The Words of Hyung Jin Moon
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The Words of Hyung Jin Moon |
Good afternoon brothers and sisters. Today is a beautiful day to celebrate Heavenly Father and True Parents. We're so happy and honored to have all here in the sanctuary. And for those who are joining with us via internet, we're also welcoming you as well. Welcome brothers and sisters!
Brothers and Sisters I want to share with you from Cheon Seong Gyeong page 113, just at the bottom of that page,
"We should feel that all creatures of God are objects of our love. We should be people who can love and be loved by even the smallest forms of life, not to mention human beings, as well as everything visible and invisible in heaven. When a birds calls, 'chirp, chirp, chirp' in the morning, instead of saying, 'You pesky sparrow, I am trying to sleep late. Why are you chirping about?!' say in your mind, 'Oh thank you. You came to wake me up. You're telling me that an important guest is coming to see me.' The outlook is different. This is a great thing."
Brothers and sisters, I always want to encourage us to have the right outlook in our life. It's so important that, whenever we look at our future, whenever we start fearing a little bit about what in our future is going to happen, it' s important to have the right outlook, to know that God is in control, to know that He is guiding us and directing our path, to know that He is walking with us on this path of faith.
It's so important that, while we're doing that, to always understand our value. So many times the world will challenge you, saying, "Do you really believe you have value?" And it's so important in our life that after getting up everyday, that we declare in front of the mirror in the morning, "I have value. I have cosmic value. I have divine and unique value".
As the Principle teaches us, it is so important to hold this viewpoint in your hearts. If you keep that view point you'll have more victory in your life. This is so important in our life in order to have more illumination. It's important to know that our identity is that we're Unificationists, we're Blessed Families, we're the fruit of six thousand years of God's tears and His work -- how great a fruition that is, how great a final price that is to show before the world.
And it's so important that when we look at our lives, that we see our objective, that we understand that we have purpose. We're blessed families with a purpose. In order to have peace in our hearts, we need to know our purpose, and that purpose is that we're blessed. We're blessed in our life and that blessing is not only for ourselves but to become greater blessings to this world. If we know our value, our identity, our purpose, we will have more Victory, more Illumination and more Peace in our life.
Brothers and sisters, once again good to see you all here in this service today. God really sees and honors each one of us as we honor Him and return praise to Him. Welcome once again.
Before we start the sermon we like to start with something a little interesting. We always like to look at the funny section in religion when we study. I have a very interesting story.
It was a beautiful spring day... at the insane asylum. Everybody just finished lunch, they were really enjoying themselves. Everyone was gathering in the lobby, it was a great party. All of a sudden, the first patient got up and said, "I am Napoleon!" At that there was a big silence. The second patient got up and said, "Who told you that?" The first patient said, "I heard it from God." A third patient got up and said, "I never told you that! Sit down Napoleon!" (Lots of laughter)
Today I'd like to talk to you about changing your destiny. In order to live the Blessed Life, it's so important to realize how much tremendous power we have. In the Principle we learn that human beings have 5% responsibility. That means that God is preparing our destiny. He has planned it out. But God is going to do the majority of the heavy lifting, he's going to do 95% of effort to help it come to pass. We have to help him and finish that 5%. That really is one of the most freeing concepts in the Principle, because it teaches us that we are not predestined for failure or success but that we have a say in our destiny.
In order to fully optimize our lives, we have to be open to a change that is required to actualize the blessings of God. In fact, how we move through change, how we navigate through change can often change our destinies. It's so important that when we look at change we are able to see it in the right perspective.
When we look at nature, we see seasons come and go; we see winter come, we see winter go; spring, summer, autumn, etc. Some of you today are going through changes, through different seasons in your life. It may be in your relationships, in your friendships, it may be at school. Maybe you are going to college, to graduate school, it could be at work, it could be in the place where you live, or maybe you moved to Korea or back to the States, etc.
But whatever these changes may be, we have to always remember that during times of change there may be effort required to plough through these changes. Even though it is a plowing season right now, that doesn't mean it always will be plowing season. If there is a plowing season in the future, there is always a harvest. That's how nature works, that is also how the cycles of life move.
When we look at these processes, I hear the words of the sages in my mind, "Without a departure there's no arrival. Without plowing there's no harvest. Without winter, no spring." Really, what is that saying? That in our lives there is the inevitability of change; that there is the naturalness of change. Accepting this on our part is freeing in our lives. It is opening our potential for the future. It is opening our mind for the future. Whenever change occurs, many feel a loss of control over life. We may even feel that loss of control over relationships. We may have had a great friendship and it didn't turn out right and now that friendship is sour, and when we see each other it is uncomfortable, etc. We have to always remember, that, regardless of these changes, even though right now it may require some plowing, some hard work, some effort, we have to know that in our future God is planning something better for our lives.
He loves each and every one of us and he wants us to live the Blessed Life. He wants us to be victorious in our lives. Whenever these changes come, we don't necessarily fight these changes. Changes are inevitable, everybody grows old; everybody at some point will have to pass into spirit world. These are changes in our lives. Our lives are always continual changing processes. When we are moving through life, it's important to accept the fact that there will be changes in our life.
When I think of changes and changes of destiny, I think of the story of Jacob. When Jacob started out, he was a happy farm boy; he was enjoying himself in the field, his brother was out there hunting, and he was enjoying himself gardening, etc. One day his mom comes to him and says, "Jacob I want you to deceive your father." If you know the meaning of the name "Jacob", it actually means "deceiver". The first thing he had to do, the real challenge, the call to conscience, that he has in this early part of the story, is to deceive his father. He has to take the birthright from his brother Esau and then he has to trick his father in order to receive that.
After that happens, his life changes again. Now his older brother wants to kill him. His mother says, "You have to flee. I want you to go to my brother Laban." Jacob has to go to a different city, he has to work under Laban almost as a slave. For 21 years, if you look at the scripture, for 21 years Jacob was under Laban's toil. He was totally under Laban's rule; and ten times Laban changed his wages. What does that say? Basically, Laban one day said, "If you work hard I give you $10;" but then Jacob said, "I did the work, so I'm here to receive my $10." "I never said $10! It's $8. Or $5." Laban kept changing. How frustrating that must have been (for Jacob)! For 21 years Jacob strove; for 21 years he served Laban. He eventually inherited Laban's land, his farms and his animal stock, etc.
After all that was done, he received a revelation: "Jacob, now after you have worked for all this, now after you have gained everything, I want you to go back home to Canaan and give it all to your brother." Again a big change in Jacob's life. He had to accept that. He had to move on the course towards Canaan. He fought the angel. We know from the Principle perspective, that this was again the third blessing where he had to actualize dominion over creation. In the end, he had to offer all that he worked for to his brother.
I can imagine how Jacob must have felt at the very beginning when his mom told him, "Jacob, I need you to plot, I need you to deceive your father, you need to receive this blessing," or how he felt every time his uncle started changing his promises on him, "I promise you this, oh no, actually, I promise you that." How frustrating that must have been for Jacob, who was really sweating, working so hard for his uncle. Imagine how Jacob must have felt: He had to toil under this uncle so far away from home with no supportive environment, no money, no hope for the future, etc. I'm sure there were days in his mind when he was thinking, "What was I thinking? I should have never listened to mom, I should have never stolen that birthright from my brother, I don't know what I was thinking, I would be much more comfortable at home, doing the farming, walking with the sheep etc."
Imagine, once again when all that was done -- he was now a victor, he inherited all the land from his uncle -- and then God says, "OK, now go back and give it away." Again a big change in Jacob's life. He had to work through the fear, work through the doubt. I can see him, sitting there maybe under the stars at night, thinking, "Why did I work for all this? Just to give it away? I slaved away 21 years to give it to a brother who gave me his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup." As you recall, he traded lentil soup for the birthright of his brother.
In our own lives, when we encounter times of change, we may also feel that it's overwhelming. We may also feel that we are giving up so much. "I had great success, why now the change?" But God is asking us in those moments of change to trust Him. He's asking us to believe and have faith in our future, to believe that although right now is not our best day, but still our best day is to come in the future. God is saying that even though you may plan, even though you may have goals that you want to achieve -- and those are good -- still it's important to stay flexible because no one can be certain for the future. Sometimes God will change the course of our lives, He will bring us through change so he can bless us in a greater way.
When facing big changes, the battle is in the mind. When we are facing change, we may feel the fear in our hearts, "What if this change is for the worse, what if I don't make it through this change, what if I'm worse off after this change than when I started this change?" Whenever I start feeling this -- I feel this quite often -- I always come back to what Father told me, "Don't worry so much! Don't worry, be humble and move forth, and people will help you along your way."
It's so important to accept, that fear and uncertainty are part of change, are natural part of change. It's very important to not condemn yourself when you feel a little fear or uncertainty. It's OK to feel that type of uncertainty about the future, because in the end we can't predict the future. However, it's important to not let it control us to the point that we are immobilized, to the point that we can't even think because we are paralyzing our lives. It's important to not start conversing in our own minds, "Why should I even bother, I can't see the future, it's not going to happen, I don't know how this is going to come to pass, I might as well not even try to live a blessed life."
Let's always remember, God asks us to do the 5%. Many times we may feel uncertainty, but if we keep our mind life healthy, if we keep it moving in a positive direction, if we keep having faith in our future, believing in the potential of our own selves and that God is with us, then God will open up those doors that we are not able to see at that exact moment. In order to live the blessed life, how we think today is the best predictor of how we will live and think tomorrow. When we look at a time line, we see that the past is gone; we see the present is right here; and we see the future is ahead of us. We can't predict that future. How then can we live so that we can at least have the best chance of living a greater future?
That comes right here, where we are right now at this moment. What kinds of thoughts do we allow ourselves to be overtaken by? What kind of thoughts, what kind of life are we living today? This is important. If we begin to analyze and see what kinds of thoughts we're having, what kind of life we're leading today, then we can generally predict, that tomorrow we will live or think in that same manner.
It's so important to start looking into what kind of thoughts we are having. Will we live in fear today? Will I fear or dread the future? Will we live depressed, maybe feeling that nothing is going to work out well in the future? Will we live resisting change, which is inevitable, or will we accept that change? Or will we see our future with realistic optimism? That means, will I look into my future and feel hope? Will I, even though I know there's going to be struggles, will I still have hope? That's realistic optimism.
Many moms feel this when they have their first child. They have time in their adolescence, they grow up, they marry and get blessed; they feel very independent. But all of a sudden they have a young child and all of a sudden that sense of independence... they have to attend this child! Many times many moms can feel very depressed, "I had a lot of free time for myself, but now I have to take care of this baby, and the baby cries every two hours and I have to feed it every two hours." So many times, a lot of moms will feel stressed, in particular during this time of change. How we choose to accept this new reality in our lives, how we choose to move through this change, can also change the destiny that we have with this child.
Its' so important that when we are moving through those changes with our children, that we are moving through those changes with acceptance that things will improve. If things are not looking so great right now, hey, change is always real in our lives, it can always improve. That's the hopefulness of change. When we see ourselves thinking in that manner, we can predict with the best indicator that we will live a better life tomorrow, as long as we live well and think well today.
Remember the Archangel Lucifer, remember any of the archangels in your lives, in your work or school, any of these people that want to bring you down, remember, they're never going to fight you for your past. That's already gone. They're going to fight you for your present joy and your future potential. It's so important never to give that away. Don't ever give that future potential to those archangels. It's so important to protect those, to preserve those hopes and desires, to preserve those dreams and visions that God has placed within your hearts.
When we look at uncertainty, when we are moving through change, we might start to focus on the past. Many times it can be very nostalgic. I find myself doing this a lot. I have a big workload now, I have no free time. Even preparing sermons is difficult for me at this point. I find myself nostalgically looking at my "glorious" past when I had more time, thinking, "It was better in those good old days. I had a lot more time, especially when I was in school. I could just focus on school work, think, and write essays, etc."
Now we have meetings and decisions and all this kind of crazy stuff. I guess you all know what I mean. I can see myself doing this in my mind: Looking in my past and sort of glorifying it, idealizing it, saying, "Hey, those are the good old days, I even wish I could go back to when I was four years old!"
Its so important to understand that the past was good, it was great, and God pushed us and pulled us through a lot of difficult things. We had great joys and sorrows and things we had to overcome. But that's not our greatest yet. We have to remember that even though the past was great, we're going to have a greater future. We're going to have more victories, a path that is brighter and brighter.
I found myself looking in the past, and what happened? I started getting sick. I started looking to the future, seeing uncertainty, "What's going to happen? Can I really fulfill these responsibilities? I don't know," etc. I could see myself looking into the future with fear, and into the past with nostalgia. All of a sudden my physical body just started breaking down. I started getting sick. I couldn't control it anymore. One thing that I always had and that was precious to me was my health. That was something I felt I could somehow control. All of a sudden I couldn't even control one of the greatest things I felt that I had.
I realized that God was trying to tell me something. He was saying, "You have to accept this change. Stop looking at the past, stop saying 'Oh those good old days.' Stop looking into your future being scared. I'm going to guide you through this. I love you. I'm going to be with you, I'm going to bring you through this." I said, "You know what, God, I give up, I'm not going to fight this change anymore. You're too big to fight! I can't fight You! I'm going to just trust that You have the best outcome for me, I'm going to trust You to bring me through this, I'm going to trust that You have a better plan, that you are waiting for me to actualize this plan. Please give me my health back and I hope that I can get better."
What happened? I was going to the hospital. All this prescription medication, it just wasn't working. Strangely, I met a certain doctor, an acupuncturist. I met this acupuncturist and he gave me this acupuncture technique. I had a lot of pain in my sinuses and he gave me acupuncture right through my nose into my sinuses. I could literally feel the pain start to dissipate. It's so interesting, because I don't believe I would have met that person if I wasn't able to say, "God, I give up, I'm not going to fight this change. I'm going to let You guide me through it. I'm going to believe that You will hold my hand and lead me through this darkness."
In life, it's so important not to dwell on those glorious past memories, but to know that God has prepared a greater future for us. He's preparing a better day, a brighter day, that we can move towards, move through, and live out in our lives. What can we learn today? If we can learn anything, it's that God wants us to remember that He loves all of us; He wants us to be blessed in our lives; He wants us to be victorious. In times of change, He gives us two words, "Trust Me." What He's saying to us is that when we're going through change, when anything changes in our lives and we feel uncertainty, trust Him. Trust that you're in the palm of His hands, trust that He's guiding you through this ordeal, trust that your future will open up and you will have a brighter and better day.
Remember that God is on our side; He's our parent. He has waited 6,000 years for His blessed families to be finally on this earth, to finally celebrate. It's so important to remember that identity, to know that when we're moving through life, "I'm not alone." I may be lonely at times and maybe there's not a lot of people around sometimes, but I'm never alone. I'm going to work through this, move through this, and I will see a better day.
As you all remember, what is the best predictor of living a great life tomorrow? It's how we live and how we think today. Are we looking towards our future with hope? Are we looking towards our future with realistic optimism, knowing that there will be struggles, that there will be difficulties and challenges, but that we will overcome those challenges, that we have the potential to move through and defeat those archangels, that we have the potential to actualize the dreams that God is giving us? If we do that in our mind life today, that is the best predictor that we continue to live a blessed life tomorrow.
Lets always remember that at times of change we may have to plough and work through a cold winter, but remember, after winter there's always spring. After plowing season there's always harvest. Don't give up during plowing, during winter. Know that it's going to come to pass. As long as you keep moving, as long as keep believing in your future, believing in your potential, knowing that you can make it through this and that you are not alone, God will see you to the brighter day, and you will have that harvest season.
Brothers and Sisters, if we live like this today, I believe in our lives we will have more Victory, more Illumination and more Peace each and every day.
If you can accept this, let's give a big round of applause for God and True Parents! (Audience applauds)
Heavenly Father, thank You for this day that You have given to us, Father, for the many blessings You have surrounded us with. Father, today if there's any wrong doings that we wish to confess, let us offer those up here at this time in our hearts. Father, we repent, we are sorry for the things that we have done that bring You pain. We know that You continue to believe in us, Father, and that You continue to live through us, and Father that You will dwell in us at all times. We know that You are in our midst, that You are guiding and directing our steps; and please make us the palace of Your love, Your life and Your lineage forever. Thank you for these blessings. We pray this in all our names, as blessed families, Aju.
Brothers and Sisters, if we always keep True Parents enthroned in our hearts of glory, if we move through change to maturity, knowing that we can overcome any change that is in our lives; if we do that, we will find more Victory, more Illumination and more Peace. We will live that blessed life that TP have blessed us to live.