Announcement of the Official Motto for the Ninth Year of Cheon Il Guk

Hyung Jin Moon
January 17, 2009

Family Federation for World Peace and Unification
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
13F Dowon Bldg., Dohwa 2 dong Mapo-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea 121-728
www.ffwpu.org Tel: (8... Fax: (82-2) 3275-4220 E-mail: mission@tongil.or.kr

Ref. No. FFWPUI 2009-6

To: Regional presidents, National messiahs, National leaders
From: FFWPU International Headquarters
Date: January 17, 2009
Re.: Announcement of the Official Motto for the Ninth Year of Cheon Il Guk

May God and True Parents blessings and love be with all regions, mission nations and providential organizations.

During the 42nd True God's Day commemorative ceremony, True Parents added a phrase to the motto which he announced at the midnight event. We would like to inform you of the updated and official motto for the ninth year of Cheon Il Guk (2009).

English version:

The era of proclaiming the victory of absolute sexual ethics, the right of true love, true life and true lineage in the realm of the Cosmic Sabbath of the Parents of Heaven and Earth

Hyung Jin Moon
International President 

The Blessing of the FFWUP International offices

Hyung Jin Moon
January 14, 2009
Headquarters Offices


Hyung Jin nim and Yeon-ah nim visited the offices of FFWPU International on January 14. During their visit, they holy salted the newly established office established for the international president (though Hyung Jin nim still uses the Headquarters Church as his base). Hyung Jin nim's prayer on that occasion follows:

Our loving Heavenly Father, and the victorious Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind, Heavenly Father, today we have come to the offices of the FFWPU International Office, which You have blessed. Heavenly Father, from the early days of our church until now, True Parents have led the carrying out of Your providence and guided the worldwide Unification Family, devoting their lives without reserve.

Heavenly Father, we earnestly ask and pray that You will work so that we can sincerely carry out our mission as True Parents' sons and daughters, and so that through inheriting True Parents' will and love, we can spread Your word and heart throughout the world.

Heavenly Father, whether we are working as individuals or with others, You have continuously endowed us with blessings and given us the ability to achieve greater accomplishments to uphold Your will and True Parents' dignity.

Heavenly Father, guide us so that the blessings You have given us are not limited to ourselves but are disseminated to the rest of the world. They have been given in order to save the whole world through True Parents' love. Father, we pray that You will guide us in working through this office to make the Unification Family solid, exemplary and transparent, so that when looking at us, deep within their hearts, all the religions and nations in the world will wish to follow us.

Heavenly Father, we are lacking in so many ways. Though we still have so much to learn, You have never given up on us but have helped us become more mature, so that we could stand before the world with integrity as Your representatives, and for this we are truly, truly grateful.

Father, we hope and pray that You will work through us, helping the Unification Church across the world to move according to Your will and helping us to always be humble in our hearts to serve the whole world as the servants of True Parents' servants.

Please bless all Your sons and daughters here today and bless their families, and please help them to become Your children who can work miracles for Your great will. I offer this prayer in the name of Moon Hyung Jin's family, a blessed central family, and in the name of True Parents.

Aju. 

Special Photo Matching for Second and Third Generation Members to Commemorate True Father’s 90th Birthday

Hyung Jin Moon
January 12, 2008

Family Federation for World Peace and Unification INTERNATIONAL
13F Dowon Bldg., Dohwa 2 dong Mapo-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea 121-040
www.ffwpu.org Tel: (82-2) 3275-4200 Fax: (82-2) 3275-4220 E-mail: mission@tongil.or.kr

Announcement

To: Regional Presidents, National Messiahs, National Leaders
From: FFWPU International Headquarters
Date: January 12, 2009
Re.: Special Photo Matching for Second and Third Generation Members to Commemorate True Father’s 90th Birthday

May God and True Parents’ blessings and love be with all regions, mission nations and providential organizations.

A special “photo” matching will be held for second and third generation candidates prior to the Blessing Ceremony which will be held on the occasion of True Parents’ Birthday (Father’s 90th birthday). Regional presidents, national leaders and those in charge of Second Generation Blessing affairs in each region should be informed of the details below to facilitate preparations for the special photo matching.

I. Outline of Special Photo Matching

1. Participants: Single, unmarried second and third generation members (refer to FFWPUI 2008-46 for qualifications)

2. The matching will be a photo matching conducted by True Parents

3. The photo matching is scheduled to be held on Friday, January 16, 2009

4. New Deadline by which to submit documents: By 12 noon, Thursday, January 15, 2009 (Korea time)

5. Please submit documents and photos to the Family Department at the FFWPU-Korea Headquarters
- Point person: Mr. In Bae Hong (FFWPU Korea Family Department)
- Address:
Second Generation Blessing Affairs, Family Department
6th Floor FFWPU Building
Chungpa-dong 1 ga, 161
Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Korea 140-869
FFWPU International 

Making Your Stand In 2009

Hyung Jin Moon
January 3, 2009
Headquarters Church, Chungpadong, Seoul Korea
Transcribed by: Nina Rosario
Edited by: Bruno Klotz


Welcome Remarks:
Yeon Ah Nim:

Good afternoon brothers and sisters! (Good afternoon!)

It is really great to see you all at this sanctuary in 2009. Should we give a round of applause for 2009? (Applauding) The year of 2009 has come.

True Father gave us the New Year Motto for 2009 and it goes like this, "The Era of Proclaiming the Victory of the Authority of Absolute Sexual Ethics, True Love, True Life and True Lineage in the Realm of the Cosmic Sabbath of the Parents of Heaven and Earth." After True Father finished writing this, even he himself said, "Ah! This year's motto is a little bit long!" (Laughter) So if you felt that way, don't feel discouraged, don't feel bad. But we know that there is a profound meaning behind what True Father has taught throughout his entire life.

During God's Day, in his speech, True Father emphasized the importance of the value of True Father. He said, "True Father is the source of true lineage and love throughout all generations." And also True Father once again asked us to keep absolute love, fidelity and purity as blessed families.

Brothers and sisters, I hope that this year our blessed families will have a profound year with Heavenly Father's protection and grace and True Parents' love and blessing. AJU!

Hyung Jin Nim:

Welcome brothers and sisters. Brothers and Sisters, it's 2009! Oh my God! (Applause) We're ready for 2009! We sent up 2008 with the shouts of victory and we're starting again with the accolades of God in 2009.

Brothers and sisters, I want to start with Cheon Seong Gyeong, page 589:

"Which of the two would you prefer to devote your entire lives to: Private matters or public matters? Both are devoted to some purpose. Those who stand up at the risk of their lives to devote their lives for the public good will become great people. A new history will be created by a group of people like this."

Brothers and sisters, in this New Year let us always remember that we are not walking alone, that we are walking together. Brothers and sisters, that in this year of 2009, of this incredible year, proclaiming the victory of the Cosmic Sabbath, True Father and True Mother have given us the blessing to be received this year. And that in 2009, even though we may have obstacles and challenges, still we will find great promises that will come to fruition. We'll find great things that come to pass. We will see great hopes that not only are nourished but that come into reality.

Brothers and sisters, we always have to keep our minds up on the positive, so to speak. Always remember the goodness of God, meditate on the goodness of God, especially and even more so when times are rough, especially when times are challenging. Remember "whoopology", remember that from last week, right? "Whoopology", where we are learning that even in the midst of trouble, what scares the enemy even more, what confuses him is when you just start praising God even more. I'm not going to do some hallelujahs today but you heard hallelujahs last week.

But, brothers and sisters, we have to remember that, in our lives in 2009, when we have those struggles, instead of falling into despair and oblivion, we're going to say, "Wait a minute! I'm not going down there. I'm going to sing the praises of God, I'm going to sing 'hallelujah', I'm going to say, 'God is good'. I'm going to tell Him that, and I'm going to praise Him, tell Him that I still trust Him and I still lean on Him and that I believe that He still wants me to reach His promises." We have to be in that attitude of faith. If we do that, brothers and sisters, that's our faith in action and that's going to propel us to actualize our God given destinies.

Brothers and sisters, once again welcome to our service. We always want to remind you to see ourselves -- especially when we are here -- from the owner's eyes, that are God's eyes. Let us see ourselves from the highest perspective and that is to see ourselves as victorious people, as historical people, people who have meaning and who will give meaning to this world. If we start seeing ourselves that way we'll not only start believing it, we will start trying to act in that way, and in that manner we will start actualizing what God is waiting for us to do.

Brothers and sisters, let's remember today, in this year 2009, let's start it off with an excitement, an enthusiasm and a hope that this year will be our best year yet. We're going to send those praises up today. As we send those praises up what happens? What comes down? Those blessings come showering down. There're going to start giving us power in our next week. There're going to give us power to overcome that obstacle, that circumstance, that archangel that's in your way. You're going to have the power, the compassion, the enthusiasm to get over in spirit, in love and in life.

Brothers and sisters, welcome once again to our Saturday service. We welcome you all from all around the world. And once again, let's start the New Year off with that kind of praise. Thanks once again! Welcome!

Hyung Jin Nim's Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank You for this day that You have prepared, Father. We're gathered here, hearts open wide, in this wonderful sanctuary in the fatherland of Korea. Father we are here where the spirituality and the tears of thousands of years have planted roots, Father. And now there is the joy that You can feel and see Your children around this world, Father, bringing new light and new life to this world. Father, how much happiness You must feel! Father, we pray that You may be in this place today. Father, we pray that we may do our part, that we may meditate on Your goodness, we may meditate on Your strength, we may meditate on Your blessings, meditate on Your hope, and Father, that we may know that You are always in our lives.

Heavenly Father, we pray that You may bless each and every one of the families here today, joining us from across the world. We pray that You may be with each and every single nation, Father, from South America to Japan, to Africa, to Russia, from all those nations, Father. Please, bless this day.

As we send up the praises and worship, Father, as we send up our prayers today, we pray that those prayers can spread out across the globe and those prayers can be showered upon all men and women in all those nations, Father. Father, we pray that today we may make a new determination in 2009, that we may make a stand, Father, that truly we may be able to live our lives with faith, with hope, with expectancy, knowing that You have amazing things and plans for us to accomplish. Father, we know that You are never giving up on us, that You always believe in us, that You always have a way, where we can see no way. Father, we pray that truly in 2009 we may reach our full potential, that we may have our best year and, Father, that this year we may give You all the glory and return it to You.

Heavenly Father, please feel joy today, please be encouraged today because we're starting 2009 with the spirit of victory, we're starting 2009 with the spirit of overcoming power, and we're starting 2009 with the great hope that You have given to us.

Thank You once again. We pray this in all the Blessed Central Families' names together here as one, AJU!

Interesting Story:

We always like to begin with something a little, a little interesting.

I heard a Christmas story. I heard of an event that happened on Christmas. It was a day after Christmas at a church in New York, and Pastor Mike was looking at the Nativity scene. That is the scene of the Baby Jesus outside. And Pastor Mike noticed that Baby Jesus was missing, the figure was missing. It was gone. Immediately Pastor Mike ran towards the church to call the police. "It's an emergency! The Baby Jesus is gone!"

But as he was about to do so, he saw little Jimmy with a red wagon and in the wagon was the statue of Baby Jesus. Pastor Mike walked up to Jimmy. He said, "Jimmy, where did you get that little Jesus?" Jimmy replied, "I got him from the church." "And why did you take him from the church?" And with a sheepish smile Jimmy said, "Well about a week before Christmas I prayed to little Lord Jesus. I told him, if he would bring me a red wagon I'd give him a ride in it. And that's what I'm doing; I'm giving him a ride around the block."

Brothers and sisters, give it up for God and True Parents! (Applause)

Main Sermon:

Brothers and sisters, today I'd like to talk to you about "Making your Stand in 2009." You know, in order to live the blessed life, we have to make a stand in our life. At some point we have to make a stand in our life, and too many people live life not committing to anything and just trying to fit in to the status quo. But brothers and sisters, if we're going to do what God is meaning for us to do in our lives, we must learn how to have the courage to make a stand at times. Making a stand requires self respect, it requires self esteem, it requires confidence in who God made you to be and it requires you to believe in your potential when you look at yourself and see your future.

Let's take a look into some of these World Scriptures today. Let's look at Exodus 14:13. Let's read all together, "Moses answered the people, 'Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again."

Notice that, brothers and sisters, here the Egyptians are not just people that live in Egypt. There could be circumstances into our lives, there could be things that we believe are handicaps in our lives. And what does the Bible say? It says, "Stand firm and you will see the deliverance today" and that the problems you see today, you will never see again. That's what the word promises us. When we learn how to have the courage to make a stand, we have and we channel an amazing power.

Let's look at Islam today. Let's look at Qur’an, Al-Baqara, the second surah, 286th verse. Let's read it together, "Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. Thou art our protector. Help us against those who stand against faith." What is this saying? "Stand firm in your faith, give us the strength. Believe that God has given us the strength that we can overcome the burdens in our lives."

Let's us look at Buddhism today. This is the Dhammapada 9:121. Let's read together, "Do not think lightly of evil that not the least consequence will come of it. A whole water pot will fill up from dripping drops of water. A fool fills himself with evil, just a little at a time." We have to stand strong in our lives, against these kinds of negative thoughts, negative habits, negative directions in our lives. We have to make a stand in our lives to have strength, to move forward into our God given destinies.

Let's look at True Father's words today, Blessing and Ideal Family, page 409. Let's read it together, "You should have a new determination in your heart. You should make a new determination and have your mind and body united. You should be filled with faith. How happy God would be if you became perfected men and women who could receive God's love."

You see, in 2009, brothers and sisters, we have to make a stand. We have to say, "You know what? I have enough! I'm not going to take anymore of those obstacles. I'm not going to let them beat me down anymore. I'm not going to let those circumstances control my life. I'm not going to let that person or my co-worker steal my joy anymore. I'm going to make a stand now. I'm going to draw the line in the sand. So now I'm going to move into a greater love, a greater blessing that God is preparing for me."

In 2Sam 23:11, David was here. He was on the battlefield at Pas Dammim. He was fighting the Philistines at that time. And David here was only with a couple of men and there were hundreds and thousands of Philistines. The army was so great. It was one of the greatest armies at that time, so powerful, so intimidating. They'd scream with a huge shout and all of David's men would feel fear. But there were the mighty three, the people that stood with David. Those people, Joseb-Basshebeth, Eleazar and Shammah, they stood with David on that day and they're known as the three mighty men. By making a stand, the Bible says, that 800 plus Philistines of the enemy were defeated by just three of those men. Three of those men took a stand in their faith, they took a stand for the king, they took a stand for God and they were victorious beyond their comprehension, beyond what they could ever imagine.

We have to understand that this principle applies to our lives, too, brothers and sisters. When we make the stand in our lives, when we stand firm in what we believe and who we are in our God given potential, when we don't let anybody take away our dreams, take away our desires that God has placed in us, take away our potentials, when we stand firm in the confidence that God has given us what we need to overcome every obstacle, every circumstance, every illness, every single situation that may come into our path, then we have to know that with that strength we will go forward and win victoriously. We will stand firm and be victorious just like these three mighty men. And just like they did, if we stand for the king, if we stand for God in our lives, if we are loyal to Him in our life, if we are loyal and obey His commands, if we model ourselves after what He has taught, then the pride and victory of that king showers upon us, then we become more victorious than we could ever possibly imagine.

In the Buddha's tradition there is the legend of Sudhana. He is the main protagonist in the Avatamsaka Sutra, that is the flower garland sutra, or the Hawaiian garland sutra. In this legend it says that Sudhana was a disfigured boy, totally disabled. He was from India. He was very interested in studying the Dharma or the Buddhist teachings. When he heard there was a great teacher on the rocky island of Putor he quickly journeyed to learn. And as he arrived on that island he managed to find the Bodhisattva Guan Yin, that is the Bodhisattva of compassion in this tradition. Despite his tremendous severe disability, Guan Yin had a discussion with him and she was testing his resolve. She decided, "I'm going to test whether or not he really wishes to learn, wishes to be free, wishes to have the blessing of heaven."

And so she conjured up the illusion of three sword wielding pirates, and these pirates came and attacked this teacher Guan Yin. They started attacking. They came running up the hill and they came to attack her but then the Bodhisattva Guan Yin jumped off the cliff. She jumped off into the ocean and then those illusional pirates also jumped off. When Sudhana saw that, he was so shocked and he said, "My God, my teacher!" So he ran after her. He was disfigured and disabled, so he was calling towards her. And he managed to get up this hill and he actually leaped over the cliff. He leaped over the edge with that kind of desire to want to help, that kind of loyalty to want to help his teacher.

He fell down, plummeting down the cliff but the legend says that the Bodhisattva Guan Yin held him in mid air, brought him down safely to the ground and told him, "Stand up and walk!" And as she said that to him, he immediately stood up and began to walk. He found out that he could walk normally and that he was no longer crippled.

See, Sudhana stood up against his fear. He stood up against illusions; he stood up to protect his teacher, he stood up for his faith. When Guan Yin asked him to stand and walk, he did so and his walking was proof that he could take a stand against his circumstances, he could take a stand against his fear of heights, he could take a stand against his disability or his disfigurement, he could take a stand against his problems or his opposition, he could take a stand against people that were trying to murder his teacher.

The legend says, that he passed the pond and he looked down and he saw his reflection. What did he notice? He noticed that he had no disfigurement on him. That disfigurement was an illusion. He realized that it was in his heart. He realized that he was controlled by the fear, controlled by the many, many people who had said, "You are disfigured, you can't do anything. You're never going to amount to much". He had started believing that, and he realized that he was never free from those thoughts, free from those curses. But once he realized that through standing firm, standing for something, standing to protect his teacher, standing to be loyal and be a person of integrity, he realized that all these illusions melted away.

Brothers and sisters, it's the same in our life. We have to know that when we don't stand up to our fears, our circumstances, our disabilities, when we let those things scare us out of our God given potential, we are like the disfigured Sudhana. But when we believe in ourselves, when we say "Hey! Wait a minute! God has given me a promise to fulfill, He's given me great dreams and those dreams give me the talents to fulfill them," then we know we can make a difference and then we are like the wise, the enlightened, the healthy Sudhana that we see in this legend.

You see, right now, brothers and sisters, it's the same with our church. The Unification Church now is making a stand. We're making a stand; we're saying, "We're not going to disappear." Tell your neighbor, "We're not going to disappear", come on, tell your neighbor, "We're not going to disappear!" (Audience is doing it) There we go!

You see, when we came first to church, when we first came to minister here in Mapo Church, we had a sign on the church. It said, "Culture of Heart Center or Family Movement Center!" But you know what? We realized we have to make a stand; we have to be proud that we are the Unification tradition, we are Unificationists. We're not just doing a Culture of Heart Center or we're not just doing a Family Movement Center. We are Unification Movement. We're Unification tradition, we have a tradition, we are a religious tradition. And we have to have pride in that tradition.

When we were at Mapo Church, two ladies, two guests came in, came into the church because they saw the sign "Family Movement Center" and they thought maybe, "Oh! OK maybe we can learn about how to improve our family life or whatever. This might be a government sponsored organization or whatever." They came in and found out that it was the Unification Church! And then they immediately left. They left!

Why did they leave? See, by not being upfront about who we were, they felt deceived, that we're using some kind of ploy to get them into the church. We're not proud; we're hiding who we are. We're not sharing who we are upfront, we're not saying, "I am from the Unification Church and this is what we believe and I'm proud of it." We're not saying that. We're hiding behind a veil. And so what happened? These people just walked out. They said, "Ooh! I feel deceived. I don't want to get into this."

You know, brothers and sisters, we really believe that it is time to resurrect our pride again. It is time to rediscover our faith; it is time to rediscover the tradition, what no other tradition has ever done in the course of humankind. We are the most successful religious tradition while the founder is alive. Give it up for the Unification Chutch. Come on (Applause). Our attitude should be like this, "I respect who I am and I respect my tradition, that's mine! That's not anybody else's, that's mine! And if you don't respect it that's your choice but you don't bother me because I'm going to keep growing in it. And I'm going to keep putting those roots down and I'm going to keep passing it down to my children." We have to be proud in who we are, brothers and sisters.

And I see this. I see its happening. I see it; I feel it in the churches. I feel it; even the second generation is making a stand. They decide, "Do you know what! Enough is enough. I'm sick and tired of hiding my Unification Church identity! I am tired of being persecuted, having my children be persecuted at school. I'm tired of it! I'm tired of bending the pressure of negative people; I'm tired of it! I don't want that anymore. I'm going to stand for who I am. I'm going to fight the good fight of faith. I am an Unificationist."

You see, every week that we are out here, and we're giving joy and glory to God, what are we saying? We're saying, "We're not disappearing." We're making a stand every week that we're out here. When we are sending those praises up, when we're singing the glory to God, we're saying, "the Unification Church is here to stay!" Let's say it to your neighbor, "the Unification Church is here to stay!" Tell your neighbor. (Doing it!)

You see, every week when we do that, we're telling the enemy, "You can't scare us, you can't oppress us. You can't get rid of us. You may want to. You may want to mock us; you may try to laugh at us. You may try to say, we are going to melt away into oblivion, but we're not going to listen to that. Thank you very much. We're going to be proud of who we are and we're joyous. We are happy about who we are."

And brothers and sisters, when we show that kind of confidence, when we show that kind of power, when we show that kind of strength from the inside, then something happens to people when they see that. People will say, "Hey! Wait a minute; these people have something I don't. These people have more confidence I ever assumed. Wow! These people! I thought the Unification Church was dead. I thought the church was dying." But what do they see? Now they see the resurrection of the the Unification Church! Brothers and sisters, let's give it up for the Unification Church all around the world. Let's give it up for them. (Applause) Those are our brothers and sisters all around the world.

But so many people may say, "But if I take a stand, people will make fun of me, they're going to mock me. It's going to be hard. It's going to be difficult in my life!" Brothers and sisters don't ever let insecure people try to scare you out of your destiny, out of your amazing potential. Don't be a doormat to some insecure person! Your destiny is not to be a doormat so that insecure people can feel confident about themselves. That is not why God put you on this earth. He put you here to do something great. He put you here with those dreams to do something amazing. He put you on this earth to make a difference and that's we're going to stand for.

"See, but what if I stand, what if I fall down, if I am going to fail? If I stand up everybody will be able to see me, I'll be so nervous. I may fall; I may not be able to do what I stood up to do." But brothers and sisters just understand this: By the fact of you standing, you are already becoming more victorious than yesterday. By the fact of you just rising and saying, "I'm going to take a stand. I'm no longer going to be a doormat to that co-worker. I'm no longer going to be a doormat to that person who feels insure about himself. I'm not going to be a doormat to that situation anymore. I'm not going to let the enemy laugh at me anymore."

When we make that kind of stand, brothers and sisters, we're already becoming stronger, we're already changing our mentality, we're taking off our grave clothes and putting on the victory cloth. And we're saying, "You know what? In this year 2009, in all my life, I'm going to see God's blessings today and forever. I will walk through the shadows of the valley of death with confidence but I will see my promise because God said that He would fulfill them for me." When we have that kind of confidence then we move forward with strength and victory. That is inspiring, brothers and sisters!

Think about it, in True Father's life, when you look at his life we can see him taking a stand for what he believes. All the time he stands up for what he believes. He takes a stand even in the midst of tremendous opposition. When True Father was imprisoned in the North Korean communist camp, he took a stand for God. He said, "You may not believe in God. You may be a country that defies God saying, 'He doesn't exist, He's unnecessary, religion is useless, it's a poison.' You may be those kinds of people but I'm going to fight for God. I'm going to fight for religious freedom." He took that stand. He was imprisoned in that kind of communist nation but he took that stand at the cost of his life.

When he was left for dead, when he was blooded and beaten, thrown naked onto the snow after torture, he took a stand for God, never giving up, never giving in to evil, never giving in so that the enemy can win. When he was thrown into Hungnam concentration camp, he was in despair, total misery but he took a stand. He took a stand for compassion, he shared his food with his inmates, he gave them compassion when they had no hope. He raised away their despair and gave them something to live for, a purpose that they were able to connect to.

When he was unfairly thrown in Danbury prison, he took a stand for religious freedom. Did you know that when Father was in Danbury prison, every day he volunteered to clean the toilet and the urinals? He volunteered to be the best prisoner on the block. "I was persecuted and I was put into prison but I'm going to stand up for religious freedom. Even though I was unjustly persecuted, I'm going to go to the lowest area. I'm going to clean the urinals; I'm going to be the best prisoner." What happened? Those guards, they ended up respecting him. They ended up saying, "You know, that Rev. Moon is a real deal. He's no fake."

When the 11 ton helicopter fell from the sky in 2008, when it was incinerated in the ashes and exploded in the fire inferno, what did Father do with all those 11 passengers, including my 2 kids? What did they do? They stood up. They stood up from the ashes. They were resurrected! Brothers and sisters, let's give it up for God and True Parents! They did the real resurrection. (Applauding)

See, we're talking about that today. We're talking about making a stand in our life. We're talking about believing in something, connecting ourselves to a larger purpose. We're talking about being confident in our life. We're talking about being proud of who God made us to be.

Brothers and sisters, in 2009 let's know that we will have to make a stand at points. There will be times when there will be obstacles. There will be archangels that come in your path, tell you you can't do it, tell you it's only going to get worse, tell you you're going to fail even more, tell you, you you're not going to be able to achieve that goal, you're too idealistic, you're totally unrealistic, you are not thinking realistically, etc. You're going to hear all these kinds of things. You'll going to have opposition. You're going to have circumstances in your life that are going to try to convince you that you're not going to make it, that you're not going to be able to reach God's promise.

But let us know that we have to make a stand in our lives. When the fears try to come and try to steal our joy, we have to make a stand, saying, "You know what? In 2009 I'm not going to let you steal my joy. You stole my joy too many times last year. I will not let you steal my joy this time. 2009 is going to be victory for me, victory for my family, victory for my community, victory for my church." See, we've got to be like this.

"But the economy may get worse, our situation may get bad!" You turn on KBS, turn on CNN, it's all gloom and doom, despair and misery. "It's going to be worse and worse." Brothers and sisters, if you keep listening to that, you will start believing every single ounce of it.

Brothers and sisters, you've got to have strength in yourself. You've got to say, "You know what? Even though that may be the case I'm still going to praise God through this season. I know that this may be a cold winter but I know that spring is around the corner. I'm going to keep believing, set my eyes on faith, set my eyes on the blooming of spring, set my eyes on the beautiful flowers that are going to come in that beautiful garden and I'm going to move through this winter with faith. I'm going to move through this winter with strength. I'm going to make a stand for myself and my family."

Brothers and sisters, we've got to have that kind of strength. When we may be tempted to fall into fear of failure, fear of destruction, fear of other people, when other people try to get you down, we have to make a stand this year, brothers and sisters. God is on our side. And I heard it like this, "When God is on your side, you are the majority." Brothers and sisters, let's tell the person next to you, "God is on my side." Tell that person! Let's proclaim it! (All say it)

See, brothers and sisters, let's realize that we may be mocked, we maybe taunted, "These Unificationists, they are crazy, they're trying to go to the world stage. They think that with their little religion they're trying to go to the world stage, trying to create a World Temple. They're trying to get world attention." You know, when we hear things like that we've got to say, "I'm making a stand! In 2009 I'm making a stand!"

We're proud of who we are. We have a great tradition. We're the most successful religion in all of history while the founder is alive. There is no religion that has succeeded this much and we are proud of who we are. We're not going to be proud one thousand years later when everything is good. We're proud of who we are despite the opposition. We're proud of who we are despite of our circumstance. We're proud of who we are despite of where we are at this time in history. But we know that it's going to get better. We know we're going to have victory. We know we're going to have illumination, we know we're going to have peace. Hallelujah! Oh my God! Oh my goodness!!! (Applause) We know we're not going to disappear. Tell your neighbor, "I'm not disappearing!" Tell your neighbor, "I'm not going to disappear!" (They do) Oh my goodness!

Brothers and sisters, let's remember, when the enemy tries to scare you this year, when he tries to bring out the worst in you, when he tries to make you doubt your family, doubt your children, doubt your circumstances, doubt your finances, you tell him, "No, no, no honey! Not this year! 2009 I'm going to be victorious. 2009 I'm going to bring greater glory to God!"

If you accept this message, let's give it up for God and True Parents, brothers and sisters. (Applause) If we live like that we will find ourselves with more victory, more illumination and more peace and we will live that blessed life, being a greater blessing to this world. 

World Leaders Conference Address

Hyung Jin Moon
January 1, 2009
Cheon-shim Youth Center, Chung Pyung, Korea

We started at Mapo Church, a small church in Korea. Every time Father asked me to do some other responsibility, at Mapo Church, the Headquarters Church and then to be the International President, every time Father asked me to do something new, I continued to ask him one constant question: “Father, what shall I do next?” And it’s very interesting to see that Father’s answer has been quite consistent. Ever since we started at Mapo Church moving to Headquarters Church as Father was asking us to take on a larger role. Even after every single one of those events I asked Father. And his response was very simple, he said: “Continue to give cheon seong.” I think that’s a very important secret, I would say.

You know, we have many different theories about why the movement is not growing or is not developing as we would like. We have many different ideas and we are wrestling with them, too. You know, here in Korea as we develop going to church in Korea we are wrestling with all of these issues. Things like developing new witnessing strategies, new organizational structures, transparent financial management. So these kind of things we’ve been developing here in Korea.

At the same time, we can get very caught up in the systematic of the church development. That’s very important, we have to be very systematic and rational in a way when we think about church development. That’s one of the things we always try to do. And especially we are so grateful to Kook Jin Nim because he has such an incredible systematic organizational mind and so many years of experience in running organizations. So he has so much insight. And strategies for development have come out of either his genius or his TFT task force teams he has created to make different proposals for better church growth.

So we have a lot of different things that we deal with on the ground because we run the church from the ground, you know, we have many things that have to be tested. So whether it is home group method or new witnessing strategies methods being brought into Japan. We are wrestling with all those practical issues how to actually grow the church, increase membership, sustain membership, care for membership etc.

These things are very important for the development of the church. I know that you are very concerned about and interested in this. But at the same time we have to remember that we are a spiritual organization, you know, we are a spiritual movement. We have to develop the practical organizational systems, those things are critical because they provide us the safeties, the safeties from organizational trouble, you know, things like that, they prevent organizational disasters or catastrophes.

The systems help us continue to move the church as a movement in a way that is always developing. So the systems are very important. But at the same time we do have to recall that fundamentally we are a spiritual tradition and that spiritual tradition is rooted in the devotional life. And that’s what Father has constantly told me, ever since I took any kind of responsibility I have always asked Father: what shall I do? And you know, he could have said many things, he could have said: you know, focus on this, focus on that, focus on education, focus on young people education, focus on witnessing, focus on these kind of things which of course. But he specifically told me to continue to give Cheon Seong.

If you understand the world Cheon Seong, you know, it has a very deep meaning. It’s a character that embodies the word, you know on the left the radical on the left this is the word, and then on the right is the radical for becoming or actualization. So it really is a substantialization of what Father has been teaching.

It seams very vague. Many times as we get into church development and structures and how to make it more efficient -- those things are critical. But at the same time when we get into it we may actually start to believe that it’s less important to do an authentically religious life. That maybe is maybe third or fourth on the importance list. Creating structures, the important molds and methods are really the science of religion. But we have to remember that religion of course has scientific method, it does have different methods and we study those methods in different traditions, we can study them, we can see them in operation. But religion also has something beyond any of those structures and that is the spiritual, it is something that is not categorizable, but it is something that is real in our lives and every healthy religious tradition has it that’s vibrant and that’s alive.

For myself, you know we start our day training every morning at 2:30 am. We do devotional practice, go to the mountain, meditate and pray up there, do recitations up there, bows etc. And so we start our day up there because it’s one of the most fundamental things in positions of leadership.

I believe as a religious leadership to continue to lead a religious life, to live a fundamentally religious life that is of course not only the external, but truly trying to rid oneself of the trappings of what can happen once we take on positions of power or leadership. And watching oneself and analyzing oneself you know meditating on oneself and sort of emptying, you know we see this in the Christian tradition conosis, emptying of oneself.

I believe a is really a very important aspect of religious leadership, an important role to play, because out of that emptying comes humility and the practice of humility, the attempt of living a sacrificial life and those things, nobody is perfect, but that attempt to practice those things comes out of a fundamental posture that we have in terms of our own life and our own attitude towards our faith. So for me that’s one of the most central things.

If we have a specialization, we specialize there and we are really trying to focus on keeping that center that True Father has given us, you know keeping the sincerity and the heart. And the sincerity in this context I am using very loosely, but not in the traditional sense, sort of an attitude in our heart, but it goes more than that. Sincerity in this context actually goes on to physical action, so it actually goes on to physical religious practice or devotional offering, actualization of religious principles into life. It actually has a very action-oriented meaning into this context. So please, when I use sincerity I use it very loosely, but that’s I am always including that element as well.

Some of the things that have happened in the Korean church is that in the last about 5 years, Father asked Kook Jin hyung to come to Korea and to actually start taking a look at the businesses that we are working in Korea. So there were bad businesses by the dozens and Kook Jin Nim came, he had to restructure a lot of these organizations. The business group was at a yearly loss of a hundred million dollars per year, that was what was happening. And the subsidies of course were coming from our Japanese movement. And so Kook Jin Hyung made some major restructure plans. He made very hard decisions.

Within three years he turned that from a hundred million dollar loss to a business group that is making 50 million dollars in profit. So that’s a phenomenal chance, that’s a really amazing change. That’s a first in our church. He focused on the real results and results over popularities, one of his principles that he uses all the time. I am sure all of you have probably heard some of the principles that he always uses. I mention that because that started a huge catalyst in the movement. It started a catalyst to start actually focusing practically and to focus rationally and not theorize but make result and that was a huge catalyst, I believe, in our church.

He made that kind of a big revolutionary change that has not been seen in the organizations whether business or church related. When we came here and started the ministry and Father asked us to take on bigger responsibilities then you know, Kook Jin hyung also helped us with the TFT team, director Cho was also involved in and some of the World Mission Department were also involved very closely. And we implemented a whole church restructuring plan in Korea. We had the first elections for regional directors in Korea. That was the first in our church. Usually we have, as you know, mandated leadership. But it was the first time where actually the ministers chose who would be their best leader. And that was a very important step I believe in empowering Unificationists.

One of the foremost things, you know, we always try to focus on is the empowerment of the people, empowerment of our members, it’s very important. If you have an empowered people and citizenship then you have an empowered nation, you have a very positive nation. One of the things we try to do whenever we get authority is that we give it away. That’s one of the things we did e.g. in Pun Bok Do Headquarters Church. We had the first elections for our women’s ministry. The women’s ministry is actually taking on very important roles in the church, you know it’s really the age of women in the church and we are very happy to see women rising up in leadership. The women leaders were elected by the women in the congregation. No men were present in that election, but the women were elected by the women in the congregation. Then we have teams that they work with. They work with the ministers in different teams.

What we are doing here is that we are giving away our authority. At Headquarters Church of course I can have the authority to chose which leaders I want to put there. If I want to put this woman minister in charge of the woman ministry I can chose her, okay I would like you to be there, could you please do that? But one of the things that we really think is important is letting go of authority in leadership, learning to let go of authority, learning to delegate, learning to give power to our members. And that’s very important because as we have a membership that feels included and feels like they are part of the path and creating a new history for the church then that creates a new, a very powerful energy.

That’s what we did. We empowered the members. We gave them the ability to chose the leaders. And they chose the exact people that we wanted to be in leadership, the members as a group chose every single person. So because of that we have tremendous confidence in allowing the membership to have a larger say in church growth and also in how the church is developing. And that’s what we have done. Practically we’ve tried to do that in every single aspect. For example Kook Jin Nim has brought his team in. Now all the church donations are managed professionally by a professional financial management team. None of the church donations are touched.

Ministers actually don’t even touch the donations. And this is a very important tradition, if you look at other traditions as well. If you look at other traditions in the world, Buddhism, some forms of Catholicism. Some of the priests and nuns won’t actually handle money, that’s part of their practice. There has to be a separation between the use of finances. We created a transparent system so that the members can actually see. We report to the members every month on every single financial detail. And that’s done by our financial management head. He gives a report to the membership. They can clearly see to every single last penny where it is used and where it is being spent. And that kind of transparent financial management also empowers the membership because it gives them insight and awareness into where the organization is moving, investing in and where it is that the organization is using their hard-earned devotions. These are some of the things that have been done.

We have also been working with a new witnessing program. We have also been working with home group systems that you see in large protestant churches. Some of these things are being adjusted by now to fit into our context. We have many many different things. My point is here that it’s like a laboratory. I have had many many people come up to me that asked me: Hyung Jin Nim, when will you come up to our nation? I am always so sorry because I would love to come to every nation, I would like to duplicate my body in a kind of magic.

And I am always so sorry, we would love to be able to go round and things, but I kind of try to explain like this: If we are trying to create something that will be like a medicine for a certain problem, then before that medicine goes into production and spreads around the whole world, we have to first test it to make sure it works. We have to make sure first that the medicine when delivered creates a predictable response. Of course, this is not exactly like medicine, so there is a little flexibility here but the general analogy is that we have to also test these methods.

We don’t want to only work in theory, we don’t want to work with some of the methods and theories we have, we want to practice them and see that we have the desired outcome. So that’s really why we focus why I have been focusing always at headquarters church. I have also been asked to travel around the country in Korea, please speak to our different churches in Korea, but I have also said the same thing. I could have gone around and spoke about a new service culture, a new worship service style, a new church organization that should develop and help to promote the church. I could have talked about it, but it really wouldn’t have any weight.

So what we did at first, we just focused and we continue to focus on the ground, on the frontline so to speak. Actually dealing with people, trying to witness to them, trying to help them understand True Parents and also make the commitment to become a Unificationist. On the frontline we learn a lot of things, we learn that some methods don’t work and learn that some methods do work. That is why we are in the process of creating many many different types of systems that we are trying to use and actualize from and make an outcome that can be somewhat predictable and what it is we are searching for.

A rational, an analytical approach to church development is very important, it’s very critical. Because without the rational mind, without the intellect, we would be very shaky. We understand that we have a heartistic, emotional, intellectual, will portion that also resembles God. Thus taking out the intellectual portion is a very big mistake. Of course we approach things very rationally. We try to approach witnessing strategy or small group care strategy etc. very rationally. That has to be done.

At the same time it is also important to constantly remember that these are like wings of a bird, you know, the rational approach, systematic approach as well as the continuation of authentic spirituality so that when people actually encounter the movement they don’t just encounter an organization. They encounter a real spirituality or culture of spirituality, that’s very important because when you look at religious conversion rates we see in religious studies, people convert to different religions when they are in their twenties and when they are in their forties to fifties. And we can see that they convert in their early ages when they are in their twenties and in college age mainly due to intellectual reasons. If there is a certain philosophy or teaching, intellectually stimulating and making sense, it’s something they would like to participate in.

We see that kind of conversion in young people, but when you look at the other demography of people who convert when they are older, when they are in their forties and fifties, it’s not intellectual. They are looking more for a community, they are looking for a place to raise their children, a trustable environment to safely raise a family, etc. etc. So it’s more emotional. That is not to say you take out the intellect, which is still a big portion of it. But nonetheless in many of the things that we are working on we are trying to apply many of the informations that we learn on the ground and see how it actually affects and works in the actual field.

With that being said I really want to focus the discussion on the importance of the devotional side of the picture. We have a lot of excitement that is developing because of the different changes in the church that are offering more flexibility for the membership and also more empowerment to the membership so that they want to witness and bring members etc. At the same time it really becomes the responsibility of our leadership to really offer a deep and continuing spiritual environment. This is really critical, because even in our church we are finding this in the headquarters church because we have a whole group of ministry teams and we have ministers that focus on for example spiritual discipline, we have other ministers that focus on management, managing their groups under them.

What we found is that ministers who actually focus more on spiritual devotion actually inspire the people under them more. So we found that the women leaders underneath them want to bring people to them, want to introduce people to this sort of minister who is serious and continually practices spiritual life. When that is not present we found that the people under them have more reluctance to bring people to them. They don’t have as much confidence when they bring people to those leaders. I feel that’s a very key sign, that’s very important because as a religious organization, a religious tradition which we are, we have a theology, we have ritual, we have everything that a religion has.

It is very important for a religious leader to focus on the spiritual, devotional life. That is very key. It’s actually, I would say, Father’s secret, and that’s the thing that he’s been constant in telling every time I’ve asked him. He has always said: “Give Cheon Seong.” We have delegated the other responsibilities like financial management or the allocation of the women’s ministry, which has many different ministries. Within headquarters church we have 23 different women leaders leading different women witnessing ministries. They are able to decide how to use their groups’ assets. We don’t try to control them. They try to make the decisions to do that, we have given them the authority to do that.

One of the principles that I have always tried to work with is, if Father gives me more responsibility, I try to give more away. If we are able to trust the members more, give them more empowerment, we found that it actually stimulates a very positive environment. We found that when we give more authority to the women ministers and let them decide what strategies they want to use for witnessing, trying different methods, when we give them that freedom then they are the ones that come up with methods that work, don’t work, then change methods and be accountable as the people who are making decisions. And that is a great win for us because it helps us to focus on the devotional practice. We are also developing that with the elder ministers here in Korea who have retired from ministry.

There are many things that are happening in the church organization. But the thing that I really want to emphasize is that Father’s secret is very simple. For us the church is developing in a way that it is becoming more systematic in the future. We do believe that the church will become more transparent, more accountable. It’ll be more clear. The membership will know, will have more information about the church, and that’s very good, that’s very positive, very important. The membership will also have more say in who their leaders are. You know we are very positive about doing elections. We’ve already done that in the Korean church, we always encourage that in all the different nations to create election systems, to create places where you empower members, give them strength, give them authority.

When we do that it helps us spiritually, because as spiritual leaders we have to be in a practice of giving away the authority, not clinging, not attaching to power. It is very important because that helps us to stay spiritually pure, to stay spiritually clean and spiritually we can practice more that way, too. So ridding ourselves of that kind of things is actually a great win for the leaders but allowing the participation of members, we definitely see that trend is continuing, a very positive trend for the unification tradition.

All that happening I really want to emphasize and try to make clear, because Father has been very clear about it. As we do church growth and systematics and organization systems and all that stuff is to really continue the religious life. I really believe that that has to continue to be taken seriously. I have lived with monastics, I have lived with monks and priests of different traditions and I deeply respect them because their whole focus is about the spiritual aspect or dimension of their church or of their particular tradition. And I believe there is a very inspirational power there. There is something to say about when religious leaders really do focus very strongly on the spiritual aspect, make that a huge, make that a very high priority on the list.

Even if we are looking at big protestant churches that are growing and I know that many people around the world in our tradition are studying protestant churches that are growing, the real successful ones, if you look at their minister and their pastoral team, they are very spiritual people, they are extremely into devotion, they are extremely into fasting, they are extremely into spiritual practice. It is the central part of their success.

If you look at any of the big, protestant churches as well, we don’t just see managers. We do see real importance placed on the spiritual aspect of the religious leadership. If you study small group theory, one of the things that they caution is people who think church is only management. One small group expert gave an example of a businessman, a marketing expert who decided that he was going to make a church and make a very successful church. And he said, he failed utterly, he failed terribly because he understood the system, he understood the marketing and how to present things to people but he didn’t understand that church is fundamentally a religious organization and it has to inspire people religiously.

It has to give people a spiritual nourishment. Thus the result of that particular individual was an abysmal failure. One of the things that they caution all of the time even in small group method: don’t think there is some kind of scientific method that is separate from spiritual, religiously path and that a church can actually grow that way. It cannot. A church must have at the center a religious movement, must have at the center a fundamentally religious lifestyle, practice, devotional setting. Is very obvious to everybody but it’s actually something that can be very quickly forgotten when you are actually on the ground trying to implement strategies. It can be very quickly put into the background.

I really do hope that in the next couple of days we are going to be discussing a lot of things. We have some great speakers, not only speakers, but people who have been making phenomenal results in Korea. Some of our leaders will be speaking to you in the next couple of days, just excellent individuals who are focusing on really creating glory for True Parents, creating tangible result. And so many of the speakers that you will hear from are people who are doing that and have done that and continue to do so.

I do hope that the next couple of days are illuminating. I hope that everybody does not have the expectation that once you hear the next lectures in the next two days you’ll go back to your country and everything will be solved and you’ll all have booming churches. That’s not going to happen. But we hope that at least you understand the direction in which our church development is going. At the same time the focus lies on bringing our roots with us, bringing our spirits with us as well, not forsaking the whole flower including the root just for the flower head.

We hope that the next few days are illuminating, that they are hopeful in understanding the larger providence. Particularly we will be focusing on Cheon Bok Gung providence. We’ll be focusing on the world temple, and we’ll be focusing on many of the different aspects of the world temple that are actually very, very practical aspects. At the same time we have to also remember that the world temple it is a temple. It’s not an apartment building, it’s a temple. It is an actual place of religious practice and devotion. And as we understand the very practical elements of it, please always remember that we are very serious in the substantialization of the world temple as really the continuation of the spiritual root of our tradition in the fatherland.

There are many inspiring stories and things that we will be sharing in the next couple of days. I do hope that you will enjoy them, that you will find them illuminating and please forgive us for not visiting all your countries, we are always praying for your countries. We are always praying for the different continents, but we also understand we want to be responsible, we want to be accountable and that is to say we want to first make the right combination of things that do work, that do promote healthy church growth. We want to make sure that it works in the lab, so to speak, before it gets out and creates disasters. So we want to always make sure that the right combination of things are helpful and that they are promoting healthy church growth and that they are truly promoting a place wherein our movement becomes the substantialization of the ideas that we have been always desiring. Of course, no system is perfect and no person of course is so, but we are working on it and I think that’s a very important step in honing some of the methods and things like that.

That being said I’d like to just close by saying once again thank you all for coming. We are very happy to have you here. Please in the next couple of days when it does become True Father’s birthday, let us really celebrate with them and give them really the glory that they deserve. We hope that this glory continues on and that it shines throughout every single member of your country.

We really want the focus to be on letting the members shine, letting new members shine, letting people who join our movement shine. And when we do that as leaders, when we take the lower position and we let the members shine, that’s when we are elevated forever. That is what Father has always been teaching us. We really do believe that Cheon Seong devotion is the key. Father has always focused on that. Let us not forget it and let us always keep it in our heart, in our core.

Thank you so much, brothers and sisters.

Let us pray. 

The Power of Grace

Hyung Jin Moon
December 27, 2008
Headquarters Church
Chungpadong, Seoul, Korea
Transcribed by: Pamela Stein
Edited by: Bruno Klotz

Welcome Remarks:
Yeon Ah nim:

Good afternoon, brothers and sisters! (Good Afternoon). Thank you! We are welcoming all of you in the sanctuary today. In 2008 so many things happened and I don't know how fast 2008 past by but one thing I know is that whatever happened in this year was God's grace and happiness and True Parents' love. And I believe that there will be more blessing and more love in 2009 for all of us.

Brothers and sisters, we deeply appreciate your support and love for our ministry and we will do our best in 2009. And remember, a great, great 2009 is ahead of us. AJU!

Hyung Jin Nim:

Brothers and sisters let's give it up for 2009! Let's give it up! It's going to be the best year yet.

I want to share with you from Cheon Seong Gyung page 531 today. Father says, "By centering on love and through love, God and humankind become one. This is because they both absolutely need love. And what kind of love does God need? He wants absolute love. And what about you? It is the same for us. Just like God, all of us need that absolute, that unique, that unchanging and eternal love. We must all resemble God in this way."

Brothers and sisters, I want to always bring our attention back to that. Of course, the great Saint Paul said that without love all the faith in the world, even as great as to move mountains, is nothing.

And True Father always teaches us that in our lives it's so important to appreciate and validate and to nourish those relationships that are filled with love. It's so important to understand that when we give into those relationships we receive back ten times more. And that when we nourish those relationships that not only they nourish us back but they nourish all the people that are connected to that relationship.

Father is always teaching us the Four Great Realms of Heart, the relationship of parents and children, of brothers and sisters, and of husband and wife. These are powerful relationships through which the power of the love of God can be communicated.

Brothers and sisters, during this Christmas season and New Year it's so important to always remember that, as we're now passing by 2008, it was a great Year. Let's give it up for 2008! Come on, it was a great year! (Applause) We have a lot of victories. We have a lot of things that we overcame together.

Brothers and sisters, and I do believe that 2009 is going to be better. Some experts tell you that the economy is getting worse and it's going to all get worse and all of us will be in trouble. And we can listen to that, or maybe we can believe that, but in some point we have to turn that off and say, "I'm going to believe in the better future for me. I'm going to believe in a better day! And I am going to fill up my heart with hope because without hope I'm going to be nothing! And without hope the enemy is going to look at me and he's going to be laughing. So I'm going to keep my heart filled with joy and laughter, and during this Christmas Season and beyond I'm going to bring that to 2009, and I'm going to have my best year yet!"

This is the attitude that we should be taking into 2009, brothers and sisters. When we do that we will bring that absolute, that eternal, that unchanging love that Father is talking about, into our lives into our relationships, into our finances, brothers and sisters, we’re going to do it all. And I see that all of you are going to have a great 2009. We're going to be more victorious, we're going to be more mature. We going to have more things that we overcome together and we will have more joy and laughter every single day. If you believe that, let's give it up for God, brothers and sisters. (Applause)

Once again I want to always remind you, brothers and sisters, that when we come to service that we always need to start with the right mind set. It's always so important to focus and meditate on the way God looks at us, as opposed to the way we may even look at ourselves. When we look at ourselves we see that we're not perfect, we're not adequate sometimes. We make mistakes; we say the wrong things at times.

Brothers and sisters, we have to know that each day we can grow, each day we can get better, and when God looks at us He always sees hope and potential. And so we want to always start with the Principle view. The Principle viewpoint is that when God sees us, He sees us with divine value, unique value and unchanging value. He sees His children as those whom He's been waiting for thousands and thousands of years. That's the preciousness that He sees within us. So we have got to believe that, we have got to know that we have it on the inside, and we have to develop it so that it comes true.

Brothers and sisters, once again welcome to our service. Let's give the glory and joy that we will receive today. Let's sing those songs of praise. When we sing praise, when we sing those praises, they go up and blessings come down. When we inspire God and give Him the “kamdong” (move His emotions) that brings blessings down. That's inspires Him and He pushes angels out of the way to just come down here. He wants to come down here and be amongst us. Brothers and sisters, let's invite Him. Let's have a great service. Return the glory to Him and True Parents. Once again, welcome.

Interesting Story:

I heard an interesting story. A couple went to the doctor to get a checkup. After the husband's checkup, the doctor called the wife into his office alone. He said, "Madame, your husband is suffering from a very severe stress disorder. It could take his life. If you don't do the following, your husband will surely die. This is what you must do: each morning you must fix him a healthy breakfast, be pleasant at all times, for lunch make him a nutritious meal, for dinner prepare an especially nice meal for him, don't burden him with any chores, don't discuss your problems with him, no nagging, it will only make his stress worse. If you can do this for the next 10 months to a year, I think your husband will regain his health completely."

On the way home the husband asked his wife, "Honey, what did the doctor say to you? He said he had something serious to say." She replied, "He said that you're going to die." Laughter

Main Sermon by Hyung Jin Nim:

We have to understand that in living the blessed life one of the keys is to understand that we have the power of the grace of God, that God's grace is a phenomenal power in our lives. It's not a passive thing that we receive; it is an amazing power in our lives. God's grace gives us the power to overcome great obstacles, it gives us the power to overcome and move through challenges that we never dreamed we could move through. It gives us hope when we have fallen into hopelessness and despair. God's grace is one of the greatest power we can have in our lives.

Brothers and sisters, let's look at some of the world scriptures. Let's look at Christianity in I Corinthians, "God is faithful and He will not let you be tempted beyond your strength but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it." You see again, God never gives us a temptation or a challenge that's too big for us to handle. This is what the Scripture is saying. He never gives us a challenge without giving us a way to escape it, to get beyond it and be victorious and overcome.

Brothers and Sisters take a look at the Islamic tradition, the Koran, "God is the best to take care of man, and He is the most merciful of those who show mercy. You may have grace in your life, you may receive grace from your parents, your spouse, friends and teachers, but there is no one above the grace of God." That's the teaching here. In our lives, it is so important to understand the power and the greatness and the vastness of God's grace and that it is present and that it is alive in our lives.

Let's take a look at Buddhism, Lotus Sutra, 5th verse, "I appear in the word like unto this great cloud to pour enrichment on all living beings." Again, the grace of the Divine is pouring enrichment on all living beings.

Let's look at our True Father's words, ”Why did God create religion? To give us grace, but we cannot receive it for free. We have to fulfill the condition of dedicating our lives more than even a king does. We receive God's grace as the result of establishing such a condition. If you have experienced the life of prayer you can understand this. Through prayer life you can receive the greatest energy."

We were just talking about this today, in the beginning of the service, when we said, "When we send those praises up God sends that grace down." We have to do something; we can't just sit around passively waiting, “God when is my grace going to come, when is my dream going to come to pass? God you promised me this, you promised me this potential, why isn't it coming to pass?"

Brothers and sisters, it never works that way. We always have to be on the offensive side, we have to be moving forward, we have to move actively towards God's grace, we have to be sending those praises up, shouting hallelujah in times of difficulty, etc. That's when we catch God's attention.

When I was young I actually believed that I had no limitations in my physical body. What I understood through going through many ordeals is that I DO have limitations. When we don't eat we perish, when we don't breathe we perish. We have limitations as a physical being. We have limitations in our body, even in our intellect and our thought processes. Once we understand that we are not omnipotent, that we can't create the entire universe as God does, then we understand that we have to lean on Him for some strength. Sometimes I can't handle it alone, sometimes I feel too weak to overcome some circumstance and obstacles and I have to rely on God. I have to say, “God please help me. God I still believe in You, get me through this valley. Show me a way through these shadows so I can find a way to Your light."

In my own life, in practicing martial arts or sports, I always thought I can just train my body to reach this incredible level of invincibility. But I realized that this is totally false. I injured myself so many times. I realized that the physical body has limits. Especially when my brother Young Jin Nim passed away, it was a big thing for my entire family. We realized that life doesn't go on forever, that our physical life has a limit. There are limitations on our life span, on our age. We can go anytime.

But instead of looking at that and saying, "Dread and doom, doom and gloom, terrible, terrible," putting on my grave clothes, going around in the graves, we decided to take off the grave clothes and put on the praise clothes. We realized that it is more important to be grateful for the people who are around, that it is more important to live a more meaningful life, to share, to help others while we're moving through life. Even though the time is short, so what? It's worth it. It's worth it, it's enriching, it's amazing. God gives us this incredible blessing, maybe just a second, maybe just a year, maybe 10 years. But God gives us that incredible moment.

When I studied religion and practiced spiritual training, etc, I realized that I wasn't doing it alone. Lots of times I had to fight and muster up strength in myself alone and get through those obstacles, but I realized that a lot of the great teaching of True Father, of the great teachings of the world's religions, gave me tremendous inspiration. They gave me tremendous strength and hope. They gave me grace; True Father's words gave me grace in those times of struggle.

In high school most of my friends were African-American, mostly coming from the Gospel tradition. We don't see that kind of Gospel spirit here in Korea. In the Gospel tradition, praise music is one of the most central practices. It's not just singing. It's a spiritual practice. Why is that?

One African-American minister explained it like this, "Praising God especially during bad times is a weapon. It's a weapon of peace. When the devil is coming against you, then the praise confuses him. It confounds him. It sends him into oblivion. He doesn't know what to do."

If you go into a black gospel church you will hear the minister singing. It's called 'whoopology' and it's a type of ministering practice and style. You will see the black minister singing (Hyung Jin Nim sings), "Hallelujah, God is Good! He is good all the time! Somebody say hallelujah! I am victorious in God! I know God loves me! He loved me yesterday, He will love me tomorrow, and God loves me, heyyyyy!" (Lots of cheers from audience)

You will hear that kind of praise music in the gospel tradition. You have to understand that this is like a practice. It's actively challenging the opposition. The minister said this, "When we're in a situation it is so easy to get down on ourselves, to think, ‘I can't get through this, God, I’m never going to do this. I don't have the talents to do this.' That's when they start dancing and the Holy Ghost comes down. It's an incredible atmosphere in there. When the enemy sees you and you're happy in the midst of the ordeal, the enemy says, 'What's wrong with this man? What's wrong with the woman? She's lost her mind! She should be crying, she should be sorry, down and out, knocked out. Why is she standing up there praising God like a crazy woman?' It confuses the enemy and it gives us strength in our lives."

We realize that through offering praises to God we actually get strength, we get strength from God's grace. And in this particular gospel tradition it's such an important practice.

Jesus was on the cross, blood was streaming down from his side and his hands and his feet, and all the mockers around him were saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, why don't you save yourself? I thought you said you could save yourself, that you are God Almighty, you said you are the Truth, the Way and the Life, so why don't you come down from that cross?" (Luke 23:34). They were mocking him on the cross. And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do."

You see, Jesus understood something. He requested God's grace while he was being crucified, in the midst of the crucifixion. But he did something more, something amazing. He did not only request grace for himself, but he requested grace for his persecutors. He requested grace. He said, “God, forgive my murderers, forgive the people who are crucifying me, oppressing me and pinning me to the cross." Jesus knew that while he was going through the hell of the crucifixion that God had goodness not only for him, but that He had goodness for all, even for the people that were against him.

In the Eastern tradition there is also that understanding of relying on that other power to reach liberation from suffering. Particularly when we look at Buddhist tradition, we see a lot of the meditation practices as the core practice of spiritual discipline we commonly think of. But when you understand Buddhism in its larger spectrum, we see one tradition, very interesting, that many scholars have compared with Protestant types of spirituality and religiosity. There is a belief that instead of meditation and strict religious discipline, etc, that the chanting and praising of Buddha Amitabha's name is what is needed to be free from the cycle of suffering. When you come into a temple here in Korea, you will hear monks chanting, and you may wonder, "What are these monks chanting?" They are actually chanting "Praise Amitabha!" That's all they say. And "Praise the compassion!"

A lot of our Japanese Brothers and Sisters are from the Jodo Shinshu School. They were taught that, of course, the chanting is not the most important thing, but that strong faith in the power of the Buddha Amitabha and faith in the grace was most important. That means that we as human beings are not omnipotent, and that humbly relying on the grace of God, the grace of the Buddha, will lead us into freedom from suffering. They teach that the chanting of the Buddha's name is not only profitable for oneself, but again, like Jesus prayed, the praise impacts and influences and plants the seed of liberation in other beings.

We hear the metaphor of the rain clouds in many of the world's traditions, "The rain clouds rain on the highs and the lows, the weak and the powerful." God's grace is open to all, and it is in our lives, it is active, not sitting around. It is active and it is powerful. It is important for us in our lives to resemble this grace, not only to receive it but also to be able to have this strength to give it away, to give it to others around us, even, as Jesus said, to give it to our oppressors.

We are going to take time during this service to do a small visualization practice.

Let's visualize someone who has hurt us in some way, who has said something negative towards us, who has said something like," You cannot actualize your dreams." Let's visualize that person, who said that negative statement towards us. Let's visualize that person's face, very angry, filled with anger. Let us stay very calm as we see that person right in front of us, screaming and cursing, very angry. Let us stay very calm.

In our hearts let us simply say, "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do." Let us realize that they are unhappy because they are hurting others in order to feel meaningful in their life. They suffer greatly by creating more suffering and oppression for others. They also suffer greatly. Let us generate the feeling of empathy and compassion. Let us say in our hearts, "I will not let you steal my joy anymore. I release you and I forgive you, I will not let you steal my time anymore. I liberate you. I will not let you steal my energy, my thoughts or my mind anymore. It is not good for you. I free you from your suffering. In God and True Parents' name, aju."

Brothers and Sisters, it’s important to understand that when we're walking the walk of faith, walking in God's presence, it's not always rosy. There will inevitably going to be opposition, there'll be times when we're challenged, when archangels come in our path and say, "You're never going to do that, you're crazy, you're never going to actualize that dream."

But in those moments it's important to not get caught up in that, to not get stuck, to not get stagnant in that situation. It's so important to quickly move on. That is the power of Grace. When we understand the power of grace, it gives us the power to move freely into our future. It doesn't hold us to the past.

In our lives, Brothers and Sisters, let us also know that giving grace quickly, forgiving small offenses -- when somebody says something at the office, rubbed you the wrong way, really insulted you -- don't think about it all day, don't call five friends to tell them about it; don't meditate on it all day, don't think about it, don't do that.

The more you do that the more you're going to suffer. The more you do that, the more it's going to get into your thoughts, the more it's going to actually convince you that you are what that person said. The first thing we have to do in that circumstance is give grace quickly. Give them grace and move on. Pray for them, ”Father, I'm going to pray for them. I hope that they'll be happy one day. I'm not going to let that negative statement stay in my mind. I'm not going to let that hold me down; I'm going to move with freedom into my future."

We have to have that kind of courage and strength. I know too many people who live life working through different circumstances and situations in life, saying, “I can't believe what that person said to me! Can you believe that person said that to me?" They want to talk about it for an hour, two hours, and three hours. The more you talk about it, the more it gets into your mind. The more it gets into your mind, the more it's going to plant those roots into your heart. The more then we will actually become that "tree". Get those roots out quickly, send the grace out quickly, give them the grace quickly, pull out that weed and move forward into your flower garden.

Hallelujah, give it up for True Parents!

We have to understand that 2008 is like that. We went through so many things in 2008. If God has been good to you in 2008, let's give Him some applause. Let's give it up to God! He has definitely been good.

We have to understand, Brothers and Sisters, that at the end of the year it's so tempting to start thinking about what we didn't do, ”Oh, I made the New Years Resolution that I wanted to lose 20 lbs, but I couldn't do it." Better think, ”Honey, you lost five pounds, so give yourself some credit!" See what I mean? Brothers and Sisters, we have to always be on the positive side. Even though we may not have actualized all the goals that we put up, wait a minute! Think about it! Think about the big picture! God has got you through many obstacles, many victories, he made you move and progress towards those goals!

That's the process we have to see, we have to understand. God is moving us, He's walking with us, He's guiding us. He's not just going to wait until we fulfill our goal and then gives us a lot of accolade. God is walking with us; He wants to walk with us each step of the way. That means when we take a step forward and then take a step back, God is still going to be there with us. We have to always remember that His grace is a power that is active in our lives. It's not a passive entity; it is a power.

During ministry I realized that one of the keys is to be humble enough to ask for help. One thing I learned is to be humble enough to ask for grace. When I need help in making decisions, or when I need help organizing or managing the organizations that I have to manage, I ask for help, "God give me wisdom. God give me intuition. Give me a sense where I should go?"

Then of course I seek wise counsel. Brothers and Sisters, it so important to have wise counsel, people you can count on and trust, whose advice has proven fruitful, whose advice is wise. I seek the advice of my brothers and sisters, I seek their counsel to help me move through difficult times.

Sometimes I don't want to burden them, so sometimes I ask my wife, I say, "Omma, I need a prayer. Please pray for me, I need some prayer today. Give me some strength." My wife is always there to pray for me. She is always there whenever I ask. I'm so grateful. I want to give a round of applause for my wife, my messiah, my savior!

It is so important that when we're sensing insecurity or sensing uncertainty in our lives, when we're scared or in fear, that we understand that those things are OK, that they are normal in our life. When you walk through your life, you will feel scared at times. That is normal, that's OK. Remember, you are not alone; God is always there. I realized that when I'm unsure and I ask God, "Bless my wisdom, my decision making,” I realized not to stop there. Jesus, on the cross, he didn't stop at asking God, "Give me grace, give me salvation." Jesus asked to extend that grace further. Just like Jesus, when we pray during difficult circumstances, when we're asking God to give us strength, let's also extend that to others, "God, give me strength, and also if there's anybody else that needs strength today, that's going through my circumstance, God give them strength, too. God give them the wisdom, too, certainty, too, grace, too."

When we extend that beyond ourselves, Brothers and Sisters, then we can truly have the courage to share and give grace. That's the key to receiving even more of God's grace.

Brothers and Sisters, I realized that grace is a power, but also, when we understand the power of grace, we understand our own humanity. It's a sign of humility and gratitude. We say, "God, I can't do everything alone. I'm not omnipotent. I can't do it alone. I need You, I need You Father, I need You to help me through it. The rains are beating down on me too hard, the waves are too high, the storm is too dark, I can't get through this, God, please help me through this."

When we ask for that, it's a sign of humility. It's a sign that's saying, "I acknowledge that You are here with me and that You want to be with me through this circumstance. You want to be with Your children."

Brothers and Sisters, when God hears those words, He's not disappointed in you. He's not feeling terrible, saying, ”Look, how weak that child is!"

When my child is calling out to me, when he falls down and scrapes his knee and calls, "Daddy, Daddy, come save me!", then I go to him and say, "Son, you just scraped your knee, let's get up, I'll hold your hand; let's get up. You do fifty; I do fifty."

God is always there for us. He may not do 100% for us, because He knows that would not be good for us. He knows we need to be stronger; we need to develop more. Brothers and sisters, let's understand that on our way to the world stage, the world temple, we're on God's ship, and on this ship there will be many storms that we'll encounter. There'll be many winds and rains and many different types of waves that try to collapse the ship.

Let's remember that God is good and has grace, that He gives us grace, that He gives us the power of that grace. Brothers and Sisters, at the end of 2008, let's understand that grace is a power, it's God's power. When we give grace quickly in our lives, when we forgive people quickly, when we just move on, then we’re doing what God does. We are not holding on to that. We are giving grace and just moving on. Just like in that Gospel tradition.

One of the things we love to do is turning on some gospel music. I sing like a crazy man in my house. When I'm in the shower I'm a professional singer. When I come out, it is almost ruined. When we go with the kids and we sing those songs, many times the kids ask, "Why are you singing so loud, Appa?" "Because Appa's happy! Happy day, good day!"

Praise is a weapon; it's a weapon of peace. It gives us peace of mind because it helps us meditate on God's goodness, on His power, on the way He wants to be involved in our lives. Even though we are going through the darkest situations, darkest hells, let's remember that God is always there. Let us give Him that praise, let us say, " I'm not going to let this circumstance get me down, it's not going to scare me, even though it's coming against me so hard, I'm going to keep singing, keep dancing, keep praising God with joy and laughter."

Remember what that minister says, "It confuses the enemy. The enemy will say, 'You lost your mind!'” Yes, we lost our minds, but we are happy. We lost our minds in God, but we are happy. That gives us respect, brothers and sisters, to get through it.

To understand that God's grace is showering down upon us is one of the main practices. God's grace is unlocked and unleashed when we do our part, when we give God that energy and that joy. When we turn it back, all flood gates open up and it comes right into our lives.

Brothers and Sisters, let's remember that in our lives in 2009! Let's make that determination that when an archangel comes my way, when an obstacle comes my way and tells me, "You're not going to make it, you are inadequate, you can't do it," when that comes your way, lets make the determination to say, "Thank you" and just move on. Just tell your neighbor now, "Thank you and I'm moving on." Come on, let's tell it.

Brothers and Sisters, in 2009 we are going to have that kind of attitude. Whenever a circumstance tries to get us, we are going to use that praise power, that positive power, to get through that and be victorious.

Let's understand the humility of grace. To request grace is very important in our spiritual lives. There are times in your life you just have to ask, ”God, hold me, I need Your help. Tell me that You love me." If you do this sometimes, it's OK. Also at the same time, let's be big enough to give God's praise, God's mercy, to others, to forgive others, to give God's grace when people need it, give them the power when people need it.

When we do that then God's grace comes twofold, threefold into our lives. Brothers and Sisters, if we live like that, I do believe 2009 we'll see more victories, more illumination and more peace. We will live that blessed life and be a great blessing to this world.

If you accept this message let's give it up to God and True Parents. (Applause) 

Chon Bo Hoi - "Treasures of Heaven"

Hyung Jin Moon
December 13, 2008
Headquarters Church, Seoul Korea

God has a special plan for each one of us. That is linked to the blessing of life. However, it is regrettable that people cannot recognize it. Many people do not know how to be grateful for their lives. They hurt people they love.

Especially, when we look at the children of Chon Bo Hoi, we can reflect on the preciousness of life. We learn to appreciate the preciousness of things we took for granted. Not everyone can give such a precious realization.

Your children help other people find treasures of heaven. You attend the treasures of heaven. Therefore, I named “Chon Bo Hoi.”

I think it is a very difficult task for you as a mother to take care of your children who are not “healthy.” However, your children have a special ability. Even if you do not realize it, it is a fact. For God already gave them the ability.

The children of Chon Bo Hoi will give the heart of gratitude to their families and people around them. Especially, their siblings will have a more mature heart. Of course, you can think that life is not fair from a negative point of view. However, we can choose a more positive heart.

We must realize that the lives we were given should not be taken for granted. As I could realize it through the ascension of my elder brother Yong Jin, I chose the way of religion. My life has changed.

In that sense, the children of Chon Bo Hoi are ministers who convey a special message. The mission of the ministers is to teach the preciousness of life. In fact, not just any minister can fulfill this mission easily. To help realize the preciousness of life means to testify to God, the Creator. The children of Chon Bo Hoi help people discover the treasures of heaven. In other words, they are doing an invisible ministry.

Looking at unhealthy children, I do not think that these children will live like this forever. The special meaning of Chon Bo Hoi that God gave to the children of this organization will shine not only here on earth but also in heaven.