Next Coming!

For Saturday, July 13, 2024:

1 Peter 4:7a NLT: “The end of the world is coming soon.”

When Jesus came to our planet to walk alongside mankind, it created a significant division in earth’s timeline. Things were a certain way before Jesus, and many things changed to a new way after Jesus. The world took note, counting the years after Jesus’ birth as AD, Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord!

By the way, years before Jesus’ birth are BC, before Christ or before Common Era. Those years increase in a negative fashion the further they precede Jesus’ birth, resulting in a somewhat awkward dating system. For example, King David was born approximately 1040 BC, it’s now 2024 AD, so, adding negative numbers to positive numbers, we surmise David was born 3064 years ago.

Prepare to reset your calendars once again. When Jesus returns, what we call the second coming, it will be a mammoth historical event, like nothing ever before seen by mankind. Time will be separated into “the way things were when mankind was living alone,” vs “the way things are in the new reality, after the return of Jesus!”

Many Pastors are preaching that we’re in the end times of the end times, so keep your eyes open. Live your life the best you can, and keep Jesus at the center. Leave room for him in your life, since he’ll be returning soon!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

10,000 Years...

For Wednesday, October 20, 2021

2 Peter 3:8b NLT: “A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.”

Two truths: #1 Jesus is returning! #2 We have no idea when! Jesus said that he’ll come back for us. Everything else he said was true, so this also must be true. He left us with hope!

Early Christians thought Jesus might return this week, this month, or surely sometime this year. Humans only have knowledge of earthly time. (e.g. A day is one rotation of our planet; a year is our planet’s journey around the sun.) Surely our definitions of ‘day’ and ‘year’ aren’t applicable everywhere in God’s universe.

So a thousand years could be like a day in God’s world – we really don’t know! Don’t constrain the God in your mind by shackling him with earthly restraints. After all, he’s omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent! He’ll let us know when it’s time for Jesus’ return!

Live each day as if Jesus’ return was on tomorrow’s agenda!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship, 3249 30th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406

Psalm 12

August 17, 2015 Monday Message:

“Help, Lord, for no one faithful remains.” Psalm 12:1a HCSB

Do you ever have the feeling that the world is falling apart? That’s how David felt as he penned Psalm 12. Not only were people plotting against him, but God’s rules – His value system, His ethics - were no longer honored by most of the world. David was caught up in a battle where there were no rules.

Not much has changed. Jews have been persecuted for thousands of years. Radical Islam has never been kind to Christianity. Religious minorities are persecuted every day, and slavery has been reinstated in some countries. It’s a sin-filled world in which we live, and Jesus will fix it all when He returns.

Declared or not, we are engaged in a world war, a religious war. What has changed is that some of the battles are occurring on our own soil. Traditionally, our conflicts have been fought in distant lands. But nowadays, for the first time, terrorists are setting off their bombs right in the USA.

God recognizes and separates the good guys from the bad guys. Those who love the Lord will be protected, while the evil ones will get what they deserve. God will not be deceived.

Pray for God’s protection in our country, for peace in the world, and for Jesus to come quickly to straighten out this mess. Claim the promise, “You, Lord, will guard us.” Psalm 12:7a

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) gathers at 10 a.m. every Sunday in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. This Sunday, Aug. 23, Pastor Retha brings the message, Davie B. leads worship, and New Hope tour joins us. A salad-bar lunch follows the service.