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There are over 900
stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to
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It was the 33rd year of the
life of one Jesus of Nazareth. For
almost three years He had preached and healed and made His miracles. Now the prophecy of Isaiah was being
fulfilled.
It had been written that He “would be
despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.”
That
“He would (bear) our grief’s and (carry) our sorrows, that He would be wounded
for our transgressions…bruised for our iniquities” and “the chastisement of our
peace (would) be upon Him, and with His stripes we (would be) healed.”
In this closing year of His earthly
existence, He had walked the settling quiet paths of the countryside, the noisy
streets of Jerusalem and the little towns of Galilee. He knew what lay ahead for Him. Knew what was coming and was
prepared. Now he had to prepare His
disciples.
As you and I need to properly prepare
ourselves for the full acceptance of who He was and who He will always be. A prophecy made. A prophecy completed. A prophecy accepted in its fruition.
In the Upper Room, dimly lit by flickering flames, all was prepared for the celebration of Pasch, or
Passover.
But after this night, this celebration would have a new
and overwhelming significance. It was
over 2000 years ago, and yet it is now because there is so much of eternity in
this timeless event.
As Jesus looked at the
twelve men seated close around Him, perhaps certain moments stood out above all
the rest. The mountain and a
sermon. Nazareth, His own home town which would not respect
or even consider who He was. Moments of acceptance and rejection. And now He began to speak, “It has been my
heart’s desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, and I tell you, I
shall not eat it again till it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”
And Jesus took a loaf of unleavened bread and with hands that
themselves would soon be broken, broke it and said , “This is my body, which is
broken for you. Take, eat. Do this in memory of me.” And He reached out, picked up the cup and cradling
it between His hands said, “This is my blood of the New Testament, which is
shed for ye, for the remission of sins.
Drink ye, all of it.”
What was Jesus
saying? What message was He trying to make these twelve men understand? In a 21st century way of speaking
He was saying, “Take your feet off your spiritual power brakes. Don’t hold back. I’m giving my all…now you give your all in
response. I have made you “fishers of
men.” Do not ever lose that identity.
Never!
And later, when the disciples finally comprehended the
meaning of empty tomb, like blind men who had been unable to see, now finally
they saw and understood. Now they could
not keep their quiet about it. Following
His instructions, they could do nothing but evangelize. Over and over again to anyone who would
listen saying the equivalent of, “wonderful, astounding, incredible, awesome.”
How
could anyone do anything else but give their lives to spreading the word. When something is a matter of life or death,
it deserves intensity. Anything less is
a mockery.
A great love was present at that celebration of the Passover, greater
than the disciples at that moment realized.
Gethsemane was still to come and a
prayer. Judas was still to earn his
thirty pieces of silver by the selling of his soul. Peter, to his shame, was to deny His master
three times. The mockery of a trial
which was really no trial at all was to take place. Yet, Jesus, knowing where it all must lead,
never used this knowledge as an excuse to go elsewhere or do otherwise.
And the life of
Christ is a challenge to those of us who would follow Him. Not a drifting but an uplifting. Not an embalming but an enabling. There is an old Italian proverb that is a cry
against complacency. “It is better to be a man for ten minutes, than a turtle
for a thousand years.” Robert Brown put
it yet another way, “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven
for?” And indifference?
Indifference is a knife in the heart of
God.
Jesus stood before His accusers.
It seemed half a lifetime since He had been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. The crown of thorns bit into His brow. The purple robe hung mockingly from His wounded
shoulders. The pain of the scourging was
still fresh and violent upon His swollen back.
Now they put a cross to His hands.
Now He began His terrible journey that led down the Via Dolorosa.
What were the words
of Paul? “Be ye not conformed to this
world, but be ye transformed by what is that good, and acceptable and perfect
will of God.” In one of His well-known
engineering parables, Jesus talks about two houses, one build on rock and one
on sand. Even pre-school children grasp
the meaning of this message as they sing, “The wise man built his house on a
rock, the foolish man built his house on the sand, and walls came tumbling
down.”
The Via Dolorosa was not that long a street but carrying a heavy burden
of cypress, six feet in length and weighing thirty pounds, having just endured
13 tearing beatings on each leg and on His shoulders, it seemed as if it would
never end.
Why did He
die? Why did He live? We have been taught and believe He died to
save us and lived to teach us. Either it
is truth or it is a lie. If is a lie,
then burn the Bible, desecrate the hymn books, forget the prayer and stop any
and all talk about Salvation. But if it
is the truth, which it is, oh how much it is, then it is worth holding on to
with everything in you and sharing it and sharing it and sharing it again. Evangelism?
Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find food.
The sacrifice was great and men would need this sacrifice. In the eternal plan of God it would serve to
redeem them from their sins. It was the
price of blood, and pain and humility.
“All or nothing at all,” and the gambler
throws the dice. His life’s savings hang
in the balance. It comes up victory or
abject defeat. “All or nothing at all”
and a man puts out his soul. His life
hangs in the balance. It comes up
victory or abject defeat. It depends on
where he has put that soul.
And so it is this morning, that we put on our souls
into the forgiving hands of the Lord, washed clean, raised up, “Father, forgive
them for they know not what they do.”
And we accept such forgiveness and glory in it.
In front of the procession rode a Roman
Soldier on a horse. It was
customary. The condemned were put on
show that the populace might learn the might of the Empire. There are always men who act like God. Always.
The Psalmist writes, “Whither shall I go from Thy
spirit? Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there;
if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.” (Psalm 139:8)
And yes, there are still men who act like God.
All who watched Jesus led to the cross were
not godless. Most were merely people too
busy to anything about it. It was all
too bad, they thought. But there were
important things to do. Bread to be
brought for the evening meal. Doors to be mended. Money to be made. Important things.
Follow me,” says Jesus and a man says, “I must tie up
my milk.” “Tie up your milk?” “Oh, yes when a man doesn’t want to do
something one excuse is as good as another.
Golgotha
was finally reached. The Genneth gate
passed through. The thieves stumbled and
Simon of Cyrene walked behind Jesus a last few antagonizing yards. Then finally
a the place of the cross. Written above
His head the words, Jesu Nazarenus Rex Judeorum – Jesus of Nazareth, King of
the Jews.
And the ultimate truth, as by imaging we transfer
ourselves to that place of the skull must be “God has made us for Himself and our hearts
are restless until they rest in Him.”
Every person needs a reason for living.
Christianity says, “I am that reason.”
From the cross, Jesus looked down on the
soldiers who were doing a job, at the waiting crowd, at His mother and John, at
Jerusalem off
in the distance and He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what thy
do.”
But we do know what we are doing and we do have the
opportunity to be wisemen or not very wise at all. In the story of the Birth of Jesus, it says
of the Wisemen “They went home by another way.”
Of course it refers to geography, but I like to think it also refers to
personality. That the Wiseman who left
were not the same wise men who had come.
And we have that opportunity, to leave this morning by a different way,
transformed, reborn again, not the same wise men or wise women who an hour ago
walked through that door.
And Jesus said, “Into Thy hands I commit my
spirit” and with these words, He died. A
carpenter from Nazareth
whose words were too much for the world, but then He did something else. He rose from the dead.
And the world took a second look at this life that
began in Bethlehem and did not end at Golgotha. For when
the stone was rolled away, there was the myrrh and the wrappings, but not the
body of Christ. But where was He? And the answer came very soon.
To
eleven disillusioned, unbelieving disciples He appeared. To a host of 500 He
appeared. To two on the road to Emmaus
He appeared. To Paul on the road to
Damascus He appeared. The resurrection a
fact, ordained by God to save man from himself.
A miracle with meaning. Not a was but an eternal is.
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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 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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