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Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends ! It’s Sunday August 30TH 2020, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us continue to praise and worship Christ our Savior !

This past Friday evening I got the call to preach to my church body on this Sunday morning. I immediately went to work to finalize my sermon. I’ll be preaching out of the Book of Malachi with a sermon that I wrote in January and February (before COVID-19). It’s the first part of hopefully a multi-part message series on the prophet Malachi. I haven’t started writing the second part yet. I was waiting until I had the opportunity to preach the first part before I began work on the next part.

In this first part I’ll be covering Malachi’s message on God’s love for Israel – as well as his message on corrupt priests.

Scripture will be mostly from the Old Testament with 4 additional verses from Romans.

My “call-to-action” to close-out my sermon will be based on Romans 10:14-15:

How can they – call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him ?
How can they – believe in Him if they have never heard about Him ?
How can they – hear about Him unless someone tells them ?
How will anyone go and tell them without being sent ?
That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring Good News !”

You know I always get excited and look forward to “Sermon Sunday” – those Sundays when I get the opportunity to share my heart with my brothers and sisters of my church body. I am blessed for these opportunities to preach God’s Word from the pulpit.

Even if these opportunities to preach were to diminish or disappear – I’d still write sermons at home. I’d continue to share them with you – my brothers and sisters in Christ – my friends and neighbors worldwide who follow this blog. My sermons are open letters to God.

If you’re a believer and follower of God then I encourage you to talk to Him, sing for Him, dance for Him, and write to Him. Do it all for Him. Share with others what God places in your heart. Be a messenger of God’s Good News.

If you’re not yet a believer and follower of God then I encourage you to keep an open mind and an open heart. I’d like to share with you the God that I know. He’s the God that loves you immensely. He’s got a fantastic journey that awaits you. It’s created and customized just for you. He’ll wait for you until you’re ready to accept Him.

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Sunday Scripture

After observing the 14TH anniversary of God’s fantastic journey for me I’m now into my 15TH year. I believe that this 15TH year will be greater than the 14TH year, for He is greater, and He keeps life exciting with each new day.

It took me exactly 5 months to enter a church building after the start of my salvation. I walked in to Life Pointe Church in Homestead Florida on a Saturday night in January of 2007 for a rock concert. The next morning I went to our new local movie theatre in town for their Sunday morning church service. (They were no longer holding services at their original church building.)

I’ve been part of a church body now ever since that Saturday night rock concert. It was the first time I walked in to a church building as a saved man.

Growing up in the 1970s my family was Catholic. We attended Sunday service every week in Seabrook Maryland (near Washington D.C.). I actually attended Catholic School 5 days a week during my first and second grades (1973-1975). In 1975 my parents pulled me out of Catholic School and placed me into the local public school system. I attended traditional public schools for the next 10 years (1975-1985).

During the Summer of 1985 (at age 18) I actually attended a couple of Sunday morning Catholic church services on Lackland AFB near San Antonio Texas. I was in Basic Military Training at the time, and it was a convenient way to get away from reality for an hour or two. I didn’t really pay attention during the service. I was just there to get out of the heat, get away from the yelling and screaming, and hang out with some of my dorm brothers.

During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in January and February of 1991 I attended a couple of Sunday morning Catholic church services in a big tent in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert. Again – it was a convenient way to get away from reality – a diversion from war. I wasn’t spiritual at all. I didn’t know who God was at the time.

I didn’t get to know God The Father, God The Son, and God The Spirit until exactly 14 years ago. A few months later I realized that I would not be fully on the journey until I became part of a Bible-believing church body.

Christ died for us so that we may be saved, and since He saved us we must commit to Him. He told us to love Him. He told us to love others – those who believe – and those who do not yet believe.

He commanded us believers to meet regularly to praise and worship Him, and to encourage and motivate our brothers and sisters in Him. In these last days we must be a strong church that Christ recognizes – one that honors Him above all. When we meet together in corporate worship we practice for what we must do away from the church building, and that is to encourage and motivate and love our neighbor – each creation that we come in contact with on a daily basis.

See God is coming back for His church. He’s not coming back for the manmade buildings or meeting places. He’s coming back for His church body – His creation – committed to Him.

We must be the church in everything we do, and everywhere we go.

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Bible Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my brothers and sisters – my friends and neighbors. It’s Sunday July 19TH 2020, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. And let us go in to God’s Word.

For about a year I preached about James – the half-brother of Jesus – James The Just. I preached 10 sermons from the Book of James. Good stuff. Good News. It was my first extended message series. I should do another one. Maybe in a few years.

So after James, and 1ST & 2ND Peter, and 1ST, 2ND, and 3RD John – comes Jude. Jude is right before the Book of Revelation at the end of the New Testament. And Jude – he was a brother of James – which means – he was a brother of Jesus. Like James – Jude did not believe and follow Christ during Christ’s short ministry. They just thought that He was a bit crazy. It wasn’t until after Christ rose from the dead – like He said He would – that James, Jude, and others became believers and followers of Christ. They became church leaders after that. The resurrection of Christ proved everything.

So Jude’s letter is a single chapter – with 25 verses. Jude warns us about false teachers in the early church, and how they lived their lives away from the church.

You know the modern church of today has false teachers and false prophets. We all have the capability of being a false teacher or a false prophet. It’s so easy to do. You know we become false prophets when we worry about something – when we allow fear to come in to our heart. We become false prophets when we prophecy on a future that our God does not have planned.

“I am so worried about this happening and that happening. I do not know what I am going to do to recover from that disaster, but I better come up with a plan. God help me with this plan. Show me the way !”  Meanwhile God is trying to tell you, “What disaster ?” (It’s all in your mind.)

We become false prophets when we waste time – when we waste energy – dwelling on something that’s not going to happen.

Sure bad things are going to happen to us along the way, but more bad things happen to us in our thoughts than actually occur in real life. Don’t let the enemy into your mind – into your heart. The enemy leaves less space for God to occupy your mind and your heart.

I like the ending of Jude’s letter. It’s an uplifting worship to our God.

Now all glory to God – who is able to keep you from falling away, and will bring you with great joy into His glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to Him who alone is God – our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are His before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time !  Amen. (Jude 1:24-25 NLT)

Whenever you have one of those days – where you think that you’re not good enough for God – or where you think that God isn’t there for you – or where you think that there’s something better for you in the world out there – look to that Scripture right there – those two verses from Jude. Only God has all of the glory – all of the majesty – all of the power – and all of the authority – then, now, and forever. That’s the God I believe. That’s the God I follow. That’s the God I trust. That’s the God who is overflowing with “Kindness & Love”.

Show that “Kindness & Love” to your brothers and sisters – to your friends and neighbors.

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries

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Bible Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends and Happy Sunday Morning. It’s the peak of my week ! This is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it.

This morning I’ll be leading my church family and preaching a full sermon I call “Church & State”. It’s all about the importance of being an integral part of a church family and attending church services corporately each week. It’s all about being the church and bringing the church.

I’ll be presenting Scripture from Ephesians 4:11-16 and 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 (below):

All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:

first are apostles
second are prophets
third are teachers
then those who do miracles
those who have the gift of healing
those who can help others
those who have the gift of leadership
those who speak in unknown languages.

Are we all apostles ?
Are we all prophets ?
Are we all teachers ?
Do we all have the power to do miracles ?
Do we all have the gift of healing ?
Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages ?
Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages ?

Of course not !
So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.

All rights reserved (c) 2020 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries