Audio from Tonight's 'Read the Bible in a Year' Discussion

We talked about Numbers, chapters 16-36.

For more on the relationship between Numbers 21 and John 3:14, see here.

For more on Asclepius, from which the American Medical Association symbol is more directly derived, see here.

One known mistake is when cited 1 Corinthians 15, when I meant 1 Corinthians 11:29-30.

Audio from Tonight's 'Read the Bible in a Year' Discussion

The people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church, the congregation I serve as pastor, is reading the Bible together in a year's time. That's about three chapters each day. Once a week, groups of us get together to discuss the readings of the preceding seven days.

Tonight, we discussed the first fifteen chapters of Numbers.

I made several mistakes during the discussion--like not remembering the derivation of Hannukah and forgetting the exact calendar relationship between Passover and Easter. I drew a complete blank when it came to Hannukah. Here's the background.

I also erroneously said that Greek Orthodox Christians don't accept the Apocrypha as being canonical. They do.

I also said that I hadn't remembered that Moses had children. He did have two sons: Gershom and Eliezer (see Exodus 2:16-22 and Exodus 18:2-4).

What bugs me is that I knew these facts and just plum forgot every one of them. 

Nonetheless, I hope you find this helpful.

God's Presence, Intimidating Blessing

At Saint Matthew, the congregation I serve as pastor, we're spending a year reading the Bible together. This week, we'll be starting on the Old Testament book of Numbers. It's a tough read! As my colleague and seminary classmate, Ken Pollitz, once told me, "You have to bear down pretty hard to get through Numbers." But it has real value and contains the Word of God.

Read what David L. Stubbs has to say about it:

One of the lessons of Numbers is that encountering God and the things of God is no light thing. God desires to bring blessing to his chosen people, to all nations, and to all creation, and central to this blessing is the gift of God's presence. For us sinful mortals, however, the warmth of God's life-giving presence is also a burning fire that tests us and ultimately cleanses us to make us holy. All this, in fact, is blessing.

I like that.

Mega Millions Winner(s) Matches Winning Numbers – Wins $355 million Jackpot

There is/are winner(s) for the Mega Millions drawing on Tuesday January 04, 2011. The Mega Millions winning numbers were 04, 08, 15, 25, 47 and mega number 42. The jackpot was worth $355 million with a cash option of a little over $224 million. The name of the winner(s) has not yet been announced. The odds of matching all of the correct numbers were 1 in 176 million.

Since there is/are winner(s) for this Mega millions drawing, it means that the next drawing on Friday will only be worth $12 million with a cash option of $7.5 million. Most people who played are sad that they did not win, but the winner(s) are as happy as a clam for winning the biggest jackpot since August 2009.
Read more: Mega Millions Winner(s) Matches Winning Numbers – Wins $355 million Jackpot