Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday May 12TH 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.

Happy Mother’s Day across much of the world.

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. When she speaks – her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness. Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all !” Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last. But a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise. (Proverbs 31:25-31 NLT)

For the next several months – I’m presenting the full transcription of my recent Jude message series consisting of two sermons – “Jude & Judgment” (Verses 1-11), and “Jude & Jury” (Verses 12-25). I preached them to my Homestead Florida church family on November 26TH 2023 and December 03RD 2023 respectively. Here’s Part 6:

[CONTINUE SERMON]

You know – there is Heaven – and there is hell. Those people that we know – that don’t believe and follow our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ – and never do so before they pass on – they are headed for a fire and brimstone future. Their punishment from God’s judgment will last forever.

You know – if you continue to live in sin – and we know that sin is what separates you from Christ – if you continue to live in your sins – you will die in your sins. You are headed straight to a fiery forever in hell without God.

I know that it’s not comfortable to hear it. It’s not comfortable to preach it, but hell exists, and it is horrific. I decided 17 years ago that I did not want to end up in hell forever.

In some churches you’re not allowed to talk about hell or the devil. This is not one of those churches. We don’t need to follow a particular denomination and its manmade laws and rules. We are a non-denominational Bible-believing church. We don’t answer to a board of directors at a large headquarters building in another state. We answer to the King of Kings – our Lord God Almighty !

Our Pastor talks about hell and Satan. Many Pastors don’t like to preach about hell in their sermons. They don’t want to talk about the angry side of God – and the eternal fire of His judgment. I just did. We must preach the Word. We must preach the whole Word – from Genesis to Revelation – and everything in-between. I believe that the entire Bible is truth – God’s Truth – and it does not change with the times. He is the Way. He is the Truth. He is the Life – then, now, and forever and ever. Amen.

[TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK]

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

Marshall Texas

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about my morning south of Hattiesburg Mississippi at historic Camp Shelby to visit the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum. After that – I drove to the bluffs overlooking – and the banks of – the Mighty Mississippi River at historic Natchez. I didn’t get to see and do everything that I wanted to in Natchez, so I’ll just have to visit again on a future road-trip.

Natchez and the surrounding area intrigues me with so much history. The U.S. 84 / U.S. 98 drive across the south of Mississippi leading to Natchez is quite scenic and serene.

Day 4 of my recent retirement road-trip began on the Natchez-Vidalia Bridge. It’s actually two bridges side-by-side. Westbound (into Louisiana) is the original bridge that has been there since 1940. Eastbound (into Mississippi) is the newer (and a bit wider) bridge that was built 48 years later.

I continued my westward trek on U.S. 84. It’s definitely one of my favorite highways in the U.S.A. It has a very interesting intersection with U.S. 165 where – in order to continue on U.S. 84 – you have to make a right-hand turn onto U.S. 165, immediately get in the left-hand turning lane, make a U-turn, quickly get in the right-hand turning lane, and then turn right back onto U.S. 84. (There was a high incidence of collisions at this intersection, so it was reconfigured in 2018 to 2019.)

Fun Facts: U.S. 165 is a 412-mile highway in Arkansas and Louisiana. Its northern-end is at U.S. 70, and its southern-end is at U.S. 90. Technically – U.S. 165 forms a concurrency with U.S. 84 at the unusual intersection described above. (I’m such a U.S. route nerd.)

I entered Texas from Louisiana via rural Keatchie-Marshall Road. There was no big “Welcome To Texas” sign at the state line – just an ordinary “Panola County Line” sign with a smaller route sign above it designating it as Texas Farm Road 123. Oh – and the speed limit increased. (Texans love their high speed limits.) That quick moment began a 10-day stay for me in North Texas.

It was on to Marshall Texas from there, and my first stop was the historic Starr Family Home. I introduced myself as a fellow docent of a historic house, and I enjoyed a wonderful conversation with two of the docents on duty at the time before, during, and after my self-guided tour on both floors of the house. They gave me some good ideas to ponder.

After that I ventured over to the Harrison County Historical Museum. I was a little disappointed that there were no docents on duty during my visit to their museum (located in two different buildings across the street from each other). In fact – I was able to enter and tour virtually the entire museum without any human contact whatsoever. That’s not really a good thing. Open museums should always be visibly manned and supervised for information and security purposes. I did finally find someone working in an office near the gift shop, and I briefly talked to her about the other museum location across the street. Their museum (in both buildings) contained great displays, but they lacked guidance, direction, and written material.

Harrison County Historical Museum, Marshall Texas

My final stop in downtown Marshall was the highly-rated (via Google reviews) Pazzeria By Pietro’s. I got myself a 9″ pizza with pepperoni and Canadian bacon. It was very good – truly hot and delicious !

Next #TravelThursday – I’m settled in North Texas with my family for 9 days. I’ll share some fun moments – including the total solar eclipse. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

My Top 10 Hits – Week 377

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from the previous week. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back over 45 years. Here’s this week’s chart – for the week ending Sunday May 05TH 2024 – the 377TH week of this current era that began on Presidents’ Day Weekend of 2017:

TW	LW	WKS	SONG TITLE	ARTIST / SITE
1	3	7	Counting My Blessings [1ST week @ # 1]	Seph Schlueter
2	2	22	Lead On Good Shepherd	Patrick Mayberry
3	1	11	He Does	Brandon Heath
4	5	11	You’ve Already Won	Shane & Shane
5	10	2	Unsung Hero	for King + Country
6	6	9	All Because Of Mercy	Casting Crowns
7	7	3	That’s My King	CeCe Winans
8	8	2	Somebody Like Me	Caleb & John Ft. Cain
9	4	5	The Prodigal	Josiah Queen
10	9	6	Rescue	Jordan St. Cyr

# 1 This Week In:
2023 – “The Lord’s Prayer (It’s Yours)” – Matt Maher
2022 – “Wonder Working” – All Creatures
2021 – “Fires” – Jordan St. Cyr
2020 – “Almost Home” – MercyMe
2019 – “Alive” – Big Daddy Weave
2018 – “What A Friend” – Matt Maher
2017 – “Forgiven” – Crowder

SEPH SCHLUETER – (pronounced SEF·SHLEE·TER) – I love a debut artist on my chart. Even more – I love a debut artist ascending to # 1 on my chart. His former nationwide # 1 smash is now my new # 1 smash – the 99TH # 1 of the current era (of 377 weeks). Seph’s letter of thanks to God reaches the top in its 7TH week on my chart.

UNSUNG HERO – It continues its impressive run on 2,832 movie theatre screens nationwide. It’s made almost $13 million at the box office. If you’re looking for a “feel good” family movie to see – then this is it. The title track of the movie is up a big 5 notches this week.

SPOTIFY – You can hear “My Top 10 Hits” anytime simply by heading over to my CountUp playlist on Spotify. All 10 hits are there from top to bottom. You can hear them in order from # 1 to # 10, or you can shuffle them. My playlist will be updated every weekend (usually before the actual chart is presented here on Mondays). You can link to it here.

Your likes, follows, and comments are always appreciated. Thank You for being part of my online ministry to share God’s Good News and win souls for Christ through His music. God used loud music on the radio to reach me in August of 2006. I’ve been testifying about Him ever since.

Be blessed my friends !  May our God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday May 05TH 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 begin my 9TH month with my Sebring Florida church family. Just like with my longtime Homestead Florida church family – we observe and celebrate Communion on the first Sunday of every month.

I was honored to lead Communion 79 times from 2016 to 2024. I believe it to be an integral part of the church experience. It should be a special observance – never an ordinary routine. Next month I’m looking forward to seeing how my successor leads Communion back in Homestead.

I like how my Pastor here in Sebring leads Communion. It’s done a bit differently here. As you enter the building you pick up the elements (packaged together) and take them to your seat. He leads Communion before his sermon and right after Praise & Worship.

(At Homestead – Communion is done near the end of the service after the sermon. As part of the ceremony – the church body walks forward to the altar to receive the elements from the plate to take back to their respective seats.)

For the next several months – I’m presenting the full transcription of my recent Jude message series consisting of two sermons – “Jude & Judgment” (Verses 1-11), and “Jude & Jury” (Verses 12-25). I preached them to my Homestead Florida church family on November 26TH 2023 and December 03RD 2023 respectively. Here’s Part 5:

[CONTINUE SERMON]

The Bible tells us to preach the Word. Be prepared. Pastor Bob said – “Chris. I want you to preach for me.” I’m here. I’m prepared. I’m prepared at all times. I’m prepared here in Homestead. I’m prepared there in Sebring. I’m prepared in-between. When I’m asked to preach – I accept the call. I will correct. I will rebuke. That means that when I hear something that’s touted as being Biblical, but it is not in the Bible – I will check it out. I will call it out. I hope that you will do the same. I hope to encourage you – with great patience and careful instruction. That means preaching the whole Word. That means even the fire and brimstone part of God’s Word.

You know – our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ – He was a fire and brimstone preacher during His short 3-year ministry here on Earth. We must preach like Christ.

I read this online, and I said to myself – “That’s good right there. I need to use that in my sermon.” So – from another minister, he writes:

“God’s Word is not an ‘either-or’ book. It is an ‘all-or-nothing’ book. It is not a dingy all-you-can-eat buffet, but a glorious full-course meal. It all comes down to whether or not we are willing to consume it all.”

Isn’t that good ? You can’t pick and choose what to believe in the Bible. It is all God’s Truth. That includes the uncomfortable parts of the Bible. That includes the horrific parts of the Bible.

Those people that we know that don’t believe and follow our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Those people that we know who say and do what the world tells them to say and do. That was me over 17 years ago. Those people – they believe and follow Satan – the god of this world around us. The Bible says that Satan has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ – who is the exact likeness of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT)

[TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK]

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