Value System!

For Tuesday, August 26, 2025:

Mark 14:1b NLT: “The leading priests and the teachers of religious law were still looking for an opportunity to capture Jesus secretly and kill him.”

It was two days before Pasach, the Passover, the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The men behind the conspiracy against Jesus were priests and Jewish teachers of religious law. They should have known better.

On one hand, their religious beliefs taught that murder is wrong. Their parents and schools taught that murder is wrong. They teach others their deep-rooted moral belief that murder is wrong. And here they all are, plotting a murder, in direct conflict with their own value system, their own beliefs. Listen to this: Anyone who is doing what they would counsel others to NOT do is caught up in a big mental mess. In this case, perpetuating their religion had taken precedence over the religion’s fundamental principles, and that’s backwards. The priests believed Jesus was threatening their religion, and suddenly, plotting a murder became acceptable to them. They were wrong.

The priests and religious teachers didn’t want this event to happen on a holy day. The people might rebel! This tells us that, deep down, they knew the whole affair was wrong. If this secret were exposed, people could lose confidence in their religion.

With Jesus, God gave us the New Covenant. Believers have God’s Laws written on their hearts. In other words, God gave us a conscience. We should instinctively know right from wrong. So when a question arises, we should ask ourselves, “Is this good, is this right, is it fair, is it honest – should we be doing this thing?” With our God-inspired internal value system, we already know the right answer!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Holy Living!

November 18, 2024 Monday Message:

1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 NLT: “God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.”

Since God’s laws are now written on our hearts, we should instinctively know right from wrong. So sinning becomes intentionally rejecting God and his commandments. Bad choice!

Those who walk with the Lord daily will remain under his protection. But those filled with intentional disobedience have already rejected the Lord. Look for them in the group where Jesus says, “I never knew you!”

It’s really not so hard to walk through this life holding God’s hand. Go ahead – give it a try!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

New Covenant!

For Friday, November 8, 2024:

3 John 11 AMP: “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but [imitate] what is good. The one who practices good [exhibiting godly character, moral courage and personal integrity] is of God; the one who practices [or permits or tolerates] evil has not seen God [he has no personal experience with Him and does not know Him at all].”

With the New Covenant, God’s laws are “written on our hearts.” That means that we instinctively know the way God would want us to live. For example, we all know stealing is wrong. You shouldn’t take something that belongs to someone else. We don’t need the government to write laws to tell us this. Everyone already knows. Everyone!

Similarly, God should always be first in our lives, murder is wrong, and we should keep our hands off our neighbor’s wife (or husband.) Don’t yearn for what someone else has that you don’t have. Thoughts like that can only lead to sin. Honor your ancestors and don’t lie about anything. Like I said, we don’t need laws to teach us these things, because God’s value system is now written on our hearts!

God says that he’ll do the final judging, but we should learn to spot evil and false teaching. Stick with those who–through their actions–show that they have personal experience with God. That’s the side on which you want to be!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Trust!

For Tuesday, July 16, 2024:

1 Peter 4:19 NLT: “If you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.”

If you are suffering, that isn’t from God. Sin runs rampant in the human race, and those doing good, those obeying God’s instructions are often criticized out of jealousy, greed or narcissism. God wants us to continue doing right whether criticized or not, whether suffering or not.

Doing the right things for the right reasons is a worthy goal. We already know what to do because, with the New Covenant, God wrote his laws on our hearts. He gave us a conscience. And God gave us the gift of discernment. We don’t need to waste time looking things up in a book. Now we instinctively know right from wrong!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart! He will never fail you!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Jesus' Value System!

August 29, 2022 Monday Message:

​Ephesians 4:22 CEV: “You were told that your foolish desires will destroy you and that you must give up your old way of life with all its bad habits.”

​Pagans have no moral compass. They wander through life not knowing if they did the right thing.

Christians have been given a value system. Jesus’ life was an example of how we should live. It’s a high standard! We won’t achieve that, but it’s a worthy goal. It’s been described as putting on a new suit of clothes.

The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. We are plagued with shortcomings, but deep down we know when it’s time to repent and return.

Thankfully, God’s laws are written on our hearts!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

New Covenant!

August 16, 2021 Monday Message:

Mark 7:9 NLT: “Jesus said, ‘You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition.’”

That day Jesus was addressing what appear to be good people. They’re observant Jews, quite interested in things religious. They tithe, supporting their local synagogue.

Those things are all good, but it turns out that their parents were neglected, and that’s not good. God didn’t give them a pass on that one commandment. God never gives us a pass on any of his commands, but he did set up a system whereby we could repent and return, and he would welcome us back into the Holy Family, and that gives us eternal hope.

Mankind falls into the trap of making excuses for why we should be the exception to God’s rule. We rationalize our way into accepting that which is never OK. Time to get back on track!

In the New Covenant set forth by Jesus, God has “written his laws on our hearts.” We call it a conscience. Deep down, we already know right from wrong. We no longer need a list of God’s rules – I call them ‘Principles for Good Living’ – because we already know. If there are questions, you can always double-check your value system against what the Bible says.

We don’t get to make the rules – God makes the rules!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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