Chad Bird

11/20/2025

Until an Opportune Time - Luke 4. Dive into the Bible in One year series at www.1517.org/oneyear for the reading guide and to catch up on previous posts.

11/20/2025

There is a simple four-word phrase that I have used for decades to describe how we stand with the Lord: God gives, we receive.

Everything we have is gift. Our very existence, the blood in our veins, the breath in our lungs, the homes in which we live, the jobs we hold, whatever money we possess, our spouse, our children, every good thing is from the hand of our heavenly Father.

He has graciously bestowed all of this upon us.

And this means that when we offer something back to God, we are doing nothing more than taking what he has first given to us and handing it back to him. We never originate the gift. We simply return what he has already placed in our hands.

There is no single verse in Scripture that summarizes this more beautifully than David’s prayer in 1 Chronicles 29:14, where he says to God, “All things come from you, and of your own have we given you.”

Of your own have we given to you. It is like a father handing something to his child, and the child wraps it up and gives it back to the father as a gift. That is how it is between us and God. It is all a gift from him.

So God gives, we receive. And when we give back to God, we are giving him only what he has first bestowed upon us.

Thanks be to God for being a good and gracious and giving Father, especially for the greatest gift of all, his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Redeemer.

11/19/2025

False Doctrine Set to Music - 1 Chronicles 25. Head to www.1517.org/oneyear for the reading guide and to catch up on previous posts from the Bible in One Year series. Happy Studying!

11/19/2025

Some little act you perform today could fundamentally alter someone’s life 50 or 100 years from now.

Do you ever think about that?

For instance, one day, you smiled at the clerk at the Dollar Store and struck up a conversation because you thought she looked a little down. She was. When you left, she smiled for the first time that day.

That little spark of joy, initiated by neighborly love, was fanned into flame by the Spirit. A little happier that day, because of you, she was a little nicer to her kids that night. Her teenage daughter, pleasantly surprised, stayed home because, for once, mom seemed in a good mood. She didn’t hang out with her friends—the friends who, that very night, drank too much and were in a horrific car accident.

That teenage daughter of the Dollar Store clerk would grow up to have children who made a positive impact on countless people because their mom had taught them to live a life of gratitude and love.

Why did she teach them that? Because one night her life was spared; because she stayed home; because her mom was in a good mood; and she was in a good mood because, one day, while shopping, you showed a little love and concern for her, a complete stranger.

Fifty or a hundred years from now, your one small seed of love will grow into a tree of hope for many people.

Most of the time, these tiny seeds of empathy, patience, love, joy, and concern that we sow disappear into the soil of people’s lives, and we never see the growth or the fruit.

But God sees. He is at work, in the small, the commonplace, the little, the forgotten, to do his divine work secretly.

Thanks be to the God of love for his steady, unseen work in our world.

11/18/2025

Mountain of Sacrifice - 1 Chronicles 22. Dive into the Bible in One year series at www.1517.org/oneyear for the reading guide and to catch up on previous posts.

11/18/2025

If Jesus wrote a history of the church, I don’t think we would recognize most of the names. Sure, sprinkled through the chapters would be some of the big ones, people like Jerome, Augustine, Aquinas, or Luther.

But I suspect even church historians would be scratching their heads over the people whose lives Jesus decided to focus on.

Our Lord tends to pivot the spotlight off the main stage and onto some seeming nobody up in the nosebleed seats, who always seems as surprised as everyone else. “Who, me?”

Take John. How can we not appreciate, even chuckle, at the opening of Luke 3? The evangelist goes through this list of ancient VIPs, from the Roman emperor to Pontius Pilate, all the way down to the Jewish religious hierarchy of the day.

Then he pivots. Where? From all these powerful politicians to some wildman preacher out in the wilderness, with a salty preaching style and odd eating habits. Not Caesar, not Herod, not even the high priest, but this preacher in the boondocks of Judea steals the show.

That’s God’s way: seeing the unseen, highlighting the easily erased, making the underdog the top dog in his salvation story.

What a lift this gives to us. Who knows, in a history of the church authored by Jesus, you might get a whole chapter.

“What have I done?” you ask, incredulous. Ah, that’s it. Much like those who said, “Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you, or thirsty, and give you something to drink…” so you say, “What have I done?”

Here is what you have done: your seemingly small, unnoticed acts of kindness; the words of grace you spoke to one in need; the hundreds of sermons you have preached in that small congregation; all of that is seen, known, and applauded by Christ.

Nothing done in the name of Jesus is ever forgotten.

11/17/2025

Since we are on a Christmas theme today, let me recommend a Christmas book to you: Full of Grace and Truth: The Biblical Roots of Christmas by Robert Solberg.

Some can write moving meditations on Christmas or trace its historical roots. Others can unfold the Incarnation’s biblical depth, explore its hymns, or offer wise guidance for Christian family celebrations of Christ’s birth. With remarkable skill, Rob does all of this—and does it with an eloquence and warmth that make every page a delight.

I highly recommend it! Order your copy at: https://a.co/d/g4wQ6a6

Check out Rob's channel, too: The Biblical Roots

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

11/17/2025

Unmasking the False Gospel - Luke 2. Head to www.1517.org/oneyear for the reading guide and to catch up on previous posts from the Bible in One Year series. Happy Studying!

11/17/2025

The popular image of Jesus being born in a barn or stable does not fit what the Gospel of Luke actually says or what we know about first-century Jewish homes.

The key issue is the Greek word kataluma (κατάλυμα) in Luke 2:7: “there was no room for them in the inn.” But was it an “inn”?

First, it is very unlikely that a tiny village like Bethlehem would have had the ancient equivalent of a Hilton or even a Motel 6.

Second, and more importantly, when Luke described an inn, he used a different word, pandocheion (πανδοχεῖον), as in the parable of the Good Samaritan: the wounded man “was taken to an inn [pandocheion] and cared for there” (Luke 10:34).

Does Luke use the word kataluma elsewhere? Yes, in Luke 22:11, where Jesus says, “Where is the guest room [kataluma] where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” Clearly this refers to a private guest room or upper room, not a public lodging place.

Within the context of Luke’s Gospel, therefore, the kataluma is a “guest room” in Bethlehem and a “guest room” in Jerusalem.

Archaeology and ancient Near Eastern studies show that typical Judean village homes had one main family room and a small lower area where animals were brought in at night for warmth and safety. A manger, or feeding trough, was often built into the floor or wall of this room. Many houses also had a small, separate guest room—the kataluma—sometimes on the roof or attached to the side.

When Luke says there was no room for them in the kataluma, it means that the guest room of the family home was already full, likely crowded with relatives who had arrived earlier for the census (Luke 2:3–4).

Because of the strong culture of hospitality, it is nearly unthinkable that Joseph and Mary would have been left outside. Instead, they were welcomed into the main living space of a home, where Mary gave birth and laid the child Jesus in the household manger.

Jesus was not born in a barn but in the main room of a crowded home in Bethlehem, surrounded by family.

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For a longer treatment, see my video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dVHLgbHVZ4

11/16/2025

Holding God to His Promises - 1 Chronicles 17. Dive into the Bible in One year series at www.1517.org/oneyear for the reading guide and to catch up on previous posts.

11/16/2025

For a good chunk of Israel’s history, the ark of the covenant and the rest of the tabernacle were not even in the same place.

Have you ever picked up on that?

Everything shifted when the Philistines captured the ark in the days of Eli, back when the tabernacle was still at Shiloh (1 Samuel 4).

The Philistines did not keep it long. God made sure of that by plaguing them and humiliating their idol.

But when the ark was returned, it never went back to Shiloh. The location was evidently destroyed by the Philistines. The historical books do not describe this event, but Jeremiah refers to Shiloh’s destruction as a warning to Judah (Jeremiah 7:12, 14; 26:6, 9).

Instead of Shiloh, the ark ended up in Kiriath jearim, in the house of Abinadab, where it stayed for about twenty years (1 Samuel 7:1–2).

Meanwhile, the tabernacle and bronze altar were moved to Gibeon, which became Israel’s main worship center during the reigns of Saul and David and into Solomon’s early years (1 Chronicles 16:39–40; 21:29; 2 Chronicles 1:3–6).

So sacrifices happened at Gibeon, but the ark was miles away in Jerusalem once David brought it there and set it in a tent (2 Samuel 6:17).

For a while, therefore, Israel had two holy sites: Jerusalem for the ark and Gibeon for sacrifices. It was an odd setup, but that is how things worked during that transitional period.

Everything finally came together when Solomon built the temple. He brought the ark into the new sanctuary and had the tabernacle and its furnishings brought from Gibeon. As 1 Kings 8 and 2 Chronicles 5 describe, the temple became the one place where ark, altar, priests, and worship were reunited.

Sources: 1 Samuel 4; 7:1–2; 2 Samuel 6:17; 1 Chronicles 16:39–40; 21:29; 2 Chronicles 1:3–6; 1 Kings 8; 2 Chronicles 5; Jeremiah 7:12, 14; 26:6, 9.

11/15/2025

Old Liz, Young Mary - Luke 1. Head to www.1517.org/oneyear for the reading guide and to catch up on previous posts from the Bible in One Year series. Happy Studying! �