Tag: Christian

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 08TH 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.

You know – I am not a religious person. I don’t believe in religion. I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord + Savior. He is the one true God. He was sent to this world as a man – not to start another religion, but to end all religion. He died for my sins and for the sins of all mankind – past, present, and future. He rose again. He is alive today. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will return.

Then Jesus said – “Come to Me – all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 NLT)

I know that it may sound weird and confusing for a Pastor to hate religion, but I do. Religion is about obeying manmade rules and rituals in order to get to Heaven. It’s about doing enough good things for other people. None of us is that good. All of us will fail. Many people who go to church really don’t know God. It’s just a ritual to be seen for an hour on Sundays. We are all hypocrites. We are all sinful. Religion is burdensome. It leads to a dead-end. Religion kills. Jesus saves.

I am a born-again evangelical Christian. I have a real relationship with my Lord + Savior Jesus Christ that grows with each new day. I talk directly to Him. I don’t have to go through any other person to reach Him. He’s always there for me. He lives in my heart. I love Him more than anyone and anything. He is why I exist today.

Once you dump the religion and get to know Jesus more and more with every step of the way in each new day – you will really know how to live an abundant and purposeful life with Him eternally. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

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 – Summer Of 2024

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. Today it’s a special chart of my Top 10 hits of this past Summer. Here’s this Summer’s chart:

RK PK WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 15 Somebody Like Me Caleb & John Ft. Cain
2 1 15 Beautiful Life Pat Barrett
3 1 13 Take You At Your Word Cody Carnes
4 2 10 Good Day Forrest Frank
5 2 9 Lead On Good Shepherd Patrick Mayberry
6 3 9 Nothin’ Sweeter TobyMac
7 1 5 Counting My Blessings Seph Schlueter
8 3 6 Strongholds Chris Tomlin
9 4 9 Miracle Child Brandon Lake
10 3 6 You’ve Already Won Shane & Shane

# 1 Summer Of:
2023 – “Big God” – Terrian
2022 – “Love Is Everything We Need” – Unspoken
2021 – “Yes He Can” – Cain
2020 – “No Impossible With You” – I AM THEY
2019 – “Raise A Hallelujah” – Bethel Music
2018 – “Do It Again” – Elevation Worship
2017 – “Wonder” – Hillsong UNITED

WHAT A SUMMER ! – 15 weekly hit music charts and 21 positive and encouraging hits (2 less than the last 2 Summers) have created this cumulative hit music chart of my Top 10 hits of the Summer Of 2024 based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay. This past Summer season is defined as U.S. Memorial Day Weekend (last Sunday of May) to U.S. Labor Day Weekend (first Sunday of September). This chart is an End-Of-Summer tradition for me.

NO SOLO AT THE TOP – After last Summer’s anomaly with a solo artist (Terrian) atop my chart – a band / group returns to # 1 for the Summer. Bands / groups have now led my chart for 7 out of 8 Summers. This year it’s Caleb and John and Taylor and Madison and Logan. They scored my # 1 smash of the Summer with “Somebody Like Me”. It’s 1 of 2 songs to spend all 15 weeks of the Summer on my chart – including 6 weeks at # 1. Male solo artists dominated my chart this Summer with 8 out of my Top 10 hits. In fact – Taylor and Madison Cain are the only female artists on my chart.

PAT BARRETT – His 4TH hit is the biggest hit of his career on my chart. “Beautiful Life” also spent all 15 weeks of the Summer on my chart – including 4 weeks at # 1. Next week it will enter “My Top 40 Hits – 400 Weeks” – a special chart that I’ll present the day after my 400TH chart of this current era (since February 2017).

JOSIAH QUEEN – His debut hit “The Prodigal” spent 15 non-consecutive weeks on my chart, but only 7 of them were in the Summer. He peaked at # 4 (twice), and he barely missed out on my Top 10 for the Summer – finishing at # 11.

2024 – Get ready for the final 17 weeks of 2024, and after it’s all over – I’ll #CountUp my Top 24 Of 2024.

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

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 394

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 September 01ST 2024 – the 394TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 13 Take You At Your Word
[3RD week @ # 1]		 Cody Carnes
2 3 4 Count ‘Em Brandon Lake
3 2 10 Good Day Forrest Frank
4 5 17 Beautiful Life Pat Barrett
5 4 19 Somebody Like Me Caleb & John Ft. Cain
6 10 2 Up + Up Colton Dixon
7 9 4 Do It Again Steven Curtis Chapman
8 6 8 Take It All Back Tauren Wells
9 7 9 Nothin’ Sweeter TobyMac
10 8 3 Just As You Are Ryan Stevenson

# 1 This Week In:
2023 – “Praise You Anywhere” – Brandon Lake
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

THE FORGE – Good to see North America seeing this wonderful movie at the theatres. After 11 days – it’s made over $16 million at the box office, and it actually increased its theatre count for this holiday weekend – up to 1,921. (That’s a rarity nowadays.) If it’s playing near you then I highly recommend you seeing it if you haven’t done so already. Box office receipts such as these should encourage movie makers to make more about our Glorious God. It should also encourage theatre owners to include these movies at their venues.

SUMMER OF 2024 – It’s the final week of our 15-week Summer (starting with Memorial Day Weekend and ending with Labor Day Weekend here in the U.S.A.). As is tradition here on #CountUp – I’ll present “My Top 10 Hits” of the Summer. In fact – I’m working on it now. It’ll publish tomorrow – Wednesday September 04TH 2024. Come back here to see my hottest Christian hits of the Summer.

SPOTIFY – You can hear “My Top 10 Hits” anytime 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 September 01ST 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.

If you’re a regular reader of my blog – you’ll know that I never discuss politics here. This is a political-free space online. I don’t discuss politics anywhere online. In fact – I rarely discuss politics offline. As a Minister – I don’t discuss it, and I don’t preach about it. I don’t believe that the pulpit or the altar is an appropriate place to talk about politics.

I’ve served and worked with a few Pastors / Ministers who have on occasion used the pulpit for political messages – both subtle and obvious. I’ve felt a bit uncomfortable during these occurrences.

There are some Christians who believe that Pastors should absolutely tell their congregation how to vote, who to vote for, and why – usually supporting their reasoning with a lot of personal opinions and manmade rules – not Biblical Scripture. I would not belong to such a church, and thankfully none of my 4 churches over the past 17½ years have been anything close to that. I will only be part of a Bible-believing and teaching church body – not a left or right church – not a liberal or conservative church. I don’t want to know the political beliefs of my brothers and sisters. I want to know that they are getting closer to God with each new step and each new day. On Sunday mornings I will continue to preach on repentance and salvation. May I only speak on God’s Truth.

Here’s what the Bible says about politicians – from Romans 13:1-7:

Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities ? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants – sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong – of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants – sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them – not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.

Pay your taxes, too – for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do. Give to everyone what you owe them. Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.

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