Monday, November 12, 2012

THE RIGHT SIDE OF FOREVER (2)

A 3 PART SERIES ON ANXIETY BEGAN NOV 1st.  I THANK THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN SHARING IT WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY.

          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.

        IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND COPY and paste THE FOLLOWING URL


              AND THEN PASTE IN AN EMAIL.

              Click on http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com to read selected Sermons from over 50 years of Rev. Wyrick's ministry. (STARTING NOV 1 "HOW MUCH DOES A PRAYER WEIGH)

       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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Isaiah 55: 2

Why do you spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy?

       When the prophet Isaiah spoke these words to his people in Jerusalem, centuries before Christ was born, it was a message with no limitations of time or space. 

       His listeners were dusty from camel paths or worn down by desert heat.

        They knew nothing of paved highways, air conditioning or electronic communications, but they knew what he spoke was true. 

       And were he standing in a pulpit today, I think his message would be the same, updated for more relevance perhaps, but nevertheless exactly the same. 

       I believe he would say something like, “Why do you buy that which only gets you bills with little or no appreciation for that which beautifies and nourishes your immortal soul?” 

       It is beyond arguing that the difference can feed a soul or kill a SOUL FOREVER. 

       Why do you spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?”

       If you have been reading this blog for awhile You have learned that I like to ask questions as much as I like making statements... because when you start answering those questions you preach to yourself…and you’ll always listen to yourself better than you will listen to me.

       When you bought your new car, that isn’t new anymore, did you wash it often and dust it off practically every day? 

       Attack the smallest piece of dust or dirt as if it were the most important thing in the world?

        And then time passed and while you still wash your car from time to time, or have someone else do it for you, it finally is just what it really was in the first place, a very nice piece of transportation.

       How many books do you have on your library shelf that you have never read? 

       It isn’t that you meant to buy them and not read them.

        It is just that…well, there are other priorities now and they do still look good sitting on the shelf.

       In your tool box is there one thing, or more than one thing, you have absolutely no idea when you got it or what it does?  I’m sure that when you bought it you felt you had to have it. 

       It is just that right now you have no idea why it was so important then or perhaps should be important now.

       “Why do you spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy?”

       A grown up child taking care of an aged parent.  It is a priceless gift.

        A walk by the shifting sea with the sound of God in it.  It is a precious, priceless moment. 

       A man, a lawyer, gets $500 an hour for his words but willingly spends an hour in prayer with a friend.  All free, no fee.  A gift of love.  A treasure beyond compare. 

       Everything has its price.  Everything is not necessarily worth its price.

       And the question will not go away, “Why do you spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy.”

       And the explanation of how it is as against how we confuse it all, comes shouting at us from this 55th chapter of Isaiah.  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

       And, yes, the ways of the Lord are on the right side, of forever

       And the question will not go away, “Why do you spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy.”

              The great philosopher Plato put his finger on the pulse of it, “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark, the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” 

He was not making a Christian statement, but it is a Christian statement. 

       Men and women of all too many centuries have been in love with the dark, the darkness of evil, the darkness of sin. “I am the light of the world,” says Christ, and millions retreat toward the shadows.

       “The blood of Jesus never cleansed an excuse,” wrote Corrie Ten Boom in her autobiography, “The Hiding Place.”  The road to the right side of forever is not paved with excuses.  It is paved with repentance and finished by redemption. 

       Back in the days before electricity, an old, tightfisted farmer was berating his farmhand for carrying a lighted lantern, and wasting kerosene, when he went to call on his best girl. 

       “Why,” he exclaimed, “when I went a-courtin’ I never carried one of them things.  I always went in the dark.” 

       “Yes,” came back the hired-hand’s wry reply, “and look what you got.”

       Too often that is our problem. We fumble in the darkness and don’t listen to the Lord’s message, “I am the light of the world.” 

But, if we hear it.  Believe it.  Allow it to change our lives we will end up on the right side of forever

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QUOTES ON MAKING GOOD CHOICES

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. Kahlil Gibran

       “He has sat on the fence so long that the iron has entered his soul.”- David Lloyd George

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                    A new quote  (posted OCT 23) below from Rev. Wyrick's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN (read the rave reviews below the quote)

If Lincoln had not died he would have given the South back its pride as soon as possible.  Some may refuse to accept the Lincoln his words portrayed.

 Others may find it difficult to see so much of a Pollyanna-future, had his life been spared.

 Yet, even the most negative should be willing to admit that more charity and less malice could have begun to save some of the day. 

This leader had so often spoken as much like a

philosopher/theologian as a politician. 

       Not haranguing the South for its foolishness or suggesting punishment, but rather advocating too much forgiveness that never sat well with what was still a divided house.

       The death of many of his dreams followed his death.

        Hatred of the South was an easier sell. 

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       "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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