Thursday, May 3, 2012

THE WEAK AND THE STRONG

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       There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to daily.
       To Visit neil's other blog...Wyrick's Writings... click on the URL below (Here you will find selected sermons from all the sermons he has preached during the last 58 years)
        http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com
          THERE ARE THE WEAK AND THERE ARE THE STRONG AND THERE ARE THOSE WHO ARE IN THE PROCESS OF BECOMING

When I consider commitment, I often think of Noah and the God-ordered Ark.  Of how challenging and comforting it is to read of a man so committed to God he could ignore the ridicule of his neighbors and keep on keeping on for a total of 120 years.

Without paralyzing pride to slow him down, nothing was too small for him to do.  He readily cut the timbers, patiently crafted the planks, with honest fortitude chiseled the wood and bored the holes, until finally one day he had constructed a massive monument to the will of his Heavenly Father.  If he had given this 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high ship a name, it would have had to be Commitment.

Now when it comes to a heavenly command to commitment it is highly doubtful you will ever be asked to build an ark or anything near that size as a giant monument.  However, you have already been commanded to make your life a monument.  “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  (Romans 12:2) 

The pattern of the world is greed and mistrust and selfish ego; the list goes on.  But you, chosen by yourself to be a Christian, you are called to make a new pattern.  Not follow after the one that has held back the world for so long a time.  You chose to commit…so wherever you are holding back, push forward.  Wherever you are making excuses, create drive.

I’m sure you all have your own mental description of what commitment is, but have you ever considered that actually it is a battlefield?  A place where your best self constantly battles your worst self?  Were I to ask you which self do you want to win, your answer would be immediate and sincere.  You would reply, “I want that self that does not just talk victory to win.  I do not want to be a victim of my own weak and willy-nilly follow through in things I have committed myself to do.  I have said, ‘Lord, here am I take me.’  That is what I want to do.  That is who I want to be.”

        Robert Browning put it well, “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp.”

He got shot - dead.  And he was not surprised by it.  He had known it was coming,  but he never backed down.  Not long before it happened someone had asked him how he handled the fear of knowing he might be attacked at any moment. 

        He simply replied, “I’m not afraid anymore…I’m not worried about that…I’m not fearing any man.”  And in his famous speech that is so often quoted, he said, “Because I have been to the mountain top.  Like anybody I would like to live a long life.  Longevity has its place.  But I’m not concerned about that.  Now I just want to do God’s will.  I’ve seen the Promised Land.  I may not get there with you, but I want you to know…I’m not worried about anything.  I’m not fearing anything.  I’m not fearing any man.  Mine eyes have seen the glory and the coming of the Lord.”

I don’t even have to identify who I am talking about.  We all know I was quoting Martin Luther King.  And that’s the way it is with people who take commitment to special levels.  Tall and sun crowned above the crowd.  God’s moral giants rather than moral midgets.  People remember them, oh, how they remember them, and are greatly influenced by them.  And gladdened by them.  And made to devoutly wish there were more like them.

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"Wyrick's Writings" are selected sermons from those Neil has preached during the last 55 years.

     Below is a quote from Neil's other blog Wyrick's Writings...posted Thursday May 3

SERMON TITLE...HOW TO LESSEN ANXIETY

     It's an old joke, I went to the doctor and I said, “Doc, when I do this, it hurts.” And the doctor said, “Then don't do that.”

      How many things have you been anxious about that were things which you knew before you got into them were probably going to create some problems for you?  And if you asked your doctor, or your minister, or common sense and your God, all of them would have said, “Don’t to that.” 

     Below is a quote from Neil's other blog Wyrick's Writings...posted TUESDAY MAY 1

To buy into the community of accountability we have to realize that like bikers we are divided into two categories.  Those who have fallen and those who will fall for None of us are perfect.

       Think on it this way, some philosopher of old wrote it and it endures because there is so much truth in it… every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty

      Below is a quote from Neil's other blog Wyrick's Writings...posted Sunday April 29th....

One writer put it this way: “If we could see ourselves as God sees us, we would rise up and never be the same again.”

       TO GO TO "WYRICK'S WRITINGS" TO READ SELECTED SERMONS FROM OVER 50 YEARS OF HIS MINISTRY

CLICK ON THE URL BELOW


Some of the sermon titles posted recently


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Before you decide to purchase or not purchase his book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN.... view his Award Winning One Man Dramatization of Lincoln (since he wrote the script for this drama it will give you an insight into what you will find in the book itself)

Available on Amazon.com in printed form and on Amazon Kindle Books. and at many other sites

TO VIEW THE LINCOLN One Man DRAMA and 3 other dramas; Ben Franklin, Martin Luther & Charles Wesley

click on the following URL

http://www.speakerneil.com/

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BELOW ARE MORE QUOTES FROM NEIL'S RECENTLY POSTED SERMONS

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A QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS POSTED ON MY OTHER BLOG WYRICK'S WRITINGS ON SUNDAY APRIL 15. ENTITILED



       Two stores faced each other across a very busy street.  Their owners were in constant competition with each other.  One day, the owner of one store put out a sign that read – If you want it, we have it!

Almost immediately the other owner put out a sign –If we don’t have it, you don’t need it!



A QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS POSTED ON MY OTHER BLOG WYRICK'S WRITINGS ON THURSDAY APRIL 13TH. ENTITILED

WHO ARE YOU?

NO…WHOSE ARE YOU?

       Who are you?  Whose are you?

You influence and are influenced according to the answer you give.     

Are you are the flavor of the month because you are determined to be like everyone else no matter what?  If so, consider being more independent in our thinking and actions...because God wants you to grow up.

It may be easier being someone's shadow but wouldn't you really rather be a sun. 



       QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS  POSTED ON WYRICK'S WRITINGS THURSDAY  APRIL 5 FROM THOUGHT ENTITLED "Who Are You?  Whose Are You?"

       This is an old quote, and a romantic one as well but, nevertheless, can anyone say of you, “I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you.

            QUOTE FROM THOUGHT PIECE POSTED ON WYRICK'S WRITINGS TUESDAY APRIL 3 FROM THOUGHT ENTITLED

" WHEN A NATION STRAYS TOO FAR FROM BEING MORAL IT IS WELL ON IT'S WAY TO BECOMING A MESS

        James 4:17

To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.

        Someone once said: “A belief is what you hold, a conviction is what holds you!”

        So what holds you, constructs you, leads you with a push when needed?

       Quotes POSTED ON WYRICK'S WRITING THURSDAY MARCH 29th THOUGHTS ENTITLED WHO ARE YOU?

NO…WHOSE ARE YOU?

        In a Peanuts cartoon strip Peppermint Patty is shown talking to Charlie Brown.

“Guess what, Chuck? It’s the first day of school and I got sent to the principal’s office.

And it’s your fault!”

Charlie Brown responds, “My fault? How could it be my fault? Why do you say everything is my fault?”

To which she declares, “You’re my friend, aren’t you, Chuck? You should have been a better influence on me.”

In the comics, it’s funny… but in real life it’s much more complicated.

       Would you like to read the entire thought piece?  Then... TO TAKE YOU TO THE WYRICK'S WRITING'S SITE

                                        click on the following


          Yes, God loves you the way you are but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.

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      Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER


       To Order and Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN

       GO TO amazon.com

       QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE book

       STILL RECEIVING RAVE REVIEWS 8 YEARS AFTER IT'S PUBLICATION.

       "Positive, powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and appreciation of Lincoln while revealing the Divine source of his strength."

       Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)

       "The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'

       William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn

       "Wyrick has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of American history's most devoutly religious leaders...a pleasant and readable book that has a rich depth of information."

              Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian minister

        "When it comes to invoking religion in support of any of their decisions, politicians need to sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr once called him 'America's greatest theologian.' Why so great? Because he invariably distinguished between human works and the works of the Almighty. As Wyrick says, 'He wore the mantle of humility easily: because he was more impressed with what God was doing in the world than with what he, president of the United States in the midst of an awful crisis, was doing. That is why in his last major speech he distinguished between both human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's 'own purposes.' Lincoln would have agreed that it is better to leave God-talk out of politics than to decorate human proposals with divinity. This is a book for our American time. Through his careful study of Lincoln's career, Wyrick compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when piety transcends politics."

       Dr. Donald W. Shriver

       Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Author of An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics

        "V. Neil Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham Lincoln's Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history. Should have a wide readership."

       James H. Smylie Professor of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia

       "Neil Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably the most complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United States. Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so often expressed in Lincoln's writings and speeches was not merely lip service to a Deity, but rather expressions of a profound faith in a real God. It was this faith that provided the wisdom, compassion, insight and sometimes steel that Lincoln would need in full measure as he led the United States through the Civil War. Dr. Wyrick's clear and unpretentious style of presentation is very much in keeping with the character ofhis subject, and in so doing, Wyrick makes his point very well that Lincoln, his beliefs, and the faith that formed them, are as relevant to a troubled America in 2004 as they were in 1863."

       Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The Lusitania and The Age o f Cunard

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