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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday April 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.

Last Sunday morning I was invited by my brother to go to church with him, his wife, and their two children. My brother and his wife associate as Catholics, so we went to the local Catholic church a couple of miles away from their home. We went to the 10:30 AM service. I believe that it was my first Catholic church service in nearly 40 years (since USAF Basic Military Training in San Antonio Texas). It was interesting. Lots of recitations, rituals, traditions, stands, sits, and kneels. I mostly observed.

For the next several 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. Here’s Part 2:

[CONTINUE SERMON]

So – like his brother James – Jude did not follow Jesus during His 3-year ministry here on Earth. James and Jude thought that Jesus was a crazy guy. “He is out of his mind” – they said. Imagine that – James and Jude lived with Jesus during His ministry, but they did not really know Him. They did not understand Him. They definitely did not believe that He was the Messiah. You know – it’s kind of like today. People all over the world know of Jesus, but they don’t really know Him, or understand Him, or even believe in Him as God. Oh – and that includes a lot of self-proclaimed Christians too. They don’t really know Him.

It wasn’t until after Christ died and rose again – that James and Jude – His own brothers – became believers and followers of our resurrected Lord. They saw the light. And they traveled around the region. And they spread the message of their brother – of their risen God – Jesus Christ.

So Jude writes:
Dear friends – I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. (Jude 3a)

That would be a good letter to read from Jude – all about salvation. I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but – it’s one of my favorite topics. Every sermon that I preach includes salvation as a central theme. It’s that important to me. It’s why I’m alive today. It’s why you know me today.

But notice that Jude writes I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. You know – it sounds like he’s not going to write about that now. It sounds like he’s going in another direction with his letter.

It sounds like a lot of my sermons. I think I’m going to write and preach about one thing, and then God leads me in another direction with my sermon. And I love when He does that.

But – now I find that I must write about something else – urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to His holy people. (Jude 3b)

You must defend – or protect – your faith in Christ both in and out of the church. I don’t know if you know this or not, but – the enemy is lurking. He’s lurking in everything you do – and everywhere you go. He’s looking for your vulnerable moments, so that he can exploit them to his advantage. That’s what he does. And the enemy – the enemy even works on Sunday mornings. And he’s not afraid to walk right through those doors and into this sanctuary. We must defend our faith in Christ. That means being His hands – and His feet – and YES – even His voice – here on Earth.

[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

Categories
Blogging Driving Geography History Nature Photography Travel

Florida’s Nature Coast

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. On Day 1 of my ongoing retirement road-trip to and from North Texas I departed my home in the Heartland of Florida at dawn. I proceeded northward on U.S. 27 / U.S. 98, and I continued up U.S. 27 to Lake Wales, and then westward along State Road 60. I picked-up U.S. 98 again through Bartow, Lakeland, and points north and west.

My first stop on this road-trip was Weeki Wachee Springs State Park – the legendary roadside attraction that has brought millions of people through its front gates off U.S. 19 for the past 77 years. During its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s it was one of the most popular tourist attractions in Florida (along with Silver Springs and Cypress Gardens). Everyone wanted to not just catch a glimpse of the mermaids, but also see them in action, and meet them in person, and have their picture taken with them before and after the shows. I saw the mermaids perform Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” for their regularly-scheduled 11 AM show in the Underwater Theater.

Weeki Wachi Springs became a Florida State Park on November 01ST 2008. (The state now owns and operates it.) It was added to the U.S. National Register Of Historic Places in January 2020. It appears to be doing great business, and on some days – they reach capacity and can no longer let additional people into the park. On this particular day (a Monday) the park was thriving with hundreds of kids and their parents. Buccaneer Bay – the on-site water park – is also a main attraction. Personally – I thought that the park was underwhelming. I don’t do water parks, and aside from the 30-minute mermaid show (which was fun for all ages) – there was not much else to see or do at the park. Remnants of the park (from when it was independently owned – including by ABC-TV) still exist, and it’s a sad reminder of what the park once was all of those years ago.

I visited two other Florida State Parks on that Monday – Crystal River Archeological State Park and Forest Capital Museum State Park (near Perry). Both were pleasant surprises and much nicer than I anticipated. The former – with its traditional museum inside and its collection of Native American mounds outside – was nothing short of spectacular – especially the scenery from atop one of the mounds.

Crystal River (flowing from left to right towards the Gulf Of Mexico)

Fun Facts: All 3 of these Florida State Parks are located along the Nature Coast – a region of 8 mostly rural counties located directly on the Gulf Coast from the Big Bend region southward to north of the Tampa Bay region.

I love Florida’s Nature Coast. I love driving along scenic U.S. 19 / U.S. 98 and seeing historic motor inns and restaurants along the way – some of which are still in business with modern amenities. (Others are long dormant and rotting in place.) There’s so much to see and do in this area, and I’m just getting started.

Next #TravelThursday – It’s on to Mobile Alabama to explore more history by land and by sea. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 373

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from the previous week. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back over 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday April 07TH 2024 – the 373RD week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 2 7 He Does
[1ST week @ # 1]		 Brandon Heath
2 1 18 Lead On Good Shepherd Patrick Mayberry
3 3 7 You’ve Already Won Shane & Shane
4 7 15 Hallelujah Anyway Rend Collective
5 4 3 Walk With Jesus Consumed By Fire
6 8 5 All Because Of Mercy Casting Crowns
7 9 3 Counting My Blessings Seph Schlueter
8 5 3 God Be The Glory We Are Messengers
9 10 2 Rescue Jordan St. Cyr
10 – 1 The Prodigal Josiah Queen

# 1 This Week In:
2023 – “The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)” – Matt Maher
2022 – “Brighter Days” – Blessing Offor
2021 – “Say I Won’t” – MercyMe
2020 – “Almost Home” – MercyMe
2019 – “Confidence” – Sanctus Real
2018 – “Freedom Hymn” – Austin French
2017 – “I Have This Hope” – Tenth Avenue North

JOSIAH QUEEN – I love a debut artist, and this week Josiah Queen scores his first hit on my chart with “The Prodigal”. Josiah is just a dude with a guitar and stories on his heart. He’s 21-years-old. He was born and raised in the Tampa Bay area. His parents are both Pastors. He started writing music at age 9. He was saved by God at age 12. He’s a worship leader now at his home church in New Port Richey Florida.

SPOTIFY – You can hear “My Top 10 Hits” anytime simply by heading over to my CountUp playlist on Spotify. All 10 hits are there from top to bottom. You can hear them in order from # 1 to # 10, or you can shuffle them. My playlist will be updated every weekend (usually before the actual chart is presented here on Mondays). You can link to it here.

Your likes, follows, and comments are always appreciated. Thank You for being part of my online ministry to share God’s Good News and win souls for Christ through His music. God used loud music on the radio to reach me in August of 2006. I’ve been testifying about Him ever since.

Be blessed my friends !  May our God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Holidays Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday April 07TH 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.

Starting with this edition – and continuing for the next several months – I’ll be 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.

[BEGIN SERMON]

Well Good Morning again church family. It’s always good to be able to preach the Good News of the Lord to you – and to me too. When I preach to you and others – in here and out there and online – I preach to myself as well. And when I preach – I strive to glorify God. You see when we glorify God – we honor Him – for who He is – for what He has done for us – for what He is doing for us – for what He will do for us. The Bible says “glorify God in your body and in your spirit – which are God’s.” Let us glorify God in everything we do – and everywhere we go.

Lord lead me as I deliver Your Word today. Let my brothers and sisters who hear me today get closer to You so that they will be more like You in every way. And bring me closer to You too Lord. In Your powerful name I pray. Amen.

Today I want to talk to you about a slave of Jesus Christ – and a brother of James – the same James – who was a brother of Jesus Himself. That would be Jude. Jude is a brother of James, so He’s a brother of Jesus.

Jude’s letter to the Christians is located near the end of the New Testament – right before the Book of Revelation. His letter is very short. It’s a single chapter of just 25 verses. It’s 461 words. You can read it in about 2 to 3 minutes, but you don’t need to read it that fast. I often say that you should read the Bible slowly, so that you understand it. You should read it slowly, so that you don’t miss anything. You should read it slowly, so that you can absorb God’s Good News. Once you’ve absorbed God’s Good News – then you can go and tell it to others. We should all be preachers of God’s Word.

As you can tell – I’m not a fan of skimming or speedreading the Bible. I also don’t recommend reading the next verse until you’ve understood what God is trying to tell you in the current verse. And if you don’t understand the current verse – then read the previous verse. That’s a great way to read and understand the Bible.

So starting at the top of Jude’s letter:

Jude is writing to all – who have been called by God the Father – who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love. (Jude 1b-2)

So – Jude introduces himself to his readers then and now, and he prays for them. May God give you more and more mercy. YES – I need that. We need that. We need God’s mercy. We can’t live without God’s mercy. It comes with His grace. God the Father showed mercy on us when He sent His one and only Son to the Cross to die for our sins. Jesus paid the price for our sins – past, present, and future – so that we may live in God’s Glory. And when we do that – when we live in God’s glory – we experience His abundant peace and love and joy. We want that. We need that – more and more with each new day. We can get that – when we focus on Him – more today than we did yesterday.

[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