Youth

As I was sitting in my room today thinking about God and letting him speak to me, I realized something that quite possibly be a great help to me in standing strong in him. Usually when I find myself caught in sin, it is because I have let my mind wander away from him and I let it get out of control. This applies in many different areas as we can do something stupid when we are not thinking clearly or when we let the good judgement we have in us pass. We tend to wonder what if or what would this be like and that is when we find ourselves in the most trouble usually. If we learn to control our thinking and let God consume our thoughts then we can rest assured that he is always with us and sin will not even seem like a possibility. We do have to be careful though to think that we are invincible to temptation and sin but we can overcome sin as long as we are not letting curiosity take over and lead us down a road that we would have been better off leaving alone. I know that every once in a while I let myself see how far I can let my mind wander without screwing up. This is definitely not a good idea and it is something that I am working on because more often than not, I end up doing something that I wished that I had not. I literally want to kick myself because I know I could have avoided it but I walked myself into the bear trap even though there was a huge sign above it warning me about it. As I have stated before, we make decisions everyday that have a great effect on our lives, who we choose to be today and what we choose to be remembered for will stay with us for the rest of our lives. This is why we are given great advice and which is why we have the Bible to assist us with those decisions so that we can live a life that is rewarding and not full of regret.

In Ecclesiastes 11:7, we are told, "Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun. However many years a man may live, let him enjoy them all. But let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything to come is meaningless. Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you judgement. So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless." The title of this section is called, "Remember your Creator while young" and I believe it is telling us that there will be many days in which are tough because that is just how life is but with Christ we can be happy and filled with joy because of the promises we have received in him. If we follow our hearts to God and follow what our eyes see when we recognize the work he is doing in our lives, then we have nothing to worry about and we can live a life free of worry and know that when we returns or when we die, we will be right alongside of him. If we choose the other route,  times will be perilous and things might seem like they never go our way but that is because our outlook and focus is only on the worldly things and not on the promise and grace of God. We are told that things will get worse before they get better and it seems as though our world is headed for that time. Israel is small in numbers but they have more power than many care to know or could even imagine. If an attack on the Israeli population in order to destroy it is imminent, then I would caution us everyday to be ready and the world should definitely be on the brink of rewriting every history book to date. We are told to enjoy our youth but understand that judgement will be placed by God (not by man) on all our actions. Do not wait until you are old to make the commitment to Christ because you do not know when the day will come in which it will be over for you and you do not know where you will be down the road if you wait.

The pressures of being a middle school - college age student in this world have never been greater. With sin knocking on the doorstep at campuses, parties, computers, houses, and on the streets, there is always temptation lurking. We cannot do it on our own and that is why I believe this passage is so pertinent when the title is "Remember your Creator while young."

I hope you all have a great saturday and if you are with your family you enjoy it. I am stuck in the dorm by myself but I have God with me so it should still be a good day. I always tend to think that I am bored but really God is with me and with him there should never be a dull moment. I am going to try and remember that as I live each day. I am praying for you and for this blog still, please keep me in your prayers as well.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Compassion

After thinking about what I wrote yesterday, the stuff Ravi said in the video, and some stuff that unfolded today, I got to thinking a lot more about the content of what Ravi said and the Bible supports many topics through scripture and as long as scripture is accurate then we can find everything to be true. Therefore, I thought today about a God who pours his wrath on people and shows compassion to others at the same time. Many people believe that God supposedly has only chosen/predestined "Christians" to be saved, per what the Christian church believes. This however is not true based on the validity of scripture, many people have been predestined and God has laid a call on their life but following the call is another story. I have covered this before about the call so I will not go into detail and if you would like to see that post then let me know and I will find it for you. What I am saying is this, people are not chosen to be saved because we all have freedom in our lives to choose what we do and do not do. the standards for what is true and noble are not set down by the Christian church, they are taken from the word of God. I always hear that church has all these rules but that is not the case. The church does not say you must abide by certain rules in order to come, God states that we must follow his rules in order to be saved and those who follow them are not doing it because they are told or because they are better than everyone else, but because they have made the choice to follow the commandments.  We see in Ephesians 2:8, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God."

God is one of compassion as he has given us a way out of our sin so that we are not condemned for our sins. God sent his ONLY son to die for us that we might live. I know we all have done something that we feel under-appreciated  for but Jesus feels like that every single day when people reject him. It hurts him to see a world so consumed that they do not even acknowledge him.  For it is stated in Isaiah 53:5, "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." It is widely believed that Jesus did not die as a result of suffocation while on the cross but rather of a broken/ruptured heart this is the conclusion from the fact that blood AND water flowed from his side when pierced. Based on this verse, the flesh wounds are symbolic of his suffering and we are healed because of that. Now I will leave this to your determination and feel free to discuss with me or with others but the fact Jesus died of a broken heart leaves open the idea that the weight of the world's sin on him and the fact that he knew people would reject him even though he suffered caused his heart to break and that is was essentially killed him. Now you could make the claim of well what if he knew everyone would except him, what then? Well, he still had to die to fulfill prophecy and would have been killed anyway but I believe the broken heart symbolizes that he gave EVERY last part of his body for us just as he said at the last supper in Like 22:19, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." I know some of you are waiting for me to get to the compassionate part and I have just been setting the stage for that. We see at the crucifixion that two robbers were crucified with Jesus and one of them mocked him saying that if he was the Christ then he should bring them and himself down and save them. The rest of the section goes according to scripture in Luke 23 starting in verse 40, "But the other criminal rebuked him (the other criminal). 'Don't you fear God,' he said, 'since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.' Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.' Jesus answered him 'I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.'

The compassion comes into play right here when the second criminal asks for forgiveness by stating that he deserves his punishment for what he has done. Then he asks Jesus to remember him when they enter the kingdom. Jesus could have said "look at the situation we are in, and you want me to save you?" but instead he understood that the man was sincere and not just trying to save his skin because he knew he should be punished but he wanted more in his heart. We ALL have sinned and fallen short, we all deserve to go to hell but by the grace of God we are saved through faith and by his wounds we are healed. God is not unjust, he does not say that there are people unworthy of his kingdom, as long as they make the choice to follow him. People are not condemned for being people, but they are condemned for being sinners.  "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." We have hope in Christ and everyone has hope in Christ but they just have to recognize it. Are you going to help them recognize their potential in life and in him?

I hope you all had a great day and I am happy to be able to spend time and indirectly talk with all of you. I am continuing to pray for all of you and if you need prayer, then let me know. I hope that you all continue to seek him and seek others for his kingdom. 

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Truth

Last night at Chi Alpha was a very encouraging night and I am glad that I have become part of a campus ministry that shares the same values that I do and that seeks to dive deeper into God just as I have developed a passion for him in recent months. We watched a few videos on a guest speaker that we have coming to campus next Tuesday night and his name is Ravi Zacharias. He is a world renowned Christian philosopher and he has great knowledge of the Bible and he answers some of the most complex questions that have probably ever been asked about religion throughout the course of history. The amazing thing is that God literally speaks through him to reveal himself to the people of this world. If someone were to ask Ravi if Christ could do something to show that he exists, that would be a pointless question because the presence of God in Ravi's life is indeed Christ showing that he exists and that he can dwell in someone and give them knowledge and understanding of his word on a level that most of us could never even imagine. I am not elevating Ravi saying that he is on the same level of God but God is clearly evident in his life and God has given him a very special gift. I believe that Ravi is on par with some of the greatest philosophers of all time and he has a great deal of understanding when it comes to the Bible and how it relates to history. Some people say that I am a very intellectual thinker and I would love to sit down with this guy for a day and just take notes on questions I have because I no doubt would relate with him and have a great interest in the ideas that he possesses. When people wonder how God could ever be absolute truth and wonder how the existence of one God is possible, we can see through his word that it is possible and if his word is true then there is no question as to whether he is telling the truth.

God makes so many promises and there are many prophecies throughout the Bible. The birth and death of Christ were both prophesied, Israel becoming a nation was prophesied in the new testament and back in the mid 1900s, even that came true, almost 2000 years after it had been written. His promises also came through as he said he would rise again, he would never flood the earth again, he said people would claim to be the Christ or to be God. Think about this, if people believe that there is a Christ, then how can people claim to be him? Are people claiming to be something that in theory does not even exist? If there is no afterlife and spirits rome free on the earth then why do we bury belongings with people in hopes that it will go with them? They should be able to return to where they lived in life as a spirit and have those things. There is so much contradiction of theory in the world but the one thing that never contradicts itself or disproves its own ideas and content. In John 14:6 it is stated, "Jesus answered, "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." If it is known the Bible to be infallible and we are searching for a way to make it to heaven, then why do people search in other areas to be fulfilled and look for other ways to heaven. People are arrogant and do not want to follow facts and they are killing themselves inside because they are too stubborn to recognize that everything has been laid out before them and that there is only one way, one life, one chance. My thought is that people cannot grasp the idea of an absolute truth and absolute God because everything has to be explainable and tangible to them. What they do not see is that Christ has explained himself and his love is tangible through others, it just takes a little bit of faith. Also, in our world we have to be politically correct and since God has been pushed out of every discussion and theory pretty much, it is a tough task to reverse the minds of people because it does not follow the standards that have been set forth first and foremost by our nation which has turned it's back on God but also the world as a whole. Change is coming and whether it is the change describe in Revelation or the change in regards of a revolution, we have to prepare and be ready to go up or to go into the world to preach the gospel and turn this nation and our world around.

There was a clip shown in Chi Alpha last night that I kinda wrote this whole post about and I encourage you to watch it because I believe that it will stimulate your thinking to a new level.

God works in great ways through great people and this man has been empowered to show people the truth that is Christ. 

I hope you all have had a great day and I am continuing to pray for all of you, I hope you all have a great night. Please continue to pray for me as I am strengthened in the Lord.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

How to...

Have you ever gone through a day in which you feel like you have no idea what you are supposed to do? I sit in class sometimes and wonder who figured out how much our brains could learn at one time and retain. We come to school and we are expected to take many classes and study and learn tons of new facts and then we are tested over them to see if we remember them. It takes time to learn things especially facts, at least for me it does. All I hear from people is "I need to study" and I think what are we supposed to study? I mean when you think about it, what good does it do to read a book or just read over notes many times if we are not actually learning and committing things to memory? Sometimes I feel like that in Christ and I wonder what I am supposed to be doing or how I am supposed to move on. A lot of times it is really just an unwillingness to do something new and to train myself how to do something better. We learn through repetition and committing things to memory and that is one way we can grow in Christ. The other way we can grow in Christ as far as learning is to let him speak to us and receive the gifts that he has for us. Sometimes we feel like we are not efficient or what we do is not sufficient but in reality we need to ask for wisdom and guidance everyday. Then, when we hear something from him or we receive a gift from him, we have to use it over and over so that we can become proficient and use the gifts and wisdom in the way that it was intended to be used.

When the disciples were around Jesus one time, they asked him a question and told him they wanted to learn something new. To most of us in our day in age we think nothing of it, but back then they wanted to go deeper in their relationship and understanding. In Luke 11:1 we see the disciples ask God how to pray as it is said, "One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples." The Lord goes on to give them the standard prayer which is known as the Lord's prayer. These disciples wanted a better understanding and they wanted to see what God had in store for them. They were not afraid of him laughing at them and they were not ashamed that they did not want to pray, they wanted to go deeper and they wanted to be the best followers they could be. I mean they were disciples so they did devote their whole lives to following him and becoming like him as much as was possible so that was part of it, but is that not the very thing we have been called to do? We are supposed to be christlike and follow in his footsteps and doing everything he has commanded us to do. This does not only apply to prayer but it can apply to many things such as speaking in tongues, speaking to a friend about Christ, doing a daily devotional, or even living a life pleasing to him. I think we take for granted everything we "know" in life and we do not fully understand everything that we can be if we just had a mind willing to learn and grow. The Bible is literally our how to for life and is readily available whenever we are willing to learn. I have learned that over recent months and I am a fool for not figuring it out sooner. I am not going to lie, my prayer life is still young and I need to pray this every night that God will teach me how to pray fervently and seek him. It is one of the best things I could know how to do and I do not want to pass up this opportunity to grow.

I have had a pretty good week, I have not slept much but God is showing me just how I need to be me and people will accept that. He has worked in amazing ways and he is doing new things each day that continue to just baffle me. I hope you all had an amazing day and I pray that you continue to seek him and dive deeper into his word. I continue to pray for all of you and I am definitely seeing the benefits of that.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Seeking

It is amazing how I can go through a day so fulfilled just living for God and taking in all that he is by just simply following his commandments. I find myself being able to encourage more and more people each day as God provides me opportunities to open up to people and show them who he is. People see me as someone they can come to for advice and seeking counsel in the Lord. It is important for me to keep seeking God's counsel so that when these times arise I know just what to say and do. God provides opportunities for us to work with him and for him because we cannot do it on our own. See we do not necessarily work in people's lives but instead God is working in people's lives and he brings them to us in order that we can be used to show them that God is great and there are people who can be a testament to the fact that he has helped people through tough times. God repeatedly tells us to sow good seeds and reap the benefits of those seeds because it is not good to sow seeds of evil which reap destruction. The reason destruction is in place is not really for punishment but because evil cannot and will not prevail and so it needs to be destroyed. Now this is my personal belief, I do not have scripture on this but I think that God did not create evil. Lucifer created evil when he turned against God and God banished him to hell. I mean we can go into a large discussion about this as God created everything and whatnot but to keep it simple we will say that God did not create evil (if you want to discuss it then feel free to contact me). God loves us and even when things seem tough, he is right there with us walking through it with us every step of the way. When we cannot seem to get a break, he is saying "give me a break and let me work with you." God did not intend for us to do this on our own and just because we do not have things going our way all the time does not mean that God has forgotten or that he hates us, he is teaching us perseverance and building us up.

You see, the effort that we put into our relationship dictates what we get out of it. This is true for all aspects of life and the sooner we see that, the better off we will be. You cannot plant a seed without first kicking a little dirt around. So we see in Hosea 10:12, "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you." As I was just saying, the more we sow, the more riches we will receive in Christ and the more fulfilled we will be. We will not have worry on our hearts because we will know that when the end comes we are going to be with him and we are going to live. We work so little for the Kingdom of Christ that it feels as if nobody is doing anything but things take time and we need to start preparing for battle and we need to put people in place to lead us across this nation and this world to change it for Christ. I have had a tough time in the past 4 months sowing righteousness and that has been a personal problem. I have said that I was going to let go of some things and I have not been able to do so. I have showed weakness but I am getting stronger, I can promise you that. I am working on no longer making vows to God that I cannot keep. It hurts me when I do it and I know that it crushes his heart to see me fall. I tell you that it is time to seek the Lord because he has been waiting upon us and he is ready to take ahold of us. I know that by doing what he asks, we will receive the benefits of following his word. It will be tough sometimes but it will definitely be worth it when all is said and done.

I hope you all had a great day and I hope that God is doing amazing things around you and in you. I am still praying for all of you and my comment box/inbox is always open as well as my cell phone. Please do not hesitate to ask if you have a question or want to discuss something. 

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Being a Leader

In the past few weeks I have thought about what I need to do in order to fulfill the calling God has laid on my life. How do I need to start living in order to make sure that I do not fall into sin when I become a pastor. I see student leaders all the time who are publicly doing stuff they should not be or worship team members saying and doing stuff they should not be doing. As leaders who are looked up to in the church setting by younger students and by the staff of the group, they should have more integrity and more discipline. I realized that I was glad that I was not a student leader and I think I was hesitant to be for the very fact that I did not think I was ready enough. Every time the opportunity presented itself, I thought about it but I just did not feel it was what I needed to be doing at the time. I had things to work on in my life and I did not want to be one who praised God and helped students at church but then fell in my personal walk during the week. These leaders are not beneficial to a group and they are living a life that is not following the call God has laid on them. In the word leader, the root word is lead and to lead means to guide or indicate a road, course, or method in which to follow. This can be done through speaking and being a guide but the people who guide God's people into worship and show them the way should be ones of integrity who live the life in which they are telling the people to follow. In other words, practice what you preach. It is cliche I know but I believe it is how God would wants us to live in regards to being a leader.

If you think i might be misguided then we shall take a look at 1st Timothy 3:1-3 which states, "Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money." Paul is writing to Timothy listing off the qualities of being a leader and I think these characteristics cover exactly what I was trying to convey in the opening paragraph. Being self-controlled and respectable relates directly to living a life of integrity and following what God has set before the leader and not falling into sin through temptation. There are ays to avoid temptation but it is inevitable that we will be tempted. Jesus was tempted and he is Jesus, the sinless person was tempted even when Satan knew he would not sin. Satan does not care how strong you are, he is more than willing to tempt you to see if he can get under your skin. There have been quite a few reputable religious leaders that have fallen in past years and people wonder how they can sin and if you ask me, it is because they let their guard down and stopped giving 100%. See we can only get through things with the help of God and once we look elsewhere we fall. It is tough to be a leader because everyone is watching you but that should be motivation to be good because if people follow your example, you have been entrusted by God to keep people in him and bring people to him by doing what is pure and what is noble. That is why these standards are set, God can use earthly examples in order to encourage people and show them that a pure and blameless life is possible with his help. Now we are all sinners and we screw up but we need to make sure that we are do not try to hide our sin when we screw up, it only ends up hurting us more in the end. I will not go into full detail about that, for it is another topic. But in general, God knows what we are capable of and that is why he has called some to be many different things (Ephesians 4:11-13). God wants me to show myself that I can overcome and that I can be as clean as possible so that I can lead others through speech and by example.

I know that some people are going through rough times right now and sometimes we ask where God is, I encourage you to keep seeking him and look through your bible, do not let my blog be your only source of Christ, it is supplemental to what you already do. If you do not have a Bible, let me know and I will see what I can do. I am willing to do what it takes to bring people to Christ. I am praying for all of you and I hope that you continue to pray for me. God is awesome and I hope you all had an amazing day.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Two is better than One

So recently I have talked about being rooted in Christ and using your Christian friends as support and for standing strong when tough situations arise. The thing I have been noticing lately is that even if you have the support, you have to use them. There is no advantage to having people around you who can help you if you do not use them. Ever wonder why kids can to bad in school but their school offers free 1 on 1 tutoring? These students simply do not make every effort to be a good student and to learn everything they can. In the same way, we cannot complain about how our walk is so tough and it is so hard to just use God as a source of strength because everywhere you go you have people dragging you down. The truth is that we just need to seek help from God and those he has put into our lives so that we can persevere. Also, remember that not everyone had people to back them when times got tough. Jesus was abandoned by even Peter during his trial and Noah was believed to be crazy when he was building the ark. Not only was he a man of great faith but he knew what his job was and he gave everything he had in order to complete what he had been called to do and he would not settle for any less. I guess a lot of times when I sin I do not think about the long term effects it could have on me and that is why it does not seem like a big deal sometimes. I think in most cases, people sin because they only see how it affects things at the present time and they do not look at the effect it has now.

The good news is not only do we have the Holy Spirit to guide us every day but God has given most of us a strong support group that follows his ways and can build us up and we are better off because of it. We see in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!" When we work together to get things done, we find that things are better structured and they are easier to get through because we have support and are working toward a common goal. When we are by ourselves we have no one to push us to the next level and we feel alone a lot of the time even when we know that God is with us. the thought of God can make me warm on the inside yet I still sin against him. The point here is that we need to access every single piece of help that God has given us. We tend to tell people that we can never get stuff done or there is simply no way to get everything done but if we took the time and used the resources given to us, we would be able to do more than we could ever imagine. It is like God is calling you to join the team but you do not want to be playing by yourself. The thing is that we are not playing by ourselves but we are to selfish to pass the ball and to work with others that we feel like no one will help us. We need to open our eyes and see that everyone has been waiting for us to assist and finally get things done. Have you ever watched a basketball game and seen a player get knocked over? The first thing you usually see is one or two players going over to help the player off the floor and give him a hand up. In the same way, we do not like to see our fellow teammates down and so we look out for them and keep them moving forward. God knows that we cannot do it on our own and that is why he has made us a body and not cells. He wants us to be able to support each other and work toward a common goal instead of all of us doing our own thing.

I hope you all had a great day and I hope you are all continuing to seek his glory and his plan for your life. I am praying for all of you and I hope he continues to work in your lives. I know he has started to work in some of your lives and he is continuing to work in others. Go all out and do not let up until he finally calls you home. Sometimes I lose sight of that and need to be reminded of it. I think I will find a way to remind myself more often. Please keep me in your prayers. Oh, and my sister is back in the States! I pray for her every night and I am so glad that God has brought her home. I love you so much Michelle and cannot wait to see you!

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson