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Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 03RD 2023, 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.

Yesterday afternoon I saw “The Hill” at the movie theatre. It’s a faith-based true story about a young baseball player with a disability and his family including his Pastor Dad in a small town in Texas. The story was uplifting, and I enjoyed every minute of it. 4 stars. “A+”. I recommend !

This morning I’ll be checking out a new church here in Sebring. I’ve decided to leave my first church here in my new hometown after about 4½ months. I’m looking forward to a new Pastor and a new church family to meet and greet.

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. 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 10:23-25 NLT)

And now here on #SundayScripture it’s the continuation of the refresh, renew, and reboot of my sermon on “Pray & Believe” – originally preached on Sunday June 16TH 2019. Here’s Part 6:

[CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK]

So back to our story on King Herod of Judea. In 44 A.D. – some 10 or 11 years after the death and resurrection of Christ – King Herod had the apostle James (the brother of John) killed with a sword. Now this is a different James than the James that I preached on for much of 2018. That James was the half-brother of Jesus Himself. This James – son of Zebedee – was one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus. In fact he may have been the first of the 12 to join Jesus. He was also the first to be murdered for his faith. The other James – the one that I preached on for much of 2018 – (and into 2019) – well – he began his letter – what we now know as the Book Of James – about 5 years later – addressing it to the 12 tribes – the Jewish believers that were scattered abroad due to persecution.

So King Herod had the apostle James killed with a sword, and he continued the momentum by arresting Peter during Passover of that same year – 44 A.D. He sent Peter to jail where he was heavily guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. There was no way that Peter could possibly escape … or was there ?

While Peter was in prison – the church prayed very earnestly for him. (Acts 12:5)

You know that God answers the earnest – the intentional prayers of His believers and followers – His holy people ? I know that. I hope that you know that too. God answers your prayers. Are you talking to Him ?

I’ve asked God for miracles – big miracles – impossible miracles – life-changing miracles – over these past 17 years of this journey. Guess what I got ? I got miracles ! I know I’m not alone. I’m looking at miracles – beautiful living miracles – here in this church body. I am in the presence of miracles, for with God – who we are all in the presence of – all things are possible. There is always a way with God.

You know that none of us are supposed to be here. If the enemy had his way – we wouldn’t be here. This church body wouldn’t exist. We probably wouldn’t know each other. Some of us wouldn’t be alive today. But we are. And we’re here. And God put us together as His church body in this place. He did that intentionally. We are not here by accident. We are not here by coincidence. We are His holy people. We are His disciples. We are His messengers. We are His miracles. (Everyone say “miracles”.) We belong to each other. We need each other.

[TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK]

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) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 341

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 August 27TH 2023 – the 341ST week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 2 6 Praise You Anywhere
[1ST week @ # 1]		 Brandon Lake
2 3 7 The King Is Alive Jordan Feliz
3 1 14 Big God Terrian
4 4 3 Praise The Lord Micah Tyler
5 5 8 To Not Worship You MercyMe
6 6 11 Every Hour David Leonard Ft. Josh Baldwin
7 8 2 Hallelujah Feeling Caleb & John
8 10 3 Jesus Does We The Kingdom
9 9 4 Heaven Changes Everything Big Daddy Weave
10 7 22 Fingerprints Dan Bremnes

# 1 This Week In:
2022 – “Hold You Tight” – Dan Bremnes
2021 – “Into The Wild” – Josh Baldwin
2020 – “Miracles” – Colton Dixon
2019 – “Nobody (But Jesus)” – Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
2018 – “Who You Say I Am” – Hillsong Worship
2017 – “Broken Things” – Matthew West

BRANDON LAKE – He scores his first chart-topper here on #CountUp with his 6TH hit overall and 2ND as a solo artist. “Praise You Anywhere” reaches # 1 after about 2½ months of radio airplay. It was actually a slow climb outside of my Top 10 for the first 6 weeks, and now in its 6TH week on my chart – it’s at the pinnacle. As Brandon stated on social media – “Praises can be a weapon, a force … a source of HOPE !”

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again with the new weekend – and 4 new entries – known as #TravelThursday, #SundayScripture, a special #LaborDay post on Monday, and #MusicMonday on Tuesday.

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. I’m also on X and Flickr.

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) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday August 27TH 2023, 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.

Today is the 3RD of 3 consecutive days of celebration and fellowship at my longtime home church in Homestead Florida. This past Friday and Saturday evenings we celebrated the life of a brother who recently passed on to be with his Creator forever. He led a complex yet simple life of over 61 years, but he ultimately confessed in Christ here on Earth. He did that several years ago at the altar of our church. It changed his life forever, and that is why he is with his Creator today.

“Everyone who acknowledges Me publicly here on earth – I will also acknowledge before My Father in heaven. But everyone who denies Me here on earth – I will also deny before my Father in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33 NLT)

We did a 2-night / 2-service “celebration-of-life”. It was actually my 2ND celebration-of-life over the past 2 months. (The first one was at my original home church from 2007 to 2015.)

It’s been just a few years that I’ve known of the “celebration-of-life” concept. It is what it says it is. It’s a celebration of one’s life shortly after they have passed on. The funeral service or the cremation of the physical remains have already been taken care of, and this is the time for the family and friends to gather together and look back at his or her life.

I know that our brother was looking down from Heaven hearing us as we spoke of him.

And now here on #SundayScripture it’s the continuation of the refresh, renew, and reboot of my sermon on “Pray & Believe” – originally preached on Sunday June 16TH 2019. Here’s Part 5:

[CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK]

“I will send prophets and apostles to them, but they will kill some and persecute the others. As a result – this generation will be held responsible for the murder of all God’s prophets from the creation of the world – from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah.” (Luke 11:49b-11:51a)

One of my favorite sermons to preach on about 5 years ago was the story of Cain & Abel. It was the story of firsts. The first man – Adam. The first woman – Eve. They were the first couple. Together they acted on the first sin in the Garden Of Eden. They created the first brothers – Cain & Abel – who became the first teenagers. Cain was the first farmer. He brought forth the first blood offering to the LORD, but it was not the best blood offering. Cain threw the first temper tantrum. He carried out the first act of violence. It was the first murder scene in the creation. Cain went wandering. He eventually met a woman. They had a son. Cain founded the first city. It was the first manmade civilization. Enoch was the name of his first son and the city. (To be continued. That was both a recap – and a preview.)

Footnote: You know I never did what that preview alluded to. I think back then (when I originally preached this sermon in 2019) I was planning on a follow-up or sequel sermon about Enoch – the man and the city named for him. I still want to do that. I need to put it back on my sermon drawing board. Back to the sermon now:

That’s the story of firsts. Cain’s murder of Abel in the fields was the first murder of the Old Testament. The stoning of Zechariah in the courtyard of the LORD’s temple in Second Chronicles was the last murder of the Old Testament.

“No Chris. You’re wrong ! 2ND Chronicles is right in the middle of the Old Testament. It’s not at the end !”

That’s correct, but the Old Testament that you and I know today is different from the Hebrew Bible. See – today’s Old Testament is 39 books placed into 4 categories or groups, and then chronologically ordered within each group. It’s based on the Greek translation of the Old Testament.

The Hebrew Bible contains 24 books placed into 3 categories – the Instruction (or Torah), the Prophets, and the Writings. Chronicles (1ST & 2ND combined) was the final Book of the Writings, and hence – the final Book of the Hebrew Bible.

And that’s a “rabbit trail”. (I just wanted to explain God’s words from Luke when He said “from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah”.)

[TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK]

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) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 340

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 August 20TH 2023 – the 340TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 13 Big God
[5TH week @ # 1]		 Terrian
2 3 5 Praise You Anywhere Brandon Lake
3 4 6 The King Is Alive Jordan Feliz
4 9 2 Praise The Lord Micah Tyler
5 2 7 To Not Worship You MercyMe
6 5 10 Every Hour David Leonard Ft. Josh Baldwin
7 6 21 Fingerprints Dan Bremnes
8 – 1 Hallelujah Feeling Caleb & John
9 8 3 Heaven Changes Everything Big Daddy Weave
10 10 2 Jesus Does We The Kingdom

# 1 This Week In:
2022 – “Hold You Tight” – Dan Bremnes
2021 – “When We Fall Apart” – Ryan Stevenson Ft. Vince Gill & Amy Grant
2020 – “Miracles” – Colton Dixon
2019 – “Raise A Hallelujah” – Bethel Music
2018 – “Who You Say I Am” – Hillsong Worship
2017 – “Hard Love” – NEEDTOBREATHE

CALEB & JOHN – I love a debut artist on my chart. Enter Caleb & John with their debut single that I’ve been waiting patiently to add after hearing it for a few months on The JOY FM. Now K-LOVE has added it, and it sounds GREAT played LOUD on the radio.

I get that feeling that I’ll be singing along to that “Hallelujah Feeling” for the rest of the year. The uplifting and energetic track glorifies our God of hope, and it’s actually based on my Benediction from Romans 15:13 that you see down at the bottom of this page every week.

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again with the new weekend – and 3 new entries – known as #TravelThursday, #SundayScripture, and #MusicMonday.

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. I’m also on X and Flickr.

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) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp