In Jin Moon
December 12, 2010
Lovin' Life Ministries
Good morning, brothers and sisters. How is everyone? It's such a beautiful, rainy day this Sunday morning, but I'm delighted to see all of you once again. We just had a lovely 40-year tribute for all the members who have walked the walk with our True Parents for the last four decades on Friday here at the Manhattan Center. We were honoring the old-timers who have been on the forefront of the American movement here, sacrificing themselves, giving their sweat, blood, and tears to build this movement, this lovely community that we call our home.
As a member of the True Family, it was such an honor for me to spend an evening with the elders of the American church, composed of some 80 Japanese brothers and sisters, some 50 Korean brothers and sisters, and 50 American brothers and sisters, being honored for their lifetime achievement.
I used the word achievement in my thanks to them because truly what they have accomplished in their life of faith was to be the kind of a protective environment that supported our True Parents through the time of the wilderness. These honorees achieved and accomplished what the disciples of Jesus Christ were not able to do. When Jesus went the way of the cross, he suffered a very lonely death. None of his disciples were there to say, "Please take me instead. Please crucify me instead. Please save my savior, the son of God." Not one of his disciples was there in a position where they would sacrifice themselves to save their lord.
But those who were honored on Friday evening were the incredible, courageous brothers and sisters who through their lives of faith were there to say, "You're not going to take our True Parents. Please take me instead. With our faith and with our lives we will support, we will work, and we will walk together with our True Parents."
It is because of their foundation of faith that our True Parents are still here with us today. Now that we're coming out of the wilderness era on the basis of their foundation and looking toward the glorious settlement era when we can express ourselves in excellence, not just internally but also externally, this is the time when we need to celebrate the achievements of these great soldiers of God and brothers and sisters of God.
As we look toward the future and toward building a skyscraper that will be miles up into the sky, it's also important for us to remember where we come from. Just as we know that whenever we look at a building, as high as it is in height, so it is deep in the ground as well, we must be anchored in our faith and in our pride in knowing what our heritage is and what kind of tradition we come from.
I called the evening "Honor Our Tradition." The acronym turns into HOT, so we were honoring the hotness of our movement. It is my intention, as we go forward in our life of faith manifesting all that is glorious within us and building that great skyscraper for God that we will at the same time deepen our understanding of who we are and deepen our foundation.
Although people usually expect that I will give the keynote speech at our large events, for this event, we also presented a selection on video of testimonies by some of the honorees. I would like to take this moment to congratulate the video editing team of Toshi and Koichi and a lot of volunteers who put together a collection of testimonies into a DVD. We have a lot more testimonies to share with all of you, but we had limited time. The honorees had a taste of all the different testimonies. It was so moving, the personal stories that they shared with the audience about our True Parents.
One German sister talked about how she was asked to be one of the first Europeans to come and work in the American providence. Her name is Clara. She was so amazed that when she arrived at the airport, guess who the welcoming committee was? It was none other than Father and Mother. Clara's testimony about seeing their faces greeting this European group, welcoming the Europeans to America so that they can begin their work together -- these are the kind of stories that need to be shared with our children and our grandchildren.
These kinds of stories really moved me so much that I was struggling as I was thinking, "How am I going to get through this speech without crying?" I saw a lot of pictures of people I know -- they all looked younger. I was preparing the collection of testimonies that will be put into a 40-year tribute book, and I mentioned on Friday one testimony I came across was from a brother named Ron Pine, who was cycling around the country with Hell's Angels. Somehow he met a brother who was riding a bicycle who needed some help. They struck up a conversation, and that's how he came to find God.
I asked myself, "What would Ron be doing now? Would he still be with Hell's Angels? I wonder where he would be working, what his family would be like? I wonder what Clara would be doing had she not come as that first group of missionaries to America. What would she have done in Germany? What kind of family would she have raised? What kind of a life would she have had?
But because they met True Parents, both Ron and Clara have become part of our worldwide family, and it doesn't matter where they came from -- either Hell's Angels or Germany. Here we are together, sharing this amazing time of the breaking news with True Parents. I thought, truly God works in mysterious ways each and every day of our lives.
At the dinner Ron came up and finished the part of his testimony that didn't make it into the book. He said, "You know, when I was 15, I told my father when we were sitting on the front porch of our house, "I am going to meet the Second Coming in my lifetime. I am going to meet the messiah in my lifetime." About a decade later, after he left Hell's Angels to join the Unification movement, his father reminded him. "Do you remember when you were 15, we were sitting on the porch and you declared to me that you were going to meet the messiah in your lifetime?" Yes, he did. And yes, you and I, we all met this Lord of the Second Coming, the messiah, our True Parents.
I looked out into the audience and saw all these old-timers enjoying each other's company: Some of them have not seen each other for many, many years. Because of the magic of technology, not only were 200 gathered here, but we could celebrate that lovely evening with all of America. It was really a family affair -- –for the younger generation to honor the older members, to honor the "hotness" in our elders, and for the Abel, the True Family to honor the Cain, which is the First Generation. This was in the spirit of wanting to work together, in the spirit of reconciliation and unity. Despite whatever we have gone through, it's our desire to honor each other in the life that we have been given and recommit ourselves to march on until we build the Kingdom of God that we're waiting for.
When I thought about all the different brothers and sisters whom I have known over the years, and I know the personal testimonies of many of them -- both their hardships, trials, and tribulations and their days of glory and triumph -- I had to meditate about the evening after the event and think about how difficult it must have been to follow our True Parents for the last four or five decades.
But because they were absolutely dedicated in wanting to live a life of faith, somehow they persevered. I was thinking that just as I go out of my way each day to find five or ten minutes of beautiful silence when I can commune with our Heavenly Parent, many of you no doubt have had beautiful silent moments with our Heavenly Parent, when you found yourself emptying the cares of the world, turning yourselves into an empty vessel and a pure receptacle of the message, or the beauty of the universal languages of music and love that our Heavenly Parent wants to share with us.
One of the most difficult things I have found in my life of faith is that many times when we're dealing with our modern day life with our ideal spouse, our ideal children, and hopefully our ideal job, it's like dealing with a huge monster every day. I'm reminded of the story of David and Goliath. In a metaphorical sense Goliath can be symbolic of all our insecurity, anxiety, and worries -- all the things that cause fear in everyone.
Many times I've experienced my own Goliath in my life of faith, and I'm sure you have as well. But every time I'm confronted with a Goliath-like obstacle or difficulty or conundrum I need to work through, I'm reminded of this story in I Samuel. Here is a ruddy-complexioned handsome boy who feels called to fight the Philistine giant who brings shivers to everyone who hears his name. But armed with faith in God and the knowledge that God is with him, what does David do? He approaches King Saul and says, "Let me fight Goliath."
What David does is quite proactive. He asks Saul, "Let me fight Goliath." Of course Saul laughs and says, "Goliath sends shivers down the spines of the strongest, most experienced soldiers, and you, little boy, want to fight Goliath?" David insists he wants to fight Goliath, that as a shepherd he has fought lions and bears, and with the strength of God he chased them away and destroyed them, so with strength and faith in God he will get rid of Goliath.
David asks, but he's also seeking the opportunity to fight Goliath, to look at the things that cause fear and not just be petrified but to actually be proactive, to ask permission to go after it. In the face of his youthful exuberance and innocence, or maybe King Saul just wanting to test this young person, King Saul allows him to go.
What does David do? He articulates exactly what he's going to do. He tells Goliath he will destroy him because he is armed with faith and the power of God, and he will chop off his head. Of course, Goliath laughs at him. Goliath is huge, a crushing giant. David is a young boy, probably looking like a scrawny teenager, just holding onto a few pebbles and a sling. He must have looked funny, just as we look funny when we're being crushed by our own demons. Maybe God is looking at us, saying, "Mmmmm," and maybe smiling and hoping we can be victorious like David.
But what does David do? Even when King Saul offers David the king's own bronze helmet and coat, David shakes it off, saying, "I'm not accustomed to this. I will go as I am." David goes as he is. He refuses to carry all the worldly layers that people might want to put on him. When you're fighting your Goliath, you have to be honest with yourself. You have to go as your truthful body.
David's taking off the armor, going as he is, represents something we all need to do in this place that we may designate as the place we want to commune with God, to explore, understand, and overcome our difficulties. We have to go as we truly are, shedding the external layers and external armor that many times we carry around. Some of us may say, "I'm not afraid," but maybe we're fooling ourselves. Maybe we can fool other people, but it's very difficult to fool ourselves.
David declares to the Philistines and to Goliath, "This is what I'm going to do. I am going to destroy you." Then instead of just standing, he charges the enemy line. He's a very engaging fellow. He's proactive; he's seeking. Then what does he do? With a sling and a rock, he knocks Goliath out.
When I think about this story, it very much reminds me of Matthew 7:7, where it says, "Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." What David was doing with his demons, this Goliath-like demon, was shooting it down, destroying it with a rock and a sling. The rock is symbolic of the rock of faith and the slingshot can be seen as something that supports and propels our faith forward.
Armed with faith in God and knowing that he is here to believe, he goes ahead. He seeks the permission of the king. Then he seeks his enemy, and he knocks him down with his faith. When the Good Book says, "Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you," God is promising his children that, just like David, if we are armed with faith in Heavenly Parent and True Parents, all we need to do is to be humble and in a position where we are asking.
When we ask, it's because we want to invite something in. When we invite God in, it shall be given to us. All the things that we need will be given to us. That sentence is a reminder in my mind to tell myself, just believe. "Ask, and it shall be given to me." When we invite God into our life, there are so many things going on all around us, even in our life of faith, even when we're blessed children. We're dealing with the church, dealing with our friends, dealing with our family, and dealing with things on the Internet.
I just heard a report about one Second Gen returning from a workshop in Los Angeles. It was there that the knowledge of all these bad things on the Internet was shared with other blessed children. This perplexes me. Here we are coming together to learn about our community, God, and True Parents. Why do we bring into such a holy place this kind of knowledge that dirties the minds of our young people? We have to be cognizant and not arrogant in our knowledge of certain things. When we claim to know something, do we really know? Were you there? Have you talked to that person? Do you know the person in question? How do you really know?
When we think we know something that others do not know, it makes us feel powerful, so we want to act like Goliath unto these seemingly feeble-minded people who don't seem to know anything. In our knowledge, we become arrogant: "Let me tell you a thing or two about these people." It puts them in a position where they get a lot of attention for a while.
But when we find ourselves in that position, seemingly armed with this knowledge that we have just learned, we, as faithful people wanting to be someone who honors God and True Parents with our lives, have to ask ourselves the question, "What kind of a person do I want to be?" The Bible says, "Ask, and it shall be given to you." What are we asking? Are we asking for God just to solve all our problems? Or are we inviting God in so it shall be given to you, the fuller faith and stronger knowledge of who God and True Parents are? These are the questions we must ask ourselves.
In the sea of fear and all the static going on, how can we stay vigilant and true? There's an interesting story Reverend Jenkins shared with me when I met with him a couple of days ago to discuss the new vision for ACLC. Rev. Tanya Edwards, the beautiful wife of Rev. Jesse Edwards, was visiting our True Parents at East Garden. She has one of those faces that look very angelic to me -- beautiful bright blue eyes, kind of roly-poly cheeks. But her eyes have a hint of sadness, and it reminds me of something I saw in a dream a long time ago. To me she's a very angelic presence.
When Father first met her, he said to her, "Your faith is like a kindergartner's." Mrs. Edwards said, "What? I am not a kindergartner." Father said, "Your faith is like a kindergartner's." She said, "What do you mean?!" She had some difficulty digesting what Father really meant. I said, "Reverend Jenkins, don't you realize that our True Father gave Mrs. Edwards the highest compliment? Father has often said that in order to go to the Kingdom of Heaven we must be childlike -- pure, innocent, practicing the words 'just believe.'"
The child just believes in the parents. The child just believes in God because he or she has yet to be contaminated by all the static in the air. Father was giving Mrs. Edwards the most profound compliment because he probably looked at her face and saw that angel that I see, like a child, like someone in kindergarten.
When Reverend Jenkins shared that with Mrs. Edwards, she was so inspired. Again she realized how True Father doesn't just look at the externals of a person. He was seeing her heart and soul, her inner self. He saw what I saw.
"Ask, and it shall be given to you": To put yourself in the position of asking is to put yourself in the position of a student, like a child asking, beseeching, inquiring, and requesting of a parent. We need to be childlike in that simple frame of mind, no matter how static-y or how complicated our life might get. It's important to keep pure and innocent in our faith, in our love of God and True Parents, and just believe.
The Bible goes on, "Seek, and you shall find," not "it shall find you." The Bible says, "Seek, and you shall find." The verb seek is very interesting because it means "to go after." It means "to discover, to find." What David did in engaging the enemy, Goliath, was very proactive. It was something he did not have to do but he wanted to do because he was moved and inspired in knowing that God was with him. He was propelled by his own faith in God, and he wanted to defeat what was terrorizing his people.
David went after, sought after, his demon, his Goliath. What the Bible is asking us to do is, instead of just sitting idle and being crushed by the weight of all the static, all the information that we don't know how to digest, to be proactive in engaging our fears, our demons, our Goliath, not because we have to but because we want to. David was not seeking his own glory; he was seeking the enemy because he wanted to relieve his people of this terror.
When the Bible says, "Seek, and you shall find," it's a reminder to live our life in a certain way. It's asking us not to just sit idle and be crushed. It's asking us to grab our life, grab the horns of destiny within our hands, and do something about it -- and not for personal glory, but just like David who was serving his community, living the philosophy of serving others. He was thinking about his people.
It's a reminder for all of us in our community to serve, and to seek and conquer our own demons and burdens that are crushing us, because we want to continue to serve and to bring glory not just to our families but to our communities, our nation, and our world. It's an invitation for us to practice living for the sake of others, just because.
The Bible says, "Seek, and you shall find," because it is within our hands. It's within your hands. When you decide, when I decide, to serve, we are acting as the agent of change that will help us find exactly what we need to defeat, overcome, and go through challenges to be the kind of individuals we would like to be.
When the Bible goes on and says, "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you," it does not say, "Knock, and it shall be opened into you," or "It shall be opened over you." It says, "It shall be opened unto you," like an incredible grace when we realize in our moment of beautiful silence that, no matter what we are going through, God is with us each and every moment of our lives.
The Bible says, "Knock." The Bible doesn't say to crush the door, and it will be opened unto you. The Bible doesn't say to explode, and it shall be opened unto you. The Bible doesn't say to destroy it, and it will be opened unto you. It says, "Knock." It's reminding us again how we need to be childlike.
Whenever we approach our parents' room, wherever they might be, we never approach to destroy: "Mom, I'm here," BOOM. We don't stand there wanting to explode it open because we want a dramatic entrance into our parents' room. We don't barge in the door. We treat that door with respect and quietly knock on it, honoring who is behind the door.
When I think about this, it reminds me of the story a friend of mine once shared with me. He went on a Boy Scout outing with his son, spending a week or two outdoors. They were in the mountains with a beautiful lake, so there was a great deal of canoeing and water sports. One day everybody decided to get into their canoes and go to the other side, perhaps to prepare a campfire. Everybody got in a boat and pushed off.
My friend's son realized there was a whole convoy of boats going toward the other side, and, being young, he said, "Dad, it's a competition. Let's win." They paddled like mad, and others started wondering, "Is this a competition?" Then everybody started racing. With their head start, my friend and his son reached the other side first. As the other boats were coming in, his son was whooping, "We won! We won!" The last boat that arrived was paddled by his dad's best friend. The boy ran up and yelled, "We won! You lost!" He was competitive, and he fought a good fight across the lake. He won, and he wanted to let the last boat know that he was the victor.
His father's friend quietly turned to him and said, "You won, did you? We had the longer trip," meaning they were enjoying their trip. That's when the boy suddenly couldn't say anything.
When we think of "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you," I think many times we are barraging God: "Help me!" We are exploding in front of God, not realizing that in front of God we have to honor our Heavenly Parent with our presence, that we should respectfully knock and it will be revealed to us. It reminds me of the importance of just breathing. Matthew 7:7 reminds me of my own philosophy to just believe. Ask, and it shall be given to you. Just believe. Seek, and you shall find. Serve others, love others, and you will find exactly what you're looking for.
What are we looking for? We are looking to experience the heart of God. It's when we love each other, not because we want something at the end of the rainbow, but because we want to experience the heart of God, we want to love, just because. It's a reminder to practice our own philosophy, just because we want to experience the heart of God.
When the Bible says, "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you," it's a reminder to me to just breathe. I always remind myself, "Before you go into your parents' room, take a moment of silence." I know I'm going to be in my parents' presence. I knock respectfully, but before I knock I always remember to breathe -- and I take deep breaths: "One, calm. Two, again calm. Three, again calm yourself." And then I knock.
This Bible passage reminds me that in all things in life sometimes when we take things too seriously or try to do things too desperately or too quickly, when it's not time yet, then we end up frustrating ourselves more than we really need to. When I remind myself, "Just breathe," it's my mother's voice talking in the back of my mind. "Just breathe, let it pass. Let things be." Or in the words of the Beatles, "Let it be."
Knowing that we are armed in the faith and the love of our Heavenly Parent, we need to just believe that things will turn out fine. Invariably, and in due time, they do. When we face what is seemingly crushing and insurmountable, as long as we remember to just breathe, just believe, and love each other just because, it helps us through the difficult moments.
We realize that just as David slew the great monster Goliath with his faith, we can do the same with the support of those who love us -- our family and maybe our friends and community -- if we are armed with our faith. We can do the same as David if we decide just to believe and to practice that in our daily life knowing that God is with us and we are breathing together with God every step of the way, not being destroyed or exploded by all of our problems or by not knowing where we are.
In understanding that we have a Parent in heaven and, more important than that, we have our True Parents here working with and guiding us, we realize that the only thing we need to do is concentrate on our unity with our True Parents, being together in heart and mind, and understanding that they're hoping for a revolution of heart in their children so we can experience the heart of God in an ideal family. That's a beautiful thing.
I'm thinking of Father's speech of September 11, 1977, "The Heart of Reunion," in God's Will and the World [pp. 423–435]. Father had been away for 70 days or so, and when he saw the members again, he was so happy. He talked a lot about the beauty of East and West, and why the West needs the Eastern culture. He talked about how the West is like the high noon culture where everything is bright and glorious. But in order for the Western culture to continue to grow and be great, it must understand that the high noon of a culture comes after it has gone through the darkness, the deep mysteriousness of midnight, and the culture is moving again toward the midnight. Everything is in a cycle.
Father talked about this beautiful relationship of East and West, which is unique to our community. One of the things he shared with the brothers and sisters is his definition of what an ideal family is all about. He said that an ideal family is not symbolic of uniformity and regimentation. Those two words very much reflect our understanding of a religious life in the time of the wilderness. We were like soldiers. We had to be regimented. We had to be put in uniforms literally so we could stay coalesced and focused in the huge, dark wilderness.
But Father was saying that an ideal family is really a family where the most important thing is harmony resulting not from uniform, regimented people but from people in their distinctive ways and roles. Harmony is made more beautiful when East and West unite. They're like polar opposites, like night and day.
Father talked about how when we're thinking about creating an ideal world, it doesn't mean everybody is going to be the same. It means that some of you will be redheads, some will be blonde, some will still have black hair. Some of us might be white, some black, some might be yellow. But an ideal family is a place where we can all come together in harmony and in love, keeping the distinctive and unique values that make us who we are.
That speech was an incredibly profound one for me. As we move forward into this millennium of peace, it doesn't mean we're all going to be boring in our sameness and uniformity. We need to develop our divine potential; we must exercise our divine creativity. We must allow the signatures of our distinctive roles to be left behind as something beautiful for our children and grandchildren to share.
Just as the great honorees from Friday's gala have left their signatures by sharing their testimonies with us, they have left something beautiful behind. I will never forget Mrs. Ang's personal testimony about the blessing and about how she was so afraid that Dr. Ang was not going to show up when he was really, really late to the blessing. But one of the most beautiful things she conveyed to all of us during her interview was that the main thing she remembers from her blessing was her husband's tears falling on her hands, drop by drop. These are the kind of stories, the testimonies that will be carried and shared with our children and grandchildren.
What we were celebrating on Friday was not just lifting up the elders but everything that our community is and will be. Father talked in his speech "The Heart of Reunion" about how America is representative of the autumn season, the harvest season. This is the country of plenty. This is the country that everybody wants to come to. But Father warned the American people, saying, when you know you are in autumn, you are looking to the winter before you see spring.
Father comes with the message of true love, with the message of trying to get everybody to fulfill his or her true potential. Father says he comes armed with love and faith, but also armed with a certain amount of discipline. Some discipline is needed in autumn for human beings to have enough to eat through winter, to face spring. Some fruit needs to be turned into marmalade so we can enjoy it throughout the winter. Some cucumbers need to be pickled so we can still enjoy the crunch of a cucumber in the dead of winter.
Father talks about the importance of discipline in preparing ourselves to be the strong seed in the springtime that God will grab with his hand and sprinkle all over the fertile ground that he has prepared. That is what God wants for all his children.
We are living in a country representative of autumn. There is so much of everything. There's a lot of technology, money, and fashion -- a lot of whatever you want in this country. But we must be prepared to meet our winter, knowing that there is a spring ahead.
I was reminding the honorees on Friday that because they have gone through their 40 years of winter and because of their discipline and sacrifice, they kept our True Parents alive, something that Jesus' disciples could not do. It's an amazing accomplishment in and of itself. But this is the time of spring, when God is waiting to sprinkle all of us into his fertile ground so that we can revel and enjoy prosperity and we can actually enjoy loving life, truly celebrating life with each other.
Brothers and sisters, our True Parents are coming back to America once again, and I hope you can join with me in sending them a lot of good ol' American loving. With that in mind, have a lovely Sunday and a beautiful week. Thank you.
Notes:
1 Samuel, chapter 17
1: Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; and they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Aze'kah, in E'phes-dam'mim.
2: And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines.
3: And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.
4: And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
5: He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze.
6: And he had greaves of bronze upon his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.
7: And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him.
8: He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.
9: If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us."
10: And the Philistine said, "I defy the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together."
11: When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
12: Now David was the son of an Eph'rathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years.
13: The three eldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle; and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eli'ab the first-born, and next to him Abin'adab, and the third Shammah.
14: David was the youngest; the three eldest followed Saul,
15: but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.
16: For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.
17: And Jesse said to David his son, "Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers;
18: also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See how your brothers fare, and bring some token from them."
19: Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
20: And David rose early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took the provisions, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the encampment as the host was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry.
21: And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army.
22: And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, and ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers.
23: As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.
24: All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were much afraid.
25: And the men of Israel said, "Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and the man who kills him, the king will enrich with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel."
26: And David said to the men who stood by him, "What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
27: And the people answered him in the same way, "So shall it be done to the man who kills him."
28: Now Eli'ab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eli'ab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, "Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption, and the evil of your heart; for you have come down to see the battle."
29: And David said, "What have I done now? Was it not but a word?"
30: And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke in the same way; and the people answered him again as before.
31: When the words which David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul; and he sent for him.
32: And David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine."
33: And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth."
34: But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock,
35: I went after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth; and if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him and killed him.
36: Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God."
37: And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you!"
38: Then Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a helmet of bronze on his head, and clothed him with a coat of mail.
39: And David girded his sword over his armor, and he tried in vain to go, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these; for I am not used to them." And David put them off.
40: Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in his shepherd's bag or wallet; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.
41: And the Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him.
42: And when the Philistine looked, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, ruddy and comely in appearance.
43: And the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44: The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field."
45: Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
46: This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,
47: and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD'S and he will give you into our hand."
48: When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.
49: And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
50: So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine, and killed him; there was no sword in the hand of David.
51: Then David ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath, and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
52: And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Sha-ara'im as far as Gath and Ekron.
53: And the Israelites came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp.
54: And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armor in his tent.
55: When Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, "Abner, whose son is this youth?" And Abner said, "As your soul lives, O king, I cannot tell."
56: And the king said, "Inquire whose son the stripling is."
57: And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
58: And Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, young man?" And David answered, "I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite."
Matthew, chapter 7
1: "Judge not, that you be not judged.
2: For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.
3: Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4: Or how can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?
5: You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
6: "Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you.
7: "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8: For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
9: Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
10: Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
11: If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
12: So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.
13: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
14: For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
15: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
16: You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?
17: So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit.
18: A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19: Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20: Thus you will know them by their fruits.
21: "Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22: On that day many will say to me, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'
23: And then will I declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'
24: "Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock;
25: and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
26: And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand;
27: and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it."
28: And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
29: for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
Let it Be
The Beatles (Lennon/McCartney)
From the album Let It BeWhen I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree,
There will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is
Still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be. Yeah
There will be an answer, let it be.And when the night is cloudy,
There is still a light that shines on me,
Shine on until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be.
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be,
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
