Tag: Christ

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday December 26TH 2021, 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.

A couple of Sundays ago I preached a full sermon to my church family. I preached on being “Holy & Redeemed”. It’s based on 1 Peter 1:13-23. Last #SundayScripture I presented an excerpt of that sermon. Let’s continue on:

So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. (1 Peter 1:14)

I can not imagine slipping-back into my old ways of living after 15 years of living for God. My old ways of living were nearly my death sentence. Like many of us in here – I shouldn’t be here. I’m a miracle from God. And I see many miracles sitting here before me today. And our God continues to perform endless miracles.

He’s the Way maker. Miracle worker. Promise keeper. Light in the darkness. My God. That is who You are. That is what He does.

O God – Your ways are holy. Is there any god as mighty as You ?  You are the God who performs miracles. You display Your power among the peoples. With Your mighty arm – You redeemed Your people – the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. (Psalm 77:13-15)

Our God is the holy and powerful redeemer. That’s something that you can tell God every day when you talk to Him. Tell Him what He does for you. Thank Him for it. Tell Him what you need from Him. He already knows, but He wants to hear it from you. Pray about everything.

You know because of everything that God did for me – I want to do more for Him. I want to obey Him. I want to learn more about Him. I want to be more like Him. And I know that you do too.

But now you must be holy in everything you do – just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)

I love when reading Scripture in the New Testament – it refers to the Scriptures of the Old Testament. What’s promised in the Old – is fulfilled in the New.

For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

Let’s go back to the Scriptures – specifically – Pastor Bob’s favorite book of the Old Testament – Leviticus. Near the end of Chapter 11 God’s Word reads:

For I am the LORD your God. You must consecrate (or dedicate) yourselves and be holy – because I am holy. So do not defile yourselves with any of these small animals that scurry along the ground. For I – the LORD – am the One who brought you up from the land of Egypt – that I might be your God. Therefore you must be holy because I am holy. (Leviticus 11:44-45)

I think that the Book of Leviticus is difficult reading – for me anyway. It can be very confusing at times. And then there’s other parts of Leviticus that make perfect sense to me. I understand God’s Word in it. I hear His voice in it.

I’ll continue this sermon next #SundayScripture. As we approach the end of 2021 my hope for you is to close-out this year strong with a hope from our God above for a greater 2022. May you have a safe, healthy, and happy new year !

If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. Tomorrow it’s #Top10Monday, as I present my personal Top 10 hits this week that honor our God Almighty on the radio.

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) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday December 19TH 2021, 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.

Last Sunday I preached a full sermon to my church family. I preached on being “Holy & Redeemed”. It’s based on 1 Peter 1:13-23. Here’s an excerpt of that sermon:

Today I want to talk to you about being “Holy & Redeemed”. Let me start by asking you a couple of questions. Let me ask you this:  Who’s holy in here ?  Who’s holy in here ?  I’m holy. I’m holy because He is holy. That’s all. That’s the only reason I’m holy, No other reason. Because He is holy. Who’s redeemed in here ?  Same here. I’m redeemed. I’m redeemed because He redeemed me. Christ. Bought with a price. Set free by His blood. “Holy & Redeemed”. That’s me. That’s you.

Let’s jump-in to Scripture – starting with the Apostle Peter’s first letter – the first chapter – and verse 13:

So think clearly, and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.

When I last spoke from Peter’s first letter – it was about “Salvation & Hope”. Without God’s salvation – there is no hope, for hope comes from God – and only God. God created hope. God provides hope. God is hope. You can’t get everlasting hope from anyone other than our God !  You can get temporary hope from the world, but it only lasts for a season. It’s false hope. It picks you up, and then it’s gone with the wind.

You know once God rescues and saves us from the darkness that we came from – you know that darkness. That time of no hope. That time of no future. That time of no Savior. Who wants to go back to that time ?  Who wants to go back to that darkness ? Anyone ?  I didn’t think so. God rescued and saved us from all of that.

And since He did that we can’t think like we used to think – back before we had “Salvation & Hope” – back before we were “Holy & Redeemed”. We used to think and act differently when the world owned and operated us – back before we knew God. But now our God is in control. We believe Him. We follow Him. We trust Him. He’s within us. And so the Bible says “think clearly” – “prepare your minds for action”. The King James Version puts it this way – “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind”.

“Gird up” – that means to bind about – to fix – to secure – like with a belt. Back in the Apostle Peter’s day – the First Century – a man had to tuck the hem of his long robe into his belt before he could work. Now – “gird up the loins of your mind” – that means to secure your mind with its full power. You know God created us with powerful minds. And we only use a small portion of them. Or do we ?

You know most people think that we actually use only about 10% of our brains. You’ve probably heard that before. Well – I am here to tell you – that is fake news. Science tells us – and I believe in science – I hope that you do too. Science tells us that we use all 100% of our brains – definitely not all at the same time. We can’t handle the enormous brain power that we have available to us – all at the same time. We use most of our brain power at any given time – while we’re awake – and even while we’re asleep. We use different parts of our brain while we’re asleep, and that’s why we dream, and that’s why oftentimes we don’t remember our dreams. Sometimes we do. We tend to remember the really weird dreams.

But here’s what I’m getting at. Back when the world told us what to say and do, and we said it, and we did it – we didn’t have to think too hard about it. It just came natural to us. Our brain power didn’t need to rev-up. It didn’t need to accelerate. It was in “cruise control” – if you will.

Our God wants us to use more of our minds than we used to when the world told us what to say and do – back during those lazy days. You remember those days – don’t you ?  Anyone still wanna go back to those days ?  No ?  I didn’t think so.

If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. Tomorrow it’s #Top10Monday, as I present my personal Top 10 hits this week that honor our God Almighty on the radio.

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) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries