CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday July 21ST 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 awoke in Homestead Florida this morning. (I’ve been here since Thursday morning.) I’m looking forward to a glorious morning at my former home church, as well as fellowship at a local area restaurant afterwards. (Probably Mexican.)

Back home in Sebring Florida we’re diving-in to Hebrews on Sunday mornings, and Nehemiah on Friday nights at Bible Study. Studying Nehemiah is bittersweet for me. It was 17 summers ago in 2007 during my first year of my first church family (in Homestead) that we enjoyed a 9-week study of Nehemiah at Bible Study at night. It was the debut of our brand-new Executive Pastor at the time, and he led Nehemiah every Wednesday night. It was groundbreaking Scripture for me. He and I became instant friends. We’re the same age (3½ months apart), and we’re both originally from the Washington D.C. area. We’re both Washington Redskins (Commanders) fans. We had a good but too short run together.

Since the start of April and for the next month – I’m presenting the full transcription of my recent Jude message series consisting of two sermons – “Jude & Judgment” (Verses 1-11), and “Jude & Jury” (Verses 12-25). I preached them to my Homestead Florida church family on November 26TH 2023 and December 03RD 2023 respectively. Links are provided for Parts 1 to 8 of “Jude & Judgment” over on my SERMONS page. (It’s Sermon 56.) Here’s Part 6 of “Jude & Jury”:

[CONTINUE SERMON]

This is our believer’s Communion. We believe that we have one living and true God – in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. 3 Persons – 1 God. Each is God individually; yet, they are one God together. One God who is almighty. One God who never changes with the times. One God who is eternal.

And so this believer’s Communion is open for everyone who hears me – everyone who believes this. If you believe that we are now under the eternal protection of our Shepherd – then I invite you to accept this bread and this juice.

I invite you to join me in honoring our 3-in-1 God – who reigns – now and forever.

Our God comes to us – where we are. Today – I will come to you – where you are – with these elements. We’ll accept them together as a church body.

[Distribute elements.]

Let us take this bread, and know that it represents the sacred body of Christ that was given up for us on that cross. We take this bread in remembrance of Him.

Let us take this juice, and know that it represents the precious blood of Christ that was shed for us on that cross. We take this juice in honor of Him.

Let us bow our heads. Let us pray:

Thank You God for this Glorious moment – in this place – at this time. Thank You Lord for being the unchangeable and unstoppable God that You are – Creator, Christ, and Spirit as One.

Thank You Lord for Your awesome presence in our lives – and Your intentional purpose for our lives. May all of Your blessings of beauty and miracles of marvel constantly strengthen our faith in You, increase our love towards others, and unify our hearts and our souls. We honor You Lord. We praise You Lord. We worship You Lord. We celebrate You Lord. We love You Lord – on this day – and with each new day. And we confirm this by saying – AMEN.

(You can set your Communion cups aside until the end of the service.)

As the Bible says in John’s Gospel (6:57), and this is in red letters, so Christ said it Himself. He said:

I live because of the living Father who sent Me. In the same way – anyone who feeds on Me will live because of Me.

Receiving the body and blood of Christ during Communion means that we are embracing the life-giving sacrifice of Jesus. We are reminding ourselves that we are His. We belong to Him.

On a personal note – I have a few more Communions to lead here in January and February – maybe in March. After that – someone one else will step-up and lead Communion in their own unique way, as I will only be here a few times a year starting in March. It’s been an honor to lead Communion here for over 7 years. It’s an important part of our Sunday morning worship experience.

OK. My sermon is not yet done. I’ve preached on the first 23 verses of Jude’s letter this morning and last Sunday morning.

We have the final 2 verses to go:

[TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK]

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 July 14TH 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.

There’s a Facebook group that I follow and post in occasionally. It’s called “Pastors For Pastors”. Its “About” is “a community of Pastors dedicated to supporting one another”. Most of the time that’s the case, but then there’s those other times. Pastors can be really mean and downright nasty to each other. I know it happens physically, as I’ve seen it so many times before over the past 17½ years. It definitely happens electronically, as Pastors make great “keyboard warriors”. They write things that they would never say in public (much less preach).

I also think that there are trollers within the “Pastors For Pastors” group who are not actually Pastors, or Ministers, or anyone associated with a church body. They are there (just like they are in many Facebook groups) to troll and disrupt the community. They are rather effective in their dirty deeds.

Since the start of April and for the next couple of months – I’m presenting the full transcription of my recent Jude message series consisting of two sermons – “Jude & Judgment” (Verses 1-11), and “Jude & Jury” (Verses 12-25). I preached them to my Homestead Florida church family on November 26TH 2023 and December 03RD 2023 respectively. Links are provided for Parts 1 to 8 of “Jude & Judgment” over on my SERMONS page. (It’s Sermon 56.) Here’s Part 5 of “Jude & Jury”:

[CONTINUE SERMON]

We must pray in the power of the Holy Spirit – which we all have if we believe and follow God. It’s an amazing power. We must use that power – constantly. The more we use it – the closer we get to God. The Holy Spirit is God’s power – in our heart.

We must await God’s mercy. It’s constant. Just as we have received God’s mercy – we must give mercy to those around us. But we must never condone, ignore, or excuse their sin – or our sin, for sin leads to death in hell. As the Scripture reveals – we must hate the sins that contaminate their lives. As the New King James Version puts it – we must hate even the garment defiled by the flesh.

This is a good time to observe and celebrate Communion – right here in the middle of my sermon. So don’t get up and go after Communion, or else you’re going to miss the entire second-half of my message. The best is yet to come.

It is the 1ST Sunday of a brand-new month – December. It’s our time here together to observe and celebrate Communion. It’s an observance. We observe it at or near the start of every month. It’s an opportunity. It allows us to slow down, and reflect, and honor, and remember what our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ did for us on that cross on that day. It’s a celebration. We continue this celebration that we enjoy in community as a church body every Sunday morning when we bring the church from out there to in here. And this is the altar – of this sanctuary. And we – You and I – we are the church.

Christ suffered for us. Never did He sin. Never did He deceive anyone. Never did He retaliate against anyone. Never did He seek revenge against anyone. None of us can claim that, but Christ can. Christ was innocent. We – we are guilty.

See He had no sins of His own, so He carried all of our sins – past, present, and future – to the cross. He died a horrible death to pay the penalty for our sins forever. He did that for us. As His believers and followers – that allows us to be dead to sin. That allows us to live for what is right. We didn’t deserve it, but by God’s Grace – we are saved. By His wounds – we are healed. By His suffering – we are free.

So let’s remember – what Christ did for us – and what He continues to do for us. And you know – what He’s done for us – He’ll do for anyone out there who calls on Him.

[TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK]

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