Tag: Minister

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 04TH 2022, 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.

One of my rules on this blog is that every unique post must be able to be read by the average reader in less than 5 minutes. Your time online is precious, as is mine. The last thing that I want to do is to read something for more than 5 minutes (other than God’s Word), so I set an example here. That’s why my recent sermon is presented in multiple parts. Rather than posting the entire sermon at once – I’m presenting it in less than 5-minute portions.

Last month I preached my sermon – “Honor & Respect” – to my church family. It’s based on 1 Peter 2:10-2:25. Here on #SundayScripture I’m presenting it in its original written form. Here’s Part 4 of this series:

I like the next part of Peter’s letter to the persecuted Christians of his time. It’s about “Honor & Respect”. It was relevant then. It is relevant now. And it’s the name of this sermon. From Chapter 2 – starting with Verse 13:

For the Lord’s sake – respect all human authority – whether the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right. (2:13)

The Apostle Peter reinforces what the Apostle Paul had previously written in his letter to the Romans. Paul wrote to the Romans about 8 years before Peter wrote his letter from Rome to the persecuted Christians of Asia Minor. So Paul’s Romans precedes what Peter wrote in his letter.

Let me summarize what Paul wrote at the start of Chapter 13 of Romans:  Submit to authority. Obey authority, or be punished. “Honor & Respect” authority. Do what is right to be honored. Oh – and pay your taxes. (It’s in the Bible !)

In fact this is what it says (Romans 13:6-7):

Pay your taxes, for government workers (hello) need to be paid (yes). They are serving God in what they do (yes indeed). I testify !  And the Scripture continues:  Give to everyone what you owe them. Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.

There was a tax revolt going on at the time in Rome where the people – including the new Christians – were refusing to pay their taxes. Matthew also wrote about this tax revolt in his Gospel. It’s where Jesus was trapped by the hypocrites who asked Him if they should pay taxes to Caesar. And Jesus replied – “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” (Matthew 22:21b)

Back to Peter’s letter (2:15-17):

It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king.

That’s the NLT – the New Living Translation – right there. I like the NIV also:

Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil. Live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

There’s a lot there. I love those verses of Scripture.

(End of Part 4)

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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday August 28TH 2022, 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.

A little behind-the-scenes information here: I generally prepare these editions of #SundayScripture on Thursday and Friday leading-in to each new weekend. Saturday (mostly afternoon and evening) is my Sabbath. That’s when I sit down and pray, read the Bible, and write sermons. The culmination of my Sabbath is Sunday worship and fellowship with my church family. So it’s a 24-hour Sabbath from about 2 PM on Saturdays until about 2 PM on Sundays.

3 Sundays ago I preached my sermon – “Honor & Respect” – to my church family. It’s based on 1 Peter 2:10-2:25.

Here on #SundayScripture I’m presenting it in its original written form. Here’s Part 3 of this multi-part series:

There’s a popular song from the mid-1990s cowritten by TobyMac – one of my favorite singers. He wrote a song called “Jesus Freak”. It’s all about persecution. Here are the lyrics of its chorus:

What will people think
When they hear that I’m a Jesus freak
What will people do when they find that it’s true
I don’t really care if they label me a Jesus freak
There ain’t no disguising the truth
Ain’t no disguising the truth
No – I ain’t into hiding the truth

Some people we know – who know – that we know God – are defiant towards God. They can even be hateful towards God. It could be for any number of reasons. Maybe they once believed in Him and followed Him, but so many bad things happened to them or their loved ones that they lost faith in Him and even in His existence. Maybe they were churchgoers, and the church – the system or its people – hurt them in some way. I can relate to that.

You know before my 7½ years here as your brother of this Living Waters church family – I was a brother for 8 years at my previous place of worship just down the road from here. It’s where I grew up in the Lord. It’s where I learned of His ways.

I know of many cases – too many cases – where brothers and sisters – most much younger than me – attended church, served others by making coffee, or vacuuming carpets, or opening doors, or ushering in the sanctuary, or even leading or teaching others. That was just 10 to 15 years ago, and now – they are anti-church, and some are anti-God. It’s heartbreaking. These people walked with me towards God. Some of them even taught me about God. And now – they are outspoken critics about (allegedly) being duped and brainwashed by it all.

And those are the people that tend to mock and ridicule those who are all-in for Jesus. They either do that, or they just completely avoid you in every way imaginable. You are no longer in their world. You are a Jesus freak. #Guilty.

So be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Some of them are judging you and your every move. Some are curious about you. If they see you do good – over and over again – and they know that you know God – then maybe – just maybe – they may want to learn more about the God you know – from you.

“There’s something different about that guy over there. He’s a good guy. He does good deeds. And he raises his arms up high – while praising God and singing about Him. I want to be like that guy, so that I can find out about this God that he loves.”

You see – when you love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind – and you love your neighbor as yourself – your neighbors see that, and they become curious as to who this God is, and what is He all about. And that gives you the opportunity to go and tell them all about the God you know.

(End of Part 3)

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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday August 21ST 2022, 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 week marks the 16TH anniversary of the start of my salvation. I was rescued and saved by my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ 16 years ago. It’s when my life changed forever. If it weren’t for God’s salvation – I wouldn’t be here today. This blog wouldn’t exist. I probably wouldn’t be physically alive today. God saved my life. I thank Him with each new day of this fantastic journey.

A couple of Sundays ago I preached my sermon – “Honor & Respect” – to my church family. It’s based on 1 Peter 2:10-2:25.

Last #SundayScripture I began presenting it in its original written form. Here’s Part 2 of this multi-part series:

We live in a world that’s hostile to our God and His followers – His church. And we have all experienced persecution over and over again along our journey.

But the Bible says that we are blessed when we are persecuted because of righteousness. Rejoice, and be glad in it. We must love our enemies. We must pray for those who persecute us. We must ask for strength and wisdom from our God so that we can react in a godly way. Don’t persecute those who persecute you.

I last preached from the First Letter Of Peter at the end of February, so picking-up where I left-off in my last message – as the Bible says (1 Peter 2:10):

“Once you had no identity as a people. Now you are God’s people.
Once you received no mercy. Now you have received God’s mercy.”

Before we accepted the LORD into our life we had no identity – other than our name and our address. We were just like everyone else. We were of this world. We belonged to this world. This world owned us. We received no mercy.

But now we are God’s people. We belong to God. We have received God’s mercy. What’s God’s mercy ?  It’s His goodness. It’s His kindness towards us – even though we don’t deserve it. It’s unmerited favor. God gave us grace and mercy with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world. His mercy appeared at our salvation. For me – His mercy appeared – 16 years ago – in a couple of weeks. And mercy is always victorious over judgement.

Dear friends – I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. (2:11)

Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong – they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when He judges the world. (2:12)

You know it’s tough being a Christian. If it were easy – then everyone you know would be a Christian. But you know – that most of the people that you know – don’t know God. And some of those people that you know – know that you know God. So they are watching you. Those people that you know – that know – that you know God – they are watching you like a hawk – especially the ones who are defiant towards God. See some of our neighbors and coworkers and friends and even members of our own immediate and extended family – some of them just don’t care who or what we believe in as Christians. Some of those people just think that we’re crazy or wacky or loony – for believing a God who we can’t see.

“Hey look at that wackadoodle over there – with his arms held high towards the sky – talking to nobody.”

You know – I don’t mind being called a wackadoodle – if it means that when my temporary time here on Earth is done – that I’ll spend eternity with my God in Heaven. I don’t care what you call me.

(End of Part 2)

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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday August 14TH 2022, 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 Sunday I preached my sermon – “Honor & Respect” – to my church family. It’s based on 1 Peter 2:10-2:25. I estimated it to be about a 45-minute sermon beforehand. I did quite a bit of ad-libbing within the sermon. It turned out to be closer to a full hour sermon – which – in our church – is the technical definition of being “long-winded”. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I take it as a badge of honor to deliver a long-winded sermon every so often. (I won’t make it a habit.)

So as promised – now that I’ve preached the sermon – I’m presenting it in its original written form (without the ad-libs) starting with this #SundayScripture and continuing for the next 5 weeks after today.

All of my blog posts can be read in less than 5 minutes, so I’ll be breaking at convenient locations within my sermon. I hope that you’ll keep coming back to see what’s next.

Here’s Part 1:

Well Good Morning again. It’s good to be up here – standing here – on a Sunday morning – in the house of our Lord – at the altar – behind the pulpit – preaching God’s Word to you – sharing what I know about our God – Father, Son, and Spirit as One. I don’t know it all – not even close – but I’m learning more about Him and His way – with each new day. Any day that I’m not learning about our God – any day that I’m not being more like Him – that’s a wasted day. I had plenty of wasted days in my teens, 20s, and 30s. I’m not in to wasted days anymore, for tomorrow is never guaranteed. Every day should be the best day of my life.

In a couple of weeks I will observe and celebrate my 16TH anniversary of believing, and following, and trusting, and loving, and being more like our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Amen. Our God – He gets all of the glory.

My last 3 sermons in a row – 3 months ago – were all unrehearsed, and spontaneous. I stood down there – in the – orchestra section – of our theatre. I had no idea what I was going to say until I actually said it. You know that can be dangerous. I’m not that good at being spontaneous whether it’s saying or doing. I’m much better – I’m much more content – I’m much more coherent – I’m much more detailed – when I’ve practiced or rehearsed saying or doing something over and over again. (It’s that O-C-D in me.) I’m more comfortable in that way. But it was a good experience that some of you got to see during those 3 weeks in a row – back in May.

This is a more traditional sermon of mine. I’ve got my iPad in front of me. It’s got my message on it. It’s based on my own personal study of the Bible. I know what I’m going to say. And I’m ready to preach God’s Good News.

Today I want to continue to share Peter’s first letter – near the end of the New Testament. It’s the 60TH book of the Bible (out of 66). It’s the 21ST book of the New Testament (out of 27).

Peter wrote his letter from Rome near the end of his life. He lived into his late-60s. He was actually about the same age as Jesus when He was walking this Earth with His apostles during His 3-year ministry. (Peter – being 1 of the 12 apostles.)

He wrote his letter to persecuted Christians in the region – particularly Asia Minor – which is modern-day Turkey. He wrote it to persecuted Christians in the First Century Church, and his letter is still very relevant today – almost 2,000 years later – as Christians are still persecuted today. Hello – fellow persecuted Christians.

(End of Part 1)

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) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp