Sermons on Joseph:

From Faith To Power

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 23, 2010

After Christmas, 1985. We alone of creation know that we could be and should be more than we now are. In Christ and in his vulnerability we are empowered to change.

"To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God." Power to become … If you ask what it is to be human, if you want to know what separates us as human beings from all other forms of life, one way you could answer the question would be to say that ...read more

Scripture: John 1:1-14

Denomination: Baptist

Hard To Be Humble

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 24, 2010

Independence Day 1988: Arrogance breeds blindness to our own sin, numbness to the needs of others, and a denial of relationships. The Father's Table is about mercy and grace for all.

You have heard him a thousand times in the TV commercial, warbling away in that gravelly voice with an accent I hear only when I go back to Kentucky. He is singing in the shower and flaunting his huge schnozz at the camera. "0 Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way". ...read more

Scripture: Luke 15:11-32

Denomination: Baptist

Two Thousand Years Of Patience

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 25, 2010

Lent, 1987: We are impatient for God to do something, but do not notice that already He is bringing aspects of the Kingdom, slowly but surely. Have faith and wait to see what He is certain to do.

When I was a boy of about eight or ten years old, I undertook a brief experiment in gardening. I was told that a particular piece of ground in our back yard was mine to use, and I was given some packages of seeds and a few instructions and set to work. Well, that morning I cleared that plot of ...read more

Scripture: James 5:7-11

Denomination: Baptist

To Know, To Obey, To Live

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 26, 2010

July 1988: God's way of life is not burdensome or negative or arbitrary. To know God's way and to do it is to have abundant life.

There is an old saying to the effect that what you don't know won't hurt you. I beg to differ. If it is true that what you don't know won't hurt you, then why don't we just let babies pop anything and everything into their mouths, just as they want to do? Obviously we know that some things will ...read more

Scripture: Deuteronomy 4:1-8

Denomination: Baptist

One Bread, One Body, Many Idols

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 27, 2010

Independence Sunday 1987: We are called to be a distinctive people within American culture, not to follow popular self-centered idolatries.

The trouble with going to Ridgecrest conference center for a week is that you tend to forget how diverse a nation we are. If you were to spend too long at a place like Ridgecrest, you would get to thinking that everybody was Baptist, and Baptist of the southern variety, that everybody gobbled ...read more

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:14-31

Denomination: Baptist

Compassionate Christians?

Contributed by Joseph Stapleton on Apr 28, 2010

Compassion is not easy in a world full of sin, how do we become compassionate christians?

Compassionate Christians? Have you ever wondered how our Lord, was, and for that matter, still is, so compassionate? Jesus gives us the greatest examples of compassion seen, ever, in our world. I guess to be compassionate, one must first understand what compassion really is. "Compassion is the ...read more

Scripture: John 15:9-17

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Promise, Shame, And Fulfillment

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 28, 2010

Advent 1986: Everyone goes through a dynamic of promise, leading to shame, then leading to fulfillment, if we understand fulfillment as the presence of God.

I like the little quip about the fellow who offered His prayer with all sincerity and with tremendous urgency. “Lord," he said, "Lord, give me the gift of patience, and give it to me right now!” Well, at least he knew his need even if he did not exactly demonstrate an understanding of ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25

Denomination: Baptist

Prince Of Peace: The Wounded Spirit Whole

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Apr 29, 2010

Advent 1987: Many of us live with deep disappointments, profoundly wounded spirits. Whole nations so live, thanks to the scourge of war. Christ, the Word Made Flesh, does more than tell us to "get over it." He stands beside us, with us.

Jim, as I will call him, was a successful pastor, acclaimed for his preaching skill, sought out for his wisdom, almost worshipped by the flocks of young adults who came to the church he served. It seemed he could do no wrong and that he had it all together, from here on out. Nothing, it seemed, ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 9:2-7

Denomination: Baptist

A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 2, 2010

Martin Luther King Birthday 1989: Solomon began with promise, but lost his identity and squandered his gifts. African-Americans and the church must recommit to solid teaching, to evangelizing, and to fighting the scourge of drugs, lest we waste a whole

There is a kind of presumptuousness involved when a white preacher stands to offer any words on this the anniversary of the birthday of Martin Luther King. It is audacious indeed, as Janice Williams pointed out when she was teaching our foreign mission study on South Africa about a month ago, for ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

We The People: Rediscovering Sabbath

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 3, 2010

Fall 1987: Sabbath is about far more than doing whatever you feel like doing. It is a chance to be authentic, in relationship with God, and it is meant to be a delight and not a burden.

Be honest now. This morning when the alarm rang or when your wife nudged you in the ribs; when your mom screamed something about being late -- what was your reaction? What did you feel about getting up and going to church? I asked you to be honest – but not necessarily out loud! Now thus ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 58:13-14

Denomination: Baptist

One Breath, One Flesh

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 4, 2010

Pentecost 1986: We crave intimacy, and cannot live without it. It is not found in ceaseless work and striving, but in simply receiving grace.

The peculiar thing about our times is that while we seem to be so free and easy, so relaxed about what used to be thought of as intimate, yet at the same time we are hung up, truly hung up, about intimacy. I say the strange thing about us in this last half of the 20th century is that on the one ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 2:4-25

Denomination: Baptist

Storm, Sleep, And Sacrifice

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 4, 2010

New Year's Day 1989: Jonah, running from his responsibility, fell asleep. It might have been the sleep of a rationalized conscience; or depression. But a greater than Jonah is here, Christ, who can heal both conscience and soul.

It's not easy to stay out of the storms, no matter what escape you plan. It's just not easy to keep from getting rained on and buffeted around when the storm is coming, no matter what means you use to take shelter. This week, on the afternoon of the sudden squall, I had gone home to attend to my ...read more

Scripture: Jonah 1:1-17

Denomination: Baptist

Fear, Love, Liberty

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 4, 2010

Independence Day 1986: Fear leads to oppression, and vice versa. We overcome our fears by discovering the love that empowers us in the sacrificial death of Christ.

I've noticed that what older people fear is very much like what small children fear. Older people fear going out alone into the darkness; they are afraid they cannot find their way, they are afraid they may have some kind of difficulty and will be vulnerable to people with evil intentions. ...read more

Scripture: 1 John 4:13-21

Denomination: Baptist

Hardening Of The Hearteries

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 8, 2010

October 1986: We are like Pharaoh; we become stubborn when our plans do not go as we expected, and we attempt to force our way. But the difference between being merely good and being great is to be radically obedient to God's will.

The physicists used to speak of the hypothetical question: what happens when an irresistible force meets an immoveable object? What happens when a force defined as beyond the capacity of anything to resist it comes into collision with an object so firmly fixed, so deeply rooted, that it can, by ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Jesus The Servant: Boundless Stores Of Grace

Contributed by Joseph Smith on May 11, 2010

Christmas Sunday 1987: The way to be free is to give oneself away, as Jesus did. We exalt Him because He became servant of all. That is the way to freedom for us too.

At Christmas time, all the rules change. At Christmas time, the boundaries get opened up and widened. Children who for eleven and a half months of the year are told, “We can't afford that, suddenly are permitted to spring to Santa's knee and express their desires for the latest and most ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 2:5-11

Denomination: Baptist