Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 394

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from the previous week. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back over 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday September 01ST 2024 – the 394TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 13 Take You At Your Word
[3RD week @ # 1]
Cody Carnes
2 3 4 Count ‘Em Brandon Lake
3 2 10 Good Day Forrest Frank
4 5 17 Beautiful Life Pat Barrett
5 4 19 Somebody Like Me Caleb & John Ft. Cain
6 10 2 Up + Up Colton Dixon
7 9 4 Do It Again Steven Curtis Chapman
8 6 8 Take It All Back Tauren Wells
9 7 9 Nothin’ Sweeter TobyMac
10 8 3 Just As You Are Ryan Stevenson

# 1 This Week In:
2023 – “Praise You Anywhere” – Brandon Lake
2022 – “Hold You Tight” – Dan Bremnes
2021 – “Into The Wild” – Josh Baldwin
2020 – “Miracles” – Colton Dixon
2019 – “Nobody (But Jesus)” – Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
2018 – “Who You Say I Am” – Hillsong Worship
2017 – “Broken Things” – Matthew West

THE FORGE – Good to see North America seeing this wonderful movie at the theatres. After 11 days – it’s made over $16 million at the box office, and it actually increased its theatre count for this holiday weekend – up to 1,921. (That’s a rarity nowadays.) If it’s playing near you then I highly recommend you seeing it if you haven’t done so already. Box office receipts such as these should encourage movie makers to make more about our Glorious God. It should also encourage theatre owners to include these movies at their venues.

SUMMER OF 2024 – It’s the final week of our 15-week Summer (starting with Memorial Day Weekend and ending with Labor Day Weekend here in the U.S.A.). As is tradition here on #CountUp – I’ll present “My Top 10 Hits” of the Summer. In fact – I’m working on it now. It’ll publish tomorrow – Wednesday September 04TH 2024. Come back here to see my hottest Christian hits of the Summer.

SPOTIFY – You can hear “My Top 10 Hits” anytime by accessing my CountUp playlist on Spotify. All 10 hits are there from top to bottom. You can hear them in order from # 1 to # 10, or you can shuffle them. My playlist will be updated every weekend (usually before the actual chart is presented here on Mondays). You can link to it here.

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. God used loud music on the radio to reach me in August of 2006. I’ve been testifying about Him ever since.

Be blessed my friends !  May our God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 01ST 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.

If you’re a regular reader of my blog – you’ll know that I never discuss politics here. This is a political-free space online. I don’t discuss politics anywhere online. In fact – I rarely discuss politics offline. As a Minister – I don’t discuss it, and I don’t preach about it. I don’t believe that the pulpit or the altar is an appropriate place to talk about politics.

I’ve served and worked with a few Pastors / Ministers who have on occasion used the pulpit for political messages – both subtle and obvious. I’ve felt a bit uncomfortable during these occurrences.

There are some Christians who believe that Pastors should absolutely tell their congregation how to vote, who to vote for, and why – usually supporting their reasoning with a lot of personal opinions and manmade rules – not Biblical Scripture. I would not belong to such a church, and thankfully none of my 4 churches over the past 17½ years have been anything close to that. I will only be part of a Bible-believing and teaching church body – not a left or right church – not a liberal or conservative church. I don’t want to know the political beliefs of my brothers and sisters. I want to know that they are getting closer to God with each new step and each new day. On Sunday mornings I will continue to preach on repentance and salvation. May I only speak on God’s Truth.

Here’s what the Bible says about politicians – from Romans 13:1-7:

Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities ? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants – sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong – of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants – sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them – not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.

Pay your taxes, too – for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do. Give to everyone what you owe them. Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.

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.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 393

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from the previous week. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back over 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday August 25TH 2024 – the 393RD week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 12 Take You At Your Word
[2ND week @ # 1]
Cody Carnes
2 2 9 Good Day Forrest Frank
3 6 3 Count ‘Em Brandon Lake
4 3 18 Somebody Like Me Caleb & John Ft. Cain
5 4 16 Beautiful Life Pat Barrett
6 5 7 Take It All Back Tauren Wells
7 7 8 Nothin’ Sweeter TobyMac
8 10 2 Just As You Are Ryan Stevenson
9 9 3 Do It Again Steven Curtis Chapman
10 1 Up + Up Colton Dixon

# 1 This Week In:
2023 – “Praise You Anywhere” – Brandon Lake
2022 – “Hold You Tight” – Dan Bremnes
2021 – “When We Fall Apart” – Ryan Stevenson Ft. Vince Gill & Amy Grant
2020 – “Miracles” – Colton Dixon
2019 – “Nobody (But Jesus)” – Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
2018 – “Who You Say I Am” – Hillsong Worship
2017 – “Broken Things” – Matthew West

COLTON DIXON – It’s a good week for Colton – now and then. His “Miracles” was # 1 exactly 4 years ago. And his “Up + Up” becomes his 4TH hit on my chart over the past 7½ years. It’s a Jeremiah 29:11 testimony. When you’re down – He picks you up. From the ground – He gives you love. He lifts you up and up again – no matter who surrounds:

THE FORGE – I saw it at my local movie theatre this past Friday afternoon, and it was gloriously wonderful. It’s the latest from the Kendrick Brothers (“Facing The Giants”, “Fireproof”, “Courageous”, “War Room”, “Overcomer”, etc.). It’s actually a spinoff of “War Room” from exactly 9 years ago, and YES – Miss Clara and a few other characters are back from the original. I highly recommend this movie. See it this week if you can. It is a sound Christian movie based on Biblical Scripture. Stick around past the start of the closing credits at the end of the movie for an extra scene and a special message from the Kendrick Brothers. Fun Fact – this movie was filmed in Albany Georgia last summer (2023) – a city that I drove around and spent the night in as part of my April 2024 road-trip.

SUMMER OF 2024 – This is Week 14 of our 15-week Summer (starting with Memorial Day Weekend and ending with Labor Day Weekend here in the U.S.A.). As is tradition here on #CountUp – I’ll present “My Top 10 Hits” of the Summer after it’s over. It’ll publish on Wednesday September 04TH 2024. I wonder what my # 1 smash of the Summer will be ?

SPOTIFY – You can hear “My Top 10 Hits” anytime by accessing my CountUp playlist on Spotify. All 10 hits are there from top to bottom. You can hear them in order from # 1 to # 10, or you can shuffle them. My playlist will be updated every weekend (usually before the actual chart is presented here on Mondays). You can link to it here.

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. God used loud music on the radio to reach me in August of 2006. I’ve been testifying about Him ever since.

Be blessed my friends !  May our God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday August 25TH 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.

During my last few years of living and working in Homestead Florida – I vowed to not be the person that I was for all of those years once I move away and enter the retirement chapter of my life. I was an anti-social loner in Homestead. I basically went to work, and then I came home exhausted after a long day. I rarely associated with coworkers, friends, or neighbors. I actually didn’t know a single one of my neighbors, and I lived in a gated neighborhood of 640 condos.

I didn’t want to be that person in Sebring Florida, so I prayed a lot about it. 17 months after moving away – I’m thankfully not that person. I’m more socially active today than I could have ever imagined back at my previous place. I know many of my neighbors, and I hang out with them each week – particularly every Monday night at BINGO as well as at various breakfast, lunch, and dinner events during the year (all food-related). You know – food and fellowship go hand-in-hand with each other. Can you have food without fellowship ? Of course. How about fellowship without food ? Definitely. But food and fellowship – it’s a match made in Heaven.

And then there are my museum friends – at 3 different museums in Sebring and Avon Park. I actually spend more time with my museum friends than I do with my neighbor friends. Again – food is generally involved. And not only that, but I get to welcome and meet and guide and share information with locals and tourists – visitors alike – at one of my museums every Tuesday. It’s like my workday in retirement. I actually dress-up a bit on Tuesdays – much like I did on Tuesdays when I was working (before retirement).

But wait there’s more. I can’t leave out my new church family. Next week marks exactly one year with my Highlands Community Church family. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ. About 20 of us meet every Friday night for Bible Study hosted by our Senior Pastor. It’s a great time for fellowship (without the food). And then there’s what we call Men’s Ministry – which should really be called Men’s Fellowship (with food – usually home-cooked). I just recently immersed myself into this every other Tuesday night event. And finally – we praise and worship our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ corporately every Sunday morning. More fellowship.

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another – especially now that the day of His return is drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT)

You know – I should write a sermon on fellowship. Actually – I don’t really need to write one. I can just preach all about it from the heart (and experience). I can preach on how God gradually transformed me and used fellowship to change my life. I can preach on the importance of fellowship on this day-to-day journey with Christ. It’s not just a Sunday morning thing. It’s not just a church thing. It’s life sharing. It’s life changing.

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.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp