Saturday, October 20, 2012

LIGHT OR DARKNESS

These One A Days are added to daily.  There are over 1100 stories and commentaries on this blog began Nov. 24, 2009.  It is added to daily.

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              Click on http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com to read selected Sermons from over 50 years of Rev. Wyrick's ministry.

       To view Rev. Wyrick in 4 of his highly acclaimed One Man Dramas click on the below

                   http://www.speakerneil.com/

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After the first World War the allies punished the Germans with over the top revenge.

       Which provided an open door for Hitler as Germany's inevitable complete collapse took place.

       After World War II the Marshall plan without revenge opened a different door and today there is a prosperous Germany and there has not been another war in that area for over 60 years.

       Man has enough trouble getting along without throwing vengeance into any and every fray.

       Ask husbands and wives who work out their differences during divorce and throw vengeance out the window.

       Ask husband and wives who don't and the terrible wounds inflicted in all directions.

       Vengeance is a cancer that loves to attack and spread and do its damage over and over again.

       So visit with me again that wonderful world of forgiveness and love and patience that makes sense...as against the idiocy of vengeance that makes no sense at all.

       Who is wrong in any instance that has fostered vengeance?  Both parties.  It is hard to be 100% right so cool it...extend hands of fellowship...fist (and worst than that) are certainly counterproductive.

       We will never rid the world of vengeance or wars or rumors of wars or personal animosities that break out and infect or layers of angers that create so much wounding and hurt...BUT...each of us...one by one...can be a ray of sunlight breaking through the clouds...each of us...one by one can be a morning horizon sweeping away the darkness...and because we can...we must.

       When you die will you leave a legacy of love and forgiveness or will you be remembered as one who never forgot a wrong?

       What is forgiveness?  It is the delete button on God's computer.  God's good at forgiveness but we humans...well, that's another story.

       We hold grudges.  Some people collect them like stamps and what a collection they have.  Filed, catalogued, brought out for examination again and again and again.

       Let me tell you a story.

       It is a story of a man who loves dogs. 

       One day, he began a project he had been proposing to himself for a long while.  Finally procrastination could come up with no more excuses and he began to pour cement to create a sidewalk to run along the front of his property. 

       He had grown tired of city promises that never had been followed through on.

       Just as he poured and smoothed the last stretch of concrete a dog happily pounced into the midst of his creation and began to leave his dragging footprints from front to back and side to side.

       He shouted and waved his arms and the dog ran away.

       Patiently, understanding how dogs seem drawn to wet concrete he re-smoothed his work and then as he gazed on it in satisfaction the dog returned.

       Same results.

       This time when he had finished he placed a long rope around his project.

       It presented no problem at all to the dog as for a third time he jumped the rope and playfully resumed his joyous day.

       It was too much.  The man entered his home and returned with a gun in hand.  He promptly shot the dog.

       When his neighbor saw what happened he rushed out and cried, "I thought you loved dogs."

       "I do," replied the man, "in the abstract but I hate dogs in the concrete."

       And that's the point.  It's easy to forgive in the abstract.  It is easy to nod in approval as you read these words on forgiveness.  It is so much more difficult to put true forgiveness into practice.

       "If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (15) But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."  I didn't say it.  Jesus did.  Seems to say that forgiving our fellowman is pretty important...now doesn't it."

       To make it easier but never easy; try to find reasons for why a person has done you wrong. 

       What was their upbringing that led to their downfall act? 

       What was their mood and why when they said those awful words or told that awful untruth truth about you? 

       Are they naturally mean?  Some seem so.  Look hard for good...put out extra effort...it may still be a struggle and it may go on for a long while but God will be aware of your effort.

       I have one person in particular who has given me ample reason not to forgive them...but I do...forgive them...struggle with it...but do...love them despite which is nowhere near the kind of love that comes from "because"...but it is what God demands...and so I forgive them...and pray for them.

       Corrie ten Boom in one of her books tells of not being able to forget a wrong that had been done to her.       She had forgiven the person, but she kept rehashing the incident and so couldn't sleep.

       Finally Corrie cried out to God for help in putting the problem to rest. "His help came in the form of a kindly Lutheran pastor," Corrie wrote, "to whom I confessed my failure after two sleepless weeks."

       "Up in the church tower," he said, nodding out the window, "is a bell which is rung by pulling on a rope. But you know what? After the sexton lets go of the rope, the bell keeps on swinging.

       First ding, then dong. Slower and slower until there's a final dong and it stops.

       I believe the same thing is true of forgiveness. When we forgive, we take our hand off the rope.

       But if we've been tugging at our grievances for a long time, we mustn't be surprised if the old angry thoughts keep coming for a while.

       They're just the ding-dongs of the old bell slowing down."

       "And so it proved to be. There were a few more midnight reverberations, a couple of dings when the subject came up in my conversations, but the force -- which was my willingness in the matter -- had gone out of them.

       They came less and less often and at the last stopped altogether: we can trust God not only above our emotions, but also above our thoughts."    

 

       Do you arise each morning and pray for ill health?  Do you ask that your nervous system collapse and give you constant pain?  Do you pray for an overheated heart and to live in the dungeon of depression?

       Well, to hold vengeance rather let the spirit of forgiveness hold you is the difference between good physical health and a physical health that only deteriorates faster because of the psychological burden of an angry heart.

       My mother would often look at my skinny frame.  You wouldn't know it now but when I was 12 years old and already well over five feet tall I weighed less than 100 pounds.  So mother was always trying to get me to eat more, "She would point to the food I wanted to leave on my plate and say, "Eat it.  It's good for you."  And she was right but that still didn't make me want to.

       Same with forgiveness.  Enough said.

       But how many times do I have to forgive Tim or Jane or Jan or George?  Isn't there a statue of limitations that kicks in?

       Well, no fraid not.  And again I give no better authority than Jesus himself.

       The Rabbis of Jesus time would have given you some slack.  They taught a three times limit on forgiveness and quoted the Talmud to back up their edict.

       But not Jesus.  Know that Peter preferred double that number plus one Jesus said, "Not seven times, but seventy times seven."  That's almost 500 times and by the time you pick up on that kind of thinking you should be getting them message.

       Try unlimited forgiveness.   

       Do you enjoy sunsets? I do.  All that beauty.  The various shades of orange and red in the clouds hovering on the horizon. 

       But the next time you are gazing west and enjoying that setting sun view just remember that when you got mad in the middle of the day it is now a day coming to an end and you are not as the Bible says to let "the sun go down upon your wrath." (Ephesians 4:6)
      
Do you need to get a bigger container for all the grudges you carry?  Do you have a list made out of how you believe people should act toward you and if they do not follow that list meticulously...they are in trouble.

       No...you are in trouble...for vengeance is a fun house mirror that reflects back a twisted you that is no fun to behold or to have to live with.

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QUOTES ON LOVE AND FORGIVENESS

Bryant H. McGill
Lewis B. Smedes quotes
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.

Mark Twain

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            A new quote  (posted OCT 11) below from Rev. Wyrick's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN (read the rave reviews below the quote)

It was late summer in 1864 when Sherman’s army captured Atlanta.  Ten weeks later, from this jumping off point, 60,000 men began a march through the heart of Georgia to the ocean.   Destruction of everything in between was the goal.         Homes and almost every other standing building were sacked with appalling efficiency until what had once been beautiful was utterly destroyed and forlorn.  Delivered by some men who did so with regret and by others who had lost their last vestige of kindness.

It was Sherman following his own instructions, “…modern wars are not won simply by defeating armies, but by destroying the ability to wage war – wreck railroads, burn fields, eradicate all economic resources – war is not glory – war is hell – and every man, woman and child must learn the lesson quickly.”

       "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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QUOTE BELOW IS FROM WYRICK'S WRITINGS

          There is no other organization in the world like the church.  It is a breed unto itself.  It is a congregation of sinners, not a country club for saints.  To become a member you have to profess your unworthiness. 

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING TO TAKE YOU THERE


      (These are selected sermons from over 50 years of ministry and as a worldwide evangelist Rev. Wyrick preached them all the United States and all over the world)

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            CLICK ON  www.go60.us   IT WILL TAKE YOU A NEW WEBSITE FOR SENIORS....click on "Voice" on the home page and then on the list of authors click on Neil Wyrick

Recent articles Rev. Wyrick has written for this web site are:  REFLECTIONS


·         Here Comes Summer (July 2012)

·         Spring (May 2012)

·         Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow (April 2012)

·         Wayward and Windy (April 2012)

 

Just remember that “the pain of discipline will cost you pennies, whereas the pain of regret will cost you millions.”

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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.

      

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