Church Within Sunday Services for December 1997

12/07/97 - Sunday Service of Church Within #63
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Welcome
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Greetings my Dearest Siblings, and welcome once again to Church Within.

For a few moments, be still and quiet your mind. Listen intently for that "still small voice" of the Creator within you and then contemplate for a bit on what you "hear". When you are finished... proceed.

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Quotes
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(The King James Bible - Mark 11:22-24)
And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his
heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

(The Urantia Papers Paper-101 Section-8)
        Belief has attained the level of faith when it motivates life and shapes the mode of living. The acceptance of a teaching as true is not faith; that is mere belief. Neither is certainty nor conviction faith. A state of mind attains to faith levels only when it actually dominates the mode of living. Faith is a living attribute of genuine personal religious experience. One believes truth, admires beauty, and reverences goodness, but does not worship them; such an attitude of saving faith is centered on God alone, who is all of these personified and infinitely more.

(The Urantia Papers Paper-102 Section-6)
        Belief may not be able to resist doubt and withstand fear, but faith is always triumphant over doubting, for faith is both positive and living. The positive always has the advantage over the negative,
truth over error, experience over theory, spiritual realities over the isolated facts of time and space. The convincing evidence of this spiritual certainty consists in the social fruits of the spirit which such believers, faithers, yield as a result of this genuine spiritual experience. Said Jesus: "If you love your fellows as I have loved you, then shall all men know that you are my disciples."

(Celestial Lites 1997)
Belief... is Talking the Talk. Faith... is Walking the Walk. Take a Walk...

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The Sermon
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Here I am, once again with a sermon about Faith. Why, you ask, does he spend so much time talking about Faith? Because I have discovered that to have it, is to have everything that is of true value in life.

I grew up thinking that Faith was merely believing the unbelievable. It was something that I was told I had to have when a "religious" teacher couldn't come up with a satisfactory answer to my sincere questions. I am discovering that the word Faith is perhaps the second most misunderstood word in human language, the first being Love.

Alright then smartguy, so what is Faith, and how does it work?

I thought you would never ask.

        Remember the old story about the difference between being an optimist and being a pessimist? You know, the one about the two little boys who were put into separate rooms, one into a room full of every kind of wonderful toy imaginable, the other into a room full of horse manure? The pessimistic boy in the room with all the toys sat there glumly, and when the observer asked why he didn't play with anything, he said it was because he was afraid that he might break something. When the observer checked on the optimistic boy in the room full of manure, he found him joyfully and exuberantly digging through all the crap. When the observer asked him what he was doing, the boy said: "With all this manure, there's gotta be a horsie in here somewhere."

The optimistic little boy had true Faith. Now we all know that there wasn't really a horse in there, don't we? So many of us give up because reason tells us that there can't possibly be a horse in that room. We refuse to see outside of the room.

Now, let me enlarge the story a bit for illustration sake.

The observer decided to leave the boy in the room to continue his digging. He was so fascinated at the unfounded determination of the youth, that he went to tell the boy's father what he was doing. Upon hearing the details of the situation, the father got a tear in his eye. He knew that his son had always wanted a horse, but previously he hadn't thought that the boy was ready for one. Upon hearing of his son's faith and determination, he went out immediately and purchased a horse for him. When he went back to get his boy, he found him in the room, still digging. Smiling, the father said, "Come along son. It's time to go home now." "But dad! I haven't found my horsie yet!" said the boy. Not wanting to ruin the surprise, the father just said, "Son, there isn't really a horse in that room." Looking at the room in disappointment, the boy said, "OK dad, I'll come along with you." They drove home in silence, the boy apparently lost in thought, his dad allowing him time to think things through. When they reached their home, the boys eyes lit up in joy and amazement. There, tethered to the tree in the front yard, was his horse.

Had the boy in the story refused to go with his father and continued to dig in the room, he eventually would have discovered that indeed there was no horse in the room. But instead, although disappointed, he went with his dad only to discover that what he was looking for was somewhere else waiting for him. The end result of the boy's actively digging through the manure, was that he found his horsie.

How often do we inhibit the outworking of Faith in our lives by refusing to leave the room filled with manure? How often do we fail to see the true results of Faith, because they didn't happen the way that we wanted or expected them to?

God Loves us each far beyond our human ability to comprehend it, and wants us to have Everything that is Good for us. Faith in this alone is all that we really require. If we have Faith in this, then all things needful will be added unto us by our Divine Loving Parent.

Let your Faith so motivate your life that it shapes your mode of living.

"there's gotta be a horsie in here somewhere."

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The Prayer
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Dearest Father [please fill in your own favorite name for the Universal Source],

Strengthen my Faith in Your benevolent watchcare. There is nothing else that I need ask You for today. I Love You for All that You have helped me to learn in my life.
        Amen.


You ALL are Within the Infinitely Loving Embrace of our Universal Parent,

The Creator's Infinite Love, through me, to all of You,
Pastor Daniel

12/14/97 - Sunday Service of Church Within #64
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Welcome
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Greetings my Dearest Siblings, and welcome once again to Church Within.

Yesterday, the 13th, was my 44th birthday. In reflecting upon those 44 years, I remembered many times of joy... and many times of sorrow... many times of pleasure... and many times of great pain and suffering... many moments of ease... and many, many moments of horrendous struggle. I wouldn't care to change a one of them. And I thank each and every one of you, and all of the others who have shared a part of my life, for who I am.

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Quotes
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(The Urantia Papers Paper-156 Section-5)
        The measure of the spiritual capacity of the evolving soul is your faith in truth and your love for man, but the measure of your human strength of character is your ability to resist the holding of grudges and your capacity to withstand brooding in the face of deep sorrow. Defeat is the true mirror in which you may honestly view your real self.

(Parable from a Dear Friend - origin unknown)
        You have probably heard the story of the Chinese man who was adept at interpreting events. When his son's horse ran away and the villagers were consoling his son he said, "How do you know that this isn't a blessing?"
        When the horse came back later with a stallion and the neighbors were praising his son's good luck, the father said, "And how do you know that this isn't a disaster?"
        When the son, while riding the new stallion, fell and broke his hip he bemoaned his bad luck but his father, again, asked if this might not be a blessing.
        Then war broke out and all the young men were conscripted into service and ninety percent died in battle. The son, whose hip was broken, couldn't go and therefore he and his father were able to grow old together.

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The Sermon
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        If I was to ask you to write down 10 things that you don't like about yourself, it wouldn't be too difficult a task, would it? What, then... if I asked you to write down 10 things that you really DO like about yourself. Could you do it? OK then... try it right now. If you don't have any paper handy, do it mentally... write down 10 things that you appreciate about You. Your EGO is the part of you that makes finding the "don't likes" so easy. It is also the part of you that makes it so difficult to find the "DO likes".

        Now, think about your best friend. Write down 10 things that you like about them. Pretty easy isn't it? OK, try writing down 10 things that you can't stand about them. More difficult? Your Soul was at work in this instance.

        If your best friend were doing this right now, they would be right in the same boat as you are. They could much more easily find 10 things they like about You than they could themselves. Have you ever wondered why that is? I think it's because we judge ourselves too harshly. We spend so much time cursing our apparent failures, that we often forget or refuse to see our true selves, our Souls.

        Ego is a tricky little sucker. It is also that which makes it possible for us to survive as material creatures in this material world. Some noticeable characteristics of Ego are: fear, distrust, selfishness, blame, jealousy, prejudice, greed, resentment, judgment... not very likable things, are they? But ego likes them. Why? Because they feel protective to ego. There have been times in your life when each and every one of them has protected you from something. That is why ego holds on to them so dearly. In fact, ego can get quite belligerent at times when your Soul tries to delete one of them. "STOP!" it yells, "I still NEED that!" And in so far as it has failed to choose God's suggestion in regard to any of them, ego is right... it does still need it in order to provide an opportunity for Soul to grow.

        As a young child, and on up until we reach early adulthood, a healthy ego is a pretty valuable asset. Without it, we really can't develop the ability to choose right from wrong. It is really the one thing that we have that separates us from animals... that makes us human. An animal cannot choose between right and wrong.

        Ego is like the egg of the Soul. There comes a point in our early childhood when we, for the first time, recognize that there is a difference between right and wrong and make our first conscious choice between them. That is the moment when the egg is fertilized... when God actually becomes a part of our conscious life. That is really the beginning of the development of our Soul. Every time the ego chooses truth, beauty, goodness or love, those things God would have us choose, Soul grows a little. That part of ego which made the choice for right, has become food for the growth of the young Soul... it has become a part of Soul. The more ego chooses God's way, the more our Soul grows. At some point in adulthood, the nutrition which ego has provided has been used up. This is when Soul really begins to recognize that it is confined... that it must break out of it's ego shell if it is to be free... if it is to truly think for itself. The shell is tough and hard. It is made of fear, distrust, selfishness, blame, jealousy, prejudice, greed, resentment and judgment. Ego is still in full control until Soul cracks that shell for the first time and makes the tiniest hole for Light to get in. That is the very moment that Soul realizes that there may be something better outside of the shell. It then begins the seemingly long arduous struggle of breaking free. Until the last minute fragment of shell has been removed, ego still plays a part in the life of the new emerging creature.

        Most often, the shell is never completely removed until human death. The Soul has not become sufficiently self conscious enough to realize that it can play an active and purposeful part in the removal of it's final barriers to true freedom. It is still allowing the persistent remnants of ego to cling and irritate it as a reminder that there is still work to be done.

        Ego is not an inherently bad thing... quite the contrary. It has provided the means for physical safety during Soul development.

        When we look at ourselves, we easily see how much we have yet to accomplish. When we look at those we love, we can already see much of the beauty which is already revealed.

Our toughest piece of ego's shell is fear. If we could only remove that piece first, the rest would just fall away on it's own and then would we be truly Free.

This is one way that I see it…

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The Prayer
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Dearest Father [please fill in your own favorite name for the Universal Source],

If I were to put my full and total Faith in You, there would no longer be any reason to hold on to fear. I pray that You help me to do so.


You ALL are Within the Infinitely Loving Embrace of our Universal Parent,

The Creator's Infinite Love, through me, to all of You,
Pastor Daniel

12/21/97 - Sunday Service of Church Within #65
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Welcome
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Greetings my Dearest Siblings, and welcome once again to Church Within.


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Quotes
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(The KJV Bible Leviticus 19:18)
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

(The KJV Bible Matthew 5:38-41)
        Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

(The Urantia Papers Paper-159 Section-5)
        Jesus put the spirit of positive action into the passive doctrines of the Jewish religion. In the place of negative compliance with ceremonial requirements, Jesus enjoined the positive doing of that which his new religion required of those who accepted it. Jesus' religion consisted not merely in believing, but in actually doing, those things which the gospel required. He did not teach that the essence of his religion consisted in social service, but rather that social service was one of the certain effects of the possession of the spirit of true religion.

         Jesus did not hesitate to appropriate the better half of a Scripture while he repudiated the lesser portion. His great exhortation, "Love your neighbor as yourself," he took from the Scripture which reads: "You shall not take vengeance against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus appropriated the positive portion of this Scripture while rejecting the negative part. He even opposed negative or purely passive nonresistance. Said he: "When an enemy smites you on one cheek, do not stand there dumb and passive but in positive attitude turn the other; that is, do the best thing possible actively to lead your brother in error away from the evil paths into the better ways of righteous living." Jesus required his followers to react positively and aggressively to every life situation. The turning of the other cheek, or whatever act that may typify, demands initiative, necessitates vigorous, active, and courageous expression of the believer's personality.

        Jesus did not advocate the practice of negative submission to the indignities of those who might purposely seek to impose upon the practitioners of nonresistance to evil, but rather that his followers should be wise and alert in the quick and positive reaction of good to evil to the end that they might effectively overcome evil with good. Forget not, the truly good is invariably more powerful than the most malignant evil. The Master taught a positive standard of righteousness: "Whosoever wishes to be my disciple, let him disregard himself and take up the full measure of his responsibilities daily to follow me." And he so lived himself in that "he went about doing good." And this aspect of the gospel was well illustrated by many parables which he later spoke to his followers. He never exhorted his followers patiently to bear their obligations but rather with energy and enthusiasm to live up to the full measure of their human responsibilities and divine privileges in the kingdom of God.

        When Jesus instructed his apostles that they should, when one unjustly took away the coat, offer the other garment, he referred not so much to a literal second coat as to the idea of doing something positive to save the wrongdoer in the place of the olden advice to retaliate--"an eye for an eye" and so on. Jesus abhorred the idea either of retaliation or of becoming just a passive sufferer or victim of injustice. On this occasion he taught them the three ways of contending with, and resisting, evil:
1. To return evil for evil--the positive but unrighteous method.
2. To suffer evil without complaint and without resistance--the purely negative method.
3. To return good for evil, to assert the will so as to become master of the situation, to overcome evil with good--the positive and righteous method.

        One of the apostles once asked: "Master, what should I do if a stranger forced me to carry his pack for a mile?" Jesus answered: "Do not sit down and sigh for relief while you berate the stranger under your breath. Righteousness comes not from such passive attitudes. If you can think of nothing more effectively positive to do, you can at least carry the pack a second mile. That will of a certainty challenge the unrighteous and ungodly stranger."


(The Urantia Papers Paper-195 Section-10)
        In winning souls for the Master, it is not the first mile of compulsion, duty, or convention that will transform man and his world, but rather the second mile of free service and liberty-loving devotion that betokens the Jesusonian reaching forth to grasp his brother in love and sweep him on under spiritual guidance toward the higher and divine goal of mortal existence. Christianity even now willingly goes the first mile, but mankind languishes and stumbles along in moral darkness because there are so few genuine second-milers--so few professed followers of Jesus who really live and love as he taught his disciples to live and love and serve.

(Celestial Lites-1997)
Walk the Second Mile.

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The Sermon
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        What is the lesson of "turn the other cheek"; " let him have thy cloak also"; and "carry the pack a second mile"? I always wondered what good it would do. Did they mean that I should just stand there and "take it"... be totally passive and allow injustice after injustice? In the current state of the world, wouldn't that just invite people to take advantage of me?

        Then one day at the department store I observed a scene that brought it home for me. I finally understood in my own mind what the heck Jesus was getting at when he suggested these tactics of response. Here's what happened that turned a light on for me:

        I was in the toy section looking for a little present that my son might enjoy. Looking at one of those walls where they have about 500 inexpensive things hanging there, I overheard an argument between a man and woman which was getting progressively heated. The man was holding one toy that he was vehemently describing as "the best one" for their little boy while the woman was ardently touting the disadvantages of his and the practicality of the one that she was holding. A little embarrassed by the spectacle and trying not to stare, I noticed a cute little boy excitedly walk up to them with yet another toy in his hand. Uncomfortable with what was going on between his parents, he tried to step between them. The lady quickly pushed him out of the way and continued. Nonplused, the boy said, "Dad? Excuse me." Without looking at him, the father angrily said, "Be quiet! Your mother and I are talking!" "But dad..." the boy came back with immediately, holding up his own choice. "SHUT UP!" came the man's retort, and unthinkingly, he slapped the boy and with a mean look stared at him in silence. Instead of crying or screaming or making a scene of his own, the young boy, with tears running down his eyes, looked into the face of his father and said, "Daddy... are you going to hit me again?" The attitude of his mom and dad immediately softened, they were dumbfounded. They tearfully looked at each other and then both knelt to hug and embrace their child. "God, I'm so sorry." said the dad. "We didn't mean to hurt you." said his mom. The man and woman set down the toys they were carrying and walked arm in arm towards the checker with their son who was carrying his choice.

        After a second of thought, a light of understanding went on in my mind. Excitedly I said to myself, "The boy turned the other cheek!" All of a sudden the phrase which I had heard so many, many times in my life made sense to me. If the boy had screamed and caused another scene, the situation would have gotten a lot worse. The action he took diffused the whole scenario and all walked away lovingly and happy.

        Then I inserted the other two concepts into the formula. If someone forcibly takes your coat and you lovingly give them also your shirt, chances are they would feel remorseful about taking your coat. Their whole life could be changed by that one small loving act. At the very least they would think twice before taking someone else's coat. It could just work for the other one too. If someone pressures you into carrying their load for them, carry it twice as far, joyfully and without complaint. What effect might that have on them? How would it affect you?

Turn the other cheek... give them also your shirt... walk the second mile.

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The Prayer
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Dearest Father [please fill in your own favorite name for the Universal Source],
        Help me to see Your way: to give Love where I see hatred, Comfort where I perceive sorrow, Peace where I see only disharmony. Help me to make Your world a better place to be, dear Lord, by sharing Compassion and Love as did the Master.


You ALL are Within the Infinitely Loving Embrace of our Universal Parent,

The Creator's Infinite Love, through me, to all of You,
Pastor Daniel

12/28/97 - Sunday Service of Church Within #66
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Welcome
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Greetings my Dearest Siblings, and welcome once again to Church Within.

Holidays can be times of such great Joy for some, and times of great pain and sorrow for others. If yours was full of Joy, share some of it with another who may not have been so lucky. I wish you all a very blessed holiday season.

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Quotes
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(The Urantia Papers Paper-157 Section-2)
"Even now you should begin to find deliverance from the bondage of fear and doubt as you enter upon the living of the new life of faith and hope. And when the feelings of service for your fellow men arise within your soul, do not stifle them; when the emotions of love for your neighbor well up within your heart, give expression to such urges of affection in intelligent ministry to the real needs of your fellows."

(The Urantia Papers Paper-165 Section-5)
Let me assure you, once and for all, that, if you dedicate your lives to the work of the kingdom, all your real needs shall be supplied. Seek the greater thing, and the lesser will be found therein; ask for the heavenly, and the earthly shall be included. The shadow is certain to follow the substance.

(Celestial Lites 1997)
Give Love without expectations. Then will your expectations be far Surpassed.

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The Sermon
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        What is it that we truly need to survive on this world? What are our real needs?

        Well... If we are only talking about physically staying alive, our "needs" are fairly simple. Obviously we need water, food, sleep and some type of shelter, right? Those four things are the most basic necessities which are most critical to the survival of our physical bodies. Without them our bodies would die in a relatively short period of time, so of course we would consider them essential needs.

        But we also have other needs both emotional and spiritual. They are the needs of our heart, of our Soul, and they are equally important to what we call life. An exorbitant amount of pain and suffering are the results of neglecting these needs. These needs are a lot more difficult of description and are the cause of a great deal of confusion on our world. Being the physical creatures that we are, our tendency is to try to fill these emotional and spiritual needs with physical things. Who among us has not, at one time or another, gone out and bought some thing to try to make ourselves feel better? "I feel neglected. I'm going out and buy some new clothes." or, "If I just had that car, I know I would feel alot better about myself." or, "If I had a better..." house... furniture... whatever... "...then everything would be alright." or how about, "If I had this title...";"If I had that degree..." the list could go on and on for the rest of our lives. Unfortunately for many, it does go on and on. What are we truly searching for? I feel we are really searching for Love, acceptance, companionship and respect.

        We each have a very basic emotional and spiritual need to be needed... to be wanted... to be loved for who we are... to share from our Soul. When these needs are not met we are miserable... no ifs, ands or buts. We can stay alive with food and water, but we cannot really "live" without the satisfaction of our higher needs.

        God Loves us immeasurably and is cognizant of our every need, physical, emotional and spiritual. For each of them does God provide opportunity of fulfillment. As we open ourselves fully to God within ourselves and others, we are more able to identify our own real needs and the needs of those we care about. Our wants and our needs are not always the same... neither are they always different. We all want to be Loved... and need to be. We all want to be hugged and held... and need to be.

        It is easy to see the basic physical needs of ourselves and others. It's obvious when someone needs food or water or shelter and it is a wonderful service to provide those things when they are unable to do so for themselves. But how do we react when what they really need is to be needed... to be listened to... to be held... to be loved? Are we truly in God's Service if we provide for the things of the body and then ignore the things of the emotions and of the spirit?
        Let God's grace and Love flow through you. Let God provide for the true needs of another by being an expression of His/Her Love for them. Let someone who wants to be needed do something for you. Hold someone who is lonely or in pain. Listen to someone who needs to share their life experiences. Love... Simply Love.

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The Prayer
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Dearest Father [please fill in your own favorite name for the Universal Source],
        Help me to recognize all of the opportunities You provide for me. I wish to be more like You in the way that You Love... the way that You care... the way that You know and recognize Truth, Beauty and Goodness. I pray that each day I become a little bit more like You, another step closer to You.

You ALL are Within the Infinitely Loving Embrace of our Universal Parent,

The Creator's Infinite Love, through me, to all of You,
Pastor Daniel

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