In Sermons: showing 46-60 of 870

And How Hot Is Hell?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 15, 2010

Dramatic monologue, as if the speaker were "Dives" ... an appeal to move beyond "cool" and distant religion into compassion.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC January 26, 1986 I am Dives; and I have come to you today only because for this brief moment the unbridgeable is bridged, the chasm is spanned. I can speak to you only for a little while, and even then I am not certain that I can fully get through to ...read more

Scripture: Luke 16:19-31

Denomination: Baptist

Wanted: Three Rooms, Open Windows

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 14, 2010

We all need a throne room, where we can maintain a measure of control and an upper room, where we can nourish our privacy. We will also have a den, a place of escape or of anxiety. The key to managing them all is the open windows of prayer.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC May 29, 1988 If anyone here should by chance be interested in a course in fiction writing, I have a suggestion to make. If you would like to learn to write fiction, real fables and tales, do not go to the community college. Do not waste your time at ...read more

Scripture: Daniel 6:1-23

Denomination: Baptist

Walking In The Light, Or Stumbling?

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 14, 2010

We choose darkness, but could choose light in our morality and our language. To choose darkness is to injure ourselves and others.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC January 25, 1987 For a number of years I have made it a habit to get up at five o’clock; yes, that’s five in the morning. I’ve made it my habit as a part of my set of personal disciplines, because I find that I can get at a number of ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 5:1-15

Denomination: Baptist

Victims Of Unrisen Expectations

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 14, 2010

We fail to experience a vital faith because we do not expect anything new, we operate out of preconceived notions, or we wait for authority figures to validate us.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, March 5, 1989 Anyone who works in an office or who has had to do either writing or typing knows that you do not proofread your own work. You just do not proofread your own work. Why not? Because the tendency is to see what we want to see, and what we ...read more

Scripture: John 7:37-52

Denomination: Baptist

Praying In Frustration

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 11, 2010

Like Samuel, we are often frustrated in our intentions. But turning to prayer, as he did, will help us remove the blame from ourselves, will help us understand the motives of others, and will help us accept reality and move on toward something better.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC September 14, 1986 Some weeks ago I told you that one of my principal projects in starting my service as your pastor would have to be spending time trying to learn my way around the city of Takoma Park. DC I can handle and Silver Spring is a breeze, ...read more

Scripture: 1 Samuel 8:1-22

Denomination: Baptist

Wings Of Refuge

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 11, 2010

Funeral message, for Ekerete Akpaete, Nigerian, who died suddenly in the arms of his infant daughter.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, Dc, March 25, 2000 To experience great loss is difficult enough. To experience that loss in a far country, with few who understand, few who are close, is even more difficult. And when that loss means that those who depend on you will need you even more, ...read more

Scripture: Ruth 2:11-12

Denomination: Baptist

Praying For The Right Things

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 10, 2010

We tend to pray in a panic, when we could have prayed in preparation. Our prayer must also be responsible, accepting our own measure of responsibility.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, September 21, 1986 One young friend of mine, taking the Scripture quite seriously and quite literally, where it says, "Ask anything in my name, and I will do it" – taking that verse to the nth degree, reports that he is still waiting for the Lord ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 3:3-14

Denomination: Baptist

Prophet, Priest, And King: Accepting Series

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 9, 2010

We tie gift-giving to our own self-acceptance. Appropriate gifts to Christ announce that indeed we are acceptable to Him.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, December 24, 1987 (Christmas Eve) Out there right now, running around with a harried look, and practically waving fistfuls of dollars in their hands, there are those folks who for one reason or another have a hard time with gift giving. They have waited ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-11

Denomination: Baptist

Body Language

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 7, 2010

Our actions speak clearly about who we are and what we need; we need to lie down in worship and study, we need to walk in the valley of human need, and we need to engage those who are different from us.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC October 18, 1992 I want you to look up here and then feed back to me what I am saying. I’m asking you to watch me and then tell me what I am saying to you. (Clumped shoulders): “I certainly am glad to be here.” What did I say? My ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 23:1-6

Denomination: Baptist

Black And White Redeemed Together

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 7, 2010

For Black History Month: We will not be fully redeemed until both black and white understand the elements of self-hatred that are in us and see that we have a Redeemer who will remove those feelings.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC February 2, 1986 When you read the book of Job and read it carefully, when you really let it sink in to you what happened to this suffering man and what he had to say about it, you cannot help concluding that what is most frightening about Job is his ...read more

Scripture: Job 19:1-27

Denomination: Baptist

To Catch A Thief

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 6, 2010

God uses us, even in our desire to have and to take, to turn around and give life more abundantly to those who have been hurt, even by the church.

Luther Rice Memorial Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD August 26, 1984; First Baptist Church of Wheaton, MD, September 17, 1984; Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, October 14, 1984 The most delicious of all the thrillers, the most engrossing of all the movie mysteries, is the kind in ...read more

Scripture: John 10:1-10

Denomination: Baptist

Double Your Money

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Nov 4, 2010

We think that we must protect what we have, and do not see those in need as brothers and sisters in disguise. But God puts back in our sacks more than enough when we walk on a mission of mercy and a journey of faith, caring for the hungry and needy.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC, October 16, 1988 (World Hunger Sunday) Somehow, when our whole orientation is consuming and enjoying and entertaining ourselves, we pay no attention to anything beyond today. What we have today we use, and assume that tomorrow will take care of itself. ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Bone Weary

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 29, 2010

Like Jeremiah, we get bone weary when we feel abandoned, when we are living out of tune with the times, and when we suppress the desire to live in integrity. But In Christ we see one who experienced all this but lives to give us new life.

Calverton Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD, January 31, 1982; Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC September 22, 1985 There was a time when I did not really know what it meant to be tired. I still cherish the image of myself as tireless, limitless in energy, able to leap tall buildings ...read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 20:7-13

Denomination: Baptist

A Bookkeeping Nightmare

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 27, 2010

Forgiveness is an act of understanding how much God has forgiven us; of the heart, making a changed spirit possible; and of the will, opening up all that God wants to do in us.

First Baptist Church of Gaithersburg, MD, October 4, 1979; Cresthill Baptist Church, Bowie, MD, June 8, 1980; Calverton Baptist Church, Silver Spring, MD, May 16, 1982; Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC November 24, 1985 Back in my early teen years I was a Monopoly freak. Not an ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 18:23-35

Denomination: Baptist

Fear, Death, Life

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Oct 26, 2010

It may seem strange to embrace death. But John could do so as he learned of fellow believers being killed, because he had a vision of the risen Christ as lord of life and death and even as lord of all human history.

Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC July 27, 1986 The picture is indelibly etched on my memory, I'm sure because at the time the incident seemed so bizarre, so peculiar. The scene was an elementary school talent show; all of us had been groomed and polished and persuaded that we had ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 1:4-18

Denomination: Baptist