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“Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”
Acts 5:20
A minister and author, Carol Ruth Knox came up with the different phases of a life quest that we all go through. I want to share this important message with you, as we go into the new year of 2011. Hopefully, it will be as meaningful to your life as it was to mine.
I have asked an incredibly special person to be with us this morning. This is (introduce a small child from Sunday School). The reason I want (Name) to come and share this moment with us is because (Name) represents all of us. At one time or another, (Name), all of us were just like you. We were little boys and little girls, just like you. We call this our first phase of our life.
It is our INNOCENCE phase of life.
I remember when I was about (Name’s) age; I was going to Sunday School. I was fortunate to be raised in a Christian home.
Can you relate to (Name)? Can you relate to that young, innocent age? In your memory, you can still see what you saw as a little child, can’t you? You might remember your own Sunday School, hearing for the first time, the stories of Jesus and all the wonderful things about God and creation. You can still probably remember some of the songs you sang.
This was so meaningful. Do you remember one Sunday when your parents said, “It is time for you to go to the big church.” You were excited about going to the big church because that was the room where all those beautiful, stained glass windows were and where that big pipe organ was.
The sun’s rays were coming through those stained-glass windows. All the adults, who were friends of your parents, gave you a smile of approval for being there. It was a joy-filled experience – – a journey in your own spirituality. We are on that journey again, now, as we venture together into our new year experience.
As you grew, you had wonderful things happen in your life, AND SOME not so good THINGS. Some people questioned what this had to do with the Sunday School teaching of an all-good loving God. This God of love was now, falsely, becoming a God of wrath and judgment and punishment in their own minds. You see, at that moment, some have the death of this innocent phase, because this good God that they felt so close to, who was a friend of theirs, was now a God that they did not want to have anything to do with.
VICTIM STAGE
We sometimes go from this faith of innocence into the second phase of life which is our VICTIM stage.
Beloved, many hundreds of people are walking the streets, today, that are locked into this VICTIM stage of their lives. You see, there are several things that go on during this victim stage of life. Where God was their friend as a child, now there was a separation from God. God was not close to them anymore. God was separate, way up in the sky. They did not know where this God was, but they thought of God like the giant in “Jack in the Beanstalk.” God was some big giant looking down. Adults always talked about the man upstairs. God was looking at everything that you did bad or did wrong.
When you are in the victim stage of life, you do not give because you want to give. You give out of fear. You try to live up to all these expectations, all these rules and regulations. As Paul said, as hard as I tried, it seemed as if I was always missing the mark. I was not quite living this God standard that was placed on me.
One man told this story, “I will never forget that in my church you were not supposed to dance or play cards or go to movies (especially on Sunday). During World War II, I was sitting in a movie theater eating popcorn, watching a John Wayne war movie. All of a sudden, I realized that it was Sunday and I was at a movie. I can remember sitting in the theater thinking, ‘I sure hope Jesus doesn’t come this Sunday afternoon.’ If He did, I was sure I was going to Hell instead of Heaven, because I was at the movies at the wrong time.”
When we are in this VICTIM stage, we have a life of punishment. We have a life that is unfulfilling. Not only do we search and yearn for this oneness or closeness with God, but we find ourselves at a loss because of trying to fulfill all the expectations of other people.
A woman said, “I was in this stage when, one day, I told a friend of mine, ‘I am going to stop going to that church because I go in with ten pounds of weight on my shoulders, and when I leave I have 100 pounds. I can hardly get out of there because of the weight of guilt.'”
Jesus Christ said, “For my yoke (weight upon you) is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:30
God is love, and the true Christian message is loving, and makes you feel better when you leave, than when you entered.
VICTORY STAGE
John 14:20 reads like this: “On that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me and I am in you.” To me, this is the moment that you leave the VICTIM stage of your life and enter the VICTORY stage of life. I hope everybody here this morning is in the victory stage of life, because I hope you know that God is within you, helping you right here, right now. The power of God is with you. We can have it all – – because, with God, you are a VICTOR. God and you become friends for life. You become partners in life with God.
Your mind is the connecting link with God in prayer, through thoughts, and feelings. We have the conscious awareness where we find spiritual truths with all our senses.
Jesus said to be in the world but not of it. We cannot help being on this life plane that we are on today, but through our spiritual connection with God we can be less affected by our world in a negative way. We can be empowered by God. Sod is not affected to situations and circumstances outside of us.
The VICTOR phase utilizes our memory mind in the proper way. This is that reservoir that holds all our thoughts and feelings through our lifetime. It is a wonderful part of our mind. In fact, it is our computer. It is that phase of our mind that enabled the men to tie our ties this morning. We did not have to learn how to tie a tie again. This morning, you automatically put on your shoes or made a pot of coffee. You did not have to sit down and get a cookbook out to see how to make a pot of coffee. It comes instantly because you know how to do it. When you got in your automobile this morning, you put the key in, backed it up, and drove here. You see, the memory will take anything we give it, and it will hold it for a very long time. But also the memory mind does not understand jokes. If you say, “I am sick,” it registers that you are sick, and the body responds with the effects of your thoughts.
These negative things are stored in our memory, as well as the positive things we pray. In the memory phase of our mind, the history of all our thoughts and feelings are stored. It is a wonderful part of our mind, because God is within it as much as in our conscious mind. God is the Creator that made all our minds.
What you are today – is the sum total of your thoughts of yesteryear. What you are going to be in the future -will be the sum total of your thoughts of today. It is just that simple.
Life is consciousness. In other words, if you project love and spiritual thoughts in your mind, you are projecting a wonderful life ahead of you, where all your needs are met in 2011 and beyond.
In a restaurant, I overheard a woman, who was close to retirement, talking. She said, “I hope I die before I get broke. I hope I do not outlive my money.” When we know that God is our Source, we do not have to worry. Some way, we know that all our needs will be taken care of. God has told us this. God looks after lilies of the field and the birds of the air. We are the most beautiful part of God nature because our souls are created in God’s image and after God’s likeness. Therefore, we can create our own life experience with God’s wonderful help, the same way as God as created us in the beginning.
The conscious level of our minds is the present. Our memory level is our past. And the future is in the level of our minds that consents to an infilling of God’s Divine ideas and help.
Looking to our past constantly to predict our future would be like trying to drive our cars forward, but only looking through the rearview mirror. The choice is ours. Isn’t it wonderful that we are free to choose? God is no respecter of persons. Love and Divine help have equal access to all, everywhere.
No one is exempt from the good laws of God. God loves us all the same, with an unconditional love that Jesus told us about.
As we get older and see that life is unfolding, we see that we all had the Innocent phase of life, the VICTIM stage, and the VICTORY stage. After we accumulate all these possessions and nice things, we find that there is something missing. Now we are ready for that final phase of life. We move from that victory stage of life, from our head to our heart.
VESSEL STAGE
This final phase of life is the VESSEL phase. It is a wonderful phase. In this phase, we know that oneness that Jesus urged us to feel – God and I are one. You see, in the VICTIM stage of life, we gave out of fear. In the VICTORY stage of life, we give because we will receive. But when we get into the VESSEL stage of life, we give because we cannot help ourselves. In the VICTORY stage of life, we give because we think we will receive. But when we get into the VESSEL stage of life, we love because it is our nature to love. We give because we cannot help ourselves from giving. WE WANT TO GIVE SOMETHING BACK!
There was once an elderly man who had just turned 100 years of age. He was seen the day after his birthday in his front yard with a shovel in his hand. He was outside planting a row of young seedling peach trees.
A 30-year-old neighbor could not contain himself any longer, asked the question, “Do you really expect to eat the peaches, years from now, from those young trees?
The old man leaned on a shovel and smiled. He said, “All my life I have been eating peaches from trees that other people planted. Now, I am planting these trees so that someday, someone else will enjoy the benefits of what I have done this day.”
You see, when we get into this vessel stage of life, it is that “Let go and let God” phase.
Why do you suppose we spend so much of our lives thinking we know better than God does for our lives? I think it must be something about control. You see, when we are in the VICTORY stage, we are in our head so much and that is where we have our ego. In the VICTIM stage, there is no ego, just suppression. But now, we let go of our ego. “It is not my will but thine be done. God, my will is Thy will.”
When we know that we and the Creator are working in unison, we are co-creators. We let go and let God be God through us. We do not worry about possessions. We know that if the “thing” is destroyed, God will give us an even better “thing.” Or if our house burns up, we will get a better house. Or if our relationship falls apart, there will be a better relationship coming our way. We even have no problem with death, because we know there is a better life ahead. I am saying that with this knowing, dear friends, that we can live a life of joy and freedom and love, and not worry about the future, because it is God ordained to be absolutely good. God is going ahead of us preparing the way of good in 2011.
I do not know where you are in your life. I hope no one here is a VICTIM. This morning, I hope there are VICTORS in each of us, and I hope it is the VESSEL where we are looking to go. It is wonderful knowing that we are looking toward that perfection of God.
Do you remember the ancient proverb? You give a man a fish and he will feed himself for one meal, but if you teach him to fish, he can feed himself forever. Christianity is showing people how to fish. It is a wonderful business to be in. And, it is wonderful to be with the likes of you this morning, marching into a freer life for all concerned.
Actually this is not like climbing a ladder, spiritual growth cycles through these stages many times in a lifetime because of various events that happened. Our purpose in life is to rise higher, and to stay there, instead of being tossed and turned by the winds of adversity.
Let us just close our eyes for a moment for prayer.
As we let go in prayer, we find ourselves on this eternal quest, we rise from the innocent to the VICTIM, letting go of that with God’s help, we rise above the VICTIM to the VICTOR. We look for being the VESSEL, with our body and mind, actively, THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD, the vessel that God will fill, and will never run dry. Thank you God for being within us, for being our Source of all good.
We pray in the name and through the power of Jesus Christ … Amen.
PRAYER / MEDITATION___________________________
In preparing for prayer, I invite you to become still. If you have anything in your hand that might be a discomfort, please put it aside. I invite you to become still and relaxed. Relax in the seat you are sitting in. As we come to this special time of the day, realize that this is your time:
A gift from God.
This is the time that we put aside all our cares of life – the business of getting here, the anxiety of driving through the snow and ice–and we become centered in that spiritual oneness with God.
God is the precious, powerful, imminent Source that is always with you. That love of God is a refuge to which we can go to regain our strength in a time of need. As we come to this new time of the year where new beginnings are made, we renew ourselves in the knowing that we are one with the One, that one Presence and that one Power of God.
In the silence of prayer …
Jesus said, “Where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” So, today, we rejoice in that oneness with the Christ presence. That presence that was in Jesus Christ is also the same presence that is active in our lives, this morning, in the depths of our hearts and souls.
Now, as you relax further in a deeper state of consciousness, I invite you to let go and let that Presence be your counselor, your physician, and your helper. As we go through our quest of life, this timeless advancing of our souls, we are free. We are unlimited. Through God, with us RIGHT NOW, we have the strength to overcome any challenges of the appearances of the outside world.
So now, let us take a moment to be in the silence of prayer with God …
Dear God, we give thanks that we can come to You, anytime of the day or night. We like to go to the top. We are thankful, dear God, that You have an open door policy and that Your door is always open to us, day or night. We give thanks that we can come to You at any moment, at any time of need. We pray this knowing our oneness with You.
In the name and through the power of Jesus Christ … Amen.
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