Obedient and Thankful!

For Sunday, November 30, 2025:

Luke 1:46-47 NLT: Mary responded: “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!”

Mary was both obedient and thankful. This young woman finds herself with child, never having been with a man. Strange situation! She is about to marry Joseph. How’s that going to look to all the neighborhood gossips? God would have to send his messenger angel again to explain the situation to Joseph!

Gabriel had told her that the child would be known as the Son of God. That convinces Mary that this is a good thing. She’s awestruck at being chosen by the Lord. This simple woman has been given a huge honor! May those gossiping shut their mouths! Mary could get away, perhaps visit her cousin Elizabeth for a while. Elizabeth had been visited by an angel too, and was pregnant with John the Baptist.

Thankfulness flowed out of Mary as she prayed the Magnificat, her song of praise for being honored by God. (Luke 1:46-55) The Lord has a unique task for each of us, and we should all get ready to serve. We should be obedient, and – just like Mary – we should be filled with gratitude for what we have been given.

God is good!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

Plotting to Kill!

July 7, 2025, Monday Message:

John 11:48 NLT, Jewish High Council discussing Jesus: “If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”

Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead, brought him back to life! Jesus made quite a show of the whole thing. After being informed of Lazarus’ illness, Jesus tarried for two more days, I believe to make a point and to better show God’s glory! When Jesus finally arrived, he was cautioned not to open the tomb. Lazarus had been dead for four days and the smell would be horrible. Throwing caution to the wind, Jesus ordered the tomb opened and commanded, “Lazarus, come out!” As Lazarus exited the grave, his body appeared bound up for the hereafter. So Jesus commanded, “Unwrap him and let him go!”

Now this isn’t something you see every day, someone four days dead walking out of a tomb! So everybody was talking about it, shouting the news and exalting the heavenly powers of Jesus of Nazareth. Some people began shifting their allegiance from the Temple to Jesus and his radical ministry. And as I’ve said before, when people leave the Temple, their tithes go with them!

Note that the High Council didn’t say that Jesus had done anything wrong. Only that if they allowed Jesus to continue, they feared that they’d be out of business! Jews had a special deal with Rome. If they kept peace in their region, Rome would allow their religion to continue. This was a unique concession on the part of Rome, since their Caesar wanted to be thought of as a god. But somehow the Jews were allowed to have their own God! The Council feared that the success of Jesus would threaten their sweetheart deal!

The high priest Caiaphas counseled the others: “It’s better that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.” So from that time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus’ death. This was a sad time in the Jewish religion, where the leadership got so off track that they would consider murder. Little did they know that they were plotting the murder of the Son of God!

In fact, they were doing exactly what God wanted. As Jesus died, he would take the sins of the world to the place of the dead, thereby cleansing mankind and making them suitable for spending eternity alongside God Almighty! Heaven awaits!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth!

For Tuesday, December 17, 2024:

Deuteronomy 5:20 NKJV, God’s words: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

This commandment teaches that we are to be truthful. In a court of law, an eyewitness is king! “I saw him pull the trigger, and watched the body fall to the ground.” That kind of damning testimony can send someone to prison for a long time! And our God wants us to speak only the truth!

This principle applies even when we aren’t on the witness stand. In everyday life let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ actually be ‘no.’ When a Christian speaks, we should assume that their word is good.

Take gossip off your things-to-do list. Sometimes gossip is spreading rumors and untruths. Other times it’s gloating over someone’s misfortune. Either way, we shouldn’t be a part of it.

The words spoken by a follower of Jesus should be truth, words like He would say!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Psalms 120 - Save me from Gossip

Nov. 27, 2017 Monday Message:

“Save me, Lord, from lying lips and deceitful tongues.” Psalms 120:2 NIV

In elementary school, I was taught, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” I don’t think that’s quite true. Somebody trash-talking you behind your back can leave you in a world of hurt.

Some people just don’t ‘get’ their gossip factor, so they persist in it.

Example: Many people watch a football game on Sunday afternoon, and then spend the next week critiquing what happened. “I think the quarterback messed up the play. They shouldn’t have run that play in the first place. That coach has no business working in the NFL.” Everybody has an opinion on how the day should have gone. Sportscasters and radio show hosts – professional arm-chair quarterbacks – spend the next week criticizing athletes who generally aren’t present to defend themselves.

At least they’re well-paid for taking this kind of abuse. You and I are not, and as Christians with Jesus’ value system in place, we shouldn’t speak badly of others. In fact, we should campaign against gossip, and if someone gossips to us, we need to ask them to please stop. I really don’t want to hear someone’s bad opinion of a third party who can’t answer the charges.

My mother always taught me, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” I think that’s good advice.

Cruel words are crushing the psalmist, who writes, “I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me.” The Lord is always the best place to turn when you need rescuing. Ps. 120:1

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship meets next Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. Pastor Michael Pilla lead us through Advent - See you at church!