New Miracles!

For Wednesday, August 19, 2026:

John 16:20 NLT, Jesus speaking: “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy.”

Jesus is getting the disciples up to speed on what is about to happen. This is prior to the crucifixion. As this scenario plays out, believers will mourn the death of their spiritual mentor, as they should, while the unenlightened chant, “Crucify him!” But Jesus won’t be gone for long. Three days later he’ll walk away from the tomb, and the shouts will change to, “He is risen!” Indeed.

At that time, there were a lot of fake gods in the land. Idols. They couldn’t actually accomplish anything. Jesus is explaining the actions of a true God, a Creator, someone with authority over life and death! This resurrection would be the first time someone was revived following a public crucifixion! God can do that! That’s why it needs explaining. No one has ever seen anything like this!

Jesus compares this series of events to childbirth. As painful as childbirth is, the joy of a new baby triumphs. Believers will be saddened by the crucifixion, but celebrate the resurrection with joy and amazement! Are you as amazed as these disciples were?

You’ll be even more amazed by knowing that Jesus took our sins to the grave and returned without them! It’s all part of God’s plan to rescue mankind!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Truth Defended!

For Wednesday, July 29, 2026:

Colossians 2:4 NLT, Paul writing to the church in Colossae: “I am telling you these things so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments.”

2K years ago, a lot of people would frequently switch religions. The core beliefs of each group were not always clearly defined, the exception being Jews who had previously encountered the real God. But others – the idol worshipers and such – were constantly proselytizing that there was value in their ever-changing beliefs. There was not. But remember, Christianity was the new kid on the block!

Once people had been introduced to the Son of God, Paul didn’t want their minds polluted with Higher Power misinformation. The Risen Savior personally met Paul on his way to Damascus, so Paul had truth straight from the horse’s mouth. (That’s a common expression; I’m not dissing Jesus! And he’s not Mr. Ed!)

Truth is worth fighting for. Paul’s truth wasn’t based on a rumor or what some random person told him. He’d heard from Jesus, he learned the truth and he was blessed to share it with others. Paul doesn’t want any believer to be side-tracked, because truth is nonnegotiable. Truth is not up for debate.

Truth is what’s in our Bibles!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Idols!

December 9, 2024 Monday Message:

Deuteronomy 5:8 NLT, Moses quoting God who spoke from within the fire: “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind, or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.”

We opened up the “Commandments” can-of-worms yesterday, so let’s continue down that path. Our God Yahweh claims the title of “God,” and no other entity can claim that title. We are to have no others, which works out well since there really are no others!

Anything other than the real God is a figment of our imagination, simply a pretend, made-up god. We are forbidden from worshiping anything other than the one true God.

What is an idol? 2,000 years ago, silversmiths would craft statuettes, figurines that people could purchase, put up on their mantles and then worship and pray. Other than the silver, these objects were worthless. Nowadays an idol can be anything that diverts our attention from worshiping the real God. Ending a worship service sooner so that we can get to our football game? That qualifies. Jobs that require working Sunday morning get in the way of worship. When my children were younger, they played sports. A tournament would be scheduled over a weekend, with the finals being played on Sunday mornings. I never understood that, or why there wasn’t a larger outcry against that. To me, choosing between a soccer match and honoring our creator doesn’t require much thinking. God wins every time!

Think about it – erecting an idol to a non-god makes no sense! What the Bible teaches us about the super-natural world is all true. There are devils and demons, there are angels and God’s angel-army, but there is only one Supreme Being, our Creator, Almighty God! The commandments, like the Bible, are about truth!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Idols!

May 20, 2024 Monday Message:

Ephesians 5:5 NLT: “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Messiah and of God”

Paul is teaching a huge perspective on theology. But it’s really quite simple. Christians should endeavor to be more like Jesus. Therefore no immorality, nothing impure and no greed should exist in the church. If immorality gets in the way of loving the Lord, then it would appear that person must love the immorality more than he loves the Lord, and something that occupies God’s rightful first place is an idol! As members of the Holy Family, idols should not be an option!

In Jesus’ day, when many people didn’t know the truth of the real God, people were still searching for something to worship. They would invent a god for good weather, bountiful crops – even a god of sexual pleasure. They would make up an image to represent that false god and manufacture multiple copies of the image which could be bought, sold and traded. Apparently god could come from Hallmark! Pagans would buy the images representing their god, and keep them in their homes. Their god became a statuette that could sit on their mantle keeping watch over the entire household. Totally incorrect, and yet somehow convenient!

Nowadays many things can divert our focus from God. Cell phones may top the list, especially among upcoming generations. The internet, sports, jobs and money can all take more of our time than we devote to God. We need to exert extra effort to keep God in first place!

Give God a little extra time today!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Serve Only the Lord!

For Thursday, February 2, 2023:

Matthew 6:24 NLT, Jesus speaking: “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to mammon: money and wealth.”

Taking what Jesus said a step further, you cannot serve God and worship anything else! Pick a side. You can choose to be with the good guys or the evil ones, but you cannot pick both! Jesus says it won’t work that way!

Example: The Lord had introduced himself to the ancient Israelites, yet they persisted in keeping idols to other gods. That was wrong. Jesus says we cannot have it both ways. Scripture tells us that our Creator is a jealous God, and to worship Baal is to despise God. We cannot worship multiple gods without putting them in order, and since the other gods aren’t real, we can dismiss them and place the only one remaining, YHWH, at the #1 position!

Nowadays an idol can be anything that diverts your attention from God. Careers, sports, television, fitness and family taken to excess can become our competing “god.” None of these things are bad in moderation, as long as they’re not contending for the #1 spot on your agenda. What is competing with God for your time, talent and treasure?

Don’t serve your money. Let your money serve the Lord, and it will serve you!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Love of Money!

November 16, 2020 Monday Message: 

1 Timothy 6:10 NLT: “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”

Money – we seemingly can’t live without it, but mankind isn’t very good at living WITH it either!  The Message writes, “Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely, and live to regret it bitterly ever after.” 

As many point out, money itself isn’t bad. The Bible says the problem is the extreme LOVE of money. At that point, the problem is no longer greed, but becomes idol worship. If the false idol pursued contains only dollar signs $$$, the follower is in for a lot of grief!

The solution, just like many of our problems, is to repent and return to the Lord. Realize that God grants some of us abundance so we can help others. And God also makes sure that everyone has basic provision, so we always have hope! 

Blessings and safety to all this week!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

3249 30th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406