Ep 493 - The Importance of the Word Part 1
The Importance of the Word 128-13-13-40 - March 2, 2022
(Response to sharing) It is really very beautiful to hear such news about our online holy communities. They have to be heart communities -- something about the kingdom of heaven in the spiritual world. We need to think about the kingdom of heaven in our own communities. How can we create a beautiful, heartistic community with inseparable relationships: “Seeing you is like seeing God”? Really we feel like true brothers and sisters. We need to create that kind of atmosphere. That is a small kingdom (of heaven). That is really our goal in creating our communities. We are all missionaries.
(Response to second sharing) Let’s really pray for Ukraine’s situation. I think and hope there is great meaning in what has happened. I think through this kind of incredible sacrifice, God’s providence can really go forward more quickly.♦
I am so excited every day that I can deliver God’s word and I can see each one of you. This is one of my great happinesses every day. Heavenly Mother, thank you so much that you give us this wonderful opportunity to study your word daily. We are really nurturing our heart and mind. Thank you, our Heavenly Parent and True Parents.
(Showing photos) Yesterday, I had a lunch meeting with Filipino ethnic ministry leaders. I emphasized the importance of the restoration of the environment, witnessing, and raising up the young leaders.
I strongly encouraged them through our ethnic group to break through with our heavenly tribal messiahship mission and witnessing to young people. They are beautiful leaders, really united together. I hope they can have a great plan for this year. These are the major leaders of the Filipino ethnic group.
Today I’d like to talk about “The Importance of the Word ” from True Mother’s Anthology, Book 1.
True Parents' words are like a textbook that we should read every day. It is a guide for our daily life. If you read their words, you will get an idea about what you should do today. Unlike the past, you must have confidence and take pride in mobilizing all of the spirit world together with True Parents. (2006.07.02, Valletta, Malta)
To you, True Parents' words are a guide and text book. The person who has no work to do is the most pitiful. We are happy people because we have a lot of work to do. You should be able to share this happiness with those around you and have a great dream to return that happiness to God abundantly. I believe that only True Father's words and ideas can resolve the problems happening all over the world. That is why leaders who can give lectures must be sent out to many nations. We need many leaders. If you equip yourself with True Father's words and teachings, then you can accomplish the work of 100 people. Imagine if all the people around you would come together for the sake of carrying out God's Will. (2006.08.18, Honiara, Solomon Islands)
True Mother emphasizes the importance of True Parents' words as follows.
True Parents' words are like a textbook that we should read every day. It is a guide for our daily life. If you read their words, you will get an idea about what you should do today.
True Parents' words are a guide and textbook. I would like to remind you of this again.
What is the purpose of Hoondok?
Purpose of Hoondok
True Mother emphasizes the importance of Hoondok.
1. The purpose of doing hoondok is to nurture filial piety. If you have true filial piety, the tears you shed for your parents will never dry up.
Because the word of God is his love, the more we take God’s love, the more we acquire a heart of filial piety. Our final goal is to build up a father and child, parent and child relationship centering on what? Centering on heart and filial piety. That is why the more we read Father’s word, Mother’s word doing hoondokhae, our main goal (becomes) how to cultivate our heart, how to nurture filial piety. That is our fundamental goal. Right?
2. Filial piety is living according to the parents’ wishes without 'Going against their hearts'
3. The path of becoming God’s sanctuary is transforming the human body into the incarnation of God’s word. You should fill up your heart with the Word so that you become God’s temple.
4. Hoondok is reading the mind of God. Reading the heart of God. Therefore, the more you read, the more filial piety grows.
That is why I was so inspired by someone’s testimony who said, “Whenever I read the Divine Principle, I can read God’s heart.” This man is really a great guy! We learn from True Father, when we read the Divine Principle, when we read Father and Mother’s word, we can read the heart of God, their suffering, their wishes, their difficulties, their ultimate goal. We can understand (this) through Hoondokhae.
5. Once you become His temple, you can finally achieve oneness with God, resemble His character and experience His heart.
Today Bill Lay said God’s word is God’s love. That is true. God’s word is (indeed) God’s love. That is why the more we read God’s word, (the more) we are eating God’s word, eating God’s love. It is very powerful. As a man of faith, if you do not appreciate and value the importance of God’s word, your life of faith is no longer hot(?). If you look at the life of faith of those who are no longer connected to God’s word, their relationship with God and True Parents becomes very distant.
LIVING DIVINE PRINCIPLE: Principle of Creation 22 - A Lifestyle Based on Dual Purposes
Let’s study EDP content first.
Dual Purposes
• All entities have dual purposes.
• Every entity has dual centers of movement, one of internal nature and another of external form. These centers pursue corresponding purposes-for the sake of the whole and for the sake of the individual whose relationship is the same as that between internal nature and external form.
• These dual purposes relate to each other as cause and result, internal and external, and subject partner and object partner.
• Hence, there cannot be any individual purpose which does not support the whole purpose, nor can there be any whole purpose that does not guarantee the interests of the individual.
Based on this content of EDP, let’s study True Father’s words.
The Individual Should Go the Path of Sacrificing Itself for the Purpose of the Whole
<19-300> Yet, when the fortunes of the world come to an end, the value of their existence shall disappear. At that place where the fortunes of the world come to an end, you must release the bitter sorrow of the cosmos. The purpose of restoring the individual is not so that the individual can prosper. People who believe in Christianity go about saying “Let us be saved and enter heaven by believing in Jesus.” However, that is not how you enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
There can be no individual salvation without the foundation of the family, no family salvation without the foundation of the tribe, no tribal salvation without the foundation of the nation, and no salvation of a nation without the foundation of the world.
All beings are connected by the dual purpose in this way. The reason that existing religions could not achieve individual salvation no matter how much they cried out for individual salvation, was because they did not know the principle of dual purposes. Existing religions did not know that when true family salvation is achieved, the individual is also completely saved. You cannot forget about individual perfection without a family that has obtained the environment of the four great realms of heart.
We can complete our individual perfection or individual salvation through experiencing the four great realms of heart in the family. Without receiving your father’s love, without receiving your mother’s love, without give and take with your spouse, without give and take with your brothers and sisters and children, how can you as an individual become perfected?
If you run away from home and go to the mountain and meditate day and night, do you think you can become perfected? You can only be perfected through heart and love. Without experiencing heart and love, how can the individual become perfected? That is why individual perfection can only be achieved in the family environment.
You need to have dual purposes. You are an individual, but at the same time you need to think of your greater purpose which is the family. In order to achieve individual perfection, you definitely need to experience your father and mother’s love, your spouse’s love, your siblings’ love and your children’s love.
Many people say we need to complete individual perfection before the Blessing; (only then can we complete the) second Blessing. We cannot divide it like that. What is the real meaning of individual perfection? Of course, you can grow up individually; Adam and Eve grew to the top of the growth stage and afterwards should have received the Blessing. When you enter the realm of the family, you can feel your parents’ love, your siblings, conjugal love and children’s love. Then finally at the same time you can achieve individual perfection as well. Without relating to your father and mother, your spouse, your children, your brothers and sisters, what are you talking about -- Individual perfection?
Completely separated from your father and mother, if you go to the temple day and night meditating, do you think you can achieve individual perfection? What are you talking about? This is a wrong concept. You may (pursue) mind and body unity and meditate to control your body, but without receiving love from God, from your parents, from your spouse and from your family members, how can you (attain) individual perfection? Any perfection relates to heart and love. It cannot be separated (from them); everything is connected. The individual needs to connect to the family, the family to the tribe, the tribe needs to connect to the nation, the nation needs to connect to the world. Everything needs to be connected centering on dual purposes.
The purpose of the whole is restoring the environment. Without the creation of the environment, there can be no substantial salvation. True Parents created media organizations like the Washington Times and organizations like UPF to restore the environment. Substantial witnessing, or restoration, becomes possible on the foundation of the restoration of the environment.
The environment is like a fence. The fence for the individual is the family. The fence in the family is the tribe. The fence for the tribe is the country. The fence for a country is the world. The fence in the world is the universe. Therefore, you should always live a dual-purpose life. America's fence is the world. If America lives for the world, it is automatically protected.
When Jesus died on the cross, the fence of the family was broken. It is because the fences of kinship, tribe, and Judaism have been broken.
That is why our Jesus could not fulfill his mission. The restoration of the environment is very important. It is very relevant(?).
Someone asked, “Why do we spend so much money for UPF, for external activities, for The Washington Times …? We are spending this and that.
Without restoring the environment, you cannot be protected. For the individual to be restored, you need the family environment. Your father and mother need to protect you. Your brothers and sisters need to protect you. Right? The environment is protection.
Without God creating the sun and moon and ocean, how can human beings survive? He could not create human beings without the environment. What are you talking about? The environment means the external foundation. Without a house, how can you survive? Many people struggle about our outreach, spending so much on this and that. Definitely we need to create the environment. Jesus could not create the environment -- the political and religious environment. That is why he died. It looks like we are spending so much money and energy, but we need it.
Why did Father need to go to Danbury Prison? The Christian environment could not accept Father. We could not restore that kind of external environment.
Even though we are witnessing one by one -- that is good -- but without creating the environment, any persecution by the government from the outside immediately connects (with us?) because there is no protection.
Human Beings Have Dual Purposes
<19-97> Not only did he have to complete his individual responsibility, Jesus also had to establish all indemnity conditions on behalf of the family, tribe, people, nation, world and cosmos and also indemnity conditions on behalf of the victories of all individuals. His position was the utmost core of the individual, family, tribe, people, nation, world and cosmos, and was the focus of attention of the entire universe. That is why he had to engage in a decisive battle with Satan while drawing in all the historical conditions. This was the final battle which Jesus attempted to bring an end to during the three years of his public life at the end of his 33 years on earth.
TODAY’S YOUTH MINISTRY: Righteousness Is Achieved through Unchanging Faith
1. Most of us do not know how to apply the graced Word in our lives. As a result, you easily lose the words you were graced and stimulated by and easily become tired. You may feel that the Word is clear and correct, but because you do not apply the Word to your life and value it, you easily just do the work given to you. When we are working, we must not only think about work, but also know that the place where we work is a place that resurrects our hearts. Otherwise, if you only think of it as the place of work and separate work and the Word and do not connect them, we usually become tired.
Although we receive grace through the Word, -- we may be very inspired by God’s word -- we do not know how to apply the Word in the real world in our daily life, so we do not gain strength.
The reason I cannot gain strength in reality after hearing the Word is because I divide work and the Word and think of them as separate.
I need to connect all my work to the Will and think providentially. And I need to know clearly that the place I work is the place (where) I have to revive my heart.
Someone may say that church is church and work is work, separating them. Then how can you apply God’s word in your daily life?
If I cannot connect everything I do to God’s Word, I just become a worker. Therefore, we need to live connecting everything with God’s heart and God’s word.
2. If you received grace and stimulation through the Word, you need to keep that as the standard and apply it to your lives. Otherwise, who will keep the standards that have been lost in the meantime? Once we lose our standards and waver in our environment, our spirits will be tired. We have to overcome the environment around us. No matter how hard the circumstance you face is, you should not lose the standards you set for yourself and regard them as life. It is like saying that no one else can eat on my behalf. The taste of the food I eat must be tasted by myself. In this way, the person who needs to be stimulated with their own standards is themselves.
My heart grows when it is stimulated by the Word. Words that do not stimulate me eventually flow away. Of the words I have heard, only those that have stimulated and moved me remain.
Even though we may listen to so many words, nothing remains of any words that do not touch our heart. Some words may really stimulate you and move your heart; only those words remain.
Therefore, you should always live with the keywords of the Word that stimulate you. A life that is not lived centering on the Word has no more hope.
That is why you always need to have keywords. Someone may ask, “What is your keyword today?” If you do not say anything, that means your life is meaningless. You always need to have a keyword. Whenever you think of your keyword -- one that inspires you -- it gives you incredible strength and power. You need to have a keyword. Whenever you think of your keyword, it inspires you again and again. It gives you incredible strength and power. That is why I say that a life that is not centered on God’s word has no more hope. This guy is already gone. He is already taken by Satan. That is why those who do not study God’s word, those who do not consult God’s word, are completely hopeless. He is no longer connected to God, to his parents, to the kingdom of heaven.
If we do not live centered on the Word, human beings will always flow horizontally centered on the flesh, only centered on what to eat, drink and wear, the same as secular-world people.
A life centered on the flesh becomes the center rather than a life centered on the spirit. They become very humanistic people, and sometimes become a being centered on the desires of the flesh just like an animal. They are only focused on what to eat, what to drink and what to wear. That’s why as a human being if you do not live centered on God’s word, you easily become a horizontal guy, become an animal. That is why the word is very important. The word is God’s love. We can nurture our heart through God’s word. The word is not just God’s word; it is God’s love.
Therefore, if you lose the standard of the Word while living your life of faith, you will lose everything. Therefore, you must live the Word as life. God’s word is your lifeline.
3. We need to live always by the standards of the Word. Otherwise, it easily becomes a life dominated by other people or the environment. Only when we have give and take centered on the Word and with the standards we have set will our spirits gain strength. Therefore, it is important how much we cherish and value the work we do in our living sphere. Do you consider your work to be God's work? Are you living by applying God's Word to the work you do? And if you value what you do, you should make sure that the people you work with also share the same values and practice them. If you work in the same place or office, but the others only think of their work as mere work and do not value it, even if I cry and appeal, I have to change their values.
We need to multiply.
If we do not live with the standard of the Word, any human being can become dominated by the environment immediately. When others get angry, I also get angry; when others ignore me, I also ignore others; when others persecute me, I also persecute others. My feelings go up and down depending on the environment without keeping the standard of God’s word
There is no way our hearts can gain strength without the Word. Furthermore, I need to apply those Words to my life. To apply the Word in real life, you have to value what you do and serve everyone you deal with like God.
I have to think of my work as God's work, and if I don't serve the people I work with as God's people, I cannot change my environment to a heavenly environment.
Do not think that only going to church, witnessing, or visiting churches is God's work. Think of everything I do as God's will and God's work. Don't think that only church members are sons and daughters of God, but think of everyone I give and receive with as children of God.
This is the way to apply God’s word.
4. If you say you are valuable but do not put it into practice, you are not valuing what you are doing at all. If you think that what you do is valuable, you must thoroughly preserve those values. You have to keep your standards of faith, even at the risk of your life. Raising one's standards of faith in this way is ultimately about upgrading a higher spiritual level. It took Rachel a long time to correct her own standards of faith. Only after wasting a lot of time did she realize, repent to God, and give birth to Jacob's 11th child, Joseph. Many of us are like Rachel. When you run into a problem, you only realize it after you have been conflicted for a long time and wasting a lot of time.
To upgrade my heart, I must first value myself. I have to think of myself as God's.
I belong to God. I am God’s belonging. This concept, attitude, mindset is very important. If you do not think of yourself as God’s belonging, you cannot apply God’s word in your daily life. How can we apply God’s word in our daily life? First we need to think that “I belong to God. I am God’s belonging.”
Second, I must think of what I am doing as God's work, God’s will -- (whether it is a) government job, your job, or school or church. Whatever you do is God’s will and work. This kind of attitude is important. When you think what you are doing is God’s work, then already you can apply God’s word in your daily life.
Third, I have to treat all people I relate with as God's people and serve them.
Not only Unification Church members are sons and daughters of God. I relate (with all people) as God’s people and serve them. They are a son and daughter of God.
So number one, you must first value yourself and treat yourself as God’s belonging.
Secondly, you need to think that what you are doing is God’s will and work.
Thirdly, you need to treat all people you relate with as God’s people.
Wow! If you have this kind of mindset, your heart surely will be upgraded.
You will grow. Your heart will surely be upgraded. Your attitude is important. If we have that kind of mindset and attitude, then we can apply God’s word in our daily life.
5. A victor is overflowing with hope even when he is sleeping, and he is unknowingly overflowing with gratitude, hope, and joy. This is what a resurrected person is like. When forming relationships with other people, we throw away all bad thoughts and preconceived notions about that person, find only the good points, and try to use them to contribute to our spiritual growth. If I harbor the other person's bad points, I lose even the good points I have seen in that person until now. Under no circumstances should you remember people's shortcomings. You should embrace that person as a parent and try to see the values of that person. Then you can save time and live a rewarding life. If I always see people’s shortcomings and have conflict, I waste a lot of time. Many of us lead such foolish lives.
Under no circumstances should you remember people’s shortcomings. The more I remember the other person's shortcomings, the more clouded my heart becomes. It becomes poison to my spirit self. Then how can you avoid remembering their shortcomings?
First, you should always see them with the heart of a parent: “He is my child.” You need to see them from God’s point of view centering on the point (of view) of parents.
Secondly, if you see the other person's shortcomings, if you are parents of that guy, what should you do? If you are the parents of that person, what will you do? You will surely think, “I will be responsible for him.” You definitely have to take responsibility for his shortcomings and have a heart to nurture that person. (You need a) responsive(?responsible?) heart. When I see someone’s shortcomings, through my serving, loving and helping (him) I want to be responsible (for) and nurture that guy (so that he) becomes a good guy. This is the heart of the parent. This is the way to deal with a person’s shortcomings.
I have to think of myself as bearing the cross for the other person.
When we see someone’s shortcomings, we need to think that we are responsible for him. “I want to bear the cross for that guy’s shortcomings. That is the heart of the parent.
According to my experience, when I see anyone’s shortcomings and remember (them), that does not help my spiritual life at all. That is why even if he is a bad guy, I need to see his good points centered on God’s point of view. If you (hold on to) someone’s shortcomings, it becomes like poison and kills your spiritual life. I realized (this) a long time (ago).(?) That is why I am talking about Rachel and Leah. Rachel (came to) realize how much time she (had) wasted.
Many of us live such foolish lives, including me.
6. How much gratitude do you live with on a regular day? The victor is grateful for everything. Such a life of gratitude becomes the driving force for victory in any situation, and no matter if they suffer a blow or are neglected, they do not put value there. If you just get praised by others and become captivated in a good mood, you lose all your values. Even when praised or persecuted, you must live a life that does not lose yourself by keeping your standards of value. It is easy for young people to have their emotions fluctuate depending on the mood and environment. That kind of life removes righteous standards from my life. In other words, the righteousness obtained by faith is lost.
What is righteousness in the life of faith? Righteousness is to maintain the content that is received and stimulated through the Word in any situation.
In order to maintain the first motivation you have decided on, you must always live under the stimulation of the Word. Next, the grace received must be multiplied. If you do not multiply, your original motivation and determination will be clouded.
“I need to maintain my first motivation. I try to remember God’s word.” That is fine, but the best way to maintain your first motivation is, when you are inspired, you need to multiply it to others. When you multiply after receiving God’s word and grace, then you can confirm that this truth is really true. The more you multiply, this is the way to maintain and keep your first motivation.
Through multiplying, I can maintain the content that I have been blessed with. Business people’s secret to not becoming exhausted is to make a profit through their business.
How do business people inspire themselves? They make a profit. If a company makes a profit and you are working day and night, … 2 or 3 hours and you can continuously make a profit. Wow!
In our life of faith, it is the same. If you do not create a profit, it is impossible to maintain our first motivation.
First of all, do not forget God’s word. It will stimulate you.
Secondly, you need to multiply. Without witnessing, without salvation you cannot maintain God’s word. You need to multiply.
When you make a gain, you never become tired. No matter how tired you are, you are excited. In our life of faith, when we only receive grace and do not multiply it, the stimulus we receive from grace will soon subside. …
I am teaching all the top secrets to you! I do not know what more to share. I have already taught too much. Am I right?
7. What you experienced with heaven is the work of God Himself, so you can boast about it in any environment. But most importantly, we must not lose our experiences with God. Jacob never forgot his experience of meeting God at Bethel throughout his life. Although he faced many trials for 21 years from his maternal uncle, Laban, he did not lose the first standard he had promised with God, and he triumphed bravely because he had righteousness. A person who works only in a good environment and avoids a bad environment is not righteous. A righteous person is a person who, once he has set a standard, does not lose that standard no matter where he goes. Although we are aware of the saying, “We gain righteousness by faith,” most of us are still dominated by the environment.
Jacob’s secret of maintaining his faith was that he reflected on his experience of meeting God at Bethel every day. He never, ever forgot his experience of meeting God.
This is one of the ways of maintaining our faith.
True Father never forgot the experience of meeting Jesus and meeting God one-on-one.
The reason Noah built the ark for 120 years without changing was because he never forgot the enchanting moment when he received the commandment from God to build the ark.
He could not forget the beautiful, incredible experience of receiving the commandment from God directly.
(First(?),) we need to remember our meeting with God and with True Parents.
Whether it is a very small or a big event in the past, if we have an unforgettable memory of meeting God or with True Parents, like Jacob, we should always be aware of it. We need to know that righteousness is achieved through unchanging faith.
(Second(?),) to maintain our life of faith, we need to know the preciousness of the encounter(?) and remember our experience of God’s word.
Third, we need to multiply.
This is the way to maintain our faith. This is the way to attain righteousness through faith.♦
NOTE: This lightly edited transcription may contain errors and omissions. Indecipherable or uncertain words and guesses are tagged with a “(?)” and indecipherable phrases, with an ellipsis “ ...”. First, second and third person pronouns have been left as spoken if the meaning is clear, and other apparently Korean English expressions have been preserved. Some repeated phrases have been eliminated. This text and the powerpoint slides from this speech are available as pdf files at the top of this text and at text.morndev.com & yong.hoondok.com. Audio only is available at anchor.morndev.com, spotify.morndev.com & audio.morndev.com.♦