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WYRICK'S WRITINGS
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Click on http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com
to read selected Sermons from
over 50 years of Rev. Wyrick's ministry.
To view Rev. Wyrick in 4 of his highly
acclaimed One Man Dramas ABRAHAM
LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN CHARLES WESLEY, MARTIN LUTHER (NBC Special) click on the link
below
Below
this blog read a quote from Rev. Wyrick's applauded 9th book THE SPIRITUAL
ARAHAM LINCOLN
+++++++++++
Psalm 100:3-5
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving is a memory contest in which God
comes out on top.
Do any of you keep
a thanksgiving journal? If not a written page, at least a mental one.
A place where you
daily write down things for which you are thankful. If
you did, you might more often end your day with a smile,
rather than a frown.
Why is it we human
beings remember bad things to complain about easier
than good things to be thankful for?
Why do so many
conversations sound as if the complaining conversationalists have been sucking on
lemons rather than the sweetness of thanksgiving remembrances?
We are a perverse
and fault-finding people far too often, now aren’t we?
I have often told stories about Mother Theresa because she was a woman of
such keen and loving insight.
A saint by her actions, and I do not
use that world lightly.
One evening she and several other Sisters went out to search the
streets for opportunities to serve.
Soon, they came upon four people in terrible need.
Mother Theresa turned to the other Sisters and said, “You take care
of these three and I will take care of this fourth child of God for she seems
the most miserable of them all.”
And so it was that she began to over-whelm the woman with love and
care.
She first fed her and then placed her fragile frame on a bed to
rest.
The woman had already begun to smile, but now her smile grew
radiant. She reached up, took Mother
Theresa’s hand in hers and spoke two words…just two words…thank you.
And then she died.
It was then Mother Theresa began to ask herself what she would have
said had she been in such a condition and someone was taking such care of
her.
She
wondered, Would I have simply asked for more? More food? More of something to ease the pain of dying? Would I have been filled only with concern
for myself and what I could get?
Or,
would I be like this woman who simply said thank you and died with a smile on her
face.
A person who seemingly had nothing to give, yet able to give
the gift of gratitude with all her heart and mind and
soul and strength.
Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving is a memory contest in which God
comes out on top.
I like to watch the evening news.
When the kids were growing up we seldom saw the evening news because we
made a habit of eating together, and talking together and sharing
together.
Things weren’t quite as hectic in those days with kids going in
fifty million directions and so most of the time we managed it.
But what we always managed was what I called Thanksgiving Time.
Everyone, each child, and we parents too, had to share something
good about someone we knew, being specific about what had happened that
day.
Put ourselves in a state of thanksgiving for the good in
people.
No one was allowed to say anything bad about anyone. We would not have boiled and fried neighbors,
friends or strangers as part of our evening meal.
The comedian Steve Allen was
quite a man, talented in many ways, but there was one thing he did in the
raising of his children that even with the comedy behind his remark, showed he
wanted them to have a thanksgiving attitude.
You see, every night as he tucked them into bed he would say,
“Remember, fellas…just in case somebody asks you someday…you are having a
wonderful childhood.”
Rudyard Kipling, author of “The Jungle Book” and many other famous
books and poems, was at one time so popular he was receiving the equivalent of
$10 per word.
A group of college students who thought this somewhat extreme sent
him a ridiculing letter with ten dollars enclosed.
A note folded inside the ten dollars read, “Please send us your best
word.”
Kipling then proved he really knew the true worth of words. He simply sent back a note that read,
“Thanks.”
And then there is the story about the man who found himself lost in
a hot and barren desert.
He sustained himself with the thanksgiving, “Wow, what a beach.”
When it comes to gratitude, would you come in first in a contest for
The Most Grateful, or would you be so
far down the list everyone would wear out and go to sleep before they found
your name?
When it comes to thanksgiving, do you limit it to the just
celebrated NTIONAL HOLIODAY, or do you begin every morning with a prayer of
thanksgiving.
Is your response to what I just said positive?
Do you think of thanksgiving
as an opportunity, as a gift rather than an obligation or a duty.
Realize that the more you do it, the
better you get at it, and the better you get at it, the better you feel about
yourself and others.
And, ah
yes, the better they feel about you.
Do you remember the last time you looked up at a cloud and it was
actually glowing?
Of
course, it’s the sun’s
powerful light behind it that makes that happen, but it’s a great analogy as
to what a spirit of thanksgiving does to our lives, our
dreams, our inner selves.
So, get a glow on – don’t growl or grumble.
There are enough grouches in the world - don’t add yourself to the
list.
Indeed, be a rose that rises above any thorns you may incur.
The
greatest enemy to having a thanks-giving spirit is forgetting some of the
reasons why you should be thankful.
Think about it.
Right now...You are at church, worshiping your God.
It was
your choice. But there are millions who
could not come, even if they wanted to. They are
too physically ill.
And you did not get up this morning and have to worry about being
blown to bits by a bomb on your way here.
There are millions in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places in
this world who go through this fear every single day of their lives.
There are other
places where to attend a Christian service in the morning would find you in a prison cell by evening.
In New York recently 8 and
one half million people lost their electricity and some had great problems
finding gas for their cars and the kind of food normally easily found.
But slowly their lives are getting back to normal.
However, the
world is full of those who have, even to this day, never had electricity, and
have no cars to worry about filling up with gas, and who are slowly starving to
death.
Even here in our
own fair land, there are millions of people who live
not just on the edge of poverty but deeply mired within it. Who when they got to the check out line in
the grocery store had to put a couple of cans of food aside because they
figured wrong and just ran out of money.
Just
reminding what you what you already knew and that Psalm 150 admonishes you to
act like you know how grateful you ought to be.
Psalm 150...it uses the verb praise
over and over again.
I think it can just as easily be translated give thanks.
Therefore, I quote from this Psalm inserting the phrase give thanks
where it otherwise reads praise.
Give thanks to the Lord. Give thanks in His sanctuary; give thanks to
Him in His mighty heavens. Give thanks
to Him for His acts of power; give thanks to Him for His surpassing greatness.
It never stops, the ongoing Biblical admonitions to be thankful
toward God. Philippians 4:6-7 reads, “Be careful for nothing; but in everything
by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known
unto God. And the peace of God, which
passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus.”
Never give in to the feeling
that you are the master of your fate, or that you are the master of your
soul.
For if you do, each year when you sit down at the Thanks-giving
table, you will have a fool for a companion.
Years ago, in India,
there were some who thought the crocodile was a sacred river god.
Therefore, before laws were passed against it, mothers would throw
their little children into the river to be consumed by the crocodiles.
One day, two missionaries were walking along a river path and came
upon a mother staring into the dark waters, not far from where her healthy
young son stood.
In her arms, she cradled a sickly baby girl.
The missionaries knew what was on her mind.
Knew that she would, if not today then tomorrow, sacrifice her
little child to the crocodile river-God.
And so they stopped and spoke to her about Jesus. Telling her of the cross and how His
sacrifice made it so she would not have to do so terrible a thing.
Her reply was adamant, “I hear you, but I cannot follow what you
say. I cannot accept what you have told
me.”
And so, the missionaries after many long hours of trying to convert
her to a God of love failed and sadly walked away.
A few days later they came
upon the same Indian mother.
This time there was no healthy little boy to be seen, only the same
sickly little girl held tenderly in her arms.
One of the missionaries then put to her the question, “If you
thought you had to give one of your children, why didn’t you give your poor
sick little girl?”
And she replied as they knew she would, “We give our best to our gods.”
Do you give your best to the Lord?
In the spirit of thanksgiving do you daily repeat, "Here am I
Lord. Take me."
Are
your thanksgivings only words...or are they also deeds.
The gift of a caring compassionate self.
The
gift of pumping up someone's dream rather than killing it. People do that, hear a child's dream and kill
it on the spot.
Do
you give thanks for your food every time before you eat?
Indeed,
let me share a short story.
Two
men sat down to ear. They had never
eaten together before and the first man before he began bowed his head and
closed his eyes.
"What's
wrong?" asked the second man "Do you have a headache?"
"No,"
replied the first man, "I always thank God for my food. I do not take it for granted."
The
second man rudely commented. "Waste
of time and why should you thank God ..you're the one who earned the money to
buy it. Me when I'm ready to eat...I
just start right in."
Yes,
came back the reply..."Yes, you're just like my dog. That's what he does
too!"
Ah,
not thanking the Lord for blessings is as old as a thousand thousand
yesterdays.
Remember
the lepers Jesus healed and how only one returned to thank him.
And I got to thinking what excuses would
each have given if they were asked why they didn't?
One might say that the Lord knew he was
thankful so why did he have to actually say it.
Anoter might say that he was late for an
appointment and would get around to thanking the Lord later.
Still
another might argue that it was no big deal...that he would probably have
gotten well anyways.
A 12
year old boy named David was born without an immune system.
He
underwent a bone marrow transplant in order to correct the deficiency.
Up to that point he had spent his entire
life in a plastic bubble in order to prevent exposure to common germs,
bacteria, and viruses that could kill him.
He lived without ever knowing human
contact.
When
asked what he'd like to do if and when released from his protective bubble, he
replied, "I want to walk barefoot on grass, and touch my mother's hand."
I am sure you gave thanks on thanksgiving
day. How many times have you given
thanks since them?
And
on what tomorrows will you give thanks.
It is
no idle question is it?
====================
A
new quote below from Rev. Wyrick's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM
LINCOLN (read the rave reviews
below the quote)
Was Lincoln,
before he died, overly proud that he had so much to do with the preserving of
the Union?
It
is more likely that he quoted once again words of one of his favorite poets,
William Knox, “Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?”
As he walked the streets of Richmond, Virginia
in an unannounced visit after that city had fallen to the North, it was said
that he was the man of the people among the people.
When
an elderly Negro had run toward him shouting praise, Lincoln lifted his hat and bowed, and wiped
away a tear or two.
++++++++++++++
"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
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)
+++++++++++++++++++
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.”
++++++++++++++++++
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.
+++++++++++++++++++
Anxiety
out of proportion makes us become like a centipede trying to put his best foot
forward.
++++++++++++++++++
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 do that.”
++++++++++++++++++++
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.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
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
- CHRISTIAN CHARACTER OR CARACTITURE
- HOW TO LESSEN ANXIETY
- ACCOUNTABILITY
- SPIRITUAL SHRINKAGE OR GROWTH
- WHO ARE YOU?...NO...WHOSE ARE YOU?
- IS YOUR LIFE WISE AND SENSIBLE?
- WHAT WERE THE BEST DAYS IN YOUR LIFE AND WHY?
- WHEN A NATION STRAYS TOO FAR FROM BEING MORAL IT I...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
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.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
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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