Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday June 16TH 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.

It’s been an incredible past 2 years of my life here on God’s fantastic journey for me. It was 2 years ago earlier this month that I entered and toured (with the help of my Real Estate Agent) my new 55+ gated neighborhood in Highlands County Florida – just a couple of days after turning 55. On that morning in June of 2022 – I confirmed what I already knew – that I did indeed want to purchase my retirement / forever home in that neighborhood during the following Presidents’ Day Weekend in February of 2023. And so – I did what I said I would do – with the Lord’s guidance and direction (and a lot of praying). I selected my new home on the Thursday leading-in to that Presidents’ Day Weekend, and I closed and moved-in to it exactly 4 weeks later in March of 2023.

I’ve been living in my new home for exactly 15 months, and I still love it as much as I did when I first selected it. I’ve taken a fully furnished (nicest furniture I’ve ever owned) 3/2 home, and I’ve made it my own. It is truly my dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream part of the Heartland of Florida !

This past Leap Day – the 29TH of February – right on schedule – I ended my nearly 39-year career with the USAF, and I entered retirement with full pay and benefits.

Sebring / Avon Park is my hometown now, and I’m physically and socially active all around the area – from the stores and restaurants to the museums and church to my own neighborhood. It’s a total lifestyle change for me from my 36+ years of living and working in South Florida.

I had no idea what all of this would “look like” back when I was dreaming about it all before June of 2022. I did a lot of praying back then, and I could not be more thankful for how everything worked out for me.

Don’t worry about anything. Instead – pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace – which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7 NLT)

A couple of Sunday mornings ago I was honored and privileged to preach what turned out to be a 45-minute sermon that I had prepared and enhanced off-and-on over the better part of the past year. It was all about the founder of Sebring Florida – George Eugene Sebring Jr. – and his best friend and next-door neighbor – Charles Frederick Weigle. Mr. Sebring intentionally built a new city with a solid foundation of Jesus Christ as Lord + Savior. It was a city of worship. He gave free land to anyone who built a church on it. He invited his best friend – Evangelist and Songwriter Dr. Weigle – to build a house and move next door to him. He invited retiring Christian workers from all over to move to Sebring – to rest and enjoy the good life in their later years. Mr. Sebring would die unexpectedly in January of 1927 at the age of almost 68. Dr. Weigle was devastated at his sudden passing. He vowed to continue the good work that Mr. Sebring had started, and so he did just that through the early-1950s.

Later this year I’ll present the full transcription of my “Sebring & Weigle” sermon in multiple parts here on #SundayScripture. I want the whole world to know how this beautiful city got its holy start.

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.) I’ll present Part 3 of “Jude & Jury” – next #SundayScripture.

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 Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 382

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 June 09TH 2024 – the 382ND week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 2 5 Beautiful Life
[1ST week @ # 1]
Pat Barrett
2 3 7 Somebody Like Me Caleb & John Ft. Cain
3 1 12 Counting My Blessings Seph Schlueter
4 4 16 You’ve Already Won Shane & Shane
5 5 27 Lead On Good Shepherd Patrick Mayberry
6 7 2 Strongholds Chris Tomlin
7 8 4 Always Only Jesus MercyMe
8 9 3 God Is With Us The Afters
9 10 2 Made For More Josh Baldwin
10 1 Take You At Your Word Cody Carnes

# 1 This Week In:
2023 – “Cornerstone” – TobyMac Ft. Zach Williams
2022 – “Sunday Sermons” – Anne Wilson
2021 – “Help Is On The Way (Maybe Midnight)” – TobyMac
2020 – “I Will Fear No More” – The Afters
2019 – “Born Again” – Austin French
2018 – “The Way (New Horizon)” – Pat Barrett
2017 – “Live Like You’re Loved” – Hawk Nelson

THE AFTERS – They quietly entered my chart a couple of weeks ago with their 3RD hit of the current 7-year era. Their previous 2 hits went all the way to # 1 – “Well Done” at the end of 2018 – and “I Will Fear No More” exactly 4 years ago. They were also on my chart during the previous era – spending 26 weeks (mostly at the start of 2008) with their Top 5 hit “Never Going Back To OK”.

TOP 40 OF 400 – This October I’ll present my Top 40 songs of the first 400 weeks of this chart. Right now Chris Tomlin has 2 songs on the chart – “Home” and “Nobody Loves Me Like You”. He’s charted with 10 songs overall, and he’s my # 4 artist of the current 7-year era.

SPOTIFY – You can hear “My Top 10 Hits” anytime simply by accessing 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 Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday June 09TH 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 in Homestead Florida I had the honor and privilege of singing 4 Praise & Worship songs with a brother and 2 sisters of my longtime church family, and I opened the service after the first song, and I preached about a 45-minute sermon. I then watched as a sister led us in Communion. (I led Communion for 7½ years, and she took over for me.)

I got the unexpected call to preach on the Thursday night prior. As a Pastor I must always be ready to preach God’s Good News – with no notice, with short notice, or scheduled well in advance.

Preach the Word of God. Be prepared – whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. (2 Timothy 4:2 NLT)

I spent most of that Friday finalizing my 60TH sermon since 2016 – the sermon that I’d been working on for the better part of the past year on the creation of the city that I now live near – Sebring Florida. I preached on Charles Frederick Weigle and his good friend and next-door neighbor George Eugene Sebring, Jr. The sermon ended with an “anywhere call”. (That’s my version of an altar call featuring the sinners’ prayer.)

It’s on to my 61ST sermon now, and it’s titled “Music & Lyrics”. It will serve as a sort-of follow-up to “Sebring & Weigle” on how God used music to rescue and save me on an August morning 18 summers ago.

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 now provided for Parts 1 to 8 of “Jude & Judgment” over on my SERMONS page. (It’s Sermon 56.) Here’s Part 2 of “Jude & Jury”:

[CONTINUE SERMON]

Moving on, and Jude is writing about all of the false teachers who have – in his words – wormed their way into your churches. These false teachers tell their followers that because of God’s marvelous grace – you are free to do whatever you feel like doing. You are free to live immoral lives.

You know just because a building looks like a church from the outside, and just because the word “church” appears on a sign in front of the building or on the physical building itself, and just because the leader or leaders of the church call themselves Pastors, or Preachers, or Ministers, or Evangelists – if they are not teaching what’s in the Bible – God’s Word – the only Truth – then they are false teachers. If they are teaching the ways of the world around us – then they are false teachers. These false teachers are teaching about their god (lower-case) – the devil.

[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 Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 381

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 June 02ND 2024 – the 381ST week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 11 Counting My Blessings
[5TH week @ # 1]
Seph Schlueter
2 6 4 Beautiful Life Pat Barrett
3 5 6 Somebody Like Me Caleb & John Ft. Cain
4 3 15 You’ve Already Won Shane & Shane
5 2 26 Lead On Good Shepherd Patrick Mayberry
6 4 6 Unsung Hero for King + Country
7 1 Strongholds Chris Tomlin
8 8 3 Always Only Jesus MercyMe
9 10 2 God Is With Us The Afters
10 1 Made For More Josh Baldwin

# 1 This Week In:
2023 – “This Is Our God” – Phil Wickham
2022 – “Sunday Sermons” – Anne Wilson
2021 – “Help Is On The Way (Maybe Midnight)” – TobyMac
2020 – “I Will Fear No More” – The Afters
2019 – “Born Again” – Austin French
2018 – “The Way (New Horizon)” – Pat Barrett
2017 – “Live Like You’re Loved” – Hawk Nelson

PAT BARRETT – His 4TH hit on my chart is on the verge of becoming my 100TH # 1 smash of the current 7-year era, as “Beautiful Life” surges 4 notches to # 2. His debut hit – “The Way (New Horizon)” – was my 21ST # 1 smash exactly 6 years ago. Both songs remind me of each other. It’s good to have Pat back on my chart with another summertime smash !

CHRIS TOMLIN – He’s got his 10TH hit on my chart over the past 7 years, and it’s his follow-up to his # 1 smash last summer – “Holy Forever”. It’s his 3RD radio single from his 2022 album “Always”.

TOP 40 OF 400 – This October I’ll present my Top 40 songs of the first 400 weeks of this chart. Right now at # 40 on the chart – it’s “Come What May” from We Are Messengers. But there’s a reasonable chance that it won’t be at # 40 on the final chart, as there’s a particular song on my chart right now that could push it off. But #WAM – you’ve already won with that wonderful song.

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