My Favorite!

Our God is a God of wonders.

Ever notice that there are two genealogies given for Jesus in the Bible? (Matthew 1, Luke 3)

One is the genealogy of Mary, the of Joseph, her husband.

Through Joseph, Jesus would inherit the throne of David (Joseph's was the ruling line), through Mary, Jesus inherited the biological blood of David.

Why is this significant? Because God fulfills his promises even when he seems to contradict himself.

In Jer 22:30, the Lord curses a fellow named Jeconiah (aka Coniah) saying that none of his descendants will sit on the throne. Funny thing is that God promise to David that the Messiah will sit on the throne for 1000 years, and be of the seed of David.

So God kept both promises, one that no offspring of Jeconiah's will sit on the throne (Joseph and Jesus weren't related.  Joseph acted as Jesus' adopted father), the other to David that his seed will be the messiah and rule forever (and Jesus, through Joseph, inherited the legal right to be King).

Praise God!

Mary

As Christmas approaches, it is appropriated that our thoughts should turn to the events that brought our Savior into this world, and to reflect on the people who made huge sacrifices in order for that to happen. One in particular that often gets over shadowed is Mary.

Mary was a young virgin girl engaged to a very nice guy name Joseph. All in all, her life seemed to be going about right.

Of all of the billions and billions of women who were ever born, for God to choose her tells me a few things about her.

• Mary believed God. She simply trusted what He said. She looked for the Messiah to come with an expectation rather than doubt. Without faith, the Bible says, it is impossible to please God.
• Mary was real. Her life was not for show, but was an honest expression of her faith. She did not play church, or pretend to be what she was not.
• Mary's faith lead her to live a righteous life. While none of us are perfect, and all of us fail, I believe that Mary tried to live up to the light that was revealed to her.
• She was willing to sacrifice everything to do what God willed. In her day, single motherhood was not accepted. As a matter of fact, it could carry the death sentence
• She worshiped God.

She yielded herself to God, and God put a life inside of her. This immediately caused her problems. She was no longer considered a 'good girl' but rather a tramp who had gotten pregnant. Her future husband dumped her, she had to live with people whispering behind her back accusing her of doing things she's never done. Nobody would believe her if she told them the truth.

Think about what she felt like. Think about how unfair it was. For the rest of her life, her reputation was besmirched. She had done nothing wrong. Her parents, her friends, her family all 'knowing' what she must have done, because that's the only way a girl gets pregnant.

I was thinking that in a way, all Christians should embrace our shame. The world looks down upon us for our faith.

• The scientists says were stupid and ignore facts, without regard to our learning or knowledge.
• The humanists says we are cruel narrow people to call some behaviors sin, regardless of the kindness and gentleness we may possess.
• The homosexual calls us bigots and homophobes (which, by itself is a misnomer. I am not afraid of homosexuality. I think it is a sin and entraps those who get caught up in it), regardless of how broadly we see life.
• The modern religious man calls us hateful and exclusive because we believe there is only one name under heaven by which a man can be saved, when we are reaching out to all peoples of the Earth saying "There is a Savior who saves from sin".

I will accept the shame of the Cross like my Savior did. People can think what they will. I'll take Mary as my example.

Diving In

(Excerpt from Stephen Curtis Chapman's "DIVE")

My heart is racing and my knees are weak as I walk to the edge

I know there is no turning back Once my feet have left the ledge

And in the rush I hear a voice That’s telling me it’s time

to take the leap of faith So here I go

Chorus
I’m diving in, I’m going deep in over my head, I want to be

caught in the rush, lost in the flow, in over my head, I want to go

the river’s deep, the river’s wide, the river’s water is alive

So sink or swim, I’m diving in

It started when I was about 17 or so. I felt the Lord tugging on my heart. Each time I read in the Bible verses talking about preaching, I felt a prick in my heart. I knew God wanted me to do something ... more than what I was doing.  I gradually stated to realize that God was calling me to preach.

I didn't want to do, so I tried to ignore Him. I made excuses that I was misunderstanding what God wanted. I told myself and God that I would do whatever God wanted, I just had to be sure.    I don't think there was anything that God could have done, short of fire falling from Heaven, that would be adequate to 'prove' that's what He wanted me to preach.

God cannot be ignored, and you cannot have a close walk with God while being in disobedience. My Christian walk fell apart, and I drifted from God. I even stopped going to church for awhile.

When you backslide, you loose more than time. When I finally accepted God's call, my Christian life was a shadow of what it used to be. I had to get closer to God, and it is so difficult to regain lost ground. It's like climbing up a steep hill that is covered in oil.
The unction to preach was there, but God's anointing wasn't. Before, I would be reading the scriptures, and sermons would just pop out. Now, it was like the power was off.

I tried to act on my calling by talking to my pastor, Ralph Workman. He gave me an opportunities to 'speak' (as he called it), but I could do nothing but teach.
For at least ten years, I've been in a holding pattern of sorts. About two weeks ago, we went to the Kanawaha Valley Camp Meeting, and God touched my heart. It was like a dam broke, and the power of God was unleashed.

All my life, I've been consumed with fear of what other's thought of me. This, I see now, was what God had to eliminate from me to enable me to do the work He called me to. When the dam broke, it washed away the fear.

So here I am on the edge. I know that once I announce my calling, and move forward, there will be no turning back. Everything changes.

As the song says, So sink or swim, I’m diving in!

Bible Confusion

You know, I get sick and tired of hearing people continually say "You know, the italicized words in the King James Bible were added by the translators. That means we can take them out."

While not a linguist by anyone's definition, I have studied a little Spanish. When translating from one language to another, sometimes words have to be added.

Take for example the phrase "Hablo Espanol". A word-for-word translation is "Speak Spanish", but the "o" ending in the verb "Hablo" indicates who is speaking. A honest, literal translation would be "I speak Spanish" In the KJV, the "I" would be italicized.

BUT, funny thing is that languages are different. Check this out.

Exodus 3:6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

Mathew 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Note that when Jesus was quoting Gensis, the word "AM" was italicized in the Hebrew but not the Greek. Different languages, different rules.

There's a bunch more examples like this where an Old Testament verse is quoted in the New Testament and the words that where "added by the translators in the Old are quoted by the New.

AGAPE vs PHILEO
We are told that we need to look deeper than the English translation, and these words are an example of the reason why. Agape and Phileo both are translated as "love" in the Bible. We are told that "Agape" is the selfless, holy love of God and "Phileo" is brotherly, casual love.

A look at the comparitive useage of these reveals that there is no such distinction. Check out http://www.kjv1611.org.uk/AGAPE%20PHILEO%20LOVE%20CHALLENGE.htm

Good Song.

The wife and I attended a camp meeting in South Charleston last week. The Holy Spirit showed up, and wonderful things happened. This is the youth choir that sang. This song brought tears to every eye. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog, Simple Faith, Infinite God.

The purpose of this blog is to provide a place to thoughtfully discuss theology and practical Christianity.

I have written about my faith before, but though I'd separate the topics since I write about my experiences and about my work as well.

The Title is intended to illustrate a dichotomy that exists in God.

God is infinity complex. He created the entire universe, and understands the inner workings of all creation. His thoughts are so far above ours, that an ant has a better chance at understanding how every single system on the Space Shuttle works and interacts than we have of understanding God. God is so complex that the only way we can learn about Him is for Him to reveal Himself to us. (The inspired Word of God)

God's word is full of huge ideas, complex notions, and aspects of God that defy complete understanding (e.g. the trinity). We humans like complex things. Understanding a complex topic makes us feel smart.

As complex as God is, He wants only simple things from us: simple child-like faith, simple obedience, and love.
My life's theme can be expressed as "simple faith". Faith that God exists. Faith that God is good, and He loves me.  It is faith that God will always take care of me and provide for my needs.

I don't have to understand everything, but I believe.

The simplicity of Christ does not stop there.

The idea behind the title in a nutshell is that an infinite God reduces His infinite complexity to the point a very young child can grasp the essence of it.

In His Word, God reduces his message down to a very few simple points without compromising any of the meaning!

The Jews observe 613 commandments. Jesus (and the Talmud, by the way) refine this down to only two.

1. Love God with all your heart, mind and soul
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.

The rest are merely an embellishment of these central ideas.

There seems to be an endless parade of temptations in our world. In the 1 John 2:16, God boils these down to only three.

1. Lust of the flesh(e.g. anything your body wants that is not right, such sex, sleep, food, etc. Most of these things are not wrong by themselves, but out of the proper context they are)
2. Lust of the eye (e.g. Coveting things.)
3. The pride of life (Ego, pride, etc)

All temptations falls into one (or more) of these categories.

Extensive libraries have been written to describe how to live a moral life. God's answer comes from Micah 6:8

1. To do justly
2. To love mercy
3. To walk humbly with our God