Sunday Service 01/04/2012 - Montespertoli

On Sunday Stefano and Jenny will be at
Chiesa Evangelica di Montespertoli,
a Brethren church in a village near Florence.

Stefano will preach on Luke 15:1-10:
"Lost, Searched & Found!"


Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. "Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Luke 15:1-10 (ESV)

Generations - Florence Conference

Tomorrow Stefano will participate and lead a seminar at  "Generations",
the annual OM & YfC conference for Youth Workers and parents of teenagers.


This year the conference is in Florence
and the theme will be
"Redemption, a bridge to communicate with this Generation".

The main speaker will be Paul Westwood from Belfast.

Young Adults - Bible Study

Tomorrow afternoon we'll have the monthly Young Adults Bible study.

We have a very nice group of people 

in their twenties mostly from non-Christian background.

We'll study the book of J. I. Packer 

Knowing God 

Chapter 7 "God Unchanging".

25/03/2012 Series on the Parables of our Lord – 32 “Shrewd as the Dishonest Manager?” Luke 16:1-15

Tomorrow Stefano is continuing
the series on the Parables taught by our Lord,
preaching on Luke 16: 1-15
"Shrewd as the Dishonest Manager?"

 

 

 

 

 Is the Manager Shrewd or Dishonest?

Are the sons of light wise and innocent or wicked and dull?
(Matthew 10:16)

Are we worshipping God or Mammon?

My Space - Sharing the Gospel with teens

Tomorrow afternoon Stefano, Jenny & Valentina will run the My Space program.

This week the Rock Solid Bible Study theme will be:
"Three Persons in One - The Godhead"
and we'll study John 14:9b; 16-18.

The goal is to help young people to have a complete picture of who God is. To learn that we need to know God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, because if we forget about one of them, the way we understand God will be incomplete.



As visul help we'll look at a clip from the movie
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"



Mike Teavee says that Chocolate TV is scientifically impossible, and he refuses to take the chocolate bar.



 
Charlie Bucket, on the other hand, is prepared to believe that something that seems impossible might be true.
So, he takes the chocolate
and experiences the truth for himself.



It may sound impossible for God to be three people and one at the same time.
But if we put our faith in God, we can choose to experience His truth.
We can know the Father, the Son and the Spirit, as three beings yet still completely one.


Question 9: "How many persons are there in the Godhead?"
Answer. "There be three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost;
and these three are one true, eternal God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory;
although distinguished by their personal properties."

(Westminister Larger Catechism)

Porterbrook Local Group - Budrio

On Monday night in Budrio Stefano will lead one of the four local group to interact with the material we studied at the first plenary session of Porterbrook.

The goal is to challenge the students not only to think about practical applications in their lives, but also at how what they are learning can be implemented and transmitted in their churches.


Indeed, we are really excited by the fact that
only in the Bologna area there are students from
5 local churches, and in each local group we mixed the students from the various churches in order to encourage the interaction and learning from each other discussing the different ways in which we can live out the Great Mandate!

We will look at :
Character - Gospel living
1. A life for God
2. A love for God
3. Looking back: to the cross
4. Looking around: at the Christian community


Bible & Doctrine - Reading God's Story
1. What does it say?
2. Why does it say it?
3. So what does it mean for us?
4. What is it trying to do?

Sunday 11/03/2012 - Ravenna

Tomorrow we are invited at 
Chiesa Evangelica di Ravenna,

 

 

an Indipendent Baptist Church in Ravenna, a town which is about an hour from Bologna by the Adriatic Sea.

Stefano will preach on Luke 8:4-15 asking "Is the Farmer distracted?"

"And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that 'seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.' Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience."

Luke 8:4-15 (ESV)

Titus 2 Ladies Group - Friday 09/03/2012

Tonight Jenny will lead the Titus 2 Ladies Group continuing the Bible studies series on women from the New Testament whose lives were transformed by Jesus. 

 

This time they'll be looking at the Samaritan woman meeting Jesus in John 4:1-42. 

 

 

 

 The goal is to challenge women from our church to see how this passage encourage us to move out of our comfort zones and cross social or cultural barriers with the Good News of Jesus!