Prosperity In Your Home--Sermon Commentary

I intentionally kept Sunday's sermon simple, and I've been wondering if it was too simple. All day long I've been wondering if the point was understood. Rather than risk the gamble of assumption, I am going to spell it out right here.

The purpose of walking through your home singing the first two lines of Surely The Presence is to keep in the forefront of your awareness that your home is the very presence of Infinite Substance. It is the presence of Infinite Abundance. Abundance (Infinite, divine Substance) is not somewhere and sometime else, but right there in and as your very home, NOW.

Just the constant recognition, awareness and acknowledgment of this fact will do more to establish prosperity and joy in your home than anything else you can do.

Ageless Living--Sermon Summary

The audio version of this sermon will not be available, so here is a summary of the most important parts. WhyThe Desire to Live Agelessly? $56 billion dollars a year is spent on anti-aging products. Why is there a desire to live agelessly? Remember, desire signifies the presence of fulfillment. The reason you desire to live agelessly is because it is possible, and normal to live agelessly. Three Point To Consider To live agelessly consider these ideas:

1. Your body is pure Spirit and is not governed by material laws. We cannot keep saying God (Spirit) is ALL, and think of the body as material. Only what is true of Spirit (God) is true of your Body. Don't judge by the appearance.
2. As God is the only Power, there is no power in so-called time to rob your Body of its vim, vitality, health, beauty and ability. There is no time in God and no God in time. Despite all appearances time has never affected your Body.
3. Because of the above, the appearance of aging is not inevitable or unavoidable.

Help For the Aging Body

The question has been asked, "Is it possible to turn the aged form into one of beauty and immortality without the change called death?" And the answer, in a nutshell, is that as the Truth of your Body is accepted and understood it is visibilized as your Body. Your business is to accept your Body's spiritual nature as its only nature.

Read the above paragraph again and it is easy to see why your best years are ahead of you, and not behind. With each passing year (time is not really real), your understanding of your Body's true nature is clearer and this clarity of spiritual vision shows forth on your body. Put no limits on this.

Stop Aging Yourself

Finally, STOP RECORDING AGES. Do not put a number on your Body or any Body. Body is timeless. The Truth is your Body is birthless, deathless, timeless and ageless. "Before Abraham was I AM." This is the Christ Truth of you.

Reminder-Service Starts At 10am

One Sunday, can you believe, we actually started the service close to 10:30am. Why? No one was sitting in the seats. Other times, we have had a first-time visitor arrive a little before 10am only to sit for twenty minutes because that's when the next person arrives. It's no surprise that they never come back.

I know many of you come from quite a distance to get to church, and it's good that you make it at all. However, I am asking everyone to please be a little more mindful that the service actually starts at 10am.

Sermon Uploads

Sunday's sermon and a previous sermon will be uploaded Wednesday night.

How To Work The Sermon Player

I've learned that many people who want to listen to our sermons at www.unityinsilverspring.org/audio.html are confused about how to work the player. Below are a few helpful hints:

• To the right of the uppermost sermon title, there is a scroll button. It is a grey circle under an “up” arrow. You can scroll all the way down to the “down” arrow to see the list of sermons on the player. Currently, there are 11 sermons.
• To the left of the player (grey letters), you will see the words “Sort Options.” Click on it and you can sort sermons by topic, speaker, series, year, etc.
• At the bottom left of the player, you will see the words “Search Archive.” Let’s say you are interested in all sermons on Prosperity. Type in the word and all the related sermons will show in the player. Or type in the name of a speaker and all of their talks will show. You get the picture.
• At the top of the player is the Volume button.
• The Details button will give all the details regarding a particular sermon title that you have already selected.
• When your mouse hovers over a sermon title, right above the player you will see a pop-up reading “Download This Clip.” You can save the sermon to a CD to play in your car, or save it to your computer.

Your Heart's Desire--Sermon Lesson

Here are essential points from last Sunday's sermon:

• Sometimes it seems that you have an intense desire for something: money, cigarettes, alcohol, sex, etc. That desire is actually a desire to experience the fullness of your Christ nature. All satisfaction is from within.
• This is not to say that you should not enjoy the pleasures of companionship, etc. It means that when you first find this fulfillment within, you are guaranteed to find it "fleshed" out into fulfilling experiences.
• The question came up: "Why is it that when you thought you wanted to travel, you realized your real desire was to experience God, and yet the result was an abundance of travel opportunities?" Here's why: I first found the fulfillment as a grander experience of God's Allness, and that fulfillment then fleshed itself out in a fulfilling way. Had it not been the travel opportunities, the fleshing out would've been something far more fulfilling than the travel I thought I desired.
• THE BOTTOM LINE: Living the Spiritual Life is living a Life of fulfillment.

The You Tube Video

You might want to check this out as a reminder of some of the points of a previous lesson. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nm4b05_Fps

Hear For Yourself What I Said About Sex

There was a lot of talk after Sunday's sermon. "The Rev said we shouldn't have sex." Never said it. Hear for yourself. The sermon, Your True Desire, is now available.

Sunday School-Catch The Excitement

Sunday school is an active, and empowering way to volunteer your service at Unity in Silver Spring. Begin thinking now if you would like to be on a rotation schedule to help Tiffany (Dr. Manuel) carry on with her excellent, and inspiring vision for the Sunday School.

Sunday's Sermon Is Available On The Website

This Sunday's sermon, "The Way Out Is Within" is available on the Unity in Silver Spring website. I know many of you are having a hard time making this maneuver, so let's take it step-by-step.

1. Click on www.unityinsilverspring.org
2. To the right you will see a set of earphones with the words Listen To Sermons. Click.
3. The top spot is always reserved for the most recent sermon.

Happy Listening!

Bible Readers Alert

Laura is taking a well deserved break from coordinating the Bible Reader's Schedule. For the time being I (Rev. Allen) will be taking over her responsibilities. If you have any questions, cancellations, or substitution requests, please contact me. allen.white2@att.net

Thanks!

Sermon Highlights--Dealing With Appearances

Below are some highlights, helps and hints regarding Sunday's sermon.

• The basic principle on page 1 "God, which is goodness, perfection, love, and harmony, with no opposite or opposition, is omnipresent. Every individual including his life and his body , is in reality an expression of omnipresent God." [I like the more absolute statement "...is in reality the evidence of omnipresent God."]
• Remind yourself of this foundational statement throughout the day, every day, until we meet Sunday.
• How do I best help a loved one who seems to be in trouble? Go back to the foundational statement. Every individual including his life and his body, is in reality an expression of omnipresent God. This is their reality NOW. The best help you can give is to clarify your perception of her/him. Are you seeing this one as a patient with ____, one in trouble, or as the EVIDENCE of omnipresent perfection without an opposite?
• Remember, get your BUT out of the way. You cannot have omnipresent Harmony AND something else too.
• Take the statement and contemplate it. Sit with it. Consider every nuance of it. Be Silent and let further Revelation come forth. You are not using this statement to fight against something. YOu are acknowledging it as the only something.
• FEAR is the result of judging by appearances. Remind yourself that the fear has no presence and no power. Refuse to let it operate.

How To Solve Any Problem?

This Sunday we will pass out a gift to you. It is a copy of the book "Dealing With Appearances" by Ben Sweet. The sermon will be based on this book. After this sermon series, you will not be able to say about any problem, "I don't know what to do." The book is written in a clear, simple, and straightforward style. We will have fun with this. Be There!

Truth Not Working For You?

One of my favorite Unity books is one of the old classics, Effectual Prayer, by Frances Foulks. A short read, but the most powerful passage in the entire book is found on page 24. She writes:

"When an error condition in our lives does not respond to prayer, we have a right to ask why: 'What is there in me that is keeping this good from me?'"

Yes, I know that this wreaks of dualism. Get past it. You are interested in uncovering a Truth through Revelation. The asking of the question and the listening of the answer will reveal an answer that is not dualistic. Yes, such questioning will seem to free you of a supposed evil, but that's just scratching the surface. You will discover something about God and some truth about your Identity directly from your own God Consciousness.

Article On Prayer

Our Prayer Project is in full swing. I know (and believe in my heart) that our church family is participating in this project--if only for the two-minute minimum. Here is an article on prayer from my booksite that may inspire you.

Online Donations-Thank You

I want to thank those of you who have contributed to our ministry via online donations. There will be times when you just cant come to church, but via the online donation system you can still support Unity in Silver Spring. Thank you. This is a new procedure for us and it has proven to be a great idea.

Donation Update

You can now make donations to this ministry right here on the blog. Look to your top-right for the "donation" button." All donations are secured through Paypal.

Sermon Summary

Below are the main points from Sunday's sermon "The Juicy Fruit Life."

• Spirituality is more than mere feel-good philosophy. It is practical. When Jesus warned his disciples about false prophets, he said, "Ye will know them by their fruits." A spiritual tree (life rooted and grounded in God's allness) bears spiritual fruit. In other words, without you saying a word your spirituality shows forth in all that you do, say and by the quality of your living.
• One of the fruits or telltale signs of the spiritual life is LOVE. Without any effort at all, you find yourself engaged in a love affair with everything and everyone in the world. You LOVE, because you can't help loving. At some point you realize that YOU ARE LOVE IN ACTION.
• As LOVE, you will find that (1) unforgiving attitudes resulting from past hurts (2)harbored resentments (3) petty dislikes fall away as naturally as leaves fall from the trees in Winter. The beauty of this is you are not making an effort to rid yourself of these feelings. These leaves just don't grow on the spiritual tree.
• The Bible states that "Perfect love casts out fear." The spiritual tree does not grow fear fruit. Fear of persons, places, conditions and things fall away--if only gradually and by degrees. You've heard it said that if you can shake the fear of a disease the healing is sure to come. As a spiritual tree bearing the fruit of LOVE, the fear of (seeming)disease and the fear of the consequences of (seeming) disease drop away. You are no longer manipulated by disease and diagnosis. You are free to discover the WHOLENESS of your BEING.
• Another fruit of the spiritual life is JOY. Unconditional joy. No one gave you this joy, so they cannot take it away. No thing gave you this joy. It is generated from the I AM that YOU ARE. It out-pictures as genuine cheerfulness and a positive attitude. Bearing the fruit of joy, it is no possible for you to be bored.

Sermon Summary-No News Blues

Every now and again I preach a sermon that I can't shake. The theme haunts me (like a friendly ghost) for many days. No News Blues is one of those sermons. Below are highlights:

• Either you are an active reader of the news or you are a passive reader of the news. When you are an active reader, as you are reading even the most horrific headlines, active in your Consciousness is the FACT that no matter what you seem to see, GOD IS THE ONLY PRESENCE, THE ONLY POWER, THE ONLY ACTOR AND THE ONLY ACTIVITY.
• Every time you pick up the paper or listen to the talking heads should be a catalyst for world prayer--not to fix the world but to perceive that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
• Where there appear to be reports of power-mad, and ego-driven world leaders, we should be conscious that there is only the Love-Driven Christ Identity.
• Conscious of God's presence and power, let's not accept any report of hatred, violence, disease or lack as "normal," or beyond the power of prayer.
• As Rees Howells prayer efforts resulted in Hitler's downfall so can our prayers show the nothingness of hatred's seeming rampage.

Wonderful Things Are Happening

A few years ago, I preached the sermon, "Wonderful Things Are Happening." It was one of my favorites. Here is the audio version of the actual story. In a few weeks, the sermon will be posted on our website.

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