Category: Bible

It’s easy to get comfortable on this journey, and think that God is happy with us for being a Pastor, a Preacher, a Teacher, or any of a number of titles used in the church and in ministry. But God is really impressed when we are servants first.

The Master was full of praise. ‘Well done My good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together !’ (Matthew 25:21 NLT)

The Lord expects His servants to be faithful to Him in doing what He has commanded us to do in this world as we await His return. We must serve the LORD with gladness !

For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45 NLT)

All rights reserved (c) 2019 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

I’m currently writing my 27TH sermon since 2016. I’ve already preached 23 of them to my church family. I hope to preach 2 of them over the next couple of months. That leaves 2 remaining. Those 2 are what I refer to as my “reject” sermons. I wrote them in 2017, and at the time they were relevant and they reflected a message that God sent me to pursue. But then life continued on. I moved forward on God’s fantastic journey for me, and the 2 sermons were no longer the right message at the right time. I haven’t given up on those 2 sermons.

One is actually wrestling-themed – timely today since it’s WWE WrestleMania Day. It’s actually amusing to read, and it makes me smile. It needs a lot more work though before I can preach it to my church family.

The other “reject” sermon has actually been cannibalized many times with bits and pieces of it removed and used in subsequent sermons. As it stands right now it’s not even a 10-minute sermon. It’s less than a third of its original length.

Here’s an excerpt from what remains of that once full-length sermon titled “Give & Take”:

By human nature we’re all givers and takers. We give when it’s convenient – usually when someone else is watching – when there’s an audience. We take when it’s convenient – usually when no one else is watching. It seems like we’re always acting for that audience that’s watching us.

Do you give more than you take, or do you take more than you give ?  I’m not necessarily talking about the giving and taking of physical objects. I’m also talking about life in general. Have you ever thought about that before ?  Personally I never really thought about that – before this fantastic journey. The world tells us that it’s a dog-eat-dog world, and you need to take all that you can get, or you’ll be left behind in a cloud of dust. God tells us differently:

Acts Chapter 20 Verse 35 – It’s an often quoted verse in the Truth:  You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

In First Corinthians Chapter 1 the Apostle Paul writes to God’s church:

… to you who have been called by God to be His own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus – just as He did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – their Lord and ours.

God made me holy ?  I’m holy ?  No – I’m not holy. I’m a sinner. I’ve done bad things in my life. But wait. Christ took all of those bad things from me when He gave His life for me on that cross. “Give & Take”. He gave. He took. Simultaneously. He did this after I called Him my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. I’m holy. You’re holy. We’re holy. But we’re still human. We’re still sinners. But every sinner has a future – just as every saint has a past.

May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

All rights reserved (c) 2019 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries