Right vs Wrong!

For Wednesday, December 14, 2022:

Deuteronomy 29:29a NLT: “The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us.”

We are only responsible for keeping the covenants that have been revealed to us. Consider Adam and Eve. When created, they weren’t shown right from wrong. Therefore they couldn’t err, since they had no knowledge of God’s Laws.

But when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it changed everything. (Genesis 3) Now that they knew right from wrong, God would expect them to consistently do the right thing. We and our children are now accountable for obeying God’s commandments (or the penalty for not obeying them.)

Jesus took it a step further. In the New Covenant, God’s Laws are written on our hearts, so we instinctively know right from wrong. People everywhere in the world – people of every religion – know that you shouldn’t kill anyone. You shouldn’t take something if it doesn’t belong to you. Family is important; take care of your mother and father. Don’t mess with someone’s husband or wife. And when shown God, join the throng already worshiping the Lord!

God wants to see us do the right thing!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Good vs Evil

 April 25, 2022 Monday Message:

1 Cor. 15:56 NLT: “Sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.”

Consider, if you will, life in the Garden of Eden before mankind’s fall. Right and wrong had not yet been defined, so Adam and Eve just enjoyed life with an “anything goes” attitude. But then they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and now having that knowledge, they were expected to pursue the good and avoid the evil. You see, evil was only sin when defined as such by God. Turns out Adam and Eve weren’t very good at avoiding sin. Turns out they should have left that knowledge to God!

God, who knows everything and can see into the future, knew this problem was on the way. He had already formulated a plan to send a Messiah from heaven to redeem mankind. After all, God loves us unconditionally! In his vast eternal plan, we’re worth saving!

"Thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:57)

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

New Clothes!

June 14, 2021 Monday Message

Genesis 3:21 NLT: “The Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.”

It’s important to consider this in context. Adam and his wife had really messed up. God had provided everything they needed. He would walk with them in the garden. There was just one rule: Don’t eat from that one tree in the middle of the garden, the one giving knowledge of good and evil. But with a little tempting from the serpent, the humans did the exact thing God told them to not do!

Prior to this, the couple couldn’t do anything wrong, because they didn’t have knowledge of right and wrong! But disobeying God this once gave them that knowledge and opened the door to all kinds of sin. Now they had to make correct choices. Now that they knew about sin, there were thousands of things to avoid. God was not pleased with the direction this had taken!

Looking back, we have to admit that the train had left the tracks! This was a disaster, and God had every right to be upset. Q: What did He do? A: Our compassionate God still loved them, still cared for them. After all, mankind was God’s premier creation! Now that the couple had knowledge, they knew they were naked and made shoddy clothing out of fig leaves. God loved them so much that he made them much sturdier clothes out of animal skins.

Of course the lesson here is that no matter how we’ve messed up our lives, God has offered us new clothing. Our sin goes to the place of the dead, and believers in Jesus are clothed in garments of white, pure and innocent, ready to return to the Father! It’s called The Great Exchange! See – I told you God was good!

Blessings to all this week!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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