Lies!

For Tuesday, April 7, 2026:

Matthew 28:11 NLT: “As the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and told the leading priests what had happened.”

The tomb was discovered open, and the body of Jesus was missing. This is exactly what the Jews didn’t want to happen. That’s why guards were placed at the tomb. But what happened next is even more unbelievable.

The leading priests met with the elders and agreed to pay a large bribe, asking the guards to lie. They told the soldiers, “You must say, ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.’’’ Religious leaders without truth have no platform on which to stand. Lying violates every commandment that they teach.

Verse 15 concludes this section: “So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.”

Question: Why would anyone stick with a religion predicated on a lie? This is one more example of religion getting seriously off-track. God rescued his people from Egypt and gave them the Promised Land. Then God’s Son came to Earth to rectify mankind’s sin problem. Forgiven, the people should reconcile with the Lord, not be fighting over the authenticity of the Son. God had everything worked out until mankind lied. It’s like the Garden of Eden all over again!

God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Love all three and love your neighbor, and the Lord will smile on you!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

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

Love vs Hate!

December 22, 2025, Monday Message:

John 15:24 NLT, Jesus speaking: “If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father.”

People are fickle. Their attitudes toward others swing back and forth like a pendulum. We excitedly welcome a new baby, but may grow to hate them later in life. Sometimes that behavior is justified; sometimes, not.

On the church calendar, we draw close to Christmas, celebrating the birth of our savior. Believers had waited over 700 years for the prophesied Messiah. Angels told us that Jesus was the one! God doesn’t send His Messenger Angels on a fool’s errand. If the message is heaven-sent, it’s true!

Here’s what’s odd. Fishermen, laborers and even a tax collector became believers. Priests, religious teachers and Temple leaders never got on the Jesus bandwagon. They weren’t prepared to worship a triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That concept was new, a deviation from their present theology. They thought they had it all figured out. They did not!

I believe power and money stood in the way of a sound decision. Yes, Jesus taught at the Temple, but only in the outer courtyards. He was never accepted into the inner circle of Temple leadership. Furthermore, if Jesus taught and people brought tithes, they were supporting Jesus and his disciples, not the Temple treasury.

Jesus is declaring unbelievers guilty, guilty of not using their eyes, ears and the brain God gave them. If you consider all the miracles and healings performed by Jesus, there is only one logical conclusion: That Jesus is indeed the heaven-sent Messiah. We later discern that he is the Son of God, and his mission is the rescue of mankind.

Today is the accepted day to commit or re-commit yourself to following and believing in God’s Son Jesus. If you consider all the well-documented evidence, you can only reach one conclusion: That Jesus is the key to life after this life. He was sent by the Father to bring us home!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

Arrested!

For Thursday, October 2, 2025:

Mark 14:46 NLT: “Then a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs grabbed Jesus and arrested him.”

The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders had been planning Jesus’ demise for quite some time. They didn’t want to arrest Jesus in the Temple. It would seem wrong. It would look bad if a temple teacher were arrested. “Keep police action out of our worship space!”

One of Jesus’ defenders produced a sword and sliced off an ear of the High Priest’s slave. Jesus restored the ear, to which I would say, “Look at what just happened. The man you’re arresting can heal whatever’s wrong and cure any disease! Perhaps we should rethink this!”

But without knowing it, the Pharisees were fulfilling God’s plan. The blood of Jesus was to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world. Mankind would thereby be redeemed. It would be a rough couple of days for Jesus, but after that, his mission would be complete. (“It is finished!”)

Jesus would have to walk through the fire by himself. (50) “All his disciples deserted him and ran away.” God was keeping them safe. If they stayed close to Jesus, they too would have been killed as accomplices. But God was counting on the disciples to function as leaders of “The Way,” the new Christian church! They needed to be preserved!

The church that the disciples established still exists nowadays, with many franchised locations. We worship at one each week. Thankfully, God had the disciples temporarily step back. When Jesus rose from the grave, they regrouped and came back stronger than ever. 2K years later, people are still signing up for the Jesus team!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Conspiracy!

March 18, 2024 Monday Message:

Mark 14:53 NLT: “They took Jesus to the high priest’s home where the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law had gathered.”

We’ve heard a lot in the news lately about conspiracies. A conspiracy is, “an agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act.” The leading priests, elders, and teachers of religious law were conspiring against Jesus. They should be ashamed of themselves. These teachers of religious matters were conspiring to falsely arrest and eventually murder Jesus. Obviously that was a bad decision and a violation of more than one commandment.

Jesus knew more about God, the Kingdom, and eternity in heaven than the alleged religious experts, so jealousy could have played a part in their decision. I believe position, power and money were also a part of their displeasure.

Jesus was an itinerant preacher, which means that he traveled around a lot and spoke in many different places. He acknowledged this, saying, “The Son of Man has no home.” And when these crowds gathered to hear Jesus, they were oftentimes not at the Temple, which means their tithes were not at the Temple.

The way in which these leaders “did” religion was part of the problem. They had studied Torah and knew God’s commandments well. For them, the goal was catching someone else doing something wrong, enforcing the commandments. They obviously skipped over the parts about God’s love, forgiveness and offer of salvation. The text about loving your neighbor as yourself wasn’t front-of-mind.

Having a complete Bible nowadays gives us a complete picture of what those religious leaders got wrong. Following Jesus, we have been taught how to live our lives. Other Christians should be the nicest people we meet!

Remember, God’s desire is that none would perish, and that all would repent and return to their creator!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Eternal Priests!

For Friday, April 29, 2022:

Revelation 1:6 NLT: “Jesus Christ has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.”

Jesus has provided well for the believers. He’s not only reserving a place for us in the Kingdom; he is calling us “priests,” people who lead others in worship and spiritual matters.

That’s why we praise him! Jesus not only rescued us; he bequeathed us a place of extreme honor in the eternal Kingdom.

Today, we serve out of gratitude for the good things Jesus has done for us!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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