The Words of the Cotter Family
|
|
The Words of the Cotter Family |
Good morning. Welcome to Lovin' Life! Happy Sunday! Happy first Sunday in March! Today is March 4th. Are you ready to march forth? You look so good today. Turn to your neighbor and say, "I love you! Welcome to Lovin' Life! God loves you."
Everybody, I guess you've got to take your seats.
Good morning. I love our senior pastor. Do you love her? I love her for many reasons, but one in particular is because she made Lovin' Life a music ministry. Amen? A music ministry, that's like music to my soul. In fact, it is! It's music to my soul. So when the music stops, I feel like we should keep going. How about you?
It's great to see Sister Gloria here, and Minister Wright. We had such an incredible time in the Lord at the Original Substance of Divine Principle (OSDP) workshops last fall and winter in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. The best part of it for me was of course the word, but the music, amen! I just want to thank the Wrights. Stand up right now. They're part of our music ministry. Incredible. And Bishop Jesse Edwards, Rev. Levy Daugherty, Brother Keith Williams out in Los Angeles, and Brother Tim Daugherty right here in New York. God's family came together and sang such beautiful music, which opened people's hearts to receive the word, amen? That's what Lovin' Life is all about.
Today I want to talk about living water. It's amazing because Joe picked a Holy Song called "The Spring of Life" today. The chorus talks about the living waters, "going to the land where living waters flow." That's what this sermon is all about. That's the great thing about gospel songs: They're based on the word.
In fact, I want to teach you a gospel song today. This is the little blonde guitar that we use in OSDP. I bet you didn't know I could play this thing. Now let's give a hand to the Lovin' Life choir. They're going to help you out with this song, and the words are up there. We're in the house of the Lord, so why don't you just stand to your feet and make a joyful noise! This song is called "River of Life."
(Singing:)
I've got a river of life flowing out
of me,
Makes the lame to walk and the blind to see,
Opens
prison doors, sets the captive free.
I've got a river of life
flowing out of me.
Spring up, oh well, inside my
soul.
Spring up, oh well, and make me whole.
Spring up, oh
well, and give to me
That life abundantly.
Spring up, oh well, inside my
soul.
Spring up, oh well, and make me whole.
Spring up, oh
well, and give to me,
That life abundantly.
That life
abundantly.
That life abundantly.
That's what I'm talking about. Thank you, choir. Thank you, brothers and sisters. Give yourselves a big hand.
Gospel songs are great because they're based on the word of God. There are so many references in the Gospel to water, isn't it true? Water is life. There are so many sermons about water.
Today I want to talk about the living water that comes from God through the messiah. You might want to write some of these Scriptures down. I'm going to go through them quickly. John 7:38. Jesus was at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, on the eighth day, when the Israelites were not supposed to drink. We read in John 7:38 that Jesus stepped forth at that time and he said this: "If anyone thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." Isn't that beautiful?
John 4:13 - 15 is another story about Jesus. In this story, he meets a woman at the well. Have you heard this story? She happens to be a Samaritan, and it wasn't cool for Jews to speak and have discourse or conversation with Samaritans. This was a Samaritan woman who was standing at the well of Jacob, and Jesus was thirsty. He stopped by the well and asked if she would give him a drink.
And she said, "You're not supposed to be talking to people like me. What's going on here?" Then Jesus talked about a different kind of water that he could offer her, water that would quench her thirst for eternity. She said, "What are you talking about? This is the water of our ancestor Jacob. How could your water be any better than Jacob's?" But Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water from the well will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water that I give them will never thirst." Amen. Indeed, Jesus said, "The water that I give them will become in them a spring of water, welling up to eternal life."
That's what this song is talking about: "Spring up, oh Well, inside my soul." So not only does God want to let us drink from the living water, he wants us then to become a fountain of living water, a well that never dries up. Can you say that? "A well that never dries up."
And the song says that I want life after all this, more abundantly. And that's from the Scripture, John 10:10: "I have come that they may have life and that they may have it" -- what? "More abundantly." Do you want life more abundantly? Humankind has been thirsting, haven't we? Victor, I think I need some water out here, the water of life. We've been thirsting.
We sing another beautiful song called "As the Deer." Remember that one? That's also from the Scripture, from Psalm 42, "As the deer pants for streams of water," the Psalm says, "so my soul pants for you, O God." My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? That's the predicament of humanity.
Instead of drinking from that eternal fountain of life which is the messiah, connecting us to God, we've been drinking from stagnant pools, brothers and sisters. Stagnant, fallen waters.
God bless you. Thank you, Pastor Jaga.
In Revelation 17:15 -- this is the last one I'm going to give you -- Scripture talks about the great harlot or prostitute that's over the world in the last days before the messiah comes. Revelation 17:15, "Then the angel said to me" -- to John, the revelator -- "the waters you saw where the harlot sits are peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues." In other words, the stagnant water of the fallen world is where the nations, the people, and all the races have been dwelling since the time of the Fall.
Who will come to pull them out of those stagnant pools? Have you ever come across a stagnant pool as you were hiking in the forest? You don't want to get in that water. But that's where we've been living. The messiah comes to bring us fresh, living water, amen. Christ Jesus and now our True Parents are the ones who bring the living water to humankind, the word of God that refreshes our spirit: and with the word, also the heart and spirit of God.
In the Bible living water stands for the Holy Spirit. Do you feel the Holy Spirit today blowing through you? I know I do. "When can I meet God?" says the Psalm. And we are blessed to know the answer: "Now, through True Parents, through the living water." That's what we're going to talk about today.
In
Jin Moon November 27, 2011
We were with True Parents in Las Vegas recently when the Little Angels had their grand finale event after two years of touring the world, commemorating the 60-year anniversary of the Korean War. Father Moon sent his ambassadors, his holy spirit ambassadors, the Little Angels, around the world to comfort, to love, and to thank those who gave their lives for freedom in Korea. Amen. That's twenty nations around the world. We should give them a big hand.
We were blessed to have True Parents literally at this event with us, and 3,000 people came. Most of those people had never seen our True Parents before. They had never met them personally. But this night, brothers and sisters, was such a natural witness. They saw the Little Angels. There were so many tears as those veterans felt so much of God's love and the Holy Spirit and living water washing over them. Then as always happens, when the water starts flowing from here, there were so many tears of gratitude and joy.
People came to know True Parents through their works, through the Little Angels. That was their heart. And so at the end the whole place celebrated True Parents' birthday together with them. It was such a beautiful, beautiful finale and we thanked God for the Little Angels.
I was also in Korea about a month ago. I lose track of the time; so many things are happening. But it was such a privilege and joy to be there with True Parents on True God's Day, to celebrate their birthday with them, with brothers and sisters, clergy, and people from all around the world, finally giving thanks to God for the ones who have brought the living water to the world.
Hyung
Jin Moon January 23, 2011
We were together with our international president, Rev. Dr. Hyung Jin Moon. Let's give him a big hand. He's a very accomplished martial artist, but he's such a humble person that in his ministry he never mentions it. But he made the heavenly mistake of telling his father and showing his father his extraordinary martial arts power and development. So once Father saw that, he has not given Hyung Jin Nim even an ounce of rest since that time. Everywhere Father wants him to do martial arts -- a mixed martial arts demonstration, even in Los Angeles and San Diego at the Little Angels performances. He is awesome.
He's an amazing martial artist, with an amazing ministry for God. We were with him in Korea at one point, and he gave an incredible lecture. You might have seen this online. I've never seen a lecture like this before. He was talking about the debate between theism and atheism. He wants us to be able to win that debate, obviously. Now does God exist or not? All right. You're sure? OK, then we won that debate.
But it was a fascinating lecture. The thing that made it so incredible was that he jogged the whole time, and -- I'm not going to make you do this -- he had the audience jog with him. I was right in the front row. I could not get away from it. He passed me every three seconds or so. He jogged and we jogged for a full hour, while he spoke. It was extraordinary.
And you know what happened? Nobody fell asleep in the lecture. Nobody. So if you're feeling sleepy now -- I don't know how you could be -- but you could stand up and start jogging.
And we had an extraordinary talk from Kook Jin Moon, the chairman of the Korean Foundation. Give him a big hand. He's such a profound thinker and speaker, and he talked about the topic of a strong Korea, with a question mark. It was profound, waking us up to be reminded of the fact that we are still fighting many battles around the world. This world is not a safe place, and we have to be vigilant. We have to stand for freedom, as we always have and always will. America has a huge part to play in that. Amen.
In Jin Nim said how proud she was of our team over there, and I want to echo that. I'm proud of you. I'm proud of everyone across America who has come together, uniting with our senior pastor, with her vision to build this incredible ministry we call Lovin' Life. So we prepared some beautiful binders to take over there that had the essence, the guts, and the heart of Lovin' Life, and we offered them to 120 nations, our missionaries from around the world. Brothers and sisters, those binders were like water.
I felt that we were giving living water to our brothers and sisters in the desert. That's how I felt. They soaked it up. They absorbed it. They loved it. And our task now is to help them to develop their ministry around the world. We were so blessed to be with them.
We felt like this blessing that God has given us, Lovin' Life Ministry, is something so remarkable that we don't even know what we have. We don't know what we have. Maybe you do. Maybe Richard Panzer and his wife do. But most of us don't understand the gift we've been given from our True Parents and from our senior pastor, Rev. In Jin Moon.
As we approach the third anniversary of this profound ministry next month, I want to express all of our gratitude to Rev. In Jin Moon and her family from across America and around the world. It is a blessing, brothers and sisters -- and I hesitate to use the word work because it's not work -- but we are a family and Rev. In Jin Moon has shared her family with us.
I really want to thank -- he happens to be with us in the front row -- Jin Sung Nim for his incredible instruction to us. I think you can hear the applause all across this nation, for pouring out his heart and soul about our True Parents and True Family. He has given us a foundation of knowledge and understanding in our hearts and made us realize that we are a family, and there's no giving up on family. We are in this together for eternity.
And I want to thank In Jin Nim for sharing her beautiful family with us, especially her daughter, Ariana. We need to give her a big hand. She has blessed us and graced us with her beauty, with ballroom dancing, but now as she enters the media department, she's transforming everything. She's making a huge difference. You'll see this in this month when the media PR strategy to popularize the blessing, which all of America can take part in, is going to happen. I thank Ariana for her great work with our news team.
And now In Jin Nim's son Rexton has joined the ranks of CARP. So again, we don't know what a blessing we have to be able to work with True Parents at this cosmic moment in history and work together with our senior pastor's family.
Buzz
Lightyear from Toy Story
So we're just getting started. We're at the tipping point. That's why I love March 4th. That's what today is. It's March 4th. We're at the tipping point. We're going to march forth to Foundation Day and beyond, like Buzz Lightyear said. He said something like that.
Rev. In Jin Moon has opened this beautiful pulpit up to lugs like me. Sheri Reuter used to call me a schlemiel. I don't know what that means exactly. In Jin Nim has opened the pulpit to a schlemiel like me and to our wonderful district pastors like Reverend Grodner and Reverend Thompson. She wants them all to come and share their message and their uniqueness at this pulpit. Are you ready for it? I know you miss her. I know you miss her, and I do too, and that's good.
Her strategy is, once you see enough of us, when she comes back, you're going to be totally grateful and blown away. Totally. I know that's her strategy.
So today we start a worldwide witnessing initiative to bring God's family home and to give God's family the blessing worldwide. In unity of heart with our True Parents and our international president, Rev. In Jin Moon wants us to begin today on March 4th and hold our focus until Foundation Day. She wants us to find our spiritual children and bring them to the blessing, to give them this great living water that was given to us: to give it to the world and save America. As of today, the floodgates are officially open. We have all this talk about water.
Our True Parents came to Las Vegas. Think about this. The source of living water, the True Parents of heaven and earth, the messiah anointed by Jesus, come to the city, literally, of stagnant pools and stagnant water. They come to Las Vegas, where the harlot is seated. They come to the desert and bring the living water to that place. Doesn't it make total sense that they would go to Las Vegas: to bring the living water to the thirsting human beings in the desert? They're bringing the word, the love, and the spirit of God, the grace of God's love to the spiritually dying people of America.
Lovin' Life Ministry is there with our True Parents. We're really proud of our pastors across the nation, and I want to say how grateful we are to the clergy who are now doing OSDP workshops all across this nation. I want to give a shout-out to Rev. Michael Sykes in New Jersey, Bishop Lewis in New York, Bishop Riley, and Rev. Kennard Davis. All across America the word is going forth, and we're so grateful to all of our pastors as we work together as a family.
Lovin' Life Ministry is growing in Las Vegas with our great pastor there, Reverend Berg, and the new pastor, Rev. Damian Dunkley. I want to give a shout-out to Damian out there. I know he's in Las Vegas listening right at this moment.
And you know what's happening? Some of the great pillars of our movement, our nation, the great rocks, the living stones are starting to move out there -- like Dan and Pam Stein, great pillars of our movement. And they're coming together because True Parents are there, and there's great work yet to be done there. Would you like to go to Las Vegas?
So we're inviting you back during this time, this 120-day period, from March 4th to July 4th. Isn't it amazing? You can go out there and witness and be with True Parents, give out Father's autobiography, find fantastic spiritual children, and build Lovin' Life Ministries right there in Las Vegas as they enter into the Rave movie theater this month. Whoa.
Father Moon talks a lot about life-and-death investment, a total investment of heart, even unto our lives. That's how he lives his life; that's how he lives today. But the good news is that Jesus told us, "If you want to hold onto your life, you might lose it. But if you lose your life for my sake, you will gain it. You will preserve it." That's the way Father Moon has always lived, that's the way our True Parents live. That's the way we need to live.
Father Moon has walked the path of suffering. He is the pioneer of God's word. He is the source of that living water, anointed by Jesus. Father Moon just turned 93 years of age, but you would never know it to see him, or to be with him. No one can keep up with him. My wife had an incredible blessing given to her by our senior pastor to just be in Las Vegas. My wife goes out on the boat fishing with Father Moon. She's become an expert fisherwoman. I can't believe it. I got out there to Las Vegas and she said, "You know what I'm going to do?" I said, "What?" "I'm going to buy a boat. All I need is $150,000 and I can buy one of those boats like Father Moon has." She's going for it.
All the men out there who are fishing testify to me, "Oh, your wife! She's the only one who catches carp out there. She's out there pulling them in." I'm so proud of her. What an amazing blessing.
She said, "Father Moon is so sharp, so amazing. He's cognizant of everything, every situation. He's always thinking about people and how to treat them. He is not taking anything for granted." My wife is out there. She caught a big fish and Father Moon said, "Young Ae (English daughter, he called her) come over here and take a picture with me." So she's taking a picture with Father Moon and her big fish. Then one of the brothers tries to get in the picture, and Father says, "What are you doing in the picture? You're not her husband! Get out of the picture!" He's just so sharp.
But he's still just like a child. I want to read you an excerpt from his autobiography. He's always been like this, exploring everything, never taking "No" for an answer. Don't tell Father Moon, "No." He hates that word. Just tell him, "Yes" and he'll be happy. So he's exploring Lake Mead, which has 500 miles of coastline. He's trying to find the source of the Colorado River. Father, it's in Wyoming. But don't tell him that; he'll go to Wyoming.
He investigated the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon, Sedona. He wants to know it all. And here's why. In his autobiography there's a chapter called "Loving Nature to Learn from It." This is Father Moon. "My personality was such that I had to know about everything that I could see. I'd start thinking, 'I wonder what the name of that mountain is. I wonder what's up there.' I had to go see for myself. While still a child, I climbed to the tops of all the mountains in a five-mile radius around our home. I went everywhere. I went beyond the mountains. That way, when I saw a mountain shining in the morning sunlight, I could have an image in my mind of what was on that mountain and I could gaze at it in comfort.
"I hated to look at places that I didn't know with my own senses. I had to know about everything. Otherwise, my mind was so restless that I could not endure it." That's the kind of person he is. "When I went to the mountains, I would touch all the flowers and trees. I wasn't satisfied just to look at them with my eyes. I had to touch the flowers and smell the flowers and even put the flowers in my mouth and chew on them. I enjoyed the fragrances, the touch and the taste so much that I would not have minded if someone told me to stick my nose in the bushes and keep it there the whole day. I love nature so much that any time I went outside I would spend the day roaming the hills and fields and forget about having to go home."
Wow. Of course now that he's a distinguished world leader of religion he's forgotten about all those things. Are you kidding me? Father Moon wants to know everything about everything. That's why when he researched the Principle and found the truth that liberated humankind. He couldn't stop until he knew everything. Even God said, "That's enough. No further." Father Moon said, "Sorry, God. I've got to know more. I've got to know more. Otherwise I'll be restless." And God said, okay. God never had such a son like this. Thank God.
So that's the kind of father we have, Father Moon. He's exploring the mountains, the canyons, not taking "No" for an answer. I can't believe the blessing that God has given my family and all of us. But my wife is just blown away. She calls me on the phone, and we just laugh. It's just incredible to be with True Parents at this time.
But, you know, I think back. Why would someone like me be blessed to be here, working with our senior pastor, with True Parents, or my wife? And then I remember my own blessing back in 1982, 30 years ago this year. My wife and I were in Korea, and we were getting blessed like crazy. We got blessed by True Parents and then we were the ones who presented flowers to True Parents, and then we got to cut the cake as a Korean American couple with the True Parents. And then I got to sing a song for True Parents. It was called "Now that I've found you," with Lionel, not Lionel Richie, but Lionel Chapital. And my wife and I, why are we so blessed? We'd just met each other like a week before. Why are we being so blessed?
And we realized at that time God wanted us to be a blessing and had a great mission for us. So we prayed at that time and offered our couple to God. We said, "Whatever you need, we will always be there, no matter what." We simply prayed that prayer. And that's a powerful prayer.
So when you receive the blessing later this month, some of you from around the country, pray that prayer: that God can use the blessing he gives you to be a blessing to millions. Amen?
After True Parents left last week, my wife and I snuck away and went to Zion Canyon. Have you ever been there? It's a magnificent place. It was named by members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, and it's just spectacular, brothers and sisters. You have to go there. It's such a spiritual place. When you go into the park, you see these incredible mountainous structures that have been carved by the Virgin River for millions of years, similar to the way the Colorado has carved out the Grand Canyon for 50 million years. These canyons started as slabs, and then the power of the water just carved them out to shape those slabs into amazing works and masterpieces of art. The people who saw that canyon must have had a spiritual feeling because they named it Zion, which is the word for the City of God, for Jerusalem. In Hebrew, Zion means desert. Zion Canyon is an oasis in the desert. It's a fantastic place, with the living water and the living stones. There's a place called the Hall of the Patriarchs with magnificent peaks, three in a row. Guess what they named them? Not Curly, Moe, and Larry. They named them Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
As you stand before those peaks, you feel the power of God. But even those fantastic peaks, can be changed, molded, and carved by water: by water. When water freezes in the cracks of those rocks, it explodes the rocks, and great huge chunks of the mountain fall down.
We also went to a place called the Emerald Pools. These are three magnificent pools and you could see how they were carved by the water dropping for millions of years over the lip of cliffs high above them. It was truly incredible.
The great explorer and scientist named John Wesley Powell did much of the exploration of this area and the Grand Canyon. When he saw the Grand Canyon, he said this. "The Grand Canyon is the land of music. Mountains of music swell in the rivers. Hills of music billow in the creeks. Meadows of music murmur in the rills that ripple over the rock. Altogether it's a symphony of multitudinous melodies. All this is the music of waters." Waters. Waters.
Can you just feel it flowing over you? I need a drink. Ah.
I just love the word! Don't you? The word of God. And the creation is the greatest teacher of all. I think in the future, though, many of those peaks will be renamed for True Parents and True Children. Or Richard Panzer Peak, something like that. The great saints of the Completed Testament Age, like all of you. Jim Gavin Gorge.
Last time I spoke, I gave a shout-out to everybody in the South, the wonderful southern part of our nation, the Southeast, where I spent much of my time. But I forgot my homeland: Alabama. I forgot to mention Alabama so I'm going to make up for it today. Is that okay for you guys down there in Bayou la Batre? I love Alabama. All my children were born there, and we just love it so much.
Bayou
la Batre after hurricane Katrina
But talk about the power of water, brothers and sisters. We lived through many hurricanes down there. I wasn't actually there when Katrina came through, but the devastation of Katrina was just unbelievable. After Katrina blew through, I went to Alabama, to Bayou la Batre, where some of the great pillars of our movement live, brothers and sisters who built our church there with our own hands. They built our school, our little school there that True Parents made. They built Master Marine, the boatbuilding business. And they built our shrimp processing business. These are great pillars of our movement like the Dungans, the Roppolis, the Wilsons, the Ladolcettas, the Finemores, and all the great families down there.
I couldn't believe the devastation. The waves of Hurricane Katrina were 40 feet high. We own 700 acres down there. When I came down there; there were boats of all sizes in the treetops of our land. Three hundred vessels had been beached in the treetops. It was unimaginable. Along the coast, whole towns were wiped out.
But the Bible tells us in Matthew 7:24 that if you build your house on the rock, the rains may come and beat against that house, but it will not fall. It was incredible there because of all the devastation, but not one of our families' homes were touched by Hurricane Katrina. The church and the little school we built with our own hands were fine. Nothing was touched.
I think God protected and blessed those families because they had been such a blessing to their community for so many decades. Father Moon hand-picked those people, many of you in this room maybe, to go down there and to start businesses from scratch, to build a community and a church. They've done that and they're still there. And I want to thank them in Alabama. Thank you, guys.
My wife and I were blessed to be the principals of a little school called Top Garden School. It was named by our True Parents in the days when Father really loved the "Top Gun" movie, so everything was top something. Our little school was named Top Garden School. This place was so humble, just a couple of trailers. But it was spiritually the most beautiful place.
The graduates, the young children who came out of there became such wonderful young men and women, and I just bless you, wherever you are, all over this world and this country. We had such a great time there. And water was such a big part of our life because it rained all the time. And when it would rain, we have what we called the Jordan River in front of our school. It would pile up so big that we couldn't get the kids across the river to their parents to go home, so we had to form a chain of adults and hand the children to their parents in the water. This happened all the time.
But the great blessing of this Jordan River that would come every time it rained was that from above somewhere these creatures would be washed down and we would have these fish, all kinds of fish. They would come out of nowhere, so we would grab them and put all these creatures in a freshwater aquarium we had in our school. We had also a saltwater aquarium for all of our sea stuff.
Then we had a terrarium because we caught two dozen or more different kinds of snakes. I love snakes. And because I love snakes, all the kids loved snakes. "Reverend Cotter, it's a speckled king snake." "Are you kidding me?! Whoa." And we had to have it, and we had to put it in our terrarium and watch it and feed tadpoles to it and watch it gulp them down.
We were one with nature. And one time when this Jordan River came down, I remember we were down there catching the things and we came up with this creature. Nobody knew what it was. It was like a long eel with gills, but it had these tiny, tiny little feet, you know, like a Tyrannosaurus Rex has this huge body with these little tiny arms. What's he supposed to do with these? All the other dinosaurs must have thought, "Hey, here comes ol' small arms over there. What's he going to do with those arms?" And they'd say, "Watch out for that tail. That tail will get you, and those teeth."
But this thing, we didn't know what it was. And we called the paper, the Mobile Press-Register, and they came out. We found out that it was a two-toed amphiuma, which no one had ever seen. It was unique. It's dead now. (Laughter.) It was a big story in those days.
We put on plays that were legendary. It was a natural witness to the community. We did everything: the music, the scenery, the script, the sound effects, the costumes. It was fantastic, and the whole community would come to our plays.
The lesson I learned the most in that time was from my second daughter, Hye-mi. It was a simple, but profound, lesson. She was in second grade. I was the principal, my wife and I. One day I just made a stupid little picture -- I'm not an artist -- of, you know, the kind of pictures you draw. And I put on the picture, I love you. I folded it up and put it in her lunchbox.
At lunchtime she came to my wife and me, and she was speechless. She was in tears, but these were overwhelming tears that went on for like an hour. We held her and we tried to comfort her, but she would not stop. It's the most amazing experience we ever had. And I thought to myself, does she not know? Does she not know how much I love her, that this note would cause this kind of reaction?
So after that experience I never forgot that it's not enough to think it or take it for granted. You have to tell the people you love, "I love you." "I love you." Every day. And hug them until they get it. So please do that with your spouse every day, and with your children every day, and with those that you love. So she taught me a great lesson about true love.
It's a wonderful opportunity that we have coming from our True Parents and from our international president to unite with Korea and the world and to begin this witnessing initiative. This is an opportunity to witness to our faith, to bring our families, our brothers and sisters, those whom we love into this church community, to bring them to church with us every Sunday, to introduce them to this great and growing ministry. This is an opportunity to let them know True Parents, receive the living water, and become part of this family. That's the opportunity we have.
Hyung Jin Nim has asked us all to make a list of our family and spiritual children and pray for them every day because prayer works. Amen. Pray for them every single day. Become a prayer warrior and focus during this time. The goal and priority of Lovin' Life Ministry in 2012 is church growth, so it's a perfect fit. As we approach the third anniversary on Easter Sunday, the whole foundation that we built until now, I feel, is for this time, for 2012, when we open the floodgates and bring America to God and True Parents. Amen.
So we are ready. We are ready across America to embrace this nation. We are the ones whom God has chosen to give out the breaking news, to give the blessing of marriage to the people. So please, expect a flash flood and don't be overwhelmed by it. In Zion Canyon, in the narrows, sometimes without warning a flash flood can come and hikers can be killed. When a flash flood comes now, be ready for it. Don't get washed away, but ride the wave. You can get carried away in the spirit, but don't get washed away because this is the greatest moment in history, the time that creation has been waiting for with eager longing.
I felt even the rocks in this great temple of God were crying out, crying out for True Parents, thanking God. Mike McDevitt, who's been with True Parents for many years, told me in Las Vegas that one time they were in Alaska fishing and a great humpback whale came right next to Father's boat. They were all kind of freaked out. It came next to his boat, turned on its side, and waved. And it's big eye was looking at Father. He said that happened so many times, you couldn't believe it.
So we are filled with the living water, and we are the living stones. As it says in I Peter 2:5, "You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, for in the Scripture it says, 'See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.'"
So we are the living stones. Christ, our True Parents, are the cornerstone now of God's kingdom. Living water is like the Holy Spirit. It's okay to be filled with the spirit. I wish Jesse Edwards were here. He's filled with the spirit. All he has to do is get up here and say, "Praise the Lord, everyone," right? And everybody is, "Whoa." They're just filled with the spirit. We thank God for Bishop and Mrs. Edwards. They were the first pastors to pray for Lovin' Life Ministry.
Apostolic
Faith Gospel Mission on Azusa St, 1906
It's time for revival across America. I was in Los Angeles, and I met our great prayer warrior out there, Rick Joswick, who's praying with Mark Tengan and George Kazakos every day for revival in this nation. There's a little place called Azusa Street. Have you ever heard of it? It's in Los Angeles. It's the birthplace of the Pentecostal movement, which is now 500-million strong across the world. That's where it started, in a little rundown church on Azusa Street in 1906.
And so Rick Joswick is saying, "Send Bishop and Mrs. Edwards. They're Pentecostals. They love True Parents. Send them out here, and we're going to have another Azusa Street revival that will shake the world centering on our True Parents." What do you think? Azusa Street. If you read about the Azusa Street revival, no one thought that this kind of thing was going to happen. But a humble pastor from Texas, an African American named William Seymour and his wife Jen came and preached in a church, and God did a great thing. People started speaking in tongues. They were filled with the spirit. And before you knew it, in 1906 hundreds and then thousands and tens of thousands of people would come to this revival that went on for seven or eight years in this little church on Azusa Street.
Leaders
of the Apostolic Faith Gospel Mission on Azusa St, 1906
It became worldwide. People came from around the world, and they spoke different languages but people in the church would interpret their language to them, and it was growing and growing and growing. Of course, the papers thought it was crazy. And it was so scandalous because in 1906 at the height of Jim Crow, there were blacks and whites together in that church. It was scandalous, I tell you.
You should read the newspaper accounts. They couldn't believe it. Blacks and whites as brothers and sisters praying together, getting slain in the sprit together, holding each other. It was scandalous, but it was the work of God. It was interracial. And you know what else? It was guided by women leaders. It's just like True Parents' movement today.
And the point is that it grew beyond all the skepticism and all the teachers and the Christian theologians who condemned it. That didn't make a difference to God. Amen. God is beyond borders, beyond races, beyond any kind of barriers. And it rocked the world. They went out from that little church all over the world and started the Pentecostal revival and movement.
One of the five tenets of their faith at that time was that we are here and we are called for the soon-to-come returning Messiah. That was 1906. Father was born fourteen years later. But the worldwide Pentecostal movement that was prepared for him, for True Parents, still doesn't know him. Don't you think there's a need for revival out there, brothers and sisters, to spread the good news of our True Parents, the breaking news?
So we have to spend all of our time witnessing, as a natural witness, a living testimony to our True Parents. I remember back in the 1980s God blessed me with a team of wonderful singers like Steve Honey in the New Hope Singers. We traveled to churches all across the South at that time and sang as a choir. I remember there was one brother named James Houston who used to sing a great old gospel tune called "Ain't Got Time to Die." It went like this.
(Sings:)
Lord, I keep so busy praising my
savior,
I keep so busy praising my savior,
I keep so busy
praising my savior,
I ain't got time to die.
'Cause I spend all of my time praising
my savior,
All of my time praising my Lord.
If I don't praise
him, the rocks gonna cry out, Glory and honor, glory and honor,
Ain't
got time to die.
That comes from the Scripture. When the disciples finally realized who Jesus was at the Mount of Olives, they were praising God, praising Jesus as the king, the Lord of glory who had come. And they were just going crazy in the spirit of the Lord, amen.
But to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, this was a little bit much for them. They went to Jesus and said, "Rabbi, you should rebuke your disciples. Can you ask them to tone it down a little bit?" Jesus said (in Luke 19:38): "I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." The stones will cry out. Amen.
So if you keep quiet about True Parents, don't be surprised when you get home at night if the driveway is crying out, and in that front walk that goes up to your house, the stones start crying out if you don't cry out. So with our families, we are the living stones. We are no longer a best kept secret. We have to cry out.
First Generation, this is our time. You're not washed up, not washed away. You can get carried away. It's 2012. It's the 30-year anniversary of the 8,000 couples. Congratulations. It's the 20-year anniversary of the 30,000 couples. Congratulations. Now that's 40,000 families in America and around the world. Don't you think if we cry out that the world can change? We have been raised up for such a time as this.
Those mountain peaks, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God bless them, but soon they're going to replace them with all the saints down in Alabama. Mt. Rappolli - especially the Italian names are the best. Mt. Rappolli, Mt. Rotundo, Mt. Ladolcetta, or the great Finemore family in Alabama. Instead of Mt. Rushmore, it's going to be Mt. Finemore. And they're going to carve pictures of Rob and Ruthie and Delia and Mikey and Elizabeth and Bella. They'll be all up there. If they cry out.
There are so many saints, brothers and sisters, our brothers and sisters who are out there resting right now. But you know, "Once with True Parents," what? "Always with True Parents." Just like "Once a Marine, always a Marine." There are thousands of our brothers and sisters sitting out there. They want to be here in church, but you need to go ask them. Our pastors need to go pastor those saints and bring them back for such a time as this. Maybe they used to be members, but now you need to re-member them. Don't forget them. Try to remember them. You can go visit them.
Because honestly, some of them have been dis-membered. They were disrespected, maybe by you or somebody else and they've -- you know. So you can go to them with your heart and visit their homes, take care of their families, and you can sing to them. In fact, I have a song you could sing. This is a stretch. It's the "Remember Song." It's a fantastic song.
(Sings:)
Try to remember when you were a
member
And life was sweet and oh, so mellow.
Try to remember
when you were a member
And you were a tender and mellow fellow
Try
to remember before it's December
And follow, follow, follow.
Now what's the worst that can happen? They can say, "If you promise never to sing again, I will come to church." But they'll feel your heart. They'll feel the inspiration, the living water from True Parents. So reach out to them. Reach out with your heart. Don't just do outreach. Reach out with the living water. Do the same with your own families and bring them. Bring them to Lovin' Life. Introduce them to your blessed family and to the ministry.
So finally, brothers and sisters, this is the Year of the Dragon, right? Dragons are unpredictable. Dragons are dangerous. I think 2012 should be the year of living dangerously. Father is like that: life and death, putting your life on the line, total investment. The same thing should be applied to witnessing: "At the price of my life I want to save that person."
So that means we have to live on the edge. In Zion Canyon my wife shocked me. We were way up high on a cliff and there were chains and a sign that said, "Don't go beyond this point. Danger, danger, risk of life, life-threatening." She went beyond the chain and was taking a picture. I said, "My wife is doing this?!" I couldn't believe it.
Back when I was a kid there was a TV show called Lost in Space. There was a crazy, funky robot. And the robot was so paranoid about Will Robinson getting hurt that whenever there was the slightest hint of life-threatening danger, it went, "Danger, danger, Will Robinson. Danger."
So it's the same with witnessing. In our conscience, our heart, we want to reach out to people. But as soon as we think, "I'm going to speak to that person," all of a sudden the robot comes, "Danger, danger, Jaga Gavin." And then we pull back. "Whew. I almost broke out of myself. I almost witnessed to someone. Thank God."
But I say, "Damn the robot, full speed ahead." Amen! Go beyond. Go beyond your comfort zone and enter into the danger zone. Like the top guns. Fly into the danger zone. That's where you find God, where we testify to the breaking news and we find the amazing spiritual children that God has prepared.
So brothers and sisters, it's March 4th. March forth to Foundation Day from today. Today we start 120 days, from March 4th to July 4th. And I wish you all the greatest of blessings as you reach out to your spiritual children, as you are the fountains of living water, the living stones to give life to this nation. God bless you.
We're marching to the blessed land of Canaan with delight,
We're
leaving all our heavy burdens here.
At last we are released and
free from being slaves to sin,
We're coming to the blessed spring of life.
Coming to the
spring where living water flows;
In glory we'll be living
evermore.
Going to the land where freely flows the spring,
In
glory we'll be living evermore.
O guide us with your pillars, Lord, of fire and of cloud,
O
give us paths to follow with our lives.
The moment that we cross
the Jordan River is at hand,
We're coming to the blessed spring of life.
Coming to the
spring where living water flows;
In glory we'll be living
evermore.
Going to the land where freely flows the spring,
In
glory we'll be living evermore.
Our thirsting hearts receive with joy the manna from above,
Your
precious food will always be our strength
So if the future finds
us lacking we will not despair
We're coming to the blessed spring of life.
Coming to the
spring where living water flows;
In glory we'll be living
evermore.
Going to the land where freely flows the spring,
In
glory we'll be living evermore.
1: After this Jesus went about in Galilee; he would not go about in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him.
2: Now the Jews' feast of Tabernacles was at hand.
3: So his brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples may see the works you are doing.
4: For no man works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world."
5: For even his brothers did not believe in him.
6: Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.
7: The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil.
8: Go to the feast yourselves; I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come."
9: So saying, he remained in Galilee.
10: But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private.
11: The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, "Where is he?"
12: And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, "He is a good man," others said, "No, he is leading the people astray."
13: Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.
14: About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.
15: The Jews marveled at it, saying, "How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?"
16: So Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me;
17: if any man's will is to do his will, he shall know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
18: He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.
19: Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?"
20: The people answered, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?"
21: Jesus answered them, "I did one deed, and you all marvel at it.
22: Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man upon the sabbath.
23: If on the sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the sabbath I made a man's whole body well?
24: Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."
25: Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, "Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?
26: And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?
27: Yet we know where this man comes from; and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from."
28: So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, "You know me, and you know where I come from? But I have not come of my own accord; he who sent me is true, and him you do not know.
29: I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me."
30: So they sought to arrest him; but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come.
31: Yet many of the people believed in him; they said, "When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?"
32: The Pharisees heard the crowd thus muttering about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.
33: Jesus then said, "I shall be with you a little longer, and then I go to him who sent me;
34: you will seek me and you will not find me; where I am you cannot come."
35: The Jews said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we shall not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?
36: What does he mean by saying, `You will seek me and you will not find me,' and, `Where I am you cannot come'?"
37: On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink.
38: He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, `Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'"
39: Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
40: When they heard these words, some of the people said, "This is really the prophet."
41: Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Is the Christ to come from Galilee?
42: Has not the scripture said that the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?"
43: So there was a division among the people over him.
44: Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45: The officers then went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you not bring him?"
46: The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this man!"
47: The Pharisees answered them, "Are you led astray, you also?
48: Have any of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him?
49: But this crowd, who do not know the law, are accursed."
50: Nicode'mus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them,
51: "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?"
52: They replied, "Are you from Galilee too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee."
53: They went each to his own house,
1: Now when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
2: (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples),
3: he left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
4: He had to pass through Samar'ia.
5: So he came to a city of Samar'ia, called Sy'char, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6: Jacob's well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7: There came a woman of Samar'ia to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
8: For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9: The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samar'ia?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10: Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, `Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."
11: The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water?
12: Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?"
13: Jesus said to her, "Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again,
14: but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15: The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."
16: Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."
17: The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, `I have no husband';
18: for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly."
19: The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
20: Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."
21: Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
22: You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23: But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him.
24: God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
25: The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things."
26: Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."
27: Just then his disciples came. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but none said, "What do you wish?" or, "Why are you talking with her?"
28: So the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city, and said to the people,
29: "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?"
30: They went out of the city and were coming to him.
31: Meanwhile the disciples besought him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."
32: But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."
33: So the disciples said to one another, "Has any one brought him food?"
34: Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.
35: Do you not say, `There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest.
36: He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
37: For here the saying holds true, `One sows and another reaps.'
38: I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
39: Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did."
40: So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.
41: And many more believed because of his word.
42: They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."
43: After the two days he departed to Galilee.
44: For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
45: So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast.
46: So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Caper'na-um there was an official whose son was ill.
47: When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
48: Jesus therefore said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe."
49: The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
50: Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way.
51: As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was living.
52: So he asked them the hour when he began to mend, and they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."
53: The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live"; and he himself believed, and all his household.
54: This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.
1: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber;
2: but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3: To him the gatekeeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4: When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
5: A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."
6: This figure Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
7: So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8: All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them.
9: I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
10: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
11: I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12: He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
13: He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep.
14: I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me,
15: as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16: And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.
17: For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.
18: No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father."
19: There was again a division among the Jews because of these words.
20: Many of them said, "He has a demon, and he is mad; why listen to him?"
21: Others said, "These are not the sayings of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"
22: It was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem;
23: it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.
24: So the Jews gathered round him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
25: Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness to me;
26: but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.
27: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me;
28: and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.
29: My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
30: I and the Father are one."
31: The Jews took up stones again to stone him.
32: Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?"
33: The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we stone you but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God."
34: Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, `I said, you are gods'?
35: If he called them gods to whom the word of God came (and scripture cannot be broken),
36: do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, `You are blaspheming,' because I said, `I am the Son of God'?
37: If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;
38: but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."
39: Again they tried to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
40: He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John at first baptized, and there he remained.
41: And many came to him; and they said, "John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true."
42: And many believed in him there.
0: To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.
1: As a hart longs
for
flowing streams,
so longs my soul
for thee, O God.
2: My soul thirsts for
God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
the
face of God?
3: My tears have been
my food
day and night,
while men say to me continually,
"Where
is your God?"
4: These things I
remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the
throng,
and led them in procession to the house of God,
with
glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
a multitude keeping
festival.
5: Why are you cast
down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in
God; for I shall again praise him,
my help
6: and my God.
My
soul is cast down within me,
therefore I remember thee
from the
land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
7: Deep calls to
deep
at the thunder of thy cataracts;
all thy waves and thy
billows
have gone over me.
8: By day the LORD
commands his steadfast love;
and at night his song is with me,
a
prayer to the God of my life.
9: I say to God, my
rock:
"Why hast thou forgotten me?
Why go I
mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?"
10: As with a deadly
wound in my body,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me
continually,
"Where is your God?"
11: Why are you cast
down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in
God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.
1: Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who is seated upon many waters,
2: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the dwellers on earth have become drunk."
3: And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.
4: The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication;
5: and on her forehead was written a name of mystery: "Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth's abominations."
6: And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her I marveled greatly.
7: But the angel said to me, "Why marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her.
8: The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to perdition; and the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will marvel to behold the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.
9: This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated;
10: they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he comes he must remain only a little while.
11: As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to perdition.
12: And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast.
13: These are of one mind and give over their power and authority to the beast;
14: they will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful."
15: And he said to me, "The waters that you saw, where the harlot is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.
16: And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the harlot; they will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire,
17: for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and giving over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18: And the woman that you saw is the great city which has dominion over the kings of the earth."
1: "Judge not, that you be not judged.
2: For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.
3: Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4: Or how can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?
5: You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
6: "Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you.
7: "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8: For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
9: Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
10: Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
11: If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
12: So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.
13: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
14: For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
15: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
16: You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?
17: So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit.
18: A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19: Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20: Thus you will know them by their fruits.
21: "Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22: On that day many will say to me, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'
23: And then will I declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'
24: "Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock;
25: and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
26: And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand;
27: and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it."
28: And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
29: for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
1: So put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander.
2: Like newborn babes, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation;
3: for you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
4: Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious;
5: and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6: For it stands in scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame."
7: To you therefore who believe, he is precious, but for those who do not believe, "The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner,"
8: and "A stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall"; for they stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
9: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10: Once you were no people but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.
11: Beloved, I beseech you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh that wage war against your soul.
12: Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles, so that in case they speak against you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
13: Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,
14: or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right.
15: For it is God's will that by doing right you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.
16: Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God.
17: Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
18: Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to the kind and gentle but also to the overbearing.
19: For one is approved if, mindful of God, he endures pain while suffering unjustly.
20: For what credit is it, if when you do wrong and are beaten for it you take it patiently? But if when you do right and suffer for it you take it patiently, you have God's approval.
21: For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
22: He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips.
23: When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly.
24: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
25: For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
US slang from Yiddish, an awkward or unlucky person whose endeavours usually fail; a klutz, an inept clumsy person; a bungler; a dolt .
1: He entered Jericho and was passing through.
2: And there was a man named Zacchae'us; he was a chief tax collector, and rich.
3: And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature.
4: So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.
5: And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchae'us, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today."
6: So he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully.
7: And when they saw it they all murmured, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner."
8: And Zacchae'us stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold."
9: And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.
10: For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost."
11: As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.
12: He said therefore, "A nobleman went into a far country to receive a kingdom and then return.
13: Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten pounds, and said to them, `Trade with these till I come.'
14: But his citizens hated him and sent an embassy after him, saying, `We do not want this man to reign over us.'
15: When he returned, having received the kingdom, he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by trading.
16: The first came before him, saying, `Lord, your pound has made ten pounds more.'
17: And he said to him, `Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.'
18: And the second came, saying, `Lord, your pound has made five pounds.'
19: And he said to him, `And you are to be over five cities.'
20: Then another came, saying, `Lord, here is your pound, which I kept laid away in a napkin;
21: for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.'
22: He said to him, `I will condemn you out of your own mouth, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?
23: Why then did you not put my money into the bank, and at my coming I should have collected it with interest?'
24: And he said to those who stood by, `Take the pound from him, and give it to him who has the ten pounds.'
25: (And they said to him, `Lord, he has ten pounds!')
26: `I tell you, that to every one who has will more be given; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
27: But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me.'"
28: And when he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29: When he drew near to Beth'phage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples,
30: saying, "Go into the village opposite, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat; untie it and bring it here.
31: If any one asks you, `Why are you untying it?' you shall say this, `The Lord has need of it.'"
32: So those who were sent went away and found it as he had told them.
33: And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt?"
34: And they said, "The Lord has need of it."
35: And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their garments on the colt they set Jesus upon it.
36: And as he rode along, they spread their garments on the road.
37: As he was now drawing near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,
38: saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"
39: And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples."
40: He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out."
41: And when he drew near and saw the city he wept over it,
42: saying, "Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes.
43: For the days shall come upon you, when your enemies will cast up a bank about you and surround you, and hem you in on every side,
44: and dash you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you; because you did not know the time of your visitation."
45: And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold,
46: saying to them, "It is written, `My house shall be a house of prayer'; but you have made it a den of robbers."
47: And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people sought to destroy him;
48: but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people hung upon his words.