The Words of Hyung Jin Moon
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The Words of Hyung Jin Moon |
Good afternoon brothers and sisters! It is really wonderful to have you here in this sanctuary. We are always honored to have you all here and for all those who are joining via internet we are also welcoming you as well. Welcome brothers and welcome sisters!
Welcome brothers and sisters! Today I would like to share with you from Cheon Seong Gyeong Page 795. Here Father speaks: "You are the fruit of love. All the characteristics of the central root, trunk, branch, flower and bud that have evolved throughout a thousand year history are embodied within you who are its fruit. When you as that fruit go forward, it is as if you were carrying history with you. Wherever you plant that fruit, history can continue to develop. What makes this possible? This is possible only by the power of True Love."
Brothers and sisters it is so important to see ourselves from those divine eyes, to always remember the great importance that each blessed central family has. True Father is reminding us of that important value. He is reminding us that with each step that we take, history is following our footsteps. Brothers and sisters, if we go forward knowing that each one of our steps is creating a new history, a new Heaven and a new Earth, then we will understand our purpose in the larger providential picture. It is so important that we view and remind ourselves of that value.
Once again, welcome to this service, and let's have a great service today. Let's celebrate and give back all the glory to God and True Parents as if they are here. All of you joining us from across the world - we are here together to give God praise and joy today.
Sometimes I'm truly amazed at how much True Father expresses his heart and love to True Mother. Even though True Father was born in 1920 in North Korea, he is still not shy to say "I adore you" to True Mother, or he kisses her cheeks in public as you all saw. He always puts True Mother first. True Father really practices his own teaching and teaches us that in God's eyes man and woman have equal value as sons and daughters.
Hyung Jin Nim always stresses that because True Father is married and has True Mother besides him, our church has unique things to offer to the world. We have our center as the True Parents, not just one man but parents. By True Father planting the seed for the liberation of women, he is opening the gate for women to become what God really intended them to become, the true savior and the center of creating true family culture in Cheon Il Guk.
Brothers and sisters, let us also become those couples and those families, so that we can really validate each other, just like True Father does to True Mother and just like True Mother does to True Father. Aju!
Heavenly Father! Thank You for this glorious day that You have given to us, where we are worshiping together in the beautiful Headquarters Sanctuary in Your Fatherland Korea. This is the place where our True Father shed his blood, sweat and tears for humanity and the sake of the world, when nobody believed that he could go forth and create a worldwide impact.
When True Father was starting in the old HQ church of such humble beginnings in a couple of square meters room they were praying for the world, praying for peace. So many of us may have heard stories, or even followed at that time, but we know that at that time it almost seemed impossible that one man, who was praying for the world, would actually move the world. Father, we have seen this history come to pass, we have seen our lives being impacted by that. We as Second Gen. are here because of that fruit; we would not be here otherwise.
Father, let us know that amazing value and power that is within us, that has been passed down to us by True Parents. Let us know that we have the power to even do the seemingly impossible. Maybe not on our own strength or on our own fortitude but with You, Father, all things can be made possible. We pray that You give us the strength and courage, the hindsight and the future sight, to see our lives becoming brighter and brighter, becoming greater and greater blessings to this world. We pray that You may endow us with Your physical, mental and spiritual strength, so that we can overcome adversity in a manner that is elucidating and illuminating. Let our example truly inspire those who are coming with us, before us and after us.
We thank You so much for this day that You prepared. Let this day be Your day, Father. We pray that the glory and the joy that we can experience, may be doubled and tripled one hundred times over, flowing into Your fathomless, limitless heart. We pray these things with tremendous gratitude and everlasting love in the names of the central blessed families that are gathered here today. Aju!
Here's something a little interesting. I heard a scripture, it was from the Analects, and Confucius was speaking, and he said: "If you do not like your neighbor, walk a mile in his shoes. Then you will be one mile away from him and you will have his shoes!" (Laughter)
Thank you Confucius for giving us those wonderful words!
Today we want to talk about "Created to do the impossible."
In order to live the blessed life we must realize that we were created to do the impossible. Too many people get satisfied with their lives in a certain stage and don't challenge themselves to go to the next level that God is preparing for them. See, we were made to bring glory to God. We are blessed central families, made to bring joy, glory and happiness to God and to bring glory to True Parents' name. When we challenge our potential, when we commit ourselves to becoming great for God and strive for the seemingly impossible, we will be changing our destinies and make the impossible possible.
When we look at the ancient scriptures, we see this when Buddha says in the first verse of the Dhammapada: "Mind precedes all. If we believe it is impossible, it is. If we believe that it is possible then it is." The Koran says: "Put you trust in the Exalted, the Mighty, the Merciful, who sees you standing in prayer and in your movements among those who prostrate themselves." Notice that it says: "Put your trust in the Exalted. Have faith that He has might and is merciful."
Matthew 19:26 says: "With man it is not possible but with God all things are possible." And True Father always used to tell us when we were growing up that it is all in our minds, that the key to being victorious and really living the VIP life is to change our mindset.
When you were born, did you know that you did the impossible? God did the impossible with you from the very beginning. You see, the probability of you being born is 1 in 7.5 Trillion! And out of all those possible lives that could have been chosen, God chose you! And He didn't choose you because you are a random probability, a meaningless life just taking up space, filling this world. We are meant to do something great, we are meant to do something that almost seems impossible but is made possible with God's strength.
But in our hearts we could say: "I can't do the impossible. I'm just a normal person." See, Paul was a normal person but he changed the history of Christianity. "I'm nothing special. I don't have any advantages in my life." Alexander the Great had a spinal deformity but by the age of 32 he conquered the known world. "Nobody recognizes me. No one cares whether I do well or not." Nobody recognized David. He was just a simple shepherd; 16 years of age, but God recognized him and made him King of Israel. Whether or not you realize it, you are already doing something amazing, without you even being conscious of it.
Scientists say that by the fact that we live, the fact that we have this incredible body, it is impossible to duplicate us through science. You have a nervous system, a muscular, skeletal system; you have a circulatory system, a respiratory system, you have an immune system etc. And all these things are working in perfect harmony at the same time and perfect timing and coordinating all your body functions, and you don't even know that you are doing it. You have to understand that this is an amazing thing that we are looking at.
When scientists look at the human body it is absolutely incredible. The fact that we are alive is a near impossibility. The probability of life on earth, the probability of you being born here in this time, the probability of you being born in a certain nation, a certain place, to a certain family etc. is virtually impossible. It is virtually impossible to be accomplished.
When I think about this principle I think of a young man. His name is Nick Vujicic. He is an amazing individual, a very simple young man but he is doing something that is impossible. I want to show you this today. (Hyung Jin Nim shows a video of a young man who lives in LA. He enjoys playing the drums, fishing, traveling and more. He has no arms and legs. The video shows him talking at a school about hope and getting up again when you are down because it doesn't matter how many times you try but how you finish it.)
This young man describes how when he was 8 years old he wanted to commit suicide. He didn't see a point in life. He didn't see a point to continue on. He didn't see the point of trying to strive and fight every day just to do normal basic things. But he, through his adversity, is now traveling the world. He has been to Indonesia, Malaysia, South America, Africa, spreading a message of hope and encouragement. He is spreading the love of Jesus as he travels throughout the world.
And when we look at this man, it is an impossible situation. Absolutely impossible! But see, even in that impossible circumstance this man created an incredible miracle and then became a testimony for God. God brought us into existence in impossible circumstances.
We must realize that we were made to bring glory and joy to God. When we show the world our great potential, when we show the world that we are not just settling for the status quo, when we show the world that even though the world may knock us down, it can not knock us out, when we show the world that we can move forward with confidence, then God is proud, He is filled with joy.
In 1962 Kennedy announced that within the decade, by 1970, the US would have somebody walking on the moon. When he announced this everybody thought he was insane. "President Kennedy is totally crazy. There is no way that this is going to happen." NASA had not even invented some of the metals that would be necessary for space travel. They had not even invented those metals yet! But he was already making such a seemingly foolishly optimistic declaration. An impossible declaration! But something amazing happened. When he made that statement there was a power that began to rise up behind those words, creativity began to ignite, funds began to pour into NASA and within the decade Neil Armstrong, on July 20th 1969, was walking on the moon.
Thomas Edison in 1879 declared that he would display the light bulb by December 31st of that year. He said: "By the end of this year you will see light. You will see an electric bulb." But up to this point every single one of his experiments had utterly failed. Not even one had succeeded. His colleagues mocked him: "Totally unrealistic! You have no plan or prove, backing up your claim. You are growing an old, crazy man. You are now white and gray and crazy." They saw him as a deluded person. According to his past record, according to the past of his experiments, there would be no way for him to complete this promise. But he made the announcement. He gave himself a deadline and committed everything to that task. On the last day of 1879, December 31st, there was light that was seen from the first electric bulb that Thomas Edison created.
Born in 1961, now President elect Obama was born originally in Hawaii, his parents divorced when he was two, his mother remarried and moved to Indonesia at that time, and he came back to Honolulu when he was 10 years old. He was a troubled youth at that time. He admitted that in High School he had a lot of trouble, he went through a lot of difficulties and he had a lot of personal struggles. But you have to remember that during the time that President Obama was a young man, racial prejudice was so prevalent, it was so present. Nobody thought that he would see the day when a black man became President of the United States of America.
You have to understand that only in 1968 racial segregation was pronounced unconstitutional. Before that, blacks could not even walk in the same parks as whites, they could not even sit in the same restaurants as whites, and they could not even drink from the same fountains that the white people's dogs could drink from. That was the level of the segregation that was present. Just only 40 years later America now has a black President. The impossible is made possible and a dream is once again fulfilled.
When I think of these stories, I think of the story of True Mother. She told us, that when she was a young child, fleeing the oppressive regime of North Korea, how Halmoni (grandmother) was holding her when they were running towards the wall to cross over to the south. But at that time a soldier spotted them and he was chasing them and they knew that if they turn back, it was certain death. It was sure and certain death or torture. Halmoni did something amazing at that time. She grabbed her bag that she was holding, that held everything that they had kept, everything that was valuable to them, and she threw it completely over the wall. She didn't do it to lighten her load, she could have just dropped it at their feet, but she threw it over the wall. She committed herself one hundred percent, in her heart making a declaration "I'm going to get over this wall! Even if I die, whatever it takes, I'm going to get my child over this wall!" She made a one hundred percent commitment towards that goal, and what happened? True Mother did leave that regime and was able to flee into the south.
In our lives we need to be able to commit ourselves to be living our potential, to reach the goals that we have set and the dreams that God has given us. Just like True Mother's mother totally committed to getting over the fence, we, too, must commit ourselves to the goals. When we reach an obstacle, when we are moving towards our goal, are we going to drop our bag near our foot, are we going to keep it on our back and try to find a way around or are we going to completely commit and throw that bag over the fence, completely committing ourselves and being the person that God created us to be?
Psychologist Kennan Sholdman shows that having goals that are related to wealth, beauty or popularity lead, in the long run, to more depression than goals that are related to growth, connection and contribution. Right now it is time to bring our UC movement to the world stage. "It's impossible. It's ridiculous. There is no way we are going to be able to make the 210 000 member Unification Temple. There is no way that we are going to be accepted in our lifetimes. There is no way that we will enter the mainstream, we will be persecuted throughout our lives. Maybe our children, maybe our grandchildren, will see a better day." But let us remember what Matthew said in 19:26: "With God all things are possible."
Our goal that True Parents have given us is related to growth, connection and contribution. It's not related to wealth, or beauty or popularity. We want to grow our tradition to be recognized, we want to connect people to the family of True Parents. We want to contribute to creating true and everlasting peace, preserving the tradition that our Parents and our first gen. and all the Unification family has sacrificed for. And we will succeed. This is my tremendous conviction. We have thrown our bag over the fence, we are not turning back. It's already too late to turn back now because we have to move forward, we are throwing the bag over that fence, and we know that we will bring the day that True Parents and the UC tradition will get to the world stage! (Applause)
When we look at these things we can say that it is impossible, that it is never going to happen. Well, that's exactly what people were telling Edison, Kennedy and Obama when he was a young man growing up in the midst of racial segregation. "No way you are going to be a black President. Throw that dream away, you are crazy. You might as well try to be a restaurant owner or something else like that. Don't try to go for President, that's crazy! You are never going to make it."
Many people in our lives, many archangels, will come and try to tell you and try to convince you that you cannot do something that looks impossible, that you don't have the potential to make that thing come to pass or make it possible. But our task and our quest is to understand and believe that God has given us the power to do what is seemingly impossible and to make that into a reality and return that glory to God. Brothers and sisters, if we can do that, I do believe that we will find ourselves with more victory, more illumination and more peace, and we will live that blessed life; we will be a greater blessing to this world.
Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day that you have given to us. Father, as we feel the warmth and life through our breath that you imbue us with, we feel your new and everlasting life flowing through us. As we breathe in we can feel that we are alive, as we breathe out we can utter a prayer of gratitude and thanks. Father, you have given us this incredible miracle of life to experience, and we are not here by accident or chance or probability. You have chosen us from so many others because You knew we had exactly what it would take to make this world a truly better place.
Heavenly Father, we pray that today we may understand and be enlightened to that, that we may know that You have placed within us, that You have created us from impossible circumstances and that You have given us the power and the potential to work with You and overcome the seemingly impossible. Let us truly commit to being the people that You wish for us to become, to becoming the great men and women of the new age that can shed a light of hope, unification and peace throughout the rest of this world.
Father, we pray that You may give us Your strength, Your courage, Your fortitude, Your insight, Your perseverance and Your wisdom. We truly pray that we can become those children who can return all these amazing things back to Your heart and that we may heal Your heart that has been scarred for so many thousands of years. Thank You for this opportunity, this task, this chance, this blessing of life; that we may be gathered here in this amazing fatherland at this amazing time. Father, use us, allow us to be Your hands and feet in this world. Allow us to make the miracles happen. Not by our own strength or our own power but by Your spirit shall our task be accomplished.
Father, we pray that You may give us that confidence, that we know that we truly are here for a purpose and that we are here to accomplish that task. Thank You for being with us today and we pray that we may go forth with a renewed heart, with an inspired vision and a new outlook on our own lives and our circumstances. And that we may rise above them and return to everlasting life with You. Thank You so much, and today we offer our thanks, gratitude, love and praise in this service, in this prayer, we offer them to you altogether here in the name of Moon Hyung Jin kajeong (family), member of a central blessed family, together with all central blessed families of this world. Aju!