ALL Sin Forgiven!

July 30, 2018 Monday Message:

“God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.” 2 Cor. 5:19a NIV

Having spent 3 years in Psalms, we’ll move on to other topics…

If you were told you could be rescued from hell by confessing your sins – or, from the other point of view, if you were told you could spend eternity in the presence of God by confessing your sins, could you possibly list ALL the sin that’s ever been in your life, to execute a proper confession? Or would you miss a few? I think I’d have trouble with that task.

Big sins and current situations would make the top of the list. But smaller issues and things that happened a long time ago might be missed. That’s why we need Jesus.

His sacrifice for the sin of the world is for ALL the world’s sins – past sin, present sin, future sin – and yes, even forgotten sin. If Jesus is Lord and Savior of your life, you can’t miss because he has it ALL covered.

See – we have hope!

Norton Lawellin

Let’s worship together! Jesus in the City Fellowship meets next Sunday, Aug. 5, 2018, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. Guest Worship Leader David Boeltl!

Psalms 150 - Praise the Lord!

July 16, 2018 Monday Message:

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Psalms 150:6 NIV

Today we examine Psalm 150, the last of the Psalms. We’ve been progressing one per week, and allowing time-outs for Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, this has been over a three year journey. While we’ve looked over each Psalm, this is certainly not an exhaustive study; rather, an overview, just touching on each.

Appropriately, this final Psalm encourages us to “Praise the Lord.” In today’s language, we might say, “Go crazy for God – anything goes!” This Psalm tells us to use trumpets, harps, lyres (nowadays guitars) and tambourines (drums.) Praise Him with strings and pipes and the clashing of cymbals! Whatever you have, use it to honor the Lord.

No one is more awesome than our God, so give him 100% - use every resource you have – anything goes! What can you add to your worship next Sunday?

Norton Lawellin

Let’s worship together! Jesus in the City Fellowship meets next Sunday, July 22, 2018, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. I’ll be teaching on Chapter 8 as we continue our study in Hebrews. See you at church!

Psalms 149 - Sing a New Song!

July 9, 2018 Monday Message:

“Sing to the Lord a new song of praise when his loyal people meet!” Psalms 149:1b CEV

How should we offer worship to the Lord? Psalm 149 gives us several options.

It’s OK to offer a ‘new’ song to the Lord once in a while. While there’s nothing wrong with the old songs, God gave the gift of creativity to those talented and trained in music, and he delights when that gift is put into motion.

Many traditional hymns were written for classical organ. Nowadays a lot of churches have a contemporary worship band and singers. Either is OK, and neither is better than the other; they’re just different ways of praising the Lord. By the way, the pipe organ hadn’t yet been invented when Jesus walked the earth.

We’re told to “Celebrate and worship.” v5b I’ve always believed that worship should be a celebration, should be fun, should be something we look forward to. Bring your harp and your tambourine – let’s dance for the Lord! v3

See you at church!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship meets next Sunday, July 15, 2018, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. Pastor Van Dickerson continues our study in Hebrews.

Psalms 148 - Praise the Creator!

July 2, 2018 Monday Message:

“Let them all praise the name of the Lord. For His name is very great!” Psalms 148:13a NIV

Psalm 148 is one big “Praise the Lord,” psalm. It says that everything -  sun, moon, stars, angels, skies, clouds, and every created thing – should praise the Lord. God has created everything and placed it exactly where it needs to be, and so it shall stay forever and ever.

Praise Him from land and from the oceans. Fire, hail, snow, clouds, wind and weather obey him. Mountains, trees, plants, animals, birds, women and men – even kings of the earth should praise Him.

This all makes sense when you realize that our world is far too complex to be an accident. When the best scientific minds studying creation hit a brick wall, the only explanation can be Divine Intervention. And armed with the fact that God is the bottom-line Creator of all things, praising Him makes a lot of sense.

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship meets next Sunday, July 8, 2018, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. We continue in Hebrews - guest Worship Leader David Boeltl.