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Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday July 11TH 2021, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

This day – July 11TH – was not such a good day in my professional career history. It was the start of a new era of my USAF career on this day in 1994. When I went in to work on the morning of that day I had no idea what would happen to me just an hour later. I was completely blindsided. It forever changed my career – temporarily for the worst (for 13 years), but then for the best (for the next 14 years and continuing today).

I truly believe that if it weren’t for the career-changing event of the morning of Monday July 11TH 1994 – I wouldn’t know Christ today. I was in a valley for 13 years. There were occasional ripples and bubbles and mounds and slopes along the valley floor that was my career (and life), but it was mostly a 13-year abyss. A little more than a month after the start of the 13TH year my LORD lifted me out of the pit of despair – out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground, and steadied me as I walked along. (Psalm 40:2)

I don’t know where my USAF career could have or would have gone if it weren’t for my July 11TH 1994. I don’t need to know – because I know what happened early on the week of August 20TH 2006. Less than a year later by the end of July of 2007 – I was in a much better place at work – and at home. The abyss met its demise.

My next sermon that I’ll preach to my church family will be all about the start of my “Salvation & Hope”. It’ll mark the start of my extended message series from the two letters of Peter. Later this year I may post an entire sermon (in multiple parts) here on Sunday Scripture. I’m currently working on a new sermon that follows-up “Salvation & Hope” titled “Holy & Redeemed”.

Here’s an excerpt of that new sermon:

… Let’s jump-in to Scripture – starting with the Apostle Peter’s first letter – the first chapter and verse 13:

So think clearly, and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.

When I last spoke from Peter’s first letter – it was about “Salvation & Hope”. Without God’s salvation – there is no hope, for hope comes from God. And so this message picks-up where that message left-off.

You know once God rescues and saves us from the darkness that we came from – we can’t think like we used to think – back before we had “Salvation & Hope” – back before we were “Holy & Redeemed”. We used to think and act differently when the world owned and operated us – before we knew God. But now our God is in control. We believe Him. We follow Him. We trust Him. He’s within us. And so the Bible says “think clearly” – “prepare your minds for action”. The King James Version puts it this way – “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind”

A little “behind-the-scenes” information here. I usually write each Sunday Scripture on the Friday night or Saturday morning before it’s published online at 3 AM (U.S. East Coast time) on Sunday. I spend much of the day each Saturday reading, studying, and learning from the Bible. I write sermons, and I prepare material for Sunday morning service. I generally stay inside and off social media on Saturdays. (That’s why I don’t blog on Saturdays.)

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

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Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday July 04TH 2021, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate our freedom on this day – our first Independence Day here in the U.S.A. on a Sunday since 2010. Happy 245TH Birthday America !

On this 4TH Of July holiday we celebrate this great nation of ours – this free nation that we call The United States Of America. We are free today because of our Founding Fathers – great Americans like John Hancock, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. Let us never forget all of those great Americans who fought – and who continue to fight to this day – for the independence and the freedom that we continue to enjoy today.

For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is – there is freedom.
(2 Corinthians 3:17)

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

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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Shortly after 1:30 AM EDT on Thursday June 24TH 2021 disaster struck my South Florida community when about half of a fully-occupied 12-story residential beachfront condominium complex collapsed and pancaked onto itself along the Atlantic coast in the small town of Surfside (about 40 miles / 65 kilometers from my home).

It will very likely be the largest instant loss of life in Florida in nearly a century.

I realized the horror unfolding on the local TV news about 4 hours later as I was preparing to drive to work. At one point I got overly emotional, and I started crying. I haven’t stop grieving ever since. I weep with those who weep.

Search-and-rescue operations continue this weekend as our first-responder heroes continue to be hopeful that there are survivors underneath the rubble. We pray to our Lord for the safety and security of those heroes in the elements day and night atop the rubble. We pray for the comfort and peace of the family and friends who lost loved ones on that morning. We pray for the healing and restoration of the survivors who made it out alive. We lift up the town of Surfside to our God Almighty. #SurfsideStrong

I don’t personally know anyone who was in those towers, but I know that men and women, parents and children, and entire families went to bed on Wednesday night just like any other normal night with an ambitious schedule for Thursday, and in an instant they were physically gone along with the building they slept in. I didn’t know any of them, but they were my neighbors. They were God’s creations.

God is our refuge and strength – always ready to help in times of trouble.
So we will not fear when earthquakes come, and the mountains crumble into the sea.
Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge !

(Psalm 46:1-3)

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

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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday June 20TH 2021, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate our fathers on this Father’s Day – as well as our almighty Father in Heaven.

This past Friday I finished writing my sermon on “Salvation & Hope”. It actually plays out as a tribute to the Reverend Billy Graham and the work that he did for God at his many crusades around the world. My Pastor preached an hour-long-plus sermon last Sunday on his personal experiences with Oral Roberts.

I also wrote about the start of my salvation 15 years ago this August. This sermon serves as my first of many from my new message series on the Apostle Peter’s two letters to Christians scattered throughout the Roman Empire from Rome in the west to Jerusalem in the east. It covers 1 Peter 1:3-12.

All praise to God – the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by His great mercy that we have been born again – because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance – an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you – pure and undefiled – beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith – God is protecting you by His power until you receive this salvation – which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. (1 Peter 1:3-5)

I now have two full sermons to pray about and select from when I’m asked to preach again to my church family. (The other is my sermon on the good Kings Uzziah and Jotham of Judah.) Only one thing to do now: Start writing a new sermon based on 1 Peter 1:13-21.

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