Tag: Christian

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday October 16TH 2022, 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.

This morning I’m getting ready to preach my sermon – “Blessings & Benedictions” – to my brothers and sisters of my church family. It looks to be about a 40-minute sermon – which is my goal. If I hit 35 to 45 minutes when I preach – then I’m on par. Next Sunday morning I’m preaching again. It’s a sermon titled “Give & Take”, and it’s actually a built-up sermon from a partial sermon that I wrote and abandoned over 5 years ago. I’ve always wanted to go back and bring back to life that unfinished sermon, and God finally led me on a path to do just that. I’m looking forward to sharing it next Sunday morning.

And so now on #SundayScripture I continue presenting the last sermon that I preached – “Good & Evil” – in its original written form. It’s based on 1 Peter 3:8-4:8, and it effectively wraps-up my First Peter message series which I began 13 months ago. Here’s Part 2:

You know those people who know that you know God ? Well if any one of them asks you about your relationship with God – then you can start with this:

God The Father – Creator – He showed mercy on me – He showed mercy on us – when He sacrificed His Son – God The Son – Christ – on the cross – to pay for all of our sins – past, present, and future. We are redeemed through His blood.

And so – we are commanded to bless everyone – no matter what. I know it’s a hard thing to do, but we can do that. And our God will help us to do that. We just need to seek His guidance. He will show us the way.

Be happy with those who are happy. Well that’s easy to do. If I’m near a happy person then I’m happy too. Happiness is contagious. That’s a good thing. That’s a God thing.

Weep with those who weep. That’s easy to do too. Sort of ? I think it’s easier said than done. You know it’s hard to understand what someone is going through when they are visibly weeping. How can you weep alongside someone if you don’t know all of the specifics. And weeping can be easy to do – while not showing it. Some of us in here may be weeping today, but we’re putting up a brave front about it – because we don’t want anyone to know that we’re weeping – because then we’ll have to share specifics as to why we’re weeping, and it’ll cause us to weep more. That’s just human nature. But we gotta take care of each other – and get to know our brothers and sisters – and our friends and neighbors – so that we can be there for them when they weep – so that maybe they will share why they are weeping.

You know I love Romans. It’s the Apostle Paul – explaining God’s Good News – to the Romans of the Roman Empire at the time. He wrote his letter to the Romans – right around 57 A.D. That’s almost 25 years after Christ died and rose again and ascended to Heaven. And it’s about 7 or 8 years before Paul was imprisoned and martyred in Rome.

Paul’s letter to the Romans applies today in 2022. It’s a great document from start to finish. It should be read by all believers and followers of Christ on a regular basis. It’s 16 chapters. It’s 433 verses. You can read it – in less than an hour.

Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. (Romans 12:17-18)

There’s not enough peace in the world. There’s never been enough peace in the world. This is not a new thing. We have persecution. We have hate. We have crime. We have violence. We have wars. We can do our part though. God commands us to do our part. Live in peace with everyone. Love your neighbor as yourself. Don’t let evil conquer you. Conquer evil by doing good. (12:21)

(End of Part 2)

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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday October 09TH 2022, 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 night I was advised to be ready for Sundays October 16TH and 23RD. Those are the days that I’m filling-in for my Pastor by leading my church family and preaching full sermons. It was also on that night that I immediately began the process of finishing the final third of my next sermon – “Blessings & Benedictions”. I’m looking forward to sharing it with my brothers and sisters next Sunday morning. I’m not sure which direction I’ll go for my next sermon after that (in 2 weeks). I need to think about it and pray for God’s guidance.

And so as promised here on #SundayScripture I’ll be presenting the last sermon that I preached – “Good & Evil” – in its original written form. It’s based on 1 Peter 3:8-4:8, and it effectively wraps-up my First Peter message series which I began 13 months ago. This appears to be another 8-part series on here (with each part less than a 5-minute read), so it should continue through the end of November.

Let’s get started with Part 1 of “Good & Evil”:

Today – I’m gonna speak of our Lord for the next 35 to 45 minutes. I’ll speak on His Good News – from Peter’s first letter. This is the continuation of my last sermon from 6 weeks ago.

So – from First Peter Chapter 3 – picking-up with Verse 8, and as the Bible says:

All of you (I say) all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tender-hearted, and keep a humble attitude. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead – pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and He will bless you for it. (3:8-9)

This is from the man formerly known as Simon – just an ordinary fisherman in Capernaum (kuh-PERR-nay-uhm) on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Simon was unsure and fearful at times. He was occasionally reckless, and he had quite the temper – sometimes even a foul mouth. Nevertheless – Jesus chose Peter to be one of His disciples – and an Apostle. He was 1 of the 12. Jesus asked Peter to help Him build His church.

So Peter wrote his letter some 1,960 years ago in Rome – during the early-‘60s – the first early-60s – A.D. His letter sounds so relevant today in 2022. If you believe – if you follow – if you truly love our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ as the King of Kings – then you must love everyone – believers and unbelievers. You see God loved you when you didn’t believe in Him. God loved you when you ignored Him. God loved you when you made derogatory remarks about Him – or His followers – or His creations. You gotta love everyone. And be humble. Don’t be arrogant. Be good. Don’t be evil. Bless others. Don’t insult others. Bless – to be blessed.

Paul to the Romans in Chapter 12 (14-16):

Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them. Pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all !

Sounds just like Christ’s own teachings to His disciples up on the mountainside – you know – the Sermon On The Mount.

So what you’re trying to tell me – God – is that – when – let me put this in layman’s terms – (mostly for me) – when someone is mean to me – I should be nice to them. I should not tell them what I think. I should not put them in their place. I should not give them what they deserve. Instead – I should give them – oh – something that You God taught me about – mercy. (Everyone say “mercy”.)

(End of Part 1)

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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp