Genesis 31-36

One thing that makes the Bible so believable to me is that the people in the Bible are portrayed realistically. None of them are larger than life - they all sin, sometimes a lot - but God delights in pouring out His grace and mercy on them. That seems to be especially true of Jacob.

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Genesis 25-30

I'm really enjoying focusing on what the text is revealing about the heart of God. I'm consistently seeing a God who delights in keeping His promise to His people even when they continually fail Him. I am so grateful for God's faithfulness!

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Genesis 19-24

In Genesis 20 Abraham takes things into his own hands by saying Sarah is his sister for the second time. To me this is why it is so easy to believe the Bible is true. The "heroes" of the faith are shown "warts and all". They are never portrayed as larger than life. God chose Abraham to be the father of His people knowing that he was an imperfect man who would often fail in his faith. But God just keeps showing him grace.

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Genesis 13-18

Keep up the good work. Even if I don't always respond to all of your posts, I'm reading them all and benefiting from your insights.

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Genesis 7-12

Hopefully, like me, you've now settled into our four year reading schedule. I'm finding I really like this pace - hope it's working for you, too.

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Genesis 1-6

Like John in the New Testament, Genesis is a book of beginnings - both books start with "in the beginning..." And there are certainly a number of parallels between the two books. for instance in Genesis 1:3 we see God creating light in the midst of darkness - the same way Jesus is described in John 1.

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John 18-22

I'm really enjoying reading through the Gospel of John again. I'd love to interact with you about what God is revealing to you from His Word.

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John 12-17

Still hoping to get some more people involved in sharing what you are learning from God's Word. Let's encourage each other and build each other up with our insights.

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John 7-11

This week we'll be reading John 7-11 - only 5 chapters, so plenty of time to think about what we're reading. Thanks Loren and Susan for your insightful comments last week. I enjoyed reading and thinking about them. Hopefully some others will join in this week, too. I'd love to see what God is impressing on your heart from His Word.

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John 1-6

This week we'll be reading John 1-6. I'm really interested in seeing what God is revealing to you from this portion of Scripture. You can post your thoughts by commenting on this post. I'll also be sharing some of my thoughts throughout the week.

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Let's Connect

I know it's been some time since I posted anything to this blog, but I'd like to start using it again as a means to connect and share what we're learning from God's Word. That's especially true if you're joining me on my four year journey to read the Bible all the way through. Click here to go to the reading schedule. I'll be sharing some of my thoughts from what I'm reading and I hope that you'll do the same.

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Relational Gifts

Here are the ideas I shared yesterday about how to give relational gifts this Christmas:
· Spend a day making breads, candies, or cookies with the family with Christmas music playing in the background. Then deliver these treats to new families in the neighborhood or friends and family in the area.
· Host a holiday movie night with friends. Order some pizzas, break out the cookies, and watch a Christmas Classic with a living room full of friends.
· Wrap 2 books and a box of tea to give to a friend. Insert a coupon and offer to get together once a week to discuss the book and have a cup of tea.
· Create coupons that are redeemable for some service that you can provide to someone else – babysitting for a young couple so that they can have a night our together, yard work for an elderly neighbor, etc.
· Buy a gift that requires spending time together with friend or family members – a board game that you can play together or a jigsaw puzzle or a model to build.
· Create coupons that are redeemable for some activity that you will do with the other person – a round of miniature golf, an afternoon of bowling, a hike and picnic.

I know that many of you will have some great ideas, too. You can share them by replying to this post or by going to the "Discussions" tab on our Facebook page.

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Spend Less - Give More

One of the things I'm going to encourage people to do in the message this Sunday is to consider spending less this Christmas season so that we can give more to help people unwrap God's in expressible gift of Jesus.

I'd love to hear what ideas that you might have about how to do this. You can post your responses here or go to our Facebook page and respond there.

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Anticipating the return of Jesus

Yesterday I challenged all of us to take a look at 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24 this week and see what God is showing us about how to live our lives on a daily basis while we await the return of Jesus. Be sure to share what you are learning, either by commenting on this post or by going to our Facebook page. I'll look forward to seeing how God is working in our midst.

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Taking Our Application One Step Further

This week I want to encourage all of us to take the application of the message one step further. Let's keep praying for at least one unsaved person every day. Pray for God to do what only He can do and draw that person to Him. But let's take it one step further and also ask God to use us in the process of sharing the gospel with that person. Pray that we will make the best use of our time as God gives us opportunities to interact with that other person this week.

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Putting the Message Into Practice

Although I work really hard to make sure that I draw relevant applications from the passage each week, I really want to encourage all of us to put into practice the applications from Revelation 9. When we see what happens to those who harden their hearts as they consistently refuse to respond to God, I pray that it will give us all a great sense of urgency about praying for the salvation of others and sharing our faith with them as God gives us opportunities.

So let's all commit to pray every day this week for someone that we personally know who needs to commit his or her life to Jesus. Ask God to draw that person to Him and also to use us in the process of sharing the gospel in that person's life. I'm convinced that is a prayer that God will delight in answering.

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Let's Talk

I'd really like to use this blog as a tool for us to interact with each other. If you have questions or comments on the sermons each week, send me an email at patdamiani@comcast.net. I'll post the questions (anonymously, so don't be afraid to ask whatever you want) and my answers here on the blog where others can also comment.

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Partners in preaching

When I logged on to sermoncentral.com this morning to post yesterday's sermon, I noticed that I had reached a milestone of sorts. Since I first started posting the text of my messages to that site in late 2005, I have posted a total of 178 sermons and this week the number of times that those sermons have been viewed by visitors to the website passed 10,000. That's really hard for me to believe, but it just goes to illustrate how, with today's technology, the ministry of our church reaches all over the world.

I'm grateful to a church that allows me to do something that I love to do so much - teach the Word of God. All of you are partners in that process. At a minimum, you give to our church so that I can actually get paid to do something that I enjoy so much. But many of you play a much greater role in my preaching and teaching. The men who come at 6:30 a.m. each Tuesday morning help provide insight into the Scripture passage each week and help me to focus my teaching in those areas where people might have questions. Our "Connections" Bible study teachers often interact with me and share thoughts and ask questions. And then you take the passage and help our people to apply it in their lives each week. And most of all I'm indebted to Pastor Dana and the chance I have to bounce my ideas off of him and discuss the Bible each week and work together as a team to make sure that our teaching is accurate and relevant. Although he is often not as visible as I am, his input is invaluable to me each week.

So thanks to all of you who share in the impact of having 10,000 views of those messages!

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God at work in our midst!

If you were at our Night of Worship last night, you had a great chance to see how God is at work right in the midst of our body. Each person who shared a testimony allowed us to get a glimpse of the many different ways that God is at work in our midst. For some, it is the way God is revealing Himself through His Word. For others, it is God being right there with them as they deal with the day-to-day struggles of life. And for others, it is God bringing them success as they serve as missionaries wherever God has place them.

What an awesome God we serve!

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The Bible and Our Mobile Phones

Normally, I'm not real apt to pass on emails that people send to me. In fact, I'll let you in on a secret - I don't even read most of the emails that people forward on to me. But one that I received today really caused me to stop and think for a moment. so I thought I'd pass it on to you.

Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our mobile phone?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we flipped through it several time a day?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it when we travelled?
What if we used it in case of emergency?
This is something to make you go....hmm...where is my Bible?Oh, and one more thing.Unlike our mobile phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected, because Jesus already paid the bill. Makes you stop and think 'where are my priorities? And no dropped calls!

Just some food for thought!

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