For Sunday, March 8, 2026:

John 14:8 NLT, Philip speaking: “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

Jesus has been telling the disciples about the life after this life. Philip, one of the 12, has questions about the Trinity, the 3-in-1 God. I understand. As I meet with people to answer their Bible questions, this is the #1 topic!

Understanding the awesome power of God Almighty helps us make sense of the Trinity. First, God is omnipotent, meaning all powerful. Mankind can imagine supernatural things, but God can actually do them. God had the power to create planets, our solar system, the whole universe and the space into which it could all be put; plants, animals and human beings, from scratch! He can create anything and do anything, so don’t be surprised when God does something out of the ordinary, something kind of unusual.

Our all-powerful God is also omnipresent. He can be in more than one place at the same time, simultaneously. Being omnipresent, God can decide to walk on planet Earth to rescue mankind, while remaining in Heaven. Sort of like cloning, but still of one mind. God can also do different things at the same time, multi-tasking, if you will. And if you pray to God, He’s never too busy to take the call. God doesn’t have voicemail or call waiting. Omnipresence makes him perpetually available.

Omniscience is another God trait. He possesses all knowledge. God is smart, much smarter than any of us! He knows what’s good for us, and even if it hurts, He’ll give us what’s best for us. Mankind is better off living under God’s plan.

So can Jesus show the Father to Philip? Jesus answered, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” I hope Philip gets it; I hope we ALL get it!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

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

Bad Choice!

January 27, 2025, Monday Message:

Exodus 9:1b-3 NLT: “Say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so they can worship me. If you continue to hold them and refuse to let them go, the hand of the Lord will strike all your livestock—your horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, sheep, and goats—with a deadly plague.’”

Gnats and flies are a pesky inconvenience. But this time, God is going to hit the Egyptians right in the pocketbook! Like most places 2k years ago, the economy of Egypt was largely agricultural-based. Their animals – their livestock were the net worth of their lives. A plague striking all the animals of the Egyptians would slam the brakes on their entire economy.

Surprisingly, the Lord made a distinction between the livestock of the Israelites and that of the Egyptians. The next morning all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but the Israelites didn’t lose a single animal! God did just as he had said. His word is true!

Pharaoh investigated, but his heart remained hardened and he would not let Moses and his people go. Plague #5, the plague on livestock, wasn’t enough to convince him.

God is not through yet. God has given mankind freedom of choice, so God won’t change Pharaoh’s mind for him. Pharaoh must decide on his own to accept Moses’ God as his God. He will have more chances to make up his mind – or not! Like I said, God has given us the freedom to choose, and Pharaoh may ultimately choose incorrectly. We’ll see.

You and I, claiming to be Christians, should already have our minds made up. We love our God not because of a threat or an obligation, but because he also loves us, so much that he sent his Son to be the sacrifice for the world’s sins. We no longer have to pay a sin-penalty. God took care of everything for those who love him, including preparing our place in the hereafter. The love is mutual!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Blood!

For Thursday, January 23, 2025:

Exodus 7:19 NLT: Then the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and raise your hand over the waters of Egypt—all its rivers, canals, ponds, and all the reservoirs. Turn all the water to blood. Everywhere in Egypt the water will turn to blood, even the water stored in wooden bowls and stone pots.’”

Pharaoh was unimpressed with Moses’ shepherd’s-staff changing into a serpent. He had court magicians who could perform a similar illusion. Their staffs didn’t really change, but the perception would have been the same.

It was time to get serious. Turning all of Egypt’s water into blood should get everyone’s attention! Water in little bowls and pots changed. Water in little streams and lakes changed. But the biggest impact was that the Nile River changed into blood. A major water supply was gone, all the fish died so a source of food disappeared and river transportation came to a standstill.

Remarkably, Pharaoh’s magicians concocted a trick yielding similar results. So Pharaoh remained unconvinced. His heart remained hard just as God foretold. More would be required to convince Pharaoh to not only release the Hebrew people but for him to beg them to leave! And don’t forget God’s other purpose, to let all of Egypt witness the glory of the one true God!

More would be required to showcase God’s omnipotence. We serve an omnipotent all-powerful God. What could possibly be next? Frogs? Really?

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Worship 1

October 7, 2024 Monday Message:

Psalm 96:1 KJV: “O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth.”

I’ve been asked to teach about worship repeatedly, so I thought it might be a good idea to include some of that in these daily messages.

Our weekly church service should include 2-way communication. First, we praise God Almighty, our Creator. Exalt him as the source of all things, from the vast universe to how many hairs are on your head! Omnipotent (all powerful), omnipresent (can be in more than one place at the same time), omniscient (has all knowledge), and is deserving of his place on the throne over everything! This is speaking and singing to the Lord, praising his majesty!

The other aspect of church requires us to listen. God speaks to us through Pastors and Bible teachers, so that each week we can garner a bit more knowledge about God and his inspired Holy Book, the Bible.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to get off track. Many “Christian” songs tell us to be good people, but say nothing to exalt the Lord. We can do better than just agreeing with God’s value system. At the same time, he’s both mighty, loving and forgiving. We owe him our eternal lives! God had the foresight to send Jesus as our rescuer, the one who sacrificed himself to forgive our sins. God has been so good to us. To paraphrase Martin Luther, having examined the eyewitness testimonies, I can do no other than to place my faith in the one true God! True worship means that we shout about it!

The teaching in some churches can also be a problem. Some pastors have a message in mind, have a point to make, and then search for one-liners in the Bible (lifted out of context) to support their position. That’s backwards. The message should start with what the Bible says, and then one can explain and exposit God’s inspired Word as the Holy Spirit moves the speaker. But it starts and ends with the Bible.

David was both Israel’s king and its worship leader. He is said to have played the harp and the lyre, an instrument sort of like a guitar. He was constantly composing new songs to sing to the Lord. Many of them are documented in the book of Psalms. Nowadays many churches sing what we call “contemporary” worship songs. “Contemporary” means that we’ll be adding new songs, that our repertoire will be perpetually changing!

More on worship tomorrow!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Trinity!

For Sunday, May 7, 2023:

John 14:8-9a NLT: “Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 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!”

Christians believe in one God who makes himself known to us in three different persons: God-the-Father on the throne in heaven; Jesus, known as the Son of God, who walked on earth alongside mankind; and the Holy Spirit, our advocate and comforter, with us until Jesus returns. But like I said, really only one God! Let me explain.

God in all his forms is omnipresent, able to be in many places at the same time. So it should come as no surprise that Jesus on earth could pray to his Father in heaven, or that Jesus could return to heaven to sit at the right hand of God while the Holy Spirit continues earthly work.

Our God is omniscient having all knowledge. After all, he designed many universes, knowing just where each planet should go, how far apart they should be and in which direction they should spin! God placed planet earth 93M miles from the sun, assuring mankind a perfect climate in which to thrive.

God is also omnipotent, all-powerful, which means he can accomplish any task to which he sets his divine mind.

I must confess that as I write or speak, I find myself often using the (technically) incorrect term. Usually it’s when Jesus says something, and I’ll write, “God said…” It happens because there’s really only one God, and in my mind, I consider the different forms simply as only one God. If I (or you) get it wrong, I don’t think it’s any big deal, and God is smart enough to figure out what was intended!

Jesus simplified it as he gave us a boat-load of knowledge: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Son of God!

For Sunday, February 26, 2023:

Matthew 8:29 NLT: “The demon-possessed men began screaming at Jesus, ‘Why are you interfering with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before God’s appointed time?’”

It seems that Satan, his demons and these demon-possessed men all knew who Jesus is: The Son of God! Those demons are fearing punishment, and fearing for their very existence. The men they possessed would violently appear in the cemetery, and no one could pass through the area. But Jesus did!

Jesus allowed the demons to leave the men and occupy a herd of pigs, who plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water.

The herdsmen fled to the nearby town, telling everyone what happened to the demon-possessed men and the pigs. The entire town came out to meet Jesus, but surprisingly begged him to go away and leave them alone. They feared his power. They feared his sense of justice. They feared judgement. Who was this ‘Jesus’ that even the demons would obey him?

Imagine the Son of God coming to visit, and being asked to leave. The townspeople didn’t know what the demons did, that Jesus was God’s own Son. Who do you say he is?

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Jesus/Faith!

For Friday, January 21, 2022

Mark 9:23 CEV: “Jesus replied, “Why do you say ‘if you can’? Anything is possible for someone who has faith!”

A boy was being thrown into fits by an evil spirit, and his father sought healing. Turns out that Jesus was the answer, and that healing required faith. Are you sensing a God-trend here? Jesus is the answer; healing requires faith! Knowing that God is omnipotent, faith in the Father/Son/Holy Spirit gives us hope!

As a sidebar to this incident, the disciples’ efforts to dispatch the evil spirit met with no success. Jesus said, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer,” praying to the Father, which lets us know that healing comes from heaven. It’s God’s grace, his undeserved favor, once again poured out on mankind!

Prayer should be the first thing you try, not the last resort!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship, 3249 30th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406

Hope in the Lord!

For Friday, July 02, 2021

Psalm 43:5b NLT: “I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again — my Savior and my God!”

Why place your hope in random earthly things of circumstance, where you can have no expectation of any positive result? Start at the top; start right with God himself, the Creator! Our omniscient God knows just what you need, and our omnipotent God has the power to make it so!

Start with the One of substance, the one who matters eternally; start with God. Expect results!

Blessings today!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship, 3249 30th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406