Children of God!

For Friday, August 28, 2026:

Romans 9:26 NLT, Paul testifying to the church in Rome: “Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

When Jesus visited us on our planet, it makes sense that he would come through the Jewish people, those who had an existing relationship with Yahweh. But the territory increased greatly after Paul’s encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. Paul was called to leave Israel and evangelize Asia Minor, where he planted church after church after church. And the prophet Hosea called those new believers ‘children of the living God.’

John also tells us, “To all who believed Jesus and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.” Once again, ‘children.’ The faithful are adopted into the Holy Family, whereby God is our Father and Jesus is our brother. It’s a good family, and believers can be proud to be part of such a loving and accepting community.

God has opened the offer of eternal life in his Heavenly Kingdom to everyone. He also created us with freedom to choose, and we have the right to choose incorrectly. That’s unfortunate. Eternity is a long time, and we should want to be in the right place forever!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Ancestry!

Daily message of hope...
For Wednesday, August 26, 2026:

Romans 9:25 NLT, Paul testifying to the church in Rome: “Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea, ‘Those who were not my people, I will now call my people. And I will love those whom I did not love before.’”

Early Christians were all Jews. But following Paul’s efforts, the ancestry ratio shifted so that most modern-day Christians originated in the Gentile population. As a group, we were not Jews, “God’s chosen people.” Friends, it matters not. God is God, and he can choose anyone he wants to. He has now chosen us, the faithful believers who love Jesus. (And yes, some believers were Jews!)

Scripture tells us that whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. And that scripture is speaking of eternal life, having a home in God’s heavenly Kingdom, living in the place Jesus prepared for you.

As it turns out, our ancestry isn’t the deciding factor. It’s our love for the Son and the Father’s love for us that cement the bidirectional relationship. It’s good to have friends in high places!

Pastor Norton Lawellin
The Father’s House
Jesus In the City Fellowship
Truth & Freedom Church

Compassion!

August 24, 2026, Monday Message:

Luke 6:36 NLT, Jesus speaking: “You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.”

God went to all the work of creating the universe, the planets, plants, animals, and finally human beings. Then the humans disobeyed, sinned. At that point, God could have thrown in the towel, concluding that the project was doomed. He did not!

God had fallen in love with these little humanoid creatures he had created. In spite of mankind’s shortcomings, God desired the best for everyone. Rather than abandoning the project, he devised a plan to rescue the faithful. He’d send his son Jesus to pay the penalty for mankind’s sinning. In a way, we’d be rescued by God himself. That’s the ultimate example of being compassionate!

Now that we know what all-out compassion looks like, we can emulate the Father and his Son. It’s said that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, so we endeavor to live our lives with Jesus as our model!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Love!

For Sunday, August 23, 2026:

Luke 6:35 NLT, Jesus speaking: “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.”

We already love those who love us. Jesus is telling us to offer that love to everyone, even those who aren’t on your side. He wants being nice, kind and helpful to become our first response in any situation. In short, we should always do what Jesus did.

While we can’t earn our way into heaven, God will look kindly on those who obey his Son’s teaching. If you stop and think about it, heaven’s response will mirror your own behavior. If you’ve shown love to all, you’ll be welcomed with open arms. But if you’re known as a jerk here on earth, heaven may have second thoughts. Let’s not go there!

Love your friends, and show kindness to your enemies. But most of all, love the Lord!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Love & Mercy!

For Saturday, August 22, 2026:

Romans 9:16 NLT, Paul testifying to the church in Rome: “So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.”

God is good. God looked at mankind, his creation, and declared it to be very good. Not that WE were particularly good, but that his act of creation was very good. God loves us and he’s not about to change his mind. God is merciful, loving us in spite of our shortcomings.

If we could earn our way into the Kingdom, no one would make it because the Bible says that ALL have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, his goals for mankind. We are saved by grace, undeserved favor. Our faith in God’s sovereignty includes us among the faithful.

But make no mistake. Salvation is a gift from the Almighty. Unlike other religions, we can’t work for God’s acceptance. We can’t earn his love. Our God has chosen us! He’s a merciful God, and believers are the beneficiaries of his kindness and love!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Love Your Enemies!

For Tuesday, August 11, 2026:

Luke 6:27-28 NLT, Jesus speaking: “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.”

Notice how Jesus begins: “To those who are willing to listen.” He already knows that this message may be unpopular. He’s teaching, “Love your enemies!” Seems counterintuitive. Don’t we hate our enemies?

That’s how the world works, but that’s not how Christians should operate. Jesus wants us to include enemies in our prayers. We can pray for a change in their evil ways. We can pray that they would see the light! We can pray that they would switch sides, come to know Jesus and become one of us! After all, that’s what Paul did!

Pray that our enemy would become our friend. Pray that we could let go and let God, and no longer hold a grudge. Pray that forgiveness would be our hallmark, because the Lord will forgive us as we forgive others. And as the Lord’s prayer says, “Lead us not into temptation.” Mankind so easily succumbs to temptation that we need to pray to stay far from it. We ask God to separate the sheep from the goats as he promised. If evil has crept too close to us, deliverance may be in order. Satan needs to be kept at bay, and Jesus said to pray, “Deliver us from evil.”

Every day God gives each one of us a yellow pad and a pen. At the top, write: Things To Do Today! Number down the left side. Now start filling in the lines. You get to decide your own agenda! Ideally, loving the Lord should be first. Loving your neighbors is next. Praying for your enemies should be somewhere on the list. After all, that’s what Jesus said to do!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

God's Mission Funding!

For Wednesday, August 5, 2026:

Luke 6:24 NLT: “What sorrow awaits you who are rich, for you have your only happiness now.”

Certain traits seem to be typical for those who have wealth. They tend to hoard the money, desire money, and seek to obtain more and more money. Money itself occupies that person’s focus, and pursuit of more becomes their life’s work. Those traits aren’t on God’s agenda.

But don’t make the mistake of thinking that Christians are inherently poor. God has granted some believers abundance so that we can do more of his work. We tithe to our local church, sometimes giving even more for special projects. We love our neighbors, seeing that their basic needs are met. We buy food for those who need help, and shoes for their children. Ask yourself, “What would Jesus do?” He healed everyone, blessed the children and fed thousands of people when no food was available. Jesus always did the right things for the right reasons, expecting no reward other than a smile from his Father!

Like Jesus, Christians don’t expect a reward for doing the right thing, but our efforts will be acknowledged in the Kingdom. Kindness only takes a moment, but our rewards are eternal. Be on the right side of God’s value system. When in doubt, just do what Jesus did!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Beatitudes!

For Sunday, July 26, 2026:

Luke 6:20 NLT: Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours.”

Thus begin the Beatitudes, Jesus’ declarations of blessedness from his Sermon on the Mount message. Let’s have a look.

If someone was struggling through their earthly life, was poor or sick and turned to the Lord for assistance, they would be included in the Kingdom, since they already knew the Lord, having cried out to him for help. They value God’s assistance both in this life and the next.

On the other hand, many people living rich, abundant lives think they have it all together. A lot of them have no need for a God since they believe the world revolves around them! Not so! They will not see the Kingdom as they never knew the Lord.

This is what Jesus meant when he said that the first will be last and the last will be first. Those having a rough time and seek the Lord will continue to know him. Those who don’t know the Lord on this earth also won’t know him in the life after this life. So be intentional about cementing your relationship with the Almighty. If life has been good to you, become a leader in loving your neighbors. Do what Jesus would have you do here on earth. Then he’ll smile on you in the next life!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

God's Love!

For Thursday, July 30, 2026:

Romans 8:39 NLT, Paul testifying to the church in Rome: “No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Our Bibles tell us that God loves us. But mankind asks, “Really? How do we know for sure?”

The first humans disobeyed God by sinning, by deliberately doing what he said to NOT do! They succumbed to Satan’s temptation. I believe God was disappointed with the return rate of his Creations. If earthlings were to return to the Father, God himself would have to intervene.

Therefore, God sent his Son Jesus to our planet. I’ve said before that Jesus healed many, taught God’s ways, and interpreted Torah. But I believe his primary mission was to take away mankind’s sins, to offer forgiveness. Once earth’s residents were made sinless by Jesus’ sacrifice, the Father could welcome them back into his forever heavenly Kingdom.

Q: So how do we know for sure that God loves us? A: He sacrificed his only Son for our freedom. We are no longer slaves to Satan. We belong to the God whose Son paid the price for our redemption.

Rejoice! Believers belong to their Creator! Believers have been rescued!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Vast Eternal Plan!

For Tuesday, July 21, 2026:

Colossians 2:2 NLT, Paul speaking: “I want all the churches to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself.”

Our own intelligence can get in our way of understanding God’s vast eternal plan. If you’re good at solving problems by logically thinking things through to their obvious conclusion, God’s plan may not seem like the best idea. Let me explain.

Jesus was sent as the spiritual mentor for the world. He is here to get believers back on track. And that one man, Jesus, was opposed by the Pharisees, the Temple leaders and all of the religious establishment. It’s an uphill battle not easily won.

At first glance, it appears that Jesus lost. He died. But right before he gave up his last breath, the sins of the world were heaped upon him, upon God’s Son! He left mankind’s sins in the place of the dead. Believers were forgiven and offered an opportunity for a good life after this life. It all works out in the end, but getting there requires divine intervention. And for us, divine understanding!

Jesus eventually won. He walked away from the tomb three days later!

I’m amazed at the number of devotees sitting in our pews who don’t really understand how God’s plan applies to them. And I’m really, really amazed by how few clergy actually ‘get it.’ They can’t teach what they don’t know, what they don’t believe or what they don’t practice.

Friends, there is only one church, the Church of Jesus the Christ. One thing Jesus stressed was love for one another, loving our neighbors as ourselves. Start by doing what Jesus did, being nice, being kind, helpful and eager to serve others. Paul wants all believers to fully understand God’s mysterious plan in due time. Paul is advising us to have confidence in the Son, who only spoke truth!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Victory!

July 20, 2026, Monday Message:

Romans 8:37 NLT: “No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”

Despite all these things: trouble, calamity, persecution, hunger, being destitute, in danger, or even death. That’s the list, but it’s not an exhaustive list. Let’s just call it, “everything that could possibly go wrong!” These may seem like monumental problems, but to a Christian who has a certain life after this life, they’re just minor bumps on our road of life.

The Bible says “victory IS ours,” not “victory WAS ours,” or “victory Will Be ours.” In other words, Jesus has settled the matter ahead of time. Our tribulation becomes a small inconvenience after Jesus. Before we even know that we have a problem, he has the solution all worked out. It’s because of Christ’s love for us, his creations. That love is never-ending. We can always count on this to be true.

Jesus came to earth to bring us home, and he won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Jesus himself was victorious, walking away from the tomb after three days. Our eternal future will be victorious if we stick with the Savior and love Him as much as He loves us!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Help When Needed!

For Sunday, July 12, 2026:

Luke 6:10-11 NLT: “Jesus looked around at them one by one and then said to the man, ‘Hold out your hand.’ So the man held out his hand, and it was instantly restored! At this, the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage and began to discuss what to do with him.”

In this scenario, Jesus is teaching the religious elite a lesson in kindness. According to Jesus, every day – even the Sabbath – is the right day to be nice!

Jesus had the power of healing, and as it turns out, this man needed his hand fixed. It could have been next Tuesday or Thursday, but as it was, this was the Sabbath. Jesus wasn’t concerned with what day it was. The important principle is that this man needed help, and Jesus was available. The hand was restored!

Kindness and helpfulness don’t just happen on specific days. The command to love our neighbors doesn’t have any particular day attached to it. Nor should the day of the week preclude being nice!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Sabbath!

For Wednesday, July 8, 2026:

Luke 6:5 NLT, Jesus, answering the Pharisees: “The Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath.”

Jesus refers to himself as the “Son of Man.” He is the Son of God, but born into this Earth as a man, hence this description. Being God’s Son, one-third of the Holy Trinity, and heaven’s only earthly representative, he has every right to be “Lord of the Sabbath,” God’s designated Holy day of rest.

The Pharisees had memorized God’s Commandments, often called the Law of Moses because God delivered them to Moses on Mt. Sinai. The first four commandments are about our relationship with God, while the next six talk about our interaction with our fellows. (There are actually 613 commandments!) I summarize the Law like this: Love God, and love your neighbor! Simple, right-to-the-point.

Pharisees honored God, but didn’t get the “love your neighbor” part. Instead of teaching their followers the right way to live, they preferred to catch them doing something wrong and punishing them. The commandment in question here is, “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” They defined that as doing no manual labor on the Holy day.

The disciples were walking near the edge of a grain field, and found some stalks left unharvested. You could roll the grain in your fingers, remove the husk, and eat the inside. They were accused of working on the Sabbath. I don’t see that as any worse than if somebody left a tray of nuts on my table, and I quick grabbed a few for the drive to church. Speaking of which, is driving a car to church a kind of prohibited labor? Chassidic Jews don’t drive on their Holy day!

I don’t picture God splitting hairs on this, i.e. rigid enforcement. In our minds, we are to hold a “special” place for the Sabbath, remembering our Creator. After worship, a Sabbath day should be family time. God also wants us to use common sense. If we’re driving home from church and see a single mom with three kids and a flat tire, should we stop and change the tire for her? Even though that’s work? Yes, we should always be kind, helpful and do the next right thing. Loving our neighbors isn’t optional, and God will view your helpfulness as honoring His commands!

Jesus attended his Synagogue on the Sabbath. He would be called upon to teach, preach and read from the scrolls! Most of those present hadn’t learned to read or write, so they appreciated Jesus’ skill. Jesus even healed on the Sabbath, which got him in a lot of trouble with those Pharisees, but that’s another story. For now, “Love God and love your neighbor!”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Freedom & Truth!

For Saturday, July 4, 2026:

John 8:32 NLT, Jesus speaking: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Today we celebrate Independence Day in the US, the day the 13 United States decided to no longer answer to British monarchy. A foreign government could no longer influence our decisions. It involved a war, but we emerged victorious. That bought us some earthly freedom, but what about spiritual freedom?

Almost 1,800 years earlier, Jesus brought us truth. We remember the healings and miracles, and the knowledgeable preaching. An even bigger gift was Jesus, on the cross, taking the sins of the world upon himself, and taking those sins to the place of the dead, leaving mankind forgiven simply by declaring faith in the Son. But let’s not forget that every word spoken by Jesus was true. That truth is the foundation of our religion.

How spiritual leaders can get so far off track is a mystery to me. To many leaders, ceremony overtakes substance. The ritual itself becomes more important than our reason for celebrating. And tradition overcomes truth. “We’ve always done it that way” carries more weight than the reason for the action. Pharisees thought they had memorized God’s Laws, but they skipped the part about compassion, about loving their neighbor. Their actions didn’t line up with Jesus’ teaching.

There is really only one church – the church of Jesus Christ. So why do we have so many denominations? – over 45,000 worldwide, each claiming their way is the only way. Something’s off.

My advice would be to check your Bible and see what Jesus did. Then do that. Read Jesus’ advice. Then follow those instructions. Don’t adopt any new-agie whims. Stick with the basics. The main things are the plain things.

I treat “truth” as a noun, a desirable commodity we should all seek. (Spell-checker may disagree with me…) Jesus hasn’t rehearsed speaking “the truth.” In fact, he can do no other! If Jesus opens his mouth, truth comes out! There are no alternative narratives within him.

Jesus says that all true believers will know the truth, which is the origin of our spiritual freedom. Happy Freedom Day!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Logic?

For Tuesday, June 30, 2026:

Romans 8:32 NLT: “Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?”

Paul is asking the Romans to use logic to project their salvation. It’s a look into the future. It involves following a scenario through to its logical conclusion, though it may not have happened yet. It’s like an ‘if then’ line of computer code. ‘If’ the operator chooses this command, ‘then’ a specific thing happens.

Does our God love us? Yes! Has our God provided for us? Yes! Did God arrange for our sins to be forgiven? Yes! Is God’s desire for believers to join him in his eternal Kingdom? It hasn’t happened yet, but logic tells us that the answer would be a resounding yes!

God gave up the earthly life of his Son to rescue mankind. So it would behove us to be good stewards of his grace, that undeserved gift freely given to us. The love of the Father should be reciprocal!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Son of God!

For Wednesday, June 24, 2026:

Colossians 1:27a NLT, Paul speaking: “God wanted us all to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too.”

After the resurrection, the original apostles sans Judas continued their ministry in Jerusalem. Most didn’t travel far, although God called (Simon) Peter to Caesarea and Ethiopia.

Paul, trained by Pharisees, had been nothing but trouble for the believers. But he too was converted. It happened on the road to Damascus. So now on the right side of history, Paul started preaching in Asia Minor, nowadays known as Turkey. In a way, this was a more difficult ministry. Jerusalem was filled with Jews who already knew a God. Change ‘God’ to ‘Son of God,’ and a lot of what they already knew made sense.

One of Paul’s greatest challenges was convincing Jews that his pagan candidates should be granted membership in the ‘Jesus club!’ Another was convincing the pagan that they should become ‘like Jews.’ Here, Paul sums up what he had been shown by the Holy Spirit: “God wanted us all to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too.”

Jesus and his earthly parents were Jews, so I don’t want to give the impression that honoring Jewish traditions and practices is wrong. But I don’t regard it as necessary either. Paul later determines that Circumcision is unnecessary for new believers. Not wrong, just unnecessary. Not a deal-breaker.

The Good News brought by Jesus – love for all of mankind, forgiveness of sins and having a reservation in eternity – is not just for converted Jews. It’s for everyone, both Jew and Gentile! Love God and love your neighbor!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Time?

For Thursday, June 18, 2026:

Colossians 1:26 NLT, Paul speaking: “The Good News message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people.”

What time is it? We only think we know! Until our planet started spinning, there was no definition of a day. Until the earth began its orbit around the sun, we had no concept of a year. Jews started counting time from Adam. It’s now year 5786, which ends mid-September.

Christians count time from the birth of Jesus, AD = “In the Year of Our Lord.” Pope Gregory standardized this in 1582, authorizing leap years. You see, a year is actually 365.2422 days, so the system is still not perfect, but close enough for my lifetime.

Therefore, the Good News message of God’s love and forgiveness was hidden for 3760 years until Jesus’ birth. Mankind lived under the Old Covenant with rules and laws. With Jesus came mercy, forgiveness and absolution. Jesus not only forgives our sins, but removes them from our permanent record. It’s as if we had never sinned! That’s the free gift for those who call Jesus Savior and Redeemer! Being perceived as sinless (forgiven), we’re eligible for permanent residence in God’s eternal Kingdom. We have assurance of salvation!

That’s why today is the best day to lock in your commitment to Jesus. There are eternal ramifications from this decision, for both you and your friends. Your coworkers and extended family need to know the Good News too. Pray to become the hands and feet of Jesus, telling everyone the Good News of eternal salvation! Blessings!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church