Jesus - Shepherd for All

March 28, 2016 Monday Message:

“I and the Father are one.” John 10:30 NIV

Jesus is reassuring his followers about life after this life, and isn’t that what Easter’s all about? Jesus uses the familiar shepherd/sheep analogy. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

If anyone present that day had any doubt, any confusion, about who Jesus was, he answered in a clear, straightforward fashion: “I and the Father are one.” Once you “get” that – that Father God, Jesus the Son, and for that matter, the Holy Spirit are one, Christian theology starts falling into place.

God’s desire “that no one would perish, but that all would repent,” becomes Jesus’ desire too. Fulfilling God’s plan for our redemption, the Son of God - Jesus himself – became the required sacrifice for ALL the sins of the world - past, present and future sin – all covered by Jesus. He took our sin and then covered us with His holiness, in what theologians call the great exchange. Our sins were forgiven, and we were made holy, sanctified, set-apart as one of God’s children, adopted into the Holy family.

On that first Easter Sunday, the tomb was empty. Jesus was up and out where everyone could see him. Death and sin hold no authority over Jesus. And by covering our sins, he made it possible for you and me to spend eternity in the presence of God. That’s the way the Father wanted everything to go, and the Holy Spirit is here to keep us on track. They are ALL of one mind.

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets every Sunday at 10 am in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. This Sunday, April 3, 2016 – Dedication of the Children – don’t miss it!

Triumphal Entry

March 21, 2016 Monday Message:

“See, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt!” John 12:15b

Christians could use any of three titles for this past Sunday.

Some call it “Passion Sunday.” Passion is the word for what took place during the week leading up to Easter or Resurrection Sunday.

“Palm Sunday” is probably the most often-heard name, referring to the palm branches waved overhead and placed in the path of Jesus as he entered the streets of Jerusalem for the Passover celebration.

Others call this section of scripture, “Triumphal Entry,” and I like that title a lot.

Jesus’ ministry had been on the increase for three years, and this was the peak, the apex, of all that had been happening. Word about Jesus’ miracles preceded him. He could calm the storm, he could walk on water, and he could feed people as necessary, and not just a few. Feeding 3,000 and 5,000 men is documented in the Bible, but they might have had their wives with them, so is that number closer to 10,000? What if their children were there too? Does the number become 20,000? We don’t know the exact number, but my point is that this wasn’t 35 people or 65 people or even 100 people. At this point, thousands and thousands of people were enamored with the carpenter’s son from Nazareth.

But the crowning achievement in a lot of people’s eyes was when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Remember Lazarus had been ill, they sent for Jesus, but he didn’t come right away. By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus was long dead, prepared for burial. But Jesus shouted at the tomb, “Lazarus, come out!” and out he came, wrapped in strips of burial cloth. Eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ power over death fueled the Triumphal Entry.

The people shouted, “Hosanna,” which means “save us, save us NOW!” Think about it - people would not ask someone to save them unless they had a reasonable expectation that that person COULD save them.

And that day, they knew that Jesus was not just King of the Jews – he was King of the World!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets every Sunday at 10 am in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. This Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016, Pastor Pilla celebrates the resurrection.

Psalm 37

March 14, 2016 Monday Message:

“Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever!” Psalm 37:27

Psalm 37 is an acrostic poem; each verse begins with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This reminds us that David is not only King and Worship Leader, but a creative writer as well. He was a master of this new language concept, alphabetic script.

Before alphabetic script, writing was done with pictures. If you owed for a cow that you purchased, you’d draw a picture of a cow. If you bought 5 cows, there might be 5 hash marks after the picture. But there was no way to note a partial payment, interest on the debt, and certainly not compound interest. For purposes of worshiping God, you can’t draw a picture of compassion, repenting, forgiveness or everlasting lovingkindness.

But the relatively new Hebrew language, developed about the same time the Phoenicians were perfecting their language, used letters to represent sounds, and combinations of letter to form words, much the same as we write nowadays. Finally, there was a way to write about repenting and returning to the LORD.

So in the Psalm 37 poem, David uses these new words to recommend high moral standards, and gives advice to put God’s value system to work in each of our lives.

“The LORD loves the just, and will not forsake his faithful ones.” Psalm 37:28

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets every Sunday at 10 am in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. This Sunday, March 20, 2016, is Palm Sunday, and Pastor Pilla looks in on Jesus’ Triumphal Entry.

Psalm 36

March 07, 2016 Monday Message:

“How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!” Psalm 36:7a

How much does God love us? How much love does He have to give?

God’s love is like the olive oil poured out for the widow in 2 Kings 4. The Prophet Elisha told the widow to get the jar in which she kept olive oil; then God filled it.

“Get all your other jars.” And God filled them too.

“Borrow all the jars you can from your neighbors.” And God filled all of them, until there were no more empty jars in the community. The widow was able to sell the oil and pay her family’s debts. She was saved, and her sons were saved from slavery.

This story uses olive oil as an example of God pouring out his love.

How much love does God have?

How many jars do YOU have?

If you open your arms, open your mind, open your heart, God will fill it all with his great love. God has more love available than you have places to put it. Maybe some of it will overflow, and you can share God’s love with others. God blesses some with abundance, so that they can help others. And isn’t that really what life is all about, loving your God, loving your neighbor?

Many Psalms contain a few words BEFORE the actual psalm begins. In Psalm 36, we learn that David is the author, but he’s sending this Psalm to the choir director, the director of worship music. From this we learn that one of the tasks of a worship leader is to raise up the next generation of worship leaders. David orchestrated worship so that he could pass it on.

“Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.” Psalm 36:5

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets at 10 am every Sunday in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. This Sunday, March 13, 2016, Pastor Pilla continues our study in Romans, and David Boeltl is our guest Worship Leader. Daylight Savings Time this weekend!