Restoration!

April 20, 2026, Monday Message:

John 14:23 NLT, Jesus speaking: “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.”

As his ministry wraps up, Jesus wants to reassure the believers of what’s coming next. First off, there IS life after this life. Death is not the end! Jesus said so, so we know it’s true!

As Christians, we talk of dying and going to heaven, but my Bible says that’s kind of temporary. At the end of this age, God will create the New Heaven and the New Earth. By then, mankind will have really messed up the planet, and God will be the restorer, putting things back to the way they were designed. I’m thinking “Garden of Eden” specs, but only God knows what needs to be done.

The fully restored New Earth isn’t for all mankind. It’s a sanctuary for believers only. Everyone who lives here will have the same God. There will be no false gods. Mankind will all be on the same page, so to speak. There are no more wars. Everyone will love their neighbor. We will know shalom, the peace of God that surpasses our current understanding.

Jesus says, “We will come and make our home with them.” In other words, we’re not going somewhere to live with God. God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is going to walk the earth alongside us! God has it all planned, and it will be marvelous, beyond all expectations!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

For Sunday, March 1, 2026:

Hebrews 13:20-21 NLT: “Now may the God of peace—who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood—may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.”

This is not only a beautiful prayer of conclusion, but also a commissioning of the Hebrew people to continue doing the will of Jesus. Oddly, the author of Hebrews is uncertain. It was thought that Paul wrote this, but it doesn’t seem to be his writing style. Some experts say the style is more similar to Luke in Acts. Perhaps Paul wrote it in Hebrew and Luke translated it to Greek? Interesting. The writings have been included in the collective works of Paul for 20 Centuries. Nowadays, the authorship isn’t as important as the fact that it reinforces other writings in the Bible and contradicts nothing. If it was Paul, he would have been leaving to plant churches in Asia Minor, so saying goodbye makes sense.

The prayer is also what we should pray for each other—that the Almighty would equip you with everything you need to accomplish his will, and that good things, things pleasing to God, would be the result.

May the Lord walk alongside each of you as you go about his work today!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Zechariah's Prophecy!

For Friday, December 5, 2025:

Luke 1:67 NLT: “Then baby John’s father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy.”

As Zechariah’s voice returned, he was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke prophecy concerning his newborn. This is not something he just thought up. This is God – the Holy Spirit – speaking through Zechariah.

Let’s review the high points. “The Lord has visited and redeemed his people. He has sent us a mighty Savior. God fulfilled his promise, his covenant with his people. We will be saved from our enemies and all who hate us. We will be rescued from our enemies. We can serve God without fear. And baby John will be called the prophet of the Most High, because he will prepare the way for the Lord. He will tell God’s people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven, is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”

Wow! Those are pretty big tasks, especially for a newborn, but history proves prophecy. We know baby John as John the Baptist, who indeed prepared the people for the ministry of Jesus. Jesus quashed Satan and his demons. Jesus personally died to redeem us. His life was the penalty for the sins of the world, now paid in full. Therefore, our relationship with Father God improved exponentially.

After Jesus, everything was different. After Jesus, everything was better, a lot better!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

Shalom – Peace of the Lord!

For Friday, October 24, 2025:

John 14:27 ESV, Jesus speaking: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

God dispersed mankind after the Tower of Babel incident, and gave different languages to different groups. The number of words varies. Sometimes more words are required. For example, the different native Inuit tribes of Alaska and western Canada have 40, 53, and as many as 70 different words for snow. Light, fluffy snow; wet, heavy snow. In English, we have to describe it. In Inuit, they have a distinct word for each. Scandinavian natives have over 300 words relating to snow! Now I’m really confused!

Sometimes we need more words. Here, Jesus is speaking about “shalom,” a Hebrew concept, written down in Greek and then translated for us into English. As the saying goes, something is lost in the translation!

Since it’s “the peace of the Lord,” perhaps “serenity” would be closer to the original meaning. The concept requires faith, believing that with God in charge, everything will be OK. Trust in the Lord... If we survive the world's tribulation, we’ll still be alive, and that’s good! If we don’t survive, Jesus will welcome us into God’s eternal Kingdom, and that’s also good! Either way, we’ll be OK. If you’re a believer, worry isn’t necessary and would be a waste of time!

"Shalom” is a traditional Hebrew coming and going prayer, a blessing for each other. “May the peace of the Lord be with you.” Free of worry and fear and trusting in God Almighty, life will be good. After all, believers have been adopted into the Holy Family!

Shalom!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Swords?

November 6, 2023 Monday Message:

Matthew 10:34 NLT, Jesus speaking: “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.”

Remember the sheep and the goats? (Matthew 25:31-46) The sheep, members of Jesus’ flock, in spite of being persecuted, will eventually know Shalom, the peace of the Lord. They are headed for the best place ever – eternity in God’s presence!

The goats, on the other hand, make a lot of their own trouble. Lies, deceit and evil deeds are on their agenda, and sometimes it takes a sword to derail Satan’s plans. Goats are headed for the lake of fire, but there’s a lot of violence along the way.

Jesus coming to earth forces the question, “Will you accept God’s free gift of salvation?” Each one of us must give an answer. Do you believe Jesus is God’s son? Do you believe his forgiveness is your ticket to heaven?

This Holy War goes back to Adam and Eve. Common sense should tell us that the Creator will be victorious over anything that he created!

Salvation follows repentance!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Pray for World Peace!

For Sunday, October 22, 2023:

Romans 12:19 NLT: “Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, ‘I will take revenge; I will pay them back,’ says the Lord.”

There’s another war being fought in Israel. Hamas, an Islamic Resistance Movement, attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,400 and injuring 4,500 others. 203 hostages were captured by Hamas. For some reason, Israel’s intelligence didn’t see this coming. Of course Israel retaliated to protect their citizens and defend their country, resulting in 3,400 Palestinian deaths and 12,000 injured in Gaza. Whether you call it Hamas, Hezbollah or Jihad, these radical militant Muslim groups are causing a lot of trouble in the world, and they certainly don’t speak for the majority. But make no mistake, this is a religious war!

These radicals have hijacked airplanes, even the ones that took down the World Trade Center in New York, which was an attack on the United States. So the US is against them, Israel is against them, and even the run-of-the-mill Islamic citizens don’t like the violent attacks because they result in defense retaliation. To protect themselves, Israel will decimate all of Gaza because that’s Hamas’s headquarters.

As Christians headed for church today, we can pray for the citizens of both countries and pray for a speedy end to the conflict. We can pray that citizens of Gaza would clean their own house, putting an end to the radical’s attacks. Then Israel wouldn’t have to do it.

We can pray for world peace! God bless each and every one of you today!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Shalom!

For Wednesday, July 19, 2023:

Romans 2:10-11 NLV: “But God will give His greatness and honor and peace to all those who obey the truth. Both Jews and those who are not Jews will receive this. For God does not show favoritism.”

What we do in this life matters in the next. God has rewards for those who live by his instructions, and sometimes the rewards come in this life, but oftentimes in the next.

One of God’s gifts is peace, the peace of the Lord, shalom. In Hebrew, the word means peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility. To me, shalom means freedom from anxiety, not having to worry. Jesus taught us that we needn’t worry if we trust in the Lord! With God, everything will be OK – count on it!

God does not show favoritism. The Messiah came through the Hebrew people, but his mission was to rescue everyone. He took the sins of the world to the place of the dead, everyone’s sins. The song says, “Jesus loves me,” and we all need to remember that! Keep it front-of-mind!

 "Shalom” replaces “hello” and “goodbye” for many Jews. So let’s close with, “Shalom – may the peace of the Lord be with you today!”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Peacemakers

For Wednesday, September 9, 2020. 

Matthew 5:9 NIV: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

This verse is part of Jesus’ greatest message, the Sermon on the Mount, which includes ‘The Beatitudes,’ lessons of extreme joy, blessedness and happiness. 

You’ve seen contestants on TV being asked their one wish, and the typical answer is for world peace. That sounds good, but Jesus is asking for a lot more than that. This isn’t just about those who wish for peace or those who live in peace. This is God’s call on those who bring about peace, those who overcome evil with good.

One way we accomplish this is by sharing the Good News of Jesus with others. Jesus charged believers with a ministry of reconciliation with the Father, making peace between mankind and the God so often rejected and offended by some. 

The apostle John wrote that all who believed in Jesus would become like children of God, adopted into the Holy Family. These should be the peacemakers.

Working toward peace is good, but Jesus promised that there would be wars and rumors of wars until he returns once again. I’m looking forward to it! 

Peace to you today - Shalom!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

3249 30th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406

Shalom!

 For Sunday, August 9, 2020.

John 14:27a NIV: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” 

Nowadays we say “hello” and “goodbye,” a greeting and a farewell, and that’s all there is to it. In Jesus’ day, they said “shalom,” and it could mean a whole lot more.

“Shalom” is a Hebrew word meaning “peace,” but also implies living in harmony with others, living a full and complete life, fulfilling your life’s purpose, wishes of prosperity and wealth, that your needs would be met, and of course tranquility or peace. 

Jesus was explaining that he would be returning to the Father, but his followers would be OK. Jesus was returning to heaven to prepare a place for everyone, and we should all live in “peace” until it’s our time to join him. He left us with a big chunk of that “peace,” the peace that surpasses all understanding, and with that we’ll be OK until we enter the next reality. Jesus said so. Then he’ll be here to greet us with open arms! That will be a good day!

Shalom to all this Sabbath day! 

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

3249 30th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406

Peace with God!

For Friday, July 24, 2020.

Romans 5:1 CEV: “By faith we have been made acceptable to God. And now, because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we live at peace with God.”

We have a choice – to live in constant conflict, continually pushing God past his limits – or – to live in peace with our maker. Believers have made the choice to live in harmony with God. Believers have said “yes” to Jesus.

Jesus made living in peace with God possible. Jesus paid the price for mankind’s sin so that our record before God would be spotless. Believer’s sin is at the bottom of the deepest ocean, as far as the East is from the West! Now Jesus has gone ahead to prepare our place in the eternal kingdom! God is good!

Sometimes this life goes well; other times life hands you a lemon. We don’t have any control over most of it, but we can control how we feel about it and how we react to it. We’ve been living through a lot of lemons lately, what with the pandemic and civil unrest in our country.

Therefore I would encourage everyone to take a quiet moment and pray or meditate with our God of peace. Knowing that God created you, loves you a lot, and sent his Son to escort you back home should put your mind at ease.

May you find solace knowing that you’re at peace with the Lord – Shalom!

Blessings and peace to all today!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

3249 30th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406