Sermons on Joseph The Saviour:

Pharaoh's Daughter: Enduring Rejection For The Sake Of God's Call Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 25, 2009

The princess of Egypt knew that God’s law superseded the state’s law; and chose to act for compassion and justice.

As I began this series of three messages on the theme, Designing Women, last week, I said that we were going to be looking for qualities of leadership out of the stories of those women mentioned in the roll call of faith known as the 11th chapter of Hebrews. You’ll remember that I pointed out ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 1:15-20

Denomination: Baptist

A Command For The Compulsive

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Aug 27, 2009

Sabbath rest addresses our compulsive need to be busy by giving us a day for authentic enjoyment, by providing a vivid contrast with other days, and by giving us a glimpse of eternal rest.

God rested. Well, why not? After all, He had had a busy week, almost as busy as ours! Some of us have had weeks like that, when we’ve had to build the moon and the stars, separate the waters from the dry land, and bring forth swarms of living creatures, all in one week. Every parent knows what ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 20:8-11

Denomination: Baptist

Sanding The Floors Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 5, 2009

Developing leaders is like sanding floors -- acknowledging that flaws will be removed only by abrasion. But such weaknesses become a channel for strength and for God’s grace to work.

We could all have such perfect houses if people didn’t use them. The most beautiful and perfect rooms you will ever see are the ones in furniture displays at the store or maybe in a museum someplace, and the reason they are so perfect is that nobody uses them. But in the real world houses are ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Denomination: Baptist

Delivered From Among The Bricks

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 6, 2009

Labor Day sermon, Calverton Baptist Church: God is able to deliver us from work we do not like and which is focused only on the bottom line. Work faithfully but do not let work consume you. Believe that God is at work even in financially difficult times

We have a love-hate relationship with our jobs. If we do not have jobs, we are anxious, because no job means no income, and no income means trouble, so we want to work. But when we get those jobs, we begin a love-hate relationship. We say that we love our work, but then we want to take as ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Tearing Up The Ticket

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 7, 2009

God in Christ will enable us to remove the penalties of sin and our guilt and shame by creating a relationship with us and by taking into Himself our limitations.

This past spring, when my wife and I went to Britain, I knew that driving there would be quite a challenge. Not only do you have to drive on the left side of the road; and not only to you have to decipher the lingo on the road signs -- anybody know what a "dual carriageway" is? -- but also you have ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 31:31-34

Denomination: Baptist

To The Uptight: Son Of Man Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 8, 2009

Jesus challenged Nicodemus and us because He challenges our pride and status, or because we think that all we have done is now useless. The human Jesus shows us how to live without being uptight.

Two men standing in a garden to talk; so much alike and yet so different. Two men, with much on their minds, with eternal issues at stake, and yet with very human concerns too. Two men, very different and yet brothers, much the same. Two men standing in a garden to take one another’s measure. ...read more

Scripture: John 3:1-17

Denomination: Baptist

Telling What You Know

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 9, 2009

We can become effective witnesses if we acknowledge the need of the cross, experience the cleansing of the cross, and examine the way the cross works.

I know that most of you are Christians. But what I do not know is how many of you are effective Christians. How many of you can use your faith in an effective way? I know that most, though not all, of you are professed believers. You have publicly acknowledged Christ as Lord; you have followed ...read more

Scripture: Luke 24:36-48

Denomination: Baptist

To The Foolish: Beautiful Savior Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 10, 2009

December 1989: We choose not to participate in mission and ministry because we do not want to look foolish. Jesus transforms looking foolish into a redemptive model.

Most of us, especially in our younger years, spend an awful lot of effort in trying not to look foolish. Most of us, particularly when we are young and growing and think our bodies are all out of proportion anyway, will go to great lengths to hide our deficiencies and keep from looking foolish. ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Denomination: Baptist

To The Excluded: Lord Of The Nations Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 11, 2009

December 1989: Jesus is building His kingdom, and some who presume they are included are missing it, while some we think unworthy will be included. This is a day in which we must stretch our outreach to include all persons.

The folks who are into real estate will tell you that there are only three factors which enter into the value of a piece of property. Those three factors determine how much you should pay for that dream home, how much you should ask when you have decided to sell out and move up, and how loud you ...read more

Scripture: Luke 13:22-30

Denomination: Baptist

To Tell The Truth

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 12, 2009

We can and must speak truth to power. We can do so if we receive our own power through prayer; and so speaking makes a difference if there is compassion in it.

You’ll remember the old fable called "The Emperor’s New Clothes". In that story there is a crafty tailor, who persuades the emperor that he can make a suit of clothes out of a magic fabric, a fabric which can be seen only by the wise and intelligent. Stupid people, foolish people supposedly cannot ...read more

Scripture: 2 Samuel 12:1-13

Denomination: Baptist

Too Busy Not To Pray

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 13, 2009

When we think we are too busy to pray, we are succumbing to the issue of control: either we suppose we can manage everything or we want to abdicate. Prayer is the way to find priorities and strength.

Let me throw some numbers at you. Imagine that you were in charge of an operation that involves, on the average, some ten thousand people a week, almost all of whom come together at one time. Of these ten thousand or so, not all will get there every time, but sometimes many more than that will show ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-27

Denomination: Baptist

So Near And Yet So Far

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 14, 2009

We will never be as close to Christ as we could be or think we are if we are oblivious to today’s issues or build monuments to past achievements.

We can be close to something, and yet miss it. We can be almost on target, almost where we want to .be, and yet, if we’re not exactly where we ought to be, we miss it. So near and yet so far. A couple of years ago, when my wife and I were touring England, we were in Victoria Station, one of the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 9:18-36

Denomination: Baptist

Stones: Defeat, Help, Victory

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 15, 2009

As Israel found that after their defeat at Ebenezer the way to greatness was through repentance, prayer, and sacrifice, so also this church needs to build, using the same ingredients.

They were a good people if not yet a great people. They were a good people, with much to be proud of. Over the years they had faced many obstacles and had overcome them. There had been dangerous moments, but they had weathered the storms and gone on. They were a good people if not yet a great ...read more

Scripture: 1 Samuel 7:1-12

Denomination: Baptist

The Stone, The Stink, And The Glory Of God

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 16, 2009

Remembrance Sunday, 1989: For us to see the glory of God in the face of death means that we have to move some obstacles and we have to live into the bitterness of what might have been; but then the great "Come Forth" can be heard.

At Easter it was not hard to think and to sing of the glory of God, was it? Not hard at all to imagine that God’s in His heaven, all’s right with the world. Triumphant music played, pronouncements came forth about victory and power and honor to our God. It was not hard at Easter to dwell on the ...read more

Scripture: John 11:1-44

Denomination: Baptist

Sarah: Defeating Your Own Purpose Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 17, 2009

You can defeat what you know you want and ought to do by using immoral means or by destroying relationships to do it. But Christ is able to give us a new spirit.

The membership of this church is almost two-thirds female. That would be reason enough for us to have a series of sermons on the lessons that women can teach us. But that is not the only reason I have planned a three-part series of messages around the theme, Designing Women. I have planned this ...read more

Denomination: Baptist