Tag: Scripture

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Bible Blogging Christian Church God Life Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

I was rescued and saved by my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ 15 years ago this week. I’ve observed and celebrated this week in August as my “Salvation Week” every year since 2007. It’s the anniversary of when my life unexpectedly changed forever.

I love this word cloud meme that I recently found on social media. It’s based on the first chapter of the first letter of Peter. There are a lot of good words listed. I can stare at it and look at each one of those words over and over again. It’s the story of my salvation – which continues to this day.

1 Peter 1 ends with these 5 verses:

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.

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.

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. As the Scriptures say:

“People are like grass.
Their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
But the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

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 Internet Ministry News Scripture Television

Sunday Scripture

There’s an abundance of disinformation, misinformation, and fake news available to us at every minute of every day. You can find it on most of the broadcast and cable TV networks. You can read it in the newspapers (if you still read those). You’re definitely exposed to it here on social media – especially on Facebook and Twitter. Many otherwise intelligent people have been duped and brainwashed by propaganda and conspiracy theories, and they have spread them unknowingly or intentionally online and offline.

This blog existed on Facebook for over 4½ years from 2013 to 2017. I moved it off of there and returned it to its original home on here at the start of 2018. I haven’t posted original material on Facebook since I did that. WordPress seems like an oasis from the clutter and noise of social media. Sure it’s one of the lesser-popular sites, and it’s one of the older sites (almost 16-years-old). But you found my blog, so it’s in a good place.

Any born again Christian who spends any amount of time watching mainstream TV news and talk shows or reading social media knows that we are portrayed as radical extremists. We are those crazy lunatic nutcases on the far-right who believe in a God that nobody has ever seen or heard. We are members of a cult who keep drinking the Kool-Aid. We are hypocrites and bigots who believe that we are better than everyone else.

Radical extremist ? OK I’ll take that one.
Crazy lunatic nutcase ? #Accurate
Far-right ? Hardly. My political views are all over the spectrum on both sides.
A God that nobody has ever seen or heard ? That’s fake news.
Member of a cult ? Not at all. I didn’t discover true freedom until salvation began.
Drinking the Kool-Aid ? No. That’s those who believe everything they see on TV.
Hypocrite ? Sure. All humans are hypocrites.
Bigot ? No. You know what a bigot does ? They accuse others of being bigots.
Better than everyone else ? No. I’m better than nobody.

Jesus replied – “I assure you – no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say – ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
(John 3:5-8 NLT)

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

Earlier this year I added “Singer” to my vast church résumé. It was another one of those situations within my 14½-year church experience where I was invited (asked) to do something by the Lead Pastor, and I said “YES !” without even thinking about it. So I joined our Praise & Worship team. (I affectionately refer to us as “the band”.)

Our Lead Pastor actually invited two of us to sing with him while our Praise & Worship Pastor was incapacitated. (He broke his leg skiing). Once he recovered enough to resume his duties a few months later he asked us to stay, so now it’s him and his wife, and the two of us recruited earlier this year to belt-out 3 or 4 contemporary worship songs. We’re a 4-piece band. I’m a back-up singer. I just try to blend-in with the others.

Aside from Karaoke on cruise ships, singing loudly and boldly at home, at work, and in my car, and singing a few times during some of my earlier sermons that I’ve preached – I have no real singing experience. I’m not that good of a singer. I barely have 1 octave. I’m actually a much better dancer than singer (if you can believe that). I have far more experience dancing than singing, but I left most of that behind almost 20 years ago in the trance and techno clubs. I’m 54 now. I can no longer dance like a 20-year-old in his mid-30s.

One of the songs that we’ve been singing often on Sunday mornings (almost every week) is “Way Maker”. Michael W. Smith scored his biggest radio hit since the late-1990s with his cover version of the song. (It peaked at # 3 on my own chart.)

“Way Maker” is a crowd favorite on Sunday mornings. From the stage I see the eyes of my brothers and sisters light-up, and I see smiles during the opening chords. I see and hear joy as we all sing together the words of “Way Maker” to our Way Maker.

Sometimes we need a reminder that when we sing – we don’t do so for our own entertainment. We’re not singing to each other. We’re singing to our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. He is our Way Maker. He is our Miracle Worker. He is our Promise Keeper. He is our Light in the darkness. He is our God. That is who He is.

I am the LORD – your Holy One – Israel’s Creator and King. I am the LORD – who opened a way through the waters – making a dry path through the sea. (Isaiah 43:15-16)

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

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

As a Pastor – looks don’t matter to me. I don’t care what you look like. I don’t care what you’re wearing. I don’t care where you came from. I don’t care what you’ve done. Everyone is welcome into our church family.

That guy in the middle – rough around the edges – is closest to God. He knows God. He’s getting closer to God by reading more of His Word. I can work with him. I can use him as a teacher. I can use him to lead others – like those two guys to the left of him – who aren’t as close to God as they think. Putting on nice clothes and looking prim and proper on Sunday mornings won’t get you to Heaven. Persecuting others for the way they look won’t lead to eternity with God. She thinks she is Christian.

The four of them should get together after church service for Lunch and get to know each other and learn from each other, and then learn more about God together as brothers and sisters of the church family.

I’ve been a part of 2 church families over the past 14½ years, and neither church family would’ve rejected that guy in the middle. He would’ve been welcomed with open arms. He would’ve been used as a church leader to teach others how to have a heart for Christ – how to have a heart filled with The Holy Spirit. I know that many churches would frown upon or even outright reject that guy in the middle. I myself would reject the church that rejects anyone.

I want that guy in the middle to bring his friends with him for Sunday morning service. I want that guy in the middle to preach God’s Good News to anyone who will listen to him.

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

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