Camping (1978 film)

Rev Tom Cutts LLM Sermon April 22 2012

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• published: 22 Apr 2012
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" 1) no oatmealing. 2) love the hardest person. 3) do the hardest thing. 4) jump it. 5) leave the plus. " - Prayer Changes Things Rev. Tom Cutts April 22, 2012 Good morning. Signed, sealed, delivered ; here I am. And there you are. Please take a seat. Thank you. As I was preparing for this message I had a dream on Thursday morning. It was kind of a nightmare. All the district pastors and I were here on stage, and there was nobody in the audience, nobody in the congregation. There was nobody at the door to let people in. There was no band, no production crew. But in fact that dream was false, right? You’re all here today. The band is here, the production crew is here, the guest greeters are here. All of Lovin’ Life is here. It’s all self-sustaining. It’s not going away. I bring you greetings from the Southeast of the United States. I am the district pastor of six states: Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Carolina. Thank you. This morning I’d like to talk on the topic of “Prayer Changes Things: Tearful Prayer Changes Everything.” I bring you greetings. I also want to welcome the 100 locations all across the country. There are people watching us from across the world. There are people watching us in Italy and England that I’m aware of. We have kind of a different format, for those of you who are new today with us and watching us in a satellite location. W e’ve had some profound experiences watching Lovin’ Life in a home. We were in Louisiana. The state leaders had all com,e and one of them had written an e-mail to In Jin Nim asking her a question. All during our meeting he kept checking his e-mail to see if she had responded. I said, “N o, Pastor, I don’t think she’s going to write you back this week. She may write you back later. She may even speak to you in her sermon today.” We were in a small room. We had her image projected bigger than life up on the little wall , and we were well into the sermon w hen she answered the very question that he had. And we were like, “Oh my gosh.” The state leaders all turned and looked at each other, saying, “That’s amazing!” But that’s the reality. God can speak to you in many different ways. He might even be able to speak to you today. You might come today with a question to him, and he might answer it. So you’re participating, not just sitting there passively waiting for God to do something, even if you have just come with a question in your heart and your mind. God has a way of speaking to us in many ways. I was leading a fund-raising team in New England once. It was a difficult team. One sister particularly never liked the area that I used to drop her off at. Have you ever had those kinds of experiences? S o I pulled over at a gas station. Our van was sitting on the side of the road. I was pulled over, with the sidewalk beside me. I was sort of praying, but, more, I was trying to decide if I should drop her off there. “No, she wouldn’t like that.” “How about over there?” “No, that’s no good.” My window was down a little bit and out of the corner of my eye I saw a dark figure walking up to the car. It was a drunk. You could smell the whiskey on his breath. He didn’t smell real good, and his hair was all messy. He looked into the window and said, “Just make up your mind.” [Laughter] I think that was God. I couldn’t believe it. So God might even speak to you today, hopefully. “Does God Exist at All?” I want to talk about prayer, especially tearful prayer. Also I’ve been asked to share a little bit about myself so you can understand how I came to meet True Parents and the Unification Church. I have a wife – we were matched by Rev. and Mrs. Moon, True Parents, about 35 years ago. Our 30th year anniversary will be on July 1st, this year. We have four children, three sons and a daughter. Our oldest son, Brian, is in the U.S. Navy. He’s in the EOD, explosive ordnance disposal, unit so it’s a dangerous mission. I hope you’ll keep not just my son but all of our men and women in the military who are protecting our country in your prayers. Thank you. My second son, Daniel, is studying to become a veterinarian. He used to walk out in the yard and say, “Hey, Dad, look under this leaf,” and he would have an insect I’d never seen before. He kept a praying mantis on our back porch for many years. He would feed him crickets. He loves animals. We also had a third son, Atombo. He’s in Australia with the Oceania Leadership Team. He’s having an amazing time out there. And we have a daughter, Rebecca . She’s a freshman in high school , she’s on the swimming team , and she plays the bassoon and flute and learning trumpet. So we have a lot of things going on at our house. I’d like to talk today a little bit about prayer and how God works. I know that even in some members of my family there’s sort of a question of, “ Does God exist at all?” About a co