Sermons on Josephs Process:

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

Basic Aeronautics And The Blessings Of Christian Unity

Contributed by Joseph Ng on Nov 26, 2000

A study of pitch, roll, and yaw in the New Testament church.

0003 BASIC AERONAUTICS AND THE BLESSINGS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY Colossians, 1 Corinthians, & Galatians Theme: Inattention to the different forces acting upon Christianity puts to risk the unity of the saints. (MIRRORED AT http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/alexandra/849/0003.htm ) Opening: It was ...read more

Scripture: Colossians 2:8-18, 1 Corinthians 1:10-13

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Knowing God's Still Small Voice

Contributed by Joseph Ng on Nov 26, 2000

Disillusioned Christians need to acknowledge God's latent remnant people.

Theme: Let's acknowledge God's latent remnant. Opening: Have you ever felt all alone when standing for the truth? Elijah sure felt that way when Queen Jezebel issued a sentence on his head for showing her up at Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18-19). He hightailed from Jezreel, up in the Northen Kingdom ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 19:9-18

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Jesus Is No Turkey

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 26, 2000

For Christ the King Sunday: This message contrasts the one-time celebrations to which we "invite" the turkey to the full-time, all-seasons lordship of Jesus.

After Thanksgiving dinner, the men in the house retired to the family room to share in that most sacred of spiritual rituals – we worshipped at the shrine of the great god football. And it was not long before someone scored a touchdown and went into a liturgical dance in the end zone: high fives, ...read more

Scripture: John 19:10-22

Denomination: Baptist

Do I Really Have A Choice?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 4, 2000

When we are offered great choices, although we think we have no real freedom, we can choose to live emotionally, we can choose to give and affirm life for the most vulnerable in our society, and we can always choose to receive God’s gift of eternal life.

“Do I really have a choice?” That question was posed the other day by one of our teenagers. She was talking about whether she had to go to school. She felt cornered. She felt boxed in. She was speaking for a great many of us. We feel as though we really do not have any choice about many ...read more

Scripture: Deuteronomy 30:11-20

Denomination: Baptist

Where Peace Begins Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 10, 2000

Peace begins in the heart, and is not imposed from outside, for discord also begins within; but in a committed relationship there is a matrix for genuine peace.

It had been a long, tiring day. A day full of frustrations. Plans so carefully laid in the morning had been forcefully set aside by evening. Good intentions for a day of accomplishment had been ruthlessly destroyed by many intrusions. Now it was night, and cold, and lonely. No one around. No ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 37:1-11

Denomination: Baptist

Alpha Male

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 27, 2000

The Jesus of the Incarnation provides us with a more authentic leadership than "alpha males" in the wild or in politics, for in His differences He is Alpha and Omega.

Some of us learned a new term during the late and unlamented presidential campaign. Campaign observers, drawing on something learned from studies of animals in the wild, told us that one of the candidates was trying to learn to behave as an Alpha Male. An Alpha Male. What does that mean? In the ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 1:4-8

Denomination: Baptist

Finishing Touches

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 9, 2001

Funeral message for Mrs. Betty Parker, a member of our church who had known for some time that she would die, and who had carefully thought through her relationships, her responsibilities, and her faith.

FINISHING TOUCHES (Philippians 1:3-11) I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. Some tasks are never finished. No matter how much effort you put in, they are never finished. There is always more that could be ...read more

Scripture: Philippians 1:3-11

Denomination: Baptist

What Time Is It?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 9, 2001

Funeral message for Mr. Jeremiah Reese, a businessman to whom one of our members had witnessed in his closing weeks, and who requested that his funeral focus on Ecclesiastes 3.

The other night, as all too often happens, I fell asleep in front of the television set, watching who-knows-what and who-knows-why. It’s just one of the more disturbing realities about getting a little older – that if I sit still for more than about twenty minutes, I’ll get sleepy. I’ll try to ...read more

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1-14

Denomination: Baptist

Touching The Cloak

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 9, 2001

Funeral message for Mrs. Thora Mohler, a long-time member of our mostly African-American Baptist church, but proud of her Swedish Lutheran heritage, and devoted to certain tasks in the life of our church.

Anyone who ever counted money with Thora Mohler will tell you that she was a woman with a determination to get things right. She would not let go until she had the right answer. On Mondays, Mrs. Mohler, until recent months, was one of those faithful behind-the-scenes workers our church has, ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 9:14-22

Denomination: Baptist