End of the Age!

January 19, 2026, Monday Message:

Matthew 24:13 NLT, Jesus speaking: “The one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Jesus is teaching about the end times. He paints a glorious picture of those who are loyal all the way to the end. But his emphasis on stick-to-itiveness tells me to take a look at those who don’t have the character to see the end times in Jesus’ time.

As this age ends, Satan will cast a thousand demons in our paths to take our eyes off the prize. Discouragement is just the beginning. Believers will be arrested, persecuted and sometimes killed. (Those killed while still believing will be rescued!) The world may hate you for being a Christ-loyalist. Many will be deceived and turn away from what they know is right. Liars and false prophets will be abundant. Sin will be everywhere, and the love of Jesus will be relatively unknown on earth.

Reject anything that isn’t true. The key is to stick with Jesus until the end of the age. Your dogged tenacity will be rewarded with a heavenly life after this life, and a permanent change of address to God’s Eternal Kingdom.

Believe the truth now, and have your Change-of-address forms ready to go!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

For the Lord!

For Tuesday, December 23, 2025:

Luke 2:23 NLT: “The law of the Lord says, ‘If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord.’”

Here’s what the Lord said back in Exodus 13:2: “Dedicate to me every firstborn among the Israelites. The first offspring to be born, of both humans and animals, belongs to me.” Notice that when something is really important and God wants you to “get it,” he says it twice. So the example in Luke is actually the third time God emphasized this principle.

Mary and Joseph were obedient. They had seen and heard angels and had first-hand experience with a mysterious pregnancy. There was no doubt that this baby is special, and that God is “in” these events. Of course, they would dedicate the youth to the Lord. That’s what God said to do! Little did they know that their baby was the great I Am! So … dedicating God to God? Seems kind of silly, kind of redundant. It makes sense, though, to dedicate the God on earth to the purposes of the God in Heaven. They worshiped the Lord, and the baby was named Jesus (by the angel) – God is salvation. They had not yet been told of a Holy Spirit.

Notice that God doesn’t get any one of the kids somewhere down the line. He gets the first. God gets the first-fruits of the harvest. Your tithe should be the first 10%, not the last. And who gets trained to execute the Lord’s work here on earth? The firstborn son. God should always be #1 on our distribution lists.

Also realize that loyal, obedient believers are #1 on God’s list. Believers have their sins forgiven and have been handed a ticket to the hereafter. You see, loyalty and obedience are rewarded, but not always in the way we might expect. The Hebrew people are chanting, “Rescue us from Roman domination.”

Jesus is promising, “Your sins are forgiven.” Romans are a short blip on the screen of Hebrew history. Jesus’ offer puts us in a better place for eternity.

Pick one!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

New Covenant!

For Friday, September 12, 2025:

Mark 14:22-24a NLT: “As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, ‘Take it, for this is my body.’ And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, ‘This is my blood, which confirms the new covenant between God and his people.’”

This scene details the origin of Holy Communion. Jesus said that we should do this in remembrance of him. So, being obedient, we still do it 2,000 years later!

Picture yourself at the table that night. Jesus had been saying some pretty strange things lately, including predicting his own death. It might have been hard to take him seriously! It seems unlikely that the man who could cure any illness and walk on water would be dying! Even if those present understood the words, it seems unlikely that the described scenario would come to pass.

Only Jesus and his Father knew why this was all necessary and exactly what would happen. God had created mankind, loved what he created and blessed us with free will. But that allowed mankind to succumb to Satan’s temptations, and no one carrying a sin burden would find themselves in heaven. The sin had to be forgiven and blotted out. Jesus, who was sinless himself, was to be the sacrificial lamb to redeem mankind.

God’s plan was fulfilled, mankind was redeemed and heaven was populated! Sin was removed from loyal believers! Jesus abandoned the grave three days later, and eventually returned to the Father, preparing a place for all who would join him.

Let obedience and loyalty be your characteristics today. Prepare to join the Son in the hereafter!

Pastor Norton Lawellin
Jesus In the City Fellowship

God vs Calf?

For Wednesday, February 26, 2025:

Exodus 32:1 NLT: When the Israelites saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”

Impatient and fickle. Ungrateful and totally wrong! “Please, Aaron, make a god for us.” Dumbest request ever! I can’t believe Aaron fell for it. Moses’ brother should have known better, but it’s hard to oppose mob mentality.

The throng thought God was taking too long. They thought Moses was taking too long. They decided that if the real God wasn’t getting it done, they would make a god of their own. A golden calf. Bad decision. No one can make a God anything like our Creator God!

The Israelites must have short memories, forgetting all God did to get them out of Egypt. They must have forgotten the 10 plagues, culminating with the firstborn of everything in Egypt dying – everything except what was in the Hebrew camp! Had they forgotten the Passover? God said to never forget that and to celebrate it annually!

The behavior of these people disgusts me. If I were God, I’d feel like wiping them off the face of the earth, and he almost did until Moses intervened on their behalf.

Nowadays, “golden calf” is a synonym for anything that may look good but is fake and actually worthless. Idol, graven image, false god, pagan symbol and even the almighty dollar are listed. (Dollars are only valuable here on earth; they have no eternal value!)

So friends, don’t fall for any golden calf stuff. Focus on God Almighty, and as Paul said, “Keep your eye on the prize!”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

God's People!

For Sunday, February 16, 2025:

Exodus 19:5 NLT: God instructing Moses regarding the People of Israel: “Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me.”

God rewards loyalty. To him, stick-to-it-ive-ness is a virtue. It’s as if God said, “I’ve got an idea! I’ll be your God, and you guys can be my people!” Good idea!

Moses called together the elders and told them everything the Lord had commanded him. And all the people responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded.”

Jesus later came to earth to restate God’s invitation, this time not to just the Jews, but to the whole world! He will be our God, and we are invited to be his people. He’s looking for a forever commitment. God is willing to forgive sins, to grant us second chances, if we keep him front-of-mind.

The Lord’s desire is to include everyone in his Kingdom. He gave us the freedom to say no, but he’d prefer that we join the eternal salvation team!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Can't Fool God!

For Sunday, October 6, 2024:

Hosea 6:10 GNT: “I have seen a horrible thing in Israel: my people have defiled themselves by worshiping idols.”

Am I preaching to the choir? Maybe. But anybody reading this, following this thread, must already be committed to the Lord. Just make sure that God’s in first place, the most important thing in your life.

It’s easy to get content with your level of love for God, and move on to something else. Relationships, jobs and careers, and money can all put God on the back burner. It’s not that a person stopped believing. It’s just that something else crept into the top spot, and God won’t have it! God wants to be number one in your life.

Furthermore we can’t cover up where our loyalty lies. We can lie to ourselves, but we cannot lie to the Lord. God wants all of you, all the time.

You can’t fool God. He knows your heart!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Christians!

For Saturday, February 24, 2024:

Mark 13:13 NLT, Jesus speaking: “Everyone will hate you because you are my followers. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Jesus is again teaching about the end times. Remaining a loyal believer won’t be easy. Jesus says that faithful believers will be despised. We must remain strong enough to stand up under immense pressure.

Unfortunately, there is a world-wide trend away from religion in general and Christianity specifically. If the US continues the current rate of decline, we’ll soon look like Europe, with beautiful old churches in the cities, all boarded up. A recent survey showed only 65% of Americans claim to be Christian, skewed radically toward the elderly. As we lose supporters through attrition, they’re not being replaced by younger generations. We still have work to do!

Unshakable faith, devotion and loyalty – that’s what we need as the end times grow closer day by day. Jesus said that if we endure to the end, we will be saved! I pray we all get there!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship