Have a very Happy Easter!

Judges 2

10After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 11Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lordand served the Baals. 12They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger 13because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.

Richard:  The next generation easily forgets the sacrifices and lessons that their parents learned.  I many ways this has happened in the United States (and elsewhere) and in the Unification movement.  How many second generation youth appreciate and value the Blessing and preparing for the Blessing of marriage, for example?

Ezekiel 44

23They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.

God’s Power Is Revealed Where One Heart And One Will Have Been Realized

Sun Myung Moon
November 10, 1957 (Sunday Evening)

Acts 4:27-5:11

Today I will speak on the topic “God’s Power is Revealed Where One Heart and One Will Have Been Realized.”

After the resurrection, Jesus stayed on the earth for forty days. Before he ascended, he made the promise that he would send the Holy Spirit, the protector and giver of blessing. The disciples who followed Jesus looked at the glorious appearance of the resurrected Jesus and rejoiced, thinking that the promised will of God was being accomplished, but Jesus ascended without telling them clearly when he would return.

How must the disciples have felt at that time? They must have been overwhelmed by a strong sense of enmity toward the faithless Israelites and the sect of Judaism who had nailed their beloved Jesus to the cross. They must have made the determination that for the sake of the resurrected Lord and the will of God, even if their bodies were to become powder and their bones were to melt, they would follow the resurrected Lord for the sake of the ultimate victory.

With this kind of determination and resolution to make a breakthrough on the path even if they were to die or go to the cross, with earnest hearts that had yearned for Heaven since the time the Lord had passed away, they probably encouraged each other whenever they met. Because of this, Jesus promised that he would send the Holy Spirit to his disciples.

After that, with God working in the background, the 120 followers who had gathered in the upper room had an experience that exceeded their imaginations. They then could totally embrace the will of the dispensation. They could enter the state in which they could feel the internal heart Jesus had felt during the thirty years of personal life and three years of public life.

Accordingly, they were overcome with guilt for having betrayed Jesus. They came to realize that the Jesus who came to the earth was the only begotten son of Heaven, whom they should not have treated the way they did. Furthermore, the more clearly they realized that Jesus came to this earth as the Savior of all people, the more they made a firm resolution and determination in their hearts. They were then able to move toward the one purpose with one heart, centering on one will: brothers, apostles and believers all giving inspiration to one another. By exchanging their hearts and becoming one for the sake of the one will they were pursuing, although the 120 followers were all different individuals, they all headed in one direction based on the will of God. All their actions and movements were manifested in the same manner….

If the 120 followers had not met in the upper room and had not prayed as one heart with faith in the promise that Jesus would send the Holy Spirit, Christianity would not have become a world religion today. At that time, the 120 followers who prostrated themselves and prayed did not have any fear. They forgot all about their own dignity, honor and families. When the 120 followers prayed with one heart, believing only in the promise of the Lord that he would appear at a certain time and place, they could clear away the realm of death that had blocked Heaven from earth for 4,000 years. The Spirit then descended upon the earth.

This event was not a coincidence. By virtue of this, a new path to humankind once again was pioneered. Who caused this to take place? This took place because of the yearning hearts of the 120 followers, who focused all of their attention solely on the one will of the Father with a uniform heart, a uniformly sincere will, and a uniform spirit of offering. You have to understand that due to this, the dispensational works of the Holy Spirit, which had not been able to be carried out, finally made a new historic start.

The 120 followers were gripped by a sincere and desperate heart toward Heaven when they experienced the work of the Holy Spirit, which shook Heaven and earth and divided into fire-like tongues. They came to possess the mind-set that they would be ready to die no matter what kind of enemies they faced. As the power of Heaven was added to this, this power could not be undermined by anyone. You must understand that because they became the foundations of this power, the words they spoke had the power to make Heaven and earth tremble.

What must be done to accomplish the will of God today? First, we must possess the heart that can become one with God. After possessing the heart that can become one with God, we must then possess the heart that can become one with our brothers. You must never forget that in the Last Days this will become the best foundation for the fulfillment of the will of God.

If there are 1,000 or 10,000 people on the earth, every one of them has a different will. However, because the will of God is one, we must trample upon our own will and eliminate all the conditions that we present to ourselves. We must follow the will of the Father and His conditions, instead. Although our wills and minds are different and although our positions and environments are different, unless we become one with the will of the Father, the will of God will never be realized.

Other Resources:
The King’s Report: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNJuFaH9z_YeChP5LYsySZA