Friday, June 12, 2015

THE FINE ART OF BELIEVING

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       There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.
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     Maturity does not treat the Universe as an it but as a THOU.  Maturity needs God and knows it.


     In the jungles of this world there is a plant that when eaten will satisfy the appetite, but provide absolutely no nutrition. 


     It is tasty and filling, but if you continue to eat it and nothing else, you will starve to death.


     One tribe calls it "The Devil's Plant."


     We are our own worst enemies sometimes...are we not?


     Two little boys put a question to their father. 


     "Dad, if an automobile can make juice enough to start itself, why can't it make power to run without any gasoline?"


     The father replied, "Son, can you lift your brother Harry?"


     "Sure can!" came back the reply.


     Then turning to Harry, the father asked, "Can you lift your brother Gene?"


     "Well then," mused the father, "Harry, if you can lift our brother Gene and Gene you can lift your brother Harry, then you should be able to lift yourself."


     The point if obvious.  There are some things we cannot do by ourselves.  There are some things that only God can do.


     One college student put it this way, "I feel the power of God is like an ace in my hand that can trump any trick life deals me."


     “By perseverance the snail reached the ark.” so speak that old evangelist C.H. Spurgeon.


        Nor should these words found in Psalm 27:1 be lightly passed by "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid"


        Francis Cardinal Spellman (1889 - 1967)




A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.


C.S. Lewis


I do not feel obliged to believe that same God who endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect had intended for us to forgo their use.


Galileo


The atheist can't find God for the same reason that a thief can't find a policeman.


Author Unknown


Practicing psychiatry without faith in God is like meeting a hungry man and giving him a toothpick. Author Unknown

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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

      To visit Neil's other blog Wyrick's Writings click on the following.  Just click on the URL below


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When you come to communion, there are what might be called four imperatives to give it meaning.  You have been given the choice; to accept all four, or three, or two, or one, or none and just go through the motions.


          There is repentance - which allows you to use a mistake as a stepping stone instead of a stumbling block.  It is renouncing a bad yesterday for a better tomorrow.  How you define it is your choice.  Whether you repent or not is God’s imperative.


          The second of the four imperatives I hope you bring to the communion table is overwhelming love for God and your fellowman.  Sometimes, for some people, it is easier to say, “I am sorry I was bad” than it is to love the neighbor you have been bad to.  To love the unlovely is a challenge, but that is exactly what partaking of Communion is…a challenge.


          Third...


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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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