Tag: God

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Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 313

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 nearly 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday February 12TH 2023 – the 313TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 3 9 My Story Your Glory
[1ST week @ # 1]		 Matthew West
2 4 11 I See Grace Micah Tyler
3 5 4 The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours) Matt Maher
4 1 17 Who I Am Ben Fuller
5 2 9 First Things First Consumed By Fire
6 6 20 Love Me Like I Am for King & Country Ft. Jordin Sparks
7 7 26 New Creation Mac Powell
8 8 6 Gratitude Brandon Lake
9 9 2 I Believe It (The Life Of Jesus) Jon Reddick
10 – 1 I’m So Blessed Cain

# 1 This Week In:
2022 – “Weary Traveler” – Jordan St. Cyr
2021 – “Every Step Of The Way” – Cade Thompson
2020 – “The God Who Stays” – Matthew West
2019 – “Maybe It’s OK” – We Are Messengers
2018 – “Gracefully Broken” – Matt Redman Ft. Tasha Cobbs Leonard

MATTHEW WEST – The man who I call “my favorite singer” scores his 6TH # 1 smash over the past 6 years – more than any other artist (surpassing MercyMe). “My Story Your Glory” ascends to the top in its 9TH week on my chart. It’s Matthew’s 22ND week at # 1, and 152ND week on my chart since this current era began exactly 6 years ago next weekend. This past Friday night TBN aired a portion of Matthew’s Sunday August 21ST 2022 concert at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville Tennessee. The 90-minute special kicked-off with “My Story Your Glory”, and it sounded great. It was also awesome to see him perform “The God Who Stays” – which was my # 1 smash exactly 3 years ago. He told a funny story about how he and his Uber driver sang the song together one night as it played on the radio. (The Uber driver had no idea it was him.) Over the past 5 editions of #SundayScripture I’ve been featuring my sermon that was based on that song.

COCHREN & CO. – Michael Cochren and his band are not on my chart this week, but they are getting ready to return next weekend. His rockin’ new single “Running Home” is sitting just outside of my Top 10 this week. It sounded spectacular LIVE at the TobyMac concert earlier this month. It’s got that mid-1980s big American anthemic rock sound to it. I have a feeling that it will be a long-running track on the radio and on my chart into this Summer. Oh – and no wonder I love this new song. Matthew West cowrote it.

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again with the new weekend – and 4 new entries – known as #TravelThursday, #RetroFriday, #SundayScripture, and #Top10Monday.

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. I’m also on Twitter and Flickr.

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) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday February 12TH 2023, 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.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday all across the U.S.A. – an unofficial national holiday. Actually – there are some lawmakers who would like to get rid of Columbus Day in October, and replace it with Super Bowl Monday – a new Federal holiday. That would give us 2 Federal holidays on consecutive Mondays in February in most years. (The exception being when Presidents’ Day falls on Monday February 15TH – the same day as the day after the Super Bowl.)

As soon as I return home from church service and fellowship today – I’ll turn on my TV to FOX (airing the Super Bowl), and I won’t touch the dial (remote) again until I turn it off after the big game.

I now continue presenting my New Year’s Day sermon in its original written form. It’s based on the Matthew West song of late-2019 / early-2020 – “The God Who Stays”. Here’s Part 5 (the conclusion):

‘Cause you’re the God who stays
You’re the God who stays
You’re the One who runs in my direction
When the whole world walks away

You’re the God who stands
With wide open arms
And You tell me nothing I have ever done
Can separate my heart
From the God who stays

You’re the God who stays
You’re the One who runs in my direction
When the whole world walks away

You’re the God who stands
With wide open arms
And You tell me nothing I have ever done
Can separate my heart
From the God who stays

BEHIND THE SERMON – So that part up there in dark green – I actually sang that to my church family a cappella. Up until that point in my sermon – I merely read the lyrics of Matthew West’s song. You know I used to sing more often while preaching. I kind of got away from doing that over the past few years (since COVID). I’m going to try to get back to singing small portions of my sermons in the future. Our God loves to hear us sing to Him. Every voice is beautiful to Him.

Right after I sang – I explained to my church family how it would’ve been great to actually watch Matthew West’s official music video for his song “The God Who Stays”. But what worked fine in my PowerPoint Presentation at home did not work at all in that same PowerPoint Presentation on the church’s laptop. (It was a video compression issue.) So our Praise & Worship Pastor (who was sitting in our sound room) did some quick work, found the music video on YouTube, and he played it for us.

What a beautiful song that is. What a powerful song that is. Matthew West is not singing to us. He’s singing to the God who stays.

You know when that song played on the radio every few hours every day during the COVID lockdowns – I thought to myself – that song – that song plays out like a sermon. I could write a sermon based on that powerful song – that hymn to our God. And so I did – almost 3 years later.

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) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 312

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 nearly 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday February 05TH 2023 – the 312TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 16 Who I Am
[9TH week @ # 1]		 Ben Fuller
2 2 8 First Things First
[5TH week @ # 2]		 Consumed By Fire
3 4 8 My Story Your Glory Matthew West
4 5 10 I See Grace Micah Tyler
5 7 3 The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours) Matt Maher
6 3 19 Love Me Like I Am for King & Country Ft. Jordin Sparks
7 6 25 New Creation Mac Powell
8 8 5 Gratitude Brandon Lake
9 – 1 I Believe It (The Life Of Jesus) Jon Reddick
10 10 3 God Really Loves Us Crowder

# 1 This Week In:
2022 – “Weary Traveler” – Jordan St. Cyr
2021 – “Every Step Of The Way” – Cade Thompson
2020 – “Rescue Story” – Zach Williams
2019 – “Nobody Loves Me Like You” – Chris Tomlin
2018 – “Gracefully Broken” – Matt Redman Ft. Tasha Cobbs Leonard

TOBYMAC’S HITS DEEP TOUR 2023 – My 5TH TobyMac concert was just as great as the 4 before it in 2010, 2017, 2019, and 2021. He knows how to put on a show, and he’s got some great friends to help him out with it. The show at the Hertz Arena in Estero Florida got started at 6:58 PM with Pastor Eric greeting the sell-out crowd. He introduced Terrian, and she belted out a couple of great tracks from center stage just 5 rows in front of me. Terrian introduced Cochren & Co., and they performed from the main stage. “Church (Take Me Back)” and “Thank God For Sunday Morning” were two of my favorites, as they were both long-running hits on my chart. Both hits spent 21 weeks on my chart. Michael Cochren introduced Jon Reddick, and he performed LIVE from center stage. He and his band also backed-up our next artist – Tasha Layton – also from center stage. I sang along loudly to all of her songs. She sounded great LIVE. She introduced Crowder, and then he went to work from the main stage. He rocked the house with 10 of his biggest hits that had much of the audience on the floor standing and stomping their feet to the beat. He’s looks crazy, and he is crazy. He’s crazy for “Good God Almighty” !

And that was the first 79 minutes of the show. After an art performance, short sermon, and fundraising event for hungry and thirsty children worldwide – hosted by Pastor Eric – we went into an intermission. That gave me a chance to recharge after singing, clapping, stomping my feet, and YES – even dancing. Incidentally I was probably very close to the average age of the 6,000+ in attendance with just as many fans older than me and younger than me. At almost 56 (that’s me) – David Crowder is just behind me at 51, and TobyMac – well he’s 58 (hard to believe).

TobyMac and his Diverse City Band took the stage at 8:58 PM, and they put on an excellent set for exactly 90 minutes and 19 hits since 2006. Toby is one of the few artists who have been a part of my fantastic journey since the beginning. I didn’t know who he was until after God rescued and saved me in 2006. I soon discovered that he’s originally from Fairfax County Virginia (same as me), and that I was listening to him on Top 40 radio back in the mid-90s (DC Talk). I think there’s an excellent chance that there will be a 6TH TobyMac concert in my future.

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again with the new weekend – and 4 new entries – known as #TravelThursday, #RetroFriday, #SundayScripture, and #Top10Monday.

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. I’m also on Twitter and Flickr.

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) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday February 05TH 2023, 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 is normally Communion Sunday at my home church, as it’s the first Sunday of a brand-new month. But not this Sunday. We’ll observe and celebrate Communion next Sunday after the sermon.

This Sunday I’m on the road – 3 hours away – over in Southwest Florida. Last night I had a floor seat in the middle of the Hertz Arena at the TobyMac & Friends “Hits Deep Tour” show in Estero. I’ll write all about that concert tomorrow on #Top10Monday.

This morning I’m attending a church service at Cambier Park in downtown Naples Florida. Celebration Beach Church has been hosting Sunday morning church services outside in the city park for many years now, and I’ve been attending their services occasionally over the past 13 years. If I lived in Naples it would be my home church, but since I’m a tourist in Naples it’s my vacation church.

I now continue presenting my New Year’s Day sermon in its original written form. It’s based on the Matthew West song of late-2019 / early-2020 – “The God Who Stays”. Here’s Part 4:

‘Cause somehow You don’t see me like I do
Somehow You’re still here
You’re the God who stays
You’re the God who stays
You’re the One who runs in my direction
When the whole world walks away

You’re the God who stands
With wide open arms
And You tell me nothing I have ever done
Can separate my heart
From the God who stays

Paul to the Romans (8:38-39):

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed – nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

My shame can’t separate
My guilt can’t separate
My past can’t separate
I’m Yours forever

My sin can’t separate
My scars can’t separate
My failures can’t separate
I’m Yours forever

No enemy can separate
No power of hell can take away
Your love for me will never change
I’m Yours forever

You know your best testimony of how great our God is – is the story of you. Only you can testify to the world out there your story – your story of redemption through Jesus Christ – our Lord + Savior. Tell them – the person that you used to be. Tell them – the person that you are now. Tell them – how you got to be where you are now. Tell them – how He lifted you out of the pit of despair – out of the mud and the mire. Tell them – that you are nothing without God – and His grace and mercy for you. Tell them – that He is the God for everyone in the entire world who accepts Him as his or her personal Lord + Savior.

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) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp