Category: Church

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.

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

Today on this first morning of Daylight Saving Time – historically the worst-attended Sunday morning church service of the year – we actually had a nice turnout today. Following 5 songs of Praise & Worship and Happy Birthday greetings to two of our own I led today’s message with a full sermon.

My sermon was titled “Present & Future”, and it was all about God’s plans versus our own plans. It was my 11TH and final sermon from my very first message series that started 13 months ago on the Book of James. (I usually preach once per month.) Now that I’ve finally wrapped-up a full message series I plan to start the next one immediately lasting the next two years !

Just kidding. That message series was grueling. God got me through it. God led me all the way. He showed me The Way through 5 chapters and 108 verses – about half of them God’s commands or obligations.

My next group of sermons (one already written) will come from all throughout the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs with a little bit of Old Testament included as well.

From today’s sermon:

If you think you are too important to help someone – you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. (Galatians 6:3 NLT)

Carry each other’s burdens. If your neighbor is struggling – then lend him or her a helping hand. If he or she is suffering – then comfort him or her. If he or she is joyful – then celebrate alongside him or her. That’s how you love your neighbor as yourself. That’s how you fulfill the law of Christ. That’s how you disciple. That’s what we must do in the present in order to secure an eternal future with God.

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

Many of my sermons … OK – most of my sermons – have to do with repentance and salvation. A lot of pastors are accused of preaching a narrow cross-section of the Bible, and not the entire Bible. There are prosperity preachers, and doom-and-gloom preachers, and Old Testament-only preachers, and New Testament-only preachers, and preachers who never mention Satan, and preachers who don’t even use the Bible for their sermons. Some preachers scream to get their message across – while other preachers are soft-spoken. Some rely on bells and whistles to appeal to a younger crowd.

I consider the Reverend Billy Graham to be my TV Pastor. I met him while he was in his mid-90s – not in-person – but on television for the first time. I started watching 30-minute editions of his crusades from the late-1960s through the mid-1990s on TBN just a few years ago. I had never seen them before, but I’d been told that my sermons were very Billy Graham-like. Not knowing what to think I did some research, and I started checking him out. I concur. He was one of the greatest preachers of all-time. Millions were rescued and saved by our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ because of the Good News that Reverend Graham brought to the masses. I like his style, as he also preaches mostly about repentance and salvation.

Today our Lead Pastor Bob preached an amazing sermon on salvation using Luke 19:1-10 as the centerpiece of his sermon. I followed that up by leading our church body in Communion with Scripture on salvation from Acts 26:13-18. Neither one of us knew what the other would preach on today, but we flowed right in to each other. God’s Glory was at work today at Living Waters.

Next Sunday I’ll be preaching a full sermon. The title of my sermon is “Present & Future”, and it’s about repentance and salvation. See that’s my specialty. I can preach on repentance and salvation eternally. I have 12 years and 6 months (150 months) of first-hand experience in this area. I preach what I know.

Here’s an excerpt from my sermon for next Sunday:

The Bible says it’s getting late. Time is running out. Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost over. The day of salvation will soon be here. (Romans 13:11-12)

You see we were saved. Past-tense. Salvation began. For me it began during the 3RD week of August of 2006. Salvation continues. Present-tense. It’s ongoing. And salvation will come again. Future-tense. We will be saved when we are victorious over sin and death when Jesus – our Lord and Savior – returns in glory !

He is our Judge. On that day of judgment – He alone – our Judge – who gave the law – has the power to save and to destroy. Many will be destroyed. Some will be saved. I want to be saved again. I want each of you to be saved again. I want my whole family to be saved. I believe we will all be saved.

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