Category: Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 14TH 2025, 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.

A couple of weeks ago I observed and celebrated my 2ND anniversary at my 4TH church over the past 18½ years. I entered Highlands Community Church here in Sebring Florida for the very first time on Sunday September 03RD 2023. Within the first 15 minutes I already had two new friends – from Homestead Florida – who knew some of my friends and my Pastor and his wife – in Homestead Florida.

I had recently been watching YouTube videos of services of my new church, so I knew what to expect with the music and the message. The only formality was to meet my new Pastor in person before the service started, and so I did on that first Sunday. It’s been a great two years, and the best is yet to come !

Officially I spent a little over 8 years at my first church in Homestead, and 9 years at my second church in Homestead. I enjoyed great experiences at both churches. They each had advantages and disadvantages. I experienced mountain highs and valley lows at both churches. But I look back fondly at both eras with a lot of lessons learned to move forth with. Perhaps I should’ve left my first church after 6½ years so that I could’ve gotten an 18-month head start at my second church. Perhaps I could’ve had the courage to say “no” a few more times at my first church. Perhaps I could’ve preached a few more sermons out of the Old Testament at my second church. Perhaps I could’ve reached out and ministered to a few more of our brothers and sisters at my second church.

My 3RD church here in Sebring entirely overlapped my 2ND church in Homestead, so I was only there once or twice a month. It only lasted about 5½ months. It started strong on my first Sunday there (Palm Sunday 2023), and it slowly diminished from there. I realized that there wasn’t much for me to do there to actively engage in ministry to improve and enhance the experience. It was a gathering of all ages (mostly a bit younger than me), but it really wasn’t alive. There was very little fellowship, and there were obvious cliques that weren’t particularly accepting of new faces. There wasn’t much leadership either, and each service was particularly unorganized and borderline chaotic. The Pastor (half my age) had no personality.

I needed to find a church where I could thrive now and for the rest of my life. When I select a new church – I select one where I expect to stay and thrive indefinitely – not just for a few months or a few years. Had I not moved away from Homestead – my second church would’ve probably been my forever church. But now I’m in Sebring, and I believe that my fourth church is really my forever church. I’m looking forward to what the future holds at Highlands Community Church.

For where two or three gather together as My followers – I am there among them. (Matthew 18:20 NLT)

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, a testimony, 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) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 07TH 2025, 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 use the word “fellowship” often – and not just in a church setting. I use it at the museum where I serve. I use it here in my own neighborhood. Fellowship is now a way of life for me, but it hasn’t always been this way.

As I was planning for my relocation and retirement a few years ago – I decided that once I do relocate – I wanted to “flip the script” – and be a completely different type of person. I wanted to invest in fellowship.

Back in Homestead – particularly during the last 8 years (2015-2023) – I was close to being a recluse – aside from Sundays (church days). I went to work in the morning, I returned home in the afternoon, and I spoke to nobody before and after work. I knew none of my neighbors. They did not know me. Quite frankly I believe that they were suspicious of me, as I was not like them, and I did not speak their language. I think they thought that maybe I worked as a Secret Agent for the FBI, or the CIA, or the U.S. Marshals. Maybe they thought I was doing surveillance every time I was outside taking out the trash or checking my mail or walking to and from my car.

I decided that I no longer wanted to be that type of person that nobody knew outside of church and outside of the workplace.

When I moved away to Sebring – I trusted God and his gift of fellowship.

I immediately became an actively involved member of the Sebring Historical Society (a local non-profit organization). I even became a docent at our historical museum every Tuesday for about 9 months. Every Wednesday I spend up to 5 hours with my museum friends in fellowship. For almost a year I’ve served on our Board Of Directors, and I serve as our Social Media Director. (You can see my work on Facebook at our Sebring Historical Society page.) The former Chris in Homestead would’ve never imagined doing any of this in the local community.

I became active here in my own neighborhood. I’m part of the one-third to one-fourth of my 55+ community that participates in regularly scheduled activities and meetings. I started with BINGO every Monday night soon after I moved in. Nowadays I unlock the doors and cabinets and setup before anyone else arrives at our clubhouse, and then I handle all of the money coming in and determine all of the jackpot amounts. I’m the first to arrive and one of the last to leave. God’s fellowship has led to a feeling of importance – a purpose here at home. And then there are all of the wonderful meals that we’ve shared together in fellowship. And we even have a small Bible Study group that meets weekly throughout most of the year here in my neighborhood !

And then there’s my church family of the past 2 years. Sunday Morning Service is crucial, and so is Men’s Fellowship on the first Tuesday of every month, and so is Friday Night Bible Study each week. It’s fellowship with my brothers and sisters of my church family. It’s sharing our stories and our lives and our fantastic journeys with each other as we walk together towards God’s Glorious light.

So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. We are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light – as God is in the light – then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus – his Son – cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:6-7 NLT)

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, a testimony, 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) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday August 31ST 2025, 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.

For the past 8 Sundays here on #Sunday Scripture I’ve been presenting a transcription of my original sermon that I preached to my previous church family in Homestead Florida on Sunday October 16TH 2022. The title of the sermon is “Blessings & Benedictions”, and it’s my 50TH sermon as identified on my SERMONS page. It’s been interesting bringing the sermon back to life on here nearly 3 years later and presenting it to a different and wider audience this time around.

The sermon has been presented exactly as it was written, but of course it does not include extra dialogue such as ad-libs and other spontaneous thoughts that were verbalized at the time of preaching.

Previous parts of the sermon can be accessed by clicking below:
PART 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

Here’s Part 9 (the conclusion):

Check out this video, and on the other side of it – I’ll have some final words for you.

Great song. Great Benediction to take out into the world out there.

So I want to close this message and send you out there in a special way. The way that I did this a decade ago with my previous church family just down the road from here. It went something like this, and a younger me said:

Let us prepare for our Benediction. I hope that you enjoyed your experience today here at Living Waters – the music – the message. I hope that you join us as we do it again next Sunday at 11. We’ll kick it off with Praise & Worship.

And so let us never go to and leave from church, but let us be God’s church and let us bring God’s church – in everything we do and everywhere we go. And let us boldly introduce and represent Our Father who art in Heaven to the world around us – with what we say – and with what we do, for some of the most powerful preaching comes from walking rather than talking. And let us close out this service and go out into the world the way we always do. It’s our Benediction. It’s straight out of His Good News – His Truth. It’s from Psalm 19 and Verse 14. And as the Bible says:

Let the words of my mouth – and the meditation of my heart – be acceptable in thy sight – O Lord – my Strength – and my Redeemer. AMEN !

May God bless each and every one of us ! Go forth. Go in peace. Go with love in your heart.

(End of sermon)

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, a testimony, 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) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday August 24TH 2025, 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.

As I wrote about last #Sunday Scripture – I’ve celebrated 19 years of salvation in Jesus Christ, and now I’m at the start of my 20TH year since being born again. I’m looking forward to sharing some miracles – some blessings – some experiences – and yes – even some lessons learned since 2006. I’ll be sharing online – and also offline – LIVE and in-person – to anyone who cares to read or listen to my story.

Last month here on #SundayScripture I began transcribing my original sermon that I preached to my church family in Homestead Florida on Sunday October 16TH 2022. The title of the sermon is “Blessings & Benedictions”, and it’s my 50TH sermon as identified on my SERMONS page.

Here’s Part 8:

And at the end of Hebrews is this Benediction:

Now may the God of peace – who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus – the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with His blood – may He equip you with all you need for doing His will. May He produce in you – through the power of Jesus Christ – every good thing that is pleasing to Him. All glory to Him forever and ever ! Amen. (Hebrews 13:20-21)

That’s a good Benediction right there. Another one to take out there to the world.

I like that part about Jesus being “the great Shepherd of the sheep”. It reminds me of the 23RD Psalm (1-4):

The LORD is my shepherd. I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows. He leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths – bringing honor to His name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley – I will not be afraid, for You are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

That Psalm right there makes me smile. It comforts me. It brings peace to my heart. The LORD is our God of peace.

That’s a good Psalm right there to wake up to and say first thing in the morning. That’s a good Psalm right there to take out into the world to testify about Him.

And so finally – we come to our Pastor’s favorite Benediction – “The Priestly Blessing”. A portion of it is actually on our sign out front. It’s also on this picture right here – which has been sitting in our front lobby area for as long as I’ve been here. And I’m going to put it right back where it belongs right after I’m done here. It’s good to read as you walk out the door – back into the world out there.

It’s from the Old Testament. It’s from the Book of Numbers (6:24-26). You’ve heard this so many times before:

May the LORD bless you and protect you.
May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to you.
May the LORD show you His favor and give you His peace.

That’s the New Living Translation, but I like the English Standard Version. This is the version that I use the most for this Benediction:

The LORD bless you and keep you.
The LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

When I first learned that version (right there) it all made sense – except for that word “countenance”. I had never heard of that word before. They didn’t teach that word to me in school in Maryland some 45 years ago. So “countenance” or “favor” or “face” is God’s approval. It’s His attention to, for, and on us.

If you Google “What does the Bible mean by countenance” – you get “calm facial expression; composure; approval or favor; encouragement; moral support”.

The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. That’s what I want.

(To be continued next week.)

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, a testimony, 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) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp