I love Christmas.

The singing. The decorations. The food. The traditions.

But Christmas isn’t just a day — it’s a season. And it’s a season packed with opportunities for what I like to call Merry Moments — snapshots of joy, celebration, and Christmas cheer.

For my own family, one of our favorite Merry Moments is Christmas at the cabin. The quiet. The cold air. The warmth inside. The simple joy of being together. Those are the kinds of moments we cherish.

Here's a picture of me (on the right) with my brother and two cousins at our infamous Christmas at the cabin many (many) years ago. (And the crowd said, "Awwwe!")

And really, isn’t that what we all want at Christmas?

Comfort. Joy. Sugary drinks. Carb-loaded food. And most importantly, happy endings in our Christmas movies!

Hallmark has mastered this, haven’t they? They built a whole brand around capturing perfect, emotionally satisfying moments — the perfect birthday, the perfect reunion, the perfect Christmas. And then they turned it into movies that always end happily.

Why do we love that so much?

Because that’s what we actually want.

• We want to be well.
• We want to be whole.
• We want to love and be loved.
• We want fullness of life and a reason to rejoice.

But maybe this Christmas you aren’t feeling that.

• Maybe the magic has faded.
• Maybe the light of hope is dim.
• Maybe peace feels far away.

That’s where the true story of Christmas meets us.

I believe a truly Merry Christmas becomes possible when you personally connect your life to the Christmas story.

At the very heart of that story is this verse:

When we picture the nativity scene, it looks like the ultimate Hallmark Moment — peaceful, clean, glowing, perfect. But it’s not a snapshot of a single moment in time. Those characters weren’t all there at once. And to be more accurate, you’d probably need to include a furious king (Herod), a desperate Joseph planning an escape, and even the dragon of Revelation.

Maybe we’ll keep the traditional scene?

From that nativity flow four ways to have a Christmas full of Merry Moments.

I love Christmas — but if I’m honest, it can also be stressful. Beyond the hustle and bustle of the season, there are deeper troubles:

1. Troubles of Circumstance
Mary and Joseph were young, displaced, under pressure, socially outcast, far from family, and welcoming a newborn into uncertainty.

2. Troubles of the Soul (Sin)
The shepherds were considered dirty, unclean, and morally suspect. They were known for their sin.

That’s why the movie The Best Christmas Pageant Ever hits so powerfully. It tells the story of the Herdmans — “the worst kids in the history of the world” — who unexpectedly become part of the Christmas pageant and come face-to-face with the gospel.

It reminds us of something humbling and hopeful:

1. We are all sinners.
2. We are all the worst.
3. And we all need to be rescued.

The shepherds didn’t just come to observe Jesus — they came to receive Him.

Historically, shepherds were often the ones who prepared the sacrificial lambs for Passover — wrapping them in swaddling cloths and placing them in a manger to keep them set apart.
Now imagine their “merry moment” when they see Jesus — the Lamb of God — wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

They knew exactly what it meant. This baby had come to die for them. As Pastor Josh Howerton put it so well: “Jesus came to die, not just for you, but instead of you.”

That is a gift beyond value. But the question remains: Have you embraced this gift?

The wise men show us that the proper response to Jesus is worship and sacrifice.
The Bible says:

We were created to worship. And we are most whole when God is at the center of our lives — not ourselves. So what gifts can you give Jesus this Christmas?

• Give Him your worship.
• Give Him your time.
• Give Him your commitment.

Here’s my challenge: Give God one year of your life — and you will never be the same.
And for churchgoers: Give God more than Sunday mornings — and watch transformation happen.

After the shepherds left the scene, they ran through the town telling everyone what they had seen.

Jesus later echoed this kind of mission:

“Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in…” — Luke 14:23 (ESV)

This season, try this:

• Read the Christmas story with your family.
• Have one conversation this month about the true meaning of Christmas.

You don’t need a pulpit. Just a willing heart.

I truly believe God wants you to find peace with Him this Christmas:

And that peace is found in one place:

That is my prayer for you — that this wouldn’t just be another Christmas season, but the beginning of the merriest, most meaningful moments of your life in Christ.

To help you connect even more personally with the story of Christmas, I encourage you to watch:

• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever — a powerful and surprisingly moving take on the gospel through unlikely characters.
• The Shepherd — a short film by the creators of The Chosen that beautifully captures the transformation of a sinful shepherd through the coming of Christ.

And lastly, if you'd like to give back to Jesus this Christmas, consider donating to our "Christmas Gifts to Jesus" fundraiser. We're purchasing resources to help further the mission of Jesus in this world, and we'd love for you to be a part.

As we close this series on the Bible, I want to remind us of the heart behind it all.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:19,

God’s desire is that His Word would be known, loved, and understood. The Bible was never meant to be locked away in obscurity, but to be read, explained, and applied so that it can change lives.

That conviction has guided us through these lessons:
Revelation – God makes Himself known.
Inspiration – God’s Word is God-breathed.
Inerrancy – God’s Word is true and trustworthy.
Canonicity – God gave us the right books.
Preservation – God has kept His Word intact through history.
Transmission – God’s Word has been faithfully copied and carried down.
Translation – God’s Word is meant to be understood in every language.
Illumination – God’s Spirit opens our eyes to see and believe His Word.

From start to finish, the story of the Bible is that God wants His people to know what He has said.

The King James Bible was a tremendous gift to the church, but it was not the end of the story. The edition of the King James most of us use today is actually a 1769 revision, cleaned up from the original 1611 printing.

Since then, God has allowed us to discover thousands of manuscripts that the KJV translators never had access to. From the Dead Sea Scrolls to Codex Sinaiticus, about two-thirds of what we know today about biblical manuscripts came to light after 1611.

That means our confidence in the preservation of the Bible has even greater evidence now than it did 400 years ago!

And so, new translations emerged—first the English Revised Version (1881), then the American Standard Version (1901), and later others—each seeking to capture God’s Word with accuracy and clarity for the people of that day.

It was in this period that the KJV-Only movement began to take shape. Some Christians began to see the King James Bible not just as a beloved translation, but as the final and only acceptable English Bible.

But the King James translators themselves did not think this way. They saw their work as one step in a much larger work of God’s Word being translated, and they expected that others would carry on the work after them.

The King James Bible will always have a treasured place in our lives and in church history. Its beauty, influence, and faithfulness are unmatched. But the authority of God’s Word is not bound to one edition or translation. Its authority rests in the inspired Scriptures themselves, faithfully preserved and joyfully received in every tongue.

This series has taken us from God’s act of revelation to the Spirit’s gift of illumination. We’ve seen how the Bible was written, preserved, translated, and handed down.

And now we stand where countless generations have stood before us: with God’s Word in our hands, and God’s Spirit in our hearts.

May we treasure it, read it, and live it—for His glory and for the good of generations to come.

- Pastor Keith

For me, the King James Version is precious. It was the bottle that fed me milk when I was young in the faith, and it has been the meat that has nourished me through my life.

In this post, I'd like to explain some things about the King James Version as we consider the complex work of translation. It's important to know the mindset behind the translators and, fortunately for us, we don't have to wonder about that when it comes to the KJV. The translators of the King James Version wrote a note to the readers revealing what they believed about their work!

Allow me to condense it for you, and may it shed some light on the dense subject of Bible translation.

But first...

The King James Version was born in a time of religious division. Catholics leaned on the Latin Vulgate. Protestants in Geneva used the Geneva Bible. The Church of England authorized the Bishops’ Bible. Everyone seemed to be reading from something different.
King James saw an opportunity to bring peace. So in 1604, he authorized a new English translation. By 1611, forty-seven Anglican Church scholars had completed the project we now call the King James Bible.

But the most overlooked part of that story is the preface the translators themselves wrote, called “The Translators to the Reader.” It is one of the most important pieces of church history we have. Sadly, most modern printings of the King James omit it. (Does your copy of the KJV have it?)

What did the translators actually say? What did they believe about their own work? Their words are worth hearing.

I'll give a few quotes and some thoughts in this post. At some point you might consider giving it a full read-through. You can find an online copy of it here.

1. They expected resistance.
They knew that giving people a new translation would not go smoothly:

They were right. Every time in history that God’s Word has been translated and distributed, it has faced opposition. But they pressed on, believing it was worth it to put the Bible into the hands of ordinary people.

2. They believed every Christian should study the Bible.
They didn’t want anyone to treat the Bible casually:

It wasn’t enough, in their minds, to say we believe the Bible. We must give ourselves to knowing it.

3. They believed the Bible must always be translated so people can understand it.
The translators insisted that if the Bible could not be understood in the common tongue, a new translation was needed:

For them, it wasn’t enough that the Bible existed in English. It had to exist in a living English—the English of the everyday person.

4. They did not believe their translation was inspired.
They drew a clear line between themselves and the prophets and apostles:

In other words, they never claimed God was giving them new revelation. They knew they were doing faithful but ordinary work—passing down what God had already spoken.

5. They saw translation as an ongoing work.
They honored the translators who came before them, and expected others to come after them:

For them, translation was not about protecting one version forever—it was about carrying the baton faithfully and handing it off to the next generation.

6. They wanted the Bible in the language of the common man.
They made no attempt to make the Bible sound lofty or overly academic. They wanted it plain and understandable:

In their day, “vulgar” didn’t mean crude—it meant ordinary. They wanted every plow boy, every housewife, every child to read God’s Word for themselves.

The King James Bible is a beautiful and historic treasure. But the greatest way we can honor it is by listening to its translators. They did not believe their work was perfect, inspired, or final. They believed it was one faithful link in a long chain of God’s Word being carried forward.

And so today, when we pick up a Bible in modern English—whether KJV, ESV, NIV, or CSB—we are reaping the fruit of their labor. They wanted us to have the Bible in our own tongue.

And God, in His kindness, has made sure we do.

- Pastor Keith

If you’ve ever wondered how the Bible survived through the centuries, the story is nothing short of incredible. Unlike books that come off modern printing presses, every early copy of Scripture was made by hand. That long and careful process shaped the Bible’s journey into our hands today.

Before copy machines and laptops, the only way to spread a book was to copy it by hand.

That’s where scribes came in.

These men devoted their lives to reproducing texts, and some of the most frequently copied works were portions of the Bible.

Scribes often worked in places called scriptoriums, sometimes copying word by word, sometimes phrase by phrase, and sometimes even transcribing while someone read aloud.

The work was meticulous.

Some scribes would even pause to replace their pen and ink every time they wrote God’s name. Their devotion helped ensure the Bible was multiplied and preserved across the ancient world.

Of course, hand-copying a text for centuries meant errors crept in.

Some were unintentional—a misspelled word, a skipped line, or a note in the margin that accidentally got copied into the main text by later scribes.

Other changes were intentional, though usually well-meaning. If a scribe thought a manuscript was damaged or unclear, he might “fix” the text to what he thought it should say. Sometimes, out of reverence, a scribe would even expand titles of God like the name of “Jesus” to something more elaborate like, “The Lord Jesus Christ.”

That might sound alarming, but here’s the key: with thousands of manuscripts to compare, scholars can easily identify these differences. In fact, while there are roughly 400,000 textual variants among all existing manuscripts, more than 99% of them are minor (like spelling or punctuation) and don’t change the meaning of the text at all. That, combined with the overwhelming amount of manuscripts we've discovered through the centuries, we are able to compare and contrast to such a degree that there is no doubt that we have the original words of God.

Far from weakening our confidence, this vast manuscript tradition strengthens it—because the Bible we hold today is tested against more evidence than any other ancient document.

That's right! We have more proof for the Bible than we have of Plato, Homer, any of the Empire leaders of the ancient world, and any of the thought leaders of the ancient world.

As centuries passed, the original copies of the Bible decayed, but thousands of handwritten portions continued circulating across the known world. Over time, Christians began the work of gathering these manuscripts, comparing them, and assembling the Scriptures into complete volumes.

This process didn’t happen neatly in order—it stretched across centuries of church history.

Here are some of the major turning points:

313 A.D. – Constantine and the Rise of Rome’s Church
With Emperor Constantine’s legalization of Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church began shaping the Bible’s story in the West. Their translation project led to the Latin Vulgate, Jerome’s 4th-century translation that became the standard Bible of Europe for 1,000 years.

1054 A.D. – The Great Schism
The split between the Roman Catholic Church in the West and the Orthodox Church in the East also meant a split in language. The West stayed with Latin, while the East leaned into Greek and other languages. Sadly, this slowed translation into the everyday languages of the West.

1382 A.D. – John Wycliffe’s English Bible
Wycliffe and his followers translated the Bible into English from the Latin Vulgate. It wasn’t perfect (since it wasn’t from the original Greek and Hebrew), but it was revolutionary. The church considered it heresy—so much so that Wycliffe’s bones were dug up and burned decades after his death. Many who followed him were martyred for putting God’s Word in the hands of ordinary people.

1440 A.D. – The Printing Press
Johann Gutenberg’s invention changed everything. The Bible was the first major book printed, ending the church’s monopoly on Scripture and allowing copies to spread faster than ever before.

1516 A.D. – Erasmus and the Greek New Testament
Desiderius Erasmus assembled the first printed Greek New Testament, giving scholars a fresh foundation to work with. His work became the basis for later translations, including the King James Bible.

1525 A.D. – William Tyndale’s English Bible
Using the Greek New Testament compiled by Erasmus, Tyndale was the first to translate the Bible into English from the original languages. His translation shaped English Bibles for centuries to come.

Since the 1600s, scholars have discovered many more manuscripts, some much older than what was available to Erasmus or the King James translators. Famous finds include:

1. Codex Alexandrinus (1629)
2. Codex Sinaiticus (1844–1859)
3. Codex Vaticanus (1889)
4. The Dead Sea Scrolls (1947)

Today, we have over 5,600 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament—an astonishing number compared to any other ancient work. With these discoveries, modern translators can produce Bibles that are both faithful to the originals and clear for readers today.

The story of how the Bible was copied, preserved, and rediscovered reminds us of three things:

God kept His promise. 
He said His Word would endure forever (Isaiah 40:8), and it has.

We can trust the Bible. 
Despite human error and historical opposition, God’s Word has not been lost. In fact, we have more evidence for the accuracy of Scripture than for any other book in history.

We can trust modern translations.
We'll get to this topic in future posts, but with all the new discoveries of the last two centuries, with all the manuscript evidence, with all the combined scholarship of translators from the past, and with all the resources we have in the modern world, one thing is clear — we can trust the faithful work of modern Bible translators.

Of course, not all Bible translations are faithful to the Lord and there certainly are bad translations of the Bible that should be avoided, but just like the people of Tyndale's day and Erasmus' day, we must be courageous and bold to defend the purity of Scripture and to welcome the Lord's provision of the Word in our vernacular and current language.

The Bible we hold in our hands today is the result of centuries of God’s providence, Christian faithfulness, and the unstoppable power of His Word.

- Pastor Keith

When you hold a Bible in your hands, you’re holding more than a book. It isn’t magical ink on paper, as if the pages themselves carried power. No—it’s much more powerful than magic. It is the very Word of God. In it, we find life.

Martin Luther called the Bible not antique, not modern, but eternal.

I think the book of Hebrews put it best:

I was reminded of that just last week when a friend told me how a passage he read in Scripture spoke directly to his situation. He lived out what he read, and God changed things right before his eyes. That’s the living Word in action.

I recently began a four-week series at our church called From Scrolls to Scripture: How God’s Word Was Preserved and Made Plain.

Why? Because I want our church family to fall in love with the Bible—not just as a book to respect, but as the very bread of life for our souls.

Jesus said...

So in this series, I’m leading our church through the story of the Bible. How did we get this amazing book that, most of us, have several copies of?

I think that a robust understanding of how the Bible came to be will help every Christian love and cherish the good Book.

There are two lenses we have to look at when asking this question:
1. We need to find out what the Bible says about how it came to be. (Let the Bible speak for itself.)
2. We need to look through history to trace how God kept His promise to preserve the Bible for us.

This post focusses on that first part: what the Bible says about how it came to be. In a seminary classroom, they would just call it "Bibliology".

Let me give you a brief sketch from start to finish of what the Bible has to say for itself...

“Revelation” simply means God revealing Himself. He has spoken in creation (Psalm 19:1), through prophets, through dreams and visions, and most clearly through His Son, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1–2). And finally, God revealed Himself in written form—the Scriptures.

The Bible was written by human authors, but under divine direction. Peter said, “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21). That means Scripture isn’t just man’s words—it’s God’s Word, breathed out by the Spirit.

In the ancient world there were no printing presses. Scripture was copied by hand on stone, clay, papyrus, leather, and parchment. Scribes painstakingly reproduced God’s Word so it could be passed on to others. This faithful work ensured that the Bible didn’t stay hidden but spread from person to person, community to community.

From the beginning, God’s Word has crossed language barriers. One of the earliest major translations was the Septuagint (LXX), a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Amazingly, Jesus Himself used this translation, showing that God’s Word in translation is still His Word.

Did you catch that?

If Jesus didn't dignify the act of Bible translation by using the Septuagint, we'd be having a very different discussion (and you and I might be learning Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek).

God promised His Word would endure forever (Psalm 119:89; 1 Peter 1:23-25). Despite persecution, loss, and even attempts to destroy it, the Scriptures have been preserved. Today, we can hold a Bible in our hands as living proof that God has kept His promise.

How do we know which books belong in the Bible?

One huge clue that helps us know which books of the Bible are.. well... the Bible, is the fact that different authors of Scripture verify other authors of Scripture within the Bible.

In other words, within the Bible every author is verified by another.

• Jesus affirmed the Old Testament as Scripture (Luke 24:44-45). 
• Peter recognized Paul’s letters as Scripture (2 Peter 3:16).
• Paul recognized Luke's writing as Scripture (1 Timothy 5:18).
• Peter affirmed prophetic and apostolic authority (2 Peter 3:1-2). 

That pretty much covers the 66 books of the Bible. So, we can look into the Bible to determine a lot when it comes to the canon.

But what about the early church?

The early church didn’t “decide” the canon. God did. It's His Word and, though this is an unsatisfying answer for a critic, there's an element of faith that necessarily has to be there for a believer that the assembly of the Bible was God-guided. He assembled the canon His way, and it's more like the early Christians "recognized" it for what it was.

By the second century, Christians were already using the same 27 books of the New Testament we have today. In other words, God’s people recognized God’s voice.

Even with the Bible in our hands, we can’t understand it without the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:14). But through the Spirit’s work, believers are taught, guided, and given understanding of God’s Word (John 14:26).

As the church grew, so did the need for the Bible in every language, and the story of the Bible is the story of God’s Word spreading to every tribe and tongue. Translation is a massive part of God's mission here on earth because without the Word of God there is no good news!

These eight truths remind us that the Bible didn’t just fall from the sky. God revealed it, inspired it, preserved it, and gave it to us so we could know Him.

And because God has gone to such lengths to give us His Word, we can trust it, treasure it, and live by it.

The Bible is more than a book. It’s God’s voice. And when He speaks, everything changes.

- Pastor Keith

When I was a little boy I really looked up to my grandfather. He was such a colorful fella! One time he called me over to show me something he had in his pocket. (Kids love it when grandpas have something hiding in their pocket.) He pulled out a piece of solid gold! It was a $500 gold coin, to be exact. I'd never seen that much gold all in one piece. I asked him if it was real, so he bit it just to show me the mark of his teeth on this soft, precious metal.

I've always been drawn to Peter's story. He failed many tests, but he repented and kept following Jesus. By the time Peter was an old man he had learned the value of being tested by God. In fact, he learned to treasure the testings. He said they were precious -- more precious than gold.

My story? How long do you have?

Well, I'm happy to be alive. What started as a knee surgery in July of 2025 turned into blood clots in my lungs. I was in the ICU four days just wondering what would happen. Would I live or die? Three days into my ICU stay they gave me lung surgery and, by the grace of God, they saved my life. The Lord is to be praised, and I am so grateful for His unending love.

In my little tribulation I was showered with grace from God..

Grace is like a gift. We often define grace as "unmerited favor". If you came to my house to celebrate one of my kid's birthdays, perhaps we'd prepare "favors" to give to all the guests before they left. We could say that those gifts are unmerited favors. They aren't expected, they aren't earned, and they're really cool! Grace from God is when God gives us anything from Himself as a gift to us.

And boy does God know how to give gifts.

I received amazing graces from God in my suffering, so much that I view the whole thing as a net positive experience. Or, to borrow Peter's words, the gifts the God gave me throughout my stay in the ICU were more precious to me than gold.

Let me share them with you...

Maybe a month before all this went down, I was teaching a Bible study at my church anchored in Romans 5. Verses 3-5 are stunning. They tell us that believers, when they suffer, can boast in the Lord and that they won't ever be ashamed in their boasting. It really fascinating that no matter what I go through, I can always glory in the Lord and I'll never eat my words.

One of the things God promises the believer as they face trials is that the Holy Spirit will pour God's love into our hearts as we suffer. That is, when we suffer we are promised that the Spirit of God will work double-time to help us know that God loves us!

As I laid in that bed not knowing what the future would look like, or if I even had a future, it happened. I can't tell you why. I didn't read something, or have a profound thought that led me to this moment. I was just laying there feeling terrible when I just knew, in a powerful way, that God loves me. There was no audible voice, no signs and wonders, just the work of the Spirit moving in me to know that I am not alone and the my Jesus loves me.

I laid there crying and all I could say was, "Thank You. Thank You. Thank You."

I’m convinced that I’ve never had more people praying for me than I did during that stay. The people of God prayed, they travelled from out of town, they wept with me, they read Scripture to me, they took care of my wife and kids, they donated money.

I told one of my nurses that I have a wonderful church family. She said, "Oh cool. That's good community." I didn't tell her, but I hate the reduction of the church that is so popular today. The church is not just a style of community, it is the body of Christ. There's something supernatural going on in the church that supersedes the power of a village or a CrossFit community or a country club.

The people of God, filled with the Spirit, ministered to me like angels from Heaven.

My sweet daughter, Adelaide, likes to put the word "little" in front of things she says. She'll say, "Daddy, let's just go for a little walk." The night before my surgery, my wife had gone home to care for the kids for a while. Adelaide was talking to her and said something amazing to me. My wife texted it to me, and this is what it said...

Yeah, you guessed it, it wrecked me. Bawling like a little baby I prayed to God, "That's all I want, Lord."

Out of the mouth of babes...

We've talked about grace - the unmerited, undeserved gifts of God's favor. Common grace is the grace God gives to all. Christians are given special grace all the time, but God doesn't merely grace Christians. He gives common grace to all. Everyone can enjoy a beautiful day. Everyone can enjoy a ripe peach, or delight in a puppy, or feel inspired by a sunrise.

As I was being wheeled to the surgical room a lady emerged in my life. I don't know her. I don't know if she is a Christian, an atheist, a Muslim, or whatever. She wore a mask and cap for surgery. All I know is that God made her in His own image (See Genesis 1:26-27). As I laid there exposed, in pain, in fear this lady would lean down near my face. She looked me in the eyes and gave me mercy.

I learned that grace is good no matter where it comes from. I learned to give God the glory for His common grace. When you're on the chopping block you'll take grace however it comes, and I praise God for those merciful eyes.

Memento Mori means "Remember that you have to die". I know, sooo encouraging, right? Many people have designated some object or made some form of art to remind them of death. The most famous is a human skull or a venomous snake. The idea is not to be gruesome or scary or morbid, the idea is to remind the living to make the most of their life!

As a follower of Christ I recall what He said in John 9...

There was a lot of death talk. And even after the whole episode I keep hearing story after story of people who had exactly what I had, but didn't make it out like I did. It reminded me that the breath in my lungs is a gift, and that life is a vapor, and that I must be busy about my Father's business.

That kind of reminder is precious.

When the surgeon was finished they placed the blood clots on a panel to show them to me. He came over and said, "Mr. Birdsong, these clots are new, but those clots are old." I won't bore you with too many medical details, but before I had knee surgery I had blood clots just hanging out in my lungs undetected.

God knew. It may be that He allowed these things to occur simply to reveal to me the danger I was in. Either way, I know that God knows all and I give Him the credit for revealing the old and the new clots to save my life.

Sometimes we can be discontent with the lives we have. And we can spiritualize it, even. We think, "God, if things were just different I'd be more useful to You."

I don't know why, but as I came out of the hospital it occurred to me in a fresh way that this is my life. I was born when I was born with the genes that I have because this is life God intended for me. What I mean is that God actually knows my life and has intended it, so why would I not settle into it?

Like Goldilocks, I've often been looking for something better. I've felt in bones that I was destined for some great thing. Well, maybe I am and maybe I'm not. What I do know is that the life God gave me is just right. 

My friend, I'm no wise sage. I'm just a young pastor who's been given something precious. Please allow me to offer some advice...

1. You need a personal relationship with God.
2. You need a good church.
3. Learn what God's will is and do it.
4. Thank God for His special and common graces.
5. Remember that death is coming, so aim every breath for the Kingdom of God.
6. Trust the all-knowing One. You might not understand WHY God is doing the things He’s doing, but never doubt if He’s doing it wisely.
7. The life you have is the life you’ve been given, so live it for Christ.

- Pastor Keith Birdsong

I feel like having snow in Texas is like finding a four-leaf clover - enjoy it, celebrate it, and don't expect it to happen again for a very long time! For followers of God, we're encouraged to be attentive to what God says and what God does. God speaks most clearly and directly through the special revelation of His Word, but He also speaks through the natural revelation of this created universe we live in. I love observing God's creation, deducing lessons of His heart by investigating the clues and hints evident in the things He made.

Take a weather event like snow in Texas for instance!

This morning I put on my proverbial Sherlock Holmes sleuth hat and whipped out the old magnifying glass to see what I could discover about God in this strange white fluff falling from the sky, lighting on the Gulf of Mexico. (Or is it the Gulf of America?) 

Snow in Texas is rare, and there are times in the heat of summer where snow sounds impossible. But God is a miracle working God. He can make dead bones lives again. He can make streams in the desert. Our God can save that family member you might be tempted to think will never give God a chance. As the old song says, "God can make a way when there seems to be no way."

"For with God nothing shall be impossible." - Luke 1:37

As I looked out over the snow this morning, I was reading in Exodus about the plagues God used to bring Pharaoh to his knees. Water to blood, frogs, flies, lice, hail, fire, locusts!!! God can make it sunny or snowy. He can make rain to flood the earth and He can rain fire and brimstone from heaven. The snow reminds me that we are not in control. The weather people with all their technology are still just commentators of what God is doing. They can't move a hurricane an inch to the left or to the right. We are not in control, and that's a good thing.

"For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength." - Job 37:6

I remember when I was a little boy one of my teachers asked, "What color is sin?" Well, I'd never thought about that before, but immediately I had my answer. Sin is black, of course! Black like darkness! The teacher smiled, knowing they had duped us, and showed us Isaiah's words...

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." - Isaiah 1:18

Sin is a red stain on a white garment. You can't hide that!

Another time, when I was boy, my family was asked to sing for a church. We did that a lot. Before the service we went out to eat and my brother, who was probably six years old, spilled something on his pants. We didn't have time to change or clean his pants, so my Mom got creative. When we stood on the stage to sing, she found an artificial plant and placed it in front of my brother to cover the stain.

Well, the stain of sin is far too obvious for us to cover. Adam and Eve tried to cover it, but that effort was ridiculously futile.

The snow reminds me that no matter how bad the red stain of sin is in a life, the blood of Jesus can cleanse the stain and make us white like snow. 

So...

Enjoy the snow while it's here! Let it speak to you about God. And you'd better listen fast, because it'll probably melt away in a couple hours!

- Pastor Keith

Fasting is an interesting subject in the Bible. It is prevalent and, clearly, important. However, there are very few passages that describe it as a topic. While it is clear that Jesus expected His disciples to fast (“When ye fast…”), most of what we know about fasting in the Bible is simply by observing what Jesus and men and women of faith did.

What is fasting, technically?
Fasting is abstaining from food and drink. At least, that's the medical definition. Usually, water is consumed during a fast.

What is fasting, spiritually?
Fasting, spiritually speaking, is about putting off food and putting on God. The Hebrew word is צוּם (tsoom) - to abstain from food, to cover over the mouth. The Greek word is νηστεύω (nee - stoo - owe) - to abstain as a religious exercise from food and drink.

What is fasting not?
There are many ideas about fasting, and some of them are good ideas, but they aren't technically a part of a spiritual fast. Here are some examples:

• Fasting is not abstaining from social media, tv, etc.
• Fasting is not about losing weight.
• Fasting is not about improving your health.
• While fasting can be a powerful way to seek the Lord for a particular struggle, we shouldn’t use fasting as a way to tempt God by backing Him into a corner. (We shouldn’t be like a kid holding his breath until his parents comply with his demands.)
• Fasting is not an opportunity to prove to others how spiritual you are.

Matthew 6:16
Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

What are the purposes of fasting?

People fast to draw closer to God.
Matthew 9:14-15
14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?
15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

People fast as a part of repentance and mourning.
Joel 2:12-13
12 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye [even] to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he [is] gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

People fast when they’re engaged in spiritual warfare.
Matthew 17:21
Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

People fast as a way of running to God for desperate and important situations.
Esther 4:3
And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

People fast as an intense extension of intercessory prayer.
2 Samuel 12:16
David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.

People fast to discern God’s will.
Acts 10:30
And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing…

People fast to galvanize their faith to God and to themselves.
Esther 4:16
Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

People fast before embarking on a ministry endeavor.
Acts 13:2-3
2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid [their] hands on them, they sent [them] away.

People fast to build up spiritual discipline in their life.
Psalm 69:10
When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.

People fast to intentionally weaken their flesh to strengthen their spirit.
Psalm 109:24
My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.

What prompts a fast?
There aren't any rules, really, for what should prompt a fast in your life. Here are some common prompts:

The Holy Spirit may prompt a fast in your life.

Circumstances, such as a big decision, crisis, or struggle may prompt a fast.
Nehemiah 1:4
And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven

Brokenness for personal, church-wide, or national sin may prompt a fast.
Daniel 9:3
And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes…

A desire for a deeper relationship with God should prompt fasts in our lives.
Exodus 34:28
And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

Brokenness for the weakness of our spiritual lives should prompt fasts.
Ezra 8:23
So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.

How long should we fast?
There’s no formula to determine how long we should fast. In the Bible, there’s a correlation between the extent of a fast and the desperation of the circumstance.

What do I do when I fast?
Not eating is only part of fasting. Fasting is hitting pause on food to feast on the things of God. When you fast, spend more time in prayer, study, and meditation in the Word.

How do I behave when I fast?

Your fast is not for men, so don’t purposely signal that you’re fasting.
Matthew 6:17-18
17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Fasting, though not to be done for praise from men, is often done in community, and doesn’t have to be done in secret.
Acts 13:3
And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

What are the rules?
The Bible gives direction about attitude and behavior when fasting, but not specific direction about timing and diet. Some fasts in the Bible were total fasts (Esther fasted with no food or water.) It seems evident that fasts lasting for more than three days would be fasting from food, but not from water since we will die after three days of no water. Though spiritual leaders (priests, pastors, etc.) have called people to fasting, it is always a voluntary practice and there are no records of children fasting in the Bible.