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Click HERE to view Rev. Rogers’ guided meditation during the service.
Okay; you ready?
So I started last week doing these 10 Commandments of Abundance. And I’m using Georgianna Tree West’s book, Prosperity’s 10 Commandments, as a foundation. And as we go further, I kind of veer further away from the book. But it is a great book. And it’s out of print; it was printed back in the 40s. It’s a great book. And it looks at the 10 Commandments in Exodus as our pathway to living a more abundant life.
And the first principle that we talked about last week is that you shall have no other source but God. Now, that sounds intellectually pretty simple. Like, most of us are not going to argue with the idea to look to God as your source … until we have to do it. And then when we have to do it, it feels like a crazy concept. Because if you lose your job, or if you have a problem, or if you have a big bill that you have to pay, most of us don’t go instantly into the state of mind that says: “Oh, God will take care of that.”
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… And it is so wired into our mindset that we are responsible for changing or fixing or improving the quality of our life that it really discounts what we say: that we believe in a Power greater than ourselves. If we say that we believe in God. If we say that we believe in God, in the times when you need God the most …
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… we actually turn more to our own intellect. We actually turn to our own mind trying to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B. And this first commandment is that, no matter what’s going on in your life — no matter what the need; no matter what the problem; no matter what the challenge is, whether it’s health or financial or relationship or a lawsuit or a family member that’s gone nuts — whatever it maybe, right? We’re called to look to God first. And honestly, I don’t think that’s where most of us lead from. I think we look to God last. When we can’t figure out anything else to do, we think, “Oh, well; maybe God will take care of it.”
And it’s a change in our mindset to really look to God first. Over and over again, it’s a change in a mindset. But I think that change in mindset leads to a deeper level of peace. When you can turn everything, one after another, over to God and say, “Thy will be done,” it leads to the deepest level of peace.
And you know when you’re anxious …
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… no images of lack.
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… we’re growing up …
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… growing up with an experience of lack on a regular basis or even occasionally, how much do you think that impacted your world view? I think it really does truly impact the way we look at life.
And the second commandment is that we will hold no image of lack. And I want you to see how much inner work it takes to erase every concept of lack so that only in your mind can you see the abundance of God. So that you can clearly see an abundant life for yourself, for your family, for our world. That we erase every image of lack so that we hold our mind to this image that God is infinite.
And some of us need to do a little bit more inner work! Honestly. About recreating those images from our past, and going back to those experiences that were defining our belief our belief and lack and actually recreating them in our mind so that all we remember is the abundance of God.
And you’re going to say, “Richard, come on.” But I’m serious! If you think about those defining moments of lack in your life, can you imagine how much easier it would be if they were all transformed by images of abundance?
You shall hold no images of lack.
And that leads to three: Exodus 20, Verse 7:
“You should not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”
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… that the third commandment says something to the effect of:
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”
Anybody heard this one? Now, usually when we talk about not taking the name of the Lord God in vain, we’re talking about cursing. How many of you have heard this defined by cursing? Like, you’re not supposed to curse the Lord God’s name, right?
And what I want us to see is that is a very simplistic understanding of this commandment. Now, is it helpful to use the Lord God’s name in vain? No! But it’s so much more than just not cursing with God’s name.
What I want us to see today is in Exodus 3:14, God says to Moses:
“I AM Who I AM. This is what you shall say to the Israelites: “The I AM has sent me to you.'”
So when we think about the name of God — and when we read it in Exodus 3:15 it says this:
“You shall say my name to all generations.”
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So when we say I AM, we are speaking the name of God. And so when we use the I AM in an inappropriate, destructive or in a way that is counter-productive, we are using the name of God in vain. We are misusing it and, by that, we are creating consequences for our life that none of us want.
If we say repeatedly, “I AM dying here,” is that using the creative power of the I AM to build you up or to tear you down? And over and over again, I want us to really begin to own the power of the I AM!
Charles Fillmore, the co-founder of Unity, said:
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…But Bible students …
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… We should read the “I AM.” It makes a great difference whether we think of the I AM. All Scripture …
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… all generations. So instead of saying, “Lord, say I AM whenever you read it, and you will get a clearer understanding and realization of the power of Jehovah.”
So every time we are saying “I AM,” we are speaking the name of God. And in Unity, our tradition is that we had people that would speak the word, and things would change! we had people who would speak the word, and you could feel when you were speaking the word! Because their word was so clear, so powerful, that when they would speak the word, things would happen.
Another quote from Charles Fillmore. He said:
“As a man quickens with spiritual faith, his word is endowed with power. It becomes so charged with spiritual energy that he is able to heal all manner of diseases and conditions, even at a distance.”
Jesus said:
“Let your words be ‘Yes, Yes!’ or ‘No, No,’ for anything else makes God crazy.”
That’s a bit of a paraphrase. [Congregation laughs] Right? But that’s what it was about! Jesus wanted us to use our words in the most powerful way, because we were speaking the name of God.
Job 22:28:
“Thou shalt decree a thing and it will be established unto thee, that the light may shine upon they ways.”
John 16:15:
“Jesus said, ‘All that the Father has is mine.'”
And I want you to see that this third commandment is that you will use the name of God to create the highest level of good in your life. That you will use the name of God as the highest creative expression for you, for your family, for the world. And when you speak the I AM, you are absolutely empowering your life to a higher level of creation.
“I am powerful!”
Will you say that with me? [With congregation]: “I am powerful!”
“I am beautiful!”
Together: [with congregation] “I am beautiful!”
“I am fully alive!”
Together: [with congregation] “I am fully alive!”
“I am successful!”
Together: [with congregation] “I am successful!”
“I am healthy!”
Together: [with congregation] “I am healthy!”
“I am loving!”
Together: [with congregation] “I am loving!”
“I am amazing!”
Together: [with congregation] “I am amazing!”
“I am an expression of the infinite goodness of God!”
Together: [with congregation] “I am an expression of the infinite goodness of God.
Now, how many of you — as you were saying any of those statements — the inner voice within you was saying, “Liar, liar!” [Congregation laughs] Right? “Liar, liar, pants on fire!”
And what I want us to see is that we are not used to hearing ourselves be that powerful. We are used to ourselves dialing it back into what we think is comfortable and easy and not too much.
Eric Butterworth talked about an illustration of a bucket. And he said, “What if there was a bucket and it had about a couple of inches of silt along the bottom.” And he said, “What would happen if you stuck a hose in the bucket and you turned the water on?” And he said, “What would happen is: Even if there was a little bit of clear water on the top, the moment you stuck the hose in it and turned the water pressure on, it would all go to muck.” Right? It would all just become one big, old mess.
And I want you to see that that’s what happens when we begin to speak more powerful words of truth. When we begin to speak more powerful words of truth, all the disbelief within us is activated; it’s kicked up. And there’s a part of us that wants to reach outside the bucket and turn off the hose, and just pat all the mud back down to the bottom and think, “Boy, that was a wrong idea! I don’t want to be powerful! I don’t want to claim the I AM. I don’t want to claim that creative power at that level. I just need to go really slow and quietly at it.”
But we know that, if you have a bucket and it’s got mud in the bottom of it, the more pressure you turn on that bucket, the quicker the mud is going to be washed out. And your bucket is going to be clean! And then you can use that good water for anything! You can drink out of it; you can water your flowers; you can wash your car with it. It’s now usable! It can now do the highest level of good, because that water has been transformed!
See, we are too often afraid to claim the highest level of spiritual truth, because we know it kicks up all of our disbelief. But we need our disbelief, from time to time, to be kicked up and transformed so that we can release all erroneous ideas that are no longer becoming of a child of God!
So when you look at your life right now, what is the statement that you know if you claimed would change everything? “I am healthy.” “I am prosperous.” “I am fully alive.” “I am surrounded in love.” You get to decide what the I AM statement is that you’re making, but that commandment …
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… Let your answer be “Yes, Yes!” or “No, No!” This was serious stuff! And as spiritual people, at some level we know this is true, but we don’t fully engage the spiritual process to have the deep soul transformation that most of us want.
So the third commandment is use your words. Use your words!
When my kids were small, I think that was our regular affirmation at our house: “Use your words!” Anybody else do that? “Use your words.” They’d “Brrrrrrr” and they’d use their words. And that worked really well until they got to be teenagers, and then it was, “Whoa. No. Oh, no.” [Congregation laughs] “I don’t need any more words; just go to your room.” Right?
But it’s that idea that I want you to see the power, and especially the areas where you feel stuck in your life. I want you to use your words to claim the spiritual truth of who you are and allow the power — the faith in those words — to have a monumental impact on your life. That the third commandment is that you have the right — you have the expectation — that you will use the name of God at the highest level to create the life that you want.
Amen? [With congregation: “Amen.”]
Let’s go to four. Commandment four is this – Exodus 20:8-11:
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, not your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath — the seventh day — and made it holy.”
Now, what does this mean?
To me, what this means is that — no matter what we’re doing in our life — the six days are a metaphor for the creative process. You know, there are people who believe that the seven days of creation were literally seven days. I don’t understand how they get there, but for me, it’s a metaphor. The seven days of creation are a metaphor for the creative process.
And when we understand this fourth commandment, we understand that — whatever you’re creating in your life — you have six days to do it. And on the seventh day …
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… And over and over again, I find — in myself and in others — that we have a high commitment to keep going and never let it go. You know, in our culture, the idea of surrendering is not an enjoyable word. Because we’ll work day after day; we’ll go 24/7.
But this commandment is the idea that you can do everything you think you need to do on any project, but there is going to be a point where you realize you’ve done everything you are called to do. And if you do one thing more, you know that you’re doing it out of ego; you’re doing it out of fear; you’re doing it for all the wrong reasons.
And the six days are your time to do what needs to be done. But then on the seventh day, to have to let it go. You have to give it to God! Whatever the project; whatever the need; whatever the situation, on the seventh day, you have to trust that whatever were able to do has to be enough … and all the rest of it will be done by God.
And over and over again, this activity of doing your part — taking your steps; doing your prayer work; doing your visualizations; doing your forgiveness work; asking for wisdom; taking the actions that you know to talk; blessing the situation … Doing your six days of work and then, on the seventh day, you have to let it go.
Now, can you think of a project in your life that you have worked past “six days”? Can you think of a project in your life — out of fear or insecurity or worry — that you are working to death because you will not turn it over to God?
And the seventh day is holy because there’s the realization that we can only do so much from our human self. And when we turn it over, it’s our belief that God will take it from here … [and you can rest in the knowledge that all things are working together for your highest good].
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… commandments. That you not overdo! That if you truly trust God, you will surrender everything when you’ve done what you know is yours to do. And sometimes it’s just one or two things!
But it is interesting that God gave us six days. [Laughs] Like, it’s not even 1 for 1. It’s not one day we work and six days we rest. Because God knew we were a little neurotic. And that we actually are going to need six days to feel like we’ve done enough. But then on the seventh day, we have to stop. We have to learn to stop and have the faith to stop.
And for some of us, it’s hard. Because we believe that we should keep doing a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more. But all that action is actually being driven by a lack of faith!
So take the steps! Do the work that you know is yours to do on any project! But the moment you realize that you’ve done everything that you know how to do, at that moment we have to let go and give it to God and turn it over. And that activity is sacred and holy and reminds us that, truly, God is in charge of our lives.
So can you think of one thing in your life that you know tonight you have overworked? And that you have to let it go? To get your miracle, to get your blessing, to get the outcome that you want, you know that you’ve done everything that you’ve been guided to do. And if you do anymore, it’s not because of divine guidance; it’s being done out of a compulsion.
So tonight, where in your life do you need a seventh day? Where in your life do you need to prove to yourself that God will finish the project? And that you have to trust that everything that you’ve done was good and wonderful, but to finish, you need God?
Will you pray with me?
So tonight, we are going to hold your life in prayer. All of it! I want you to hold all of your life in prayer. And I want you to really look for a moment at: What are the things that you are still being called to do? Where you’re called to take action? Maybe it’s forgiveness or maybe you need to visualize it. Or maybe you just need to be clear on your desire and your intention.
But what are all the things in your life that you’ve never truly turned over to God? To let go? And tonight, I want you to let them go. Give them to God. Make your life holy — sacred — by stopping. And we speak the word! But we also need to refrain and stop and trust the process, and let God be in charge of our lives. So in the name and through the power of the Living Christ, we give thanks. And so it is. Amen.