Alex Robinson

Disciple of Jesus Christ. Christian Hedonist. Husband to @JeniLynn89. Dad to Rowan, Boyce & Keller. Pastor @FBCFulton. Student @SBTS. Big 🍊FAN!

[Alex Robinson @AlexDRobinson]

Life is short, death is sure; sin the curse, Christ the cure. (Anonymous)

[Alex Robinson @AlexDRobinson]

Pastors, if you’re preaching through the pastoral epistles, this commentary on the Greek text is excellent. You don’t have to be a Greek scholar (I’m not) to benefit greatly from the exegetical insights.

It has been my every week go to!

https://t.co/TzmlPt9JbL

[Alex Robinson @AlexDRobinson]

@SolaDogmatika LibraryThing…

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

Every man should keep a fair-sized cemetery in which to bury the faults of his friends.

— C. S. Lewis

[Alex Robinson @AlexDRobinson]

Yes. Compelling covers please!

[Alex DiPrima @Alex_DiPrima]

Terrible cover; tremendous book.

[Alex Robinson @AlexDRobinson]

A good word from a faithful brother in christ …

[Wes Huff @WesleyLHuff]

If I'm honest this has been a hard season for me lately. I've been struggling with trusting God's timing. I was reminded when reading Psalm 37 today that I am to be still before Yahweh and wait patiently. That Yahweh is good to those who wait for him and seek him, and it is good to wait quietly for God’s salvation (Lam. 3:25–26). This quiet waiting involves hoping in God’s word while the soul waits more intensely than watchmen awaiting morning (Psalm 130:5–6).

I was reminded that prior to preaching to thousands, for a season Peter went back to fishing after thinking he failed Jesus. That Paul sat in prison cells, Lazarus lay in a tomb, Jonah prayed in the belly of a fish, Hannah wept on the steps of the tabernacle, Joseph was locked in the captivity, and Moses stood in the fields of Median herding sheep. All before God made moves in his timing.

Times of waiting, while hard, remind us of the confidence we should have in God’s timing and character. When direction seems slow in coming, we're called to wait for it, assured it will come when the time is ready (Hab. 2:3). Yahweh himself waits to be gracious and show mercy, and those who wait for him are blessed, for he is a God of justice (Isa. 30:18). Rather than taking matters into their own hands, like I often am tempted to do, we are instructed not to repay evil but to wait for the Lord, who will deliver us (Prov 20:22).

Hoping for what is unseen involves waiting with patience (Romans 8:25), and through the Spirit and faith, believers eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness (Galatians 5:5). Waiting involves expectancy and hope regarding events and contingencies still in the future, it's the outworking of a spiritual posture directed at trusting God’s promises and timing rather than our own understanding.

Knowing all of this, writing here on X doesn't make my season of needing to wait any easier, but the consistent, inspired, inerrant testimony of scripture nonetheless gives me something solid to trust in. I am fickle, impatient, and finite. God is trustworthy, forbearing, and infinite. And his timing is right even if I don't know how or when things will happen.

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

Goodness. What a prophetic quote from 44 years ago.

[Alex Robinson @AlexDRobinson]

@stephencavness @DrPaulChitwood

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

Effectiveness in teaching the Bible is purchased at the price of much study, some of it lonely, all of it tiring.

— Don Carson

[Tony Reinke @TonyReinke]

Jonathan Edwards (1757): “God, upon whom all creatures live, doesn’t live upon the creature. His life is in and of himself; he is supplied from his own infinite fullness, has enough in himself for himself. That fountain is so full that it overflows and by its overflowing, it supplies all the universe. It cannot stand in need of any streams from those very things that are supplied by it in order to fill it.

When God’s people are said to be God’s portion,¹ his treasure, his jewels, and the like, we cannot understand it to mean that God is properly any richer for them, or that they are his riches in the same way he is theirs. Rather, it is only by virtue of the value that his free love is pleased to set upon them that they are so called. They are God’s treasure in that, though they do nothing toward increasing the essential happiness of God, yet they advance his declarative glory.”

[Sermon 219, pp17–18]

¹ Exod. 19:5; Deut. 4:20; 7:6; 14:2; 26:18; 32:9; Pss. 33:12; 74:2; 135:4; Isa. 19:25; Jer. 10:16; 51:19; Mal. 3:17; Eph. 1:18; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet. 2:9.

[Dane Ortlund @daneortlund]

Ten basics for skilled conversation--easily learned, easily forgotten. (I'm envisioning the hallway at church as I jot these down but they're broadly transposable).

1. Eye contact, including when speaking (it's harder to maintain eye contact when speaking than listening).
2. Listen with a view to what is being said (rather than formulating your own next comment).
3. Smile/gentle countenance as much as possible (90% of people are more discouraged than they're letting on).
4. Ask questions (everyone is more interesting than they realize).
5. Remember that this person, as the image of God, is a king or queen, worthy of accordant dignifying.
6. Be slow to pivot someone's joys or sorrows to your own similar experiences.
7. Adjust to the person--if they are painfully shy, be willing to carry more of the conversation load; if they are talkative, be willing to throttle back accordingly.
8. As appropriate be eager to move to deeper/spiritual things, taking the lead to do so rather than trying to prompt the other person to go deep first.
9. But: nothing wrong with small talk! Talking about the weather and sports and flowers greases the gears for deeper conversation. Christians who only ever talk at a spiritual level are exhausting.
10. It is not rude to smile, shake hands, and swiftly end the conversation (usually the other person wanted it to end too but didn't know how).

As a pastor I've been learning that the art of a skilled conversation is vital, though one that is not taught in seminary. I'm trying to grow in these ways, glad I had parents who modeled this well for me.

What would you add or change?

[Alex Robinson @AlexDRobinson]

There is an inseparable relationship between your affection for Christ and your affection for the Scriptures. —R.C. Sproul

[Alex Robinson @AlexDRobinson]

“Sin is deceitful- and guess who is deceives first?”

-Paul Tripp

[Alex Robinson @AlexDRobinson]

@AndrewTWalker Great stuff! Thank you for sharing

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

John Piper reads a letter his dad wrote him nearly 50 years ago, when he was considering becoming a pastor.

Moving.

[Andrew T. Walker @AndrewTWalker]

From Artemis II.

Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

[Alex Robinson @AlexDRobinson]

From Jesus' youth, indeed even from his birth, the cross cast its shadow ahead of him. His death was central to his mission. - John Stott

[Matt Smethurst @MattSmethurst]

Satan in Eden: “Take and eat.”
Jesus at Last Supper: “Take and eat.”

— @LigonDuncan 🔥

[Tennessee Basketball @Vol_Hoops]

THE SHOW GOES ON

[Alex Robinson @AlexDRobinson]

Lessons here… look what God can do with an entire life given to Him.

[Tony Reinke @TonyReinke]

When John Piper became a pastor in 1980 (34yo) …
▪ 0 elder experience
▪ 0 hires/fires
▪ 0 experience with a church budget
▪ 0 baby dedications
▪ 0 hospital visitations
▪ 0 funerals
▪ 2 weddings
▪ 15 sermons preached

… Then 26 funerals in his first 78 weeks.

“So that’s the way it started. I created the bulletin. I led the service. I did one funeral every three weeks for a year and a half. Funeral after funeral after funeral. Which was one of the best things that happened, because when you do funerals and a hundred older people in this church are wondering if you give a hoot about them, and whether you are there just to take a stepping stone to teach in seminary, and you’re there for them every three weeks, not only on Sunday, but on Thursday afternoon, putting their friends in the ground, wonderful things happen. Wonderful things.”

#coramdeopascon

[Alex Robinson @AlexDRobinson]

Praying breath is never lost (spent in vain). - C.H. Spurgeon