New airline promotes Christian ministry

Enjoy this guest post from Greg Miller and contact him to let him know you saw him on the Christian Daily Blog!

Brand New Airlines of the Christian Faith offered in-flight chapel services on all its flights.

The airline’s chaplain, Pastor Carl, continuously exhibited a positive attitude. “I like to live with my head above the clouds,” he joked.

Pastor Carl faithfully conducted worship services aboard the airline’s No. 1 Airplane every Saturday and Sunday. “You don’t have to miss out on worshipping God in church just because it’s the weekend,” he said.

Pastor Carl used a variety of tools to illustrate his messages. One Saturday, several passengers were asked to compose and recite short poems about their relationship with Jesus Christ. The following day, he asked passengers to share a few brief testimonies.

Pastor Carl used the airplane’s take-off and landing processes to describe the mountains and valleys of life. “Each of us experiences life’s highs and lows,” he observed. “But through all of our joys and trials, the Lord Jesus Christ is with us.”

One weekend, Pastor Carl was sick, so he asked his assistant chaplain, Pastor Cornett, to share God’s Word with the passengers. “I would be thrilled to fill in for you,” said Pastor Cornett in a phone call from Pastor Carl. “I look forward to flying again. I haven’t flown for many years. Do you have any tips about in-flight ministry that you can share with me?”

“Well, let’s see,” said Pastor Carl. “You must remember that you are ministering to people of varying faith backgrounds. You must share the love of the Lord with all passengers, giving an equal opportunity to each of them to hear about God’s mercy and love.”

“No problem,” said Pastor Cornett. “That’s the approach I use with every sermon I preach at the church where I serve as the pastor. And my associate minister, Pastor Charlie, looks at ministry the same way that I do. He realizes the importance of everyone having an opportunity to hear about how much Jesus loves them.”

Pastor Cornett told Pastor Carl that Pastor Charlie believed adults should be ministered to in a way that even children can understand. “Pastor Charlie uses puppets, kids songs and other tools from which both children and adults can benefit,” Pastor Cornett said.

“The only problem with me filling in for you is that Pastor Charlie’s wife, Sister Charlotte, has to work. You see, Sister Charlotte plays the piano for Pastor Charlie when he conducts the services. She works as a flight attendant for Brand New Airlines of the Christian faith.

“Pastor Charlie has a tendency to become really excited when he is ministering, and Sister Charlotte helps calm him down. With Sister Charlotte up-in-the-air in her role as a flight attendant, when Pastor Charlie’s excitement begins to rise, no one will be there to bring him back down to earth!”

--------------------
To contact Greg Miller for speaking engagements or puppet ministry, please email kidcool4jesus@yahoo.com.

Enjoy this article? Receive email alerts when new articles are available! Just click on the Follow button or subscribe above.

Stars debate their brightness

Enjoy this guest post from Greg Miller and contact him to let him know you saw him on Christian Daily Blog!

Francesca and Fred were stars who lived in different parts of God’s great and glorious universe.

Both Francesca and Fred had high opinions of themselves. “I’m the brightest star in the universe,” said Fred.

“Don’t be silly,” replied Francesca. “You’re the only star in the sky who doesn’t see my true brightness.”

“It seems that your opinion of yourself is the only one that counts,” said Fred. “You’re always talking about the brightness that overwhelms you when you’re standing in front of heaven’s mirror.”

“You’re just jealous,” said Francesca. “You’re a dreamer. You’re a wishful thinker. On the other hand, I’m a realist. I know what I see when I look at me. I see what I know when I look at me. I know what I think when I think about me.”

“You’re saying a lot, but you’re not saying anything,” said Fred. “You’re just talking in circles.”

“I’m millions of years older than you,” said Francesca. “That’s another reason to believe that I’m brighter than you.”

“Being millions of years older than me means only one thing,” replied Fred. “It means you’re millions of years older than me. It certainly doesn’t mean that you shine brighter than me.”

“There’s one more reason to say that I’m a brighter star than you,” said Francesca.

“I’m a graduate of the Heavenly Stars Celestial University,” Francesca said. “God himself handed my diploma to me!”

Francesca concluded her argument. “I’ve just given you all the reasons I am heaven’s brightest star,” she said. “Surely now you will concede the obvious.”

“The only thing I’m willing to concede is that you and I are very bright stars,” Fred said. “Only the Sovereign Lord, however, can judge which of us may have superior brightness. I know it may be highly unlikely, but He may say some other star is the brightest star in the Universe.”

Francesca giggled, “You’re so funny, Fred. God created us, so He knows more about us than we know about ourselves. Plus, it’s important to remember that each of us stars has been assigned a certain job to do.”

“I thought you were determined to have every star in the Universe bow at the Altar of the Mirror of Francesca,” said Fred.

“I do think I’m a very bright star,” Francesca beamed. “But since we started our little discussion, I’ve been thinking that while I may be the brightest star in the Universe tonight, you may shine more brightly tomorrow night.”

“The bottom line is no matter how brightly we shine, we’ll never outshine God’s Son, Jesus Christ,” said Fred.

“That’s right,” agreed Francesca. He created all of the stars in the Universe, and even on a cloudy day, He is far brighter than all of the rest of us put together!”
----------------
To contact Greg Miller for speaking engagements or puppet ministry, please email kidcool4jesus@yahoo.com.

Enjoy this article? Receive email alerts when new articles are available! Just click on the Follow button or subscribe above.

This is the Day that the Lord has Made by Rev. Greg Bishop

Why are we in such a big hurry for this day, or week to end?

We use a lot of catchy phrases like "Thank goodness, it’s Friday," or on Wednesday we say, "Hump day, only two days 'til the weekend," or "Boy, you can sure tell it’s Monday, can't wait 'til 5 o'clock." Then Sunday evening it’s "Where did the weekend go?"

I want to encourage us to look forward to every day of the week. Each day has it’s purpose. Enjoy every day and appreciate the fact that you have today, and today is like no other day.

We need to individually decide how to be productive mentally, physically, and spiritually as we enter into each day. I can only offer a suggestion, you must decide how to make your own agenda Sunday through Saturday.

S - Start the week off properly. Worship with your Christian brothers and sisters. The Word of the Lord says for us to assemble together (Hebrews 10:25), and the purpose on Sunday, of course, is to give praise and worship to our heavenly Father, Who is worthy of all our praise.

M - Make an extra effort to do a good deed today. Make Monday a smile day. If you go to the fast food drive-thru, be pleasant to the person at the window. They could be having a bad day and your smile and kindness might just brighten their entire week. You may even want to try it at the bank, the grocery store, maybe even Wally-World. It really does work most of the time.

T - Take time to be alone with your Lord. He wants to hear from you and He wants to speak to you. We are important to Him. Remember He gave His very best for His children. We shouldn't just confine this to Tuesday, it should be the norm for every day. Just make a special effort today.

W - Walk with integrity. don't give anyone a reason to condemn you. The Bible tells us to refrain from even the appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Doing so will ensure no one can legitimately condemn us for any reason.

T - Talk to someone about the Lord today. It will not only help them in eternal matters, but it will give you a sense of obedience to the Lord. The Holy Scriptures tell us to be prepared in season and out to give an account for the hope that we have (1 Peter 3:15). we're busy people and we don't always get a lot of opportunities to witness as we would like, so make the best of every opportunity. wouldn't Thursday be a great day to tell someone about Jesus?

F - Finish the work week with a sense of accomplishment. Know that you've done your best. You've heard the old adage "don't worry, be happy." Jesus mentioned this. He was telling us that worrying about things won't change them. If you know you've done your best, rejoice in that fact.

S - Saturday is my day of rest, as it probably is for many people. I believe we all want to look back on our previous six days and feel a sense of accomplishment. Be good to yourself today. don't dwell on the things that didn't go exactly the way you would have liked. Instead, concentrate on the good things from each of the days of this past week. And look forward to next week for what it is... a blessing from God.

Reverent Worship

I know I'm from the "Old School" so I tend to expect reverence when we enter what we call the sanctuary. A place where we meet to fellowship together, to hear the word of God read and expounded upon. A place to sing and praise, a place to testify to the grace and goodness of our Heavenly Father.

Some congregations are quiet, some get rather loud, some sing traditional songs, some sing contemporary songs.To me, it doesn't really matter what your style or methods are as long as God is honored. That's what reverence is.

But reverence is about more than a physical building. Reverence is about our life itself.

Jesus said to the Samaritan woman in John 4:23, "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him." (NKJV)

Jesus made this statement when questioned about a place to worship. I've already stated my position on reverence at the place we choose to worship. But consider this: We Christians are the temple of the Holy Spirit. WE are the house He dwells in. When we gather in worship, the Holy Spirit joins us. If we gather for worship.

In our tradition, we say, "It's good to be in God's house today." Consider this, if you will: Jesus is with us all day every day. Why not wake up every day and say, "Jesus, I'm glad you chose to live in me today. Live your life through me and guide me in each step I take." That's reverence.

When we honor Him in that way - with our very life - He will give us a renewed understanding of His wonderful presence. But we must allow Him, and even invite Him, to live through us.

Even our music attests to this belief. Remember the little chorus we sing: "Lord, prepare me, to be a sanctuary..."

My prayer today is this: "Lord, I will be your house to dwell in, live through me."

NOTE: Enjoy this guest post from my husband and fellow Pastor, Greg Bishop.