WEBVTT 00:00:17.350 --> 00:00:23.269 We focus today on two major battles where heroes step forward to fight. 00:00:23.509 --> 00:00:30.629 This is Michael who fought against the seven-headed dragon, and this is David who defeated Goliath. 00:00:31.350 --> 00:00:36.070 Our theme is on courageously living our faith or putting our beliefs into action. 00:00:36.390 --> 00:00:41.829 Hear the word of the Lord first from the twelfth chapter of the book of Revelation. 00:00:42.710 --> 00:00:45.509 And war broke out in heaven. 00:00:45.829 --> 00:00:57.909 Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 00:00:58.710 --> 00:01:07.350 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil, and Satan who deceives the whole world. 00:01:07.670 --> 00:01:12.710 He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 00:01:13.590 --> 00:01:32.230 Then I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Now salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. 00:01:34.790 --> 00:01:47.190 Reading further from the first book of Samuel, Now when the words which David spoke were heard, they were reported to Saul, and he sent for him. 00:01:47.990 --> 00:01:56.630 Then David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him, your servant will go and fight against this Philistine. 00:01:57.670 --> 00:02:09.030 And Saul said to David, You are not able to go up against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. 00:02:09.909 --> 00:02:31.829 But David said to Saul, Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear came to and took the lamb out of the flock, I went after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth, and when it arose against me I caught it by the beard and struck and killed it. 00:02:32.549 --> 00:02:45.030 Your servant has killed both lion and bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God. 00:02:45.750 --> 00:02:57.909 Moreover, David said, The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. 00:02:58.870 --> 00:03:04.069 And Saul said to David, Go and the Lord be with you. 00:03:07.030 --> 00:03:14.870 Reading further from portions of the heavenly doctrines, first concerning charity in the common soldier. 00:03:15.829 --> 00:03:26.789 If he looks to the Lord and shuns evils and sins, and sincerely, justly, and faithfully does his duty, he becomes charity in form. 00:03:27.989 --> 00:03:34.389 Before the battle, he raises his mind to the Lord and commits his life into his hand. 00:03:35.189 --> 00:03:43.429 And after he has done this, he lets his mind down from its elevation into the body and becomes brave. 00:03:43.909 --> 00:03:50.949 The thought of the Lord, which he is then unconscious of, remaining still in his mind above his bravery. 00:03:51.269 --> 00:03:58.149 Then if he dies, he dies in the Lord, and if he lives, he lives in the Lord. 00:03:59.750 --> 00:04:05.429 Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought with his angels. 00:04:05.669 --> 00:04:23.910 These words mean the combat between those who are for the life of love and charity, and for the divine of the Lord in his human, against those who are for faith alone, and faith separates, and are against the divine of the Lord in his human. 00:04:24.790 --> 00:04:31.670 Charity, moreover, is the affection for doing those things that pertain to faith. 00:04:32.069 --> 00:04:40.310 In faith alone there is no action or work, and yet religion consists in living. 00:04:41.349 --> 00:04:43.509 Here end our readings from the Lord's Word. 00:04:43.670 --> 00:04:47.189 Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. 00:04:47.509 --> 00:04:48.149 Amen. 00:04:50.789 --> 00:05:00.629 In the spirit of New Church Day, when we celebrate the launching of the New Church faith, we take up two related stories about courage. 00:05:00.949 --> 00:05:07.110 Courage specifically to step forward and take on a spiritual challenge that needs our very best. 00:05:07.990 --> 00:05:16.949 This is Michael fighting against a seven-headed dragon, and this is David stepping forward to take on that giant Goliath. 00:05:17.670 --> 00:05:28.789 Within these stories is inspiration, hope of victory together with the Lord, and the promise of everything good in life that we long for. 00:05:29.189 --> 00:05:37.189 It all can come to us when we courageously live our faith, trusting always in the Lord. 00:05:38.709 --> 00:05:46.230 I love the way the Against All Odds Courage is brought to life in the 12th chapter of the book of Revelation. 00:05:46.629 --> 00:05:58.550 Characteristic of that book, we're introduced to a world of mythical figures and captures our imagination with all kinds of symbolism. 00:05:58.870 --> 00:06:07.909 There's a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a garland of twelve stars on her head. 00:06:08.310 --> 00:06:23.990 And later she's given two wings of an eagle to flee away from her persecutor, who in this case is a seven-headed red dragon, having ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 00:06:24.310 --> 00:06:35.509 And to underscore the massive proportions of this battle, that dragon drew a third of the stars from the sky with its tail and threw them to the ground. 00:06:35.750 --> 00:06:43.909 It stood with all that fury and power ready to devour the child that the woman was about to deliver. 00:06:44.629 --> 00:07:00.149 But along comes Michael and a troop of angels to vanquish that dragon, causing the whole of heaven to rejoice, saying, Now, salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come. 00:07:00.709 --> 00:07:08.550 For the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. 00:07:10.389 --> 00:07:18.069 In the parallel story of David against Goliath, there's also a great deal to capture our imaginations. 00:07:19.189 --> 00:07:30.870 And this story of David and Goliath has become synonymous with an against all odd kind of challenge in our life, a David versus Goliath moment. 00:07:31.509 --> 00:07:41.589 I bring forward that particular story because of two pivotal sayings that come to us that are central to our focus for today. 00:07:41.829 --> 00:07:56.310 The first comes from the mouth of David himself as he comes to the battle and hears Goliath's challenge and raises his hand and says to Saul, who is the king at that time, let no man's heart fail because of him. 00:07:56.629 --> 00:08:00.870 Your servant will go and fight against this Philistine. 00:08:02.310 --> 00:08:13.589 Before getting to the second saying, we remind ourselves that Saul initially tried to dissuade David, saying, You are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. 00:08:13.909 --> 00:08:23.029 But we hear David offering profound trust in the Lord, who had been with him and would be with him in this particular instance. 00:08:23.430 --> 00:08:37.350 And so we hear the next pivotal saying, which is chosen as the title for this particular talk, from an unlikely messenger, which is Saul, go and the Lord be with you. 00:08:38.710 --> 00:08:45.110 In what ways can we be like these people, like David, who says, Your servant will go? 00:08:45.269 --> 00:08:48.149 And how can we hear and absorb that encouragement? 00:08:48.470 --> 00:08:50.950 Go and the Lord be with you. 00:08:53.029 --> 00:08:57.830 It's useful to note that both of these stories happen in wartime. 00:08:58.149 --> 00:09:02.470 We read in Revelation, and war broke out in heaven. 00:09:02.710 --> 00:09:08.629 Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought. 00:09:09.429 --> 00:09:29.269 We heard earlier in the readings concerning these words that they mean combat between those who are for the life of love and charity, and for the divine of the Lord in his human, against those who are in faith alone or faith separate, and are against the divine of the Lord in his human. 00:09:29.830 --> 00:09:32.789 There's another teaching that comes to mind in this regard. 00:09:32.950 --> 00:09:40.950 It says the only way to heaven is for people from the Word to abstain from evils because they are sins. 00:09:41.909 --> 00:09:53.429 The truth is that there are things worth fighting for in our lives and worth digging deep to do what we know is the right thing to do. 00:09:54.149 --> 00:09:56.870 What could that look like in our lives? 00:09:57.110 --> 00:10:05.990 It could be an evil that we discover through self-examination that needs to be vanquished and repented of. 00:10:34.950 --> 00:10:44.389 Another way this battle could show up is in a concerted effort to reprioritize the things and the people that matter most in our lives. 00:10:44.629 --> 00:10:56.149 We no longer wish to give ourselves permission to coast or to take people for granted or to procrastinate on the things that we know we should be after. 00:10:56.710 --> 00:11:09.509 And of course, it could be a use that has our name on it, our profession, a sizable project, or a leadership position that calls for us to say to the Lord, your servant will go. 00:11:09.830 --> 00:11:10.870 I'll do that. 00:11:11.029 --> 00:11:20.389 I see that that has my name on it, and that's central to my core values and is worth spiritual battle. 00:11:23.029 --> 00:11:31.590 Well, it helps in all of these pivotal life situations to know what we're fighting against or who our enemy is. 00:11:32.309 --> 00:11:41.350 In a very general way, we know it's hell and those who from there plague us and tempts the worst reflexes within us. 00:11:41.669 --> 00:11:48.950 In the stories that we are focusing on, the hells are pictured by the dragon and by Goliath. 00:11:50.069 --> 00:12:01.029 Not surprisingly, they both have the same symbolism, and it's one that's constantly given to us in the heavenly doctrines, which is that of faith alone. 00:12:01.669 --> 00:12:06.629 It's stated in this way in the story of the war between Michael and the dragon. 00:12:06.789 --> 00:12:21.350 It says this means dissent and battling by those who are in faith separated from charity or faith alone, against those who are in the doctrine of the church respecting the Lord and the life of charity. 00:12:22.470 --> 00:12:26.950 And then there's this regarding the Philistines, very similar in its framing. 00:12:27.110 --> 00:12:39.350 They represent those who champion separated faith, that is, people for whom the knowledge of faith is all important, but not a life led in accordance with that knowledge. 00:12:39.590 --> 00:12:45.909 Consequently, who people people who teach and believe that a person is saved by faith alone. 00:12:46.950 --> 00:12:49.750 This is what that dragon represents. 00:12:50.149 --> 00:13:02.549 And more specifically, it represents reasonings that spring from self-love and love of the world, thus from the desires for what is evil, which feed that faith alone. 00:13:03.189 --> 00:13:13.029 So I picture that seven-headed dragon weaving around a person such as us with constant whispers from all those heads into our ears. 00:13:13.350 --> 00:13:15.029 It doesn't matter. 00:13:15.590 --> 00:13:21.429 The situation calls for you to knowingly bend the rules this time. 00:13:22.230 --> 00:13:23.909 It feels good, doesn't it? 00:13:24.069 --> 00:13:30.629 There's nothing more important than you indulging, and really, you can't do otherwise. 00:13:30.870 --> 00:13:33.189 You're not good enough or strong enough. 00:13:33.429 --> 00:13:35.509 Besides, you deserve better. 00:13:35.830 --> 00:13:40.870 Even you believe in a God of love, he'll forgive you no matter what. 00:13:41.029 --> 00:13:42.789 So what's the harm? 00:13:43.189 --> 00:13:46.069 And on and on those reasonings go. 00:13:47.669 --> 00:13:52.789 We could bring forward the taunts of Goliath, which are the same things. 00:13:53.590 --> 00:13:58.149 Am I a dog that came you come before me with sticks? 00:13:58.389 --> 00:14:01.509 And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 00:14:01.750 --> 00:14:09.029 And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. 00:14:09.750 --> 00:14:18.230 The messages of faith alone or the hells into our consciousness by means of that construct are multitudinous. 00:14:18.470 --> 00:14:26.069 They combine together to form one giant foe, pictured for us today by that dragon or by Goliath. 00:14:26.470 --> 00:14:42.549 And they seduce us into thinking it's okay, or we're too weak, or our spiritual follow-through is not strong enough to do what we know, to be right, and to justify instead what comes naturally. 00:14:44.389 --> 00:14:48.950 So how do we go to battle against such a powerful enemy? 00:14:49.350 --> 00:14:57.990 We do so armed with even more powerful truths from the Lord, key among them that we must live our faith. 00:14:59.269 --> 00:15:07.269 We already heard that this means striving to be for the life of love and charity and for the divine of the Lord in his human. 00:15:07.669 --> 00:15:15.029 And that's explained succinctly, powerfully in two other teachings we heard earlier in the service. 00:15:15.269 --> 00:15:21.830 Charity, moreover, is the affection for doing those things that pertain to faith. 00:15:22.149 --> 00:15:29.429 In faith alone there is no action or work, and yet religion consists in living. 00:15:30.950 --> 00:15:32.389 What does that look like? 00:15:32.710 --> 00:16:06.629 It means being useful when the opportunity is there, paying attention to and emulating examples of faithful spiritual living, showing up for the people that we love, repenting, repairing relationships that are broken or making amends, investing in spiritual practices, volunteering, embracing a heavenly quality that the Lord reveals to us, talking about meaningful truths that have had an impact on your life and may help somebody else in engaging further in the church. 00:16:07.509 --> 00:16:13.909 Beautiful in this story from Revelation are the helps that the Lord provides. 00:16:14.230 --> 00:16:21.509 There's that woman clothed with the sun, her child, and those wings of an eagle. 00:16:21.990 --> 00:16:40.870 They represent the new church in the form of that woman, its principles and doctrines in the form of that child, and the spiritual perspective that can help us rise beyond the things that plague us to have us see things the way the Lord would have us view them. 00:16:41.509 --> 00:16:55.110 Then there's Michael, together with his angels, the host of heavenly guardians that the Lord sends to surround us when we need them most, two in particular watching over us and protecting us at all times. 00:16:55.830 --> 00:17:03.909 These angels are said to fight for us against the influences of false reasonings that flow into us. 00:17:04.150 --> 00:17:11.990 And we experience that as one passage says in the form of perception, dictate, and conscience. 00:17:12.630 --> 00:17:22.950 Another passage says of our angels that they breathe into us every kind of good and truth, as well as a horror and dread of evil and falsities. 00:17:23.829 --> 00:17:42.869 So that, together with the direct promptings from the Lord, gives us every tool we need to resist and to conquer the right truth in our mind, the holy fear lest we do someone harm that we love, the power from above to do the right thing. 00:17:43.190 --> 00:17:54.869 These are evidence of the spiritual internal conflict where we use our God-given abilities and put our faith into practice when it matters most. 00:17:57.829 --> 00:18:03.349 Often, very often, that takes courage. 00:18:04.309 --> 00:18:09.430 We've been focusing on Michael and his angels and David fighting against Goliath. 00:18:10.629 --> 00:18:21.910 We remind ourselves of David's stated courage, even as a young man, raising his hand and saying, Your servant will go and fight against this Philistine. 00:18:22.629 --> 00:18:28.150 Remember the words that David said to Saul when he was challenged. 00:18:39.349 --> 00:18:46.710 Think that that's so reminiscent of that passage we heard earlier about charity in the common soldier. 00:18:47.029 --> 00:18:52.069 Before the battle, he raises his minds to the Lord and commits his life into his hand. 00:18:52.230 --> 00:18:59.589 And after he has done this, he lets his mind down from its elevation into the body and becomes brave. 00:19:00.309 --> 00:19:07.670 The thought of the Lord, which he is then unconscious of, remaining still in his mind above his bravery. 00:19:07.910 --> 00:19:10.629 And then if he dies, he dies in the Lord. 00:19:10.869 --> 00:19:14.230 If he lives, he lives in the Lord. 00:19:14.950 --> 00:19:22.309 How can we capture that spirit of bravery, that conscious turning to the Lord, that deep trust? 00:19:23.109 --> 00:19:33.269 We're wise to pray and to be vigilant and to do the spiritual practice of turning to the Lord, believing that He is the one who fights and conquers? 00:19:33.509 --> 00:19:44.869 He is the one who overcomes the dragon and Goliath, helping us not to fall into the traps of faith alone, but instead leading us evermore to be like one of his angels. 00:19:45.109 --> 00:19:57.910 Can we, like soldiers, like Michael, like David, develop a habit of raising our minds to the Lord and committing our life into his hands? 00:19:59.910 --> 00:20:06.150 Well, these two battles are really the same, as is the enemy. 00:20:07.269 --> 00:20:14.950 Both get us to the faith of the new church at its core that we have to step forward in our lives to live our faith. 00:20:15.190 --> 00:20:22.150 We have to trust in the Lord who calls us to put our beliefs into practice courageously and consistently. 00:20:22.390 --> 00:20:26.629 This is the way to heaven, and this is the path of obedience. 00:20:26.869 --> 00:20:38.470 This is the battle of our lives to determine if we are people who can be created into angels by the Lord who can be blessed by him forever. 00:20:39.509 --> 00:20:56.309 Let's remind ourselves of five truths, like the five stones that David used to conquer Goliath, but which come to us in the form of our readings and can be sources of strength to us. 00:20:57.190 --> 00:21:00.309 Let no man's heart fail because of him. 00:21:00.549 --> 00:21:03.910 Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. 00:21:05.029 --> 00:21:11.589 If I die, I die in the Lord, but if I live, I live in the Lord. 00:21:12.309 --> 00:21:19.589 In faith alone there is no action or work, and yet religion consists in living. 00:21:20.789 --> 00:21:28.950 The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from this Philistine. 00:21:30.470 --> 00:21:33.829 Go, and the Lord be with you. 00:21:34.710 --> 00:21:35.349 Amen.