Category: Church

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 7, 2019

I’m currently writing my 27TH sermon since 2016. I’ve already preached 23 of them to my church family. I hope to preach 2 of them over the next couple of months. That leaves 2 remaining. Those 2 are what I refer to as my “reject” sermons. I wrote them in 2017, and at the time they were relevant and they reflected a message that God sent me to pursue. But then life continued on. I moved forward on God’s fantastic journey for me, and the 2 sermons were no longer the right message at the right time. I haven’t given up on those 2 sermons.

One is actually wrestling-themed – timely today since it’s WWE WrestleMania Day. It’s actually amusing to read, and it makes me smile. It needs a lot more work though before I can preach it to my church family.

The other “reject” sermon has actually been cannibalized many times with bits and pieces of it removed and used in subsequent sermons. As it stands right now it’s not even a 10-minute sermon. It’s less than a third of its original length.

Here’s an excerpt from what remains of that once full-length sermon titled “Give & Take”:

By human nature we’re all givers and takers. We give when it’s convenient – usually when someone else is watching – when there’s an audience. We take when it’s convenient – usually when no one else is watching. It seems like we’re always acting for that audience that’s watching us.

Do you give more than you take, or do you take more than you give ? I’m not necessarily talking about the giving and taking of physical objects. I’m also talking about life in general. Have you ever thought about that before ? Personally I never really thought about that – before this fantastic journey. The world tells us that it’s a dog-eat-dog world, and you need to take all that you can get, or you’ll be left behind in a cloud of dust. God tells us differently:

Acts Chapter 20 Verse 35 – It’s an often quoted verse in the Truth: You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

In First Corinthians Chapter 1 the Apostle Paul writes to God’s church:

… to you who have been called by God to be His own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus – just as He did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – their Lord and ours.

God made me holy ? I’m holy ? No – I’m not holy. I’m a sinner. I’ve done bad things in my life. But wait. Christ took all of those bad things from me when He gave His life for me on that cross. “Give & Take”. He gave. He took. Simultaneously. He did this after I called Him my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. I’m holy. You’re holy. We’re holy. But we’re still human. We’re still sinners. But every sinner has a future – just as every saint has a past.

May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 31, 2019

Some Assembly Required (2)

It was a great message and a great sermon on a great day at Living Waters in Homestead Florida. Our Lead Pastor Bob preached on the power of the Holy Spirit in his sermon titled “Breath Of God, Breathe On Us” based on John 20:22 and 3:5, Acts 2:1-4, Luke 24:32, Exodus 3:2 and 13:21-22, Leviticus 6:13 and 9:24, Numbers 3:4, and 2 Chronicles 7:1.

Then He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22 NLT)

DON’T LET THE FIRE GO OUT !

Today is my 6TH Anniversary on Facebook. I was one of the last of my friends to join Facebook due to peer pressure. I created an account on Easter Sunday March 31ST 2013. It was supposed to be an elaborate April Fool’s Day joke, but it backfired.

The first 3 years on Facebook were fun. I tried this blog on Facebook, and it started out strong but then it quickly faded after that. None of my friends really cared to read a 5-minute blog about my journey once or twice per weekend. Nowadays I’m just a lurker and occasional commenter of other peoples’ posts on Facebook.

WordPress is where I belong. I get to blog alongside fellow bloggers !

I’ll be back tomorrow night with my new Top 10 music chart for this weekend. No April Foolin’ !

Bible Church God Ministry Scripture

Exponential 2020

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 28, 2019

Well I know where I’m gonna be during the first 5 days of March of 2020. I’ll be in Orlando Florida attending Exponential 2020. I’m fully registered (and paid) for the annual church planting conference in Orlando. I’m so looking forward to returning there for the first time in 12 years. I’ve already made my own hotel reservations near the site.

A little history: I attended my very first church conference ever as a baby Christian back on 21, 22, and 23 April of 2008. At that time I was only 20 months into my salvation. I was honored and elated to even be invited to attend Exponential 2008 with a small group from my church family at the time. I couldn’t turn down such a wonderful opportunity. As it turns out the church conference was everything I expected it to be and a whole lot more. I grew in Christ exponentially during those 3 days, as I praised and worshiped God with thousands in the biggest sanctuary I had ever seen in my life, and I networked with pastors, ministers, and leaders of the church in much smaller workshop sessions which I hand-selected myself based on my interests at the time. It was at one of those workshop sessions where I was addressed as “Pastor Chris” for the first time ever. That totally blew my mind, and I was surely not worthy of that respect.

That church conference changed my life forever. I decided during that conference that I wanted to eventually go in to full-time ministry, and that part-time ministry must begin immediately. (And it did.)

I was not invited back to Exponential by my former church family – not in 2009 – not in 2010 – not ever again. I was saddened, heartbroken, and devastated by that fact for many years. I’ve kept that to myself for all of these years. Sure I could’ve registered and gone on my own (independently), but it just didn’t seem right to do so. After all if my own church family didn’t want me to go with them then why should I go on my own ? That was not a Godly attitude at the time, but it was how I felt. God doesn’t like bitterness.

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart – because I have overcome the world. (John 16:33 NLT)

Earlier this week I suddenly realized that yet another Exponential conference had come and gone in Orlando for the 11TH year in a row without me. I’ve been praying to God about this for a long time now, and I’ve finally come to terms with this situation. I went to Exponential’s official web site, and I spent a good hour-plus checking it all out. I used God’s courage in me to register for the next conference in 2020. In fact I even registered for a pre-conference equipping lab on leadership. I’ll be taking full advantage of every opportunity I can engage in from before the conference officially starts through the last hour of the conference.

Those close to me know that my plans remain to go in to full-time ministry in about 5 years after I retire from my 38-year USAF career. I don’t know what exactly that full-time ministry entails. It could be planting a new church. It could be joining an established team of church planters. It could be pastoring an existing church. It could be training up-and-coming church leaders. Whatever it is God will lead me there, and He will equip me every step of the way.

My passion in all of this continues to intensify in my 13TH year on this fantastic journey. Some of my brothers and sisters in Christ have believed in me and supported me all the way through. Some believed in me for a season, and then gave up on me for various reasons. Some believed in me, gave up on me, and then returned to me after a period of time when they saw that I was still here living and loving in Christ. Some pretended to like me somewhere along the way, but as it turns out they weren’t really being genuine. Some even used me for their benefit.

Walking this journey is tough. I’ve been saying this since I was a baby Christian in 2007. This journey is not a straight line. You can’t see to the end. It’s a long and winding road with numerous sharp curves. It’s easy to fall into the slimy pit – into the mud and mire – along both sides of the narrow road. It’s easy to make a U-turn and go back to where you came from. It’s hard to continue progressing forward. That’s why you can’t walk alone. That’s why you need brothers and sisters to walk alongside you. But brothers and sisters will eventually let you down, so you need God right in front of you to lead you forth. If you believe, follow, and trust our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ – then He will lead you to those heavenly gates for eternal life with God.

P.S. If you plan to attend Exponential 2020 then let me know so that we can network before, during, and after the conference. #Fellowship #Together2020

Bible Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 24, 2019

After 2 weeks off our Lead Pastor and our Praise & Worship Pastor returned back home to where they belong – up on stage and leading our church family in music and message.

Our Lead Pastor preached from the first-half of Ezekiel 37 with his sermon titled, “Can These Dry Bones Live ?” The answer is “YES !”

For most of us who are born again God rescued us when we were at our lowest of low points of our life. He rescued us from the valley floor.

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. (Psalm 40:2 NLT)

We were dead because of our sins, but God did not leave us in the pit. He lifted us out. He gave us life by His Spirit. He transformed us into a new creation. He gave us a purpose for a new life. We didn’t deserve any of that. But God chose us. He gave us grace and mercy.

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “Look ! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again ! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.” (Ezekiel 37:5-6 NLT)

It was a great message from our Lead Pastor. I appreciate his sermons from the Old Testament. I plan to spend more time reading and studying the Old Testament. Most of my sermons over the past 2½ years have been based on the New Testament. (It’s what I “grew up with” during my years as a baby Christian.) My next sermon that I’ll preach is titled “Gloom & Despair”, and it’s based on Psalms 34, 40, and 150. My next sermon after that (which I’m currently writing) is tentatively titled “Pray & Believe”, and it’ll be all about the power of prayer. For my next sermon after that I’m studying The Book Of Jeremiah. There’s 52 chapters there, so I need to narrow it down to the one (or portion of one) that I hope to share with my church family in a 35 to 45-minute message.

One of my favorite Twitter accounts to follow is @TheMajestysMen. There’s Good News posted there every day. This morning the following was tweeted, and I ended-up sharing it with my church family:

Read more than you write.
Listen more than you speak.
Pray more than you preach.
Compliment more than you correct.

I followed that up with Proverbs 16:24 – Kind words are like honey – sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.