Happy New Year!

For Thursday, January 1, 2026:

Luke 2:7 NLT: “Mary gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.”

I’ll go out on a limb and say that Jesus’ arrival was the most important event to happen on earth – EVER! Prophets had been expecting a Messiah, and Jesus was “it!” By forgiving sins and thereby securing believers’ eternal destination, the arrival of Jesus affected countless people. Millions were rescued from Satan. There are currently 2.6 billion Christian believers, the largest religion in the world, and about 1/3 of the earth’s population. All this from a baby born over 2k years ago!

The birth of Jesus inspired the world to adjust their calendars. Jesus’ arrival would be year zero. Pope Gregory started counting forward from the birth of our Savior. It’s currently 2026 years later. Happy New Year! These years are known as AD, Anno Domini in Latin, which means "in the year of the Lord.” Past events count backwards from Jesus’ birthday, like negative numbers, abbreviated as BC or Before Christ.

There has been a trend in non-believing scientific groups to call our current years CE or Current Era. Before Jesus, the dates are BCE, Before Current Era. These titles were made up just so that non-believers could deny the importance of Jesus. But the dividing line of “eras” is still His birth. Each time you write 2026 on a check or on an important document, you’re acknowledging Jesus coming to earth to redeem mankind. It’s real; it actually happened.

The Bible is truth! Jesus is salvation!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

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

Happy New Year!

For Saturday, December 31, 2022:

Matthew 3:11b NLT, John-the-Baptist’s prophesy about the coming Messiah: “Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. I baptize with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

This is the final day in our calendar year. At midnight everywhere, people will say, “Out with the old; in with the new!” It’s a time to start afresh!

A good start would be including more of Jesus in your life and in your heart. It’s a good time to commit or re-commit to believing that Jesus was who he said he was, could do what he said he could do, and to make him Lord of your life! Seek Jesus’ baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire. It’s a decision you’ll never regret.

The birth of this one humble man turned out to be so significant that we re-started our calendars with the birth of our Savior. The years after Jesus’ birth are AD, Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord. Before Jesus was BC or before Christ. Secularists have changed that to “Before Common Era,” but Christians know what it really is. Without Jesus, there would be no BC or AD! Now you know what we’re really celebrating!

Happy New Year!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship