The Words of the Cotter Family
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The Words of the Cotter Family |
Good morning, brothers and sisters. Happy Sunday. Happy Launch Day, and good morning all across America and around the world. Now I know this may come as a shock to you, but this is not the face you were expecting to see this morning -- or the form. So our ushers are standing by for anyone who faints. They have smelling salts and you will be revived. Are you okay? Are you all right? Let's be seated. You're sure you're all right? I don't know; I don't believe you. Maybe I need to hear something. Are you okay? Are you loving life?
I am so happy to be here today. How about you? And God is good, is He not?
We have to give it up for Sonic Cult, our band, don't you think? They just ministered to my heart. I was sitting here next to Heather, and I was crying, brothers and sisters, in listening to those three sisters, those heavenly songbirds – Kat, Natasha, and Mitsuru. We should give it up for them. Just to be surrounded by those heavenly voices, I was in heaven. I'm still in heaven.
Not to mention the boys in the band – Joe Young on the guitar, how about that? Julian on the bass, Wade on the keyboard, and that spectacular drummer, Song-min. Let's give it up for those guys: Sonic Cult! Man, we are blessed this morning.
Our senior pastor sends her love to you here in New York and all across America and the world. She asked me to say a few words this morning. Is that okay? There's great news in America, out of Las Vegas. On July 4th, Independence Day, we, the American movement, completed giving out 120,000 autobiographies of our True Father. Let's give a big hand for our True Parents and all brothers and sisters.
This is an incredible achievement. It's a milestone. Las Vegas, the city where our True Parents have invested so much, is changed, brothers and sisters, because of you, and it will never be the same. Everywhere you go, people are reading Father's autobiography, and they want more copies of it. Now they have it in Spanish, too. It's changed everything in Las Vegas. And we completed it together.
We thank our beloved Japanese missionaries, who made the foundation, and then American members, like yourselves, who came in from all across America at their own expense and gave these books out to brothers and sisters in Las Vegas. Together we reached 120,000, True Parents' goal for us. And we celebrated with True Parents on July 4th, Independence Day. It's amazing.
We should think of this as our independence day in America. I'm not talking about being independent from God or True Parents or anything like that. But we could think of it as being free, free from the bonds of the past. How about that? Let's take a giant step forward on this day of our launch into the summer quarter. Let's declare our independence as the elder son nation. This is the time when we stand up and take full responsibility for everything for this nation. Yes.
I've been around this movement a long time and for the last couple of decades or so we've done a lot of great things, but in terms of growing our movement, it hasn't happened. We've been in kind of a state of doldrums. Doldrums are the very calm winds that sailors feared the most, because when winds are calm, can you go anywhere? No, you just sit there and wait for the wind to blow.
When I talk about us being in the doldrums, I mean that we've been a little stagnant, waiting for the wind to blow and get us going again. Are you guys in the summer doldrums? Have you settled into those summertime blues? [No.] Are you sure? [Yes.] In the summer doldrums everybody says, "Nobody comes to church in the summer." The conventional wisdom is attendance and tithing go down in the summer. Everybody sits by the pool sipping iced tea and nothing happens. Is that what's going to happen at Lovin' Life? [No.] Are you sure? [Yes.]
Brothers and sisters, we have to fight against the summer doldrums, the summertime blues. Remember that old song that says, "Ain't no cure for the summertime blues?" Well, I tell you one thing, there is a cure for the summertime blues and it's Lovin' Life Ministries. We're not going to accept the conventional wisdom that everything shuts down; we're going to pack this place out this summer. New Jersey's in the house, right? Connecticut's in the house. New York's in the house. We're going to pack this place.
Our national summer camp is in the house. The Leadership College is in the house. So across America we're going to pack our churches out this summer and we're going to continue to grow.
I'm so inspired because we finished this 120,000 project in Las Vegas. Is that all we've got to do? Are True Parents ever satisfied with just one sitting? Brothers and sisters, Las Vegas is just a model for your city. Guess what? Today, July 10th, we are launching with Districts 2 and 3 – New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, too, a campaign to give out 120,000 books here in New York in the Lovin' Life main area starting today. Can you do it? That was polite applause.
In order to go along with those books what do people need to see when they come into the Lincoln Tunnel? Billboards. Who wants to get a billboard today? True Parents love those billboards that were designed by Lovin' Life Ministries. Such faithful brothers and sisters in Las Vegas raised the money to put up these fabulous billboards. True Parents love those things. When they come down maybe we'll give them to Father as a memento. But they're still up.
Wouldn't it be great when True Parents come into New York, the first thing they see is a beautiful billboard with Father's picture and the autobiography, and all of New York is consumed reading that autobiography? "Whoa, I never knew this about Rev. Moon!" So we're starting today.
And we want to shout out to Washington, D.C., Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Columbus, Minneapolis, Houston, Seattle, San Francisco, and LA – "You guys are next." By the end of 2011, we're going to give out a million books across America.
So today also is the beginning of our summer quarter, the summer Launch Pad, all across America. Our amazing Headquarters team, headed up by Mrs. Heather Thalheimer, in the front row here, has provided this amazing package we call the "Launch Pad." Right after service we're going to have a launch party here – and across America we're launching our summer quarter. For the next 10 weeks in the summer we're going to be very busy doing great things and having a lot of fun.
We want you to take the Launch Pad and run with it – make it your own and implement it. I don't know about you, but when I think about fruits, summer fruits are the best. Digging into a watermelon: Can you taste it right now? It just tastes so good. Or some of those summer cherries or apricots or grapes. Do you realize that this summer there are heavenly fruits out there, spiritual children that taste like watermelons and cherries, and they're just waiting for you to come and pick them? So go out there and harvest those fruits.
Our movement is growing, with thirty to forty new brothers and sisters across America joining every single month. Do you realize that? That's small, but that's a beginning. That's the tip of the iceberg. Are you ready to welcome thousands of new brothers and sisters over the summertime? And to welcome them we need this Launch Pad. It's more than just coming to church on Sunday. It's the ministry that we develop, and that's what the Launch Pad is all about.
What's the theme of our Launch this time? "Live out loud." Live your faith. Be a living testimony to God, a natural witnesser. So we want you to take it and blast off with it across America, starting today, for the next 10 weeks. Get involved with small groups, as you'll see. Check it out and make it your own. Everyone has a place in this ministry. Whether you're old like me or young like Heather Thalheimer, it doesn't matter. We need you all. Can I get an Amen on that?
Sun
Myung Moon, Hak Ja Han, Hyung Jin Moon, and Ye Jin Moon, May 5, 2011
To me this is the most exciting time to be alive – with our True Parents, the leadership of True Children, and the amazing team that we're developing across America. It's unprecedented. So we're just glad to see you today. Look at the person next to you. Give them a hug and say, "I love you. I'm glad to see you in church today. I'm glad to see you." It's great to see Brother Leon down there. We need you.
I've been around a long time. It may not look like it because I've had a makeover from our senior pastor. By the way, personal makeovers, spiritual and physical, are available upon request, no appointment needed, right here at Lovin' Life Ministries. There's only one requirement: you have to live for the sake of others.
In my life – what a life! You want to hear about my life? I found God and True Parents 36 years ago, when I was four years old. [Laughter.] I was told I can't get any older than 40, so that's why I'm saying that. But at that time my life was transformed; like many of you, I gave my life to God and True Parents. It was a miracle that I find myself here today.
I also pledged with my life, my fortune, and my sacred honor that I would offer this nation of America, my nation, to God. Brothers and sisters, we're standing at a time when we can substantially do that, and that is right now. So we're incredibly blessed to be here.
I came from a typical – I thought it was typical – American family. I grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., Bethesda, Maryland. I have a biblical name, but unfortunately I had not much to do with the Bible growing up. Mine was a big family with five boys and a girl. Everything looked great on the outside of the family, but on the inside, there was a lot of turmoil, a lot of struggle, a lot of emotional upheaval – mainly between my parents. They fought all the time. That made an impression on me and all of the children. I think that's why I resonate so much with True Parents, who teach that husband and wife should never fight. If you have to disagree, don't do it in front of the children, right? I really agree with that. My wife and I have tried to practice that our whole lives.
When there's fighting in the home, as there was in my home, then the children grow up with tremendous stress and turmoil, and it damages the heart. That's what happened to our family. I remember sitting at the top of the stairs wondering if my parents were going to actually stay together. We could never imagine what eventually happened, that because of all this they divorced in 1969. At that time it was still pretty much unheard of in America.
I was 16 when I went through that kind of difficulty. I didn't have God and True Parents, and I didn't have the Bible to guide me. The book of Ephesians (4:29) tells us about using the right words to uplift people. It says, "Don't use foul or abusive language," because that hurts the heart. "But let everything you say be good and helpful and uplifting, so that your words will be an encouragement to all who hear them." That's the kind of homes we need to create, where people are uplifted and encouraged all the time, because the opposite has dire consequences.
I didn't know the Bible, but I did know the Beatles. There's no real comparison, but they were my spiritual guide. I grew up playing Beatles' music. I remember the song, "We Can Work It Out." Remember that one? And as my parents were fighting I would find myself thinking, "Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friends." Right?
So I thought, "My parents can work it out. The Beatles said so. They can do it." But unfortunately it really didn't work out. It got worse. We were all devastated. My father left. He had six kids, and he walked out. My mother became like my daughter. I was 16 and I tried to become the dad of the family. Brothers and sisters, it was too much. I couldn't do it. I just did not have the background, the training, the heart. So I gave up.
We all kind of scattered. One brother went off to college, my elder brother. That's how he dealt with it. My younger brother actually found Jesus in his bedroom, thank God. And none of us knew that Jesus was in that bedroom. It was amazing. But he found Jesus. I, on the other hand, developed a very serious, long-term, totally committed relationship with the piano. I'm telling you, that was my life. I had no faith in marriage, long-lasting relationships – forget it.
So this was the paradox I was in now. I just kind of threw out everything. "I'm going to live for myself. I'm going to play my piano, make my fortune, and forget about everyone else." But God had other thoughts. He kept planting seeds and people in my life, trying to pull me toward Him. God probably did the same with you.
I remember one summer I was working on a zoysia grass farm. Do you know what zoysia grass is? I don't think you do. Brothers and sisters, zoysia is the messiah of grasses. It comes from the East, from Manila, the Philippines. My friends and I used to take these plugs of zoysia and plant them in old, dying lawns. Those plugs would grow and take over the lawn, and before you know it the old dying lawn would become a beautiful, strong, new lawn. Isn't that messianic? I didn't realize it, but I was doing the work of God. I was plugging away, planting seeds, and making lawns beautiful. I was like the messiah to those homeowners... not really.
But one day as I was driving home after 12 hours of back-breaking plugging, I was seeing the sunset in Bethesda and this voice came to me and said one thing: "You're meant to be great." That was it. End of message. "What do you mean by that? Nothing else? Okay."
St.
John's Virgin Islands
A little bit later I went down to the Virgin Islands, a beautiful, magnificent place that God made, to do some scuba diving with my brother. I was meeting him there. At the airport I took a taxi to the dock to catch a boat across to St. John's. Guess the name of the place where the dock was? Red Hook – like Red Hook, NY. I got in the taxi. "Yeah, I'm going to go over to the island, take some drugs, and have some sex, and do some scuba diving."
I got in the car and there was a little guy driving. He turned around to me and said, "Brother, do you know the Lord?" I said, "Oh, come on, man, I'm supposed to be on vacation." But I was a captive audience so I just listened to this guy. He told me the story of his life. He had something like 10 children. They had nothing at all. Their floor was dirt. But he said, "Brother, I have everything because I know Jesus. You have to come to know the Lord, Brother."
I sat in the back of this Datsun station wagon, listening to him as the sun went down. He said, "When you get over to that island, don't take the drugs. No sex. No alcohol. Don't even say bad language any more. Just get on your knees and pray." I said, "Yes, sir." And that's what I did. Imagine me on my knees in prayer. God hears prayer. He does. Do you believe that? He heard my prayer. I repented to Him.
After that I just didn't have a taste for all those things any more. I couldn't make those four-letter words come out of my mouth the way they flowed so beautifully before. I just didn't have a taste for it anymore. God took it away.
Later on I went across the country on my journey to California from the East Coast. I gave up everything and went out there to make my fortune in 1975, playing music. That's all I lived for. But God had other plans. He was planting people in my life. Before I left, my lifelong friends who I played music with – their names were Rick and Rob Lord – came into my life. Their father was an Episcopal priest and his name was Reverend Lord. You don't get much closer to God than that.
The Lord brothers witnessed to me, they took me to church, and they sent me off to California with a Bible and a book called The Holy Spirit and You. I accepted Jesus into my life for the first time when I was 22. I was a changed man. All the way across the country in my little sleeping bag I'm reading the Bible and trying to figure out how to accept Jesus as my lord and savior. He said, "You already did. I'm already here. Don't worry about it. I was there in the bedroom, and I'm here in the sleeping bag."
So he was guiding me. God was guiding me across the country, and I got to California. Within three days I was spoken to by a little angel named Judy, who had the thickest Chicago accent you have ever heard in your life. She invited me to this house where I met brothers and sisters like you. I tell you, I was home. I was home for the first time in my life.
In Oakland, California, they were loving life at that time, and I heard the Divine Principle, the teaching of Father Moon, from people like Dr. Durst and Christina Seher and our own Noah Ross. He was my amazing teacher. I cried through it all. I cried through the Fall; I cried through the life of Jesus. When he told me about the life of our True Father, I just wept.
But then I realized the breaking news, that True Parents are the living Messiah. So I gave everything to God. In fact, I said, "God, take my hands. This is what I used to play that piano. Just cut them off." I gave up music because I thought, "God, what is music if I don't have you?" I gave it up. And I got so much back.
I did my best in a lot of things and wrote a lot of songs. Somewhere along the way my elder sister came to me and said, "You know, you're never going to be a great man (and there's that word, "great") unless you learn to forgive your father." That jolted me. So I spent years praying and trying to come to the point where I could forgive my dad. Then I realized I had to forgive myself, too.
In 1982, when I was on my way to Korea to meet my beloved wife – and I didn't yet know who she was – I happened to be able to meet my dad for the first time in 13 years. I was living in the Boston center at that time, co-pastoring with Sheri Reuter. That's where we met In Jin Nim. I met my dad there, and when we saw each other, in my heart I had forgiven him. So we just hugged and cried for a long time.
Then I taught him the Principle overnight. He was so attentive. He took it in from his heart. In the morning I said, "Dad, I've got to go. I'm on my way to Korea." He asked, "What are you going there for?" I said, "I'm going to get married." He was stunned. "Who's the lucky girl?" I said, "I don't know. But I do know this, that she's there and she's waiting for me so I'm going." He was so inspired and said, "I want to go with you, man."
So I went to Korea with his blessing, and True Parents blessed me with my beautiful wife, whose name is Young Ae. We've been blessed with three beautiful children. My wife and I have so many blessings on top of the blessing at the Blessing. Does that make sense? We realized we must have some special role. We vowed as new husband and wife that we would serve God and True Parents, the Messiah, on the front lines with our couple, no matter what happened. We made that vow, and we've done that ever since. We just celebrated 29 years of marriage. We're stronger in our love for each other, for God and True Parents, getting younger all the time, and loving life. We have three amazing children and we have brothers and sisters like you. So what could be better?
Anyway, that's a little bit of my story.
Lovin' Life Ministries is such a blessing. As I told you, Sheri Reuter and I were pastoring in Boston in the early 1980s and In Jin Nim, at that time, was a student in the area. She used to come over to the Beacon Street center. We had so much fun together. We wrote songs together and we had snowball fights inside that massive house, which was freezing cold inside because we couldn't afford to heat it all. That didn't matter, though, because we had love, we had God and True Parents, and we had each other.
I think In Jin Nim somehow never forgot that connection of heart. So, fast-forward from 1982 to 2008 and in this building where we are now we had the inauguration of our senior pastor. She was appointed by her parents, our True Parents, as the leader and the pastor of America, with the instructions, "Please raise up America's families and children the way you have raised your beautiful family." Those were her marching orders.
So we had her inauguration. For some reason at the last minute I was asked to be the MC. I said, "What is going on?" I got a crash course in MC-ing from Jin Sung Nim, and I got up there and it struck me, "Maybe there's something to this. Maybe you're supposed to work with In Jin Nim." This was on her birthday, August 14, 2008.
Later on she called me in California and asked me, "You're one of seven or eight vice presidents we have. You're also a district pastor in California. Would you like to come back to New York as vice president, or do you want to stay on the West Coast?" I gave the wrong answer, brothers and sisters. I said, "Why don't you let me stay here on the West Coast and I'll be your representative." In her heart she was saying, "Would you get your rear end out to New York? I need you now." But I didn't get that.
So she was patient, like God, and she planted seeds. Thank God she had wonderful people like George Kazakos, Jaga and Tami Gavin, and Dave Hunter – amazing people, people like you, to help her in the early days as she was planning and rolling out her vision for this ministry. I didn't get it until July 4th, actually two years ago this week, when I finally realized, "I need to be there." So I packed up everything, left my family on the West Coast, and came here.
It's been an incredible, incredible two years. As they say, "Better late than never." Here we are at Lovin' Life. In Jin Nim always had the vision for this ministry, but before she could actually roll it out, she went on an incredible listening tour around America. She did not want to insist on her own way. As the Bible tells us, "Love is patient, love is kind," right? It does not insist upon its own way. So she went out and observed and met and loved and embraced, and took notes and found people.
After that she came back and decided to launch this ministry on Easter Sunday 2009. Brothers and sisters, this ministry has been going now for 27 months; almost 120 sermons have been given by our senior pastor. It has changed America. It has changed the world. A powerful, exciting music ministry, as she would call it, and I know why, sitting out there today because the music ministers to our hearts so that the Word can penetrate deep in our hearts. Amen? It's incredible.
We have a remarkable ministry changing the culture of our church and getting us out of the doldrums. We're growing for the first time in many years. Isn't it great? Young people, new people, families across America are joining our church – the living ministry of Lovin' Life. And today we're talking about the Launch Pad. Our headquarters team – I'm so proud of them – has developed a membership class, the vision class; a whole curriculum for small groups; and everything we need to create a wonderful, thriving, living ministry to go along with this Sunday service experience.
The Learning Center is an amazing model for the nation. I could go on and on. With the Manhattan Center, In Jin Nim has taken the gift of True Parents together with the vision of Hyo Jin Nim, and now is using it in such an incredible way – having beautiful galas here as a part of the ballroom dancing ministry centering on her daughter Ariana. The ballroom dancing ministry is an amazing, cutting-edge national ministry that is sweeping the country. We should give Ariana a big hand.
It just goes on and on. There is so much to develop and so much to do. We're just scratching the surface. We need everyone's help. In our districts, in our churches we have the national live broadcast now that reaches 100 churches large and small, some 10,000 people a week. This is one of the fastest-growing ministries in America, Amen? And it's just starting.
We're connected now. We're united in an amazing way. We have people in all 12 districts doing great things that I don't have time to go into, but I just want to say that Zagary Oliver down in Washington, D.C., and his brothers and sisters just completed 1,200 days of 5:00 a.m. prayer and Hoon Dok Hae, which started March 17th of 2008. Let's give them a huge hand. There's just not enough time to tell the great stories of all the things that are happening.
But I do want to say that In Jin Nim made an amazing choice in this lady here, Dr. Annie Iparaguirre and her family, as our New Jersey district pastor. They're tearing things up out there.
Again, across America, we thank you for all that you're doing. Not only that, the organization that True Parents have created – ACLC, our clergy, UPF together with Dr. Walsh and Jim Gavin, Women's Federation with Rev. Angelika Selle, CARP under Hero Hernandez and Victoria Roomet – what an amazing team we have, and all are being revolutionized through Lovin' Life Ministry.
We can't overlook the human rights issue that True Children have championed and taken on through their direct leadership. We have taken this problem on in our organizations, and we are putting an end to it. It's an astounding thing to see. Not to mention the fact that we are raising up such an amazing crop of new leaders. We should give a big hand for STF. What a remarkable transformation that program has been through!
And with us today we have the first national leadership initiative 10-week program. You guys, raise your hands if you're part of the national leadership initiative. Also, it looks like we have the Lovin' Life Ministries summer camp high school here. Will you please stand up? It's good to see you guys. They are being led by Dave Hunter and his great staff. So go visit them while they're up at UTS.
In
Jin Moon February 30, 2011
In Jin Nim is building a national unity that's unprecedented. Through that unity we can just explode, blossom, and flower. I want to mention also that Dr. Panzer and his wife are doing an amazing job with UTS. They are making plans to create a four-year college up at Barrytown.
Time does not permit me to talk about all the great things that are happening. But I want to put out a call to the First Generation, and you know who you are. Brothers and sisters, the best is yet to come, is it not? True Children honor the First Generation so much. We've seen that. But they're not honoring you so you can retire, resign, or step back. They're honoring you so that you can step forward because God is not done with you yet. That's why I love brothers like Mr. Pierre Tardy, who always has a smile on his face and is doing so much great work. He's the kind of person I want to be. I'm a Pierre Tardy wannabe.
Our True Father has said to us many times, you should return to the time when you first met True Parents. With that kind of heart, enthusiasm, and offering you should be reborn. Can you be reborn? What happens when we're reborn? We belong to God and True Parents. We belong to Christ. II Corinthians 5:17 says that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person – a new creation, if you will. The old life is gone, and the new life has just begun. We should celebrate that rebirth through God and True Parents. That's what Lovin' Life Ministries is doing.
The word "regeneration" comes to my mind. Regeneration is the doctrine of being spiritually reborn through Christ, becoming a new creation in the love of God, Christ, and our True Parents. Brothers and sisters, we've been given so much blessing in our lives, haven't we? Our families, our lives – they're such a blessing. We should have the heart to return it all to God and True Parents, to offer this nation to them.
It struck me that the First Generation should become the re-Generation. "To regenerate" actually means to make over again. You can think of this. We all need to be made over by God. That's what Lovin' Life Ministry is doing, a makeover of our church and our ministry. Again, personal makeovers are available upon request. Just see God. God is trying to make us over in His and Her image.
"Rebirth" means to be transformed in our minds. As Romans 12:2 says, "Do not be conformed to the ways of this world." In other words, don't let yourself be business as usual. Don't slip into the spiritual doldrums of stagnation but break free. Launch and blast off; become a new person. Remember, I'm talking to the First Generation, but I'm talking to the Second Generation, too.
In the past, a lot of times people in the First Generation complained, and a lot of times there were reasons to complain. But brothers and sisters, there are no more reasons to complain. Can you accept that? Are you sure? I might have to talk to you a little bit. Don't sit on the sidelines. Don't sit this one out. Some of you might be empty-nesters now. Don't sit home and fight with each other. Come out onto the front lines. Come out to Lovin' Life Ministry and mentor the younger leaders and the young people. Don't think, "It's time that I retire."
I love the hyphen, one of the smallest things in the English language. But a hyphen well placed can change a word's meaning. Here's what I mean. Instead of, "I need to retire," if you just put the hyphen between "re" and "tire", it's a totally different meaning. I need to "re-tire". I need new tires because the journey I'm going to go on; this ride that's coming up, is like no other. I need new tires.
"I think I need to resign." But if you take "re" and put a hyphen in between, it becomes "re-sign". I need to sign membership again. I've become a new member. I'm going to take the vision class. "You know, I'm kind of defective. I think I need a recall. Like an old Toyota. I need to be recalled." Wait a minute. If you put a hyphen between "re" and "call", I need to "re-called" by God. So today is your "re-call" day, your "re-sign" day, and your "re-tire" day. Think of it that way. That's why we're the re-Generation.
Now one more thing we have to deal with is this word "complain". I'm going to convince you that "complain" is actually a positive word. Next week. No, let's think of it this way. I love the way our senior pastor plays with words; "com" and "plain". There are several kinds of plains. There's the kind that the rain in Spain falls mainly on. There's the plane that you take like a crazy person; you're 35,000 feet up in the air with nothing between you and certain death.
Carpenter's
plane
But there's another kind of plane, and if you're a carpenter like Jesus was, or like Jaga Gavin, you're familiar with a carpenter's tool that is used to smooth out the rough edges and the bumps to make a clean, beautiful surface. The great thing about the plane is the cutting edge. It's mounted perfectly so that it just shaves off and leaves a beautiful, clean surface. Isn't that beautiful?
So why don't you come plane with us? We are planning and shaving off the old. God is planning us, isn't He? He's shaving us; He's re-shaping us; He's planning us into his image, making us smooth. If we "come plane" together -- is this making any sense? If we "come plane" together, guess what? Lovin' Life is cutting-edge, and cutting-edge is a hyphenated word, by the way. Cutting-edge, you shave it off, we plane ourselves. We create a smooth platform and foundation for our grandchildren.
So are you going to "come plane"? "Come plane" with us, brothers and sisters. Let's "plane" together. Amen? That's pretty much all I wanted to say. Lovin' Life is great. The theme of Lovin' Life: be fulfilled in your relationship with God, True Parents, our community, and your family. Try something new. That's what we've been doing together. Thank God we did because we're seeing it succeed.
Re-imagine life as it should have been, with God and True Parents. Lovin' Life Ministry is just the foundation, brothers and sisters, for unity. It's a platform; it's a launch pad so that we can all shine as God's sons and daughters. Last week our senior pastor said the Launch Pad that we're going to give you today and start today is a gift from Headquarters. Don't put it on the shelf saying, "That was a nice package I just got." Take it and use it. Implement it; create a masterpiece in your church, in your district.
Let's have a revolution of heart this summer. We can offer America to God and True Parents. It is a long climb, but we're almost there, and as the song says, God and True Parents are with us and we're never alone.
So, brothers and sisters, if you're loving life now more than you were two years ago, I want you to stand to your feet and give God, True Parents, True Children, and our senior pastor a big handclap.
God bless you. Have a wonderful week.
Well, I'm a'gonna raise a fuss,
An' I'm a'gonna raise a
holler.
I've been working all summer
Just to try and earn a
dollar.
Well I went to the boss
Said I had a date
My boss
said "No dice, son, you gotta work late"
Sometimes I wonder what I'm a'gonna do
There ain't no cure for
the summertime blues
Well my mom 'n' poppa told me
"Son you gotta earn some
money,
If you want to use the car
To go riding next Sunday."
Well I didn't go to work
I told the boss I was sick
"Now
you can't use the car
'cause you didn't work a lick."
Sometimes I wonder what I'm a'gonna do
Cause there ain't no
cure for the summertime blues.
Gonna take two weeks
Gonna have a fine vacation
Gonna take
my problems
To the United Nations
Well I went to my congressman
He said, quote: "I'd like to
help you son,
But you're too young to vote."
Sometimes I wonder what I'm a'gonna do
Cause there ain't no
cure for the summertime blues.
1: I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
2: with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love,
3: eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4: There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call,
5: one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6: one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.
7: But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
8: Therefore it is said, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men."
9: (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth?
10: He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
11: And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
12: to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
13: until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ;
14: so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles.
15: Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
16: from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.
17: Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds;
18: they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart;
19: they have become callous and have given themselves up to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of uncleanness.
20: You did not so learn Christ! --
21: assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus.
22: Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts,
23: and be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
24: and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
25: Therefore, putting away falsehood, let every one speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
26: Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
27: and give no opportunity to the devil.
28: Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need.
29: Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear.
30: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31: Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice,
32: and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Try to see it my way,
Do I have to keep on talking till I can't
go on?
While you see it your way,
Run the risk of knowing that
our love may soon be gone.
We can work it out,
We can work it out.
Think of what you're saying.
You can get it wrong and still you
think that it's all right.
Think of what I'm saying,
We can
work it out and get it straight, or say good night.
We can work it out,
We can work it out.
Life is very short, and there's no time
For fussing and
fighting, my friend.
I have always thought that it's a crime,
So
I will ask you once again.
Try to see it my way,
Only time will tell if I am right or I am
wrong.
While you see it your way
There's a chance that we might
fall apart before too long.
We can work it out,
We can work it out.
Life is very short, and there's no time
For fussing and
fighting, my friend.
I have always thought that it's a crime,
So
I will ask you once again.
Try to see it my way,
Only time will tell if I am right or I am
wrong.
While you see it your way
There's a chance that we might
fall apart before too long.
We can work it out,
We can work it out.
1: For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2: Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling,
3: so that by putting it on we may not be found naked.
4: For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5: He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
6: So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,
7: for we walk by faith, not by sight.
8: We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
9: So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
10: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.
11: Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men; but what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.
12: We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to be proud of us, so that you may be able to answer those who pride themselves on a man's position and not on his heart.
13: For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
14: For the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.
15: And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
16: From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer.
17: Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.
18: All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
19: that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
20: So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
1: I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
2: Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
3: For by the grace given to me I bid every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him.
4: For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function,
5: so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
6: Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;
7: if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching;
8: he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
9: Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
10: love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
11: Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord.
12: Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
13: Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality.
14: Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
15: Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
16: Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; never be conceited.
17: Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.
18: If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all.
19: Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
20: No, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head."
21: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.