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There are over 900
stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to
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Wyrick's Writings click on the following. Just click on the URL below
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James 1:19 My dear
brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak,
and slow to become angry."
The writer Charles
Swindoll was irritated. His plate was
full and so a lack of patience visited quite often. His list of commitments was a mile long and
his fuse was super short.
In his book Stress Fractures he spells it
out.
"I
was snapping at my wife and our children, choking down my food at mealtimes,
and feeling irritated at those unexpected interruptions through the day. Before
long, things around our home started reflecting the patter of my hurry-up
style. It was becoming unbearable.
"I
distinctly remember after supper one evening, the words of our younger
daughter, Colleen. She wanted to tell me something important that had happened
to her at school that day. She began hurriedly, 'Daddy, I wanna tell you
somethin' and I'll tell you really fast.'
"Suddenly
realizing her frustration, I answered, 'Honey, you can tell me -- and you don't
have to tell me really fast. Say it slowly." "I'll never forget her
answer: 'Then listen slowly.'
How long ago was it when someone was speaking to you...and
you were wishing they would stop talking because you felt you had something
more important to say?
The world is overwhelmed with poor listeners.
Except for an
exception here and there.
An 80-year-old grandfather went to his daughter’s
house for Sunday dinner. When the meal was over, he announced that he was going
to take a walk through the neighborhood. "I’ll be back in twenty
minutes," he said. But two hours had
passed before he finally returned. "Sorry I’m late," he said.
"But I stopped to talk to an old friend and he just wouldn’t stop
listening."
Have you been guilty of the kind of listening that treats
the other persons words with a lack respect and attention? If so then you
are a Care-less listener.
When someone speaks to you do their words go in one ear and out the other. They
couldn't care less about what they hear and in their rude almost non listening
make it clear that this is where their attention is not.
So...the next time someone is talking to you...really pay
attention to what they are saying....you might learn something...at the worst
their point of view is quite possibly different than yours and they have a good
reason for whatever opinion they are expressing...so don't dismiss it too easily.
After all there is that old
saying, "You have two ears and one mouth...therefore listen twice as much
as you speak."
After a concert in a mid-western town Paderewski was found behind
the stage silent and preoccupied. Someone asked him what was the matter -- was
he ill?
"No," he said, "but some friends of mine were
missing: the grey-haired couple on the fourth row back. They were not in their
usual places."
"I didn't know you had friends in this town. Did you know
them well?"
The pianist replied,
"I didn't know them at all. I never spoke to them but I liked the way they
listened. Every time I have played here for 50 years I have always played to
them."
We all have a need to
speak...nothing could be more obvious...but we also all need to refine our art
of listening...it is also obvious that most of us have to work on this one.
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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.
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"Wyrick's
Writings" are selected sermons from those Neil has preached during the
last 58 years
Click
on the URL below to take you to them
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...
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...
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...
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 ENTITLED
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 ENTITLED
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 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 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 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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