Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do...

1 Peter 1:15-16

Welcome to CALLED Men’s Group!  If you're looking to move forward in your faith, then this is the place for you!  We are a group of men, called by God to understand who He is, who we are, and what we are CALLED to do for Him!  We study the Bible & discuss together, find projects where we can give back, and encourage each other in spiritual growth! 

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF CALLED:

  1. Bring a notebook and Bible along with you.
  2. Do the assignments. (These are not required to come to group, but you will get so much more out of it, if you study and put some work in through the week!)
  3. Be consistent. (You can come and go week-to-week as you please, but you will get the MOST out of CALLED if you are there every week that you possibly can be!)
  4. Be intentional about making friends. (Stick around afterward, show up early, strike up conversations. Make some friends that can walk alongside you in this journey of faith!)

Meeting# 11 of 11 | This Week’s Leader:  Chad Huestis

INTRODUCTION: Welcome everyone, this is the eleventh and final meeting for the Winter 2026 Semester for the Called Men’s Growth Group.  As of now the plan is for the Spring 2026 Semester to begin May 6th, and run through June 24th.  Please monitor FV.church/events for more information about the next semester and when it will begin.  

Let’s take a moment to go around the room and introduce ourselves.

Tonight, we’re going to watch a series of videos about how the Bible we have today was developed and the various English translations.   Which is the best translation?  - The one we read regularly and understand.  For some that might be the KJV, others NLT or The Message.  Our preferences may change over time or as we grow in our faith; regardless we should aim to stay in God’s word as much as possible.  (Agree/Disagree?)
Each translation serves a unique purpose, and when studying the Bible, it is important to use multiple translations to aid in our understanding and comprehension.  

Reminder: there is no specific prerequisites or formal “membership” required to attend. The purpose of
tonight is to come together, read and study God’s word, develop an understanding, grow in our faith and
have a friendly discussion. Please keep in mind that we are all in different places of our faith journey; we all
come from various backgrounds, have different points of view. It does not matter if you’ve been a believer
for 10 seconds, or 50 years; everyone is welcome; everyone has value; everyone has a voice.

If there are different points of view, we should not feel attacked or be hostile to one another; it is our
different points of view that add to the discussion. We came together tonight as friends and brothers in
Christ. And we should leave the same (as friends and brothers in Christ). Often there is no right or wrong
answer; just interpretation of scripture and even Biblical scholars don’t agree on everything; ultimately,
JESUS IS THE ANSWER.

PRAYER: This Week’s Prayer: Father God, we thank you for allowing us to come together and study how your word was written down and became what we now call the Bible.  Lord, we recognize your power and authority.  We thank you for giving us Your written word.  Lord our attitudes and opinions may change, but your Word remains true forever.  Help us commit to reading Your word and lean into you for understanding.  – Amen

Videos:

Watch Videos: (total watch time approximately 50 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak06MSETeo4&list=PLSyJOUg4Tk6_qWBw56-YnlKg3AArW2HRl

1.  What is the Bible? (The Bible Project, 5:48)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak06MSETeo4

2.  Choosing a Bible Translation, (The Bible Project, 0:58)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmO0Fwa74QM

3.  History of Bible Translation, (The Bible Project, 1:01)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU_BuZhWBl0 
 
 4. The Fascinating Story behind RED LETTER BIBLES, (Tim Wildsmith, 7:04)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5X5zKVVvXo

5.  English Bible Translation Family Tree, (UsefulCharts, 19:14)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zvre1MNat-8&t=14s 

6. WHICH BIBLE TRANSLATION SHOULD I READ? (The Beat by Allen Parr, 4:58)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JzLFcQx5g4

7.  Why Are There So Many Versions of the Bible? (Matt Whitman/Ten Minute Bible Hour, 12:43)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY3zSxBybTM&t=144s

Compare verses using different translations:
- Genesis 4                     - Psalm 8:5                 - Matthew 6:32                   - 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
- Deuteronomy 6          - Isaiah 9:6                 - Matthew 27:16-17           - Revelation 1:3
- 1 Samuel 17:4             - Jeramiah 11:1         - John 1:1                             - Revelation 12:7-9
- 2 Samuel 20:35           - Micah 2:11              - 1 Corinthians 6:6              - Revelation 20:7-10

The Bible - Video Talking Points: 

  • One of the most influential books in history and has inspired people to do many things.
  • The Bible is not just a single book, but actually a library of books.
  • The Bible originated from the written history of the people of ancient Israel.
  • The Bible explores complicated questions like the meaning of death, life and the human struggle. 
  • Apostles, followers of Jesus, composed writings called “the good news”, also known as the gospel, and wrote letters to different churches throughout the ancient world.  
  • There are many English translations of the Bible; no one English translation does everything, because they are designed for different purposes.  Using many translations for Bible study will help with better understanding.
  • Every translation is balancing two goals: faithfulness to the original text/wording of the original language, and readability in normal/modern English.  
  • Put those two goals on a spectrum and you get: (Faithfulness) Word-for-Word and (Readability) Thought-for-thought, translations.
  • Word-for-word translations try to imitate the original language but require the reader to do more interpretation.  Thought-for-thought translations do more interpretive work for the reader by paraphrasing what the text means.  Most English translations are somewhere in the middle. – Keep in mind that no English translation can fully perfectly represent what is in the original language, because no two languages are identical.  So, pay attention when translations differ, and try to read as many translations as you can.
  • The Hebrew Bible is the collection of scrolls written and assembled over a 1,000-year period by the Israelites written in Hebrew.  The first significant translation was written Greek, and called the Septuagint, and this translation was widely used among follows or Jesus.  Jesus claimed that the story of the Hebrew Bible was fulfilled through Him.  And his followers wrote about this claim in what is now known as the “New Testament” and was written in Greek.  These two collections, “The Old Testament” and “The New Testament” became the Bible.
  • Three major translations: Latin Vulgate, Wycliffe Bible, King James Bible.
  • The Bible is the most translated work in human history.
  • The idea for a red-letter Bible was first thought of in 1899, and the New Testament was printed with red letters/text for the words of Jesus.  Later in 1901, the entire Bible was printed with red text for the words of Jesus.
  • The average person could not afford a copy of the Bible, until the Geneva Bible (1560) which was the first translation of the Bible to use the chapter and verse numbering system that appears in most modern-day Bibles.
  • The Geneva Bible was so popular that the Scottish parliament passed a law in 1579 requiring every household with adequate means to buy a copy.
  • The Geneva Bible remained the most popular Bible for personal use even after the publication of the King James Version in 1611, and in 1616 King James outlawed the Geneva Bible.  However, illegal copies circulated widely.
  • Serious Bible study should not rely on one single translation.  It is always best to compare several translations or use an interlinear Bible.  
  • There is no perfect English translation, because the original Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramac and Greek.  The translators had to translate the original words, into an English word or phrase that would reflect the original meaning.  Why is this a problem?  There are 5 million Greek words, whereas there are only 1 million English words, making it difficult to find an exact English word or phrase to show the meaning of the original Biblical text.
  • Word-for-word translations: KJV, NKJV, Amplified Bible, NASB, ESV; Thought-for-thought: HCSB (now CSB), NIV, NRSV, NLT; Paraphrase: GNT/GNB (Good News Translation/Bible), The Message, The Passion Translation 
  • Why are there so many different types of cars?  The reason why there are lots of different types of cars is because there are lots of different needs of people, and preferences.  The same is true for Bible translations – why are there so many translations?  The world is diverse, people have different reading levels, people have different needs (Scholarly research vs every-day-understanding).  Therefore, this results in multiple translations.
  • Bible Translators translate the original Biblical text trying to address the following question: “What is the best way to relay the original Biblical text into English for modern readers to read and understand?”  
  • Another issue is that the English language and culture is always changing and evolving.  Example, think of the word “exciting” - a modern equivalent of the word “exciting” evolved over time: “solid”, “groovy”, “rad”, “cool”, “awesome”, “wicked”, “dope”, “crunk/krunk”, “all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips”, “pop’in’”, “off-the-chain”, “sic/sick”, “lit”, “fire”, “Bussin’”, “Dank”, “Slaps”… etc.
Discussion Questions:
  • Do you understand what is meant by word-for-word and thought-for-thought? Do you have any questions about that subject?
  • Did you know that the Bible was the most translated literary work in history?
  • Do you own different Bible translations?  What are they?
  • Do you have a favorite Bible translation?  Do you have more than one favorite translation?  
    (Explain – What is your favorite translation/what are your favorite translations?)
  • Do you have a go-to Bible translation/translations?  Why that translation/why those translations?
  • Do you prefer or like Red-Letter Bibles?  Explain why or why not.  
  • Do you use the Bible app?  Have you ever looked at all the translations available on the app?
    - (or have you used Biblegateway.com? and looked at all the translations available on the website?)
  • Was there anything that stood out to you in any of the videos?
  • Was there any information presented in the videos that you didn’t already know?
    Or anything that you were not aware of? – Explain.
  • Biggest takeaway?  

Assignment:


  • NET Bible:  https://netbible.com/preface/
    Our ministry, bible.org, was created to be a source of trustworthy Bible study resources for the world, so that everyone is guaranteed free access to these high quality materials. … The NET Bible project was commissioned to create a faithful Bible translation that could be placed on the Internet, downloaded for free, and used around the world for ministry.

  • Using the Bible app, try reading in various translations. (Like: Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 9 & 20; Luke 8; John 10; Acts 8:26-40)

  • Read: Acts 14:1-28 and Acts 15:1-35
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+14%3A1-28+&version=NLT
and
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+15%3A1-35&version=NLT  

monitor www.fv.church/events for more information about the next semester.

References/Acknowledgements:

Elements of today’s Bible study were referenced from:
  1. NLT Courage for Life Men’s Bible, New Living Translation (NLT); copyright 2023 Tyndale House Ministries
    Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation
        https://www.tyndale.com/sites/courageforlifebible/
  1. ESV Study Bible, copyright 2008.  The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV); copyright 2001 by Crossway, Wheaton, Illinois. 
  1. NIV Study Bible, Revolution, copyright 2011.  The Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV); copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan. https://www.zondervan.com/p/niv-bibles-for-teens-true-images-revolution/
  1. NLT Parallel Study Bible, New Living Translation (NLT); copyright 2011 Tyndale House Ministries
    Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation
  1. HCSB/CSB The Apologetics Study Bible, copyright 2007.  The Holy Bible, Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB/CSB); copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holmon Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee.

Schedule: 

January 2026:
_x_ 001, 01/14 1 John 1:1 – 10 + Introduction (Instructor: David Goodno)
_x_ 002, 01/21 1 John 2:1 – 29 (Instructor: David Goodno)
_x_ 003, 01/28 1 John 3:1 – 24 (Instructor: David Goodno)

February 2026:
_x_ 004, 02/04 1 John 4:1 – 21 (Instructor: Chad Huestis)
_x_ 005, 02/11 1 John 5:1 – 21 (Instructor: David Goodno)
_x_ 006, 02/18 2 John (1):1 – 13 + Introduction (Instructor: Chad Huestis)
_x_ 007, 02/25 3 John (1):1 – 15 + Introduction (Instructor: Chad Huestis)

March 2026:
_x_ 008, 03/04 Jude (1):1 – 25 + Introduction (Instructor: David Goodno)
_x_ 009, 03/11 Obadiah (1):1 – 21 + Introduction (Instructor: Chad Huestis)
_x_ 010, 03/18 Philemon (1):1 – 25 + Introduction* (Instructor: Tom Landis)
_x_ 011, 03/25 Bible History and Translations* -- (Instructor: Chad)*

*Last meeting, please monitor FV.church/events for more information about the next semester.