Sermons on Joseph Stowell:

The Power Of One

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 12, 2004

One person can work tremendous damage; can one person also create great positive change? She/he can if empowered by the One, who is teacher, forgiver, and conqueror of death.

The other day, my son was visiting his fiancee, and heard a noise outside. It sounded a bit like thunder. So he went out to investigate. There he found a mess. The fellow who lives across the parking lot from Jackie had come home after an evening of “celebrating”, and was driving, if you call ...read more

Scripture: Romans 5:12-21

Denomination: Baptist

I Never Saw That Coming

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 2, 2003

As a nation we are being blindsided by things that destroy us. Yet if we were to look more carefully and see Jesus at work in all things, we would learn to be wholistic, we would identify with the needy, and we would deal with both the physical and the s

Have you ever been blindsided? Something happened, but you never even saw it coming? The snow, for instance. After several mild winters, did you think we would be hit by repeated snowstorms? Did you see that coming? I didn’t. I laid out seven super Sundays of sermons on the churches ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46

Denomination: Baptist

Getting Real With Your Self Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 9, 2003

Lenten series based on Mark 14 and Jesus’ encounters: Jesus was so comfortable with Himself that He could encounter threatening people without being threatened; could correct hostile people without being destructive; and could receive the heart of a tortu

We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes – This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties. Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us, ...read more

Scripture: Mark 14:3-9

Denomination: Baptist

Getting Real With God Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 16, 2003

Jesus showed how to get real, in prayer, with God: He admitted His true feelings; He told God what He really wanted; and He enlisted His imperfect friends as companions for the journey.

“Yes, God is Real” Don’t you like singing that song? You sing that with relish! So do I! “Yes, God is real, real in my soul.” We believe that. That’s our faith. Or is it? Do we truly believe that God is real? If we believe it, why do we play games with God? Why do we hide ...read more

Scripture: Mark 14:32-42

Denomination: Baptist

Getting Real With God Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 16, 2003

Jesus showed how to get real, in prayer, with God: He admitted His true feelings; He told God what He really wanted; and He enlisted His imperfect friends as companions for the journey.

“Yes, God is Real” Don’t you like singing that song? You sing that with relish! So do I! “Yes, God is real, real in my soul.” We believe that. That’s our faith. Or is it? Do we truly believe that God is real? If we believe it, why do we play games with God? Why do we hide ...read more

Scripture: Mark 14:32-42

Denomination: Baptist

Walking, Sitting, Standing

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 29, 2003

Funeral service for Marcia Jean Tucker, single mother and immigration officer.

Our third-grade teacher was very concerned about our posture. Day after day she would command her students to watch their posture. “Sit with your back straight and your feet flat on the floor; don’t slump in your seat.” “Stand erect, with your weight equally distributed on both feet; ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 26:1-12

Denomination: Baptist

Getting Real With Your Friends Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 29, 2003

Jesus used the principle of understanding our weaknesses but trusting our possibilities in order to transform people-pleasers into persons of integrity, ambition into selfless commitment, and immaturity into responsibility.

History is full of stories of betrayal. Those who look like friends sometimes turn on you. Friendship means nothing to people who are bent on preserving privileges or feeding ambitions. Some of us have friends who would sell us for even less than Judas’ thirty pieces of silver if they ...read more

Scripture: Mark 14:37-42

Denomination: Baptist

Getting Real With Your Enemies Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 5, 2003

Hostility comes from the obsessed, self-absorbed heart, and often offers permission for random acts of violence. Jesus got real with His enemies by naming their madness but trusting His own defense to God.

Stress strengthens. That is a physical fact. It is also a spiritual truth. Stress strengthens us. When we face opposition, we grow. When we deal with differences, we become stronger than we were. Strange as it may seem, and unpleasant though it may feel, give thanks when you ...read more

Scripture: Mark 14:43-50

Denomination: Baptist

Can God Trust You?

Contributed by Joseph Comage on Nov 8, 2002

Can God trust you when you are under attack and all hell is breaking loose?

CAN GOD TRUST YOU 2 Corinthians 1:8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren of our trouble which came to us in Asia; that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even life. CAN GOD TRUST YOU? To be able to trust the ones we love is important to almost all ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:8

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Jesus Chilling Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 10, 2002

Jesus understood when, how, and why to "chill": when His emotional energies had been drained; how to back off the need to be needed; and for the purpose of providing a still point of healing for others.

If there is any one thing that distinguishes my generation and later generations, like the Gen-xers, it is that we have totally different attitudes about work and play. We are light years apart about what we expect from work or what we want from play. People born before and during the ...read more

Scripture: Mark 6:45-56

Denomination: Baptist

Jesus In Love Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 18, 2002

Jesus, in dealing with sexual sin, did NOT make an object out of the woman involved, nor did He feel it necessary to do anything but give her space to work out her own spiritual issues. He DID determine that His aim was redemption, not shame, and He love

All these years of preaching and teaching, and no one has ever asked me why Jesus didn’t have a wife or a girl friend. No one has even so much as wondered out loud whether Jesus the man felt what most men feel. Are you afraid of that question? Or do you just suppose that, after all, ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Jesus Partying Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 24, 2002

We have taken our cues about how to have fun from the wrong places. When Jesus parties, he includes rather than excludes the misfits; he goes not to participate nor to criticize, but to listen and redeem; and when you party with Jesus, you have joy and z

Suppose you gave a party and Jesus showed up! What would that do to your party? He wasn’t on the invitation list, He didn’t RSVP, but here He comes, making a beeline straight at you, with arms outstretched in greeting, and about twelve of his best buds looking eagerly at the buffet table. ...read more

Scripture: Luke 5:27-38

Denomination: Baptist

Strange Land, Foreign Land, Promised Land Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 1, 2002

A poetic, impressionistic rendering of Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, presented by two readers in dialogue

Every day is unique, every time is new. Never before have these same things happened, never again will this moment come. But the one who made this day, the one who is ever new, knows this moment. And knew that moment in which all things would be fulfilled. Each day is a gift. And each ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 1:1-17

Denomination: Baptist

Two Ways To Reclaim The Season Series

Contributed by Joseph Hughes on Dec 7, 2002

Jesus’ words in Mark 13 sound strange this time of year, but they remind us that the season is about the redemption of the world not the resurrection of the "bottom line."

First Sunday in Advent -December 1, 2002 The Holy Gospel - Mark 13:24-37 13:24 "But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 13:25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 13:26 Then they ...read more

Scripture: Mark 13:24-37

Denomination: Lutheran

Be Careful What You Pray For, You Might Get It Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 15, 2002

There are only two motives for prayer: fear and hope. If you pray and live in fear, you will live a lie and deny God, and you will become destructive. But if you pray and live in fear, you will find satisfaction and will become a life-giver.

God answers prayer. Let there be no doubt about that. God answers prayer. God responds to what His people ask. So it has often been said that you had better be careful what you pray for, because you just might get it! There is something awesome, something even dangerous about prayer. ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-16, Psalm 106:15

Denomination: Baptist