Sermons on Joseph:

Clean All Over Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 23, 2009

We are no good to anyone else unless first we have experienced cleansing. That rules out maternalistic protection or paternalistic inhibition. When we know we are cleansed, then we are useful to others.

I am beginning today a series of messages on the theme, "How He Helped Humanity." "How He Helped Humanity." The idea behind this is very simple, but it branches out in many different ways. The basic idea is that we are working toward becoming a helping church, a servant people. But we need ...read more

Scripture: John 13:1-10

Denomination: Baptist

Earth Yielding Increase

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Sep 24, 2009

For Worldwide Communion Sunday: How can we, like the Psalmist, be optimistic in the face of international conflict, national dispute, racism, church tension, our personal conflicts? The Cross is God’s reaching out to heal.

It was an awesome ruin. A hulk of stone, a pile of rubble. Smoke stains clearly visible. Jagged edges its roofline. What once had been a magnificent building lay now exposed to the open air, useless, a scar on the horizon. What terrible thing had happened here to create this ugly defacing of the ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 67:1-7

Denomination: Baptist

Moving Out Of Our Comfort Zone Series

Contributed by Joseph Stapleton on Mar 11, 2009

A look at Luke 15 showin the objective of he church and the reason we don’t achieve it.

WHEN WE MOVE OUT GOD CAN MOVE IN Part 2 (Moving Out of Our Comfort Zone) (All my sermons use illustrations from www.sermoncentral.com and scripture is NIV unless otherwise noted) Last week we started a five part series entitled “When We Move Out, God Moves In” ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:1-29

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

When Life Turns Sour Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 15, 2009

When life turns sour, tell yourself the truth, complain to God, and He will deliver. Message focuses on Dylan Thomas’ poem, "Do not go gentle into that good night; rage, rage against the dying of the light."

On a warm spring evening in 1952, at his home in Swansea in Wales, David John Thomas lay on his deathbed. Once a soldier who had fought in the Second World War, later an English teacher, Thomas had become very frail in his later years. There was no doubt that he would die soon. There was no ...read more

Scripture: Job 10:1-22

Denomination: Baptist

Letting The Pro Do It: Job's Friend God Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 17, 2009

We want to manage our own spiritual lives, but the truth is we do not understand,nor do we know enough. Trust God, who has vindicated our hope in Christ the sufferer now victorious.

There is a certain kind of person who seldom trusts anybody but himself to get things right. Some of us want to have our hands in every stewpot, we want to be up to our ears in every enterprise, we want to do it ourselves, or else we are afraid it won’t be done right. Do you remember that a few ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Moving Out In Trust Series

Contributed by Joseph Stapleton on Mar 17, 2009

Part 3 of a five part series on Giving God Room to Work in Our lives Our Church and Our world.

When We Move Out, God Moves In Part 3 “Moving Out In Trust” ( All my sermons use illustrations from sermoncentral.com and all scripture is NIV unless otherwise noted) We are in the middle of a five part series entitled, “When We Move Out, God Moves In” and we have seen the ...read more

Scripture: Proverbs 3:5-8

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Walk The Walk, Sing The Song

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 17, 2009

To have singing joy in our hearts, we must be ready to serve when God’s time comes, to discern the will of God, and to avoid all escape mechanism.

I would wager that most of you can finish this sentence. You will have heard it a thousand times. Try it. "If you are going to talk the talk, then you have to what?" "Walk the walk". If you’re going to talk the talk, then you have to walk the walk. It means, of course, that what you profess ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-20

Denomination: Baptist

The Resolution We've Already Broken

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 18, 2009

We try to be perfect, in the "spotless" sense. But perfection means completion, and is tied to meeting others’ needs rather than achieving our goals. Jesus’ sacrifice was his "finished" accomplishment.

It happens every January. Just as sure as snow and the Super Bowl, with or without your favorite team, it always happens in January. Broken resolutions. Broken resolutions are the order of the day in the first month of the year. Those noble impulses we all have to do better and to be better – we ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:38-48

Denomination: Baptist

The Road To Wellville (Rated G) Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 19, 2009

Christ wants us to be healthy. The road to health begins with a desire to be healthy, a willingness to leave bad habits, and then a desire to share health insights with others.

What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! Shakespeare’s Hamlet: full of admiration for the human race. Taken by the beauty and grace of the human form; ...read more

Scripture: John 5:2-17

Denomination: Baptist

The River Euphrates: Foolish Fashions Shrink Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 20, 2009

A great people learn to balance foolish pride and destructive shame, and learn to be themselves rather than selecting the worst habits of the majority. Cling to what has supported the African-American for years.

Those who have planned our observance of Black History Month this year selected the theme, "New Currents, Ancient Rivers". Many of you will recognize that the words, "Ancient Rivers" are drawn from a well-known poem by Langston Hughes. The phrase "New Currents, Ancient Rivers" suggests to me that ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 13:1-11

Denomination: Baptist

Rising Or Rejecting? Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 21, 2009

The man at the pool of Bethsaida had lost his will to achieve, and blamed others. Jesus, however, gave Him his self-worth as well as his health. Do not blame prejudice or racism for failure; turn to Jesus and be healed and motivated.

The day dawned like any other day ... a little chillier, maybe, than you might have expected this time of year. But still, about as gray and bleak and unpromising as any other day. After all, every day was about like every other day. What reason did he have to expect anything different? For 38 ...read more

Scripture: John 5:1-18

Denomination: Baptist

A Rebuke Turned Back Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 22, 2009

Jesus turns from silence about His achievements to open speaking about His death. He will not follow the ambition path, the pleasure path, or the easy spirituality path.

You can admire Jesus, you can think well of Jesus, you can even love Jesus. But you cannot domesticate Him, you cannot tame Him, you cannot make Him sweet and nice and pretty. He is who He is and He says what He says, and sometimes it’s hard to take. In my experience, just about everybody out ...read more

Scripture: Mark 8:31-38

Denomination: Baptist

Live Until You Die, Die Until You Live

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 23, 2009

We admire those who pursue life goals as long as they can; but our calling is to die to self. It will mean a change of values and of attitudes, but it will give us true life.

I’m pretty sure that we can make a case for living until we die. It would not take a lot of effort to convince one another that we can approach life with gusto, squeezing every ounce of juice out. There’s a strong compulsion in us to extract all the value and the vitality we can get out from ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 3:1-11

Denomination: Baptist

Moving Out In Endurance Series

Contributed by Joseph Stapleton on Mar 25, 2009

The 4th part of a 5 part series on giving God room to work in our lives

When We Move Out, God Moves In Part 4 “Moving Out In Endurance” (All my sermons use illustrations from sermoncentral.com and the Scripture is NIV unless otherwise noted.) As Easter approaches we are wrapping up this series of sermons about giving God room to work in our lives. John the ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 3:12-14

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Turn Around Or Turn Out Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Mar 30, 2009

Dramatic monologue as if Paul were speaking: a farewell address, focused largely on Philippians, but drawing from much of the Pauline literature. A play on Paul’s name: Pray, Avoid, Understand, Love.

Paul, servant of the Gospel, to all the saints in Gaithersburg: grace to you and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 1:12-26

Denomination: Baptist