Name of Jesus!

For Saturday, September 5, 2026:

John 16:24 NLT, Jesus speaking: “You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.”

There’s a first time for everything! Jesus is teaching the faithful one very important lesson, so pay attention. It’s for all of us today, too!

Instead of becoming frustrated by trying to do everything yourself, call in some reinforcements. In this case, help comes through Jesus himself! He not only gave us permission to use his name, but he instructed us to do exactly that. Using Jesus’ name is what separates a whimsical wish from a request for divine intervention. Believers with reasonable requests asking in Jesus’ name will receive. Their prayers will be answered. Jesus said so.

But it would be wrong to contradict God. We can pray for healing, but if God has decided to call someone home, God gets his way.

Regardless of the outcome, we should prepare to celebrate. In this scripture, Jesus tells us that requesting and receiving in his name will result in abundant joy! Now share with your fellows the goodness of God!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Ancestry!

Daily message of hope...
For Wednesday, August 26, 2026:

Romans 9:25 NLT, Paul testifying to the church in Rome: “Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea, ‘Those who were not my people, I will now call my people. And I will love those whom I did not love before.’”

Early Christians were all Jews. But following Paul’s efforts, the ancestry ratio shifted so that most modern-day Christians originated in the Gentile population. As a group, we were not Jews, “God’s chosen people.” Friends, it matters not. God is God, and he can choose anyone he wants to. He has now chosen us, the faithful believers who love Jesus. (And yes, some believers were Jews!)

Scripture tells us that whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. And that scripture is speaking of eternal life, having a home in God’s heavenly Kingdom, living in the place Jesus prepared for you.

As it turns out, our ancestry isn’t the deciding factor. It’s our love for the Son and the Father’s love for us that cement the bidirectional relationship. It’s good to have friends in high places!

Pastor Norton Lawellin
The Father’s House
Jesus In the City Fellowship
Truth & Freedom Church

Compassion!

August 24, 2026, Monday Message:

Luke 6:36 NLT, Jesus speaking: “You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.”

God went to all the work of creating the universe, the planets, plants, animals, and finally human beings. Then the humans disobeyed, sinned. At that point, God could have thrown in the towel, concluding that the project was doomed. He did not!

God had fallen in love with these little humanoid creatures he had created. In spite of mankind’s shortcomings, God desired the best for everyone. Rather than abandoning the project, he devised a plan to rescue the faithful. He’d send his son Jesus to pay the penalty for mankind’s sinning. In a way, we’d be rescued by God himself. That’s the ultimate example of being compassionate!

Now that we know what all-out compassion looks like, we can emulate the Father and his Son. It’s said that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, so we endeavor to live our lives with Jesus as our model!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Prayer!

For Wednesday, July 22, 2026:

Matthew 19:13a NLT: “One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them.”

What an opportunity, to have the Son of God pray for your children! Having seen the healings and other miracles, a Jesus touch on their children could only be a good thing. Form a line!

Has anyone ever asked that you pray for them? For some, that means add them to your prayer list when you get home. But for others, the request means stop what you’re doing, lay hands on the person, and pray right now. There’s an urgency to their request that we should not ignore. Some people are shy and reluctant to ask for help. We should still pray. That’s what real Christians do.

Some of the disciples thought Jesus was too busy and shouldn’t be bothered by the wee ones. Wrong! Jesus has time for everyone. He said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them!” Other translations say, “Cause the children to come to me,” or, “See that it happens!” As the song says, “Jesus loves the little children!

Praying for others isn’t reserved for Priests or Pastors. All believers can now have the power of prayer. When Jesus was on the cross, the curtain guarding the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom, ending the separation of God from believers. We no longer need an intermediary. Each of us has the power to pray and expect results. Jesus said we should use his name.

If someone has a need you believe God could address, pray for a positive outcome. Others may like what they see and want to join you in prayer. Use Jesus’ name!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Right Hand Man!

For Tuesday, July 14, 2026:

Romans 8:34 NLT: “Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.”

Paul is writing to the church in Rome, to those in opposition to the tyranny of the Roman government; in a way, protesters, since the government didn’t have much time for the church. So the ‘us’ he’s writing to is fellow believers, first in Rome, and following the canonization of Paul’s writings, for the faithful everywhere.

Paul asks a rhetorical question: “Who then will condemn us?” Believers should already know the obvious answer. Certainly God won’t condemn us. In fact, he sent his Son to rescue us. And Jesus won’t condemn us. He gave up his earthly life to pay the penalty for the sins of the world. And who is more powerful­ – the creator of the universe or the Roman government? God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is all-powerful. The Romans only think they have power. Their influence is limited and short-term.

There are benefits to joining any organization of like-minded individuals. If joining wasn’t beneficial, no one would ever sign up! Believers have joined the ‘Jesus Team.’ Benefits include fellowship and a sense of community, spiritual education that will serve us well in this life and the next, the Holy Spirit as a helper in this life, and the Father with his Son, pleading for our success from heaven’s throne. They’re our advocates, cheering for us all the time!

Have a blessed day! Stay cool and stay hydrated!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Plot to kill!

For Tuesday, March 31, 2026:

Mark 11:18 NLT: “When the leading priests and teachers of religious law heard what Jesus had done, (driving the corrupt from the Temple and overturning the money-changer’s tables,) they began planning how to kill him. But they were afraid of him because the people were so amazed at his teaching.”

Palm Sunday saw the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, with people waving palm branches and shouting, “Hosanna, save us, save us now!”

Monday was the breaking point for Jesus. He’d had enough of the corruption and scams taking place in the Temple. He said, “My Father’s house should be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves,” as he overturned the money-changer’s tables.

So the next day, Tuesday, the leading priests and teachers of religious law started plotting how to kill Jesus. To them, he was nothing but trouble. Left a big mess in the Temple for someone else to clean up! But what complicated matters was that a lot of people thought Jesus was the best Bible teacher they’d ever seen! He seemed to have an inside track on explaining the Bible and God’s intentions. Of course, we now know that Jesus was God’s son, one-third of our Trinity God. The bad guys were trying to nail the Bible teacher with the most knowledge to a cross. Seems illogical, incongruous to me.

Nonetheless, the plot continued to develop. Those planning Jesus’ demise had no idea that they were fulfilling God’s agenda. Jesus had to die to take the sins of the world to the place of the dead. That way mankind’s sins could be forgiven, and the repentant could report to the Father. Everlasting life in God’s heavenly Kingdom could be the new reality for the faithful! Do your utmost to be among them!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Repent & Return:

Daily message of hope...

For Saturday, January 24, 2026:

 

Mark 16:15 NLT: “Then the risen Jesus told the believers, “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.”

 

Throughout the Old Testament, the bottom-line message has always been to repent and return. Repent of sin, and return to the Lord. Come back to God’s way, his commandments and his thinking. God has a plan to reward loyalty.

 

As the New Testament begins and Jesus enters our world, the plan unfolds. Jesus’ mission is to put the Father’s plan in motion. As He dies on a cross, He will take the sins of the world upon himself and carry them to the place of the dead, leaving the forgiven faithful as eligible for eternal residence in God’s heavenly Kingdom. Didn’t Jesus promise to prepare a place for us? And doesn’t Jesus always speak the truth? You might as well start packing, because we’re leaving soon

 

Before we leave, we should be doing what Jesus commanded: “Preach the Good News to everyone!” How we do that may look different for each of us, but if we combine our gifts, we can get the job done. Everyone needs to know that the heavenly train is leaving soon. There’s plenty of room, but we need to get on board with haste. That train won’t wait forever!

 

If you believe Jesus is who he said he was and have faith that he can do what he promised, you’re “IN!” You have something that only redeemed Christians have – Assurance of Salvation! Relax. God has you covered!

 

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

Re-boot!

For Wednesday, January 7, 2025:

Hebrews 12:26-27 NLT: “When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: ‘Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also. This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.’”

God chose to love mankind, but it hasn’t always been easy. We have repeatedly let Him down. If this relationship continues, God would be forced to work forgiveness into His vocabulary.

Q: Do you ever play a computer game, lose, and a button pops up on the screen: “Try again!” We are engaged in a much more important game of life with God, and when we fail, God graciously puts a button on our home screen: “Try again!” We don’t deserve a second, third, or fourth chance, but God would rather see us succeed!

There will come a time in God’s mind when it’s best to wipe the slate clean and start over. (This will be the end of second chances.) The Bible speaks of a New Heaven and a New Earth, everything put back the way God intended when the universe was created. Born again, but this time better, all cleaned up. Those hell-bent on living their own way, sinning and disobeying God, will get their wish. They’ll get to spend time with Satan. (God doesn’t send people to hell. They themselves choose to not go along with God.) Those who have repented and returned to the Lord will get another chance at the good life, free of sin, free of temptation. Jesus will have prepared a home for the faithful.

The things that cannot be shaken are God’s word and truth, which are pretty much the same thing. God’s truth endures from generation to generation. It’ll be easier to hear God’s word after he clears out all the rubbish competing for our attention!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Love and Forgiveness!

For Wednesday, December 17, 2025:

John 15:17 NLT, Jesus speaking: “This is my command: Love each other.”

Some days, when writing, I can’t top what actually happened. One of our regular readers wrote about a shopping incident that involved caring, compassion, love, and forgiveness. Dana Jo used this incident as an allegory to our relationship with God. It’s a little longer than usual, but I ask you to read to the end. There’s a message in here for all of us.

 "I was at Kohl's today and heard a loud crash and something shattering. Being nosy, I walked towards the sound and saw some people whispering and looking back to the end of the next aisle. When I walked down that aisle, I saw that an older lady had hit a shelf, and many things had fallen to the ground and were broken. She was kneeling on the floor, embarrassed, frantically trying to clean up. I felt so bad for her. Everyone was just standing there staring at her.

So I went and knelt beside her and told her not to worry, and started helping her pick up the broken pieces. After about a minute, the store manager came and knelt beside us and said, ‘Leave it, we will clean this up.’

The lady, totally embarrassed, said, ‘I need to pay for all this.’

The manager smiled, helped her to her feet, and said, ‘No ma’am, we have insurance for this; you do not have to pay anything!”

 If you have read this far, give me another minute. Wherever you are, close your eyes, and imagine God doing the same for you! Imagine the broken pieces of your mistakes, or the pieces of your broken heart from all the blows life has thrown at you, all over the floor, and you’re there trying to collect all of the pieces and fix them yourself. Now imagine God comes and kneels right down beside you, smiles and says to you, ‘Leave it all there, I will clean this up for you.’ He loves you that much and wants to put all of those pieces back together if you will let Him! With Him, we have this insurance, and it’s called GRACE! It’s free! All you have to do is ask Him to forgive you, help you, and to heal you. He’s faithful, I promise! ❤️”

 I vowed a message for each of us in this anecdote, so here we go! God doesn’t order us around like slaves. He presents us with opportunities, and watches how we respond. The woman in this story needed a helper, and we’re all supposed to love one another. So my friend jumped in to help. God is waiting for each of us to do the next right thing. Life will present us with plenty of opportunities. When any of us offers help to someone, God smiles!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

Trials and Tribulations!

For Saturday, November 29, 2025:

Romans 5:3-4 NLT: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”

“Thank you, Lord, for these problems in my life!” Somehow that prayer doesn’t seem to make sense. Shouldn’t being one of the faithful give us a better life, protect us from problems? The logical answer is ‘yes,’ but that’s not how life works.

 If we have conquered a problem in the past, we’ll have God-given experience in dealing with it. We’ll recognize the same issue if it crops up again and know how to proceed. Our experience can help others battling similar demons. Case in point: Most alcohol and drug counselors are themselves in addiction recovery. Similarly, people undergoing cancer treatments form small groups to support one another through brutal therapy. Being kind and helpful, i.e. loving our neighbors, is what Jesus told us to do.

With a Christian viewpoint, we can change life’s biggest problems into valuable Kingdom assets, and the world will be a better place! Salvation awaits the faithful!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

 

Gift for the Faithful!

For Sunday, October 19, 2025:

Hebrews 10:39 NLT: “We are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved.”

Living our lives for the Lord requires effort. It takes a lot of work. It might be easier to give up on the project, to turn our backs on God. Of course, that would be wrong. Today’s scripture tells us that our souls can either be saved or left behind. As Christians, our desire would be to spend eternity in Heaven, in the presence of the Lord!

Jesus and his Father have given believers a free gift. We can’t buy it or barter for it. The gift is called forgiveness, and with it comes our ticket to heaven. You see, God and sin cannot exist in the same place. That’s why Jesus blots out our sins. There is no record of a sin. It’s as if we had lived a perfect life.

Christians have Assurance of Salvation. The work of Jesus on the cross brings us to the next reality. When you enter, look for Jesus. Tell him, “Thank you!” He’ll be just to the right of God’s throne!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Trust!

For Saturday, September 13, 2025:

Luke 19:13 NLT, Jesus tells the parable of the ten servants: “Before the nobleman left, he called together ten of his servants and divided among them ten pounds of silver, [or ten minas, about 30 month’s wages,] saying, ‘Invest this for me while I am gone.’”

The first servant returned with ten times as much as he had been given. “You are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.”

The second servant returned five times the investment. He was rewarded by being appointed governor over five cities.

The next servant didn’t do so well. He hid the principal to keep it from being stolen, but had nothing extra, explaining, “I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with.”

 "You wicked servant!” the king roared. “If you knew that I’m a hard man, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it. Take the sum from this man and give it to the one who has ten.”

Understand what transpired: The master’s plan was not to make money by his servants, but to make character in them. He didn’t need them to make money, but they needed to work with him to build their character.

The lesson is this: To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.

Believers have all been entrusted with making disciples of all nations. Whoever is faithful to the Lord will be rewarded and whoever is not will suffer loss. “Light received brings more light; light refused brings the night.” Are you prepared to receive your heavenly reward? Have you done well with the Master’s resources?

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Focus!

For Tuesday, August 5, 2025:

Mark 13:13b NLT, Jesus teaching about the end times: “The one who endures to the end will be saved.”

First, we learn about Jesus and how he can forgive our sins, setting us up for eternal life in God’s Kingdom. The future looks rosy. But don’t get too comfortable. Satan isn’t on holiday, and his demons don’t have the day off!

Newcomers to Christianity are especially vulnerable. They’re like babies still on a milk diet. We have to look after babies so that they survive. And we have to look after baby Christians so they too can survive. The devil and his minions have thousands of distractions and temptations intended to get us off track. Jesus says we need to reject all of Hell’s enticements. Those who are faithful to the end are the ones who will be saved!

We’re better off with Religious Tunnel Vision. Keep your eyes focused on the prize, on Jesus and the Kingdom, and don’t be distracted by the circus going on all around you! (May God help those with ADHD!)

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Persistence!

For Wednesday, June 25, 2025:

Hebrews 3:13 NLT: “You must warn each other every day, while it is still ‘today,’ so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.”

Stick-to-itiveness. That’s what we need. Goofy word, but it’s in my dictionary! This scripture encourages us to help each other stick with what we learned from Jesus. He IS coming back, but we don’t know when. Our hearts need to be right today, because tomorrow may be too late!

If we could graph the Hebrew relationship with God, it would look like a rollercoaster – up and down, up and down, closer to God, farther from God. When God has things going well in our lives, humans tend to say, “Thanks, God, but I can take it from here!” We eventually fail and crawl back to God, whining, “Please, God, help us out of this mess we’ve made.” God again rescues His people, giving them a second chance, a third chance, etc.

Things are no different nowadays. Unfortunately, mankind’s tendency is to grow complacent in our worship and in our devotion to the Almighty, and we begin to let things slide. Christianity gets put on the back burner. It’s not that we completely stopped believing. It’s just that religious matters don’t hold the priority they once did in our lives. People caught up in this are called backsliders!

Some theologians teach that if we can fall away from Jesus, we were never really “in” in the first place. Asking Jesus to be Lord and Savior of your life should be an irrevocable decision.

The Bible says, “If we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.” We should all strive to be with that group!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Faithful!

For Sunday, December 29, 2024:

2 Thessalonians 3:3 NLT: “The Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.”

Think about it – Humans make one faith decision to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives, and in return God walks with us for all of our remaining days on earth, even ushering us into the next reality. Believers eventually get to live in God’s presence in God’s eternal Kingdom! Seems like believers get the better end of that deal!

But that’s the character of our God – far more generous than we deserve. God wants each of us on his team, and once we make that decision, his mercy is never-ending. The Bible says that God and his Son Jesus will never leave you or forsake you. He will give you strength to reject the temptations of the evil one.

Strength comes from a close association with like-minded believers. We support one another. If we’re all of the same mind, pulling in the same direction, it will be far more difficult for Satan to divert us. Satan is never on holiday, but it’s hard for him to accomplish much if we’re true believers and those surrounding us are also true believers.

On Sundays we gather in God’s house! Satan is not welcome there.

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Forever Holy!

For Saturday, November 30, 2024:

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 NLT: “Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.”

As believers, we want to be kept holy, innocent and pure. Try as we might to achieve holiness, we may not succeed on our own. But Jesus comes to our rescue! His middle name is forgiveness, and he will continue to forgive us leaving us righteous and holy, prepared for him when he returns.

We will see God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. God’s desire is that none would perish, and that all would repent and return. Those who believe and trust the Son will be among those rescued.

Our rescuer and his Father are faithful and will not let us down!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship