The Best Bible You Will Ever Own!

Joshua 1:8; Nehemiah 8:3; Psalm 119:11; Romans 10:17; Hebrews 4:12

About a month ago I got a new phone. It wasn't just an upgrade from the phone I had been using for years, not even the same platform I have used for probably the last 15 years. No, I couldn't just make a simple upgrade; I traded my iPhone in for an Android. And while I am having a few separation anxieties, for the most part I am happy. 

My break up with Apple wasn't an angry separation. For me it was about the cost of the new phone. The LG I bought was on sale for 50% off. There are a few other reasons that I won't go into here, but if the latest iPhones had been 50% off, I would probably own a new iPhone right now. It was that simple.

One of the things I have noticed about my LG is that the GPS synchronization is apparently not the same as my iPhone 6 was. When I run my normal 3 miles, it is about 2/10 of a mile different overall. It could be that my iPhone's GPS was inaccurate, but from what I see online, it is probably my LG. Since I don't really know for sure which one to trust, I could just give up and quit running. (Sounds like a really lame excuse, doesn't it?) One thing I know for sure; whether I was running 3 miles or 2.8 miles three days a week last year, my main goal was achieved. I set out to lose weight and lower my blood pressure, and with the Lord's help was able to do both. My point is, it doesn't matter which phone I was using or exactly how far I was going, I got the results I needed.

When it comes to Bible study, some folks get caught up in what version is best to study from. There are those that say the KJV is the only way to go and another camp that says some of the newer versions are actually more accurate, since they are translated from more numerous and older manuscripts (those closer to the time the originals were actually written). My purpose in this post is not to argue either point. I would encourage you to use whichever one that you can read and understand. My only suggestion would be that you have a couple (or even a few) different versions to read as you study. It's not that difficult in this day and age to get multiple versions online for your phone, tablet, or computer.

Just like my issue with the varying GPS readings from different phones, don't let various versions of the Bible keep you from studying it. Regardless of your choice of version, you can achieve your main goal; to have a deeper relationship with the One that gave it to you. Let Him guide you as you read. Pray that He will help you understand. He longs for you to know more about Him. Get a copy of the Bible that you will read. That will be the best Bible you will ever own!

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NASB) All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Pastor Mike Deese

Pain, Pain, Go Away

Psalm 34:19 Romans 5:3-5; 1 Peter 5:10; James 1:2-4; Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 

Paul opens his second letter to the Corinthians with his usual greeting and then begins a discussion on comfort through affliction. Pain is something we certainly don't like to deal with. There's no simple way around it, suffering is not fun. But in these first few verses of this letter, Paul lists several helpful results from our afflictions and the comfort we receive in them.

First, through the comfort we receive from the Lord,  we are able to comfort others in their suffering. We are to share in one another's burdens and walk through difficulties with each other. We are to encourage each other in God's mercies and compassion. God is able to sustain us through all kinds of difficulties. He is our strength. We need to remind one another of His goodness and His comfort.

Secondly, our afflictions direct us towards patience. Verse 6 says if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. Suffering will cause us to patiently endure. We can endure because we know the hope that is in Christ Jesus. 

Thirdly, our sufferings direct us toward a deeper trust in God. Through our pain, we cry out to the Father. When things are too unbearable for us to handle, we have nowhere to turn but God. Only He can provide the comfort that we truly need in our deepest sorrow and pain. Without hope in Christ man is truly lost and pitiful.

Lastly, through our pain and suffering, we are encouraged to unite in prayer. We are one body, the body of Christ. We are to pray one for another, lifting our petitions before God in unity, trusting that as I pray for you, you will pray for me. Prayer, and the great need for it as we journey through our difficulties, brings us together. And as Paul says in verse 11, it is all for God's glory, so that many will give thanks to Him. 

2 Corinthians 1:3–4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Pastor Mike Deese

You Remind Me of Someone

1 Corinthians 11:1; 1 Peter 2:21; Ephesians 5:1-2; John 13:13-17; Romans 12:2

Have you ever noticed how people often act or sound different based upon who they are speaking with or have been hanging around? Not only have I noticed it in others, I am certain that I have done it myself. We often tend to take on the characteristics of those we are talking to, dealing with, or who we've been hanging around. 

In Acts 4,  Peter and John are getting into trouble with the Jewish leaders for teaching the people and proclaiming through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. (v. 2) They had also, through the power of Christ, just healed a lame beggar, which stirred up the crowd even more to believe in Jesus.  They are thrown in jail and the next day brought before the leaders to testify; and testify they did!

What I find so interesting here is what the priests and elders noticed about Peter and John. Verse 13 says Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. (NASB) Now that's an association like no other! What an honor to be recognized in such a way. And notice how, through the Holy Spirit, the unlearned are educating the highly educated! Their education came not from man but from God. Their learning came by hanging out with the very one they were learning about.

You don't need a college education to tell people about Jesus. Just let him transform your life and then tell them about your transformation. Tell them what He has done in and through you. Tell them how you once were lost, but through His mercy and grace, were saved. Spend time in His presence and then don't be surprised when others recognize that you have been with Jesus!

1 John 2:6 (NASB) the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

Pastor Mike Deese

But Who Do You Say That I Am?

2 Samuel 7:28; Psalm 9:10; Psalm 13:5; Psalm 31:14; Psalm 84:12; Proverbs 28:26

In Matthew 16, Jesus asks His disciples what is being said about who He is and then asks them who they believe He is. Of course Peter answers correctly that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus calls Peter blessed, recognizing that he had not received that information from man but from God the Father. However, Jesus rebukes Peter just 6 verses later for trying to convince Him that this plan of dying was a mistake. Surely if He was God, He could take care of the sins of the world in some other way. Jesus recognized that Satan was trying to stop Him from what He came here to do; to die so that we might have everlasting life.

I think it's funny how we can acknowledge the existence of the God that created and upholds the universe and everything in it, yet have difficulty fully trusting Him to know what's best for us. We often feel as if He doesn't understand our situation. "He just doesn't know what I'm going through." 

Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus does know and understand what you and I are going through. Hebrews 4:15 says "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." He understands your pain and sufferings. He chose to come to this earth as a man and feel pain the way that you and I feel pain. He knows what it is like to be human.

Trust the Lord to take you down whatever path He knows is necessary for you to grow in. Trust Him to make you stronger. Trust that He knows what tomorrow holds and what you need better than you could ever know yourself. Just trust Him. He will never let you down.

Proverbs 3:5–6 (NASB) Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

Pastor Mike Deese