Friday, June 1, 2012

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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 following (Here you will find selected sermons that he has preached during the last 58 years.)  Just click on the URL below


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PLEASE PASS THIS ON...THE WORLD COULD BECOME SO MUCH BETTER...IT REALLY COULD

 A boy said to his father, "Dad, can you write in the dark?" "I think so. What is it you want me to write?" "Your name on this report card."
But it is more than this isn't it...it is living the kind of life that one is not ashamed of even in the light of high noon.


The late Rev. Peter Marshall wrote, "It is not the length of life that matters but how it is lived. That is the thing that counts.  It is not how long but how well."

     Peter died at 47 but his preaching and presence lives on. 

     Abraham Lincoln died a decade and a half before the noted seventy but he lived long enough to leave a legacy that is matched by very few.

     Add to this list a family name or friend who did not waste the shorter period of a lifetime given them.

     And looking at ourselves we all know we could do a better job in this wonderful adventure called life...

     But...suppose...you were told you that you could never be better...never improve over what you have become...that you were spiritually, emotionally, physically frozen in time.

     A special messenger from heaven standing before you and saying, "Your chance for loving your neighbor as yourself is past."  "Your chance for greater commitment to your God is past."  "Your chance for forgiving those you have not forgiven is past."  Your chance to become more kind, more loving, one who is more of light than darkness...all this is past."

     How would you feel?  What would you do?  Would you fall to your knees and cry out, "Please God...give me one more day to make amends."

     And if your prayer was answered and you were given 24 hours to heal the hurts you have caused and repay anyone you have stolen from...whatever kind of stealing the stealing was.

     Where would you start?

     What would you rush to do that might be inspiring enough to talk about in the reality of heaven?

     This is no small question for remember your time is short...and the proper response is more than important...more indeed...the philosopher Horace spoke to what happens when the need to change is ignored, "Unless the vessel is clean, whatsoever you pour into it turns sour."

     It might do well to fuel your commitment toward personal betterment  by remembering that old philosophical truth, "It is not truth that makes man great, but man that makes truth great."

     Remember...you do not have much time to translate the following truth into an attitude but even 24 hours of living with the following truth is worth the effort, "A great man is he who has not lost the heart of a child."

     Jesus said that...now didn't he..."Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven."

     The final judgment of any individual is the kind of society he turns out.

     In short , all events are related to all other events.  An ounce of hate can cause a pound of trouble.  A word of faith can stop a suicide or start a mission field.  None of us ever know who is listening to our prattle and looking at our deeds...but they are many...in a single day...many indeed...

     What then will you do in this extra 24 hours? I would think that you and I...for I would want these extra 24 hours too...would seek to make every word and every deed only the best and the brightest of our entire lifetime.

     Would you seek to be more holy in this extra 24 hours?  Well then...what is that?  It is better than kindness, superior to love, head and shoulders above understanding.

     It is not your occupation that makes you more or less holy...that is for sure...but rather how you occupy your occupation.

     A reminder...for we all need to be reminded of what we have often heard and surely know, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.  And though i bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be buried and have not love, it profiteth me nothing."  (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)


"Live a good life. In the end it is not the years in a life, but the life in the years.”
Abraham Lincoln



William Barclay
There are two great days in a person's life - the day we are born and the day we discover why.



Albert Einstein
There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.


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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

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

Click on the URL below to take you to them






     Below is a quote from Neil's other blog Wyrick's Writings...posted Sunday May 27th  Entitled BELIEVE YOUR BELIEFS, GIVE THEM SPIRTUAL MUSCLES

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.

     Below is a quote from Neil's other blog Wyrick's Writings...posted Thursday May 10

SERMON TITLE...HOW TO LESSEN ANXIETY

Anxiety out of proportion makes us become like a centipede trying to put his best foot forward.

     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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