Tag: Minister

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday January 16TH 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.

Last month (December 2021) I preached to my church family on being “Holy & Redeemed”. It’s based on 1 Peter 1:13-23. Here’s the next excerpt – Part 5:

God made Him – who had no sin – to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

We are “Holy & Redeemed”. With the impending coming of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ – the promises of redemption in Scripture from the Old Testament – are being fulfilled. What’s promised in the Old is fulfilled in the New. We are in the last days. Are you ready for His return ?  Are you getting ready for His return ?

You know we trust in God – through Christ – who is God. We place our faith and hope in God – because He raised Christ – who is God – from the dead – and He gave Him great glory. And we do this with the Holy Spirit – who is God – in our heart.

Remember when Christ said (in red letters) in the Gospel of John (14-6):

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.

You know some religions and some philosophies say – “Oh you can get to God in other ways besides Jesus. Let me show you the way. Follow me. Yeah !”

Yeah – no thanks !  The Bible says no one can come to the Father except through Me. That’s the truth. Jesus is the Truth. God is Truth. And you know what ?

You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. (1 Peter 1:22)

And you need a pure heart to love each other deeply with all your heart. Is your heart pure ?  In order to be “Holy & Redeemed” – you need a pure heart. The Holy Spirit – who is God – lives within your heart. And God is love. We must show that love to our brothers and sisters – our fellow believers and followers of God. We must show that love to our neighbor – out there – who does not yet believe and follow our One True God. Why ?

For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal living word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)

You’ve heard of mission statements and vision statements of churches and companies – well – that’s my existence statement right there. It’s how and why I exist before you – right here right now. For I have been born again – for 15 years and almost 4 months – but not to a life that will quickly end. My new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal living word of God. For I have born again – right here in Homestead.

I’ll conclude this sermon next #SundayScripture. If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned. 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 Ministries

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday January 09TH 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.

Last Sunday – filling-in for my Lead Pastor – I kicked-off 2022 with another full sermon and Communion for my small church family. I preached on two good Kings of Judah – Uzziah and Jotham – from 2ND Kings and 2ND Chronicles. They were good kings – father and son, but they both had some flaws. Jotham learned from Uzziah. We learn from Jotham.

I may post that sermon in a future multi-part series here on #SundayScripture.

But let me continue what I’ve started with excerpts of my December 2021 sermon on being “Holy & Redeemed”. It’s based on 1 Peter 1:13-23. Here’s Part 4:

And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of Him during your time as “foreigners in the land.” (1 Peter 1:17)

We are holy. We are set apart from the world. We don’t think, and we don’t act like the people of this world who do not believe – who do not follow – our God. That does not make us better than them. They are flawed. And we are flawed. We are all flawed. Sure we’ve repented – we’ve turned away – from our old pre-salvation lifestyle – but we are still sinners. Everyone is a sinner. Everyone can be redeemed by our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. Everyone can be “Holy & Redeemed”.

And once you’re “Holy & Redeemed” you realize that you are here in this world temporarily. This is not a permanent settlement for you. This is not your forever Homestead. (See what I did there.) Thank God for that, for we are – for lack of a better word – uncomfortable here in this world. We long for our true home. We await our eternal home in Heaven. The Bible says that we are citizens of Heaven – where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. (Philippians 3:20a)

And when our Savior returns (and He will) – He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like His own – using the same power with which He will bring everything under His control. (Philippians 3:21)

Don’t you just love that ?  These weak mortal bodies that we have today. He will change them, so that they are glorious. All of our aches and pains will go away. All of our diseases will be eradicated. I will have a full head of hair again !  That’s our God of hope.

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver – which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ – the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. (1 Peter 1:18-19)

God chose Him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days He has been revealed for your sake. Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because He raised Christ from the dead and gave Him great glory. (1 Peter 1:20-21)

When someone is held captive – sometimes a ransom is paid for the immediate release of that captive. Our God paid a ransom to release us from captivity – captivity to sin and death. That ransom was Christ’s death on the cross. It was the ultimate price to set us free.

I’ll continue this sermon next #SundayScripture. If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned. Tomorrow it’s #Top10Monday, as I present my personal Top 10 hits this week that honor our God Almighty on the radio.

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 Ministries

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday January 02ND 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.

It’s the start of a brand new year. My hope for you is for 2022 to be greater than 2021.

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold – I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it ? I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV)

Last month I preached a full sermon to my church family. I preached on being “Holy & Redeemed”. It’s based on 1 Peter 1:13-23. For the last 2 #SundayScripture editions I’ve presented an excerpt of that sermon. Let’s continue on with Part 3:

You know if there’s a general overall theme of the Book of Leviticus – it’s this – God is holy. (God is holy.) God must be regarded as holy. God must be treated as holy. God’s people (that’s us – you and me) – we must be holy. Because of who God is – He is the LORD. Those who follow Him (that’s us) become His holy people. We are sinners; yet, we are His holy people. We are holy because of our personal relationship with God. Well – what do you mean by that Chris ?  Well I’m glad you asked. Let me explain further:

If we believe Him. If we follow Him. If we trust Him. Then He’s within us. We are holy. We were once ordinary, but now – we are extra-ordinary. When God declares a place to be holy – it is because He is there. Just like all of those years ago when the LORD said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I – the LORD your God – am holy.” (Leviticus 19:1-2)

Like Israel of the Old Testament – a type and shadow of the church – today’s church – our church – it shares a special relationship with God. It is God’s church. This is God’s church. This is the house of our Lord. He is here. He is there. He is there. Our God is in this place. This place is holy. And we come to this place every Sunday from all over the local land to praise and worship our Lord. We are holy because He is holy.

That guy – you know that guy – he’s a nice guy. He does nice things for people around him. He’s trustworthy, and loyal, and helpful, and friendly, and courteous, and kind, and obedient, and cheerful, and thrifty, and brave, and clean, and reverent. Why – he’s like a Boy Scout. He may be all of those things, but if he doesn’t believe, and follow, and trust God – then he is not holy. Only God in his heart can make him holy.

By the way – in case you were wondering – I was a Cub Scout, and a Webelos Scout, and a Boy Scout for about 5 years from age 8 to 13.

So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 20:7)

God called on the people of Israel to be holy, for He had rescued them from their bondage in Egypt. You know the story. Moses raised his hand over the (Red) Sea, and the LORD opened-up a path through the water. The Israelites walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, as the water stood-up like a wall on both sides. (Exodus 14:21a,29)

God rescued the Israelites from the control of a cruel and foreign nation in Egypt – a nation that served other gods. Now they were to live as God’s people in the new land to the east to which He was bringing them – through the water.

God rescued us from bondage to sin and death. We weren’t rescued through the Red Sea, but we were rescued from the pit of despair – out of the mud and the mire. When we were rescued from the darkness, and we accepted God’s hand – it was the dawn of a new day. Light was coming in from the east. The God of Hope had arrived.

I’ll continue this sermon next #SundayScripture. If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned. Tomorrow it’s #Top10Monday, as I present my personal Top 10 hits this week that honor our God Almighty on the radio.

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 Ministries

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday December 26TH 2021, 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.

A couple of Sundays ago I preached a full sermon to my church family. I preached on being “Holy & Redeemed”. It’s based on 1 Peter 1:13-23. Last #SundayScripture I presented an excerpt of that sermon. Let’s continue on:

So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. (1 Peter 1:14)

I can not imagine slipping-back into my old ways of living after 15 years of living for God. My old ways of living were nearly my death sentence. Like many of us in here – I shouldn’t be here. I’m a miracle from God. And I see many miracles sitting here before me today. And our God continues to perform endless miracles.

He’s the Way maker. Miracle worker. Promise keeper. Light in the darkness. My God. That is who You are. That is what He does.

O God – Your ways are holy. Is there any god as mighty as You ?  You are the God who performs miracles. You display Your power among the peoples. With Your mighty arm – You redeemed Your people – the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. (Psalm 77:13-15)

Our God is the holy and powerful redeemer. That’s something that you can tell God every day when you talk to Him. Tell Him what He does for you. Thank Him for it. Tell Him what you need from Him. He already knows, but He wants to hear it from you. Pray about everything.

You know because of everything that God did for me – I want to do more for Him. I want to obey Him. I want to learn more about Him. I want to be more like Him. And I know that you do too.

But now you must be holy in everything you do – just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)

I love when reading Scripture in the New Testament – it refers to the Scriptures of the Old Testament. What’s promised in the Old – is fulfilled in the New.

For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

Let’s go back to the Scriptures – specifically – Pastor Bob’s favorite book of the Old Testament – Leviticus. Near the end of Chapter 11 God’s Word reads:

For I am the LORD your God. You must consecrate (or dedicate) yourselves and be holy – because I am holy. So do not defile yourselves with any of these small animals that scurry along the ground. For I – the LORD – am the One who brought you up from the land of Egypt – that I might be your God. Therefore you must be holy because I am holy. (Leviticus 11:44-45)

I think that the Book of Leviticus is difficult reading – for me anyway. It can be very confusing at times. And then there’s other parts of Leviticus that make perfect sense to me. I understand God’s Word in it. I hear His voice in it.

I’ll continue this sermon next #SundayScripture. As we approach the end of 2021 my hope for you is to close-out this year strong with a hope from our God above for a greater 2022. May you have a safe, healthy, and happy new year !

If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. Tomorrow it’s #Top10Monday, as I present my personal Top 10 hits this week that honor our God Almighty on the radio.

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) 2021 Christopher M. Day, CountUp Ministries