Walls Torn Down!

For Wednesday, October 1, 2025:

Hebrews 10:21-22 NLT: “Since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”

God desires to live among the people he created. The Bible says that God loves us! The problem arises that there can be no sin in the presence of the Lord. By definition, sin and God don’t go together. What to do?

The presence of the Lord was in a special inner room, the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place. The entrance was covered by a large, very heavy curtain. Mankind could visit the Temple where God was exalted, but we had separate spaces.

Enter Jesus. After Jesus, everything is different. After Jesus, everything is better! As he died on the cross, Jesus took the sins of the world to the place of the dead and left them there. Mankind had been forgiven, redeemed, purchased back from Satan’s pawn shop, Jesus himself being the ultimate sacrifice for the world’s sins. And since mankind was no longer carrying a sin-burden, there was no longer a need for separation from God. The giant curtain was torn from top to bottom, a sign that God was doing the tearing! There was now nothing separating the creation, mankind, from our Creator God. He says our sins are forgiven and forgotten, and God is never wrong!

If we’re expecting company, my wife wants our place to look nice, so I go outside to mow the lawn and straighten up the yard. I work hard. Then I hear, “You’ll need a shower before they get here!” We want to look our best when meeting someone for the first time! Fortunately, we have Jesus to clean us up before we meet the Father!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Team Jesus!

For Tuesday, May 20, 2025:

Luke 11:23 NLT, Jesus speaking: “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.”

There are only two teams competing in the game of eternal life – Jesus’ team and the ‘other’ team. Team Jesus is the good guys, while the ‘other’ team is evil. Jesus’ team has declared allegiance to God Almighty, whereas the evil team is playing for Satan.

There is no neutral team. “No opinion” isn’t a valid answer to the question, “Who will you serve?” Jesus takes all believers under his wing. Everyone else is assumed to be in opposition to our creator. If you’re not moving God’s project forward, the dragging of your feet could be holding things back!

If you’re curious, you can flip to the back of the book and see who wins. The created one will never outplay the one who created everything! Today is the accepted day to sign up for the winning team! Your reward will be a glorious eternity in the presence of the Lord!

May God’s blessings cover you as you go about his work today!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Peace of the Lord!

For Tuesday, January 10, 2023:

Matthew 5:4 NLT: “God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Death is a curious thing. We grieve. We cry because we have lost a loved one. but if they were a believer, we should be jumping for joy! They have gone to live in the presence of God in his Kingdom! Jesus will meet them with open arms! But we’ll still miss them.

If the person was not a believer, we need to let it go and move on. Nothing we can do postmortem will alter their eternal destination. No prayer, lighting of candles, waving of incense or giving of money can change the outcome. That’s why we all need to commit to Jesus during our lifetimes.

In a broader sense, God can lift people up out of sadness, regardless of the reason for that sadness. Believers know that happiness is fleeting, but the Joy of the Lord is eternal. The peace of the Lord is sometimes more than we can understand, but God bestows it nonetheless. Believers should accept God’s gift of comfort and peace just as we have accepted his gift of eternal salvation.

Trusting in the Lord will always make things better!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Believer Benefits!

For Friday, August 5, 2022:

Psalm103:2-5 NLT, words of David: “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

Being a believer comes with benefits. No one should ever associate with Christians just to ‘get stuff,’ but indeed there are benefits once you’re a member of the flock.

The biggest benefit is God’s gift of a life after this life in his presence. We call it heaven. Our time on earth is short, but the presence of the Lord is eternal. Jesus is willing to redeem your life from the pit of despair and crown you as a child of God!

So it’s OK to focus on the benefits of being a believer. Like Paul said, “Keep your eye on the prize!”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Heaven!

For Saturday, July 30, 2022:

Psalm 84:10a NLT: “A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else!”

The psalmist is expressing unflinching loyalty to God. After all, if you can be in the presence of the Lord, it doesn’t get any better than that!

By sending his Son to our planet, God made eternity in his courts accessible to everyone. Jesus took away our sins, so that those who believe can access the presence of God for not just a day, but for eternity! We call it ‘heaven!’

The verse concludes, “I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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