Sermons on Joseph The Dreamer:

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

On Eagles Wings

Contributed by Joseph Marshall on Nov 4, 2007

We need to understand how the Lord works in our lives. The Bible says in Exodus 19:3-4, “And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye h

On Eagle’s Wings by Dr. Joseph M. Marshall Exodus 19:3-4; Deuteronomy 32:11-12 GBC 21 October 07 AM INTRODUCTION: We need to understand how the Lord works in our lives. The Bible says in Exodus 19:3-4, “And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 19:3-4, Exodus 19:1-6

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

Enough

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 12, 2007

Wealth leads us to illusions wherein we lose sight of God; poverty leads us to spiritual disease. Pray for enough to satisfy real needs and to be able to give for others.

You don’t have to raise your hands on this one. But I do wonder how many of you spent some time this week fantasizing about that Powerball lottery. What would you have done with $250,000,000? What dreams would you have indulged? What unthinkable thoughts did you think? Well, now, I, being a ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 30:8-9

Denomination: Baptist

Living With A Ministry Outlook

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 17, 2007

Pulpit drama monologue as if Naaman the Syrian were reporting his healing. God’s gifts are free, contrary to what Gehazi thought.

It’s incredible. Truly remarkable. That I should look this good, after all I have been through. Maybe you wouldn’t understand. You did not see what I looked like only yesterday. Leprosy! I had leprosy! Great scabs on my skin. Whitish blotches here and there. Horrible sores, everywhere. ...read more

Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1-27

Denomination: Baptist

Insults Or Joy? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 11, 2008

Annas and Caiphas exhibit the truth that if we do not know God, we do not know ourselves. That produces insecurity, which, in turn, yields destructive defensiveness.

A riddle to begin with today. Can you answer this question? How do two porcupines hug one another? Very carefully! It’s one of those encounters in which, no matter how you approach it, somebody is likely to get hurt. And we all know some porcupines. Any one of us can be a porcupine on any ...read more

Scripture: John 18:12-24

Denomination: Baptist

It's Not About Power

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 13, 2008

For deacon ordination at Montgomery Hills Baptist Church: deacons are to be humble, secure, and serving, and thus to coach the whole church in Kingdom ways.

Power is what the world knows. You cannot live in the metro DC area without seeing that power is everything for this world. The power of a position in the government, where you can order people around like pawns on a chessboard. The power of access to huge sums of money, so that shopping sprees ...read more

Scripture: Luke 14:7-11

Denomination: Baptist

God's Own Among God's Strays

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 13, 2008

For the anniversary of the Lai Baptist Church of Gaithersburg, a Burmese congregation. You came as strangers, but God has made you His own. Now we American Christians, who have strayed from what we once were, need your passion among us.

Sometimes people of differing cultures fail to understand one another. Sometimes people with differing backgrounds cannot grasp what others are all about. So they end up hurting one another, when, really, they need one another. If you do not understand your neighbor, and if your neighbor is ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 2:9-25

Denomination: Baptist

This Thorny Thicket Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 20, 2008

For Martin Luther King Day. The words we offer fall into the thorny thicket of anxiety, despair, and distraction. Like King with his dream, we the church can give hands and feet to help those so captured.

Our back yard is a thorny thicket. Other people have manicured lawns, with friendly plants laid out in neat rows. But our back yard is a tangled thorny thicket. Along one fence there are blackberries, growing in long canes that have to be tied up lest they wander into the next county. They ...read more

Scripture: Mark 4:13-20

Denomination: Baptist

Stand And Be Counted

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 23, 2008

At a church-sponsored rally for census involvement. Census taking may seem invasive, but the information leads toward justice; God is able to use the census for His purposes; and it reminds us of the vast task of redemption to which we are called.

When Rev. Gray asked me to preach, the answer was easy. I am just about always ready to preach! You know how it is with preachers, especially Baptists: we can come up with a Scripture to cover all occasions, we have an opinion about everything, and we believe that everybody is waiting to hear our ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 7:1-9

Denomination: Baptist

To Desire A Better Country

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 23, 2008

Funeral service for Anne Tlholakae, diplomat of the Embassy of South Africa. All of us desire a better country; that journey begins with faith. As Biblical wanderers sought that better country but died in a foreign land, so Anne sought and found Christ

The desire for a better country goes deep in the human heart. The desire for something more, something finer, than what our ancestors left us is an aspiration that transcends all boundaries. Just as here in the United States we celebrate those markers in our history that made us a greater nation, ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Keeping The Doorkeeper

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 26, 2008

Funeral for Guy Robinson, one-time chair of Takoma Park Baptist Church’s Building and Grounds Committee. God keeps the doorkeeper secure, and withholds no good thing from those who stay away from dishonesty.

I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Eight plus one equals nine, subtract nine, leaves zero. That is the first thing Guy Robinson taught me, more than 23 years ago. It was the first thing, but by no means the last. Guy was at the time I ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 84:1-12

Denomination: Baptist