Matthew 12
9 Jesus left and went into one of the Jewish meeting places, 10 where there was a man whose hand was crippled. Some Pharisees wanted to accuse Jesus of doing something wrong, and they asked him, “Is it right to heal someone on the Sabbath?”
11 Jesus answered, “If you had a sheep that fell into a ditch on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you lift it out? 12 People are worth much more than sheep, and so it is right to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then Jesus told the man, “Hold out your hand.” The man did, and it became as healthy as the other one.
14 The Pharisees left and started making plans to kill Jesus.
Richard: The world will generally oppose you when you move aggressively to do what is right. Notice here that it is the very Jewish leaders that Jesus came to as their Savio whom they had been waiting for that are opposing Jesus.
Jonah 4
9 But the Lord asked, “Jonah, do you have the right to be angry about the vine?”
“Yes, I do,” he answered, “and I’m angry enough to die.”
10 But the Lord said:
You are concerned about a vine that you did not plant or take care of, a vine that grew up in one night and died the next. 11 In that city of Nineveh there are more than a hundred twenty thousand people who cannot tell right from wrong, and many cattle are also there. Don’t you think I should be concerned about that big city?
Richard: We should rejoice when our lost brothers and sisters return to God, not complain that their destruction did not come about.
God’s Will Which We Must Untangle
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
June 14, 1959
34 Don’t think that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came to bring trouble, not peace. 35 I came to turn sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law. 36 Your worst enemies will be in your own family.
37 If you love your father or mother or even your sons and daughters more than me, you are not fit to be my disciples. 38 And unless you are willing to take up your cross and come with me, you are not fit to be my disciples. 39 If you try to save your life, you will lose it. But if you give it up for me, you will surely find it.
15 If one of my followers[a] sins against you, go and point out what was wrong. But do it in private, just between the two of you. If that person listens, you have won back a follower. 16 But if that one refuses to listen, take along one or two others. The Scriptures teach that every complaint must be proven true by two or more witnesses. 17 If the follower refuses to listen to them, report the matter to the church. Anyone who refuses to listen to the church must be treated like an unbeliever or a tax collector.
Prayer
Father, we know that Your ideal of creating the original garden and embracing the original true children with the original heart never appeared on this earth. Please forgive humanity. We have not sung to You with our original hearts from the time we were seized by death until today.
Please forgive us, the miserable ones who were unable to call You from the glorious original position. Father, please have compassion on us, for we did not attain the original heart and were unable to call You “My Father” with yearning.
Humanity lost the original garden, fell into the world of death and struggled against the darkness. We have been in the midst of lamentation and hopelessness, entrapped in the hands of the enemy. However, we long for the original homeland in our consciences, the remnant of the original mind. With Your touch, which we felt hour to hour, we have sought the stream of heavenly life. Father, even as You persevered through the historical battles, You helped us. We are so grateful.
Father, You know that being immature and unworthy, we are tired from this course. I ask You to spread Your hands of compassion over us. Please grant the power of re-creation and restore our original hearts. My Father, I sincerely ask that You hold us so that we may approach You with our original selves.
We must go toward the original world for which You long, even if we have to cut away everything of this world. Therefore, Father, please allow us to be totally immersed in desperate longing for the homeland. Please drive us so that we may run to the homeland, even if our bodies and legs become exhausted.
Continue reading “Lose Your Life to Gain Your Life”