PLUS

Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God:  in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:  wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

I recently spent some time at a large software development company in Silicon Valley.  This well respected company was known for creativity and productivity.  As a part of their culture, I noticed something very unique – they were serious about their employees stopping work at 6 pm.  In fact, every day at that moment they turned off the company lights and shut down the climate control system.  For this company, it was important to set boundaries for their workers so that they could enjoy a proper work-life balance.  This organization helped their employees with their priorities.

As Christians, we shouldn’t need our secular organizations to help us with the parameters of our lives. God has already given us boundaries and priorities (Matthew 6:33 and Exodus 20:8 are great examples of these), and those should guide our lives to help us with our work-life balance.  

PLEASE PRAY FOR PROPER BALANCE AND PRIORITY IN OUR LIVES.  We absolutely should have balance and perspective in our lives, but not because our company turns off the lights.  We should do so because God has illuminated our path.

I Timothy 2:1-3 “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior”

This Wednesday, as they do every day of the week throughout the year, hundreds of young Americans will enlist in the United States military.  There is one important distinction about those who enlist on this Wednesday and beyond as compared to those who have done so on this Tuesday and before.  Every day since the day of their birth, September 11^th, 2001, this nation has been at war with violent extremists intent on harming our nation and our way of life.  This war has been characterized by long and frequent deployments to brutal conditions and harsh environments.  Yet, hundreds of young people still join.  They do so out of a sense of service, selflessness, and patriotism, and they are remarkable.

Less than one percent of our nation serves in the United States military.  Those who do make a great and important impact.  Yet, there are others ways that all of us can make great and important impacts.  A primary way available to all of us is through prayer for our nation – prayer for kings and for all that are in authority.  This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.  It is the least we should do and the most we can do as individuals to have an influence on the climate and the culture of this special nation.

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR NATION AND OUR NATION’S LEADERS.  God is recruiting each of us, and all must enlist for this important duty.

Jeremiah 8:23-24 “Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:  But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth:  for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.”

Oliver Cromwell, English political and military leader, was an early champion of religious liberty and British unity.  In reading a biography of this notable figure, I came across the following Cromwell quote:

“I had rather have a plain russet-coated captain that knows what he fights for and loves what he knows, than that which you call ‘a gentleman,’ and is nothing else.”

What a wonderful thought, and very much in line with God’s reasoning in choosing His recruits.  He isn’t looking for gentleman – those who are wise, mighty, or rich.  He is looking for the plain servant who has an unshakable focus on Him.  He is looking for men and women who have a Godly purpose and passion.  He is looking for a plain russet-coated captain who knows what he fights for and loves what he knows.

PLEASE PRAY THAT WE WOULD BE RECRUITS WHO SERVE GOD WITH FOCUS AND FERVANCY.  We must know what we fight for and love what we know as russet-coated captains for Christ.

Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

John 15:5 “I am the vine, ye are the branches:  He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:  for without me ye can do nothing.”

Psalm 8:3-4 “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him?  And the son of man, that thou visitest him?”

Before Astronaut Buzz Aldrin left earth, he recognized the need to commemorate the upcoming moon landing in a personal and profound way – with a reverence that the moment deserved. Along with his Presbyterian pastor, Dean Woodruff, he crafted a plan to take communion on the surface of the moon. That is exactly what he did on July 20^th, 1969, over 200,000 miles from home.

After landing on the surface of the moon, Buzz Aldrin transmitted the following:  

“Houston, this is Eagle. This is the LM pilot speaking. I would like to request a few moments of silence. I would like to invite each person listening in, whoever or wherever he may be, to contemplate for a moment the events of the last few hours, and to give thanks in his own individual way.”

Then, Aldrin took communion and read John 15:5.  It was a solemn way to mark a monumental occasion.  

When asked about it later, Aldrin said the following:  “It was my hope that people would keep the whole event in their minds and see, beyond minor details and technical achievements, a deeper meaning — a challenge, and the human need to explore whatever is above us, below us, or out there.” According to this hero of humankind, it was appropriate that “some of the first words spoken on the moon were the words of Jesus Christ, who made the Earth and the moon.”

As we conclude this series on the 50^thAnniversary of Apollo 11, we are reminded that we must carry the truths of our faith with us.  Wherever we go, Christ must be elevated.  There is a deeper meaning to the lives we live, and our presence and our purpose must be to challenge others to consider the maker of the heavens, and the earth, and the stars, and the moon.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO CARRY CHRIST WITH US THROUGHOUT OUR LIVES.  

I Peter 2:11 “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against your soul.”

Hebrews 13:14 “For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.”

I John 4:4 “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them:  because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”

II Corinthians 5:20 “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us:  we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

On July 24^th, 1969, the Apollo astronauts returned from their historic mission. After reentry into the earth’s atmosphere and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, they were picked up by a U.S. Navy Sea King helicopter and airlifted to the USS Hornet aircraft carrier.  They had made it home … almost.  

In additional to the transit from the Pacific Ocean to the United States, the astronauts had to endure another portion of the mission before being released to see their families and begin their victory tour – they had to be quarantined.  

For the next 21 days, the astronauts’ home was the Mobile Quarantine Facility where they were carefully observed and studied to confirm that they didn’t bring back a lunar pathogen that could destroy the human race.  Though such a thing was calculated as highly improbable, its consequences were so severe that the quarantine practice was deemed necessary.  After all, the astronauts had walked through a land that was not their home, where they were strangers and pilgrims.  Their human bodies would be unprepared for the possible environmental factors that awaited the opportunity to war against their immune systems.  

Sometimes Christians feel that we are strangers in a foreign land.  In reality, we should because we are.  We are strangers and pilgrims.  We have no continuing city in this world.  Our human bodies face the scourge of sin that wars against our immune systems. We seek the completion of our mission and our return to our permanent home.

Yet, we are not to quarantine ourselves from the needy foreign land that surrounds us.  We are to step out onto the alien soil day-by-day and live as ambassadors representing our home and our king.  We are to live with a firm knowledge and confidence that greater is he that is in us, than he that is in the world.

PLEASE PRAY FOR A RESOLUTE SPIRIT TO STEP OUT INTO OUR NEEDY WORLD AND REPRESENT CHRIST.  We must never live in our version of a Mobile Quarantine Facility.  Instead, we are to regularly wipe the foreign dust off our shoes as we walk through this alien planet day-by-day.