Palm Sunday!

For Sunday, March 29, 2026:

John 12:12b-13 NLT: “A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet Jesus. They shouted, ‘Praise God! [Hosanna!] Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel!’”

Today is Palm Sunday, when Christians everywhere celebrate Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Jesus had recently healed Lazarus and brought him back to life. A large crowd had been present for that event, and there was much anticipation when word got out that Jesus was coming back into town. They lined the streets as if a parade were about to take place.

Meanwhile, Jesus sent two disciples to borrow a donkey, who were told to say, “The Lord has need of it.” The donkey had never been ridden, and I look at this like asking to borrow a new Buick off the showroom floor. It fulfills the prophecy, “Look, your king is coming to you,... riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt.”

As Jesus entered the city, the crowd waved palm branches in the air and lined the streets with brightly colored cloth, shouting, “Hosanna,” which means, “Save us; save us now!” I suspect that the crowd knew mankind had a sin problem, and the only solution was an alliance with the man who could raise someone from the dead. They wouldn’t have asked Jesus to save them, to rescue them, unless they believed it to be possible.

Shouts rang out, “Hail to the King of Israel!” Recall John (the baptist) saying, “The Kingdom of God is at hand,” as he introduced Jesus to the world. Only a King has a Kingdom, and Jesus is the one King! This upset the Roman Government, which thought Herod was their king. It also upset the Pharisees. “There’s nothing we can do. Look, everyone has gone after him!”

So this is all about money and power. Pharisees didn’t like worshipers leaving to follow Jesus, and they didn’t like tithes going to the Jesus team rather than the Temple. Furthermore, the Roman government already had a king and didn’t want another, and certainly not a Jew! Jesus’ demise seemed certain, and he predicted his own death.

People are fickle. In just a few days, they went from “Save us now!” to “Crucify him!” No one understood that Jesus would take the sins of the world to the place of the dead, and that mankind could be forgiven and have a shot at eternity! Those railing against Jesus were actually fulfilling God’s vast eternal plan!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Parade Day!

For Friday, July 25, 2025:

John 12:13 AMP: “A large crowd of Passover visitors took branches of palm trees [in homage to Jesus as King] and went out to meet Him, and they began shouting and kept shouting “Hosanna! Blessed (celebrated, praised) is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

This scripture describes Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Christians celebrate it on Palm Sunday. Jesus’ popularity with the populous had been increasing, and this day marked the pinnacle of his ministry. The crowd shouted, “Hosanna,” which means, “save us.” Save us from hell, save us from the lake of fire and grant us a place in your Kingdom. Shouting hosanna also implies an urgency. “Save us, save us now!” Stop and think – you’d only ask someone to save you, to redeem you, if you believed they could fulfill that request!

Jesus rode a borrowed donkey that day, fulfilling scripture. Donkeys were valuable in that they could transport a heavy load from point A to point B. Imagine someone saying, “I’m going to take your F-150 pickup. The Lord has need of it!” Probably wouldn’t happen, but God was showing off his Son that day, and He may have had a hand in it! God has a hand in most everything! This was parade day, and Jesus was the celebrated Grand Marshall!

On the street, people were still talking about how Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. That’s why so many flocked out to meet him. They had heard of that miracle. It was starting to look like Jesus could be the promised Messiah. Let’s all go and check it out!

So friends, let’s try this: When everyone is praising the Lord at church, try shouting out, “Hosanna!” Save me, save me now. Picture Jesus riding through the congregation on a borrowed donkey. Picture a parade right up the center aisle. Tell Jesus you love him. Assure him that you’re not like the fickle ones who abandoned him. True believers are in this until the end!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Direct Connection!

For Sunday, April 13, 2025:

John 16:23 NLT, Jesus speaking: “Following my resurrection, you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name.”

On the cross, Jesus took the sins of the world to the place of the dead. And with sins forgiven and the penalty paid in full, mankind can directly approach the Father. When Jesus died, the curtain protecting the Holy of holies, separating mankind from God was torn – torn from top to bottom, so it was God doing the tearing! We no longer needed a middle-man, an intercessor, a priest. That is why we pray directly to God our Father in the name of Jesus.

 "You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.” In Hebrew jargon, a sinner is said to be “far from God.” Someone who repents and returns to the Lord is “closer to God.” Tearing down the curtain allows us to be closer to God. So apparently God desires us closer to him. He wants a relationship with each of us!

Many things changed with the New Covenant Jesus introduced to the world. A closer relationship with Father God gives us a foot in the door of eternity!

Today is Palm Sunday. Lift your hands and sing with joy! With your family, celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into the Holy City! See you at church!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Hosanna!

February 12, 2024 Monday Message:

Mark 11:9b NKJV: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Jesus was about to enter the Holy City of Jerusalem. It’s called the Triumphal Entry. We celebrate it as Palm Sunday. The story unfolds like this:

Two disciples were sent to borrow a donkey for Jesus to ride through the city, explaining, “The Lord has need of it.” Now if someone told me to go into my neighborhood and borrow a Buick that had never been driven – the keys will be in it – and explain that the Lord has need of it, I’m sure I’d be arrested on the spot! And that’s what this was like, commandeering someone’s means of transportation. But it all happened just as the Bible reports. All signs point to the super-natural nature of the event that’s about to transpire.

As Jesus rode the streets of Jerusalem, people lined the route with palm fronds and the cloaks they’d been wearing. They cheered and shouted, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna!” The crowd was acknowledging that Jesus wasn’t just a regular human being. He was heaven-sent, fulfilling the Lord’s mission here on earth. How else could you explain everything that happened when Jesus was present?

And now that the crowd knows who Jesus is, they shout “Hosanna,” which means, Save us. Now!” They would not ask Jesus to save them unless they believed that it was possible for him to do so!. And there’s an urgency to “Hosanna.” “Save us – save us NOW!” These people want to repent and return. They believe there’s a heaven and a hell, and it’s forgiveness by the Father that can punch their heavenly ticket. They sure don’t want to see hell!

So go ahead – shout and cheer and cast your own branches on the road. Call out “Hosanna” as Jesus rides by!

Have a blessed week!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Hosanna!

For Sunday, April 10, 2022

Matthew 21:9 NIV: “The crowds that went ahead of Jesus and those that followed shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!’”

Jesus had been ministering on earth for three years, and word had gotten around about all the healings. Jesus was known as a fair person, an honest person, but mostly as a worker of miracles. Even people who didn’t know he was the Son of God thought he was an important prophet, certainly sent from heaven. In Jesus, they found hope!

And today Jesus is making his Triumphal Entry into the Holy City, riding on a borrowed donkey. It was like a parade! People lined the streets, laying palm branches and bright cloth in the street ahead of their Savior. Everyone called him ‘blessed,’ and shouted, “Hosanna,” which means save us, save us now!

In our churches, we celebrate this day as Palm Sunday. We too should shout out, “Hosanna! Save us, save us now!”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Jesus' Parade of Palms!

April 6, 2020 Monday Message:

“They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!’” John 12:13

Yesterday was Palm Sunday and next Sunday is Easter, Resurrection Sunday. Let’s be honest – we’re all a little bit disconnected from the church calendar, because of the ‘Shelter in Place’ order stemming from the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

I love a parade, and I love the Triumphal Entry, Jesus commandeering a donkey and colt with only the explanation, “The Lord needs them.” Then people, many of whom saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the tomb, lined the street with their clothes, and cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road, shouting, “Hosanna! Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna!” “Hosanna” means, “save us,” but with an urgency that implies, “Save us NOW!”

At the time, Israel was under Roman rule, but with a unique twist: As long as order was maintained in the region, the people were allowed to practice their own religion. Hence Rome ruled the land, but the Temple Priests ruled religion. Both groups were upset with the number of people following Jesus rather than the ‘organized’ religion, and calling Jesus “King of Israel” was a direct affront to Caesar.

When the parade was over, the Pharisees were disgusted. “This is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!” John 12:19

Next week, even though the crowd switches sides, Jesus goes on to conquer sin and death on the same day!

Norton Lawellin, Worship Pastor

Jesus in the City Fellowship.

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

Triumphal Entry

March 21, 2016 Monday Message:

“See, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt!” John 12:15b

Christians could use any of three titles for this past Sunday.

Some call it “Passion Sunday.” Passion is the word for what took place during the week leading up to Easter or Resurrection Sunday.

“Palm Sunday” is probably the most often-heard name, referring to the palm branches waved overhead and placed in the path of Jesus as he entered the streets of Jerusalem for the Passover celebration.

Others call this section of scripture, “Triumphal Entry,” and I like that title a lot.

Jesus’ ministry had been on the increase for three years, and this was the peak, the apex, of all that had been happening. Word about Jesus’ miracles preceded him. He could calm the storm, he could walk on water, and he could feed people as necessary, and not just a few. Feeding 3,000 and 5,000 men is documented in the Bible, but they might have had their wives with them, so is that number closer to 10,000? What if their children were there too? Does the number become 20,000? We don’t know the exact number, but my point is that this wasn’t 35 people or 65 people or even 100 people. At this point, thousands and thousands of people were enamored with the carpenter’s son from Nazareth.

But the crowning achievement in a lot of people’s eyes was when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Remember Lazarus had been ill, they sent for Jesus, but he didn’t come right away. By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus was long dead, prepared for burial. But Jesus shouted at the tomb, “Lazarus, come out!” and out he came, wrapped in strips of burial cloth. Eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ power over death fueled the Triumphal Entry.

The people shouted, “Hosanna,” which means “save us, save us NOW!” Think about it - people would not ask someone to save them unless they had a reasonable expectation that that person COULD save them.

And that day, they knew that Jesus was not just King of the Jews – he was King of the World!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets every Sunday at 10 am in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. This Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016, Pastor Pilla celebrates the resurrection.