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

Frogs!

For Friday, January 24, 2025:

Exodus 8:1-2 NLT: Then the Lord said to Moses: “Go back to Pharaoh and announce to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so they can worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs across your entire land.’”

A plague of frogs? This lets me know that God has a sense of humor! Picture Pharaoh’s wife in her kitchen standing high up on a chair for safety, and all around her the floor is covered with frogs! She screeches, “Pharaoh! Get these frogs out of here! I’m afraid to get down! There’s no place I can put my foot!” High-jumping frogs keep bouncing off her legs. She screams even louder! Frogs are everywhere. They’re on the chair in which you’d like to sit. They’re on the dining room table where you’d like to eat. They’re in your bed! Frogs, frogs, frogs!

Pharaoh’s magicians concocted a trick whereby they too could make frogs appear, but no one knew how to get rid of the frogs! Pharaoh relents: “Plead with the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people. I will let your people go, so they can offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

Here’s where it gets interesting. Moses accepts Pharaoh’s contrition, and tells him, “You set the time!”

To which Pharaoh responds, “Do it tomorrow.” Tomorrow. Pharaoh doesn’t want to lose his servants, the Hebrew brick-makers. So no matter how depressing it is living with frogs everywhere, he willingly puts up with one more night of misery. One more night with the frogs.

In a similar vein, there’s a book published by the Johnson Institute dealing with alcoholism and addiction called, “I’ll Quit Tomorrow.” No matter how much misery alcohol and/or drugs have inflicted into someone’s life, they derive a certain amount of pleasure from getting high. So the normal intervention answer is, “I’ll quit tomorrow.” One more night with the frogs!

Ultimately Pharaoh reneges on his promise to let God’s people go. He’ll soon regret his decision. God has things far worse than frogs on Pharaoh’s agenda.

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