Sermons

According To Luke: Hard-Hearted Hypocritical Haters Part 2 Opening Illustration: Have you ever heard of Robert Robinson? Probably not but you have certainly heard his song. Robinson is sort of a one hit wonder. He wrote one of the most famous hymns ever. What is that hymn? Well we sang it just this morning. That’s right, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” He wrote it early in his life. In stanza three, Robinson speaks of being "prone to wonder, prone to leave the God I love". This seems to be a forecast of his later life, when he lapsed into sin, unstableness and involvement with Unitarianism. You might sat that poor Robert Robinson had a lapse in theology.  There is a well-known story of Robinson, riding a stagecoach with a lady who was deeply engrossed in a hymnbook. Seeking to encourage him, she asked him what he thought of the hymn she was humming. Robinson burst into tears and said, "Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, ...

According To Luke: Hard-Hearted Hypocritical Haters Part 1 Opening Illustration: There is a book entitled “The Three Edwards” by Thomas Constain. In his book he describes the life of Raynald III. He was a 14th century duke in what is now Belgium. Raynald was grossly, morbidly overweight. He was commonly referred to by his Latin nickname, Crassus, which means “fat”. I suppose that Raynald was the first person to ever be fat shamed.  After having a fight with his younger brother Edward, Raynald was overthrown. Edward captured his overweight brother but did not kill him. Instead, he built for his rotund brother a special room with a normal size door, good ventilation, and even windows. Edward promised his brother that he could regain his title and his property if he only he could leave the room that he had built for him. For us today, that would be no problem. For poor Raynald however, this proposition was more difficult. You see, there were no locks on the doors, the win...