A different sermon is begun on
Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.
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The sermons found on this blog are selected sermons preached by Rev. Wyrick during a ministry of over 50 years. This syndicated columnist/minister thanks you for visiting.
To visit Neil's other blog One A Day Your Spiritual Vitamins click on the following
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Will your church shrink or grow?
As you will. As you will.
You may not have a golden tongue but you can be a jewel to
life. The world’s watching. It never
ceases to listen. What are you giving it
to hear? Your pulpit is your
personality.
If you are sour, you do
your Saviors cause no good. If you mouth
is foul and those who hear you know you attend church you destroy its dignity
by such representation. If you practice
prejudice, can’t be trusted with the truth, steal at the drop of an
opportunity, then, your sermon is of the Devil and your honorarium is from
Hell.
Do not tell me you cannot teach.
You teach every day. You teach
sacrifice or laziness or spiritual truths by what you do or leave undone. Your class is everywhere.
In the 19th chapter of John, the 38th verse,
there is the following quote “Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, but
secretly.” That is the problem, now
isn’t it? The secret society called
Christians. Neither by word nor deed
making anywhere near as big a mark on the community as it could and should.
Dr. Emil Brunner put his finger on the root of the problem when
he said, “As the early church sought security in offices, sacrament and formal
creed, it lost its revolutionary power…it ceased to be a new life…it became a
mere cult society…”
Vance Havner tells of an experience in a small western town where he
had gone to preach. It seems that down
in the lobby of the hotel where he stayed, was a poster listing all the local
civic attractions: industry, schools, the library, the business section…and the
churches. He says that it just set him
to wondering what that said about the churches, because back in early church
history, Christians and their meeting place were never listed as community
assets. And why? Because they were such a disturbance, a
conscience…oh yes, they were not bland.
A young man speaking to this wrote,
I had walked life’s way with an easy tread,
Had followed where comforts and pleasure led,
Until one day in a quiet place
I met the Master face to face.
With station, and (fame) ran, and wealth for my goal,
Much thought for my body and none for my soul
I had entered to win in life’s big race,
When I met the Master face to face.
I met Him and knew Him and blushed to see,
That His eyes full of sorrow were fixed on me,
I faltered and fell at His feet that day,
While my castles melted and vanished away.
Melted and vanished and in their place,
Naught else did I see but the Master’s face.
And I cried aloud, “Oh, make me meet
To follow the steps of Thy wounded feet.”
My thought is now for the souls of men.
I have lost my life to find it again.
Ere since one day in a quiet place
I met the Master face to face.
Down through the years, I have been inspired by church members who
have taken a stand and lost a bundle.
Men and women who have spoken out, and been called fanatics because of
it. Children who were more mature than
their parents. Lay men and lay
women who have been ministers even though never officially ordained. And it is such as these who have truly kept
the church alive.
In THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON Boswell relates how as a boy
Johnson refused to go to the market place with his father, to sell books. He was, for some boyish reason, ashamed. Years later, he was shamed by the remembrance
of this refusal so much that as an old man he stood all one day in the spot
where his father’s bookstall had been…the rain came down in torrents but he
never moved.
Why do some churches die?
Because it’s members, for some reason are ashamed and secretive and
quiet about their faith, very very quiet.
+++++++++++++
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Recent articles Rev.
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Here Comes Summer (July 2012)
Spring
(May 2012)
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow (April 2012)
Wayward and Windy (April 2012)
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OTHER BOOKS BY REV.
WYRICK
Poor Richard's Almanack
for the 20th Century
Sixty Plus and Not Holding
Boundaries Unlimited
I Am
The ABC"s of
Parenting and Grandparenting
Letters to America
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