Faith = Obedience!

For Wednesday, October 29, 2025:

Hebrews 11:7 NLT: “It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.”

Noah was the laughingstock of his neighborhood. At that time, if people lived near a lake, they might have a raft or something the size of a rowboat. If you fished for a living, your boat might be three times that size, but still quite small by today’s standards. God had commanded Noah to construct a monstrosity! It would be as long as five football fields, 85 feet wide and 51 feet tall! A comedian joked that Noah’s wife kept shouting, “You get that thing out of the driveway!”

We call “that thing” Noah’s Ark. Suffice it to say that this was the largest boat ever, built to survive the most rain ever! They would need space for 2 of every animal, and provisions for them. Noah’s family would care for the animals, so we need housing and food for them, too. There were multiple decks on the ark, separating animals that didn’t play well with others.

When God asks you to build a boat, you should start gathering lumber. It didn’t rain much, if at all, where Noah lived, so no one believed a global deluge was on the way. But Noah believed! Noah had faith, which is our lesson here. We shouldn’t ever question God’s need for a boat, and we shouldn’t second-guess the dimensions. God knows what he wants; God knows what he needs. Our job is to be obedient. Our job is to have faith!

When everything was ready, just as God had ordered, Noah gathered his family and then closed and sealed the opening that would soon be underwater! Are you on board?

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Tabernacle!

For Friday, August 15, 2025

Hebrews 9:2a NLT: “There were two rooms in God’s Tabernacle.”

God gave very specific instructions about the Tabernacle, a place to worship and honor the Lord. The outer room, called the Holy Place, contained a lampstand, a table and sacred loaves of bread. Next was a heavy curtain separating the inner and outer portions. The inner space was called the Most Holy Place or the Holy of Holies. This was thought to contain the presence of the Lord. In that room were the gold incense altar and a sizable wooden chest covered in gold known as the Ark of the Covenant. Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. That ark itself housed a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves and the stone tablets of the covenant.

Priests regularly performed their religious duties in the outer chamber. But only once a year could the High Priest enter the inner sanctuary. He would always offer blood sacrifices for his sins and the sins of the people, both intentional sin and sins of ignorance. Of importance to Christians is that the Holy of Holies was not freely accessible while the Old Covenant was in place.

But Jesus brought with him a New Covenant. As he spoke, “It is finished” from the cross, the curtain was torn from top to bottom. Mankind was no longer separated from our Creator. We no longer needed a priest to intervene on our behalf. We can now pray directly to God, because our sins have been forgiven. Jesus himself was the blood offering for the sins of the world.

Try it out! Pray directly to God today. It’s OK because you are forgiven! God is always listening and wants to hear from you!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Prayer and Worship!

February 24, 2025, Monday Message:

Exodus 25:8 NLT: Then the Lord said to Moses, “Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them.”

God wants to live among his people. The people miss not having a designated place to worship. The solution to both dilemmas is to build something suitable. God was the architect. He specified all the dimensions and chose the materials to be used. The Israelites were the workers, bringing God’s vision to fruition! This tabernacle needed to be portable, as everyone was still wandering across the sand, so it was called an ark. The tablets God created of his 10 Commandments, his Covenant with mankind, would eventually be placed inside, hence the “Ark of the Covenant.”

Jews would worship at that tabernacle until they could build Synagogues and eventually the Temple. Christians build churches where believers can gather for worship and a sense of community. But remember that we can pray and worship anywhere. God is omnipresent, meaning he’s everywhere, not just in church buildings. Prayer and worship are trusting and loving the Lord.

We’re also commanded to love our neighbors, and a church gathering is where we often meet them. Being a believer isn’t a solo endeavor! So let’s all show up, roll up our sleeves and get to work.

See you at church!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Noah's Flood!

For Sunday, October 9, 2022:

Genesis 7:4 NLT, God speaking: “Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created.”

The flood of Noah was a unique time on earth. The problem was that evil and corruption had taken over the earth, and God decided it was time for a cleansing. Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. I believe God was saddened by taking the life of every living thing he had created, except for those on the ark, and he promised to never do such a thing again. He hung a rainbow in the sky as a reminder of his promise.

While visiting friends in Arizona last year, I commented on the landscape of the desert, and was informed that in the past it was all under water. Noah’s flood! If you’ve ever wondered that the ocean floor looks like, visit a desert! I grew up in western South Dakota and we would visit an area known as the ‘Badlands.’ I was told that it was previously a sea. Noah’s flood! Fossils of sea creatures have been found in most deserts, proving the great flood. The springs on the earth opened and rain poured from heaven. There was no escaping Noah’s flood. The Bible says the earth flooded about 4,500 years ago.

The study of geology makes more sense when you know about Noah’s flood!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Stick-to-it!

For Friday, February 25, 2022

Genesis 6:14a NLT, God speaking to Noah: “Build a large ark from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out.”

We’ve been looking at obedience and answering God’s call. In his day, Noah was all alone in this. There was not one righteous person left on earth, save the house of Noah. God told him to build a big boat where it had not previously rained, and to gather enough food for his family and for the animals God would send. This assignment required great faith!

In spite of the enormity of the task, Noah got right to work. “Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.” Obedience to God’s call is the key, even when you don’t yet understand the project’s final goal.

True to his word, the animals started showing up, it did rain a lot, and Noah and his family were rescued. God is in the rescue business. God gave mankind-on-earth a second chance. Our God is a God of second chances.

In the midst of chaos, God offered hope to Noah. Pray that we would again see hope in the midst of our world’s chaos.

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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