Wow, what a privilege it is to come before you.  To be in your presence.  to be able to have a relationship with you.  to know you like a friend.  What a joy to be able to walk in fellowship with you. We thank you, Lord for all the moms in our lives.  We thank you for the sacrifice and love as they continuously pour out.  We pray blessing and honor over them today.  And be with all those this morning that are having a hard time today.  We pray you revitalize hope in their hearts.  And let them feel the richness of your presence this morning.

Speaking to God – Kyle Dingus

Y’all may not know this about me but I love cold documentaries. I’m fascinated by them.  I think in another life I could have been a sociologist or a psychologist.  Try to figure out what makes humans tick.  There is a common thread in cults that pops up or in religions in general.  There is normally one person who feels this special anointing or special message from God.  That they are God’s messenger or prophet or sometimes God himself or herself.  They use that.  They use the authority.  They use the divine authority.  They use the authority of being a God to manipulate people to get what they want.  It is extremely disgusting.  It is an abuse of power.  I’m sure in a room this size, not just in cults.  Maybe in your upbringing or maybe in some church circles you had someone prophesize or say a word over you that was unhelpful or unfruitful.  Or maybe you were a college student whom someone said God said we should data.  Kind of equally bad.  This is my interpretation.  A lot of people use God’s name in vain.  Even in some churches there is a prayer ministry going on where personal information was used when they already had that information.  It is understandable to be skeptic about this.

Good morning.  Where is Rome?  That is so good.  I saw it for the first time yesterday.  I knew he was doing the video segment I was preparing the lesson for this morning.  I’m not what you expected.  I get that a lot.  Kyle is not here this morning.  His mother passed away.  He is with family.  We were talking this morning and Nicki said “our normal minister isn’t here today’.  Which would make me abnormal.  thank you.  So.  I’m Jeff Crawford.  I’m the abnormal preacher this morning.  I’m one of the shepherds at Fourth.  We are so glad to have you here.

We are talking about prayer in community or community in prayer.   I’ve been here for I don’t know how long its been.  My wife and I have been here ten years or so I think.  This is a church where you will notice a few themes.  One of those themes in community.  Its a place that tries to be very, tries to be very embracing. We are not perfect but we do our best to do that.  And then it is place where prayer is incredibly important to who we are and our identity.  I see Albert back here.  Some one who has led the way in helping us frame ourselves as a church.  Who puts ourselves in a humble poster and lifts our requests and our petitions to God.

When we talk about prayer, a lot of times we talk about prayer in terms of our individual conversations with our creator.  It is really appropriate.  That is such an important thing in the life of a believer.  But it is not the only way that prayer gets expressed.  And one of the most important things we see when we look in the Bible and when we see the example of the way the early church worked and responded was they had a posture of prayer.  It wasn’t just alone.  It was together.  It was community in prayer.  Prayer in community.