This is the second of two excerpts from the Sunday Sermon given on February 4, 1996 at the Washington D.C. church.

The pathway of faith passes through the valley of death. In the valley our faith must conquer death and lead us out into the realm of life. If you don't have a serious awareness of death, you cannot invoke the power of faith in your life. We have to charge bravely into the camp where death rules and confront death head-on with our faith. In the victory of faith, we will cast death out and, in its place, raise up the flag of new life.

Death is always near-by waiting for us. Have you ever felt, when you got into your bed at night, that it might be for the last time? That day is coming. Did you ever wake in the morning and imagine what it will be like to arrive in the spirit world and open your eyes for the first time? Among us gathered here, who will be the next one to die? If we avoid thinking about that coming moment, we cannot receive new inspiration and insight from God and heaven. Entering the spirit world is returning to my most original and essential hometown. When we return to our final hometown, we cannot go with empty hands. We must come with a gift. We must think seriously about the nature of gift we should bring to the original hometown. To be afraid of death is an indication that I still have many things to do on Earth. We should live our life with the feeling that the next moment could be my last. With that mind, we will live every moment with the fullest effort.

Even though I die, I should die with a positive faith. And if I must fail, I should fail with faith. Don't harbor any grudge at the moment of your death. We should die with a free and unfettered heart. All things of this world will pass away and turn to dust. Don't attach your heart to such secular things. Instead have the wisdom to rise up and conquer the satanic world. This is the short-cut to happiness. Break free from the chains of the satanic world and become happy. I have been thinking and praying about this a lot. I would like to share with you six points which can help us to rise up from the satanic world and gain dominion over our life.

1. Choose to ignore insults. This is not easy, it takes practice and training. We have to decide to never react to negative, hurtful words. When someone speaks to us in that way, our habit is to be hurt and react with negativity. We are almost a slave to this behavior. But we only lose energy. If we can learn to ignore the insults and painful behavior of others we will have a lot more energy that we can direct in a positive way. In that way we will become much more productive and, therefore, happy.

2. Break your routine once in awhile. Most people will travel the same route to work everyday or when they go out to eat, they will go to the same restaurant. They like to meet the same people and do the same things. But we should be something more than just a creature of habit. Sometimes try doing things in a different way. Take a different road to work, change your lunch hour routine and go to a different place. Doing this occasionally will help you to avoid inflexible thinking and allows your mind to be more creative. It gives life vitality and a new taste. This will also help you to avoid fatigue.

3. Stop judging others. Every person's face is different. Likewise, every person's character is different as well. Sometimes we quickly judge someone to be wrong when, actually they are just different from me. For example, I once thought our pastor had so many bad points, but now I've come to learn_ he's just different then me_ very different. So don't judge people with your own standards and views, instead receive whatever they have and be open to them. When you judge people, it makes them distant from you and it becomes more difficult to experience positive and joyful human relationships. Especially husbands and wives should remember this.

4. Get rid of your anger. Jog around your neighborhood. Learn to count to ten. Get involved in a sport or read a good book. Anger takes away your energy. Train yourself to deeply meditate when you feel your anger about to explode. I'm becoming an expert in meditation_ how about you? The energy you save by not getting angry, can be invested in a productive manner. Also, try to understand the reasons you lose your temper and see if you can improve the next time. If you can't control your anger, you may destroy your personal relationships. If you keep anger bottled up in your heart, eventually it can even effect your health.

5. Learn to forgive. Many times our personal relations with other are affected by bad experiences in the past that have been unresolved. Don't look for the bad things in people. Instead try to forgive and forget the harm others may have done to you. If you go this way you will have more happy personal relationships and your life will be enriched.

6. Smile more. Yes, you heard me correctly_ smile more! Shall we practice right now? Turn to your neighbor and give your most beautiful, heartfelt smile. If you consider the five previous suggestions, you may smile more naturally. Even a simple smile can be enough to dramatically change your relationship with those around you. If your relationship with others improves, you will become more happy.

We are not meant to live in a fallen world. We are a people who are destined to live in the coming ideal world. Therefore don't compromise with the fallen world. Try, instead, to win over the satanic world. With a correct view, try to live a righteous life. We cannot manage our life in the same manner as those in the fallen world. We have to do everything on a higher level. We have to accomplish true love. We are meant to live a victorious life of faith not a satanic one. We have to manage our life in a victorious and successful way.

Each person has the responsibility to bear a true life fruit. We have to resurrect our life and receive true love elements. By grafting on to the True Olive Tree, we receive the honor of true love and true life and are born again. The value of a human is most deeply revealed in the Divine Principle. When we fulfill the purpose of creation and live our life for the sake of God's will, we gain eternal, unique and cosmic value.

The Bible says that physical thinking is death and spiritual thinking is life. Therefore, without God we cannot bear the precious great fruit of life. Let us try our best in our lifetime on the earth to have a heart of goodness, invest in righteousness and harvest good fruit. If you sowed the seed of sincerity in your heart, you will bear good fruit. Don't change your mind after committing to the life of service to God. That is foolish. Even though you offered God countless sincere prayers, if you have been unable to bear the fruit of true love, it is meaningless.

If you are only struggling and holding on by yourself, you cannot solve your fundamental problem. If you love your neighbor as yourself, sacrifice and serve more, then you will experience the value of the harvest. The purpose of our life is to serve others. Therefore, invest your heart for the service of others. Live for God's will and sacrifice your life. Endure all indemnity and digest all your problems. This is the way you will build a more solid foundation for your life. But if you only live for yourself, for individualism, selfish-ism and the secular society, you will be unable to solve even the smallest problem and happiness will escape you.

In this providential "Last Days" of history the judgment time is upon us. We should have clear knowledge in order to distinguish between good and evil, the grain and husk, the goats and the sheep, what is orthodox and what is heresy, the holy spirit and evil spirits, righteousness and unrighteousness. In this harvest time of providential history, which is also the time of tribulation, we must awaken our hearts and establish a genuine new revolution in our life of faith.

The harvest is great but now the laborers are few, so we have to have a repentant heart and a humble, merciful and obedient mind. We have to have the same thankful feeling for being called by God as the angels felt when they announced the birth of Jesus, saying: "Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth, peace and good will toward men."

In this Completed Testament Age, and in the turning point of the age of Kingship, we have to join God and True Parents. In this way we can remove the 6000 year old grudge of God. So let us be proud of and love True Parents so that the whole world can attend him. Let us try our best to do this as we sacrifice our life. We have to feel deeply grateful that we could meet the True Parents, receive true life and enter their royal lineage in our lifetime. So we have to offer our loyalty and filial piety until the accomplishment of God's will. We cannot forget this year of 1996 is important and historical. So in order to bear a great fruit let's obey Heaven's directions absolutely and take action.

If we beseech the humble God with tears and shedding blood, He will surely help us. Without the effort of shedding blood and tears, no farmer worth his weight could expect a plentiful harvest. The harvest period is limited to a certain time and duration. If you miss that chance you lose everything. We have a belief in God and True Parents. With that, we joined the church but that doesn't automatically mean we have a genuine life of faith. Sometimes our faith is only external, like the Pharisees, and we only wander through our church life. Some may feel that all the deep grace they felt when they joined the church has run out and they just remain like an empty can. If this is how we feel, we need to understand how we became that way. Once we can understand, then we have to repent, change and make a new start. From that foundation we have a chance to build a true love fruit and become a victor in the history of true love. Do you agree with that or not?

In order to have the hopeful, successful and righteous attitude of faith which God is demanding, we must, first, understand the important providential time and the proper action for that time. That is what God wants. Secondly, let us have a great dream and, in order to accomplish that dream, have a deep dedication of our heart and sincerity. Third, in order to be victorious, we have to rise up from the satanic world. Fourth, in order to bear a true love fruit we have to start again, understand the time of harvest and try our best to devote our life to the construction of the Kingdom of God on Earth and in Heaven.

The Bible verse says we should have the right understanding of God's will and with heavenly wisdom we should manage our life for the sake of God's will. Also don't waste time. Try to save time and invest it for the accomplishment of God's will. Please try your best.

Let us understand the importance of this year. In order to save the poor dying people, invest everything that we have. Rush forward to the place of disaster, where people are suffering, and accomplish our mission of salvation. That is how we will be successful in our life of faith. In order to have a successful blessing event in 1997, all people must join together and take action in all possible ways. If we do that, we will get victory. We need to have the concept of ownership and a responsible heart. Without this it is impossible to do our mission. We should feel that God absolutely needs me and without me the job can't be done. So with wisdom, ability, experience and a willingness to confess, hold on to God and try your best. The way is open to us and nothing is impossible because God can help us if we follow these following four guidelines:

1. Pray from the bottom of our hearts. Offering sincere deep prayer is one of the ways we can establish the spiritual foundation through which God can help. That is why we are doing this prayer condition and everyone should join. How about that, is it good or not? We have to have a more faithful religious life. If your habit is to skip Sunday service, your faith will never grow. We must have the right concept. This church is my church not Rev. McCarthy's church. In the Last Days, the Bible says we must worship together.

2. We have to work together and offer 10% tithing of all things, not only money but my mind, body and time. In twenty-four hours at least three hours should be tithed to God. That means twenty-one hours are mine, three hours are God's. You have to help the church everyday. That is the way your faith will grow. The church is the training center and gate for the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and Spirit World. Unless we have success in our church life, we can't hope to have success in our family life. Church life helps us to perfect our personality. Attending service and worshipping together is the short cut to God and can help bring about a personal revolution. When we come to church, God can speak to us in a deep and powerful way. If we make the tradition to support the church without fail, God will greatly bless us. In the history of America, we are moved by the story of the Pilgrims who, before they built their own homes, built the house of worship. Let's attend our church with that same heart.

3. Let us invest in witnessing activity. Each person must find the quickest and easiest way, according to your situation, to accomplish tribal messiah activity. In this way we can join True Parent's tribe. 160 couples is our minimum goal. So first, we must think that each person should bring 12 couples. Each blessed couple should bring 24 couples. That is our minimum goal. Each community should find local churches and invest time to visit and make a relationship. Don't try to witness to them right away. We have to go the course of eight stages and go higher by the vertical process of service. Make pairs, don't go by yourself, and visit that church. Go the natural way. With sincerity and prayer, go to that church. Have revival meetings for that church to help them grow. Then you will be an important person to that church and they will listen to you later. We need that kind of long term plan. If you can bring all church people to the blessing you will have accomplished you mission quickly and easily. We made a new community system. So participate in community activity. Also Departments and committees are taking action through all kinds of witnessing.

4. Let's invest more in the life of service with a thankful mind. So each committee and community should make a plan for a service project. We should have a very serious responsible mind. We should feel that no one can save this world except us. We need a strong spirit of volunteerism. We should feel the mission of evangelism is my most important job and unless I do the job, it won't get done. Without this heart, God cannot help and no miracle can happen. Without a volunteer spirit this society would be full of darkness. We have spent a lot of time to solve our personal problems but now we have to spend time to solve society's problems and to build the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven. Let's join together to build up the Washington Kingdom. For that purpose God has chosen us.

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