Jesus Direct!

For Friday, February 20, 2026:

Hebrews 13:15 NLT: “Let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name.”

The key words in this scripture are, “through Jesus.” Jesus is our heaven connection. Before Jesus, Jewish priests fulfilled that function. The priests could present our petitions, good or bad, to the Lord. Mankind would seldom hear God’s response.

After Jesus, the process changed. Jesus is part of our Holy Trinity God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So if we offer prayers through Jesus, we’re already praying directly to God. No middle-man needed! God desires a direct relationship with each of us. (Note: This scripture was written to Hebrews, who would need adjust their beliefs post-Jesus.)

Interestingly, when Jesus died on the cross and took mankind’s sins to the place of the dead, the thick, heavy curtain isolating the Holy of Holies from public areas was torn in half, top to bottom, so God had to do the tearing himself, and mankind was no longer separated from God. Again, this was God’s doing. He decreed that it should be this way.

So we can praise God directly for his goodness, exalt his omniscience and offer confessions and repentance. In return, God can offer us forgiveness and a “mulligan,” a do-over, a second chance. With Jesus, we don’t just have a religion; we have a relationship!

What a friend we have in Jesus!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Walls Torn Down!

For Wednesday, October 1, 2025:

Hebrews 10:21-22 NLT: “Since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”

God desires to live among the people he created. The Bible says that God loves us! The problem arises that there can be no sin in the presence of the Lord. By definition, sin and God don’t go together. What to do?

The presence of the Lord was in a special inner room, the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place. The entrance was covered by a large, very heavy curtain. Mankind could visit the Temple where God was exalted, but we had separate spaces.

Enter Jesus. After Jesus, everything is different. After Jesus, everything is better! As he died on the cross, Jesus took the sins of the world to the place of the dead and left them there. Mankind had been forgiven, redeemed, purchased back from Satan’s pawn shop, Jesus himself being the ultimate sacrifice for the world’s sins. And since mankind was no longer carrying a sin-burden, there was no longer a need for separation from God. The giant curtain was torn from top to bottom, a sign that God was doing the tearing! There was now nothing separating the creation, mankind, from our Creator God. He says our sins are forgiven and forgotten, and God is never wrong!

If we’re expecting company, my wife wants our place to look nice, so I go outside to mow the lawn and straighten up the yard. I work hard. Then I hear, “You’ll need a shower before they get here!” We want to look our best when meeting someone for the first time! Fortunately, we have Jesus to clean us up before we meet the Father!

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

Direct Connection!

For Sunday, April 13, 2025:

John 16:23 NLT, Jesus speaking: “Following my resurrection, you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name.”

On the cross, Jesus took the sins of the world to the place of the dead. And with sins forgiven and the penalty paid in full, mankind can directly approach the Father. When Jesus died, the curtain protecting the Holy of holies, separating mankind from God was torn – torn from top to bottom, so it was God doing the tearing! We no longer needed a middle-man, an intercessor, a priest. That is why we pray directly to God our Father in the name of Jesus.

 "You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.” In Hebrew jargon, a sinner is said to be “far from God.” Someone who repents and returns to the Lord is “closer to God.” Tearing down the curtain allows us to be closer to God. So apparently God desires us closer to him. He wants a relationship with each of us!

Many things changed with the New Covenant Jesus introduced to the world. A closer relationship with Father God gives us a foot in the door of eternity!

Today is Palm Sunday. Lift your hands and sing with joy! With your family, celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into the Holy City! See you at church!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Priests!

March 17, 2025, Monday Message:

Leviticus 21:1 NLT: The Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the priests, the descendants of Aaron.”

Under the Old Covenant, Priests were go-betweens. The general population was separated from God Almighty in the Tabernacle. On the people’s behalf, the Priests would offer sacrifices, sometimes to atone for someone’s sin, and other times just because that tithe belonged to the Lord. Priests were set apart from other Jews. They were considered special, sanctified.

In the New Testament, Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father who art in heaven...” So we no longer need a go-between, someone to speak with God on our behalf. Jesus said that any believer, you and I, can pray directly to God himself.

When Jesus died and took the sins of the world to the place of the dead, believers were purified. Our sins were blotted out, taken away, and now being without sin, we can speak directly with the Lord. The curtain separating the most holy place was torn from top to bottom, so it was God doing the tearing. People whose sins are forgiven no longer need to be separated from God.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Although he wasn’t born in Ireland, legend has it that Patrick did much to evangelize the region. And any day you can make new Christians is a good day!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship