Category: Church

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 12TH 2021, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

A few hours before going to bed last Saturday night I was asked by my Pastor’s wife if I could bring the Word the next morning. Of course I said that “YES – I can preach tomorrow.” There’s really no chance that I would say “NO” to a request like that. At this stage of my fantastic journey I accept all invitations to preach God’s Word.

I immediately reviewed several sermons that I had recently written. One even had a built-in Communion. I prayed about it. I asked God for guidance and direction. I selected my sermon for the next morning – all about “Salvation & Hope” – from First Peter. I updated it for about an hour, and it was ready to be delivered in the morning. (It was not the one with the built-in Communion. I had already written a new Communion unique for last Sunday, so I married it to my selected sermon.)

I sang 3 songs as part of our 4-person Praise & Worship team (we’re a band), I preached the sermon, and I led our monthly Communion. God gave me the energy and the wisdom needed to lead our church body last Sunday morning. My voice was hoarse afterwards.

It hasn’t happened yet in my 5 years of preaching, but eventually it will when I least expect it. I’ll walk in to our sanctuary on a Sunday morning, and my Pastor (or his wife if he’s not there) will ask me to preach. I won’t have anything practiced and prepared. But God’s Word says:

Preach the Word of God. Be prepared – whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. (2 Timothy 4:2 NLT)

I’ve often thought about what I would preach about if I were asked to do so at a moment’s notice. I really need to think about it more often. As I evolve as a Preacher and a Pastor I’ll be slowly moving away from prewritten sermons to spontaneous sermons. I need to figure out how to do that effectively. I can be dangerous without a script. I can see myself wandering around our stage while speaking in to the wireless mic and not making much sense at times and going way off-topic. I have to train myself on how to not be that way. I’m thinking about working with a loose outline of 5 or so relevant topics where I could speak on each one in sequence for about 7 or 8 minutes apiece to reach my target of a full 35 to 40 minute sermon. Timing is everything. Less than 30 minutes and you’re ill-prepared. More than 45 minutes and you’re rambling on.

I need to ensure that my sermons are based entirely on God’s Word and not on Pastor Chris’s opinions. I’ve seen preachers preach so far away from God’s Word (even while including verses of Scripture) that it resembled more of a stand-up comedy performance at the Improv or a motivational speech at the Arena rather than a Gospel at the House of the Lord. Need to keep the main thing the main thing.

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) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture Weather

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 05TH 2021, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

I’m looking forward to another great morning of praise, worship, and celebration of our God with my brothers and sisters of my small church family. It’s the first Sunday of a brand new month, and so I’ll lead my church family in observance and celebration of Communion. We do so every first Sunday of the month; although, we missed 11 out of 12 months during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

My Communion this morning is based on the upcoming Jewish observances of Rosh Hashanah (starts at sundown tomorrow), Yom Kippur, and Sukkot.

Here’s an excerpt:

On the last day – the climax of the festival – Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to Me !  Anyone who believes in Me may come and drink !  For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from His heart.’”

That’s Verses 37 and 38 from John Chapter 7, and the next verse – 39 – does something very unique. It actually explains the previous two verses. Verse 39 reads:

(When He said “living water” He was speaking of the Spirit – who would be given to everyone believing in Him. But the Spirit had not yet been given – because Jesus had not yet entered into His glory.)

Jesus was preaching in Jerusalem at the Festival Of Shelters – the 7-day Fall harvest festival – also known as the Feast Of Tabernacles – or Sukkot.

The Fall festival occurs right at the end of the 6-month dry season for the region. Because of their geography – and our geography here in South Florida – their dry season each year is our rainy season, and their rainy season is our dry season. Water is precious during the dry season. Jesus stepped forth and proclaimed that anyone looking for fresh moving water – living water – should come to Him and drink. He is the source of living water. Water that renews.

On each day of the Fall festival the believers prayed for rain – living water. On the last day of the festival – “The Great Day” – they prayed for rain – 7 times.

Let’s be renewed on this great day. Let’s be renewed with each new day.

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) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church Food God Life Ministry Music Scripture

Sunday Scripture

This past Friday – late in the morning – I was sitting at my booth at Buffalo Wild Wings awaiting the arrival of my traditional wings (with sweet BBQ sauce) and wedges, and I was listening to the random hits that were being played loudly on the sound system. (They have a really nice sound system in there.)

Suddenly – out of nowhere – “Child Of Love” from We The Kingdom began playing !

I let out a big smile. I even laughed a little bit. It’s a hit from my own chart earlier this year that spent 14 weeks in my Top 10, 8 weeks in my Top 5, and 6 weeks in my Top 3. I thought to myself, “How on earth did this song end up on Buffalo Wild Wings’ playlist ? !”

It hasn’t crossed-over to the (secular) pop charts (yet). Their debut hit – “Holy Water” – actually did cross-over early-on in 2020. It peaked at # 106.

Buffalo Wild Wings was fairly empty at the time (during the 11 AM hour), and perhaps I was the only one in the restaurant who recognized, acknowledged, and appreciated that song being played loudly. (I don’t think I’ve ever heard it played so loud before.)

“Child Of Love” tells the life-changing story of salvation. It tells my story from exactly 15 years ago:

♫ I was walking the wayside
Lost on a lonely road
I was chasing the high life
Tryna satisfy my soul

All the lies I believed in
Left me crying like the rain
Then I saw lightning from Heaven
And I’ve never been the same

I’m gonna climb a mountain
I’m gonna shout about it
I am a child of love
I found a world of freedom
I found a friend in Jesus
I am a child of love

I’ve felt the sting of the fire
But I saw You in the flames
Just when I thought it was over
You broke me out of the grave ♫

You know salvation can begin unexpectedly for anyone at anytime in anyplace. Most of us who are saved by our God’s great grace didn’t see it coming. For me salvation began on a dark 2-lane street in my city early in the morning as the first hint of daylight was appearing in the eastern sky. God used hit music to save me. Our God is powerful. He’ll even use Buffalo Wild Wings to save another lost soul.

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair – out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground, and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing – a hymn of praise to our God. (Psalm 40:1-3a NLT)

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) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Life Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

I was rescued and saved by my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ 15 years ago this week. I’ve observed and celebrated this week in August as my “Salvation Week” every year since 2007. It’s the anniversary of when my life unexpectedly changed forever.

I love this word cloud meme that I recently found on social media. It’s based on the first chapter of the first letter of Peter. There are a lot of good words listed. I can stare at it and look at each one of those words over and over again. It’s the story of my salvation – which continues to this day.

1 Peter 1 ends with these 5 verses:

Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because He raised Christ from the dead and gave Him great glory.

You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.

For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal living word of God. As the Scriptures say:

“People are like grass.
Their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
But the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

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) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries