July 24, 2005 Church Notes

Psalm 19:1-11

JP Lofgren

• Psalm 19:1 - The creation declares the glory of God.
• Psalm 19:7 - The person who reads the Bible and follows it is smarter than many others who do not.

Matthew 13:24-43

The Parable of the Weeds

JP Lofgren

• Matthew 13:24-30 - Parable of the weeds.
• Matthew 13:34-35 - Reason for parables.
• Matthew 13:36-43 - The parable of the weeds explained
• The weeds looked real at first.
• In the world there are people who look like Christians and people who actually are Christians.
• It's sometimes frustrating to tell the difference.
• Jesus will come and weed out the tares (non-Christians) and throw them into Hell.
• It's sometimes frustrating to have people who live like the world but go to church and look like true Christians on Sundays.
• Those who are unmarried should be careful and watch to make sure someone is a true Christian before getting interested in them.

Jimmy Turner

• The field is the world not the church.

JP Lofgren

• In some areas of the world, like China, maybe only the wheat would go to church, whereas the tares wouldn't dare.
• In some places it's politically correct to go to church.

Rob Pace

• We should let God do His judgement and we should not be yanking up the tares because we might damage the wheat.
• We should not point out someone and say: "they're going to Hell"
• There are times to judge.

Jimmy Turner

• This makes me think about the crusaders and "kill the infidels".
• We don't know someone's heart.
• We are not to judge the world, but we are to judge Christians by their fruit.

Matthew 13:31-33

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast

JP Lofgren

• Matthew 13:31-33 - Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast
• There is hope even though there are tares and wheat together because even though the kingdom of God was very small, it continues to grow and grow.

Rob Pace

• The kingdom of God is not only people, but also areas in someones life where God's will is done.

Victoria Lofgren

• As you obey the path gets brighter.

Rob Pace

• God gives you a clear choice at a certain spot. If you say no, He takes you through a big circle of events until He brings you back there again. If you say no again, He will bring you through a larger circle.
• It only gets worse the more you keep saying no to God.
• It's easier to just say yes to God the first time.

JP Lofgren

• Yeast works silently.
• Yeast is a plant that is growing.
• Yeast multiplies.
• The kingdom of God is like that; sometimes it grows very silently.

Matthew 13:44-46

The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

JP Lofgren

• The Kingdom of heaven, the place where God rules, is so wonderful that when you find it you give up stuff to get it.
• A merchant who finds something of great value, sells everything he has to buy it.
• Do we really act as if we have found something that is that valuable?

Philippians 3:4b-11

JP Lofgren

• Philippians 3:4b-6 - Paul says: I really have it all together. I was a true-blooded Jew. I do my best to follow God. I follow all the laws.
• Philippians 3:7-11 - It's sort of like the pearl of great price. He considers it all rubbish compared to knowing Christ.

Rob Pace

• What do you think "being like Him in His death" means?

  Rebekah Turner

  • Dying to ourselves

  Rob Pace

  • Being obedient all the time.
  • Sometimes, I will do to the letter everything I need to do, but I will reserve the right to not like it.
  • Part of obedience is to give up our attitude.
  • Christ had an attitude of forgiveness when He was up on the cross. He wasn't like: "I'm being obedient, kill me quickly".

JP Lofgren

• The suffering can be different things to different people.

Jimmy Turner

• Revalation 21:1-5 - The completion of the kingdom of heaven.

  JP Lofgren

  • There is hope.

  Jimmy Turner

  • It's going to be a refreshing thing.