Category: Bible

Sunday Scripture

Today I led my church family on our journey to get closer to our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. I preached about a 35 to 40 minute sermon on the fall of the “Southern Kingdom” of Judah following the untimely death of the good King Josiah on the battlefield at Megiddo. Titled “Neco & Nebuchadnezzar” (the two Kings mostly responsible for the final fall of Judah) – it was the follow-up (or sequel) to my previous sermon of 4 weeks ago titled “Josiah & Judah” which was all about the 31-year reign of King Josiah.

Here’s an excerpt of my sermon:

King Josiah didn’t see the end of his life coming, and as the Bible says:

While Josiah was King – Pharaoh Neco – King of Egypt – went to the Euphrates River to help the King of Assyria. King Josiah and his army marched out to fight him, but King Neco killed him when they met at Megiddo. (2 Kings 23:29)

… So the year is 609 B.C. Josiah was the King of Judah – the smaller “Southern Kingdom” of the Jewish homeland. Jerusalem and Bethlehem were both in Judah – the far-northern part of Judah. To its north was the Kingdom of Assyria – or the Assyrian Empire. That northern part was once the Kingdom of Israel. That’s when there were two divided Kingdoms – Israel and Judah. And of course before that they were one United Kingdom – of Israel and Judah. After the split the two Kingdoms started as bitter enemies, but then they ended-up as somewhat friendly allies. Bethel and Samaria were both in the “Northern Kingdom”.

So King Josiah heard (through the grapevine) that Pharaoh Neco – the King of Egypt – and his loyal army – were to march northward – out of Egypt (along the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea) – and then inland – across the mountains – towards the Euphrates River – to help the King of Assyria in fighting the Babylonians – who were becoming increasingly powerful and expanding westward into the region …

… King Josiah didn’t like that idea. He had major problems with that maneuver. He didn’t want the Assyrian Empire (to the north) to get any stronger. He didn’t want the King of Assyria to receive any outside help. The Assyrian Empire was fading fast. It was crumbling from within due to a series of brutal civil wars and attacks from outsiders. King Josiah really wanted the Babylonians to finish the job. King Josiah was on the side of the Babylonians – for reasons unknown. It’s not really clear in the Bible as to why Josiah favored the Babylonians over the Assyrians. Maybe he thought that they would be friendlier / more accommodating neighbors to the north – and to the east.

So King Josiah was not going to let the Egyptians help out the Assyrians against the Babylonians. Deep within the Kingdom of Assyria – King Josiah and his loyal army intercepted Pharaoh Neco and his loyal army at a place called Megiddo. Modern-day Megiddo is located in far-northern Israel – north of the West Bank – very near Nazareth …

… So at Megiddo – the two Kings talked. King Josiah urged Pharaoh Neco to stop and turn around. Neco refused, and in fact he told King Josiah that the LORD wanted him to fight the Babylonians. Neco told Josiah that if he really listened to the LORD who he believes, follows, and trusts – then he would know that the enemy was not the Assyrians or the Egyptians. The enemy was the Babylonians. Josiah didn’t believe Neco. Josiah was enraged at Neco. Josiah led an attack on Neco and his army. That didn’t end well. It ended in disaster. King Josiah was killed in the battle.

In 2ND Chronicles an account of this deadly battle is described in greater detail than in 2ND Kings, so as the Bible says:

King Neco sent messengers to Josiah with this message: “What do you want with me – King of Judah ? I have no quarrel with you today ! I am on my way to fight another nation, and God has told me to hurry ! Do not interfere with God – who is with me, or He will destroy you.” (2 Chronicles 35:21)

And the very next verse of 2ND Chronicles reveals that God had indeed spoken to Neco, and Neco was truly following the will of God.

So the one time that Josiah failed to listen to God’s voice – it cost him his life. Maybe after 39 years of life, and 31 years of reign, and 23 years of listening to the LORD – he had gotten just a little bit complacent – maybe a bit too comfortable.

You can’t get complacent or comfortable on this journey. That type of thinking won’t move you closer to God. The enemy loves that type of thinking.

Bible Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 132

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 26, 2019

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday August 25TH 2019:

“Nobody (But Jesus)” – Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
[# 3 last week / 4TH week on chart]
“Fear No More” – Building 429 [4 / 4TH]
“Raise A Hallelujah” – Bethel Music [1 / 12TH]
“Symphony” – Switch [2 / 12TH]
“I’m Gonna Let It Go” – Jason Gray [5 / 3RD]
“Dead Man Walking” – Jeremy Camp [8 / 6TH]
“(Love Is The) Reason” – Unspoken [7 / 6TH]
“Resurrecting” – Elevation Worship [9 / 20TH]
“Yes I Will” – Vertical Worship [10 / 2ND]
“Power” – We Are Messengers [- / 1ST]

# 1 One Year Ago This Week:
“Who You Say I Am” – Hillsong Worship

# 1 Two Years Ago This Week:
“Broken Things” – Matthew West

Casting Crowns score their 2ND # 1 smash in less than a year with “Nobody (But Jesus)”. It’s the 39TH # 1 smash during this era of my personal hit music chart. They also owned the 26TH # 1 smash – “Only Jesus” – as well as the 5TH # 1 smash in 2017 – “Oh My Soul”.

I love the 2ND verse of “Nobody (But Jesus)” sung by Matthew West:

Moses had stage fright
And David brought a rock to a sword fight
You picked twelve outsiders nobody would’ve chosen, and You changed the world
Well the moral of the story is
Everybody’s got a purpose
So when I hear that devil start talking to me saying, “Who do you think you are ?”

“Nobody (But Jesus)” was cowritten by Mark Hall (lead singer), Matthew West, and Bernie Herms (popular producer and songwriter – married to Natalie Grant).

I absolutely love this song. It’s a perfect pop song for the radio with a country feel to it. Its music video is fun to watch, and sing along with, and clap your hands to.

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again next weekend – 5 new entries on Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Monday, and a special post on Tuesday. I don’t blog on Saturdays. That’s my day of rest.

Your likes, follows, and comments are always appreciated. Thank You for being part of my online ministry to share God’s Good News and win souls for Christ through His music. Enjoy this week my friends. I’m on Twitter @ChrisMDay, and I’m also the man behind the tweets for my church @LivingWatersHFL. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him. AMEN.

Tags KLOVE

Bible Christian Church God Health Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 25, 2019

Today is Day 4 of a bad cold that has had me bed and couch-ridden at home since last Thursday. I awoke on Thursday morning with a sore throat that got progressively worse as the day went on. I was actually convinced that I had strep throat because I had no other conditions. And then on Friday all of the other conditions of the common cold arrived.

It’s Day 4, and after 11 hours in bed I awoke in recovery mode. Today’s symptoms include leftover congestion (improving), mucus and phlegm, a weak voice, and excessive sweating. I’m missing my weekly celebration of Christ with my church family today for the first time in a long time (other than vacation time). As I write this blog post my church family is gathering for our 11 AM service.

Are any of you sick ? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you – anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins – you will be forgiven. (James 5:14-15 NLT)

Have true faith that our Lord will answer our prayers, and He will. Faith for healing is a gift from God. Trust Him !

The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. (1 Corinthians 12:9)

Bible Blogging Christian God Home

Happy New Weekend !

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 22, 2019

It’s the start of a brand new weekend of blog posts here at #CountUp, as weekends begin on Thursdays and end on Mondays. I’ll have my usual assortment of blog posts on Friday, Sunday, and Monday, so let’s kickoff this weekend with my Thursday blog post. This is a spontaneous “anything goes” blog post. I have no idea what I’ll be writing until I hit the keys on the keyboard.

So I’ve entered the 14TH year of my salvation. Lord may this new season of this journey bring me steadily closer to You through Your Word – reading and studying and understanding Your Way – the only Way forward towards Your light. May others hear about Your Good News through my writings – through my testimonies – through my sermons. May they too be brought to You, and be rescued and saved by You. In Your loving name I pray this to You – AMEN.

My next sermon is just about complete. I need to tighten the ending of it, as it’s running just a little bit long right now. My Lead Pastor wants our goal (for himself too) to preach sermons that are closer to 35 minutes in length rather than 45 minutes or more. Right now I’m too close to 45 minutes. My sermon has a new title too – “Neco & Nebuchadnezzar”. It’s all about the 23-year fall of the Kingdom of Judah from the day that King Josiah was killed at Megiddo to the day of the invasion and destruction of Jerusalem.

I’m also working on my next sermon after that – “Ways & Memes” – which will be a first-of-a-kind sermon for me that physically takes me away from the pulpit for the first time. I’ll share more details on that in a few weeks.

This will be another relaxing stay-at-home weekend for me (after work on Thursday and Friday). I’ll do Bible Study (includes sermon writing), and I’ll catch-up on DVR and Hulu watching. I’ll also update various Excel spreadsheets and Word documents. I’ll pay some bills too. Maybe even do some laundry.

So that’s where we are right now on this 22ND day of August of 2019. Go forth and enjoy this day, and come back here tomorrow for my normal Friday blog post that goes RETRO.