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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday January 28TH 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.

Today I’ll be missing church service for a rare Sunday morning. I’ll be staying at home preparing for a medical procedure tomorrow afternoon. The Good News is that my church (here in Sebring Florida) records and broadcasts LIVE all of our services, so I can watch it at home.

Before COVID some churches were already livestreaming their services, but during COVID that strategy expanded exponentially. It’s a great way to get the Gospel out to the masses in any way and at any time. But watching a church service online is definitely not a substitute for attending a church service LIVE and in-person. I don’t believe that you can grow as a mature Christian unless you are in fellowship with other mature Christians. I believe that it’s crucial to be a physical part of a church family – not just on Sunday mornings – but on other days of the week as well – with small groups, and bible studies, and other activities – in and out of the church building. We must remember that the church is not the building. The church is the living and breathing body of Christ.

Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. (Romans 12:4-5 NLT)

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

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday January 21ST 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.

This is a very special day for me. It was on this precise date – the 21ST of January – in 2007 (also a Sunday) – that God gave me the courage to attend a Sunday morning church service for the first time in my life as a baby Christian just 5 months into salvation. This is just the 2ND time since 2007 that this date has occurred on a Sunday. (It also occurred in 2018.)

I’ve been part of a church family ever since that glorious Sunday morning exactly 17 years ago. I was with my first church family for a little over 8 years, and I’ve been with my 2ND church family for almost 9 years now. This morning I’m driving to Homestead to be with my longtime church family since 2015. I’m looking forward to singing Praise & Worship songs to God, and learning more about Him from my Pastor and his sermon. I’m also looking forward to fellowship before and after the church service – including a nice big Lunch at a local steakhouse (probably Longhorn).

This past Friday night I was with my 2ND church family here in my new hometown of Sebring Florida (4TH church family overall since 2007). I attended Bible Study again. A small group of us meet at the church building once a week for a word-by-word reading and study of the Bible with our Pastor. We did Genesis 48 and 49. Next Friday night (which I’ll miss) our group will read and study Genesis 50 (the final chapter), and a portion of Exodus 1 (which is like a continuation of Genesis).

Just before his death – Jacob blesses his 12 sons in Genesis 49 in the following order – Reuben (1), Simeon (2), Levi (3), Judah (4), Zebulun (10), Issachar (9), Dan (5), Gad (7), Asher (8), Naphtali (6), Joseph (11), and Benjamin (12). (I listed their order of birth in parenthesis.)

These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he told his sons good-bye. He blessed each one with an appropriate message. (Genesis 49:28 NLT)

I think eventually I want to study each of Jacob’s 12 sons in depth, and maybe write some sermons on them – perhaps 2 sons at a time – and how their respective tribes fared. (Levi and Joseph would not become Patriarchs of tribes.)

I briefly introduced the 12 tribes of Israel near the end of a December 2018 sermon that I preached to my church family. I just checked it out for perhaps the first time in 5 years, and it provides a good foundation for a series of future sermons.

Pretty soon in my retirement life I’ll have much more time on my hands for personal Bible studying and sermon writing. I’ve begun writing my sermon on “Sebring & Weigle” – two of our founders here in my new hometown. I spent an unexpected 3 hours last week in our museum – the former house of Charles Frederick Weigle – in fellowship with one of our docents on duty at the time. I mentally gathered more material for my sermon – just being in the presence of such great history around me.

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

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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Holidays Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday January 14TH 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.

This past Friday night I attended my first Bible Study with a small group of my new church family. I had the date circled on my calendar for a few months as the date to begin weekly attendance every Friday night.

It was a good hour-and-a half of fellowship, Scripture, and prayer – led by our Lead Pastor Tim. We read most of Genesis 46 and 47. (It sounds like the group started Genesis about 22 or so weeks ago, so they cover about 2 chapters per week.)

Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph – to guide him to Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen. And Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as he appeared to him – Joseph threw himself on his neck and wept on his neck a long time. (Genesis 46:28-29 NASB)

A few points here:

My Pastor appears to be a mostly North American Standard Bible Pastor, so I’ll be utilizing that translation more often here on #SundayScripture and in my own personal Bible study.

Jacob (Israel) finally saw his eldest (and favorite) son Joseph again, and they were full of joy for each other. It had been 22 years since they last saw each other. Jacob thought that Joseph was dead for all of those years (eaten alive by a wild animal), and he mourned during that time. He thought that he would mourn until his own death.

I made bold Goshen in the Scripture above. Geographically it was a region in the far northeast corner of Lower Egypt – between the Nile River and the Red Sea – far away from the rest of Egypt. (Lower Egypt was the fertile delta region right up against the Mediterranean Sea.) It’s where the Israelites settled during that time-period (around 1700 B.C.). It’s the best land of Egypt. It’s mentioned in both Genesis and a couple of times in Exodus.

I’m looking forward to this upcoming Friday night when we read and study Genesis 48 and 49, and maybe 50.

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

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Holidays Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday January 07TH 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 my first #SundayScripture of this great new year – a year that I pray will be greater for you than the old.

I’ll be with my longtime church family in Homestead this morning, and I’ll be leading Communion. After service and fellowship at a local area restaurant – I’ll be on my way back home to Sebring for the next 2 weeks.

Later this week I’ll immerse myself further into my new church family in Sebring by adding Bible Study to my Friday evening schedule each week. I’m looking forward to spending more time getting to know my new brothers and sisters in Christ as we get closer to Him together.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works – not neglecting to meet together – as is the habit of some – but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV)

Being an active part of a church family is integral to getting closer to Christ with each new day. This month marks 17 years of being an active part of a church family – from my first church of 8 years – to my longtime Homestead church of almost 9 years – to my new Sebring church of now 4 months.

A little over a month ago I preached a 2-sermon message series based on Jude’s letter near the end of the New Testament. Later this month I’ll begin transcribing that message series – a little at a time – over the course of about 12 to 16 weeks. (I’ll maintain my pledge to keep all of my blog posts to an under 4-minute read.)

My testimony is featured here each week 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