Kevin Wilson's Page

"The greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being."

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Pastor Richard Maraj's last three sermons

Feb 22 - Feeling Prosperous

What would make you feel prosperous?

For one month, focus on those feelings. Go even deeper, 'enjoy' the feeling of having realized the things in your life that make you feel prosperous. You will be amazed with the results of one month of thinking about true prosperity.

We can not be focused on lack and deprivation. We have power over our feelings. Learn to love the life that you have.

Jesus, when faced with a crowd of 5,000 people to feed on the shores of the Galilee, did not panic. He had compassion.

Our lives will prosper as our souls prosper. Center your life in prayer.

Give joyfully and receive joyfully.

Reading - Emmet Fox - The mental equivalent. Here are a couple quotes:

“Supply yourself with a mental equivalent, and the thing must come to you.”

“It is the food which you furnish to your mind that determines the whole character of your life

“If you could only love enough, you could be the most powerful person in the world”

“The art of life is to live in the present moment, and to make that moment as perfect as we can by the realization that we are the instruments and expression of God Himself.”

“You must not allow yourself to dwell for a single moment on any kind of negative thought.”

“You must not under any pretense allow your mind to dwell on any thought that is not positive, constructive, optimistic, kind.”

Mar 1 - Be the change

He started off with a list of pet peeves. What things that happen, or that other people do, ruffle your feathers? Why do packages of hot dog buns come with 8 but there 10 hot dogs in a package of hot dogs? I can't remember the other pet peeves he mentioned. Do you have a pet peeve?

He transitioned to talking about being the change that you want to be. He told the story of a family whose son had an eating disorder where he constantly craved candy. They took their son to Gandhi thinking that he could help solve their problem. After several weeks they had still not heard back from Gandhi. FInally, Gandhi contacted the family. When asked why he had taken so long he replied 'it took me that long to stop eating candy myself.' This is a paraphrase. If we want to be the change we need to embody it ourselves. Another famous quote from Gandhi - 'Be the change you wish to see in the world.'

Mark 11:22 - 24 - quote from Jesus - And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

You receive what you ask for.

You are responsible for you own happiness.

Self reflection. Socrates quote - The unexamined life is not worth living.'

Don't focus on other people's shortcomings (remember the pet peeves?). Matthew 7:3 - 'Why do you look at the speck in your brothers eye but do not notice the log in your own eye?'

Recite this quote - 'I am a poweful spiritual being. I can do all things throug God who strengthens me.'

Mar 8 - Use Me

What is the best thing I can do to help myself in the next 40 days?

This is a paraphrase. I hope I have this story right?? He mentions the story of a widow from a bible verse in Kings. The widow sought help from Elijah a prophet. She needed money and was going to sell the oil she had in her home. She only had a little oil. Elijah counselled her to get many vessels to hold the oil. As she poured out the small amount of oil she had in her home she filled all the vessels to overflowing.

Allow God's love, joy, peace, prosperity, wisdom, compassion to fill your life to overflowing.

Space - Space is important. If there were no spaces on this written page it would be difficult to read this post. What is filling the space in your life? Allow God to fill the space in your life.

Grace - Accept God's grace. Everyday you have a choice. You can either accept or reject the grace of God.

When you open yourself up to God, you will be amazed by what happens. Try it and find out.

Consider God's love like the ocean. Imagine you could go to the ocean and capture this precious commodity. What size of a container would you bring? A coffee cup? A bucket? A large barrel?

John Wooden (sp?) is one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. He coached at UCLA. John Wooden, in an interview about one of the important aspects of basketball, mentions the players socks. He said that socks are the foundation for playing basketball. If a player puts his socks on wrong, for example having a crease, can cause the player to have blisters. Pastor Maraj said that this was a spiritual metaphor for prayer.

Millard Fillmore - Prayer and fasting are the greatest ways to spirituality.

Prayer - Intention and sincerity.

Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth - an extract from Wikipedia

A fundamental belief of Campbell's was that all spirituality is a search for the same basic, unknown force from which everything came, within which everything currently exists, and into which everything will return. This elemental force is ultimately “unknowable” because it exists before words and knowledge. Although this basic driving force cannot be expressed in words, spiritual rituals and stories refer to the force through the use of "metaphors" - these metaphors being the various stories, deities, and objects of spirituality we see in the world. For example, the Genesis myth in the Bible ought not be taken as a literal description of actual events, but rather its poetic, metaphorical meaning should be examined for clues concerning the fundamental truths of the world and our existence.

Mark 8:34 - 37

"Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life[c] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?."

Dhammapada
Let a man overcome anger by love, let him overcome evil by good; let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth! Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods.

More from Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth - an extract from Wikipedia
.....Campbell believed the religions of the world to be the various, culturally influenced “masks” of the same fundamental, transcendent truths. All religions, including Christianity and Buddhism, can bring one to an elevated awareness above and beyond a dualistic conception of reality, or idea of “pairs of opposites,” such as being and non-being, or right and wrong. Indeed, he quotes in the preface of The Hero with a Thousand Faces: "Truth is one, the sages speak of it by many names." which is a translation of the Rig Vedic saying "Ekam Sat Vipra Bahuda Vadanthi."

Phillipians 4:4-9

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Immanuel Kant -

"Two things fill me with constantly increasing admiration and awe the longer and more earnestly I reflect on them, the starry heavens without and the moral law within."

Bebo Norman & Rich Mullins - Sometimes by Step

Sometimes the night was beautiful
Sometimes the sky was so far away
Sometimes it seemed to stoop so close
You could touch it but your heart would break
Sometimes the morning came too soon
Sometimes the day could be so hot
There was so much work left to do
But so much You'd already done

Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
And I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days

Sometimes I think of Abraham
How one star he saw had been lit for me
He was a stranger in this land
And I am that, no less than he
And on this road to righteousness
Sometimes the climb can be so steep
I may falter in my steps
But never beyond Your reach

Mother Therese

I know God wouldn't give me anything I couldn't handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much.

Pastor Al's sermon

I am doing my best to pass along Pastor's story from this morning's service. As best as I can remember, here is how it went.......

A little boy was in church with his grandmother. The boy was very bored and looking around the church. Finally he noticed the stained glass windows. He was fascinated by them. They were beautful with light shining through the multi-colored glass. The little boy asked his grandmother what they were. Grandmother responded with a "Shhh." The boy was persistent. The grandmother explained that they were stained glass windows of the Saints. Church ended and the boy went home to his mother. The mother asked her son what he had learned at church. At first the boy did not answer. Then in a flash the boy remembered the beautiful multi-colored windows he had seen in the sancturary. The boy could not remember what they were called. So he responded, "Mommy, there were people's pictures on the walls with the light shining through!"

Pastor Al went on to say that the boy's comment was a perfect explanation of a Saint. Someone who lets the Light of God shine through them. He said we are all Saints. Let God's light shine through you!