Category: Church

Today our Lead Pastor delivered a powerful and relevant message with the title – “Faith:  The Fulfillment Of Righteousness Of The Law”. It was a classic New Testament sermon all about Grace and Mercy. (That’s his expertise.)

Our Pastor has been preaching for about 35 years now – since a few weeks after he was rescued and saved by Christ in his mid-30s. He preaches with authority – and without the use of notes. It’s like watching a college professor teaching a class – while keeping it lively and simple enough for someone like me to understand.

Me ?  I’ve been on this journey for going on 13 years now. I’ve been actively preaching full sermons for not even 3 of those 13 years. I’ve preached 24 sermons thus far, and yesterday during my nearly all-day Bible study I finished writing my 25TH sermon titled “Pray & Believe”. I’ll be preaching it next month – if it’s in God’s will. I’ll also be printing it out the night before I preach it – all 11 or 12 pages in Microsoft Word – Font Type Calibri Size 16. It’ll be in document protectors in a 3-ring notebook, and I’ll be mostly reading from it. I’m actually relying on my full manuscripts less and less with each new sermon. I’ve been doing more ad-libbing during my sermons. Sometimes that works out, and sometimes not so much. Eventually I’ll get to the point (once I get more sermons under my belt) where I won’t even be referring to my manuscripts anymore. I’ll escape the pulpit “bubble” if you will. I pray to God all the time that He guides me and directs me away from my full manuscripts. I’m a work-in-progress.

So our Pastor preached today, and I wrote down a lot of notes including all of the verses of Scripture that he referenced. (There were 12 verses total from 7 books.)

Here’s my major takeaway from his sermon:  Grace releases Faith, and once you add that Faith to that Grace – you get Authority.

I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe Him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 1:19-20)

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

On this Sunday at 11 AM I praised, worshipped, and celebrated the Almighty God that rescued and saved me with my brothers and sisters of my church family. The music was positive and encouraging from our Worship Pastor Ben and his wife Jen, and the sermon was powerful and inspiring from our Lead Pastor Bob. It was another beautiful day at Living Waters !

It was to great hear our Pastor Bob preach again. (Last Sunday I preached, and the previous Sunday I was out-of-town on vacation.)

His sermon was based on the Matthew 17:14-20 story of the demon-possessed boy that Christ’s disciples couldn’t heal, so Christ Himself performed the miracle. Jesus called His disciples faithless and corrupt. The disciples couldn’t figure out why they were unable to heal the boy, so they asked Christ why that was so. The answer was quite simple. They didn’t have enough faith. All it takes is faith the size of a mustard seed to move a mountain.

Our Pastor put us to the test. How much faith do we have ? We have the fire within us. Do we use it ?

“I tell you the truth. If you have faith and don’t doubt – you can do things like this, and much more. You can even say to this mountain – ‘May you be lifted up, and thrown into the sea’ – and it will happen. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith – you will receive it.” (Matthew 21:21-22)

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

Today at my church I preached a sermon titled “Gloom & Despair”. It’s actually the resurrected remains of an early sermon (one of my first 10) that I wrote in 2017. It sat on my computer all this time as God led me in other directions and placed different messages on my heart.

When deciding on an appropriate sermon to preach to my church family it must be the right sermon at the right time. If it’s not then I ask God for guidance and direction. I ask Him to lead the way for me to discern what I and my brothers and sisters need to hear to get closer to God in the current environment.

Today “Gloom & Despair” was the right sermon at the right time.

At the end of my sermon I read the 150TH Psalm. I read part of each verse, and my church body repeated it after me:

Praise the LORD !  [REPEAT]
Praise God in His sanctuary. [REPEAT]
Praise Him in His mighty heaven !  [REPEAT]
Praise Him for His mighty works. [REPEAT]
Praise His unequaled greatness !  [REPEAT]
Praise Him with a blast of the ram’s horn. [REPEAT]
Praise Him with the lyre and harp !  [REPEAT]
Praise Him with the tambourine and dancing. [REPEAT]
Praise Him with strings and flutes !  [REPEAT]
Praise Him with a clash of cymbals. [REPEAT]
Praise Him with loud clanging cymbals. [REPEAT]
Let everything that breathes sing praises to the LORD !  [REPEAT]
Praise the LORD !  [REPEAT]

We must recommit ourselves to Christ daily. We can’t let a day go by without praising the Lord. And that Psalm right there – the 150TH and final Psalm – is a wonderful ending to the entire book of Psalms that confirms the greatness of our God. If you’re ever struggling with words in your prayers to God – just read out loud Psalm 150.

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