Psalms 111 - Get Wisdom!

Sept. 25, 2017 Monday Message:

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Psalms 111:10a NIV

When you acknowledge the Creator – a power greater than yourself – you’re starting to ‘get it.’ God is God and you are not!

Scientists – people with big brains – have questioned everything about our world, from how many leaves are needed on a tree to how were the planets created. Joyce Kilmer wrote that only God can make a tree, while the best guess scientists have about the creation of the universe is the Big Bang theory (not the TV show,) the prevailing cosmological model for the creation of the universe.

Apparently the Big Bang was just enough to break up the central mass into stars & suns, planets and galaxies, solar systems and universes, and send them precisely where they needed to go, settling into perfect gravitational harmony with one another - and not too large a bang as to send everything into oblivion.

Here are 3 more questions:

1. Who created the big central mass that COULD explode?

2. Who created the space into which everything could settle?

3. Who knew just how big to make the Big Bang explosion, to perfectly send everything just where it needed to go?

Only God! See – we’re getting smarter!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship gathers next Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. Pastor Pilla continues our Spiritual Gifts series in 1 Corinthians 12.

Psalms 110 - Trinity

Sept. 18, 2017 Monday Message:

“The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” Psalms 110:1 NIV

Most of you know that in the Old Testament, “Lord,” written in capital letters, stands for God’s name, sometimes translated as Yahweh or Jehovah, but we usually use “Lord” since the exact pronunciation is uncertain.

“Lord” or “lord,” upper/lower case or all lower case letters, refers to a master, in this case the Messiah or Adonai, the anointed one. In Psalm 110, David is prophesying about Jesus, the one we call the Christ.

If we just see the word “Lord” by itself, we assume it’s referring to the triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But in this scripture, God-the-Father is clearly speaking to God-the-Son. Jesus would face many enemies on his mission trip to earth to rescue mankind, and the Father is reassuring him that the enemies will wind up under his feet. (We sing about that!)

‘Sitting at the right hand of God’ tells us that Jesus occupies the most honored position in all of heaven. Jesus is, after all, one with the Father, as is our advocate and counselor, the Holy Spirit.

And that’s one of the mysteries of the Christian faith. We have one God who has shown himself to us in three persons. While the Bible is quite clear that we worship only one God, the Hebrew word for God, “Elohim,” is plural. Interesting. God had David write these things 1,000 years before Jesus ever walked on earth!

Norton Lawellin

Let’s worship together! Jesus in the City Fellowship gathers next Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. We’ll open our series in 1 Corinthians 12. See you at church!

Psalms 109 - Vengeance vs Joy!

Sept. 11, 2017 Monday Message:

“Help me, Lord my God; save me according to your unfailing love.” Psalms 109:26 NIV

We don’t know which event caused David to send Psalm 109 to the worship leaders. Clearly someone was making David’s life miserable, or some opposing country was making Israel’s life miserable. The text contains an exceptional number of curses and bad wishes against the oppressors. David was asking God to intervene, to stop the insults, persecution and evil behavior.

Sometimes insults, persecution and evil fall into all our lives. We’re not altogether different from David.

Which opens up the greater question: “Does God ever let sin like that go unpunished?” The short answer is, “no.” “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Deut. 32:35, Romans 12:19-20

But we don’t know God’s timetable for setting things right, and in fact, we’re told to not concern ourselves with those details. Knowing that Jesus is returning soon, we should always be very joyful. Jesus said, “You will be happy when people are not kind to you and do bad things to you. You will be happy because you love me, even when they say many bad things about you that are not true.” Matt. 5:11

Sometimes it’s challenging, but let God handle the retribution while you handle the joy of knowing Jesus. Like the song says, “Don’t worry – be happy!”

Norton Lawellin

Let’s worship together! Jesus in the City Fellowship gathers next Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. We’ll use John 17 to set up our Corinthians series this fall. See you at church!

Psalms 108 - Say It Again!

Sept. 04, 2017 Labor Day Monday Message:

“My heart, O God, is steadfast.” Psalms 108:1a NIV

As we become believers, we learn a little about God, and then we learn a little bit more. We don’t get all the information all at once. The Holy Spirit spoon-feeds us small portions, letting us absorb only what we are capable taking in at the time.

But as we become more mature believers, it’s good to create a summary – to list everything we’ve learned about God up to this point. That’s what David did in Psalm 108, which is two Psalms combined. Verses 1-5 come from Psalm 57, and the last 8 verses come from Psalm 60.

“God, I have decided to always belong to you.” David restates what we have known for quite some time, that David is a man after God’s own heart. It’s a good decision; David is glad he made the decision to go with God; if he had to do it over, David would make the same decision again, because things have worked out well as the result of this decision.

David is in a unique position, being not only king, but worship leader for a nation. “I will sing and make music with all my soul. I will make music with the harp and lyre. I will awaken the dawn.” As far as worshiping God is concerned, David is in 100%. Not just casually singing a few songs, David promises to make music with his SOUL! He wants to get an early start on this – David intends to awaken the dawn with songs praising God! “I will sing your praises everywhere.”

That’s David’s worship goal; what’s yours?

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship gathers next Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM, for our fall kickoff! Guests from New Hope Center and the neighborhood. Pastor Pilla brings a message from 2^nd Corinthians. Lunch following – see you there!