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

Faithful!

For Thursday, November 7, 2024:

3 John 5, 8 NLT: “You are being faithful to God when you care for the traveling teachers who pass through, even though they are strangers to you. We ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth.”

We need to care for itinerant preachers and visiting pastors and teachers. Let’s face it – they’re not going to be offered gifts by non-believers, so those of us in Jesus’ flock need to care for those carrying Jesus’ message!

A Christian’s overall mission is to share the Good News with all nations, and each believer should be a part of that team. Yesterday, I was explaining to a group that my personal call is to keep local churches running well, so that we have solid platforms from which to send missionaries. Has God shown you your call, your job on the ‘carrying-the-message’ team?

Are you filled with unshakable faith in the Lord and his mission? If we’re going to be of benefit to the team, we need to be filled with the fire of faith that can not be extinguished!

Friends, love the Lord and love his mission!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Reward!

For Tuesday, September 10, 2024:

1 John 2:24-25 NLT: “You must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he promised us.”

In computer code, there’s an operation called “if, then.” IF we make a certain choice, THEN happens. For example, if we pick “quit,” then that program stops running and is no longer active. It disappears from our screens until the next time we choose to launch it.

Donkeys love carrots. The “Carrot On a Stick” saying shows the rider holding a carrot on a stick just out of the donkey’s reach, motivating it to move forward. “Eternal Life in the presence of the Lord” is mankind’s carrot. That’s our motivation, our reward. Let’s be honest – no one would pursue all this “religion” stuff if there was no reward at the end.

But there IS a reward! The God who loves us wants us to all be together in his Kingdom. Souls go to heaven until Jesus returns, when they’re given glorified bodies to fight for the “Jesus Team.” Eventually God removes sin, creating the New Heaven and the New Earth. Just so you know, faithful mankind’s final destination isn’t heaven; it’s the New Earth, where God will live among us!

Pursue the carrot!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Winning Team!

For Thursday, August 29, 2024:

Revelation 2:10a NLT: “Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer.”

Life has its ups and downs, and a lot of the downs are a direct result of the devil. Do not be afraid; do not worry. It’s only a temporary problem. In the end, the devil never wins the battle.

We are blessed to have Bibles wherein every word is God-inspired truth. We can flip to the back of the book and see who ultimately wins. Remember, God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) is the creator of everyone and everything, and Satan is one of His created beings. In the end, the Creator always wins.

"If you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life.” After all, as believers we’re now sons and daughters of the Most High!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Second Coming!

For Sunday, February 25, 2024:

Mark 13:27 NLT, Jesus speaking: “The Son of Man will send out his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.”

Jesus is wrapping up his teaching about the end times. He says that he will return to us in the clouds, in the sky. Trumpets will herald his arrival and be heard around the world. There won’t be any mistaking this event. Angels will then gather the faithful to join their Savior.

Jesus refers to believers as the “chosen ones,” but there’s a certain irony in this. Yes, believers were chosen by heaven, given the invitation, but they (us) in turn must choose to accept God’s offer to become one of his children. Our invitation is to join the family of God!

It’s a good decision! You won’t be sorry you accepted the Lord’s invitation!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship