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Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It’s Sunday August 02ND 2020, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. And let us celebrate this new day on our journey together.

I’m approaching my 14TH anniversary of the start of my salvation. It began during the 3RD week of August of 2006. To the naysayers once close to me who thought that this was merely a “passing fad” – well – this “passing fad” is getting ready to start a 15TH year. The truth is this: I’m on fire for my Lord + Savior Jesus Christ today more than yesterday, and tomorrow more than today. With each new day I’m moving forward – towards and closer to my God.

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands you sinners. Purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up in honor. (James 4:7-10 NLT)

Every so often I like to reminisce and remember where I was and what I was doing any number of years ago. I even have a regular weekly feature every Friday here on my blog called RETRO. As we progress further into our respective journeys it’s important to look back at where we came from – so that we know what we’re leaving behind to get to our ultimate destination in Heaven. I certainly don’t wish to return to where I was yesterday. We must be closer to God than we were a minute ago, an hour ago, a day ago, a week ago, a month ago, a year ago, and so forth. We must move away from the mud and the mire as we #CountUp to God.

This WordPress blog goes back to 2007 (nearly 1,800 posts). When I read some of my posts from the early years of my salvation I sometimes think to myself, “I’m so happy that I’ve matured since then.” And then there are those certain posts when I think to myself, “I loved what I wrote there. That’s still 100% on-point today.”

Such is the case with a gem from exactly 10 years ago this weekend. Under my banner “My Fantastic Journey: It’s In The Lyrics” I wrote about my upcoming 4TH anniversary of the start of my salvation. I also included Brandon Heath’s song and video “Give Me Your Eyes”.

Here is that post in its entirety – from Sunday August 01ST 2010:

As we begin this 8TH month of 2010 today I move a little closer to the remarkable 4-year / 48-month anniversary of my fantastic journey. It was the 3RD week of August of 2006 when my life as I knew it ended, and a new Life began. God rescued and saved me from evil and darkness. He told me to follow Him. He said that He would lead me towards the light of The Truth. He asked me to believe in Him. After more than 39 years of life on His Earth I finally did. I surrendered to Him. When the world around me rejected me God accepted me.

That’s exactly what He will do for you as well – if you would just let Him. When your friends abandon you. When the world rejects you. When you’re lonely. There’s a Kingdom all around you that’s more powerful than you can ever imagine. God will wait for you. When you’re ready –  He’s ready to lead you.

♫ Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity

Give me Your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see ♫

It’s in the lyrics:

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

Categories
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

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Bible Blogging Christian Church Driving God Home Ministry Scripture Travel

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends ! I am back at home where I belong in Homestead Florida. I returned late this past Friday morning from a 9-day / 2-state / 1,690-mile road-trip. The two states were Florida (my home state of the past 32½ years) and Alabama (my birth state from 53 years ago). I met my family – my brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces – in Orange Beach Alabama. They drove from east of Dallas Texas (less mileage than myself). We spent 4 full days and 5 nights at a condo directly on Romar Beach. We were on the 10TH floor of an 11-story building. The views of the Gulf Of Mexico were spectacular !

It was fun to be with my family for the first time in 7 months. I’ll see them again in less than 3 months in Texas !

I took a couple of fun side-trips on my own during this road-trip. I’ll write about some of them on my next few Thursday blog posts. But let me share where I went last Sunday. I drove 75 miles over to Semmes Alabama (northwestern suburb of Mobile) to visit Pathway Church – home of some longtime friends / brothers and sisters of my church family here in Homestead from 2007 to 2015. Most of them were actually on vacation themselves, so I didn’t get to hang out with them, but a few good friends were there.

The first person I ever met upon arriving for a church service for the first time as an adult (at age 39 in 2007) was there – Anne J. She greeted me, we talked for about an hour, and then we sat together in the front row for the 2ND service (at 10:30 AM). The Administrative Pastor – Andric – preached a great sermon from Colossians 2:6-15:

And now – just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord – you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. (Colossians 2:6-7 NLT)

WHAT I BELIEVE + WHAT I KNOW = HOW I LIVE

Following the service I got a grande tour of the entire church campus – almost every building. Their campus is quite sprawling. It’s much bigger than it looks from the main road (U.S. 98). They are doing great things for God in Semmes !

Following a nice Thai Lunch with Anne J. and a tour of her farm behind her house I returned back surfside to join my family.

This is the Summer Season Premiere of #CountUp. It’s the first of perhaps 47 blog posts in a row every Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday through the middle of September. It’s going to be a fun 2½-month run. Thank You for joining me here !

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