Rev. Kim Hong-deuk, Cheon Won Church, January 14, 2024
Dear beloved family, good morning! It’s a pleasure to see you here. I hope you have had a Happy New Year.
As we enter the second Sunday of this hopeful 2024 with the spirit of the Blue Dragon in the Chinese zodiac, I sincerely pray that every dream and hope you have for this year comes true in each of our Cheonwon Church families, and that your earnest prayers to Heaven are answered with many miracles throughout the year.
Today’s sermon is about how we can receive abundant blessings from Heaven and keep those blessings to the end, and furthermore, how we can preserve those blessings for all generations to come. In order to think together about how to further prosper, my sermon is entitled “How to Protect Heaven’s Blessings.”
God wishes for His children to enjoy heavenly blessings and live happily according to the laws of heaven. What else could a parent wish for?
Therefore, in the 66 books of the Bible, it is written very clearly and in detail about what kind of people God blesses and how to keep those blessings. True Parents have also given us countless teachings on inheriting heavenly fortune and God’s blessings.
The commandments to keep in order to receive and enjoy eternal happiness are taught in the Bible and in True Parents’ words. Actually, attending worship every week is important. It is a time to offer praise and glory to Heavenly Parent who created this beautiful world for our children.
As we start a new year, let us each polish up our faith and make a fresh start with new resolutions. Today, I will discuss four basic frameworks, based on the Bible and True Parents’ words, for receiving and safeguarding Heaven’s blessings.
First, if you live a life that reveres God, you will be blessed. Psalm 115:13 states: “He will bless those who fear the Lord, both the great and the lowly.” Here, the somewhat unfamiliar word ‘revere’ appears, which means to respect and fear. In other words, it means that blessings are given to those who profoundly respect and fear God.
The more people commune with God or communicate with the spirit world, the more they feel fear of God and the spirit world, as immediate consequences follow if they disobey God’s words and directions. But fallen humans, with their spiritual antennas broken and unable to communicate with Heaven, live untroubled by their conscience even after sinning.
Therefore, I earnestly hope that the time will come when all people will communicate with God and the spirit world, and those who commit sins will receive immediate indemnity and feel remorse. True Parents said that in the era after the coming of Heaven, good dominates evil, and I believe that in the near future a world will come where all humankind reveres Heavenly Parent.
In order to create a world where all people fear God, children must first be able to fear their parents starting at home. In order to do this, parents must first live an exemplary life for their children. This is because only then can the proper order in the family be established and peace and happiness come to the family.
In Cheon Seong Gyeong, True Parents say, “Parents must be an example in living the will. We need to show our children our religious life, such as prayer life at home and family worship. Parents must be an example and be faithful to their will. Therefore, no matter what the parents say, children must be put in a position where they can respect their parents without saying anything in return. Otherwise, the children will not follow.” Aju!
If a world were to come where all human beings on this earth truly absolutely believed in, respected, and feared their Heavenly Parent, just as children fear their parents, then there would be no more war, misfortune, and sin, and all human beings would be blessed with eternal peace and happiness. I believe that an ideal world will be built!
Second, if you live a life of obedience to the Word, you will be blessed. If Adam and Eve had kept God’s commandment and heeded His warning in Eden—“If you eat of the fruit you will surely die”—they would have fully fulfilled the three great blessings in Gen. 1:28.
Even at home, as long as children absolutely obey their parents, they will never fall into a bad path. Because parents never teach their children to go down the wrong path. Therefore, it was designed in the beginning so that if all humans live according to the heavenly laws established by God, their parent, they will receive heavenly blessings, enjoy eternal life, and live happily. However, all humankind, descendants of the Fall, fell into ignorance, and people were completely unaware of the principles of creation and the laws of heaven and earth designed in the beginning, and became accustomed to the worldly laws ruled and governed by the devil Satan.
In this way, all people that lived a life that was contrary to the way of Heaven, had no choice but to suffer from sins, pain, war, and disease that God did not want, and even when they went to the spirit world, they could not enter God’s kingdom of heaven, and were ruled by Satan.
That is why, in order to enlighten these ignorant fallen people, God has constantly tried to teach heavenly laws through prophets and sages throughout the long history of the providence of restoration. Therefore, please keep in mind that the only way for all fallen humans to receive heavenly blessings and enjoy eternal life is to obey God’s words.
True Parents emphasized to us to practice Hoondokhae every day and they strictly followed this every single day, no matter what the circumstances. In the Old Testament, you will find detailed information about how the Israelites could receive blessings from Jehovah.
Let’s read some of them: “If you carefully listen to the voice of the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commandments that I command you today, then the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. Blessed will you be with your children, with the fruit of your land, with the offspring of your livestock, with the young of your cattle and with the offspring of your flock. You will be blessed when you come in, and you will be blessed when you go out.”
Conversely, if you look at Deuteronomy 28: 15-69, there is a terrible warning written about what will happen if you do not live according to God’s words and what kind of curses you will receive. Let’s just read the main parts.
“If you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe and do all his commandments and his decrees that I am commanding you today, then all these curses will come down upon you. Cursed will you be when you come in, and cursed will you be when you go out. The LORD will smite you with wasting disease, fever, inflammation, scorching, and rot, and these plagues will destroy you.”
According to this, if you do not follow the words of God, you and your descendants will be severely struck with nasty and tough diseases, including mental illness. I believe that these are words that we who live by following the words of True Parents today must also keep in mind.
Facing the amazing grace and blessing we received from our Heavenly Parent, if I don’t know how to be thankful, if I’m bothered by even the small responsibilities given me, if I make excuses and don’t carry out the basic duties of a believer because it’s difficult to live according to the Word, then I’ll be anxious what may happen to my descendants in the future, not to mention when we go to the spirit world. Sometimes I am afraid of what will happen.
In Cheon Seong Gyeong, True Parents clearly say this:
“Life on earth is important. You will go to the spirit world just as you lived. No one is exempt from this. It means that everything about yourself is revealed transparently. That is why you must do well in your life on earth. We must live our lives 24 hours a day, morning, noon and evening, reflecting on the principles and standards dozens of times a day so as not to be caught by heavenly law.” Aju!
In this way, God has taught us all the laws of heaven. We are destined to be blessed if we just obey and live according to His words.
Third, if you live a life of loving one another, you will surely be blessed. In other words, as long as we live in love with each other, heaven will definitely give us great blessings.
What do our members think is the core of God’s Word? What do you think is the core of the 66 books of the Bible and the greatest teaching of True Parents?
We often call God the source of love, isn’t God the very essence of love and love itself? Likewise, for children, parental love is everything rather than wealth, fame, or power. If all human beings lived while fully experiencing the love of God as their parent, then pastors would come forward and desperately emphasize that they must believe in God diligently to be blessed, and that they must go to heaven only if they practice their faith diligently, and would visit families who do not attend church and encourage them to return to church.
I will introduce you to just a few of the countless things about love found in the Bible and True Parents’ words. 1 John 4:7-8 states: “Beloved, let us love one another. Love is from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God—for God is love.”
And Romans 13:9-10: “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and if there are other commandments, these are all included in this commandment: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no evil to her neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Aju.
God has given us many commandments that we humans must follow, but he said that they are all contained in the words, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ In other words, he said that those who love will never do evil to their neighbors, and therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Therefore, God loved this world and sent his only begotten Son, and now he has sent his only begotten daughter.
Jesus’ core teachings were also about love: John 13:34 says: “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another. Love one another, just as I have loved you.”
And Matthew 5:44: “I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Is there any love greater than loving one’s enemies?
Dear family, today, we have clearly seen with our own eyes how both our True Parents, who appeared as the Second Coming Messiah and the Only Begotten Daughter to save all humankind, directly put into practice the true love of Heavenly Parent through the lives they have lived throughout their lives.
Despite unjust imprisonment, they never resented or cursed anyone. Following the Liberation, Father even helped a Japanese officer who had tortured him, to return safely home to Japan. Mother’s autobiography, “As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen,” echoes this spirit of true love, emphasizing that love makes even the worst enemy disappear. Family members shed tears even as they were imprisoned in Danbury Prison in the United States due to unfair religious oppression and racial discrimination. They said, “Don’t cry for me, cry for America. Love and pray for America.”
True Father wrote in his autobiography:
“I crossed sovereignties and borders six times in my life during the Japanese colonial rule, under the communist regime in North Korea, under the Syngman Rhee regime in the Republic of Korea, and in the United States, and suffered the pain of being imprisoned as an innocent man, and suffered the pain of losing my flesh and bleeding, yet now not even a small scar remains in my heart. In the face of true love, wounds are nothing. Even enemies melt away without a trace in the presence of true love.”
“True love is love that forgets that you even gave it and gives it again. I’ve been intoxicated with that kind of love my whole life. I have never wanted anything other than God’s love, so I devoted myself to sharing love with my poor neighbors. Even though the path of love was difficult, tears poured down and my knees buckled, my heart devoted to love for humanity was happy.”
Everything that appears in True Father’s autobiography is also True Mother’s life. They are with us everywhere, overcome any hardships and persecution together, and even feel pain and tears together.
Since they are both True Parents who have dedicated their entire lives to love humanity, how could God not walk with our True Parents? The life of our Unification Church members who followed this great teacher was also the same. Not to mention the vivid testimonies of tearful pioneer witnessing in the early days, including the Ewha Woman’s University expulsion incident in the 1950s, the footsteps of martyrdom and sacrifice of countless missionaries who risked their lives for world missions could not be anything other than a life of great true love.
Yet at the same time, I cannot help but feel sad that the great life of true love of our early elders has not been fully inherited, and seems to be gradually weakening. Now, once again, we must inherit the great tradition of sacrificial life of our predecessors and practice true love for one another.
I thought that the fact that True Mother gave the same New Year’s motto that she gave 10 years ago at this year’s Midnight Prayer means that Mother once again emphasizes that we should live by making this word the most important pillar of our religious life. You remember the New Year’s motto, right?
“Let us become the true owners of Cheon Il Guk who resemble our Creator, Heavenly Parent, by practicing true love.”
This means that we imitate the true love of our Heavenly Parent. Mother clearly tells us today that only when we become sons and daughters who practice such true love toward our neighbors can we become true owners of Cheon Il Guk. Therefore, as long as we practice this true love for one another, we will be blessed! Aju!
Fourth is that if you live a life of gratitude, you will definitely be blessed.
We have heard this word countless times, “Be thankful in everything.” How many times have True Parents taught us to always live in gratitude before Heaven? However, since I have preached this sermon on gratitude many times, I will only give the concluding words today.
In Cheon Seong Gyeong it says:
“You decide whether you go to heaven or hell. It is not the teacher who decides, it is not God who decides, it is what each one decides. If you complain, it is hell, but if you go to the place where you complain while being grateful, it is heaven.” Aju!
This is a clear definition of why we should be thankful. However, what I want to emphasize here is that while it is natural that we should live with gratitude to our Heavenly Parent, we should also live with gratitude to not only our family but also everyone around us. This is because God is invisible to us, but we must be thankful to each other, saying that God has given us our beloved family and neighbors on behalf of God. If you were asked to live your whole life in the middle of a desert or on an uninhabited island, what happiness, joy, and enjoyment would you find there?
Like this, exchanging love and gratitude with each other among their families, neighbors, peoples, and countries, Heavenly Parent will be pleased and bestow great blessings on all humankind. Furthermore, even now, Heavenly Parent will be happy. The kingdom of heaven on earth that you so desperately wish for will come true on this earth! Aju!
Lastly, I will show you a video. Many of you may have already seen this video on the Internet, but you will be moved if you watch it again. This is a video of the song “Thank You”[1], that True Mother also likes. It was recently featured on TV’s Immortal Song with Poppin’ Hyunjun. Park Ae-ri and her husband appear and sing this song. It’s a great video, and it clearly touches the hearts of the audience.
In conclusion, to summarize today’s sermon once again, in order to receive the heavenly blessings our Heavenly Parent gives, first, we must live a life of fearing God, second, we must live a life of obedience to the Word, third, we must live a life of love for one another, and fourth, we must live a life of gratitude.
I believe this is the way to receive the blessings of Heaven, and the way to keep the blessings we have received until the end. Aju! Let us pray.
[1] Written and performed by Jo Hang-jo, who is the older man seen standing in the video. At the end, the singers lead the audience in saying “Komapso (Thank you)” to parents, children, and then to Jo Hang-jo for writing the song and letting them do it in modern style.