Tag: Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 18TH 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 past Wednesday I got the word that I’ll be preaching God’s Word from the pulpit today. I’ll be preaching my sermon “Good & Evil”. It’s based on 1 Peter 3:8-4:8, and it’s the follow-up to “Honor & Respect”.

Last month I preached – “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 6 of this series:

Our God has placed each and every one of us here on this Earth and in His church so that our lives can have an impact on the people with whom we come into contact with. Some will run away from us, and they won’t look back. Some will ridicule us, or criticize us, or persecute us, or even harm us for living a godly life. Some will receive our message, and they will want to hear more from us about the God we know. They may come to know our God themselves – because of us. That’s another miracle. They will glorify God for our testimony and their salvation.

You have to be there for 100 – in order to reach that 1. In other words – you may testify about the God you know to 100 people, and only 1 of those 100 listens to you, and takes it in, and thinks about it, and wants to hear more from you. If you reach that 1, so that God can reach that 1 – then it’s all worth it. That’s another miracle.

In His kindness God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while – He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation. All power to Him forever !  Amen. (1 Peter 5:10-11)

You see we have to deal with stuff here on this Earth – this temporary place that we call home. These sufferings – they appear endless, but can I tell you ? – they are not. They will be over – just like that, and then we will spend a glorious eternity with our God in Heaven. The Bible says that what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later (Romans 8:18). For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. (2 Corinthians 4:18b)

You know our God is pleased with us when we do what we know is good and right – even when people treat us unfairly, or disrespect us, or discriminate against us, or hurt us – mentally or physically.

Christ suffered for us. He died for us. This is how Chapter 2 of Peter’s first letter ends (22-25):

He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone.
He did not retaliate when He was insulted, nor threaten revenge when He suffered.
He left His case in the hands of God – who always judges fairly.
He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right.
By His wounds you are healed.

Ah – let me say that again:
By His wounds you are healed.

Once you were like sheep who wandered away.
But now you have turned to your Shepherd – the Guardian of your souls.

That’s from Peter’s letter to persecuted Christians who live in a hostile world. Sounds like us today. It also sounds very Old Testament-like. That’s because much of it is from the prophet Isaiah – from some 770 years earlier – before Peter.

In fact – let me be more specific. Much of that is based on Isaiah Chapter 53. Peter is not alone in quoting or referring to Scripture from Isaiah Chapter 53. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John do so in their respective Gospels. Luke also does so in Acts – which begins where his Gospel ends – with the ascension of Christ into Heaven. And Paul also refers to Isaiah 53 in his letter to the Romans.

(End of Part 6)

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 September 11TH 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 holiday weekend was very productive for me with Bible studying and sermon writing. I finished writing what will be my next sermon – “Good & Evil” – the continuation of my First Peter message series. It covers much of Chapter 3 into Chapter 4. I also immediately began writing my next sermon after that – “Blessings & Benedictions” – which you may guess is a sermon based on Benedictions. And you would be right with that guess. I’m writing on blessings that while they may be proclaimed at the end of our church services – they are blessings that must be taken into the world for our neighbor to hear and experience.

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 5 of this series:

Ignorant people who make foolish accusations. There’s a lot of them out there:

Speaking of which:  Recently – I was accused of – get this – stealing several bags of groceries – from my own front porch – that I never ordered – and I never saw. I know. Sounds crazy – doesn’t it ?  A few minutes after I got home from work one day someone was frantically banging on my front door. I answered the frantic knock, and that’s when I was blindsided by the foolish accusations. I almost lost it with this guy – an older Walmart delivery guy – who allegedly delivered groceries to my front porch – by accident – 20 minutes earlier – and he had photos on his phone of said groceries – on my front porch – that were no longer there. Either it was some elaborate scam in my neighborhood, or we have porch pirates running loose – following delivery people – and stealing packages from front porches – including bags of groceries.

After I almost put that guy in his place – I showed him grace and mercy, and then I prayed for him later on. (I really did.) I was on the edge of evil for a moment, but then my God – our God – He pulled me back from evil. You know what that is ?  That’s the Holy Spirit at work within.

You know that was just a minor skirmish on a recent afternoon. It made for good material for this sermon. As soon as it happened – I thought to myself – I’m gonna somehow preach about this some Sunday. So there you go.

We Christians are persecuted every minute of every hour of every day in every country all around the world – for being Christian. For wherever The Good News about Jesus Christ was and is preached – there are various levels – there are various forms – there are various forces – of suffering and persecution – seen and unseen – direct and indirect.

You and me – we are free – but that’s not an excuse to do evil against our neighbor – even when we are the recipients of what we perceive as evil done to us. Respect everyone.

You know how easy it is to get distracted by a bad driver on the road here in Homestead – and nearly lose it ?  Don’t do it. Respect everyone. Love your neighbor. I’ve said this countless times before. I do my best praying while driving.

Later in Peter’s letter (5:8-9) he writes:

Stay alert !  Watch out for your great enemy – the devil. (Who’s our great enemy ? – the devil.) He prowls around like a roaring lion – looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.

You notice Scripture does not say “Keep quiet, and keep your faith to yourself, so that the devil doesn’t notice you.” No – it does not say that. It says “Stay alert !”. It says “Stand firm against him (the devil)”. It says “be strong in your faith”. We must “Honor & Respect” the Lord our God. We must “Honor & Respect” our neighbor.

(End of Part 5)

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 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