Divine Authority!

For Saturday, February 18, 2023:

Matthew 7:28-29 NLT: “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.”

Jesus finally concluded his Sermon on the Mount, practical instruction on how God wanted his people to live. The people were amazed! Other religious teachers of the day spoke with no authority, simply wanting to tell others what to do. But to those who heard him, Jesus’ words appeared to be divinely inspired! His words still appear to be divinely inspired when we read them nowadays!

Many scribes taught about traditions, most thought up by other men, but Jesus’ authority came straight from his Father in Heaven. Hearing teaching directly from God’s own Son was both new and amazing! Jesus taught with authority lacking in other teachers of the day!

It was a moment of clarification in my life when I first heard someone refer to the Sunday Sermon as “teaching.” I always felt inadequate telling others how to live when my own life had not been stellar. But with teaching as a goal, I can let the congregation know what Jesus did, what Jesus said and what’s written in our Bibles. Their response becomes not following my words, but instead following the model of our Savior! When in doubt, just do what Jesus did!

Jesus’ words are better than my words!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Sermon on the Mount!

For Sunday, January 8, 2023:

Matthew 5:1-2 NLT: “One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them.”

Jesus caught on! He was trending! People would follow him from place to place, and gather each morning to listen to his teaching. If this happened today, we’d say he received thousands of ‘likes’ on Facebook and was trending on Twitter. Jesus would be an ‘influencer!’

Jesus went up a mountainside, presumably so his voice could boom across the valley. The crowd then assembled on the opposite side of the valley, up the side of the neighboring mountain, forming an impromptu amphitheater. This was to be an important, detailed presentation. Theologians have named it, “The Sermon on the Mount.”

2,000 years ago, people were quite concerned with themselves, their power, their success, their place in society’s pecking order. It was quite a narcissistic society with everybody looking out for #1. Jesus is about to change all that! His heavenly concepts of loving the Lord and loving your neighbor somehow got lost in religion’s rules and rituals. Jesus is giving us a better way to live together, by caring for one another.

The best news is that God had eyewitnesses document the event, so even today we all could live our lives like Jesus taught!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship