Tag: Message

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday October 25TH 2026, 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.

Volume 9, Number 35, Edition 435
“Pride”

Pride is so deceptive. It comes in quietly and casually. It convinces us that we’re doing just fine on our own. We don’t need anyone’s help. “Lord – I’ve got this one. I’ve seen this play out before. I can handle it. This is too petty for you. I’ll call on You when I need You.”

For non-believers it’s simply a way-of-life, for they don’t rely on God for anything. For believers it’s a problem. It’s a sin. When pride takes root in our heart – it subtly takes our mind off God – and onto ourselves. It places a wall between us and God and His guidance, direction, and grace – which we constantly need from Him. We are nothing without Him.

God hates pride. It’s 1 of the 7 deadly sins – alongside envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust. They are all bad, but pride may be the worst of them all. Pride causes all other sins. Gods loves humility. Humility cures pride. Humility crushes egos. Humility opens hearts. Humility invites God’s wisdom. God gives grace to the humble. He gives us peace.

In order to get closer to Him – we must lay down our cross and surrender to Him. We must lose our pride. It has no place in God’s promises for us.

• All who fear the Lord will hate evil; therefore, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption, and perverse speech. (Proverbs 8:13)

• Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. (Proverbs 11:2)

• Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18)

Pride creates a false sense of security. It is dishonest self-promotion. It makes us blind to the spiritual hazards ahead until we trip and stumble.

Let’s pray: “Thank You Lord for all of your abundant blessings that we desperately need from You. Protect our hearts from the subtle trap of pride. Forgive us for when we strayed and relied on our own experience rather than trusting completely in You. Replace our self-righteousness with Your gentle and humble spirit. Help us to walk daily in true humility – quick to listen and quick to serve. May all that we say and do bring honor to Your name and not our own. And it is in Your powerful name that we pray to You. Amen and Amen.”

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday October 18TH 2026, 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.

Volume 9, Number 34, Edition 434
“Repentance”

When I was actively preaching on Sunday mornings – I preached often about repentance and salvation. It was a common theme in many of my sermons.

“Well there you go again Chris – preaching about repentance and salvation. You sound like a broken record. You keep preaching about it like it’s something important – like it’s some type of monumental life-changing event !”

Well that’s because it is. It’s the difference between Heaven and hell.

The word “repent” – and all forms of the word with “repent” as the root – appear in the Bible 112 times. That’s the King James Version. It’s in the Old Testament 46 times, and it’s in the New Testament 66 times. In other popular translations of the Bible it’s in there anywhere from 60 to 100 times. The New Living Translation uses the word “repent” 62 times – occasionally substituting it for phrases such as “turn away from sin”, “turn back to God”, and “change your heart”.

Repentance is about returning home. It’s about turning away from the darkness of the devil – and turning to the bright light of the Savior. It’s a change of mind. It’s when you realize that the direction that you’re headed leads to a dead end, so you turn in the opposite direction – deliberately and intentionally towards God. If you have pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, or sloth – then repent.

Paul wrote – For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. (2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT)

God meets us with His open arms. He cleans up our mess. And just as salvation is not a one-time event but a continuing process – so is repentance. Since we are all sinners – we must instantly realize that we’ve sinned, and regret it, and repent it, so that we may continue moving forth in His light because of His grace and mercy.

“Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” (Matthew 3:2 NLT)

Let’s pray: “Lord I know what I did right there during that weak moment was wrong. That was a barrier that was placed between You and I. Thank You God for forgiving me for what I’ve done. I ask that You give me the strength and the wisdom and the guidance and the direction – so that I don’t do it again. Thank You for Your grace and mercy. In Your powerful name I pray to You. Amen.”

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday October 11TH 2026, 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.

Volume 9, Number 33, Edition 433
“Home Sweet Home”

If you follow my #TravelThursday series (every Thursday of course) then you’ll know that I’ve returned home from vacation. It was a fun vacation on a small cruise ship on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. I’ll begin writing about my experiences on and off the ship during those 9 days and 8 nights starting this upcoming Thursday here on my blog.

About halfway into my cruise I started thinking about home, and what a wonderful life I currently have here in Sebring Florida – because of God. He has blessed me abundantly with a beautiful life and beautiful people in it – from my neighbors – to my museum friends – to my church brothers and sisters. I had no idea what retirement life would be like beforehand, but I knew that all I had to do was to trust in God, and He would provide, and He has !

From Paul’s letter (written while in prison) to the Philippians – Chapter 4 – Verses 19 and 20 – and as the Bible says:

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches – which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever ! Amen.

Last #SundayScripture I wrote about Benediction. Paul ends his letter to the Philippians with a short one in Verse 23:

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Paul invokes God’s grace on those to whom he writes to in his letters. His letters are for us in these current times. We depend on God’s grace to bless us and keep us. The Holy Spirit lives in us – if we believe in Him.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday October 04TH 2026, 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.

Volume 9, Number 32, Edition 432
“Benediction”

For the better part of 15 years at my first two churches in Homestead (Florida) I closed out our Sunday morning services with a few words about the Pastor’s message / sermon, some closing comments of my own, and then the Benediction where I recited specific intentional verses of Scripture.

Most churches – no matter their respective denomination – or no denomination – close their services with a Benediction. At some churches (like my first one) the Pastor or Preacher or other church leader will have everyone stand up and recite it with him or her. At other churches (like my second one) we didn’t do that. I’m not really a big fan of having everyone stand up and recite or repeat something over and over again. I’d rather you hear the Benediction rather than say it. You tend to absorb or take-in speech (or words) more so when you are listening rather than talking. You know – 2 ears – 1 mouth – twice as much listening than speaking.

My old-school Webster’s Dictionary from many years ago defines “benediction” as follows: “a blessing”; “an invocation of divine blessing – usually at the end of a church service”.

The term “benediction” can also be used in a secular (or non-Christian) manner to represent “something that promotes goodness or well-being”; “an expression of good wishes”.

I like to think of the Benediction as a short prayer for God’s blessings upon His people. (That’s us – His believers and followers.) When I delivered the Benediction at the end of the service – I gave or passed on to my church family God’s blessings from Scripture – from His Good News.

I didn’t look at the Benediction as closing out a church service. Yes – it was at the end of the service, but service for Christ – serving God and others – continued out there – on the other side of the doors and the walls of the physical church building.

We are the church. And we bring the church into the church building. So since we bring the church, and we are the church – we take it outside of the church building to share. So the Benediction is a blessing from God to share with our neighbor. When I led the Benediction – I sent my brothers and sisters out into the world – to share God’s blessings.

Every edition of #SundayScripture (and #MusicMonday) ends with a Benediction. My Boilerplate below contains the Benediction in the second paragraph.

All rights reserved (c) 2026 Christopher M. Day, CountUp