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Wyrick's ministry.
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Pride that dines on vanity, sups on contempt. ~Benjamin Franklin
They had given up wealth, position, time and community
ties. They had sacrificed and they
wanted appreciation.
Indeed their vanity was pushing for an especially large dose
of large and extravagant congratulations on their present lifestyle.
You are familiar with their names.
Matthew who put the question with no subtlety to it,
"Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?"
And then they waited, most likely not too
patiently...each one hopeful Jesus would say, "Peter, your fire and
enthusiasm has endeared you above all others."
Or
Matthew, the questioner himself, "Matthew,
you are the greatest. Your logical mind
has placed you head and shoulders above this rough hewn lot."
Thomas waiting to hear Him say, "You are the
greatest for your searching questions have shown your honest
desire to understand."
Each one of the twelve
waiting to hear Christ say, "You are the greatest. I love you most. I care what happens to you above all the
rest. I cannot thank you enough."
But Christ, as Christ was wont to do, answered the question in
a way that would teach a lesson.
Calling a little nearby child to sit upon his knee. A comely dark-eyed youngster still with a
heart pure and clear. A being not yet
old enough to be marred by petty jealousies, hurts and imagined wrongs.
And cradling this little child in His arms , He said,
"Verily I say unto you, except you be converted and become as little
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."
Which is to say that heaven is not just a place but an
ongoing attitude that makes heaven heaven.
Some people when they pray are tempted and give into the
temptation to remind God of their credentials.
They say or if they do not say it they
think, "Just remember Lord, who I am.
Thy will I have done. Thy book I
have read."
Ah, the devil makes vanity in large doses for small
people. He makes it for everyone but he
keeps the largest doses for the hardest workers in the faith.
In
churches he takes those who give the most time, share the greatest talent,
sacrifice by giving the greatest dollars and he makes them vain.
He
builds vanity on the foundation stones of their accomplishments.
All
of us like praise. There is nothing
wrong in such liking. But to demand
praise, to quite as a worker for Christ when one does not receive enough of it,
therein lies the death of many churches.
Saint Gregory describes the overly proud man as follows,
"He walks with himself along the broad spaces of his thought. He silently utters his own praises."
I cannot help but think of the Upper Room, Jesus and his
disciples preparing for the celebration of the Passover. The custom, that one should wash the feet of
the others. And each disciple waiting
for one of the others to begin.
But not Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of
Man. Jesus, their leader, their teacher,
their master, kneeling down and beginning to wash the feet of men, to dry them.
Suppose Christ had become too impressed
with His own importance? Suppose, in the
Garden of Gethsemane He had said, "Not thy will, but nine be done.
Suppose He had cried out, "Look Father, I'm tired of
all this foolishness. I'm the Son of
God. Something special you know.
A host of angels heralded my birth; magi from afar brought me gifts, I
confounded the Elders in the Temple, I have the power to heal the sick and
raise the dead.
With all of this, look how I am being
treated. Pharisees and Sadducees
constantly against me. Now Golgotha and
a cross upon which i am to be sacrificed. I'm quitting.
I'm going back to Galilee and build hairs
and tales. Then if they decide they can
treat me with proper respect, I may decide to come back and be their Messiah.
Happens with church leaders seldom but often enough to be
mentioned. And choir members. And Sunday School
teachers...And...."Don't you know the church could not get along without
me? And no one appreciates me. I've had enough."
Pride goeth before a church's destruction and a humble spirit
gives spiritual grown beyond compare.
Someone has described "humility" as the upward
tug of God. The slave is humble and
looks down at the dust. The Christian is humble and looks up to a Father. There lies the difference.
"Do nothing from selfishness or conceit..." That's the
way Paul put it.
I'll never forget the quote, "He said he was great
and he was until he said it."
One cynic wrote, "Neither an egg nor an ego is any
good until you break it." but that isn't true you know.
Jesus never believed it or taught
it.
He ask not that you break your ego or
kill your pride but that you control them.
What was it He said, "Whosoever
exalted himself shall be abased, but whosover humbleth himself shall be
exalted." The truly big person doesn't need medals or applause. He works just as hard in the face of
criticism as he does with the wealth of praise.
The truly big person looses self in a
cause, gives self to God, and does not have the time to worry about what people
are saying.
Vanity is the quicksand of reason
~George Sand
The surest cure for
vanity is loneliness. ~Thomas Wolfe
The only cure for vanity is
laughter, and the only fault that is laughable is vanity. ~Henri Bergson
...I confess an
itch for the praise of fools - that's vanity.
~Robert Browning
~Robert Browning
(This blog is changed and added to daily)
++++++++++++++++
QUOTES BELOW ARE
FROM WYRICK'S WRITINGS...CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING TO TAKE YOU THERE... http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com
(These
are selected sermons from over 50 years of ministry)
+++++++++++++++++++
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
++++++++++++++++++++++
Some
of the sermon titles posted recently
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
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/
++++++++++++++++++++++
BELOW
ARE MORE QUOTES FROM NEIL'S RECENTLY POSTED SERMONS
++++++++++++++++++
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.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
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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