Category: Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 15TH 2024, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

I’m in Homestead Florida this morning. I’ll be preaching a sermon at my longtime church. We’ll have a fellowship lunch after at a local area restaurant – hopefully a steakhouse. For those keeping track (only me ?) – this is my 29TH trip back to Homestead since buying my dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream part of Florida (Sebring) 19 months ago.

Back home I’ll be missing our 10:30 AM service at Highlands Community Church, but I’ll watch it on YouTube tonight or tomorrow morning. We’re currently continuing our message series through Hebrews. Last Sunday we reached Hebrews 7:1-4, and our Pastor preached about Melchizedek – the king and priest together. He was the only such man in Scripture to hold both titles before Jesus. He foreshadowed the Messiah – Jesus Christ.

From Hebrews 5:6-10 (NLT):

And in another passage God said to Him – “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

While Jesus was here on earth – He offered prayers and pleadings – with a loud cry and tears – to the One who could rescue Him from death. And God heard His prayers because of his deep reverence for God. Even though Jesus was God’s Son – He learned obedience from the things He suffered. In this way – God qualified Him as a perfect High Priest, and He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him. And God designated Him to be a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Christ was humiliated. Christ suffered. And then – Christ was and is exalted. As the Son obeyed the Father – we believers and followers must obey Christ – the High Priest – for eternal salvation.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord, and get closer to Him with each new day.

If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 08TH 2024, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

You know – I am not a religious person. I don’t believe in religion. I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord + Savior. He is the one true God. He was sent to this world as a man – not to start another religion, but to end all religion. He died for my sins and for the sins of all mankind – past, present, and future. He rose again. He is alive today. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will return.

Then Jesus said – “Come to Me – all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 NLT)

I know that it may sound weird and confusing for a Pastor to hate religion, but I do. Religion is about obeying manmade rules and rituals in order to get to Heaven. It’s about doing enough good things for other people. None of us is that good. All of us will fail. Many people who go to church really don’t know God. It’s just a ritual to be seen for an hour on Sundays. We are all hypocrites. We are all sinful. Religion is burdensome. It leads to a dead-end. Religion kills. Jesus saves.

I am a born-again evangelical Christian. I have a real relationship with my Lord + Savior Jesus Christ that grows with each new day. I talk directly to Him. I don’t have to go through any other person to reach Him. He’s always there for me. He lives in my heart. I love Him more than anyone and anything. He is why I exist today.

Once you dump the religion and get to know Jesus more and more with every step of the way in each new day – you will really know how to live an abundant and purposeful life with Him eternally. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord, and get closer to Him with each new day.

If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 01ST 2024, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

If you’re a regular reader of my blog – you’ll know that I never discuss politics here. This is a political-free space online. I don’t discuss politics anywhere online. In fact – I rarely discuss politics offline. As a Minister – I don’t discuss it, and I don’t preach about it. I don’t believe that the pulpit or the altar is an appropriate place to talk about politics.

I’ve served and worked with a few Pastors / Ministers who have on occasion used the pulpit for political messages – both subtle and obvious. I’ve felt a bit uncomfortable during these occurrences.

There are some Christians who believe that Pastors should absolutely tell their congregation how to vote, who to vote for, and why – usually supporting their reasoning with a lot of personal opinions and manmade rules – not Biblical Scripture. I would not belong to such a church, and thankfully none of my 4 churches over the past 17½ years have been anything close to that. I will only be part of a Bible-believing and teaching church body – not a left or right church – not a liberal or conservative church. I don’t want to know the political beliefs of my brothers and sisters. I want to know that they are getting closer to God with each new step and each new day. On Sunday mornings I will continue to preach on repentance and salvation. May I only speak on God’s Truth.

Here’s what the Bible says about politicians – from Romans 13:1-7:

Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities ? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants – sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong – of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants – sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them – not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.

Pay your taxes, too – for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do. Give to everyone what you owe them. Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord, and get closer to Him with each new day.

If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday August 25TH 2024, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

During my last few years of living and working in Homestead Florida – I vowed to not be the person that I was for all of those years once I move away and enter the retirement chapter of my life. I was an anti-social loner in Homestead. I basically went to work, and then I came home exhausted after a long day. I rarely associated with coworkers, friends, or neighbors. I actually didn’t know a single one of my neighbors, and I lived in a gated neighborhood of 640 condos.

I didn’t want to be that person in Sebring Florida, so I prayed a lot about it. 17 months after moving away – I’m thankfully not that person. I’m more socially active today than I could have ever imagined back at my previous place. I know many of my neighbors, and I hang out with them each week – particularly every Monday night at BINGO as well as at various breakfast, lunch, and dinner events during the year (all food-related). You know – food and fellowship go hand-in-hand with each other. Can you have food without fellowship ? Of course. How about fellowship without food ? Definitely. But food and fellowship – it’s a match made in Heaven.

And then there are my museum friends – at 3 different museums in Sebring and Avon Park. I actually spend more time with my museum friends than I do with my neighbor friends. Again – food is generally involved. And not only that, but I get to welcome and meet and guide and share information with locals and tourists – visitors alike – at one of my museums every Tuesday. It’s like my workday in retirement. I actually dress-up a bit on Tuesdays – much like I did on Tuesdays when I was working (before retirement).

But wait there’s more. I can’t leave out my new church family. Next week marks exactly one year with my Highlands Community Church family. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ. About 20 of us meet every Friday night for Bible Study hosted by our Senior Pastor. It’s a great time for fellowship (without the food). And then there’s what we call Men’s Ministry – which should really be called Men’s Fellowship (with food – usually home-cooked). I just recently immersed myself into this every other Tuesday night event. And finally – we praise and worship our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ corporately every Sunday morning. More fellowship.

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another – especially now that the day of His return is drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT)

You know – I should write a sermon on fellowship. Actually – I don’t really need to write one. I can just preach all about it from the heart (and experience). I can preach on how God gradually transformed me and used fellowship to change my life. I can preach on the importance of fellowship on this day-to-day journey with Christ. It’s not just a Sunday morning thing. It’s not just a church thing. It’s life sharing. It’s life changing.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord, and get closer to Him with each new day.

If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp