Follow me!

For Friday, June 13, 2025:

Luke 12:38 NLT, Jesus speaking: “The Lord may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready.”

When the Hebrew people were about to be liberated from slavery in Egypt, they were told to eat standing up. They consumed unleavened bread that could be prepared quickly. They were to keep their walking sticks at hand and to tuck in their tunics to facilitate running. God was about to show up and perform a miracle, and he wanted his people ready to go – quickly!

In today’s scripture, Jesus is oddly speaking in the third person. When we witness what we call the second coming, it will be him, Jesus, who comes to gather the faithful. He wants to find us solidly locked in with those obeying God’s commands. When Jesus arrives on his white horse, will you be ready to fly in the sky alongside your Savior?

A man once asked Jesus about eternal life. Jesus said, “Follow me.”

The man hesitated. “First let me bury my dead relative.” That was the wrong answer. When Jesus says to get going, the correct time is NOW, not later!

When Jesus advised Levi, the tax collector, to follow him, he immediately left the tax booth. We now know him as Matthew the Apostle! That’s how it’s done!

Let’s meet up in the sky!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Radical Transformation!

For Sunday, December 31, 2023:

Mark 2:15 NLT: “Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.)”

Levi is known to us as Matthew, whose name graces the first book of the New Testament. He’s a former tax collector. Tax collectors were known for charging a bit extra and skimming a little off the top. Therefore we believe that Matthew lived a comfortable life, a life of opulence. Jesus was gathering disciples and apostles, many of whom had loathsome backgrounds. But Matthew had the resources to host a big dinner party for all of them. This would be their chance to learn from the Messiah!

Pharisees questioned the wisdom of people purporting to be holy hanging out with known sinners. But friends, that’s the only way evangelism works! If the saved never talked to those with questionable morals, there would be no new Christians! If your church is working right, there should be quite a number of disreputable citizens in the pews! Churches need to get off their high horse and get used to it! Jesus answered the Pharisees: “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

The first step may be casting out demons!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Tax Collector!

For Tuesday, February 28, 2023:

Matthew 9:9 NLT: “As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me and be my disciple,’ Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.”

Matthew, also known as Levi son of Alphaeus, was working an evil job. He had forsaken his own people to work as a tax collector for the other side, the bad guys, the Roman government. Tax collectors charged what Rome required, and then over-charged for themselves. Greed was rampant and corruption was expected. Roman soldiers were their enforcers, so no one got away with not paying!

To the Jews, a tax collector was considered an outcast from society. He was disqualified as a judge or a witness in a court session, was thrown out of the synagogue, and his disgrace extended to his family. The Bible often refers to ‘sinners and tax collectors.’ Sinners were bad, but tax collectors were even worse!

And yet Jesus called Matthew, proving that no matter who you are, no matter where you’ve been, no matter what you’ve done, Jesus has a place for those who repent and return!

Obviously Matthew had been searching for the truth. In Jesus, he found what he had been seeking!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Eyewitness News!

Jan. 07, 2019 Monday Message

“Eyewitness News!”

With the Christmas season in our rear-view mirrors, God has once again reminded me of the authenticity of the Gospel authors.

Matthew is the name given to Levi the tax collector. Tax collectors were working for those who had conquered and oppressed the people of God. In other words, Matthew had flipped and gone to the dark side.

But Jesus flipped him back to the good side. Matthew traveled with Jesus and his itinerant ministry team for three years, was an eyewitness to all that occurred, and wrote down exactly what he saw.

Courts-of-law love eyewitnesses. If someone can say, “I saw it all; I watched the crime being committed; I saw him do it!,” the prosecutor gets giddy and the judge smiles because he knows the trial is almost over. The criminal should start filling out change-of-address forms. It’s almost impossible to argue against an eyewitness.

Which brings me to the final point: Skeptics can tell you they don’t believe in God, but they can’t prove why they’re right. Skeptics have no evidence, but believers have eyewitnesses.

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship meets next Sunday, Jan. 13, 2019, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. I’m on vacation – please welcome guest Worship Leader David Boeltl!

Tax Collectors and Sinners

November 07, 2011 Monday Message:

“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Matthew 9:11b NIV

Jesus was always hanging out with the “wrong” kind of people. Tax collectors were among the worst.

In that day, Rome was ruling over Israel. But Roman-citizen tax collectors were greatly despised and might even be killed. Therefore Rome recruited Jews to be their tax collectors. The Hebrew people might not like paying taxes to Rome, but it was thought that they would not kill one of their own.

Levi-the-tax-collector’s ancestry was in the succession of Temple Priests. Now it’s bad enough when one of your own starts working for the enemy. But just imagine how people felt when they found that one of their high priests had gone to the dark side.

But apparently Levi wasn’t too happy with his choices. I believe he was looking for an opportunity to repent and return. When Jesus said, “Follow me,” Levi left the tax-collection booth immediately, and went with the teacher. They gathered for dinner at Levi’s house, and were joined by many other tax collectors and still more sinners.

When the Pharisees asked about this, Jesus said, “It is the sick people who need a doctor, not those who are healthy.“

So if you’re going to work with Jesus, you may find yourself socializing with sinners. You may be called to visit places to which you would not normally go, and to work with those who really need to repent and return. You’ll meet people who don’t look like you, don’t dress like you, and don’t speak like you. Choose to sit at their table and share the Good News. That’s what Jesus did.

Today we know the tax collector Levi by his Greek name; he’s the Apostle Matthew.

May the Lord walk with you this week,

Norton Lawellin