Teaching Truth!

For Sunday, April 19, 2026:

Luke 4:14-15 NLT: “Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.”

Jerusalem to Galilee is about 80 miles. In Jesus’ day, most people were on foot, so it was about a week-long hike. Depending upon the route, you might encounter mountains, have to cross a river or deal with unclean Samaritans. So many went to the Mediterranean and just proceeded North up the coast.

The region around the Sea of Galilee is where Jesus grew up, specifically the city of Nazareth. At the time, little is known about him other than that he’s Joseph the builder’s son. But immediately, he begins teaching in the Synagogues. The congregants are amazed by his knowledge and wisdom.

I like that my Bible calls this “teaching.” Personally, I’m better at teaching than preaching. I believe that if I teach the truth from the Bible, what someone should do becomes self-evident. I don’t like to harp at them. My 2¢.

This is Sunday morning, a good time to attend church. Hopefully, your church will teach truthful topics from the Bible. They should teach eternal salvation through the goodness of Jesus the Christ, fulfilling his Father’s plan for the rescue of mankind. It’s a good plan. We should leave with smiles on our faces!

Have a blessed day!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

Use Your Head!

For Tuesday, October 21, 2025:

John 14:26 NLT, Jesus speaking: “When the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”

The human brain is a miracle of God’s creation skill. Troves of valuable information are retained inside our heads. That’s long-term memory. Surprisingly, I can remember a lot of things I learned as a youth or in elementary or secondary school.

We also garner information on a need-to-know basis. Short-term memory. We remember everything we need to, now, but discard the data a short time later. Since I work with church musicians, I’ll use them as an example. Songs are typically assigned about a week in advance. I can look over the music and listen to examples of others performing the selection, but that’s a small part of the big picture. The most effective rehearsal is the one closest to the performance. It’s the rehearsal right before the church service that locks everything in place. That way, the details and any changes are fresh in our minds. Consequently, the best we ever do is when that music is performed for the congregation right after our rehearsal. Top of mind! But by Monday afternoon, I might not even remember the name of the song!

Back to today’s scripture… In Jesus’ absence, the Holy Spirit will (re-)teach us what we may have forgotten, reminding us of what Jesus said. That’s why it’s important to stake out our relationship with the Holy Spirit. He empowers us for service and connects us with spiritual gifts. While there is some denominational disagreement as to how best to connect with our Paraclete, there is no disagreement that we need to cultivate this relationship. The Holy Spirit can move Jesus’ teaching from your short-term memory to your long-term memory. As a believer, you’ll need this knowledge for quite some time!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Knowledge of Good/Evil!

 October 13, 2025,Monday Message:

Hebrews 10:29 NLT: “Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.

Sometimes we’re better off not knowing. Let me explain.

When Adam and Eve were first created, they didn’t know about sin and judgment. They innocently romped through the Garden of Eden, doing whatever they pleased and enjoying life. Sometimes God would walk with them in the evening, along the stream. Understand that Adam and Eve couldn’t sin, because they had no knowledge of right and wrong. God had told them, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

God was right! Predictably, mankind did exactly what they were told to NOT do! Eve saw that this unique fruit (knowledge of good and evil) was good, and offered some to her husband. Knowing they had done wrong, both hid from the Lord. With the transfer of knowledge, the bar had been raised. Now that they could discern good from evil, they were expected to choose “good.” Now that they could separate right from wrong, they were expected to choose “right.” As it was, they surely would have perished without the intervention of Jesus, who took the sins of the world upon himself.

In today’s example, the people knew all about Jesus and the new covenant. So ignoring those things would constitute willful and intentional disobedience, people thinking their way was better than God’s way. It never is.

As we model our lives following the footsteps of Jesus, we should be accustomed to knowing good from evil, and always choosing “good.” We may not be perfect, but our God is a God of second chances. Our shortcomings won’t derail God’s goals for us!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Use Your Head!

For Tuesday, September 30, 2025:

John 14:9 NLT: Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!”

 God designed mankind with brains and the ability to think things through to their logical conclusion, and he expects us to do just that. In this example, Philip had traveled with Jesus, ate meals with him, and observed miracle after miracle as Jesus ministered to the Hebrew people. From everything Philip saw, Jesus’ identity should have been obvious.

 But sometimes we want reassurance, verification that our conclusion is correct. Jesus couldn’t have been clearer in his answer: “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father!”

 Q: Why should we read our Bibles and attend Bible studies with others? A: To learn as much as we can about the Father and the Son. We want to familiarize ourselves with their similar traits and trends. And when our eyes have been opened as to who Jesus is, we can share that Good News with others, something we are all called to do.

 Do you believe Jesus is the Son of the Most High? Not just because the Bible says so (and the Bible is always right!) But because you’ve arrived at your answer through critical examination of the evidence, all of which points to the only possible conclusion: Jesus is Lord!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Instinctively Right!

For Tuesday, September 23, 2025:

Hebrews 10:16 NLT: “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”

The New Covenant represents a better deal for mankind. God’s desire is that none would be lost and that all would repent and return. So instead of having to read God’s Laws and try to memorize them, his commands have been permanently placed within us as instinct. No longer can we say, I didn’t know about that rule or I don‘t understand that policy. Now we intuitively know right from wrong. Thank you, Jesus!

This applies regardless of whether the person is a believer. For example, we have civil laws saying that murder is wrong, but we don’t need those laws to teach us. The Bible teaches us! Everyone from the priest to the prisoner in solitary already knows that we shouldn’t murder one another. It’s written on our hearts. We should love God, be kind to our parents; we shouldn’t steal, lie or covet what isn’t ours. Everyone already knows. Our minds have been pre-programmed to do the right thing!

God wisely put every inhabitant of Earth on the same page, giving us a uniform code of conduct. We all have the same rules, the same behavior standards. If a behavior is wrong in Washington, D.C., it’s wrong in Los Angeles. If a sin is wrong in Kansas City, It’s wrong in Moscow too. God has codified His value system and written it on mankind’s hearts. So we already know the right way to live our lives – God’s way!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Presence of Jesus!

For Saturday, August 30, 2025:

Mark 14:7 NLT, Jesus speaking: “You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me.”

Jesus knew his time on our planet was limited. And his point is that if you have the opportunity to speak with the Son of God, or perhaps sit down and take a meal with him, to always exploit that event. You may never get another chance.

Remember when Martha remained in the kitchen while her sister Mary sat at the feet of Jesus. If the Master is teaching, you’d better take a chair and listen!

In fact we all need to be intentional about learning. Knowledge about God, Jesus, heaven and the Kingdom is gained bit by bit. So we all need to read our Bibles, listen to sermons, and fact-check the sermon against what the Bible says. Truth is God’s opinion on everything!

We are to love the Lord and love our neighbors, but loving our neighbors never takes precedence over loving the Lord!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Knowledge + Faith!

For Saturday, June 28, 2025:

Hebrews 4:2 TLB: “This wonderful news—the message that God wants to save us—has been given to us just as it was to those who lived in the time of Moses. But it didn’t do them any good because they didn’t believe it. They didn’t mix it with faith.”

Gospel is translated as Good News or Wonderful News, the account of how, through the Great Exchange, Jesus took the sins of the world upon himself, leaving the faithful spotless, suitable for Kingdom residence.

The four Gospels are written in our Bibles, and we believe the Bible to be truth. We need that knowledge of what happened and what Jesus did for us. And along with that enlightenment, we need to add faith, unshakable belief in the truth of the Bible. We need to believe that things will turn out just as Jesus said, and that he can and will do what he said he could do.

This scripture is explaining that the Hebrew people in Moses’ time had knowledge, but lacked faith that Bible prophecies would come to fruition. Deliverance requires both – knowledge and faith. One won’t get us into the Kingdom without the other.

Pray for abundant knowledge of Jesus’ promise and a double helping of faith!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth vs Wrong Teachers!

For Wednesday, May 28, 2025:

Luke 11:52 NLT, Jesus speaking: “What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”

We are advised in James 3:1: “Not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.” The problem here was that the teachers of religion in Jesus’ day were leading people down the wrong path. If the leader doesn’t know the way to the Kingdom, it follows that those they counsel would be led astray. That explains why religious teachers would be examined more closely. Not only are they headed in the wrong direction, they’re dragging others down with them!

We have been given a textbook to use in our religion class – the Bible! We can’t go wrong teaching from the Bible, but we must also understand the times and the context. My favorite example is when Job’s wife told him he might as well curse God and then die! The Bible is truth! But at that point, Mrs. Job was fed up with God’s lack of protection, and she said horrible things. Knowing the context, I believe the Bible, but none of us should act on her advice. That would involve giving up on God, and Job’s challenge was to NOT give up on God. By the way, Job succeeded!

Jesus sees sorrow in the future of a bad religious teacher, while a good teacher, one who furthers the Kingdom, will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Dark and the Ultimatum!

For Friday, January 31, 2025:

Exodus 10:21 NLT: Then the Lord said to Moses, “Lift your hand toward heaven, and the land of Egypt will be covered with a darkness so thick you can feel it.”

Living in the city, we never experience total darkness. There are street lights, porch lights and lights on vehicles. But in Egypt 3k years ago, it was totally dark for three days. No one could see each other. No one dared move.

Pharaoh called for Moses: “Go and worship the Lord,” he said. “But leave your flocks and herds here.”

That wasn’t going to work. Part of worship back then involved animal sacrifices, so Moses needed to bring the livestock too.

On the one hand, Pharaoh had been challenged by the plagues Moses and his God had brought on the Egyptians. But on the other, he was just plain sick and tired of the whole thing. After all, there weren’t any problems like these until Moses showed up! So Pharaoh issued an ultimatum: “Get out of here! I’m warning you. Never come back to see me again! The day you see my face, you will die!”

Even after darkness, the ninth plague, Pharaoh still didn’t understand God’s power, so he’s leaving himself vulnerable to God’s final effort on behalf of the Israelites. As believers, we understand and believe what Pharaoh did not, that God is all-powerful and totally in control of everything. We love our God; Pharaoh resented God, thinking that he, Pharaoh, should have had the last word. But we know that the one true God is the final word on everything!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Knowledge!

 

For Saturday, November 23, 2024:

1 Thessalonians 5:8 NLT: “Let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.”

 "Light” in the Bible signifies purity, cleanliness and things that are holy, things that are good, things that are of God. “Darkness,” on the other hand, represents bad things filled with evil, ideas perpetrated by Satan. It’s easy to tell the difference!

This scripture teaches us that those living in the light also have knowledge and confidence. For example, if the second coming was to begin today, a lot of earthly people would be confused by the strange goings-on. Many would be afraid. But believers know what to expect. Believers could witness the end-times events and know exactly what was happening. Jesus told us what to expect, and he’s never wrong! Graves will open and we’ll meet Jesus in the sky. His ultimate goal is to take us back home and live eternally in God’s presence. So no matter how strange things may appear, believers have confidence that everything will be OK.

Everything will be all right in the end; if everything is not all right, it’s not the end!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth!

For Wednesday, April 10, 2024:

Colossians 2:3 NLT: “In Christ himself lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

You can read the entire Bible cover-to-cover and you won’t find any scripture where God was wrong. God’s people can do wrong, and sometimes God has to rethink his plan because of mankind’s mistakes. But from God comes all wisdom and knowledge! Truth is God’s opinion on everything!

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. So Jesus had the same value system as his Father. It’s said that he lived a perfect life. No other person has been able to accomplish that! In proving who Jesus was, his perfect life rose to the evidential surface. He was never wrong, and obedient to his Father even onto the end when it cost him his life.

Paul wrote, “You will only find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Jesus. He has them all.” It’s not wrong to seek wisdom and knowledge, but we must seek it through the life of Jesus and his teaching.

Slow down your pace of living just a bit. Take time to ask, “What would Jesus do?” Whatever he would do is the right thing!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Homeboy!

For Saturday January 13, 2024:

Mark 6:2 NLT: “The next Sabbath Jesus began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, ‘Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?’”

We know that Jesus is the best source of knowledge about God and heaven. After all, God is his father and the Kingdom is his permanent address.

In Nazareth, everyone was amazed when Jesus taught in the Synagogue. But the question came up as to how Jesus had acquired all that knowledge. The townspeople knew him as the son of Mary and Joseph. They knew his brothers and sisters. Their entire family was a part of community life in Nazareth, and to them, Jesus was just “one of the guys!” Having grown up together, they had no reason to consider him “special.” Many of his friends refused to believe, and Jesus was amazed at their unbelief.

As young adults, they worked alongside one another as a “tekton,” or builder. Jesus is traditionally thought of as a carpenter, but tekton/builder says stonemason may have been his skill. Instead of having a little wood-shop, putting up larger walls and buildings may be more accurate!

Jesus summed it all up: “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown.” That’s as true today as it was 2,000 years ago. I’m sure the residents of Tupelo, Mississippi thought Elvis was an “OK” singer. He grew up there. But they had no idea what would take place when he visited Sun Studios in Memphis!

Sometimes you have to get out of your hometown!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

God's Open Door!

For Thursday, December 8, 2022:

Revelation 3:8 NLT: “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.”

Our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is omniscient, which means he has total knowledge. We could call God a ‘know-it-all,’ but in a kind, respectful way!

Therefore we can not hide anything from God. He knows our hearts. If we truly love the Son, God will know that on judgment day. If we’ve been putting up a false front pretending to be a Christian, God will know that too. God has opened the door to salvation for believers, and no one can close it. God has arranged to have your sins forgiven through the Son, who went ahead to prepare your place in eternity. God is good!

We are saved by grace through faith in the Son. If life has not treated you well but you love Jesus, you can access heaven through God’s open door. If you have great influence in this life and think you can control everything, think again! You cannot control anything with eternal ramifications. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus!

The first will be last, and the last will be first!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship