God Intervenes!

For Saturday, March 21, 2026:

1 Samuel 16:1 NLT: Now the Lord said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul. I have rejected him as king of Israel, so fill your flask with olive oil and go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my king.”

God no longer favored Saul as Israel’s king (a problem of Saul’s own making.) It was time for a change of regime. God wanted to anoint a new king, and he had someone specific in mind. He sent Samuel, a Holy man and Prophet, to do the anointing.

Samuel hesitates. “If Saul finds out, he’ll kill me!”

As you might expect, God has a plan to keep everyone safe. “Bring a heifer, and tell everyone you’ve come to sacrifice to the Lord. Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and go home with him. One of his sons is to be the next king! I’ll show you which son to anoint.” God’s not against deception and a little white lie if it keeps everyone safe and furthers his cause!

Our God, omniscient and omnipresent, always knows what’s going on. He knew all of Saul’s deceptions and schemes. He knew when it was time to set things right.

God still has those same perceptive powers nowadays. He knows what Russia is doing to Ukraine. He knows what China is doing to Taiwan. He knows what Iran is doing to its neighbors, a false god retaliating against our Creator God. I pray that God would step up and settle these matters, but only He knows the best time.

We’d be better off having God anoint leaders for our world!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

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

Omnipresent!

For Thursday, August 14, 2025:

John 12:44-45: Jesus shouted to the crowds, “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me.”

Omnipresence is a challenging concept for some individuals to grasp. That God could be on the throne of heaven, Jesus could walk on earth alongside mankind with the mobile Holy Spirit on the bench, waiting to be called into action seems unbelievable. But it’s true. Our God, the Creator of the universe, isn’t limited by human constraints. Time and location cannot put chains on our God! He can be in more than one place at the same time. Omnipresent. But they’re all the same God!

Every word Jesus spoke was true, and this is no exception. He said, “I and the Father are One.” Hearing this, our opinion of the Son should go up considerably! This spirit-being, living within believers, is actually God himself. We are indwelt by a version of our Creator! Believers belong to Jesus; believers belong to God!

By definition, God and the Holy Spirit cannot be seen by human eyes. Jesus was sent to give us a glimpse into heavenly standards. His truth, honesty and love for God and his neighbors were unequaled. Our biggest challenge is to imitate the Savior.

When in doubt, do what Jesus did!

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 Saturday, September 24, 2022::

John 10:30 NIV, Jesus speaking: “I and the Father are one.”

Prophets had told the Jews to expect a Messiah. So the obvious question for Jesus was, “Are you the one we’ve been expecting?” The people had seen the miracles and heard the teaching, so the answer should have been apparent. But these same people knew Jesus had been born to Mary (and Joseph) as a little baby, who grew up alongside their own children. Son of God? They’re just not sure.

Claiming to be God or the Son of God was serious business in the Jewish community. Claiming to be God when you weren’t could result in stoning, and these devoted Jews just weren’t too sure about Jesus. “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God.” They were not his sheep; they had not yet seen the light!

Friends, Christianity has only one God, known to us in three persons, three different forms. God-the-Father rules from Heaven, Jesus walked on earth alongside mankind, and the Holy Spirit is our helper until Jesus returns. But it’s all just one God. We need to understand that God – being omnipresent – could be in many places at the same time.

Don’t try to curtail God’s omnipresence. He knows what he’s doing!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Relationship with God!

For Saturday, November 6, 2021

Exodus 3:8a NLT, God speaking: “I have come down to rescue my people from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Don’t think for a minute that God doesn’t know what’s going on. He’s everywhere; He sees everything! When the pain became unbearable for the Hebrews living as slaves in Egypt, God heard their cry and orchestrated their rescue. Calling out to God should have been the first thing they did, not the last!

Believers should follow that same principle nowadays. We need to pray; we need to stay in constant contact with God. If we’re in a relationship with the Lord, he will be listening when we cry out for help. Maintaining our relationship with God Almighty should be #1 on our agenda every day!

If God isn’t on our agenda, we may find ourselves absent from His!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Psalms 42-43

May 02, 2016 Monday Message:

“When can I go and meet with God?” Psalms 42:2b

The scene is a desert – hot, sandy, very dry. Psalm 42 is written for “local” people - everyone in the region would know about the desert. You and I are the “hart,” the male deer, strong and majestic in many ways, but panting for the lack of water, God.

This analogy was put forth by the Sons of Korah who lived and worked at the Temple. In fact, some of the Sons of Korah were gifted vocalists, so they were probably the ones authoring worship songs.

At the time, people expected to find the LORD in the Temple, but weren’t too sure about anywhere else. But the fact is, God is everywhere. You don’t have to go to Jerusalem to find God. In many manuscripts, Psalms 42 and 43 were one, and eventually the “hart” gets water from the Hermons, mountains north of Jerusalem, probably from the headwaters of the Jordan river.

Sometimes our lives can feel like a desert. Do you ever experience a “dry spell” from God? But if we could look in the window at our lives, we’d see that God was right where he’s always been. It was we who had turned away. The Good News is that it’s not too hard to turn back toward God. Now we know that we can find God everywhere: on the desert, in the mountains, in the Temple, in your quiet place and at your local church.

Jesus promised his followers “living water,” that they might never thirst again. He’s promising the Holy Spirit. (from John 7:37-39)

Norton Lawellin

Next Sunday is Mother’s Day, and the Sunday after that is Pentecost! Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets every Sunday at 10 am in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. This Sunday, May 8, 2016, Pastor Retha concludes Romans 8 as we celebrate Mother’s Day.

Eternal God

April 21, 2014 Monday Message:

““Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here: he has risen!” (from Luke 24:5-6 JBP)

We all understand “seniority.” The person on-the-job the longest should get the most respect.

John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Jesus, but he declined seniority, saying, “The one coming AFTER me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove his sandals.” John understood that since Jesus was present at the creation, he actually preceded John. (from Matt. 3:11 HCSB)

The apostle John writes, “In the beginning, the Word (logos) was with God, and the Word WAS God,” and, “Apart from Him not one thing was created.”

So with these few pieces of scripture, we’re confronted with the omnipresence of God (He’s everywhere, time isn’t relevant to God,) the omniscience of God (all knowledge,) the Triune nature of our God, and the fact that God is eternal. He’s alpha and omega – the beginning and the end. He was present at the creation, and will still be present when this reality in which we’re living comes to an end.

So consider the ridiculousness of the Good Friday Scenario. The religious leaders and the Romans thought they could put God on trial, and then execute Him. Sorry – it can’t be done! They didn’t understand what we know to be true – that God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is eternal!

Norton Lawellin

Last Sunday was Easter, so this week we’re on the road to Emmaus with Pastor Michael Pilla. Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets every Sunday, at 10:30am, in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. See you at church!