Holy Saturday!

For Holy Saturday, April 4, 2026:

Matthew 27:64 NLT, asking Pilate: “We (the leading priests and Pharisees,) request that you seal the tomb until the third day. This will prevent his disciples from coming and stealing his body and then telling everyone he was raised from the dead! If that happens, we’ll be worse off than we were at first.”

The leading priests seemed unconcerned with spiritual authenticity, unconcerned with truth. To them, Jesus was a threat to their power and money. People had left the Synagogue to follow Jesus, and their tithes had gone to Jesus rather than the Temple. Because Jesus was a perceived threat, the leading priests and Pharisees plotted to kill him, which goes against everything they stood for. Now they were worried that Jesus’ prophecy would come true, that he would rise in three days. Men were sent to guard the tomb so that no one could steal the body and falsely claim that Jesus was alive.

The Great Exchange: Remember that while on the cross, the sins of the world were heaped upon Jesus, and His innocence was imparted to believers. That’s a massive amount of forgiveness, but that was the Father’s plan to bring believers home. That was Jesus’ mission, to rescue mankind from Satan’s territory. You could say that Jesus was on a mission trip to planet Earth!

One more thing: Many of us learned the Apostles’ Creed growing up. There’s a mistranslation that has always bothered me. The creed states, “Jesus was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell.” Friends, Jesus did not go to hell. He went to Sheol, a place for the dead. It is not heaven, and it is not hell. It may involve judgment, since Moses wrote, “The anger of Yahweh is a flame which burns in the ‘depths’ of Sheol.” But believers are already forgiven by the work Jesus did on the cross.

I suspect that not much happened on Holy Saturday, since that day is the Sabbath for Jews. It’s the Lord’s day, not a day for customary work. Jesus will be back to work tomorrow, walking away from his grave. Christians worship on Sunday, the day we realized that Jesus had conquered sin and death at the same time! In the meantime, "Shabbat Shalom!"

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

I'll Be Back!

For Thursday, December 26, 2024:

Isaiah 7:14 NLT: “The Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).”

It’s Dec. 26^th, the day after Christmas – sort of. Most of you know by now that Jesus wasn’t actually born on Dec. 25. Traditional theories say sometime in April or May. Modern thinking says September, probably between 4-6 BCE. In the dead of winter, little work could be accomplished, so Dec. 25, near the winter solstice, seemed a good time for a major celebration. Does it really matter? This isn’t a redeeming ordinance!

God’s timeline is not our timeline. God, through the prophet Isaiah, promised a Messiah would be arriving soon. It took about 750 years for that to happen. If we estimate a generation to be about 25 years, the Messiah’s arrival took about 30 generations! That’s 30 times people watched, prayed, and eventually had to pass the dream on to their offspring! So when Jesus finally arrived, Israel was filled with skeptics and doubters, among them the Pharisees and Temple leaders! They weren’t about to step away from power, position and financial security to let some youngster get into the driver’s seat!

Remember, when the resurrected Jesus ascended into heaven, he promised to return. Optimists thought he meant perhaps by Friday, or certainly later this month. I’m sure the believers were amazed when a year passed and there was still no sign of the Savior! They’d be astounded that 2k years later, we’re still watching and waiting. Jesus may be busy preparing our place in the hereafter.

Everything Jesus ever said was truth, so we fully expect his return. Each day we’re one day closer!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Trick Question!

For Thursday, February 15, 2024:

Mark 12:13 NLT: “They sent to Him (Jesus) some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words.”

Public opinion favored Jesus. People had seen the miracles and witnessed the healings. His popularity was unquestioned, which angered the Pharisees, the muckety-mucks of the Jewish religion, and the Herodians, the muckety-mucks of the government. These two groups formed an unlikely alliance for the sole purpose of quashing Jesus’ progress. They questioned Jesus, hoping for a slip of the tongue that would convict him either of blasphemy or disloyalty to Herod. The test question was, “Shall we pay, or shall we not pay taxes to Caesar?”

Jesus examined a denarius and inquired as to the image on the coin. It was Caesar. He answered. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” The critics marveled at Jesus’ answer!

Jesus is saying that it takes both. There are practical needs for life on earth like roads, police and armies – things totally separate from any religious obligation. And our tithing to God is separate from any government, as it should be.

Trying to catch Jesus in a misstatement is always a bad idea. He always has a perfect answer!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Love Your Neighbor!

For Friday, January 20, 2023:

Matthew 5:20 NLT, Jesus speaking: “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”

Jesus didn’t have a lot of time for the Pharisees. They had memorized all the laws. They faithfully observed traditions (some of which were made up.) They held a high and mighty position in the Jewish pecking order, but they had forgotten how to love their neighbor. In short, Pharisees took care of #1 but ignored the teachings about being helpful and loving.

Pharisees all should have known Leviticus 19:18: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

In Luke ch. 10 Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” and he responded with the story of the Good Samaritan, someone from another country with a different religion. Though they had little in common, the man from Samaria did his best to help the injured Jewish traveler, paying for the man’s care out of his own pocket. Samaritans were (unjustly) despised, and this one made the right humanitarian decision to be helpful, to do the right thing. By the way, a Jewish Priest and a Temple worker both passed by the injured man but did nothing, making the Samaritan look like a hero!

Heaven will be filled with souls who know Jesus and are nice, kind and helpful. We should all strive to be among them!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Tonight I’ll be teaching about War vs Peacemakers on the Jesus in the City Fellowship’s Facebook live-stream, 8pm Eastern, 7pm Central. Hope you can tune in!