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There are over 900
stories and commentaries on this blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to
daily.
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It is much easier to repent
of sins that we have committed than to repent of those we intend to commit.
Josh Billings.
Are
you scared to repent and change or scared not to?
Is
there satisfaction lying behind both decisions and what kind of
satisfaction? And is one of the satisfaction
no satisfaction at all.
"I
am sorry I was angry. I will seek
patience."
"I
am sorry I was selfish. I will seek
benevolence."
"I
am sorry I lied. I will seek
truth."
"I
am sorry I..."
Many people use mighty
thin thread when mending their ways.
Daily Walk.
The best and spiritually brightest have sinned and had to
repent.
Daniel was good enough to turn down a
King's table for a lion's den but later when he had become less than godly, it
was time to repent again.
Peter followed Christ for three years, yet
still had to repent after his denial of this Christ.
Isaiah went about crying, "Woe is
this"" and "Woe is that" but his real power of prophecy
came when he turned inward and said "Woe is me."
What is the problem...the problem is that it is easier to be
religious than righteous."
In
Holman Hunt's famous painting, "The Light of the World" you see
Christ in a garden at midnight. In His
left hand is a lantern and His right hand is knocking on a heavily paneled
door.
But
if you look closely there is no handle on the door.
Holman
Hunt explains why he painted it that way.
"My message is that the door to the human heart can only be opened
from the inside."
Ann Byrd Payson wrote, "Before I was sixty, I was
fashionable, fleshy and futile."
Then came what she calls her shining hour. She read a book entitled "The Christ of
the Open Road."
She stared into a fireplace that had burned
with its bright light many times before.
But this time, in this setting she found her Christ and it change her
life.
She went on to write, "I follow the
Road. and "The Rule of the Road."
What
does the Bible say about all of this?
"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty
man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him
that glorieth glory in this, that he uderstandeth and knoweth me that I am the
Lord which exerciseth loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the
earth."
L.P. Jacks, a great English philosopher wrote,
"Every human heart is an arena where a hero and a coward wage a continuous
conflict for the mastery of each personality."
And...yes...on the outcome of this battle
rests your happiness, your self-respect and your usefulness to yourself, your
God and your fellowman.
The hero repents and says, "Here I am, God; take
me."
The coward resigns and says, "I'm not ready."
Glen Clark, in his book , A MAN'S REACH, calls attention
to the hero's way. He says, "There
were seven people to whom Jesus gave special approval and each of them went all
the way...the widow gave all her money; the Syrophonecian woman gave all her
pride, the Samaritan gave all her gratitude; the Roman Centurion gave all his
will; John the Baptist gave all his body and his zeal; Simon Peter gave all his
sins; Mary of Bethany gave all her heart."
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We welcome you to put some
of these thoughts in your personal newsletter or on your churches newsletter or
your blog...and we thank those of you who have put it on your Facebook page
To Visit neil's other blog Wyrick's Writings click on the
following (Here you will find
selected sermons that he has preached during the last 58 years.)(check below for
sample quotes from these sermons over the last number of weeks) Just click on the URL below
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When you come to communion,
there are what might be called four imperatives to give it meaning. You have been given the choice; to accept all
four, or three, or two, or one, or none and just go through the motions.
There is repentance
- which allows you to use a mistake as a stepping stone instead of a stumbling
block. It is renouncing a bad yesterday
for a better tomorrow. How you define it
is your choice. Whether you repent or
not is God’s imperative.
The second of the four imperatives I hope you bring to the
communion table is overwhelming love
for God and your fellowman. Sometimes,
for some people, it is easier to say, “I am sorry I was bad” than it is to love
the neighbor you have been bad to. To
love the unlovely is a challenge, but that is exactly what partaking of
Communion is…a challenge.
Third...
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How can we keep our faith from being a weak and
fruitless thing? How can we not be
foolish little men and women groveling in the dark shadows of overeager
egos.
Well, first we must do more than just pray. We must believe in our own prayers.
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Anxiety
out of proportion makes us become like a centipede trying to put his best foot
forward.
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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.”
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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 do that.”
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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 anything. None of us are perfect.
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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
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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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