Constant Contact!

July 31, 2023 Monday Message:

Psalm 81:7a NLT: Words of God: “You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you”

God is sending a message to the Hebrew people, referencing their rescue from Egypt. The people had been miserable, they cried out to God, and God responded with a solution, with a rescue. If God did that once, he can certainly do that again! God (and his Son Jesus) are unchanging, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. I call that the “God-trend!”

The point is that our Father should be our constant resource. We should always be connected with God, so problems can be solved while they are still small. God should be a constant part of our lives, not a just last resort only when there’s trouble, only when there’s no other solution.

Life goes better when we’re closer to God!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Sing a New Song!

For Sunday, July 30, 2023:

Psalm 98:1 TLB: “Sing a new song to the Lord telling about his mighty deeds! For he has won a mighty victory by his power and holiness.”

This is Sunday, the day most Christians gather for worship, and this psalm is suggesting that we sing a new song, that we praise God in a new way. We just need to remember that doing so is never about the song or the worship style. Worship is about lifting up the name of the Lord, exalting Him for his wisdom and for taking good care of us!

In the original language, there’s a hint that this is talking about the future. The “mighty victory” could be a reference to Jesus taking away the sins of the world. It could be about rescue, about redeeming mankind, about making a place for us in the life after this life.

Sin and Satan are bad, but God is Good. That’s why we praise him!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Faith in Jesus!

For Saturday, July 29, 2023:

Romans 3:22 NLT: “We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.”

Everyone wants to know if there’s life after this life. Yes! I’m asked if there is really a heaven and a hell. Yes! A person’s biggest goal in this life should be insuring our destination in the next life. We want to be made right with God, to have assurance of Salvation, to hold a reservation in God’s eternal destination.

This big order is surprisingly easy. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ – end of story! Those who believe Jesus to be God’s Son and believe that he can do what he promised will be justified into God’s Kingdom. This is true for Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. Paul writes that we are all one in Jesus Christ, and that’s Good News!

Today is the accepted day to claim Jesus as your Savior!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Second Chance!

For Friday, July 28, 2023:

Romans 3:20 NLT: “No one can ever be made right with God by doing what the Law commands. The Law simply shows us how sinful we are.”

The first step in solving any problem is clearly identifying and defining the problem. This problem was that mankind wasn’t making it into heaven. In spite of having been given the law and diligently studying it, that wasn’t enough. Remember that God uses a rigid pass/fail system: get 100% right, pass; miss one, fail. There was no provision for a do-over or a re-start.

This situation displeased God and frustrated mankind. The solution, of course, was that God sent his Son Jesus. Jesus taught, he healed, but his ultimate mission was the rescue of mankind. He took the sins of the world to the place of the dead, giving us a fresh start toward our heavenly goal. For those of us who believe, Jesus would go ahead and prepare a place for us.

It’s a good thing we have the Law. That way we know how we should live after we’ve been saved!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Second Chance!

For Thursday, July 27, 2023:

Romans 3:10 NLT: As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous, not even one.”

I’ve said before that if you could graph mankind’s relationship with God, it would look like a roller-coaster – up and down, up and down, closer to God, farther from God. Paul is quoting a psalm where people were farther from God, where no one was righteous, not even one.

Not much has changed nowadays. Part of accepting Jesus’ forgiveness is knowing that we all need forgiveness because we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.

The Good News is that God sent his Son Jesus to rescue all who believe, to redeem mankind. We can choose to leave our sinful path and start following Jesus. Jesus’ work on the cross left believers cleansed, pure, forgiven and suitable to enter God’s Kingdom for eternity.

Even when “no one is righteous,” we can be the exception. Jesus has granted believers a second chance that lasts forever!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

God = Truth!

For Wednesday, July 26, 2023:

Romans 3:4 NLT: “Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say about him, ‘You will be proved right in what you say, and you will win your case in court.’”

Humans have faults, shortcomings. Mankind sometimes sins. But do not assign human traits to the Lord! God never lies! God never sins! If you look up “truth” in the dictionary, Jesus’ picture should be there.

If we don’t understand what God is doing, the shortcoming is ours, not God’s. God’s plan will one day be complete, and perhaps then that vast eternal plan will make sense to us. But it doesn’t really matter if we understand or not, because we already know that God is truth.

Spurgeon writes: “The general consensus of opinion is nothing to a Christian. Christians believes God’s word, and we think more of that than of the universal opinion of men.”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Transformed!

For Tuesday, July 25, 2023:

Romans 2:29c NLT: “A person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.”

For years I attended a church where “radical transformation through our Lord Jesus Christ” was part of their mission statement. I couldn’t agree more! When a person accepts Jesus and is filled with the Holy Spirit, they are changed for the better! Expect a different person now, greatly changed from the unsaved person who first came through the church door.

If you’re doing the right things for the right reasons and if both you and God are OK with it, it matters not what your fellows say or think. Believers are living for the Lord, not for our neighbors.

Father, change me into what you would have me be, that I may be of service to the Kingdom. Amen!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

New Covenant!

July 24, 2023 Monday Message:

James 2:10 NLT: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”

For years God maintained a pass/fail grading system. Get 100% right, pass. Get one thing incorrect, fail. Tough standards! It goes without saying that too few people were succeeding at joining the Father in the hereafter.

Therefore God introduced the New Covenant by sending his Son Jesus to redeem mankind. As he died, Jesus would take the sins of the world to the place of the dead, to the bottom of the deepest ocean. With Jesus, we’re separated from sin as far as the east is from the west! Under the New Covenant, those who put their faith, hope and trust in Jesus the Christ are forgiven and pass. Those who reject the Son, fail. Many more people are seeing the afterlife by accepting forgiveness offered by the Son.

God created us with the freedom to choose – Jesus or not Jesus. We never want to find ourselves among those who chose incorrectly,

Thank God for Jesus’ forgiveness!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Patience!

For Sunday, July 23, 2023:

James 5:8 NLT: “You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.”

Jesus promised that he would return, but he didn’t specify exactly when. Everything else Jesus promised came to fruition, so we have every expectation that this too will occur at God’s perfect time.

Maybe that’s part of the mystery. We’re taught to live a good life, to obey God’s directions and to love God and love our neighbors – without an end date! Therefore we must perpetually be on our best behavior!

Patience is not an over-abundant human trait. We all tend to want things NOW, and if Jesus is coming back, sooner would be all right with me! But the Lord knows the best time for the Son to return, and it will be then that we see Jesus again.

We live by faith, believing that Jesus will return and that he’s coming to redeem each of us! He promised!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship