PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Monument to a Bible Translator

A plaque commemorating Francisak Skaryna who translated the Bible into Belarusan language.

MUSICAL INTERLUDE: Home

DID YOU KNOW: *More* Biblical Stats

"DID YOU KNOW?" will be a summer series where we review issues of the Bible and the Christian faith of special interest. If you have a suggestion/question that you'd like addressed in a "DID YOU KNOW?" segment, please e-mail the coaches.

What are some MORE interesting statistics about the Bible?

People seemed to enjoy the first list of interesting stats about the Bible, so here's a follow-up with even more statistics for your ledger.

• Number of books in the Bible: 66 
• Chapters: 1,189 
• Verses: 31,101 
• Words: 783,137 
• Letters: 3,566,480 
• Number of promises given in the Bible: 1,260 
• Commands: 6,468 
• Predictions: over 8,000 
• Fulfilled prophecy: 3,268 verses
• Number of times the word "God" appears: 3,358 
• Number of times the word "Lord" appears: 7,736 
• Number of languages the Bible has been translated into: over 1,200

HUMOR: A professional

Not mine.  From here.

A woman was at work when she received a phone call that her daughter was very sick with a fever. She left her work and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication. She got back to her car and found that she had locked her keys in the car.

She didn't know what to do, so she called home and told the baby sitter what had happened. The baby sitter told her that her the fever was getting worse. She said, "You might find a coat hanger and use that to open the door."

The woman looked around and found an old rusty coat hanger that had been thrown down on the ground, possibly by someone else who at some time or other had locked their keys in their car. Then she looked at the hanger and said, "I don't know how to use this."

So she bowed her head and asked God to send her some help. Within five minutes an old rusty car pulled up, with a dirty, greasy, bearded man who was wearing an old biker skull rag on his head. The woman thought, "This is what you sent to help me?" But, she was desperate, so she was also very thankful.

The man got out of his car and asked her if he could help. She said, "Yes, my daughter is very sick. I stopped to get her some medication and I locked my keys in my car. I must get home to her. Please, can you use this hanger to unlock my car?"

He said, "Sure". He walked over to the car, and in less than a minute the car was opened. She hugged the man and through her tears she said, "Thank You So Much! You are a very nice man."

The man replied, "Lady, I am not a nice man. I just got out of prison today. I was in prison for car theft and have only been out for about an hour."

The woman hugged the man again and with sobbing tears cried out loud, "Oh, Thank you God! You even sent me a Professional!"

BIBLE NEWS: YouVersion Bible App reached 100 million downloads

The popular free Bible App YouVersion has reached a momentous milestone - 100 million downloads!  Originally imagined as a website, the team quickly revamped their plans when Apple opened their iTunes App Store 5 years ago.  It has been one of the most popular apps on the store from the very beginning, and has now been extended to Android, Windows, and more.

The app racked up 83,000 downloads in the first day, and YouVersion responded by pivoting to focus full-time on mobile apps. To date, YouVersion supports 500 versions of the Bible across 300 languages...Gruenewald also noted that Bible apps have “fundamentally changed the social aspect” of reading the book. YouVersion sees roughly 200,000 shares per day, across a range of services, including Facebook, Twitter, SMS and email.

WEEKLY COMIC: Temple Insurance

GETTING READY: What is the layout to Romans?

The first book we'll be studying for the 2013-2014 season will be the epistle to the Romans.  The next few weeks of the "Getting Ready" series, we will be considering the high-level questions about this book.  If you have additional questions, don't be shy about e-mailing the coaches!

How is the epistle to the Romans laid out?

Last year, we studied the Gospel of Matthew so the structure of the book wasn't a big deal.  It was a story where event followed event.  Essentially, it was a biography of Jesus (though it had a point of view and an intended message).

This year, we are studying an epistle.  It's a letter that Paul wrote to real people in Rome (and he probably had no idea it would one day be included into the Bible as scripture).  He is trying to teach the Romans about Christianity, and address specific questions and problems that they had.  We study chapter by chapter, but Paul intended it to one whole lesson and argument.

Here is an excellent outline from Bible.Org:

III. Outline

I. Introduction: The Revelation of Righteousness (1:1-17)

• A. Salutation (1:1-7)
  B. Thanksgiving and Longing (1:8-15)
• 1. Paul’s Prayer of Thanks for the Romans (1:8-10)
  2. Paul’s Desire to Visit the Romans (1:11-15)
• C. The Theme of the Epistle (1:16-17)

II. Justification: The Imputation of Righteousness (1:18–5:11)

• A. Condemnation: The Universal Need of Righteousness (1:18–3:20)
• 1. The Guilt of the Gentiles (1:18-32)
• a. The Basis of Gentile Guilt (1:18-23)
  b. The Results of Gentile Guilt (1:24-32)
• 2. The Guilt of the Jews (2:1–3:8)
• a. The Stubbornness of the Jews (2:1-16)
  b. The Hypocrisy of the Jews (2:17-29)
  c. The Privilege of the Jews (3:1-8)
• 3. The Proof of Universal Guilt (3:9-20)
• B. Salvation: The Universal Provision of Righteousness (3:21–5:11)
• 1. Manifestation of the Universal Provision of Righteousness (3:21-26)
  2. Unification: The Universal God of Righteousness (3:27-31)
  3. Justification of Universal Justification: Proof from the Life of Abraham (4:1-25)
• a. Abraham Justified by Faith, not Works (4:1-8)
  b. Abraham Justified by Faith, not Circumcision (4:9-12)
  c. Abraham’s Seed Justified by Faith, not Law (4:13-17)
  d. Abraham Justified by Faith in the Promise (4:18-25)
• 1) Explanation of the Hope of Abraham (4:18-22)
  2) Application: Faith in Christ (4:23-25)
• 4. Exultation because of the Certainty of Justification (5:1-11)
• a. Present: Peace with God (5:1-5)
  b. Past: Powerlessness of Sinners (5:6-8)
  c. Future: Escape from God’s Wrath (5:9-11)

III. Sanctification: The Impartation of Righteousness (5:12–8:39)

• A. The Reign of Grace Vs. the Reign of Sin (5:12-21)
  B. The Rationale for Sanctification (6:1-23)
• 1. Union with Christ (6:1-14)
• a. The Divine Reckoning (6:1-10)
  b. The Believer’s Reckoning (6:11)
  c. The Believer’s Responsibility (6:12-14)
• 2. Enslavement to Righteousness (6:15-23)
• C. The Inability of the Flesh and the Law to Sanctify (7:1-25)
• 1. The Believer’s Relationship to the Law (7:1-6)
  2. The Law is Good but Sterile (7:7-13)
  3. The Flesh is Bad and Powerless (7:14-25)
• D. The Power of the Spirit to Sanctify (8:1-17)
• 1. Over Sin (8:1-8)
  2. Over Death (8:9-11)
  3. Over Slavery (8:12-17)
• E. The Goal of Sanctification (8:18-39)
• 1. Present Sufferings (8:18-27)
  2. Future Glory (8:28-30)
  3. Hymn of Assurance (8:31-39)

IV. Vindication of God’s Righteousness in His Relationship to Israel (9:1–11:36)

• A. God’s Past Dealings with Israel (9:1-33)
• 1. Preface: Paul’s Deep Sorrow because of Israel’s Great Privileges (9:1-5)
  2. The Grace of God’s Election (9:6-29)
• a. Seen in Israel’s History (9:6-13)
  b. Seen in Principle (9:14-29)
• 3. The Nation’s Rejection of the Messiah via Legalism (9:30-33)
• B. God’s Present Dealings with Israel (10:1-21)
• 1. Equality with the Gentiles (10:1-13)
  2. Obstinance of the Jews (10:14-21)
• C. God’s Future Dealings with Israel (11:1-33)
• 1. The Rejection is not Complete (11:1-10)
  2. The Rejection is not Final (11:11-32)
• a. The Present “Grafting” of Gentiles (11:11-24)
  b. The Future Salvation of Israel (11:25-32)
• 3. Doxology: In Praise of God’s Wisdom (11:33-36)

V. Application: God’s Righteousness at Work (12:1–15:13)

• A. In the Assembly (12:1-21)
• 1. The Consecrated Life (12:1-2)
  2. The Use of Spiritual Gifts (12:3-8)
  3. The Sincerity of Love (12:9-21)
• B. In the State (13:1-14)
• 1. In Relation to Authorities (13:1-7)
  2. In Relation to Neighbors (13:8-10)
  3. Because of our Eschatological Hope (13:11-14)
• C. In Relation to Weak Believers (14:1–15:13)
• 1. Judging and the Principle of Liberty (14:1-12)
  2. Stumbling Blocks and the Principle of Love (14:13-23)
  3. Selfishness and the Imitation of Christ (15:1-13)

VI. Conclusion: Paul’s Purpose, Plans and Praise in Connection with the Dissemination of Righteousness (15:14–16:27)

• A. Paul’s Mission Explained (15:14-33)
• 1. His Reason for Writing (15:14-16)
  2. His Work among the Gentiles (15:17-21)
  3. His Plan to Visit Rome (15:22-33)
• B. Final Greetings (16:1-27)
• 1. Greetings to Believers in Rome (16:1-16)
  2. Warnings about Divisive Brothers (16:17-20)
  3. Greetings from Believers with Paul (16:21-24)
  4. Final Benediction (16:25-27)