Tag: Message

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 29TH 2024, 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.

It’s the 5TH Sunday of the month, and for this edition of #SundayScripture I’m looking back on my ministry 16 years ago this Sunday – on September 28TH 2008. That was back when I was barely in my 3RD year on this fantastic journey – at the young age of 41.

You know – when I look back at my early blog posts from that era – I frequently smile, and chuckle, and even outright LOL. At times this blog was immature and juvenile, but then so were many of my readers at the time. I just didn’t know any better.

I did write this though 16 years ago after church on that Sunday:

When we drift into a crisis of faith or belief – a ‘dip’ if you will – we need to react appropriately to get ourselves out of that dip and back onto the straight and narrow again on His fantastic journey for us. We must remember what He has done for us in the past. We must accept what He is doing for us right now. We must trust what He will do for us in the future. We must believe in Him, for He is the only solution.

Habakkuk (3:17-19, NLT 2ND Ed.)
Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines. Even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren. Even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord ! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation ! The Sovereign Lord is my strength ! He makes me as surefooted as a deer – able to tread upon the heights.

(I think I knew what I was preaching about back then.)

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord, and get closer to Him with each new day.

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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 22ND 2024, 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 weekend (on Friday morning) I got the word to preach the sermon at my longtime home church in Homestead Florida on that Sunday morning. (It was a previously-scheduled visit that coincided with my Pastor’s vacation with his family.)

I preached on God’s “Music & Lyrics”. It was based on Psalm 40:1-3, and it included the following Scripture (in order): Matthew 6:14-15, Luke 23:34, Psalm 118:24, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 + 8:5b-6, Colossians 4:5-6, 1 Peter 3:15-16a, 1 Kings 4:32, Psalm 95:1-3, Ecclesiastes 7:14, Philippians 4:12-13, and Numbers 6:24-26 (Benediction).

It was also based on the current song “Beautiful Life” by Pat Barrett.

Due to unforeseen circumstances – I was without the use of our 3 big flat-screen monitors for my sermon, so my prepared PowerPoint Presentation was rendered useless. In fact – our Praise & Worship consisted of 3 of us singing along to selected songs via Spotify on my cell phone – with the wireless microphone placed at the end of my phone (to project the sound throughout the sanctuary).

My Pastor has some work to do when he returns from vacation – fix the laptop and its connection with the monitors. I’m not as technologically savvy as he is in that area. Electronics confuse me.

Back home here in Sebring Florida my Pastor was absent as well – on his way to a church conference in Indiana. We had a special guest Pastor preach the sermon, and I got to watch that on YouTube once I returned home. (You can watch it here.) Strangely – there were also computer gremlins in action during the service. I think one of the monitors was down, so for Praise & Worship our singers were not on stage. They were singing from the crowd, or as I like to refer to it – “the orchestra section”.

And so it was a unique Sunday morning last week at both of my churches. This morning should be normal, or as normal as God allows it to be. We know that He’s got a sense of humor, and He wants to keep us on our toes – not knowing what’s around the winding curve of His fantastic journey for us. He wants us to have faith in Him in all that He creates for us.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord, and get closer to Him with each new day.

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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 15TH 2024, 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.

I’m in Homestead Florida this morning. I’ll be preaching a sermon at my longtime church. We’ll have a fellowship lunch after at a local area restaurant – hopefully a steakhouse. For those keeping track (only me ?) – this is my 29TH trip back to Homestead since buying my dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream part of Florida (Sebring) 19 months ago.

Back home I’ll be missing our 10:30 AM service at Highlands Community Church, but I’ll watch it on YouTube tonight or tomorrow morning. We’re currently continuing our message series through Hebrews. Last Sunday we reached Hebrews 7:1-4, and our Pastor preached about Melchizedek – the king and priest together. He was the only such man in Scripture to hold both titles before Jesus. He foreshadowed the Messiah – Jesus Christ.

From Hebrews 5:6-10 (NLT):

And in another passage God said to Him – “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

While Jesus was here on earth – He offered prayers and pleadings – with a loud cry and tears – to the One who could rescue Him from death. And God heard His prayers because of his deep reverence for God. Even though Jesus was God’s Son – He learned obedience from the things He suffered. In this way – God qualified Him as a perfect High Priest, and He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him. And God designated Him to be a High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

Christ was humiliated. Christ suffered. And then – Christ was and is exalted. As the Son obeyed the Father – we believers and followers must obey Christ – the High Priest – for eternal salvation.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord, and get closer to Him with each new day.

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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 08TH 2024, 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.

You know – I am not a religious person. I don’t believe in religion. I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord + Savior. He is the one true God. He was sent to this world as a man – not to start another religion, but to end all religion. He died for my sins and for the sins of all mankind – past, present, and future. He rose again. He is alive today. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will return.

Then Jesus said – “Come to Me – all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 NLT)

I know that it may sound weird and confusing for a Pastor to hate religion, but I do. Religion is about obeying manmade rules and rituals in order to get to Heaven. It’s about doing enough good things for other people. None of us is that good. All of us will fail. Many people who go to church really don’t know God. It’s just a ritual to be seen for an hour on Sundays. We are all hypocrites. We are all sinful. Religion is burdensome. It leads to a dead-end. Religion kills. Jesus saves.

I am a born-again evangelical Christian. I have a real relationship with my Lord + Savior Jesus Christ that grows with each new day. I talk directly to Him. I don’t have to go through any other person to reach Him. He’s always there for me. He lives in my heart. I love Him more than anyone and anything. He is why I exist today.

Once you dump the religion and get to know Jesus more and more with every step of the way in each new day – you will really know how to live an abundant and purposeful life with Him eternally. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord, and get closer to Him with each new day.

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) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp