POCATELLO TEAM

Abraham

The Role Of Servant

December 3, 1999

Abraham (Bill): Greetings. I am Abraham, your friend, your mortal companion of former days, and your staunch admirer. I wish to discuss and comment on the role of being a servant, a servant of God and a servant of each other. While it is true that your basic status is that of sonship, daughership, your work, your mission entails the joining of servanthood and friendship.

Servanthood is a state of mind which reminds you that in the family of God in the kingdom of heaven, you each ought to serve one another. To have the mind of a servant is not to be servile. Please do not misunderstand. To have the mind of a servant is to have a self-forgetfulness, a departure from ego aggrandizement, so that you are able to be in tune with the needs and wants of all God's children that you contact in the course of any day. That great heroine Mother Theresa exemplified what I am trying to illustrate probably better than anyone has for a long time. Her secret of service was to assume that she was serving the Master in every individual that she encountered. She was able to look past their outward appearance and see into their soul, and there she recognized the spirit of Christ Michael, the Spirit of Truth. There is always danger when someone is offered of the chance of spiritual leadership of taking that service and changing it into aggrandizement. Remember our Lord himself said that he came to be as a servant and as a friend of the socially disrepute, the morally disaffected, the lonely and troubled and fearful human being. In order for Michael to become universe sovereign he had to bestow himself in the likeness of his creatures from the highest to lowest order, the mortal will creature. In order to have earned his leadership he had to serve.

While I as a mortal was interested in leadership my natural proclivity was to rule over others by force, and I was pretty successful at this. From my great teacher Melchizedek, I began to understand that my leadership was in error, and while I didn't fully understand this in my mortal life, now I have made it my own. We are asking you all to assume leadership on your planet, spiritual leadership, which will manifest itself by serving one another. By that I mean every other mortal with whom you have contact. Freely have you received, therefor freely must you give. As this time of year in Christendom, at least partially remembers that great condescension of God to be incarnate in human form as a helpless babe, so may this season find your hearts lifted with gratitude and willing to take up the true cross, self responsibility resulting in loving service.

I appreciate your effort to listen to my words and I thank this TR for struggling with this message. Finally I would leave you with a familiar parable of mine. The tree that grows on the side of the cliff will not break under the heaviest winds, because it has deep roots and has survived the onslaughts of its development. And so likewise let your roots grow deep into the soil of God's love so that you may be able to withstand the difficulties, the challenges, the difficult times, the boring times, all manner of what you term adversity. Without adversity you would not be able to test your faith, your hope, your courage. My friends you all do very well. I am pleased to be allowed this opportunity to speak to you. Shalom.

Daniel (Bob S): I am Daniel. I too greet you this evening, my brothers and sisters, with open arms reaching out to embrace you all, in the spirit of him who created us all. Rise above the coldness of this night to see the warmth of him who made us all, for if you can and you can, you will, each of you, will find in your own lives that encouragement, that warmth, that love which will lift you up and allow to deal with those problems of mortal existence. Well, I wasn't planning on giving a sermon, but on occasion I get carried away.

My friends, I welcome you to tonight's gathering. There are so, so many of us. I wish at times you could see us, but that is against the rules. So you will have to take my word for it. There are many more of us than there are of you here gathered this evening. We are going to change the format for tonight's meeting, and allow you to be the teachers. No, don't worry. This will be something you will enjoy. I now turn the time over to Aaron.

Aaron (Bill): Greetings, and hello my good friends. What Daniel meant by 'you are going to be the teachers this evening' was not that you are all going to be asked for an off-the-cuff lesson with no preparation. But rather that you are going to teach us, who come to this planet from many different places, the things that you have learned and we have not yet experienced. Because most teachers have come from societies more advanced than the state of affairs on this planet, we have not personally witnessed some of the tragedies, some of the difficulties and some of the adversities that are part and partial of Urantians. What I would like to know this evening, that you could teach me and my fellows, is what part of the lessons that we have imparted over these many years do you find to be the most valuable? What topics, what approaches, what in our teaching has worked for you? And we desire this information not just out of idle curiosity, my friends, but in order that we may have feedback in order to refine and improve our teaching skills. I will therefore request, but not require of course, that each you of speak as you desire to. You certainly are not required to respond to the question, but the more of you that can enter into this feedback process, the greater will be the benefit to we teachers. Before we start are there any questions regarding what it is I desire you to do? (No response.) Very well, let us start. I will offer an opportunity to the person on the left of this TR. (Laughter.) Pat, what gems of wisdom can you enlighten me with this evening?

Pat: Oh, I don't know, Aaron. For me personally it was very hard for me in the beginning. I was in awe and discomfort as well in the beginning, and the phenomenon of the whole thing that I would get lost in one sense. But I have learned to relax a little more and hopefully concentrate sometimes more in what you're bringing forth. I of course really enjoy your lecture part, because I am not a great participator, but I know that with all of your teachers urging to bring us out more and participate brings more growth. So I can't say one thing or the other. I think all the things you have been doing have been good for me. And some are more uncomfortable, (Laughter.) but I am so very thankful that you are here, and deeply appreciate all the teaching for it is here to help us.

Aaron (Bill): Thank you, Pat, and you have certainly underlined a critical problem to many people in this, what appears to be channeling process. I am glad that you have grown accustomed to our face, as it is known, through this medium, so that you are more comfortable and can focus more on the material and the process of education. There is a place always for the imparting of information in what is termed the lecture. Although you may fantasize, that you may have to top of your skull removed and information just poured in, as it were, from a teapot (Laughter.), it is not possible nor desirable for you to be merely the hard drive. (More laughter.) You have to be the operating system as well, to use the feeble analogy of your machinery. And it is a struggle to understand, although you may understand intellectually, the real understanding occurs only when there has been experience with the material presented. Therefor we have to do more than lecture. You have to experience. I appreciate you being willing to teach me, and I want you to know that we all truly love each one of you.

Kenneth, if you have ought to speak, I would appreciate hearing from you.

Ken: I agree with my wife and her comments and her reply. I appreciate Daniel's comment this evening on the diversity of the adversity that we must experience to grow. And we definitely have had that since we have entered into the teaching mission. What has been presented I have learned from and I have admired; and I have tried to emulate the way that you teach. To take your lessons and not only to know them, but to understand them.

Aaron (Bill): Well spoken.

Ken: I am slowly learning to love myself more and more. One of the big things that I get from the teaching mission is the patience that you exhibit, that you share, that you give, that you love us. To pick out one lesson that you had, I really enjoyed the lesson on the mortal ego. I thought that was outstanding.

Aaron (Bill): Because all of you know that persona well since you have mortal ego.

Ken: Big mortal egos. (Laughter.)

Daniel (Bill): Ken I thank you for your dedication, you sincerity, and your love.

Ken: I do give you my love.

Aaron (Bill): Which serves as a role model for others. Loyalty and dedication are powerful characteristic which have the greatest influence on others because they display your understanding of the most important things. I will pass to the next person at this time. Barbara, do you care to comment? (Laughter.)

Barbara: You just caught me off guard.

Aaron (Bill): We will get back to Marty. Remember it is not required that you reply.

Barbara: No, I will reply. I was trying to think of another way to put it. (More laughter.) I was sitting here thinking that I am not, internally, anything like the person I was before I began with this group, before I became involved with the teachers, before I began to hear. So, playing off of what you said before, I feel that my hard drive has been reformatted or partitioned I'm not sure which. (Laughter.) I don't know that there is a particular lesson, but I think there have been multiple lessons over the three years, (I don't know how long it has been. Three, I think.) I have been able to grow from those lessons. They have been lessons that have connected somewhere important, and allowed me to think about things for the ensuing weeks or months. I doesn't happen every time, but it happens very frequently, and those are times that I really cherish.

Aaron (Bill): I thank you, Barbara, for pointing out that not every student that every student will benefit equally from the lessons, that the lessons only have real force when they connect with something, some experience that is upper most in your mind. And I thank you for your analogy of the reformatted hard drive, for indeed one of the difficulties that you all had to struggle with was changing your point-of-view. For some of you this began with the information from the Fifth Epochal Revelation itself, and for some of you it began with teacher contact. Of course our goal, as you know, is to reformat everyone's hard drive on this planet, to bring everyone to the place of conscious awareness of their status as sons and daughters, and therefore their sibling responsibilities. It is quite a joy for us to observe you people undergoing such dramatic change in such a short time almost in fact equal to that famous Dickens story of Scourge, not perhaps in the rapidity of change, but certainly in the profundity of it. And now Marty, you have a chance to answer my question.

Marty: You were supposed to go on around. (Laughter.)

Aaron (Bill): But it you don't desire to, that is OK too.

Marty: I don't think I can pick out one lesson in particular, in that to me it is kind of like reading the Urantia Book. The longer I have been in it, other things make more sense than they did at the beginning. And I think the teaching mission's been the same way. A lot of it I might not be ready for at that point in time, but in another six months or so down the road, then it may come into importance for me. And so I just kind of try to take in what I can at that point in time, and know that the rest of it will be there in my development along the way.

Aaron (Bill): And you are very wise in this approach, my friend, for no one can truly understand more than they have the capacity or the desire to absorb. And you will, as you say, put it on the back burner of your unconscious mind where you do store many more memories than you think you do, and they function in that manner in the unconscious reservoir of the mind where they correlate and connect and then burst forth into consciousness as insight. I am willing to continue this circular pattern or you may offer to speak as you wish.

Bob D: I think the lessons for me that were the most impacting were the ones where we had to react to some adversity. When I was in Spokane-Coeur d'Alene to here I was in several situations where there have been challenges to face for myself or members of the group as a whole. And it seems like our relationship to you offered us the opportunity to have like wise counselors while we went through these things. And it seems like, more so than anything--like I have never (been helped) by the long, drawn out sermons, so to speak, or the big long lessons. They have always been better when you read them on paper. Then you get something out of them. But it is hard to interact or relate to at the moment. Whereas if we are interfacing with you, about some issue or some topic, it seems like it always has more direct relevance. And so I would say that for myself, it is actually more, maybe a recognition of your relationship in our challenges. And I do highly respect just having you around and recognizing your mannerisms, how you deal with things and how you are very patient, and enduring. I know we all made a lot of errors in the last 10 years of our lives in different things, and none of those gave you reason or pause to dismiss any of us. It is like you have a very patient demeanor with us, a very friendly demeanor, and it doesn't matter what we do, whether it is right or wrong, you seen to love us anyway. So, I don't know, maybe it is just recognizing how you are helps me in my life. It makes me want to be more like that when I deal with other people.

Aaron (Bill): Thank you, Bob, for pointing out another important aspect of this teaching mission, as you have stated its value to yourself. The greatest teacher this world has ever known was also addressed as Master, because Jesus was such a fine friend of every human being that he ever came into contact with. Therefor his teaching could be considered counseling as you use that word today. He did offer advice when it was requested, but his interaction, the process itself, the flavor of it, was maybe the most important part of his servanthood to his brothers and sisters. And while I appreciate you compliments to us who are a little above you from thousands of years of experience, we also consider ourselves a long way from perfection, which Christ Michael achieved in one short life on this planet. However, we teach what we learned even as do you, even as do all people, and therefor part of our teaching is, as you said, the way in which we react to you and with you. The Father nurtures his children with as much sensitivity as a mother nurses her baby. He knows your needs before you ask. He knows exactly what is best for you. If you can turn your soul toward his breast, there you will find succor and nurturance.

Virginia or Lori or anyone else who wants to add further comment?

Virginia: Aaron I think that the most significant thing that the teaching mission has done for me is to encourage me to experience diversity and not die. (Laughter.) And the constant support that you have given to us, words that come from the spirit within or from the voices that I hear in my head, or something else, I am just very, very grateful that I've had this experience. You know, I look at my life and I am just very grateful for the path it's taken even though there's been some tough times. I'm not sure it has to be continued. (Laughter.) But I'm very grateful that the book has come and the teaching mission has been a natural outgrowth of the huge information that was given to this planet. I guess I've said enough.

Aaron (Bill): Thank you. And once again you have touched upon an important aspect. All of you are saying that your contact with us has lifted you up in one way or another. No effect can be greater than its cause. No water can rise higher than its source. If this was coming from your egos, as they used to operate in your minds, you would not be hearing the encouraging word that you hear. And that is because we are speaking from above you in terms of our spiritual progress. Even so our final goal for each of you is that you will find within yourself the source of wisdom and truth, for each of you has within you that source, that fragment God, that portion of Michael's spirit of truth.

I realize, Virginia, that adversity is unpleasant. The Havana natives are perfect, but they have never achieved perfection. The are kind naturally, but they have never experienced the triumph of kindness over the conquering of a belligerent ego. As you grow more spiritual you will see the great value of struggle in this mortal life, for you will progress so much more quickly and effectively than someone who has a relative life of ease.

Lori, my dear friend, do you wish to answer my question?

Lori: There's not a lot of originality that I can add to what has been said. I agree with all of it. But I would like to thank you and all the teachers for all the lessons and exercises and experiences, and all my friends here for all their support, because all of it together has enriched my life more than I can ever say. It has changed me and my methods. I enjoy it all, the good times especially and then looking back on the bad, how much I have learned and grown. So thank you.

Aaron (Bill): Thank you, Lori. And you have touched upon another important aspect which is that our teaching is both individual and group. And you have in the group a greater potential for understand than you do by yourselves. When you are together as you are tonight, you potentiate yourselves, you increase your potentials as you share. You see, my friends, while you did not do your usual sharing, you have all just shared tremendously, not only with us, but also with each other. And not merely what you would call lightweight material, but indeed the most important things in your life.

This concludes our meeting together. The hour is striking. (Laughter as a clock chimes on the hour.) And indeed have you been effective teachers for each other and for we, your elder brothers and sisters.

Please join hands now and let us conclude in prayer. Dear Michael, on this season of the year when the world turns briefly to consider your marvelous love in coming to share mortality, may we as your self-conscious messengers and representatives portray to others this marvelous spirit of yours, that you came to serve and not to be served. May we truly discover anew the joy of giving, and may that giving go beyond mere material exchange to that most sincere and complete love relationship with all our brothers and sisters. I thank you for these, my younger brothers and sisters. I thank you for privilege of working with them and learning from them. And I look forward to that day when we will all see each other as we are. And finally I rejoice to be among those who ascend to your presence, oh great Trinity of Paradise, hand in hand with all my brothers and sisters. And now may the grace, the mercy, the love, the peace and the strength of God be with us all. Amen.

(Editor's note. The two TRs asked to include their responses to Aaron's question.)

Bob S: I find myself looking in the teachings for those major announcements, those of great significance, so I sometimes miss gems with potential impact on me personally in my emphasis on those that seem to have more obvious significance. Thank goodness my teachers do not miss these gems. They usually find ways to bring them to my attention. I know this emphasis on major announcements is a weakness of mine. I am working on it, along with trying to become more patient.

There have been so many lessons which have moved me, I cannot possibly remember them all. Generally those that have caught my immediate attention were those that spoke to me personally. They addressed a problem that was one on which I was currently dealing, or a personal growth topic I was consciously working on at that time. Here too I must thank you and the other teachers for many times you have found ways to help me discover issues important to my development which I missed initially.

I cannot imagine how empty my life would now be without the teaching mission. I thought it was OK before, but I now see how much I have grown, and how much more I have to learn. But that doesn't overwhelm me. I seem to have faith that it will all come to pass in due time according to the Father's plan. I am truly excited to be a part of Christ Michael's plan.