Category: Bible

Today I returned home – where I belong – to my church family for the first time in 3 weeks. It was great to be able to praise, worship, and celebrate our God corporately with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Today I led Communion. Here’s the full manuscript for today’s Communion:

You know we often think of worship to Christ as singing songs of praise to Him at the start of every service. But worship is so much more than singing songs.

Worship is also what happens before and after we sing songs together. Worship is driving – or riding – or walking to this place that we call home on Sunday mornings. Worship is fellowship with family before the music begins a few moments after 11. Worship is playing the guitar – for Christ. Worship is singing out loud – for Christ. Worship is raising our arms – for Christ. Worship is clapping our hands – for Christ. You see we worship Christ – our Savior – and no other.

Worship is our Pastor leading us in prayer. It’s our Pastor preaching God’s Word.

And we continue our worship to Christ, as we transition to Communion. We observe and celebrate Communion once a month here at Living Waters. Communion must never be routine. It must always be a special occasion. It must be solemn. It must be intimate. It must be intentional.

This is where we – as brothers and sisters of God’s church family – walking together on this journey – this is where we make a commitment to continue to praise, to worship, to honor, to love, to move closer to, and to strengthen our Communion with our living and loving God.

He’s the One that’s always there for us. He’s the One that rescued us from the dead. He’s the One that saved us from the world. He’s the One that saved us from ourselves. He’s the One that took our punishment for us. He’s the One that died for us. He’s the One that gave us life !

And so we observe, rejoice, and celebrate – this believer’s Communion – this agreement – of Creator, Christ, and Spirit as One. It’s open for everyone who hears me – everyone who believes that:

God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life – shedding His blood. (Romans 3:25a-b)

I invite this church family to accept these elements that have been prepared – this bread and this juice. You’ll come up, receive them, take them back to your seat – and remain standing (if you can). After everyone has received them – we’ll accept them together.

(Please come forth at this time.)

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.

Our God Himself is righteous. He is fair and just. He declares us sinners to be right in His sight when we believe in Christ – and repent to Him. Repentance is worship.

Let us pray. Thank You God for being here with us – at this time – in this place. Thank You for always accepting us – despite our past – despite ourselves. Thank You Lord for Your awesome presence in our lives – and Your intentional purpose for our lives. May all of Your beautiful blessings and marvelous miracles 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 – on this day – and on every day. And we confirm this by saying – AMEN.

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

I’m currently writing a new sermon that I hope to preach soon to my church family. It’s tentatively titled “Kindness & Love”, and it’s what I like to refer to as a standalone “back-to-basics” sermon. It’s one of those sermons that we need to hear from time-to-time (especially me) to remind us of God’s “Kindness & Love”. It’s what happened on that cross on that day. It’s what happened 3 days later.

See if Christ never rose from the dead then our faith is useless. There’s nothing to testify to. There’s nothing to preach about. There’s nothing to live for. There would be no Bible. There would be no church. We would all be unforgiven. We would all be under the judgment of God. We would all be guilty of all of our sins. See Christ’s resurrection is proof that His sacrifice took away all of our sins.

Here’s the Good News:

But in fact – Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see – just as death came into the world through a man – now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam – everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest. Then all who belong to Christ will be raised when He comes back. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23 NLT)

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

TODAY with my (Living Waters) church family our Lead Pastor Bob continued his message series on “The Road To Heaven”. Today’s sermon was on “The Three Women Of The Book Of Revelation” with Scripture not from Revelation – but from the Book of Esther – 1:19, 2:5-6, 3:1, and 5:1-3.

The Book of Esther takes place for about 21 years during her reign as Queen of Persia from 486 B.C. to 465 B.C. That’s exactly 100 years after my sermon from last week – “Neco & Nebuchadnezzar” – ended at (with the final fall of the Kingdom of Judah).

At that time there was a Jewish man in the fortress of Susa whose name was Mordecai – son of Jair. He was from the tribe of Benjamin and was a descendant of Kish and Shimei. His family had been among those who – with King Jehoiachin of Judah – had been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. (Esther 2:5-6 NLT)

King Jehoiachin was the second-to-last King of Judah before its final fall in 586 B.C. His grandfather was the good King Josiah. He became King at the age of 18, and he was King for just 3 months in 597 B.C. before King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took King Jehoiachin prisoner and led him away as a captive to Babylon. Mordecai’s ancestors were part of the group of thousands that were taken into captivity to Babylon.

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