Sermons on Ordinary Things:

Leadership Lessons Series

Contributed by Brian Bill on Feb 3, 2007

God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary.

Leadership Lessons Book of Judges Rev. Brian Bill 2/4/07 A couple weeks ago I was asked if I’d be willing to come to Champion Fitness to have my picture taken with some other people who work out there. I’ve been going to Champion for over seven years and I thought that they must have noticed what ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Thirtieth Sunday In Ordinary Time; 30th Sunday B--Bartimaeus.

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Oct 23, 2021

We can all get stuck on the side of the road in different ways at different times in our lives.

The name, fame and shame of Bartimaeus. His name means Bar, meaning “the son of” Timaeus. Others point to the Aramaic or Hebrew word for "unclean" (‘bar-tem’), suggesting that BartimaeSus is "son of the unclean." In reality both names fit because Bartimaeus was a poor ...read more

Scripture: Mark 10:46-52

Denomination: Catholic

Twenty-Sixth Sunday In Ordinary Time- Yes Means No And No Means Yes.

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Aug 21, 2023

Statistically, in St. Matthew’s Gospel, words and expressions which emphasize obedience, the doing of God’s will, are among his favorite.

Nikos Kazantzakis was a tortured Greek writer who was constantly haunted by God. He once wrote of an experience he had when he climbed Mount Athos to visit a monk at a monastery. “Father Makarios,” he said to the old monk, “I remember that in your younger days you wrestled with the devil. Do you ...read more

Scripture: Ezekiel 18:25-28, Matthew 21:28-32

Denomination: Catholic

Twenty-Seventh Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year C: Divine Passives

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Oct 3, 2025

How? By (1) being small; (2) daily fervent prayer (3) and knowing that God’s grace precedes and enables our good works, the (4) fourth is tapping into the “fulfillment formula” of God’s sovereignty by God’s divine passives.

Walking or moving in the Opposite Spirit is a teaching from Saint Ignatius of Loyola, [Agere contra, Latin “to act against"]. This spiritual practice involves purposefully acting in the opposite direction of your natural inclinations to produce a positive spiritual resolve and result. So, the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 17:5-10

Denomination: Catholic

"Check The Fruits, Fix The Roots” --8th Sunday In Ordinary Time

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Feb 4, 2019

Our First Reading relates the steady application of three processes over time to create a separation or distinction based on intrinsic properties of quality: faults revealed when one speaks, santification, and discernment

Sirach, chapter 27, from our First Reading, relates the steady application of three processes over time to create a separation or distinction based on intrinsic properties of quality: 1). The first is the image of shaking a mesh strainer to reveal the husks from the kernel which is similar to ...read more

Scripture: Luke 6:39-45

Denomination: Catholic

An Introduction To Ruth Series

Contributed by David Taylor on Mar 13, 2014

Seeing God in the Ordinary An Introduction to Ruth

Seeing God in the Ordinary An Introduction to Ruth We are taking a break in Luke with a series entitled “Seeing God in the Ordinary,” based upon the Book of Ruth. By teaching through this little book I am asking God to resurrect our eyes so that we see His presence in our daily lives, ...read more

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Twenty-Seventh Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year A- Wicked Tenants

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Aug 27, 2023

In one word, what do you live for?

In 1962, when President John F. Kennedy was visiting the NASA Space center, he noticed a janitor sweeping the hallway and asked him, “What do you do around here?” To his surprise, the janitor replied, “Well, Mr. President, I’m helping to put a man on the moon.” This janitor found meaning in seeing ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 21:33-43, Isaiah 5:1-7

Denomination: Catholic

Jesus Is My Pandemic Identity (Twenty-First Sunday In Ordinary Time)

Contributed by Dr John Singarayar Svd on Aug 16, 2020

During the lockdown we have realised how many are real friends, how many are fake friends, how many have called us often enquiring about our families, health, jobs, and how many were really cared and supported in their difficulties and pains during this pandemic, COVID-19.

Jesus is my Pandemic Identity (Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time) Isaiah 22:19-23, Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20. Reflection Dear sisters and brothers, I would like to start my reflection with a question: what is my pandemic identity as a Christian? In this digital world, ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 22:19-23, Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20

Denomination: Other

Twenty-Ninth Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year A--Church And State

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Sep 3, 2023

Otherwise, politics is about "bread and circuses."

Have you ever noticed that when you combine the two words, “THE” and “IRS,” it spells “THEIRS”? At one and the same time Jesus affirmed the rights of the state and freedom of conscience to worship and serve God. By allowing Caesar to collect taxes, Jesus opposes the Pharisees by acknowledging ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 22:15-21

Denomination: Catholic

Twelve Ordinary Men - James, Simon, Judas Not Iscariot - Fill In The Blank Series

Contributed by Edward Hardee on Dec 31, 2012

This is the fill in the blank for the Bible study of James, Simon, & Judas not Iscariot from 12 Ordinary Men. See also notes from the Bible Study found in the series of sermons here.

Note: This is a study from the book 12 Ordinary Men by John McArthur an excellent book. This is the fill in the blank outline from Adult Bible Fellowships of First Baptist Church Orion. This is not original but worth posting for study. Twelve Ordinary Men James, Simon, and Judas I. James the ...read more

Scripture: Luke 6:15-16

Denomination: Church Of God

Twenty-First Sunday-- In Ordinary Time, Cycle C- The Narrow Gate

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Jul 23, 2022

There is a saying, “The nearer the Church, the farther from God”.

In Readers Digest, David Barman, from North Miami Beach, Florida, wrote that at the university where he teaches, the school has a policy of giving a + designation for grades. A 78 is a C+, an 89 is a B+. A student received his final grade and was adamant that I left off the plus sign. I looked ...read more

Scripture: Luke 13:22-30

Denomination: Catholic

Twenty-Second Sunday In Ordinary Time- Get Behind Me, Satan

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Jul 29, 2023

You tell the Lord you don’t want him to die, and he responds by calling you Satan.

The book, Tigers in the Dark, tells about a time when all the electricity went out at a Barnum and Bailey Circus. There was total darkness at the circus. They had just started the act with the tiger trainer locked in a cage with several fierce Bengal tigers. The tigers could see the man - the man ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 16:21-27

Denomination: Catholic

Seventeenth Sunday In Ordinary Time, Cycle A -- 17th Sunday, Year A

Contributed by Paul Andrew on May 25, 2020

It’s so important that ordinary Catholics read Scripture as a devotional inquiry which the Catholic Catechism calls “the intimate sense of spiritual realities which believers experience.”

A foolish old farmer, so the story goes, concluded one day that the oats he had fed his mule for years were simply costing him too much. So, he hatched a plan: He mixed a little sawdust in with the feed, and then a little more the next day, and even more the next, each time reducing the amount of ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 13:44-46

Denomination: Catholic

12th Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year A. Sparrow Stories.

Contributed by Paul Andrew on May 26, 2023

Several times the sparrow flew at the closed window and smacked itself into it, until it got so weak it could no longer fly; it only could walk.

Pastor Don Friesen tells a fascinating story about a sparrow that somehow got into the rafters of St. Helen’s Parish Church in the English town of Brant Broughton. At the time of the intrusion, they were recording a guitar recital for later broadcast on the radio. The chirping bird didn’t exactly ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 10:26-33

Denomination: Catholic

Nineteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year C - Parable Of The Supervising Servant

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Aug 8, 2025

Jesus is coming for you when he is ready, not when you get ready.

Our Gospel parable today of the Supervising Servant tells us that everybody has a day when we will be judged immediately after death, but the day and time is unspecified, and so Jesus is giving a series of admonitions saying to be prepared and vigilant. Jesus probably delivered the parable as a ...read more

Scripture: Luke 12:32-48

Denomination: Catholic