For Saturday, November 16, 2024:

1 Thessalonians 4:1 NLT: “We urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more.”

Paul is encouraging the Thessalonian church: We have taught you to live in God’s ways, according to his commandments, according to his value system. We know that you are already living that way, but can you go a step further? Can you prioritize God even more in your lives? When God looks down from heaven upon the Thessalonian church, don’t you all want him to have a smile on his face? And when God looks down on each of our churches, aren’t we also looking for that smile of approval?

Can we all love the Lord a little more each day? More time and stronger devotion? And certainly we can do a better job of loving our neighbors, of taking care of the needy, the sick, the orphaned and the widowed. We should be the hands and feet that pour God’s mercy into the world. Friends, this kind of help and love has to come from the church. We cannot count on the government for benevolence, and we cannot legislate virtue. Only from God and his church can come these planks in our moral platform.

God’s will is for us to be holy!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Psalms 82 - Think About It!

February 20, 2017 Monday Message:

As you read through the Psalms, from time to time you’ll encounter the word, “Selah.” Some people think it means to pause, to think about what you’ve just read, to meditate upon the previous passage, or it sometimes signals a change in direction in the text. The truth is that we’ve lost the true ancient meaning of Selah. No one knows for sure. I might go with, “All of the above!”

In Psalm 82:2, the psalmist asks God a question: “How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked?” And then the word, “Selah.” Think about the ridiculousness of what we just read. Does God REALLY favor the wicked? No, but sometimes it can seem that way to us. We need to pause and think about what’s actually transpiring.

Then, in verses 3-4, after the “Selah,” this psalm turns into a prayer: “Defend the weak and fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

Now THAT all makes more sense – that’s the same stuff Jesus told us to do! It was a good prayer 3,000 years ago, it was good when Jesus taught it 2,000 years ago, and it’s still true today.

I have never seen so many marches, so many protests as our country has experienced recently. But much of it still boils down to protecting the oppressed from the wicked. In some ways, things haven’t changed much in 3,000 years.

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship gathers next Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017, at the Akina Church, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30am. Pastor Michael Pilla continues our study in 1 Corinthians as we welcome our New Hope guests.