The Words of Hyung Jin Moon From 2009
|
|
The Words of Hyung Jin Moon From 2009 |
Good afternoon, Brothers and Sisters!
Last week we went to America to celebrate True Parents' 90th birthday. True Father looked younger than ever before, and it is a joy to see In Jin Nim's leadership and to see all those faithful and loyal western members. Especially, True Father was delighted to see all the New Hope choir members; the New Hope choir was initiated by Father 30 years ago; I'm sure some of our members here can remember, right? We were deeply inspired by their songs and to see all those familiar faces; it was quite an experience for us. Brothers and Sisters, we like always to start our worship service to praise and honor True Parents and Heavenly Father for bringing us here and connecting us into deeper faith. We always welcome you to the service and we are always welcome those who are with us via internet.
Welcome, Brothers and Sisters,
It's great to be back! Lets’ give it up for Seoul, Korea! Oh my goodness! Too much international traveling, is not good for the head! Let's start with Cheon Seong Gyeong 794. Father asks us:
"Why are you valuable? You are valuable because you inherited the tradition of love. Love is precious and you are valuable because you stand at the core of the universe in a position to inherit the tradition of the core of all the ideal forces in the universe. You are valuable because you are born and connected to that love and because you can bear the fruit that expands from that love."
Brothers and sisters, it is always so important to remember the words of True Parents. Day to day, we can so quickly start to believe the ideas of the people around us or, maybe, looking at ourselves, we may notice that we are not totally where we wish we would be. But it's so important to always know, that God has placed within us this incredible value, this incredible potential, which he asks us to develop and culture and nurture.
When we start with service, it's always so important to begin on that note, to begin with that positive view, to begin with understanding and empowering ourselves, through the words of True Parents, by envisioning ourselves as divine sons and daughters. See that's how we start getting closer to that ideal, when we start saying, "Hey, it's possible, I can do it! I'm going to be closer, I'm closer every day."
When we start using that attitude, that's going to determine our altitude. So, it's so very important that we come in and start with that kind of view. When we do that, we can bring joy to God and bring a lot of joy and happiness.
And today on this Saturday we hope we can celebrate with all you brothers and sisters across the world. We were so happy to see you in America! Let's give it up for brothers and sisters in America! We love you guys! It was great to see all our brothers and sisters in America. Oh man! Too much love! Too much love. They gave us too much love! We're so grateful, so grateful, sending a beautiful shout out to all of you guys, and really, we are grateful to all of you. Let's give God the glory today, on this beautiful Saturday. Thanks so much. Welcome.
Heavenly Father, thank You so much for this day that you have blessed us with. Father, we thank You and just overflow with gratitude today. Father, it is now changing into the spring weather, and we pray that in this time of transition between the seasons of winter and spring, Father, that also our lives and our hearts may be renewed. Father, we pray that You bring a new season into our lives this season, we pray that we may grow more, that we may mature more, Father, that we may become better people so that we can bring more joy to You.
Father, we pray that in this season we will have more victory, more illumination, more peace that we can share with the world. Father, use us this season, guide us this season. And even though there may be difficulties, let us know that we are walking with You. Heavenly Father, thank You so much for guiding us to this sanctuary today. Father, we pray that You are with all the brothers and sisters who are around the world, joining us right here today, through the internet. We pray that Your abundance and Your blessing may be with each and every one of those central blessed families. Father, we thank You so much and we thank You with an everlasting love and a tremendous gratitude. From the bottom of our hearts we pray in our own names as central blessed families, Aju.
We always like to start with something a little interesting. I heard an interesting story. You know, Robert's mom was always in a bad mood, always negative about something. One Christmas, Robert received two sweaters from his mom. They weren't exactly the sweaters that he wanted; they had tacky Santa Claus and reindeer on them. And he's in his forties (laughter). He thought, “I'm going to make my Mom happy. I'm actually going to wear these sweaters." The next time he visited her house, he made sure to wear one of the sweaters. As he entered home, instead of that expected smile, she said to him, "What's the matter, Robert? You didn't like the other one?" (Laughter) He leaned over to his wife and said, "My mom is so hard to please."
Brothers and sisters, today I want to talk about "Keeping Your Power Up." In order to live the blessed life, learning to keep your enthusiasm and energy up, is one of the keys of living that blessed life. Life is a marathon, it's often said, not a sprint. So learning to keep yourself motivated and encouraged and powered up is one of the most essential factors. Everyone has kind of like an energy gauge, and everything that you do, from the thoughts that you have, the thoughts that you dwell on, to what you say and what you do, affects this energy gauge. Whether you know it or not, you're using your power gauge every single day. Learning to use it well, effectively, and for God's use, is one of the keys to living this blessed life.
Let's take a look at some of the World Scriptures today; let's look at Christianity. Let's read it together: "God is our refuge and strength. We will not fear though the earth has been changed, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, though it's waters roar and foam". Once again, the stability of God's strength is the power.
Let's look at Daoism 23rd chapter: "To those who have conformed themselves to the Way, the Way readily lends it's power. To those who have conformed themselves to the power, the power readily lends more power." Once again, we can see the continuation of energy and power in our lives.
Koran, 65: 2, 3. "Whosoever keeps his duty to God, God will appoint a way out for him. And will provide for him in a way that he cannot foresee. And whosoever puts his trust in God, he will suffice them." Once again, God's powers in helping us to get out of those circumstances, giving us the energy we need to make it through those obstacles.
Let's look at True Parents' words today: "When you pray and form conditions, you will receive new energy. Without knowing what it is, you feel something coming into your mind. The more straight and pure your mind, the more you will resonate with this kind of energy and power," Father says. You know, God speaks to us in the simplest ways at times.
I ended up watching my kids play video games the other day, and I realized God was speaking to me that evening. How was that happening? I saw the kids playing this video game, Dungeons and Dragons. Some of you are playing too much of this game, by the way. Okay, they have this game, and they create characters and teams online, they battle opponents and monsters and play adventure quest. And each character, as you can see in the bottom there with the red gauge, has a power gauge of how much power he has. And whenever he uses his own special move, it takes up power. Every time he blocks an enemy attack, it takes up power. Every time he gets hit with an enemy attack, again it takes up a lot of power.
The power bar can actually increase; grow, as your character goes up in level. So in order to win a quest, you have to have a balanced group -- this is what I have seen them doing. You actually have to have offensive power, so you have to have fighters and martial artists and barbarians on your team who go out and fight for you. Then you have to have the magicians and power healers healing, and the magicians and the clerics stay in the back and they heal, and make the fighters go up into the front. My kids, they organize this so that the fighters are up in the front, they're fighting these big monsters. And the healers are staying in the back and casting these spells. And I have seen them play -- it's absolutely fascinating.
As they're fighting against these opponents, and they're getting hit, and I watch their power gauge. The power gauge is going down so quick, but at the same time it starts jumping back up again. And at first I didn't understand; I said, "Why is the power gauge going down and then jumping back up?" And they explained to me, "Up here we're fighting the battles and the opponents, but our teammates in the back, they're casting the healing spells on us, the protection spells on us, the breath spells, and that's why we can keep on surviving longer than we ever survive, because we've got these people in the back." Without the frontline fighters, you would have no offensive power, and you would not be able to win your adventure quest. But without the background healers on the defensive, helping you out, you would have no way to withstand those enemies. I'm learning so much from our children.
It's the same way in our lives, brothers and sisters. We have to fight some big opponents, some big obstacles in our lives. It's part of the path; it's what God prepares us to do. So we have an energy bar, just like that. Every time we use our energy, when we write a report or we solve a problem, we study or encourage people, we stay focused, overcome negativity, and then these things take up power. It takes up energy. Every single day we're being hit with like events. Those things are taking up our energy. You know, people at the office are probably talking behind our back, we have to please our boss, we have to encourage and inspire our team, we have to make a decision and if it turns out bad do we have to take the blame? Maybe we're hit by the loss of a loved one, or maybe we're hit with a diagnosis, maybe we have some kind of illness. So every time in our lives when we are hit with these obstacles it's so important that we pay attention to our energy bar, so to speak, as we live our life, as we move through this life. Because otherwise we will quickly buckle under the weight of the circumstances.
It's so important to see who you have in your party, brothers and sisters, that's one of the things I learned watching my kids play this game. Who is in your party, who is in your group? It's so important to see what kind of associates you have. If you have friends that always complain, have something negative to say about everyone else, belittling other people's accomplishments, if you have a lot of these people around you, they are not healing you from the back; they are draining you, taking your power gauge down, down, down.
So brothers and sisters, it's so important you understand this concept. God is asking you to graduate, level up to the next level. See, you can never be everything that God wants you to be, that he has prepared you to be, with these kinds of people in your group. It's so important to have the courage to say, "Hey, you know what, enough is enough. I can't stay like this. I can't be held down anymore because of somebody else's hang-ups. I've got God to please, I've got great things to do, and I’ve got dreams to fulfill." We have to have this kind of attitude; we have to be on the offensive. At the same time, we don't have to be rude to these people, we don't have to be offensive to them, and we don't need to curse at them. We need to slowly move on; we need to slowly find people who can actually be healers behind the scenes as we are up in the frontline. They can actually be part of the group helping us.
You know the Air Force understands this concept. I heard about this the other day. They have something called aerial refueling. It was a technology they developed in the 1920s, and by 1945, the Curtis Robin monoplane, that's a propeller plane, flew for 27 days straight because of this new process and technology. You see, the whole idea of aerial refueling is that you increase the plane's ability to cover a large area; you increase what is known as covering radius. And by doing that, the plane is able to cover much more ground, it takes less time because it's not wasting time landing and refueling, etc, and rising again. The planes on the international lines, many of them can stay airborne so much longer, so they can pay attention to those enemy lines, and keep watching over those spaces.
When the pilots get too tired, of course, the teams would send in another pilot to take over, they move in and of course they are replaced again but that whole idea of learning to refuel while you're moving is one of the keys that already of course we see in modern technology. So make sure you have friends who believe in you, that are more talented than you, that are a very good key, that challenge you to rise up, that challenge you to become more enthusiastic about your life, about your professional work, about your studies, etc. Make sure you have friends that help you stay flying longer, stay stronger while on your path of life that you're walking through.
So in my life, I'm so blessed to have people around me that actually help me and are better than me in many things -- they help me to rise on those levels. Kook Jin Hyung, he raises my power bar so to speak, in my professional work ethic. Sun Jin nuna, she brings my power bar up, my energy, my enthusiasm. My wife brings my power bar up, how to serve the public, how to have that heart of compassion. My pastor friends and my priest friends, monk friends, they keep my power bar up when it comes to religious training and discipline, practice, etc.
So you have to have people around you who inspire you, who refuel you, who give you energy to say, "Wait a minute, I can do better than I am right now. I can do better the next day. If you always are the top person in your group, if you are the one always having to inspire, to lead and guide, then you need to find people who are better than you, who can mentor you, who can lift you up and raise you up to the next level. That is what God is asking us to do.
I just heard this story the other day. Tiger Woods, I found out, started playing golf at the age of 11 months. I didn't know this. His mother is Thai; his father is African-American, and many different mixed nationalities. His parents encouraged him all the time. He told how his parents never really pushed him in terms of golf, but always made him believe strongly in himself. And always encouraged him more to be self-motivated in practicing, to become the best person he could ever become. His mom, for many, many years, while he was still in the amateur level, was driving him from tournament to tournament before he went to school in California, every single week. She was out there every day, fighting the battle with him. She stayed motivated, she was refueling him, she was saying whenever he lost a competition, "Honey, don't worry. You're going to make it through the next time."
She was his friend and supporter. She never nagged him about golf. She never said, '"Oh, why don't you think of something else to do; golfing is maybe a little too not good for you. Why don't you try something else? Why don't you study chemistry, or something?" Tiger says, that his mom's religion -- she came from Thailand, she's Buddhist -- helped to give him self-awareness. He realized that he's actually a quite stubborn person. He's a very impatient person, he said, "I'm so impatient, I want everything to be perfect all the time, very quickly." But he realized through training, "My God, life doesn't work like that. Getting to be a top golf player in the world doesn't happen like that. You can't do it quick. You can't be perfect all in one second."
It takes time, it takes discipline. It takes overcoming obstacles. It takes a marathon mind. And he now of course because of all that support, that internal strength, has won 14 professional major golf championships, second of any male player, 65 PGA tour events, third of all time, has more career major wins and career PGA tour wins than any other active golf player, and of course he's the number one golfer in the world.
When we look that kind of mentality, we see that he has this marathon mind. The mind to constantly keep himself enthused in life, constantly keep himself powered up in life. So when life gets rough it's important to have that kind of patience with yourself, just like Tiger did. Remember that life is not a sprint, it's a marathon. Having supportive people around you in your life -- they give you power-ups, they give you encouragement, motivation, and they give you positive side-effects. These people are a great help, but we have to remember this. No matter how much people around you may believe in you, and motivate you, in the end, it is up to you to make the steps. In the end, it is up to you to swing that golf club; in the end, it is up to you to get up, even after you've lost the PGA tournament, and get on the next day, and try to fight for another win. It is in the end unto us to take the steps to truly win a victorious life, learning to keep yourself encouraged, and improving, keeping yourself powered up. This is one of the most important keys in living the blessed life.
You know this weekend we were so very blessed, we had to do a lot of international traveling. We had to celebrate True Parents' 90th Birthday, for three days straight, on two different continents. That was a very tiring blessing, a beautiful blessing, but very tiring! And ceremony after ceremony, jet lag, more events and jet lag and ceremony, we were so tired, so drained out. By the time it got to the last day, we thought everything was over. We thought, "Oh my God, Hallelujah, now we can go and sleep and rest." All my brothers and sisters were ready to collapse and pass out. And then, In Jin nuna, our sister, who's doing a fantastic job in the States, says, "Oh, wait a minute. You guys just have to attend one more thing. We have a music festival; we have some awards to give." And everybody in the room said, "Oh my God! When is that? In Jin nuna, you didn't tell me about this before. We need a couple days notice to prepare." And she said, "Oh no, honey, don't worry, you'll be fine! You're going to do great; you're going to speak, by the way." "Oh, I'm speaking? Thank you, I haven't prepared anything for that event, but I guess I'll be on it."
So we were so exhausted and about to collapse, but then I looked at my wife, we looked at each other, and we started gathering our spiritual qi energy. We started collecting the universal qi energy, and we started saying, "Everybody, everyday, every day happy day! More power! Power up!" We started doing this like crazy people in the dining room. Everybody started getting powered up. Everybody started saying, "OK yes, we're ready to do it." We went out and did a fantastic event! Give it up for In Jin nuna, who did a great job! We love you, In Jin nuna!
You see, what's the point here? Sometimes you have to do it by faith; I did not have the energy to do it in substance. I said, "God, I do not have the strength to do this event, I am going to do it by faith." But in life there are going to be times when we're so tired out, we're going to feel like, "I can't make it to that event, can't make it to that promotion, or interview. I can't make it through this obstacle." We're going to feel like that at times. But sometimes we've got to do it by faith.
When we say, "You know what, I can do this, every day happy day, I'm going to move through this, it's going to be great!", when we do that and we change that mentality, then that's going to start empowering us, giving us the enthusiasm we need to do that success. And every time we do that in our lives, every time we live like that with our victorious mind, then the enemies and the obstacles are screaming, "No, no, no, don't do that!" They're begging you not to do that. But every time you do that, your energy bar is going up, you're leveling up. So when you're ready to face your life, you're becoming stronger, you're coming with more victory, coming with more peace, more illumination and a higher new level. That's what the Psalmists do in the Bible -- they go through tribulation, they sing the songs of praise to God.
We see the Songs of Solomon, the great kings, the Songs of David, the great kings of the past who conquered vast armies, much larger than they could rationally overcome. They were singing those praises, they sing about their sorrow, they sing about their pain, they sing about whether they believe they couldn't make it. But they also sing about the goodness of God. Even though they didn't believe, God made a way, even though they thought that the sorrow and the pain were too great, God prepared an avenue for them to walk through. The Psalmists learned this process, to keep themselves powered up, as they were walking through the desert, as they were walking along the shores toward Jerusalem. Whatever they were doing, in any aspect, they learned this process of keeping themselves enthused about what it was they were doing, living that life of victory.
True Father is also the same way. When he was in Hungnam Prison, he had to survive torture; he had to survive death camp. This was a communist concentration camp. And I asked Father, "How did you make it through this time? How did you make your way mentally, spiritually, through this time? All that physical, mental pain how did you get through?" And Father had such a pure, fine, simple answer. So pure. He said, "Ï simply had a grateful heart, grateful that God was training me, and grateful that I was blessed to learn of God's pain. I learned it. I learned that I was walking through this, because He was preparing me for a greater victory."
And by thanking God incessantly, despite his circumstances -- he was being tortured, he was having to do the concentration camp work, etc. -- he kept himself enthused about life. Even in those situations he kept himself fighting that good fight of faith, even through the battles and even through the torture he knew that God was preparing a larger victory for him, a larger blessing that he would be able to share with the world. And he did. He kept himself powered up by realizing that God was actually enlightening him. Through the process He was making him more illuminated and strengthening him for the future things that God was promising to bestow upon him.
Brothers and sisters, what can we learn today? In life, we need to keep powered up, we need to keep motivated in our life -- you see, life is a marathon: this is probably one of the most important things we can learn, having a marathon mind. Not a sprint. In order to live the blessed life, we need to keep our power gauge up, just like my kids playing on Dungeon and Dragons. We've got to keep our power gauge up. We do that by having people around us who can heal us as our power gauge is going down. Then it jumps back up. The people around us, behind us, are supporting us, they are giving us motivation, and they're strengthening us. Those people are so valuable! Brothers and sisters, value those kinds of people around you, give them thanks, and give them praise! They are so precious to have around you.
But at times in your life, you may not be blessed with these kinds of people around you; at times in your life, you may feel like you're all alone. Like you actually have nobody motivating you or giving you strength. That's the time when you've got to dig deep. That's the time when you've got to come back in and say, "God is encouraging me already." That's the time when you've got to come back and start saying, "I'm going to keep myself enthused. Every day, happy day." That's when you've got to come back inside, and start doing it by faith. And once we do that, we're going to find ourselves with more Victory, more Illumination, and more Peace, living that blessed life with God and True Parents. If you can accept that, give it up for God and True Parents!
Heavenly Father, thank You for this day, we pray that You may bless each one of Your children here today, Father. Father we pray that we may come to enliven ourselves in your strength, Father, we pray that we may come to be energized in Your goodness.
Father, we pray that we may have enthusiasm in our life, for we know that You encourage us all the time. Father, let us open our minds and open our hearts and look at that great blessing and the way you encourage us every single day. Let us be mindful to our children, to our family members, to our community. Father, let us know that You speak to us, in so many ways. Father, today we pray that we may always understand that in our life we, too, must do our 5%. We, too, Father, must fight the good fight of faith. And Father, we must do our part to support You, for You have done 95%. Father, we pray that we may truly have the energy and the enthusiasm that we may continue to surround ourselves with people who challenge us to be better,
Father, who inspires us to new levels of growth and maturity. Father, we pray that at the times when we don't have that kind of support, we pray that we may always remember that You are with us. Father, let us know that You are always walking with us, showing our path, lighting our way, giving us knowledge to penetrate through the doubt, through the sorrow, through the pain. We pray that those promises that have been broken may be mended, and, Father, we pray that we may bring new light and inspiration to the people around us and to our own lives.
Father, thank You so much for this day. We pray that Your abundant blessing may be with all the brothers and sisters here gathered today as one, from Africa, Father, to America, Australia, Russia, China, all the way back to the fatherland of Korea. Father, we pray that we may know that we are one together here with You. We pray these things in our own names as central blessed families, Aju.