61:1-3

Denomination: Baptist

Something No Thief Can Steal

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 30, 2009

Contrast the thieves on the crosses; from Jesus they had, or could have had, salvation, assurance, companionship, things which no thief can steal.

The scene was one of striking and even bitter contrast. While three men were being hauled off to their deaths, one of them was far different from the other two. Two of these hapless three were thieves, and as thieves they had lived by the law of the thief: namely, easy come, easy go. If you take ...read more

Scripture: Luke 23:32-43

Denomination: Baptist

So Much I Can Taste It

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jul 31, 2009

We the church have not been paying attention to what God wants passionately for His people: that they be fed, that they be healthy, that they have salvation.

She strode feverishly across the room, brandishing two sheets of paper, one in each hand. She was smiling and yet agitated, excited and yet anxious. "I want this job so much I can taste it." In one hand was a job listing that read as if her very name were on it. Her degree, her major, her ...read more

Scripture: Ezekiel 34:1-31

Denomination: Baptist

When Bad Things Happen To Good People

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 3, 2009

Rewritten for Calverton Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD: When terrible things happen, pray honestly, in complaint; remember what God has done in the past; and know that He may be forcing us to see how much we need Him.

There is very little justice in the world. Many people feel that they are not being treated fairly. Just about all of us think we deserve a better deal than we are getting. We think that there is very little justice in the world. But that’s old news. We already know that. So what do you do ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 22:1-31

Denomination: Baptist

Flesh And Spirit: Love And Patience Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 3, 2009

Patience reaches four layers: relational, emotional, sexual, and spiritual. At each level to be impatient is to fail to trust God to be God.

I know you’ve heard this old line, but I just can’t resist repeating it. It concerns the fellow who had realized that he was impetuous, compulsive, and impatient. And so he decided to ask the Lord to help him settle his personality problem. "Lord," he prayed. “Lord, give me the gift of patience and ...read more

Scripture: Galatians 5:16-25

Denomination: Baptist

The Sacrifice Of Silence: How Men Pray

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 4, 2009

Men can pray in their own way by doing what they know is right to do, by listening to the Lord as well as speaking, and by holding others and God Himself accountable to keep promises.

The young Australian pastor had just received his first assignment. It was to a remote sheep-ranching settlement deep in the Australian outback. He had arrived during a period of prolonged drought, and was making pastoral calls to his far-flung flock of ranchers, who were trying to keep their ...read more

Scripture: 1 Samuel 1:1-28

Denomination: Baptist

Dead Prophets Society

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 4, 2009

For Transfiguration Sunday: we, like the disciples, have not imagined Christ as who He is, we as who we can become, or the cost of glory ... losing our lives to save them.

Every one who teaches knows what a mighty struggle it is to teach anybody anything and make it stick. Students come to school drowsy and distracted. Some are there because they have to be; some because Daddy’s money put them there; and some just because they cannot think of anything else to do. ...read more

Scripture: Luke 9:23-26

Denomination: Baptist

Dazzling Mountain, Dying Mountain

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 5, 2009

For Transfiguration Sunday. God gives us defining, dazzling moments, perhaps only a few; but they empower us for the self-giving times and never need to be renewed.

For many people, life peaks early, and then they seem to run downhill all the way thereafter. There are many people who do well early in life -- they have a happy childhood, they do well in school, they launch their careers, all in their early years. But then something goes wrong. Something goes a ...read more

Scripture: Mark 9:2-12

Denomination: Baptist

Seeing Now

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 6, 2009

People and churches can settle down and forget where they came from and lose sight of where they could be going. Now is the time for the church to venture forward, or lose its place in God’s plan.

There are two problems with settling down: one of them is that you forget about where you came from. The other is that you lose sight of where you could be going. Here is a young couple. They start out married life in just a small place, with room for themselves and maybe that first child. They ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

When Good Things Happen To Bad People

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 9, 2009

Rewritten for Calverton Baptist Church: In a world of injustice, "bad" people get good things they do not deserve. But grace gives us gentle gifts, gives us the satisfaction of outwaiting our enemies, and allows us to wait for God’s justice.

I was in my office at Takoma Park church, and, as so often happened, someone stopped by to ask for help. The story was very much like most of the stories I had heard. He said that he just needed a few dollars to get by. Tomorrow there would be a job and, “Pastor, if you’ll just give me ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 23:1-6

Denomination: Baptist