July 21, 2024 – CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday July 21ST 2024, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

I awoke in Homestead Florida this morning. (I’ve been here since Thursday morning.) I’m looking forward to a glorious morning at my former home church, as well as fellowship at a local area restaurant afterwards. (Probably Mexican.)

Back home in Sebring Florida we’re diving-in to Hebrews on Sunday mornings, and Nehemiah on Friday nights at Bible Study. Studying Nehemiah is bittersweet for me. It was 17 summers ago in 2007 during my first year of my first church family (in Homestead) that we enjoyed a 9-week study of Nehemiah at Bible Study at night. It was the debut of our brand-new Executive Pastor at the time, and he led Nehemiah every Wednesday night. It was groundbreaking Scripture for me. He and I became instant friends. We’re the same age (3½ months apart), and we’re both originally from the Washington D.C. area. We’re both Washington Redskins (Commanders) fans. We had a good but too short run together.

Since the start of April and for the next month – I’m presenting the full transcription of my recent Jude message series consisting of two sermons – “Jude & Judgment” (Verses 1-11), and “Jude & Jury” (Verses 12-25). I preached them to my Homestead Florida church family on November 26TH 2023 and December 03RD 2023 respectively. Links are provided for Parts 1 to 8 of “Jude & Judgment” over on my SERMONS page. (It’s Sermon 56.) Here’s Part 6 of “Jude & Jury”:

[CONTINUE SERMON]

This is our believer’s Communion. We believe that we have one living and true God – in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. 3 Persons – 1 God. Each is God individually; yet, they are one God together. One God who is almighty. One God who never changes with the times. One God who is eternal.

And so this believer’s Communion is open for everyone who hears me – everyone who believes this. If you believe that we are now under the eternal protection of our Shepherd – then I invite you to accept this bread and this juice.

I invite you to join me in honoring our 3-in-1 God – who reigns – now and forever.

Our God comes to us – where we are. Today – I will come to you – where you are – with these elements. We’ll accept them together as a church body.

[Distribute elements.]

Let us take this bread, and know that it represents the sacred body of Christ that was given up for us on that cross. We take this bread in remembrance of Him.

Let us take this juice, and know that it represents the precious blood of Christ that was shed for us on that cross. We take this juice in honor of Him.

Let us bow our heads. Let us pray:

Thank You God for this Glorious moment – in this place – at this time. Thank You Lord for being the unchangeable and unstoppable God that You are – Creator, Christ, and Spirit as One.

Thank You Lord for Your awesome presence in our lives – and Your intentional purpose for our lives. May all of Your blessings of beauty and miracles of marvel constantly strengthen our faith in You, increase our love towards others, and unify our hearts and our souls. We honor You Lord. We praise You Lord. We worship You Lord. We celebrate You Lord. We love You Lord – on this day – and with each new day. And we confirm this by saying – AMEN.

(You can set your Communion cups aside until the end of the service.)

As the Bible says in John’s Gospel (6:57), and this is in red letters, so Christ said it Himself. He said:

I live because of the living Father who sent Me. In the same way – anyone who feeds on Me will live because of Me.

Receiving the body and blood of Christ during Communion means that we are embracing the life-giving sacrifice of Jesus. We are reminding ourselves that we are His. We belong to Him.

On a personal note – I have a few more Communions to lead here in January and February – maybe in March. After that – someone one else will step-up and lead Communion in their own unique way, as I will only be here a few times a year starting in March. It’s been an honor to lead Communion here for over 7 years. It’s an important part of our Sunday morning worship experience.

OK. My sermon is not yet done. I’ve preached on the first 23 verses of Jude’s letter this morning and last Sunday morning.

We have the final 2 verses to go:

[TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK]

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord, and get closer to Him with each new day.

If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.