Spirit World!

For Thursday, May 14, 2026:

Colossians 1:16b NLT: “Christ made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.”

There is an entire reality, parallel to our world, that we cannot see. But it affects us greatly. Many Christians dream of going to heaven, a spirit reality, but balk at believing the size and complexity of the spirit realm. It’s truly difficult to believe in what we can’t see, what we can’t verify with our own eyes.

The risen Jesus delayed Paul on the road to Damascus. Christ cleared up who he is and proved that he can do everything he promised. I believe he also gave Paul a glimpse into the life after this life. As Paul describes it to the Colossians, the world we cannot see may be greater than the one we can see. He includes kingdoms with kings on their thrones and battles between them. Just as there is good and evil on the earth, there are spirits on God’s team and demons on Satan’s team. We’d do well to watch out for the latter.

Humans live this life, and then transition to the life after this life. Very few ever return, Lazarus and a few others. Jesus is the only one who existed in the unseen reality, came to earth to forgive mankind’s propensity for sin, and then returned to the spirit realm. These facts may or may not affect our earthly lives. But God doesn’t want to hear us say, “I didn’t see that coming!” Knowing what’s ahead, we can better conform to God’s commandments.

When we approach the pearly gates, they’ll say, “We’ve been expecting you!”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Confident Hope!

For Tuesday, April 28, 2026:

Colossians 1:4-5 NLT: “We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.”

Paul is writing this Epistle to the church in Colosse. It could have been written to any group of believers. Paul could have been writing to your church today!

Church is more than a social gathering. The common denominator is what Paul calls “confident hope,” also known as belief or faith. We believe everything that Jesus told us: Everything that we know was created by God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus is our rescuer, our redeemer. Jesus forgave our sins and proved that there is life after this life. When he said, “See you later,” he was going to prepare a place for us in the eternal Kingdom. Death is not the end for us, just as it was not the end for Jesus.

Believers share unshakable faith in the promises of Jesus. When we first heard the Gospel or Good News, it made sense to us. Our devotion has only grown stronger as time marches on. Like Paul and like the Colossians, we’re blessed by sharing confident hope!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Pay Attention!

For Friday, March 13, 2026:

Hebrews 13:22 NLT: “I urge you, dear brothers and sisters, to pay attention to what I have written in this brief exhortation.”

This Epistle is written to the Hebrew people. The writer has a certain advantage and a certain disadvantage. Let me explain.

The Hebrews have a history of believing in our God. They already know about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses (and the Lord) led them out of Egyptian slavery. God gave Moses the 10 Commandments on Mt. Sinai. The author of “Hebrews” didn’t have to convince anyone that there is a God, a Higher Power, a Creator, so half of the writer’s work is already accomplished. That’s the good news!

The disadvantage is having to convince these people that there’s more to their religious saga. The story of God’s interaction with mankind wasn’t finished, and still isn’t finished. I believe Christianity should have been, “Judaism, the next chapter.” Like Paul Harvey used to say, “The rest of the story!” Jesus, Son of God, coming to Earth, performing miracles and healings and eventually taking away the sins of the world is huge. We call it the New Testament, but it’s really the continuing history of God’s people, significant enough that we base our daily calendars on the event.

The story is not finished. The Bible includes prophecy about the last days, including Jesus’ second coming. I pray that a talented writer will document all that happens during the end times. The book, the story of God’s people on Earth, will be complete when believers are called home!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

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

Shalom – Peace of the Lord!

For Friday, October 24, 2025:

John 14:27 ESV, Jesus speaking: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

God dispersed mankind after the Tower of Babel incident, and gave different languages to different groups. The number of words varies. Sometimes more words are required. For example, the different native Inuit tribes of Alaska and western Canada have 40, 53, and as many as 70 different words for snow. Light, fluffy snow; wet, heavy snow. In English, we have to describe it. In Inuit, they have a distinct word for each. Scandinavian natives have over 300 words relating to snow! Now I’m really confused!

Sometimes we need more words. Here, Jesus is speaking about “shalom,” a Hebrew concept, written down in Greek and then translated for us into English. As the saying goes, something is lost in the translation!

Since it’s “the peace of the Lord,” perhaps “serenity” would be closer to the original meaning. The concept requires faith, believing that with God in charge, everything will be OK. Trust in the Lord... If we survive the world's tribulation, we’ll still be alive, and that’s good! If we don’t survive, Jesus will welcome us into God’s eternal Kingdom, and that’s also good! Either way, we’ll be OK. If you’re a believer, worry isn’t necessary and would be a waste of time!

"Shalom” is a traditional Hebrew coming and going prayer, a blessing for each other. “May the peace of the Lord be with you.” Free of worry and fear and trusting in God Almighty, life will be good. After all, believers have been adopted into the Holy Family!

Shalom!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Wars and Rumors of War!

For Friday, October 17, 2025:

Luke 21:8 NLT: Jesus replied, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and saying, ‘The time has come!’ But don’t believe them.”

We have all heard rumors that the world would soon be ending, that Jesus would be returning on a certain date. The predictions are always wrong. Don’t believe anyone who tells you such things. Jesus said that even he doesn’t know the exact date, that only the Father knows. If someone says they know, they’re lying!

Jesus did give us signs that we’re getting closer to the second coming, and a major sign is the proliferation of wars and insurrections. In case you haven’t heard the news lately, our world currently has wars in spades! The one conflict with Biblical overtones started about two years ago when Hamas attacked Israel, killing over 1,000 and taking 251 hostages. In response, Israel declared war on Hamas, a radical terrorist organization that had taken over Gaza. Hamas would not release the captured Israelis, even as Gaza was reduced to rubble.

Today, two years later, the hostages that were still alive were finally released, and a peace agreement was signed. Israel is still complaining that all the bones of the deceased were not returned. My advice would be just to let it go. When someone has died, their soul no longer occupies a human body. Their eternal essence has (hopefully) gone to be with the Lord. The body is no longer relevant. (That’s the Christian view, not necessarily the Jewish view.)

I said the current conflict started two years ago, but the overall disagreement goes back 3,000 years. After wandering on the desert, God set the Hebrew people down in the Promised Land. A Rabbi once told me, “It’s our land – God gave it to us!” However, those who had previously lived there were displaced. Hence the conflict.

(Just my opinion:) I don’t believe this peace treaty will last, because at its roots, this is a religious war. We can fight over territory, over governments, over countries, but people cannot be forced to change their beliefs. Historically, people will rot in prison while hanging on to their religion.

Jesus is the only one who can straighten out this mess. Our prayer for peace should include, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Impossible!

Daily message of hope...
For Wednesday, July 30, 2025:

Hebrews 6:4-6a NLT: “It is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come—and who then turn away from God.”

About this scripture, Spurgeon wrote: “We come to this passage ourselves with the intention to read it with the simplicity of a child, and whatever we find therein to state it; and if it may not seem to agree with something we have hitherto held, we are prepared to cast away every doctrine of our own, rather than one passage of Scripture.” He’s saying that we need to properly translate and obey Holy Scripture, not bend the text to fit our preconceived ideas.

A few years ago, a man asked if he could meet with me. He had many questions about the Bible. We did that for quite some time. But one day we read about God favoring life, and he said, “I’ve never believed that part.”

And I said, “Well, I guess we’re done!” If you believe the Bible is truth, the unerring Word of God, then I’m willing to teach it. But I must ask, if you don’t believe the Bible is true, why would you want to learn more about it?

God doesn’t like wishy-washy. If you are convinced that Jesus is the Son of God, great! Sign up! Get on the bandwagon! But don’t think you can jump off and cast our beliefs aside, and then jump back on when it suits you. God says he understands hot and cold. (He’d prefer hot!) But lukewarm has no place in the worship of our God.

Paul was famous for persecuting Christians. Jesus spoke to him on the road to Damascus, and he was immediately baptized. Went from cold to hot! He never looked back! He became the point person evangelizing all of Asia Minor.

Just my opinion: More than a commandment or ordinance, I believe this scripture is God letting us know what’s possible. If someone could so easily turn their back on the goodness of God, they probably weren’t 100% convinced to begin with. We can’t count on them, and God can’t count on them if they have a habit of coming and going. When you sign on with Jesus, that’s a forever deal! And he wants us all to accept his offer of forgiveness and eternal life! Are you “IN?”

Pastor Norton Lawellin
Jesus In the City Fellowship

Dark and the Ultimatum!

For Friday, January 31, 2025:

Exodus 10:21 NLT: Then the Lord said to Moses, “Lift your hand toward heaven, and the land of Egypt will be covered with a darkness so thick you can feel it.”

Living in the city, we never experience total darkness. There are street lights, porch lights and lights on vehicles. But in Egypt 3k years ago, it was totally dark for three days. No one could see each other. No one dared move.

Pharaoh called for Moses: “Go and worship the Lord,” he said. “But leave your flocks and herds here.”

That wasn’t going to work. Part of worship back then involved animal sacrifices, so Moses needed to bring the livestock too.

On the one hand, Pharaoh had been challenged by the plagues Moses and his God had brought on the Egyptians. But on the other, he was just plain sick and tired of the whole thing. After all, there weren’t any problems like these until Moses showed up! So Pharaoh issued an ultimatum: “Get out of here! I’m warning you. Never come back to see me again! The day you see my face, you will die!”

Even after darkness, the ninth plague, Pharaoh still didn’t understand God’s power, so he’s leaving himself vulnerable to God’s final effort on behalf of the Israelites. As believers, we understand and believe what Pharaoh did not, that God is all-powerful and totally in control of everything. We love our God; Pharaoh resented God, thinking that he, Pharaoh, should have had the last word. But we know that the one true God is the final word on everything!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Prayer!

For Sunday, August 25, 2024:

Matthew 6:5 NLT: “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get.”

Interestingly, in the original language, hypocrite refers to an actor, someone pretending to be something they are not. In this case, that someone is pretending to be deeply religious, but it’s all just a show, an attempt to appear more pious than they actually are. Jesus teaches that there’s no reward in that.

The truth is that God knows your heart. He knows what you deep-down believe. God already knows your level of sincerity.

Your prayer should be based on your friendship, your relationship with God. He wants nothing but the best for you! Be honest; be straightforward. Keep it simple. It’s just the two of you – you and God. It shouldn’t be a show for anyone else.

By the way, we don’t get extra points for using more words!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Rejection?

For Saturday, August 3, 2024:

2 Peter 2:21 NLT: “It would be better if they (false teachers) had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life.”

If sin wasn’t fun, nobody would sin! Think about it: Satan can’t tempt you to try something icky! No one would do it! But sin’s pleasurable endorphin rush is short-lived, leaving much bigger problems in its wake! So when Jesus counsels us to not sin, it’s not to deny our pleasure; it’s protection from an aftermath of misery!

Can a believer change his/her mind? Are we able to jump in and out of God’s holy family? Sounds ridiculous, right? John says that believers become “children of God.” And we can’t be adopted as a son or daughter of God, and then say, “I quit!” It doesn’t work that way. My take is that if someone can know about God and the saving grace of his Son Jesus and quit, they were never really convinced in the first place.

I guess it comes down to faith. Due to our arrival date on the forever timeline, our faith is having confidence in the testimonies of those who were eyewitnesses 2,000 years ago.

Do you believe? Do you have faith? Is your confidence in the eyewitnesses so strong that it can never be taken away?

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Resurrected!

April 1, 2024 Monday Message:

Mark 16:6b NLT, the angel inside Jesus’ tomb speaking to the women: “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!”

Jesus had told his followers that death could not hold him, but rising from the dead? They’d never seen anything like that! But early that Sunday morning, the women brought spices to care for the body. They were the first to see that the stone was already rolled away, and that Jesus had gone missing! The angel told them to inform Peter, the de facto new leader of the believers, that the risen Jesus would meet them in Galilee, just as he promised.

Some ancient manuscripts end there. A few include a short ending, and more include a longer conclusion. Let’s look at that.

Mary Magdalene told the disciples, but they didn’t believe her. Jesus appeared to two followers walking in the country. They quickly returned to tell the others, but no one believed them. Later Jesus appeared to the 11 as they were eating, and rebuked them for their disbelief. He personally told them they should believe what they have seen with their own eyes! He instructed them to “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.” This is similar to the Great Commission at the end of Matthew, where it says to make disciples of all nations, and baptize the new believers.

Uncompromising faith is commanded for us all. Jesus told believers to both have unshakable faith and to teach others about salvation through Jesus. Share the Good News! Jesus promises that the faithful will cast out demons in his name, lay hands on the sick to heal them, and experience an increased layer of protection.

Therefore the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs. We should all join them!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Belief in Jesus!

For Saturday, May 6, 2023:

John 12:9-11 NKJV: “Now a great many of the Jews knew that Jesus was there; and they came, not for his sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him, many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.”

The good thing Jesus did – raising Lazarus from the dead – was a threat to the religious status quo. Bringing a dead man back to life is too significant a miracle to be ignored. In three verses, John sums up the problem. Note that it wasn’t about God or prophesy or a fine point of theology. It’s about power, influence and ultimately money. If crowds of people were leaving the Synagogues to follow Jesus, their tithes were moving too!

The religious leader’s answer to this problem was a double murder, Jesus and now Lazarus. Their solution flew in the face of God’s commandments. Simply put, they were wrong.

We know now that Jesus dying, paying the price for the sins of the world, was all a part of God’s rescue plan to save mankind. How ironic that the Pharisee’s plot to murder the Son of God would put our salvation in motion! God is truly good!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Believe?

For Sunday, October 10, 2021

Mark 9:23 NLT: “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”

We tend to underestimate what God can do. In this scripture, a boy is possessed by an evil spirit. The boy’s father asks Jesus for help, ‘if you can.’ Of course Jesus can! He’s the Son of the Living God. He was present at creation, and a God who can instigate the universe can easily solve a little evil spirit problem.

Jesus flipped the question: The man wondered it Jesus ‘could;’ Jesus asks if the man believes. That’s Jesus’ modus operandi. He can do great things in our lives, but only if we believe. We believe not so much by following a religion, but by living out a relationship with our Savior. Belief in our redeemer gives us hope.

Enjoy the Lord’s day – believe!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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