David's Anointing!

For Tuesday, March 24, 2026:

1 Samuel 16:11c NLT: “At once, send for the youngest, the shepherd,” Samuel said. “We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.”

God had told Samuel that one of Jesse’s sons was to be anointed as Israel’s next king. Samuel thought he had interviewed all the young men, but God had yet to pull the trigger. So Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied. “But he’s out in the fields watching the sheep and goats.”

“Send for him at once,” Samuel said. “We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.” Voilà: David, anointed to be the next king of Israel! Not because his father Jesse decreed it, not because Samuel said so, but because he was God’s choice! Because God said so!

Frankly, there was no way David could have turned down the assignment. Think back to Jonah, called to deliver the “repent and return” message to the people of Nineveh. Fearing for his life, Jonah took off in the opposite direction, went overboard during the voyage, was swallowed up by a giant sea creature who spit him out. Where? On the beach of Nineveh, right where God had called him to be. God always gets his way! It would take a few more years, but David would ultimately assume the position for which he had been earmarked by God.

Have you ever been called by the Lord? First, identify your God-given gifts and talents. God will not call you to a task for which you have no skill, no knowledge. He will not send you on a mission without supplying the tools needed for success. If you’re volunteering to join the “God team,” something He needs will jump out at you, will fall right into your lap. You’ll be better at it than others. It wouldn’t be the same without you! God knows what he’s doing!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

A Sign from God!

For Friday, May 23, 2025:

Luke 11:30 NLT, Jesus speaking: “What happened to Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him. What happens to the Son of Man [Jesus] will be a sign to you people that he was sent by God.”

Here’s the short version of the sign of Jonah. God was fed up with the wickedly disobedient people of Nineveh. So God called Jonah to go there and tell the people to repent and return – or else! Jonah, fearing what those citizens would do to him, caught a boat headed in the opposite direction. God wasn’t having any of his rebellion. God made the seas rough and all the sailors feared for their lives. Jonah knew he was the source of their bad luck, and to save the others he was eventually thrown overboard, only to be swallowed up by a big fish. Three days later, the fish spit Jonah up on the beach of – (you guessed it) – Nineveh! Those people fasted and repented and earned their way back into God’s favor. That incredible journey was Jonah’s sign that he was sent by God. Lesson: If God wants you in Nineveh, you’ll soon find yourself in Nineveh, regardless of what you choose to do!

Jesus knew his future was to rise from the grave three days after the crucifixion. The Jews had never seen anything like that before. That would be Jesus’ sign that he truly was heaven-sent. Rising from the dead would be the miraculous sign that changed fence-sitters into believers. It still does today.

If you examine the evidence and listen to the eyewitness testimonies, you too will be convinced that Jesus is the Son of God. And if you believe with all your heart, you can tell others. That’s what Jesus told us to do!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Jonah's Call

For Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Jonah 1:1-2 NLT: “The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: ‘Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.’”

God had a job to do and he’d selected a point person to make it all happen. Unfortunately Jonah was of a different mind. Driven largely by fear, he headed in the opposite direction, trying to hide from God. That never works. We all know the story of Jonah being swallowed by the big fish, and three days later God gave him a second chance. Jonah finally entered the city of Nineveh, which is where he should have gone in the first place!

God will not send us on a mission without suitably equipping us for that task. God offers us care and protection as we go about His work. God wants the loyal believers to be on the bench, ready to go into the game when he issues the call.

Doing what God asks always proves to be the best way to proceed!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Second Chances!

For Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Jonah 1:2 NLT, the Lord speaking: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”

God had about had it with Nineveh. He’s up to here with their evil and violence. But as befits God’s character, he sends a warning; he gives them one more chance.

God’s plan was to send the edict with Jonah. But Jonah was afraid of confrontation, and took off in the opposite direction. It took a sailing mishap and 3 days in the belly of a big fish to finally convince Jonah to do what God had asked.

It worked! The king led everyone in Nineveh in repenting and returning to the Lord. He said, “Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”

When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened. God is merciful! He’s a God of second chances.

Every day he gives us one more chance to cement our relationship with his Son and assure our place in his eternal kingdom!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Jonah Rescued!

March 22, 2021 Monday Message

Jonah 2:2 NLT, Jonah praying to the Lord from inside the fish: “I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from Sheol, the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me!”

God had given Jonah a message for the people of Nineveh, but Jonah was afraid and went in the opposite direction. A storm overtook them at sea, and Jonah was convinced that he was responsible for the curse on the boat, a penalty for disobeying God. So overboard he went!

But God had not taken his eyes off the scenario. A big fish swallowed up Jonah, and from inside the fish, he prayed to the Lord! Three days later, the fish spit him onto a beach, and Jonah went to --- Nineveh, just as God had originally commanded!

Lessons: 1. If God calls you somewhere, you might as well go! 2. No matter how dire your situation appears, a God-rescue is always possible – there is always hope! 3. Jonah was in the fish for 3 days. It took 3 days to see all of Nineveh. Even a tomb sealed with a stone and guarded by Roman soldiers could be empty in 3 days! Coincidence?

Blessings and safety this week!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

God's Call

Sept. 9, 2019 Monday Message:

Gideon answered God: “Forgive me, Lord, but with what am I to save Israel? Why, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I’m the youngest person in my father’s house!” Judges 6:15 Complete Jewish Bible

It seems that when God taps someone on the shoulder for a task, the standard response is, “You’ve got the wrong guy!” Compared to the God doing the calling, most of us feel inadequate. But God isn’t just assigning us a task. God isn’t expecting us to accomplish His goal with no support. What we need to realize is that God already has a plan, and we are just a part of it.

When God asked Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses said, “You’ve got the wrong guy!” But God had hand-picked Moses for this task since he was a baby. God caused Moses to grow up in Pharaoh’s court so he knew the language and the government systems. God had equipped him for the task. Furthermore, the plagues would finally convince Pharaoh to let the people go free. Moses, you’re not in this by yourself!

When God called Jonah to Nineveh he ran – he went in the opposite direction! But God, through a bizarre series of events, brought Jonah right where he needed to be to warn the people of Nineveh to repent and return to the Lord!

Question: With 135,000 in the Midianite Army, why did God reduce Gideon’s soldiers to 300? How could they possible win the battle?

Answer: It wasn’t just 300 soldiers – it was 300 plus God, and with God they could accomplish anything!

So when God taps us on the shoulder for a task, we should get in the habit of saying ‘yes,’ knowing that God will be in it with us. You might be God’s perfect person for the mission!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship meets next Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. This week is the Men’s Retreat, so Pastor Van Dickerson will wrap up Philippians 4, guest Worship Leader Jerry McCluskey.

Psalms 94 - God's Way

May 22, 2017 Monday Message:

“The Lord knows all human plans; he knows that they are futile.” Psalms 94:11 NIV

There are two ways you can go in this life: God’s way, or the wrong way. Using contemporary language, you might say, “It’s God’s way or the highway!”

I’m reminded of Jonah and the big fish. It seems God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh, to prophesy about God’s anger with the wickedness in their city. But Jonah was afraid to let these people know where they really stood with God. So Jonah headed in the opposite direction.

While sailing away from God’s call, a storm ensued, the seas got rough, and everyone could have been killed. Jonah knows the storm is the result of God’s displeasure with him, and after exhausting all other options, the sailors finally cast Jonah overboard.

Immediately, the storm subsides, Jonah is swallowed up by a giant fish, and three days later the fish spits him up on the beach, and Jonah, now obedient, heads straight for Nineveh! Jonah preached God’s message, the King “got it,” the people repented and returned to God, who then spared Nineveh.

So you see, when God called Jonah to Nineveh, Jonah should have immediately started filling out change-of-address forms, because – like it or not - Nineveh was to be his home for a while.

Understand that sovereign God could have gotten his message to Nineveh with or without Jonah, but God choose to include him. Jonah almost missed a chance to play for God’s team when God wanted to put him into the game.

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship gathers the Sunday before Memorial Day, May 28, 2017, at the Akina Church, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. Lead Pastor Michael Pilla brings a message from the Bible.

Jonah

February 14, 2011 Monday Message:

About 200 years after David, and 800 years before Jesus, we find the minor prophet Jonah. Jonah is best known for being swallowed-up by a “greate fyshe” (Tyndale) when he chose to take himself out of God’s lineup. Let’s look at the story.

When God calls you, the right thing to do is to get going. When YHWH told Abram, “Go from your country … to the land I will show you,” Abram packed his bags. He didn’t need to consult anyone in his entourage. Even though Abram didn’t know the destination, he got going, because that’s what God said to do.

When God called Jonah to tell the people of Nineveh to repent and return to the Lord, he got going too. But Jonah’s fear sent him in the opposite direction! Jonah tried to hide from God. This gave God the opportunity to showcase his omniscience, his omnipresence and ultimately his sovereignty. Jonah could not hide from God, and from this we learn that you and I cannot hide either.

Jonah arranged passage on a ship that would take him as far from God as possible. But his disobedience angered God, and appeared to be the cause of the stormy seas. The sailors first tried everything they knew to save themselves, but nothing worked. Finally, as a last resort and following Jonah’s recommendation, they cast him into the sea to face certain death. The water immediately became calm, and the sailors, seeing this, became instant believers in the God of Israel.

Surprisingly, this was not the end for Jonah. God sent a big fish to scoop Jonah out of the water, and three days later the fish put Jonah on the beach, safe and sound.

In three days Jonah was saved by God’s action, and in three days we were all saved by God’s action. God often rescues us just when we need it.

There’s a lot of Jonah in each of us: uncertainty in answering God’s call, fear slowing us down, disobedience and sin, and the need to be rescued, i.e. God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Jonah was far from perfect, but God used him anyway. He can do the same with each of us.

Feliz dia de San Velentin!

Norton Lawellin

There’s a lot more to the story. I’ll fill in the holes at Chapel this Friday night at New Hope Center.