The Power of Knowing
Rev. Hyung Jin Nim’s Sermon
Chungpadong Church. Seoul, Korea, August 23rd, 2008
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Welcome Remarks:
Yeon Ah Nim:
Good Afternoon, brothers and sisters! (Good Afternoon).
It's a wonderful day to be in the presence of Heavenly Father and True Parents. We're always honored to have you in this sanctuary and for those who are joining with us via internet, we're also welcoming you as well.
Welcome brothers and welcome sisters!
Rev. Hyung Jin Nim:
Welcome brothers and sisters. Today I want to share with you from Cheon Seong Gyeong on page 490. Father says, "The parental heart seeks to protect children from harm and is concerned about them day and night. No matter how incompetent or lacking parents may be, if one of their children suffers from a disability, the parents' hearts are devastated to the point of breaking. If the situation is then resolved, the relief and joy are overwhelming in proportion to the original pain. If such is the heart of normal fallen parents, then what must be the heart of God? ".
True Father is really challenging us there, asking us to see and review the love that is exuded from God. When He looks at us, with what kind of eyes does He sees us?
Brothers and sisters, every time we start service it's always so important to always remember to review ourselves, to review our life. To see it with a new view; to see it with a whole new vision. When we look at ourselves, we must not look at ourselves with only our human eyes for we will notice people who are inadequate; we will notice people who have not yet actualized their full potential.
But if we see ourselves with our divine eyes, the eyes that look at ourselves from God's perspective, we will see somebody with tremendous value. We will see the potential, how will it be in the future, how that looks like when it blossoms. And it's so important for us to remember that when we look at ourselves from that viewpoint then we will be filled with confidence. We will see ourselves with ultimate value, divine value and unique value that is only special to us. We will see that God has given us special gifts and talents, that He has given us great potential and great blessings to share with this world.
Brothers and sisters, every time we come up to the service, we want look at ourselves with those eyes. We always want start by reviewing our lives like that, seeing it with a new perspective.
And let us not only come to observe service. Brothers and sisters, I want to invite you to give service today, singing with the choir, singing the songs of praises. Let that lift your spirit. Pray with us when we pray. When we're praying one on one, too, during the service, during that time it's our chance to pray for somebody else. To really be a friend, a brother or sister to another person who needs prayer, encouragement or light of hope in their lives.
Brothers and sisters, I invite you to take this opportunity not only to watch service but really to participate and really to help each other in the great building of the kingdom that we're doing here. It starts right from here, starts from our hearts. So let's do that today. Brothers and sisters, can we do it today? (Yes!) I believe it. I believe it!
Once again, welcome. Let's really participate today. Have a great service. Thank you.
Yeon Ah Nim's Message:
To me raising children is always challenging. From time to time I feel like I'm the worst parent in the world and I sometimes feel sorry for my children that I don't have enough experience or wisdom to raise them well. Then when I think about True Parents, they truly believe that God has a plan for every single child.
Brothers and sisters, let's not just hope for our children to be good people in this society but let us know that they will be great blessing in this world, in this society. Like my favorite Pastor always says to me - my husband of course -, "If we do our best, God will do the rest!"
Brothers and sisters, we love you so much and we believe in you! Aju!
Interesting story:
I heard a little story about a surgery professor who passed away and went to heaven and he was before the pearly gates and talking to Saint Peter and he said, "St. Peter, could you let me in?" And St. Peter said, "Okay, but you have to first tell me some of your regrets, your sins." And so he said, "Ok! When I just graduated in school, I became an intern at St. Lucas Hospital and we had a soccer match against the community hospital and we ended up beating them. But you know what happened? The last goal that won the game, I actually shot it and I was off-sides but the referee didn't see it. So, because he didn't see it and I won the game for St. Lucas, I feel kind of regretful. I feel like that's kind of a sin. And St. Peter said, "Well, that's not that bad. That's fantastic. Come on in!" And then he said, "Wow, Thank you. That was very surprising St. Peter. Thank you so much." And the gate keeper said, "Oh, I'm actually not St. Peter, he's on a lunch break. I'm St. Lucas!" (Laughters).
Main Sermon:
Brothers and sisters, today I'd like to talk to you about the Power of Knowing. It's such an important thing if we want to live the blessed life to have hope in our lives. For it is said, "One can not have faith if one doesn't have hope." But if we truly are to live the blessed life then we have to go one step further. We can't only just hope for a better future, we have to go beyond this, from having hope for a better tomorrow, hope in ourselves, etc., to knowing that we will have a better tomorrow. And this change in perspective from having hope and waiting for things to come, to knowing and expecting a better future, is one of the keys to living the VIP blessed life. And the real question is this: Are we believers or are we knowers? Do we believe that God will be good to us; that He will help us to overcome archangels, challenges and obstacles in our lives? Or are we confident, do we know He will? Are we hoping that God is going to do better things for our tomorrow and for our futures? Or do we know that He has a plan for each and everyone of us? Are we hoping and waiting for particular circumstances to be overcome or to pass? Or do you know that you'll overcome it with your potentials that God has given you?
See, Father during his speeches always challenges the crowd. He asks us, "Is God good?" And he asks the question, "Yes or no?" And many times members will say "Yes" but then he says, "When I said 'No' I meant KNOW." He's in fact asking us, "Are you just believing? If you just believe you'll say yes." But He's challenging us saying, "Do you know? Do you know God is good? Do you know that God is giving you the potential that you need to succeed in your life, to truly live victorious lives?"
See, it's such a difference, depending on the perspective that we hold in our mind; that little change in nuance, in perspective, opens up a whole new door way. See, it's kind of like this…many people in their life go through life thinking, "God, I hope my teacher will treat me well or my co-workers will treat me well or my boss will treat me well. I hope they will do that. After all I'm a Unificationist and still there's discrimination against Unificationists. Or other people will say, "You know, I hope I can be beautiful one day. I hope I can be good. I hope I can be magnificent or something." Or people will say, "I hope I can succeed in my life."
But we have to change that. We have to move from just hoping and waiting into knowing that God is providing us with a better opportunity. See, we have to have the confidence to say, " Not only I hope my teacher will be good to me", but, "I know my teacher will be good to me. I know that if I will be my best, God will do the rest. I know that one day, not only one day ... I know that I am beautiful even without make-up." You have to declare that, sisters. It's not only, "I hope I'll be beautiful one day." You have to know it, have that confidence in your heart. We have to say in our hearts, "I know I'll be successful. God has given me tremendous potential for me to actualize. And I know that whatever I put my mind to, I can be successful at."
You have to listen to the confidence. What kind of speeches are you saying in your mind? What kind of dialogue are you having in your mind? We must not pass through life just by hoping that circumstances, that people and God will be good to us. We have to know that people want to be good to us. We have to know that circumstances want be good to us. We have to know that God wants to be good to us. Like the old sayings says, "If we do our best, God can fulfill the rest."
We must actually know and move towards those blessings, not just waiting for them to come, not just hoping for them to come but actively move towards them with the power of that confidence, with the power of the knowing ... we'll move forward into those blessings.
I found out when I just hope in my life that I get very passive. I get very passive when I just think about hoping for a better tomorrow or a good deal that is coming about. And I ended up not doing my 5%. I remember, one of my biggest dreams when I was young, when I just finished high school was, I really wanted to prove to many people that I was smart. "I am smart! At least a little bit smart." When I was young, I never was a great student and I never could get the grade. I was a 1. 6 percent average. It was not always fun at school. And always everybody would say, "Oh, he has got the low in the gene pool when it comes to brains and academics."
I always felt insecure about that. One of my dreams was - Father always encourages us to get into Harvard one day - so one of my dreams was to do that. But I remember just coming out of high school. I was trying to get into Harvard. I was dreaming to get into Harvard. I applied and of course my grades were nowhere near possible, but I was waiting for a miracle. I was hoping with all my might, praying, praying everyday. But I was getting very passive. I wasn't doing the homework. I wasn't doing the things I needed to do to get myself to that level.
But when Young Jin Hyong passed away ..... he had invested a year into me, one full year where he gave me everything that he learned. Everything, all his secrets and techniques for studying, all his exercises that he developed for getting better grades, etc. He gave me all that and he really invested a lot in me. And when he passed away, I started moving from just hoping in my heart, "One day I'm going to fulfill that dream" to knowing that I have a talent. He told me a million times that I have the talent to get in there, that I can prove other people wrong, that I can prove to people that say that I'll just be a janitor for the rest of my life, that I won't, that I will be better than that, that I will be doing something, that I'll be able to fulfill my dream.
And I know this was a smaller dream when I was young. At this point, there are dreams that we must always cultivate, develop and have new aspirations for the future. But when I was young this was a big one for me. But when he passed, I had a situation in my life where I really had to face myself. And I said, "Enough is enough. I know I have the potential. He's invested one year into me. He's giving me everything that he knows to try to help me." And I just stopped hoping for God to do the 100% miracle. I just stopped hoping and waiting and I started working. I became certain in knowing that if God would do 95%, all I need to do is 5%. Just I need to finish it up. If I do my best, God will help me with the rest. That dream did come to pass. It did come to pass for me. I was able to attend. I was able to study there in that Institution (Harvard) and I'm very grateful for that and I return it back to Young Jin Hyong.
When I think about the power of knowing, I think about the story of Job in the Biblical tradition. You may know the story. This is the story where Satan comes and confronts God, and he says, "You know what? I know you have a faithful servant Job but I bet You, I can break him. I bet You, I can make him turn on You and curse You." And God says, "I don't think so. My servant is very faithful. He's a wonderful servant. And he's very filled with faith. He would never betray me like that." And Satan said to Him, "I bet You, he will. Let me try." And so Satan goes ahead. He starts attacking Job. He destroys his possessions, his family, his resources, his wealth and takes it all away. And at the top of that, just to put the cherry on top of the icing, he gives him a whole bunch of diseases and sores.
Job is in a miserable situation, but Job never once cursed God. That's what the Scripture says. In the midst of hell, he not only had hope, he was certain that God was going to help him out, that God was going to move him forward into His plan. And in the end, what happened to Job? See, in the end, with that confidence, with that knowing power, God doubled his blessings. Twice the land, twice the resources, twice the family blessings, twice the health, etc. Job became one of the most wealthy in that land.
But looking at our circumstances, we may be tempted to say, "I can't make it through this. The future is an uncertain proposition (is uncertain). How am I ever going to move with certainty towards an uncertain proposition? I'll never make my way through these circumstances and situations. I'll never be healthy again just like Job or I'll never be successful. I reached my limit in my career, my limit in my academics, and my limit in my potentials. There's no hope for me. No hope. It's not going to get better than this."
But remember Job, in the story of Job, by his being confident in God's redemption, he got double blessing. In the end, the accuser was defeated.
For Job, in his life, things just got worse and worse and worse. First he lost his cattle, and then he lost a sheep in a fire. Then his camels were totally burned away. Then he lost his land, and all his family was killed in a house collapse. Then he got disease and boils. It all seemed like it was never going to turn around. Everyday seemed to be getting worse and worse.
But see, that's one of the secrets that this is going to teach us. One of the secrets is that in our life, when things seem to be getting worse, that's the archangel attacking you harder. Why? Because he knows you're about to break through to a new level of blessings. He knows you're about to actualize a new potential and he doesn't want you to get there. So he will attack you harder. When things in your life seem to begin to get worse, don't let that sap (reduce) your confidence. Let it remind you that the archangel is getting nervous, he's getting scared, he's getting insecure and that's why he's putting those forces against you. If we go forward with that confidence, we will know that one day we will be closer to that double-blessing, just like Job. And God will bring us to a new fruition.
Brothers and sisters, a power lifter, a weight lifter, once told me this. He said, "The first thing you must do before powerlifting a huge weight is absolutely know that you can powerlift it." He told me, "Before you powerlift, you have to visualize yourself powerlifting that weight. You have to visualize and see yourself succeeding a thousand times, just like that "baby", lifting 350 pounds. Even if you fail, the next time you must have that confidence, 'I'm going to lift this thing!' You have to literally condition yourself to be so confident, to know absolutely that you will lift this weight. See, when trying to lift that weight, you have to pull with more power than that weight."
And life is very uncertain, it's like a very heavy weight. In order to lift it and use it to make you stronger, you have to pull with more power than that weight. And see, the archangel wants to test your strength. He wants to see how strong we are as Blessed Central Families. And this time in the Beijing Olympics, a Korean Olympian power lifter, Jang Mi-Ran - she's a woman power lifter - she won the gold medal and set a world record in Beijing last week: 186 kilos, that is 410 pounds that she pressed (lifted), as you can see. And what did she have to do? She had to powerlift that weight, 410 pounds, with more power than the weight that she was holding.
And how do we lift uncertainty in our lives? We lift it by having the confidence in the person that God created us to be. By knowing and being certain that we can overcome, lift and be victorious for God, that we can powerlift that weight for God.
Just like that Olympian power lifter, we will have to know that in our lives, when we face those heavy weights, those obstacles that really weigh us down, (we have to know) that we can powerlift. We have to move from just hoping that we can lift the weight to knowing that we can lift the weight, that God has invested within us the power, the potential and the strength to be able to lift that weight. And if we will do, brothers and sisters, I know we will make that gold medal for our Blessed Central Families. Let's give it up for Blessed Central Families. Come on, give it up! (Big round of applause).
Speaking with Blessed Central Families during ministry, we have such a blessing and opportunity to meet some of our most amazing Blessed Central Families. And we did a family visit just a couple of weeks ago to one of our families. The father is a Japanese brother and the mother is a Korean sister. And he was telling us about his story, absolutely amazing. He came from a very successful family in his home. But as soon as he joined the church, his mother and father passed away very quickly. And he joined and he had an inheritance that he gained from his parents. But he gave it away to his church brothers and sisters. He gave it away to struggling families. And he got so persecuted at that time. His relatives started cursing him and saying, "You, why did you give all the inheritance to these people? Are you insane, etc.?"
Even, at the time, there was media coverage that was so negative against the movement in our Japanese Church. But even in the midst of all that negativity, this brother went forward and he got the blessing. And he was blessed to a Korean sister and they had to make a living. He was telling us that at one point in their lives she was in Korea working at a laundry mat and he was in Japan trying to find work. She had 2 children that she had to take care of as well as try to earn a living, and he was trying to send money from Japan to support the family.
And she said that one day she visited him in Japan. And she saw him sneaking out at night. And she was very disturbed, "Why he's sneaking out at night?" She eventually followed him out one day and she saw him putting on a one piece suit, a one piece suit, like a jump suit, nearer to the building, walking to that building. She walked closer and she saw her husband in the building, cleaning and sweeping the floor. He got a job as a janitor. And when she saw that, she told us how she broke down. She just cried and cried. She couldn't bear to see her husband like that. She knew it was so difficult. She knew that now the relatives would say, "Look, you amounted to nothing! What has being in the Unification Church done for you? Look at you, you really lost it all. You lost your mind." But see, in the midst of all that, this brother, Akihiro San - I'll give you his name, Akihiro San - he stepped forward with certainty. He said, "I know I will be successful. I know I will make way through this. I'm not going to give up now. I'm going to do my 5%."
At the time, like I explained, the persecution was so severe. It was at the level that most of our brothers and sisters in Japan had to hide their rings. As you know, the Unification ring that we wear, they had to turn it around so that you only see the bottom which looks like a marriage band. They had to turn around the symbol because if anybody saw it, they would be persecuted, they would be harassed, they would be discriminated against. And all the members, most of the membership, was doing that, turning around their rings. But he told us how in the midst of that persecution, even though the other people were turning around their rings, he wore his ring with pride. He turned it around and showed that Unification Church symbol with pride. Brothers and sisters, let's give it up to Akihiro San! Let's give it up!
You see, he had confidence in who he was, whom God made him to be. He knew that God was providing a better future for him. He of course had to battle doubt at times, but he moved from just hoping and waiting to knowing with certainty that God will provide for him. But what happened? Things were getting worse for him. They were being attacked constantly by his relatives. The financial situation was so tough and even the neighbors were discriminating against them. One day he told how he was talking on the phone with his wife. She was again in Korea, he was in Japan, and she was breaking down, weeping and saying, "I can't do this anymore. I can't take care of the kids and work 20-hour a day and trying to make enough money for us to survive at the laundry mat. I can't do this anymore. I'm going to give up. I'm going to quit." And he told her with weeping eyes, "Honey, please trust me. I will succeed one day. I will make you a queen. Believe in me. Please believe in me." He begged her. He implored her (laughing).
She realized, not at that point but in retrospect, how amazing he was. Here he was in a situation where he could have been totally defeated. He could have been totally lost. He could have given up and said, "I'm at the mercy of this situation." And he could have fallen into depression. He could have been discouraged, depressed and like many people, he could have gone into drinking or substance abuse. That is how she said it.
But see, he was a warrior and he says that he came from a lineage of samurais. So he said, "This is not going to stop me." He said, "I'm a warrior and I'm not only going to be a hoper. I'm going to be a knower in God's goodness. I'm going to know with certainty, with confidence, that God is going to provide for me."
What happened, brothers and sisters? Today Akihiro San is the CEO of his own company, selling Japanese manufactured machines to Korean Companies, and even though the Korean economy is slow, God is continuing to bless him even in this down slumping economy. Give it up for Akihiro San! Give it up! (Clapping).
When we just visited them we saw they're just a wonderful family. Just incredible. Just wonderful. And he was so certain in his heart that God will make a way for him and God did.
See, personally, I have to give thanks to this man. I have to personally recognize him. Because of Akihiro San, when I listened to his story, I realized, "Wait a minute, I'm a minister and I'm not even wearing my Unification ring. What kind of craziness is that?!"
When we got married, we just wore the rings that True Parents got us. But I thought, "Wait a minute. This man is stepping up. He's been proud of who he is. He's stepping up and owning that Unification pride. And you know what? I have got to do the same." He inspired me and my wife to wear our UC rings with pride. Not only backward, brothers and sisters, but forward. We wear it to this day. Let's give it up for Akihiro San. One more time. (Clapping)
Every time we have that kind of victory, that's a gold medal win for our UC team. That's like the Beijing Olympics, bigger than the Beijing Olympics. He is like winning a gold medal for us. It's so important to know that when we look at our UC Community that we are an amazing community. If we're not going to be proud of who we are, nobody else is going to be proud of who we are. If we're not going to step up and say, "I'm proud of the church that I belong to. I'm proud of the tradition and the heritage to which I belong," nobody else will. It's so important that we as Unificationists come forward and not hide who we are, but really be proud of who we are. And no longer can we just hope that people will recognize us. We have to move one step further like I was talking about living the blessed life. We can't just hope for their recognition We have to know that we will be recognized, we have to know that we will have something to say. We have to know that people will see the value of the Unification Family.
Just like Akihiro San, we have to know that God guiding us, that He is going to help us find our path to shine. And just like that old phrase says -we said it many times during this service, "If we do our best God can fulfill the rest." See, God delights in seeing each one of our family members shine. He delights in seeing us succeed, bringing glory back to Him. And whether we see it or not, God has already prepared 95% of our destinies, just like Akihiro San in his own life. All we have to do is to fulfill that last 5%. And that begins not just by hoping for a better future and waiting, it begins by knowing, by being confident that God is on our side, that He has given us the potential, the talents, the resources that we will need to move and fulfill those dreams and to really allow this Unification family shine. Brothers and Sisters, one more time, give it up for UC Family. (Clapping). That is our team.
Brothers and sisters, what can we learn today? What can we learn? Having hope is an essential component of having faith. If we don't have hope, we can't have faith. From the Biblical tradition we know, "Faith is believing in things that are unseen." In other words, we have to hope for those things, believe in those things. But in order to live the blessed life, we have to go one more step beyond just hoping and waiting. We have to go to the realm of knowing, from being a believer to being a knower in God's goodness. We have to move from just hoping to knowing, not only hoping that God is on our side, not only hoping that He wants to be good to us, but knowing that He has done the 95%. All we need to do is that remaining 5%.
Whenever it looks like it is getting worse, we have to remember, like Job, that that's the clearest sign that the archangel is getting scared. He's trying to get us down. He's trying to get us discouraged and falling to despair, so that we give up on ourselves, on our families and on our potential.
When the archangel tries to intimidate you with a big weight, put a smile on your face, take a deep breath, "I'm alive, thank you. I breathe it out, I'm thanking you." Remember that you are a VIP and let's powerlift that weight for the gold. Let's not only hope that the world will recognize our UC family. We have to move from just hoping to knowing that our UC family will be recognized. Remember, if we be our best God will do the rest. And as an Olympian said, "If we be bold, God will help us get the gold. "
Brothers and sisters, we have to wear our UC collars with pride. just like Akihiro San, who wore his collars with pride. He wore his choice, his decision with pride and he did not shy away from that. And I believe that if we can do that, if we can move forward with that kind of confidence, knowing, not only hoping, that God wants to help us, but knowing that He does, we will find ourselves with more Victory, more Illumination and more Peace. And God will allow us live that blessed family life that True Parents have blessed us to live.
Brothers and sisters, one more time, if you will receive this message, let's give it up for True Parents. Give it up for True Parents! Give it up! (Clapping)