One True God!

For Friday, June 30, 2023:

1 John 5:20 NLT: “We know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.”

Mankind was made to worship. Greek and Roman societies worshiped many gods, but none of them were real. Our God, the one true God, has a history with mankind, starting even before the creation of our universe. God’s covenant with Abraham documents God’s desire for an ongoing relationship.

God sent his Son Jesus to earth to better explain what we just couldn’t ‘get.’ Jesus taught and healed, but best of all he solved mankind’s sin problem. As he was crucified and died, Jesus took the sins of the world to the place of the dead, leaving believers suitable for residency in heaven, in the presence of our Creator, for eternity!

The true God wanted us to have eternal life! He chose to include us!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Children of God!

For Thursday, June 29, 2023:

1 John 5:19 NLT: “We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.”

Well, that explains a lot! No wonder Christians are persecuted by the world! It should come as no surprise that life gets difficult at times when Satan is running free amongst us.

Jesus said that those who aren’t for him are against him. And this world contains two distinctly different groups: #1 those who are with Jesus, children of God; and #2 those under control of the evil one.

The Good News is that in the last days God will call his children home!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Christianity!

For Wednesday, June 28, 2023:

1 John 5:13 NLT: “I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.”

In Jesus’ day and following his crucifixion, Christian theology was in the discovery mode. No books had been written. There was no New Testament added to the Bible yet. People were still trying to figure out how Christianity worked.

Observers believed Jesus was the promised Messiah. They had seen all the miracles and the 3-day resurrection. Many were eyewitnesses, but the question remained: How does all that happened result in MY salvation, MY eternal life?

In the Great Exchange, Jesus took the sins of the world to the place of the dead leaving believers suitable to spend eternity in God’s presence. It’s a free gift resulting from our belief in who Jesus is and faith that he can do what he promised. The epistle author is documenting this, so that many more can learn of eternal life made possible by the work of Jesus.

God wants us all to know the Good News!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Miracles!

For Tuesday, June 27, 2023:

Matthew 20:34 NIV: “Jesus had compassion on the two blind men and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.”

Jesus’ ministry was in motion. As Jesus and the disciples left Jericho, a large crowd followed them. Apparently they liked what they’d been hearing, and wanted more. When two blind men called out for help, the crowd told them to be silent. The crowd only wanted to hear from their Teacher.

But the two blind men were persistent, calling out even louder to the ‘Son of David.’ Interestingly, Jesus asked them, “What do you want me to do for you?”

They shouted back, “Lord, we want to see!”

Ask and it shall be given to you. Jesus touched their eyes, and instantly they could see! Persistence paid off. Faith has a reward that comes straight from Jesus! This was true for the two blind men, and it’s still true for us nowadays!

The Great Healer never runs out of miracles!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Redeemed!

June 26, 2023 Monday Message:

1 John 5:11-12 ESV: “This is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

A few weeks ago I was visiting another church to help with their worship, when one of the singers asked, “So, when did you get saved?” I think they wanted to make sure that everyone leading worship was themselves saved, qualified to be leading others!

It happened like this: I was in a Bible study group at college. I believed in God and attended a church, but hadn’t yet claimed Jesus as my personal savior. The guys kept asking, “When are YOU going to become a Christian?” It was these straightforward verses that motivated my response. Soon I was proudly calling myself one of the redeemed!

Jesus wants to redeem us all!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Servant Leadership!

 For Sunday, June 25, 2023:

Matthew 20:28 NLT, Jesus speaking: “Even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus is explaining to the 12: “Among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.” This same principle applies to all Christians and is still valid nowadays.

It’s called Servant Leadership, leaders who genuinely care for their constituents. Benevolent leadership is rare; we hear about it mostly around churches, Bible studies and the name of Jesus. I pray we could hear it more in politics and in our government. I pray for other countries who don’t enjoy freedom.

Jesus put servant leadership into action as he gave his life to redeem mankind, paying the price for the sins of the world, the ultimate sacrifice.

The best reason to practice servant leadership is because that’s what Jesus did!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Father's Plan!

For Saturday, June 24, 2023:

Matthew 20:18-19 NLT: “Listen,” Jesus said to the 12, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die. Then they will hand him over to Gentiles, to the Romans, to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

Jesus was both fully God and fully human. I find it interesting how Jesus (God) can speak of Jesus (man) as if he was another person. In this scripture, Jesus (God) is predicting the horror to befall the Son of Man, a name Jesus called himself. His pronouns are he and him.

Jesus, in addition to being mankind’s savior, was also functioning as a prophet. He knew what the future days would bring. He knew the persecution coming his way, ultimately resulting in death. He also knew that he would overcome death, rising on the third day. So in the end, everything would turn out OK!

God’s plan was for Jesus to take mankind’s sin problem upon himself, take that sin to the grave, and leave the believers suitable to spend eternity in the presence of the Father. We call it “The Great Exchange.” This is the best gift ever!

Sunday’s coming. On the third day, the tomb will open and Jesus will walk away from it all, just as his Father planned!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

From the Heart!

For Friday, June 23, 2023:

Mark 7:15 NLT, Jesus speaking: “It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.”

Questions come up about Jewish dietary laws. They were originally designed to keep the people safe, to protect them from disease and illness. But with modern refrigeration, food prep cleanliness inspections and thorough cooking readily available, what we eat isn’t the threat it once was. Jesus as much as said that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.

We are not defiled by what goes into our bodies, but rather by what comes out. Evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness all come from within. When the heart goes off the tracks, goes off God’s plan, we are defiled by what comes out of us.

We should all be more concerned with what comes out of our hearts than what goes into our mouths!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Heart!

For Thursday, June 22, 2023:

Mark 7:6b-7 NLT, Jesus speaking about the Pharisees: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.”

Growing up in a church, I was an acolyte; an altar boy. One of our jobs was to light the candles. We were to begin on the right side with the candle closest to the cross. Jesus, after all, sits at the right hand of the Father, and true light comes from the cross, representing Jesus. When all the candles on the right were lit, go to the left side in a similar manner. Extinguish the candles in reverse order.

One day a new student was assigned ‘candle duty.’ He did it all wrong! Started on the wrong side, lit the candles in the wrong order, and I was pretty sure we were all going to hell for worshiping incorrectly! Or perhaps a lightning bolt would strike the church – God’s revenge for us not paying attention to detail!

As an adult, having studied more of my Bible, I find that God doesn’t give a hoot about our traditions. He wants to know our heart. Man-made traditions are not commands from the Father. True worship involves humbleness, not so much putting ourselves down, but rather lifting up our Savior.

Jesus said to love the Lord and love your neighbor. He’s not concerned with how the candles got lit!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship