Same God!

     For Sunday, February 1, 2026:

Hebrews 13:8 NLT: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

This scripture tells us that God and his Son Jesus are consistent. If God gave a command 2K years ago, it’s still in effect nowadays. We can have confidence in the prophecies given to us. Rules are rules, and laws are laws. What God wants us to do doesn’t change. Tell everyone about the Father’s love and forgiveness. Tell them about Jesus, that he paid the penalty for our sins. Tell the people that our Lord has offered us a second chance, a do-over – and a third chance, and a fourth chance… His desire is that everyone would repent and return.

We can put our faith, hope and trust in the God of Abraham. He’s the same God yesterday, today and tomorrow. Our God is powerful enough to create an entire universe, but still quite interested in each of our lives. He wants us to talk to him today. He wants to favor us with his blessings today – right now, so connect with him frequently. Share not only your hurts and sorrows with him, but your good news and blessings as well. Get to the heart of the matter. You can’t just do small talk when conversing with God. Smile when you meet with the Lord!

God and his Son desire a relationship with you. Make a point of including him in your life!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Decision!

Daily message of hope...
For Friday, August 1, 2025:

Luke 16:28 NLT, The Rich Man’s dialog as Jesus concludes the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus: “I have five brothers, and I want Abraham to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.”

Every person living in every nation will get their chance to hear the Good News of the saving grace of Jesus. They will learn about repenting and returning. Everyone will learn about getting a second chance, a time to straighten out their relationship with God Almighty. So what about these additional brothers in Jesus’ parable?

They were told about God, His Kingdom and a life after this life by Moses and the other prophets. Jesus, the Messiah, was prophesied long before he arrived. They should have had all the information needed to make a decision.

In fact they had not decided in favor of Jesus, and those who are not for Jesus are against him. Jesus is saying, “You had your chance, but you turned me down! Don’t keep asking for more chances! You’ll probably just turn me down again!”

Which is why, when offered an opportunity to follow Jesus, our answer should be a prompt, “Yes, Lord!” A positive decision is what God wants. No straddling the fence. We need to pick one way or the other. Wishy-washy is the same as saying ‘no.’

Billy Graham used to have a daily radio show called “Decision Today.” I always liked that name, because TODAY is the best time to settle the question of your eternal destination!

Pastor Norton Lawellin
Jesus In the City Fellowship

Persistence!

For Wednesday, June 25, 2025:

Hebrews 3:13 NLT: “You must warn each other every day, while it is still ‘today,’ so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.”

Stick-to-itiveness. That’s what we need. Goofy word, but it’s in my dictionary! This scripture encourages us to help each other stick with what we learned from Jesus. He IS coming back, but we don’t know when. Our hearts need to be right today, because tomorrow may be too late!

If we could graph the Hebrew relationship with God, it would look like a rollercoaster – up and down, up and down, closer to God, farther from God. When God has things going well in our lives, humans tend to say, “Thanks, God, but I can take it from here!” We eventually fail and crawl back to God, whining, “Please, God, help us out of this mess we’ve made.” God again rescues His people, giving them a second chance, a third chance, etc.

Things are no different nowadays. Unfortunately, mankind’s tendency is to grow complacent in our worship and in our devotion to the Almighty, and we begin to let things slide. Christianity gets put on the back burner. It’s not that we completely stopped believing. It’s just that religious matters don’t hold the priority they once did in our lives. People caught up in this are called backsliders!

Some theologians teach that if we can fall away from Jesus, we were never really “in” in the first place. Asking Jesus to be Lord and Savior of your life should be an irrevocable decision.

The Bible says, “If we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.” We should all strive to be with that group!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Today!

For Thursday, December 5, 2024:

2 Thessalonians 1:10 NLT: “When he (Jesus) comes on that day, he will receive glory from his holy people—praise from all who believe. And this includes you, for you believed what we told you about him.”

 "Include” is a word we love to hear. Example: “Three of us are going, there’s room in the car for a fourth, and we’d like to include you!” Everyone loves to be included!

Jesus is on-board with this. He and the Father want to include everyone in the eternal Kingdom. Unfortunately, some will say no to God’s invitation, choosing to go their own way. Friends, that won’t work out. At the end of this age, there will be only two groups: those who are with Jesus, and those who are not. That’s when Jesus prepares a special place for believers. But unbelievers go to a fiery judgment.

We never know when that last day is coming. We need to be always ready when Jesus calls us home. Today is the best day to make or reaffirm your decision for Jesus!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Everyone Saved!

October 3, 2023 Monday Message:

Romans 10:1 NLT: “Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved.”

Friends, your eternal destination is serious business. “Forever” is a very long time! Paul’s prayer, as he writes to the church in Rome, is for all to be saved, redeemed, to hold a reservation in the hereafter, a reservation made for us by Jesus.

Likewise, the prayer of every Pastor nowadays should be that their entire flock would be included in the heavenly life-after-this-life. Paul goes on to warn of misdirected religious zeal. Raised Jewish, his flock had plenty of enthusiasm for religion but no knowledge of Jesus’ plan for our salvation. As leaders, we need to challenge everyone in our pews to ask Jesus into their heart. But each person must make their own decision.

Today is the best day to commit or re-commit your soul to follow God’s Son!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Worry Not!

February 6, 2023 Monday Message:

Matthew 6:34 NLT, Jesus speaking: “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

My father taught me to not worry about things over which I have no control. It’s futile! Only fret over situations you have some hope of changing. I have opinions about our nation’s policies and our state’s laws, but as the legislators debate, my phone never rings! I can fire off an occasional letter or fill out a survey, but further worrying will accomplish nothing except to confound my mental health. I need to accept the status quo, and vote for someone different in the next election!

Jesus teaches us to not worry, would prefer that we didn’t worry, but he knows that humans tend to agonize over what life brings. So if you must worry, confine it to today’s issues. When tomorrow comes, there’ll be plenty of opportunity to worry about tomorrow’s challenges.

Don’t borrow trouble in advance of it happening. “What if’s” and “He/She mights” haven’t happened yet, so they don’t deserve any of your time. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. It isn’t necessarily wrong to remember the past or plan for the future. Both of those are good to a certain degree, but don’t become so focused on either that today slips away. God wants us to remember the past, plan for the future, but live in the present.

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Ps. 118:24)

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship