Tag: Sermon

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date May 3, 2020

Happy Sunday May 03RD 2020. This is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us continue this praise – this worship – this celebration of our almighty God !

This is the 7TH Sunday in a row in which I am not praising and worshiping and celebrating my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ with my brothers and sisters of my church family together in the same place at the same time, but this is also the 7TH Sunday in a row in which our church is in our homes – because we brought the church with us when we physically left the building back on Sunday March 15TH.

We must continue to be the church – and bring the church – in everything we do – and everywhere we go.

But I do miss meeting together physically. This is the longest stretch that I’ve been away from my church family since the start of 2007 when I was not yet part of a church family. I am hopeful (and praying) that before this month is up – we’ll be back together again.

I continue my daily / nightly Bible Study here at home, and with Bible Study comes praying and sermon-writing. I’m almost done with my current sermon titled “Satan & Hell”. It was spun-off from my 4-part online-only sermon series leading up to Easter Sunday titled “Faces & Heels”.

Here’s what I wrote this past week in “Satan & Hell”:

… There are some out there who are – for a lack of a better term – conspiracy theorists. You think conspiracy theorists only exist on one side of the political spectrum ? Heh. Think again. There are crazies on both sides. They push a certain narrative or agenda, and then they throw in a bible verse or two to make it all sound legitimate. Don’t give in to the false prophets. Trust only in God’s Word.

You know Lucifer – before he became Satan – wasn’t satisfied in simply worshiping God. You see he wanted to be worshiped himself. He wanted stardom. He wanted to use all of the blessings that were given to him by God – for his own gain. There are many in the global church today – those who lead, and those who serve, and those who show up – that are just like Lucifer. They would rather make themselves glorious than give the glory to God. Don’t follow the Lucifers.

You know Satan knows where he’s going. In these last days he’s hard at work – along with his followers – the modern-day Lucifers. He’s trying to turn God’s believers and followers against each other. He’s creating chaos and havoc – gloom, despair, and agony on us. When he goes to the pit of hell – he wants to bring as many of us with him as he can.

2ND Thessalonians (2:9-12):

This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction – because they refuse to love and accept the Truth that would save them. So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the Truth.

See Satan is going to look like God to many people – including some of God’s own believers and followers – but it won’t be the work of God. It will be the work of Satan – disguised as the work of God. But if you’re truly a disciple of God – immersed in His Word – consumed in His Spirit – then you will clearly see the difference between God’s Work of light and Satan’s work of dark. You won’t fall for the devil’s dirty deeds done dirt cheap …

Tags Blog, Christian, Hell, Lucifer, Satan, Sermon

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Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 26, 2020

On Sunday May 07TH 2017 I preached my 4TH sermon to my church family. It was titled “Testify & Preach”.

Here’s an excerpt of it that I’ve updated and enhanced 3 years later:

John Chapter 15 Verse 27, and this final verse (of this Chapter) is so critical. This is what it all leads up to. This is what it’s all about – as the branches of the vine that is Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ – through the love of God and the hate of the world – as God’s arms, hands, legs, and feet in this world:

You must testify about Me – because you have been with Me from the beginning.

John 15-27

Merriam-Webster defines “testify” in this way:
– to make a statement based on personal knowledge or belief; to bear witness
– to serve as evidence or proof
– to express a personal conviction

YES ! – I will always testify on what I know – on what I believe – is the Truth.

We all need to testify.

“But Chris I’m not qualified to testify. I’m new at this. I’ve done many bad things in my life. I don’t know what to say. I don’t talk good. I’m shy. I have stage fright. I’m scared of the spotlight. I don’t have credentials. I don’t have a seminary degree.”

Let me tell you this. Everyone who believes, and follows, and trusts, and obeys, and loves God is qualified and obligated to testify. It doesn’t matter if your dad was a Preacher and you grew up in a Christian family, or if you’re the only one who’s been saved in your immediate family. It doesn’t matter if you were saved 10 years ago, or 10 months ago, or 10 weeks ago, or 10 days ago, or even 10 minutes ago. If you call on Christ as your Lord & Savior then you must testify and preach !

Someone once described my teaching – now preaching style – as a series of personal testimonies interconnected by Bible verses. OK – I’ll take that. It’s what I know how to do. I read the Bible. I learn something new every time I read the Truth. I try to understand everything I read. Sometimes I don’t understand – so I keep reading until I do. I try to apply what I’ve read to my own personal journey of the past nearly 14 years. I put my thoughts to written words on my home computer as best as I can. Those written words eventually form a lesson plan or a sermon based on a title, a theme, or a subject matter. Sometimes I’m writing several sermons simultaneously. I have a collection of sermons that I’ve written over the past 4 years. I update and enhance them on a regular basis, and then when I’m called upon to do so I determine which sermon is the most relevant at this time to preach on. I ask God which sermon are you going to place on my heart to “Testify & Preach”.

So I’m testifying on what I’ve lived – on what I’ve experienced – and I’m teaching and proclaiming – I’m preaching – on what the Bible tells me so about those life experiences. God gives me the right words at the right time through the Spirit.

Tags Sermon

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Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 19, 2020

Happy Sunday April 19TH 2020 ! This is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. And let us continue this praise, this worship, this celebration of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ – right where we are – in our own homes.

This is the 5TH Sunday in a row in which my church family will not be meeting corporately at our building for our weekly celebration of Christ. Our Worship Pastor taped a sermon and placed it on Facebook on our 1ST Sunday away from each other, and our Lead Pastor did the same for the next 3 sermons after that. I’m looking forward to the next one online, as they have all been relevant and powerful – giving glory to God.

Here at #CountUp I preached a full sermon in blog form in 4 parts over the past 4 Sundays. I broke my own rule of “3 minutes or less”. That is – each one of my blog posts can be read in 3 minutes or less – except for my 4-part sermon. Each part was closer to a 5-minute-read. I knew I wanted it to culminate on Easter Sunday, so that gave me 4 Sundays to do so. I actually thought about breaking it up into 5 shorter parts and then presenting the extra part on a Thursday – perhaps Holy Thursday / Maundy Thursday – but I didn’t need to do so. While it may have taken you about 20 minutes to read it all it would have taken me over 45 minutes to preach it all from the pulpit in front of my church family. At 13 Microsoft Word pages it’s actually my longest sermon ever written.

It was even longer than that. I removed an entire section on Satan and hell. That got spun-off into its very own sermon (which I’m currently writing). I’m making pretty good progress so far. I’ve already got about 10 minutes of pulpit-preaching material. Incidentally my goal is to keep my sermons at about 35 to 40 minutes. I’ve been known to be “long-winded” in the past, so I’m learning how to shorten my sermons to my church family.

My 4-part sermon – “Faces & Heels” – was substantially enhanced from its original form – written in 2017. It was the 11TH sermon that I wrote since 2016 (when I started preaching). It sat idle since then. My new sermon – “Satan & Hell” – is my 35TH sermon.

As for future sermons here at #CountUp – I may do it again sometime soon.

Preach the Word of God. Be prepared – whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. (2 Timothy 4:2 NLT)

Tags Sermon

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Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 12, 2020

(Continued from last Sunday.)

All right. So this is Part 4 of my 4-part online-only sermon that I started here on Sunday March 22ND, and then continued on Sunday March 29TH and Sunday April 05TH. It’s Easter Sunday – Resurrection Sunday. It’s a great and glorious day, as is every day on this fantastic journey. But this one is extra special, for He is risen. He is risen indeed !

Let’s close-out this sermon in a big way.

Let’s go to the Old Testament with wisdom from the Book of Ecclesiastes:

Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls – the other can reach out and help. (4:9-10a)

That’s from the current edition of the New Living Translation. It was actually revised from the 1ST edition from almost 25 years ago. It used these words:

Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one – they get a better return for their labor.

I like that – both the original and the revision.

You know that’s called a tag team in the WWE. When one of the superstars gets tired or gets beaten up – he or she tags in his or her tag team partner, and they keep the fight going with their adversaries while the other one rests and recuperates, and cheers his or her partner on.

It’s kind of like us when one of our brothers or sisters submits to the enemy and needs our help to pull them out of the dark and dreary culvert that runs along both sides of the journey. Sometimes we stumble. Sometimes we fall. We can’t walk this journey alone. I learned that during my first 100 days of this fantastic journey. See back then I was an orphan – not part of a church body – not belonging to any church family. I had no tag team partners. I had no stable (another WWE term). I walked alone. I knew I couldn’t go much further like that. I mean I realized that I was rescued and saved by my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, but what’s next ? I needed a church family to find out what’s next. I soon found a church family that I could grow with.

My next sermon (already written) – is titled “Church & State”. It explores the urgency of being an important part of a church family. Our God commands it. I hope to preach it to my church family real soon – once we gather again in person corporately.

As the Bible says (in Ecclesiastes 4:10b & 12-13):

Someone who falls alone is in real trouble. A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

There’s something to be said there about power in numbers. That’s a common theme in the WWE. When a lovable babyface is being attacked by a miserable heel oftentimes a fellow face or a group of faces emerge from the locker room area backstage, run down the ramp, jump in to the ring, and help the face in peril by ridding the heel(s) from the ring and saving their brother or sister.

It kind of works the same way on this fantastic journey. That’s why we need each other as believers and followers of our God Almighty. We must fight the enemy together. We must encourage and inspire and bless each other. We must cheer each other on. We must pray for each other. We will conquer. God is on our side.

You know I’ve been to a lot of WWE LIVE events in bars and arenas over the past 19 years. We’re a unique type of people. I call them “my people”. They like what I like. They came to see what I came to see. They cheer who I cheer. They jeer who I jeer. We even dress alike. “My people.”

You know who else us are “my people” ? My church family. We meet and greet every Sunday. We pray together. We sing together. We praise and worship together. We listen to the sermon together. “My people.” God’s people.

Last weekend was WrestleMania Weekend – a 36-year tradition within the WWE. It’s the peak of the year. It’s what it all leads-up to. It’s what it’s all about. The storylines end here. WrestleMania Weekend is usually held in a football stadium, and 75,000 to 100,000 wrestling fans worldwide show up for it en masse. Not this year though. Because of COVID-19 WrestleMania Weekend was held inside an empty training building. The show went on though.

This weekend is Easter Weekend – a nearly 2,000-year tradition here in this world. It’s the peak of the year. It’s what it all leads-up to. It’s what it’s all about. The story didn’t end on Friday on that cross. It continued on Sunday when Jesus Christ conquered death and rose again. Easter Weekend is usually celebrated in church buildings big and small, and millions of Christians worldwide show up for it en masse. Many Christians only enter a church building on Easter Sunday. Not this year though. Because of COVID-19 Easter Weekend is being celebrated in our respective homes. The celebration must go on.

Luke 24-34

HE IS RISEN ! HE IS RISEN – INDEED ! The Lord has really risen ! He appeared to Peter. (Luke 24:34). He was seen by the Twelve, and the more than 500 of His followers at the time, and by James (the half-brother of Jesus), and by all the apostles, and by Paul. (1 Corinthians 15:5-8)

Today we join our brothers and sisters in Christ worldwide – God’s children – God’s church – as we observe and celebrate the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ – our Lord and Savior.

We join our brothers and sisters of this global church family on this Resurrection Sunday, but we know that every waking moment of every new day is a renewed celebration of Christ conquering the grave, rising from the dead, and giving us life. HE IS RISEN ! HE IS RISEN – INDEED ! And since He is risen – we have risen from the darkness that we once knew.

He was concealed in the Old Testament. He was revealed in the New Testament. See Jesus keeps His promises – then and now. He does what He says He is going to do. He is who He says He is. He is the Messiah. He is risen. He is risen – indeed. He is alive. He sits on the throne of Heaven. He is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. He gives us life. He breathes life onto our dry bones. Breath of God – breathe on us ! He makes all things new. He gives us hope. He gives us purpose. He makes us vessels of vibrant living waters.

YES ! On this Resurrection Sunday that the LORD has made – let’s observe – let’s rejoice – let’s celebrate – our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ – The Risen One !