Sermons on Ordinary:

When Ordinary Faith Won't Do Series

Contributed by Scott Maze on Apr 7, 2024

Within seconds, Elisha decides to leave all of his wealth and family to follow this radical prophet. Elisha went from the CEO of Elisha Farms to being Elijah’s apprentice. He went from inheriting a fortune to making copies and getting coffee for the prophet

Trusting God in really challenging times in your personal life is really difficult to do. When marriages break up, finances fail, and good friends desert you, God’s seeming absence is really difficult to bear. When you are going through a foggy time in life, you want to see God’s bright light to ...read more

Scripture: 2 Kings 2:8-14

Denomination: Baptist

Thirty-First Sunday In Ordinary Time, B: Shema

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Oct 16, 2024

Prostrating oneself in prayer helps me to mean all the words of this creed, with all its intensity and wide scope.

This is the most Jewish and Catholic prayer possible, in our Gospel today, from Mark 12:29, which Jews call the Shema, which means “hear” in Hebrew-- we have the first line of the Shema in our Gospel today: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all ...read more

Scripture: Mark 12:28-34

Denomination: Catholic

Fourteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time: Three Kinds Of Yokes

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Jun 13, 2023

Jesus’ yoke is a "system of instruction, admonition, and discipline."

There are three kinds of yokes: an egg yolk, the yoke of a shirt around the neck of the garment, and a yoke mentioned in our Gospel today, which is a wooden bar or frame of wood by which two oxen are joined at their necks for working together. Biblical and Jewish faith calls religious instruction a ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 11:25-30

Denomination: Catholic

Fifteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year A- The Sower

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Jun 18, 2023

Even in the fruit-bearing hearers of the word there are gradations.

I saw a neighbor working in his front yard wearing a funny T-Shirt that said, “Sorry I Can't My Plants Need Me.” In today’s parable from Matthew, chapter 13, the seed is the Word of God (verse 20), and the ground is our hearts (verse 19). It all depends on what kind of soil a person is because ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 13:1-23

Denomination: Catholic

Seventeenth Sunday In Ordinary Time: Buried Treasure And Pearls

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Jun 28, 2023

The main character spends the rest of the movie frantically trying to figure out what Curly meant. What IS that “just one thing?

In 1905, the world’s largest diamond, a 3,106-Carat Diamond called the Cullinan diamond, weighing over a pound and worth $2 Billion dollars, was found at the Thomas Cullinan Premier Diamond Mining Company in South Africa. Diamonds are forever, but, if you don’t own one, don’t feel bad; consider ...read more

Scripture: 1 Kings 3:5-12, Matthew 13:44-52

Denomination: Catholic

Nineteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time- How To Walk On Water.

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Jul 5, 2023

To walk on water means to perform a task where the challenge greatly exceeds one’s level of skills without becoming anxious and stressed.

How to walk on water. I saw a cartoon that showed a lady walking on some cases of bottled water and the caption read, “Walking on water”! Another person said, “I walk on water every time it rains. Thin water, but water just the same. [And] just so you know, I drive on water too.” To walk on ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33

Denomination: Catholic

Second Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year C: Cana

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Dec 23, 2024

Are we holding up OUR part of the covenant of our vocations?

Jesus walks into a bar. “Just 12 waters, please,” while winking at his disciples. I saw this post on social media, DOES ANYONE KNOW WHICH PAGE OF THE BIBLE EXPLAINS HOW TO TURN WATER INTO WINE? I AM JUST ASKING FOR FRIEND. “The Church attaches great importance to Jesus’ presence at the wedding ...read more

Scripture: John 2:1-11

Denomination: Catholic

Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year A- Salt

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Dec 28, 2022

Salt is not for itself; it is seasoning for food. In the same way the disciples are there not for themselves but for the earth

During the children’s service, the pastor was explaining that Christians are the “light, salt, and leaven” of the world. The children understood “light” and “salt,” but when the pastor asked them what “leaven” is, they were silent. Finally, young Michelle Williamson spoke up: “It’s what comes after ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 4:31, Matthew 5:13, Colossians 4:6, Ephesians 4:29, Luke 17:31, 2 Kings 2:21, Genesis 19:24  (view more)  (view less)

Denomination: Catholic

Twentieth Sunday In Ordinary Time- Year C-- Fire

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Aug 15, 2025

Fire, judgment, separation, crisis, – can bring a new opportunity for growth in faith.

Lodgepole pinecones are very compact, and they will only open to disperse their seeds under intense heat, as in a forest fire. We hear a similar idea today in our Gospel that fire means judgment, which results in separation, creating a crisis, but which also means opportunity. So, fire, ...read more

Scripture: Luke 12:49-53

Denomination: Catholic

Twenty-Second Sunday In Ordinary, Year C: Humility

Contributed by Paul Andrew on Aug 29, 2025

The crucified and resurrected body of Jesus thus represents the ultimate paradox’ and provides the necessity for disability. Jesus became so completely identified in his life and teaching with the lowest place, not only in the Eucharist by being disguised as the poor.

Imagine this situation, if you will: a husband comes home from work on a Friday afternoon, as he drives into the driveway, he sees that there is a rented tent in the back yard. Under the tent are tables and chairs for about forty people. A bandstand and dance floor are assembled in one corner of ...read more

Scripture: Luke 14:1-14

Denomination: Catholic

Ruth's Romance Series

Contributed by Glenn Pease on Apr 4, 2021

The entire book of Ruth revolves around the romance of ordinary people. That is one of its purposes for being a part of the Bible. It is God's stamp of approval on the ordinary person as an instrument of His plan of history.

Nowhere does history repeat itself more often than in the realm of romance. James Madison was the forth president of the United States, and he was the chief framer of the Constitution. He was the greatest scholar among the Founding Fathers. But when it came to romance he was no big gun. In fact, ...read more

Wonders Of His Love

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Dec 17, 2008

God has, in Christ, transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary, through the power of His love.

Which would you rank as the finest Christmas present you ever received? If you can go back in your memory and recall several Christmases, which was the gift that impressed you the most? Fellows, was it that electric train? I can’t explain it, but there is a touch of little boy in every man, no ...read more

Scripture: Isaiah 61:1-11

Denomination: Baptist

God Is Always Working For Our Good And His Glory Series

Contributed by David Taylor on Mar 13, 2014

Seeing God in the Ordinary: God is Always Working for our Good and His Glory

Seeing God in the Ordinary: God is Always Working for our Good and His Glory Ruth 4:9-22 One of the reasons the book of Ruth comes after the book of Judges is to demonstrate that God is always working on our behalf, even in the worst of times. All the twists and turns in our lives are not dead ...read more

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Honor The Word

Contributed by Bala Samson on Sep 3, 2014

The Word of God is not an ordinary hammer that drives nails but one that breaks rocks in pieces!

Honor the Word! 2 Thessalonians 3:1 “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you…” The Word of God is mentioned as a double-edged sword, in Jeremiah 23:29 "Is not my word like fire," declares the LORD, "and like ...read more

Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 3:1-3

Denomination: Pentecostal

The Devil Is In The Details

Contributed by Gregory Thomas on Jan 13, 2016

After every great triumph, there is a great test, but this test was not an ordinary test of man!

The Devil is in the Details Matthew 4:1-10 In 1997 there was a blockbuster hit based on a novel by Morris west, this thriller attraction was with Keau Reeves and Al Pacino. Keau Reeves plays Kevin Lomax a hotshot Gainesville, Florida attorney who offended a School Teacher in a child molestation ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 4:1-10

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational