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Bible Christian Church God Ministry Music Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Last night I started writing a brand new sermon. It’s my 26TH sermon over the past 3 years of preaching. As soon as I sat down and decided that I wanted to read, study, and learn more about a character in the Bible that I knew nothing about – God led me on a journey online where I discovered Josiah – King of Judah – from the 2ND Book of Kings.

My goal is to do more teaching in my preaching and expand my sermons into the Old Testament. There’s a lot of great material in the Old Testament – types and shadows. Our Praise & Worship Pastor preached today back-and-forth from both the Old and the New Testaments. You’ve probably heard it said before, and I’ve preached it before – The New is in the Old concealed, and the Old is in the New revealed. Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ is in the Old Testament concealed. In the New Testament He is revealed.

If you will obey Me and keep My covenant – you will be My own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth – for all the earth belongs to Me. And you will be My kingdom of priests – My holy nation. This is the message you must give to the people of Israel. (Exodus 19:5-6)

You are a chosen people. You are royal priests – a holy nation – God’s very own possession. As a result – you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light. “Once you had no identity as a people. Now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy. Now you have received God’s mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10)

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

P.S.  Wanna see and hear some great Christian music tonight ?  Tune-in to TBN (either nationally or a local affiliate or stream it online) tonight from 9 PM to 11 PM EDT (U.S. East Coast Time) for the K-LOVE Fan Awards. I’ll be live-tweeting during the show @ChrisMDay using the hashtags #KLOVE, #FanAwards, and #TBN. Join in on all of the fun on Twitter !

Categories
Bible Christian Church God Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Today was another great day with my church family at Living Waters. We celebrated my birthday today with our tradition of coming up to the front of the sanctuary, putting on a birthday hat, holding up a birthday card, and watching on as everyone sings the traditional “Happy Birthday” song. That’s always a lot of fun. We do that about every 2 or 3 Sundays as each new birthday approaches.

Our Lead Pastor continued his sermon series on faith. It was based on Scripture from both the Old Testament (Genesis) and the New Testament (Matthew).

Just then a woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding came up behind Him. She touched the fringe of His robe, for she thought – “If I can just touch His robe – I will be healed.” Jesus turned around, and when He saw her he said, “Daughter – be encouraged ! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was healed at that moment. (Matthew 9:20-22 NLT)

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

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Bible History Holidays Scripture

Memorial Day

2008 Memorial Day Poster #3.

It’s Memorial Day here in the U.S.A. It’s not appropriate to say “Happy Memorial Day”, for this is a truly solemn holiday. It’s the day each year that we honor our fallen heroes – those military personnel who served their country in a time of war – and who gave the ultimate sacrifice to keep our freedom strong. They gave their life.

This is not a day for those like me who once served in the U.S. Armed Forces, for I am still alive. My day is Veterans Day on November 11TH. It is not a day for those who are currently serving in the military. That day is Armed Forces Day – the 3RD Saturday of May.

On this day I remember our fallen heroes. I will never forget.

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13)

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

Categories
Bible Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

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