Davie vs Goliath!

Memorial Day Monday Message, May 25, 2026:

1 Samuel 17:32 NLT: “Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul. “I’ll go fight him!”

In the US, this is Memorial Day, when we honor the lives of patriots who died in defense of our country. I don’t really like wars and fighting, and I don’t think God does either. But we can’t let the bad guys win either. When evil appears to be on a winning path, we have to put our feet down, draw a line in the sand and put a stop to it. Enough is enough!

Bible history tells us that Israel seemed to be in a perpetual war with the Philistines. For 40 days, Saul’s army was on one hill and the Philistines on another, fighting in the valley in between. (Why is it always 40 days?) Little shepherd-boy David was bringing gifts to his brothers who were in Israel’s army, and he saw everything. The Philistines held a distinct advantage via the 9-foot tall warrior Goliath.

David told king Saul, “Don’t worry about this Philistine. I’ll go fight him!”

Saul protested, “You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”

David justified his involvement. “I have fought lions and bears protecting my father’s sheep. This pagan has defied the living God. Let me at him!” He probably thought, “I’m saving you, your army and your country. Why should I have to justify myself?”

With his sling, David lobbed a river stone into Goliath’s forehead, the Philistines turned tail and ran away, and that pretty much wraps up the story. God, who wants us to love one another, granted victory to Israel. Sometimes fighting is necessary to stand up for the Lord’s value system. If something upsets God, it’s worth fighting for. Sometimes we have to be the ones doing the fighting!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

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

Christian Focus!

For Thursday, March 12, 2026:

Romans 7:21 NLT, Paul speaking: “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.”

Paul is living in a world filled with sin, and as much as he tries to honor God by doing right, frustrations of this life find him slipping back into his old behavior. Remember, when he first set out, Paul was armed with a letter from the Temple leaders authorizing him to stop these radical new Christians, to return them to Jerusalem in chains! The risen Jesus stopped him on the road to Damascus, striking him blind and helpless, saying, “Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?” This was enough to make Paul do a 180, to realize that Jesus was indeed the heaven-sent Son of God. Paul became a Jesus advocate. He was brought into the city and his sight restored by a believer. Paul was immediately baptized and became an instant evangelist! (By the way, “Saul” was his Hebrew name, like King Saul. “Palus” was his Greek name, which we translate into English as “Paul.”)

God gave mankind the power to think and reason. If we were forced to follow Jesus, our loyalty would mean nothing. Therefore, God lets us choose, wants us to choose Him! We’re taken off track by Satan and his demons shouting, “Pick me! Pick me!” At first, sin seems to be fun and exciting, but it never works out in the long run. God’s desire is for everyone to repent and return — repent of our sins and return to the roster of believers. When this life ends, we want to find ourselves on God’s short list, unwavering in our commitment to the Father and his Son.

The longer we’re Christians, the easier it will become to stay on the high road. God wants us to succeed!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

Life Turn-around!

For Saturday, April 30, 2022:

Acts 9:18 NLT: “Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.”

Saul, known to us as Paul, had a face-to-face encounter with the Living God. He was on the road to Damascus, intending to persecute Christians who were threatening stability at the Temple. The Lord had other plans!

Struck blind for three days, Paul’s cohorts led him into town where he was met by a well-known believer, Ananias. The Lord told him, “Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel.”

Ananias laid hands on Saul, scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored immediately! He was baptized before he even had lunch, and then started preaching right away!

Our takeaway: Even when somebody seems to be a lost cause, the Lord can turn their life around. Hang onto hope! The chief persecutor became the chief evangelist. God made it so! Place your faith, hope and trust in the Loving God!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Radical Transformation!

September 27, 2021 Monday Message

Acts 9:15 NLT, the Lord speaking: “Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel.”

At my church, we’ve been revisiting the Acts of the Apostles. In chapter 9, Jesus personally picked Saul of Tarsus (Paul) to share the Good News of Jesus with the Gentile world. Saul never had a chance at doing otherwise! When God taps you on the shoulder, it’s time to get off the bench and into the game!

Prior to this, Saul was well-known as a persecutor of “The Way,” the new group of Christians. He was authorized to quash their meetings, capture the participants and bring them back to Jerusalem in chains, using any violent means necessary.

But today’s message is about the radical transformation of a person through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. I love the story of Jesus turning Saul-the-persecutor into Paul-the-Evangelist! If Jesus can change this guy, he can change anybody!

Jesus said to love our neighbors. He said to also love our enemies. Be nice to everybody! We never know which individual might be chosen for radical transformation by the Lord!

Those chosen have been given the gift of hope!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

On Forgiveness...

Oct. 22, 2018 Monday Message:

On Forgiveness…

Mankind is plagued with a sinful nature, and the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. But it also says that if you repent and return to the Lord, you will be forgiven.

Consider Saul of Tarsus – we know him as Saint Paul. Trained as a Pharisee, he formed a posse to capture the new Christians, bring them in chains to the Temple for trial, sometimes resulting in their execution. Saul wrote, “When the believers were put to death, I cast my vote against them.” He put to death many, many Christians. Simply put, he murdered God’s Children.

And yet God forgave him. God got Saul’s attention on the road to Damascus, and then sent him on a mission for Christ, to deliver the Good News to the Gentile nations. God saw through what Saul WAS, and focused on what he could BECOME if he was forgiven! Turns out that the “forgiven Saul” was far more useful for Kingdom-building.

Of course the lesson here is that if Saul could be forgiven for murdering God’s children, then we should likewise forgive all manner of sin against us. Jesus said that our sins will be forgiven AS WE FORGIVE others. Don’t hang onto anger, frustration, and resentments - just let God work it out. Don’t let someone who sins against you control how you feel today. Divorce yourself from the whole matter.

Let go and let God. Smile!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship meets next Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. Pastor Michael Pilla continues teaching from Micah.

Share the Good News

Sept. 15, 2014 Monday Message:

After the incident on the road to Damascus – after being struck down and confronted by Jesus face to face – after his sight had been restored, “Immediately Paul proclaimed Jesus in the Synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’” Acts 9:20a ESV

Following his conversion and baptism, Paul spent some time with the Christians in Damascus. Paul needed to learn what they knew, their established Christian theology, but they also needed to hear from Paul. After all, Paul had just come face-to-face with the risen Christ Jesus.

Jesus had asked Paul point blank why he would persecute the Son of God. Paul’s life was radically transformed, his direction reversed. Instead of trying to exterminate Christians, Paul was now leading people TO Christianity.

Paul trained for a while before leaving on his mission trips. But the Bible says “immediately” was when Paul started sharing the Good News with others.

My prayer is that we could all follow in the footsteps of Paul. If we all are saved, then we should “immediately” begin sharing the Good News.

Countless lost souls need to hear what you could tell them.

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets at 10:00am every Sunday in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. This week, Sept. 21, Pastor Pilla will be leading the men’s retreat, while I open up Acts ch. 8 at church, the Good News comes to Samaria. See you there!

Radical Transformation

Sept. 08, 2014 Monday Message:

 “The witnesses of Stephen’s execution flung their clothes at the feet of a young man by the name of Saul.” Acts 7:58 JBP

If you had been present at Stephen’s demise – the accusations, the mock-trial, the mob taking things into their own hands – you might have noticed someone on the sidelines, egging them on: Saul of Tarsus.

Saul was a well-educated Jew, determined to preserve the status quo. He refused to examine the writings of his Hebrew ancestors to see the hundreds of ways that Jesus fulfilled prophesy.

At the stoning of Stephen, Saul was part of the throng. “You need to throw the stones harder! You can’t get enough power with that jacket restricting your movement. Here, let me hold your coats!” Ultimately Stephen was stoned to death.

We all know the rest of the story. On the road to Damascus, Saul was struck blind, and Jesus appeared to him saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Saul was then led into town, his sight was restored, and he immediately was baptized and became the point person taking the Good News to the Gentiles. Today we know him as Saint Paul.

My point is that God can radically transform anyone, even someone complicit in a murder scheme. Paul’s mission had been to exterminate the followers of Jesus, and he was good at it. But God turned his life upside-down, and put Paul to work making disciples of all nations.

There is no sin so great that it cannot be forgiven by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets at 10:00am every Sunday in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. This week, Sept. 14, Pastor Michael Pilla examines the conversion of Saul.

Relationship vs. Religion

May 06, 2013 Monday Message:

Saul was the consummate religious person. He was “a real Hebrew if there ever was one;” - circumcised on the eighth day, from the tribe of Benjamin, and a Pharisee. If human efforts could have resulted in eternal life, Saul would have had it made! Phil. 3:5

But Paul-the-evangelist had been shown a new vision, and he reports, “I once thought these things (religion) were valuable, but now consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.” Phil 3:7

Nowadays, many of our churches are still full of religion. Dutifully, we conduct ceremonies, rituals and traditions – man’s attempts to connect with God – when what we should really be doing is using our best efforts to connect with the Son, to live as he lived, and to put his teachings into practice in our lives.

You’ll sometimes hear evangelicals say, “Throw off the religion!” Sounds confusing - they want you to attend their church, but get rid of the religion??? What they mean is that we should permanently set Jesus at the top of our agenda. Our primary focus should be on the Son. Much of the rest is, after all, just religion.

Throw off the religion and go for a relationship!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets at 10:30am Sunday, May 12. Pastor Daisy May Rader will take us inside Luke 9:37-45, healing a demon-possessed boy and Jesus predicting his death. We gather in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 27th Street & Bloomington Avenue, Minneapolis. See you there!

NL