Repent and Return!

August 17, 2026, Monday Message:

Acts 3:19 NLT, Peter, preaching in the Temple: “Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.”

Paul is giving everyone the Cliff’s Notes condensed version of how to get right with God. You may know it as the Reader’s Digest condensed version. Friends, coming under God’s umbrella may not be as complicated as you think!

“Repent and Return.” It’s that simple. God already knows you’ve sinned and the Bible says that ALL have sinned, so that’s a pretty inclusive group! What everyone needs to do is realize what has gone wrong, repent for those actions, and then turn back to the Lord. Put God back up on his pedestal. Give him the place in your life that he should have had all along.

In the Hebrew language, the process is described as turning, like we were headed North but should have been going South. Ideally, we should be growing closer to God, but sin left us falling away. We were backsliders. NOW is the best time to turn or (re)turn to God. Closer to God is always better than farther from God.

Adam and Eve were the first to sin, to think they could be like God. They could not. They had to realize their mistake, their sin, and place themselves back under God’s care. Understand that God still loved them. While they had been sinning, God was making clothes for them.

When God’s people were still doubting, (doubting the Lord is a sin…) God sent 10 plagues, convincing Pharaoh to let God’s people go! When God’s people were afraid to trust in Yahweh, (not trusting Yahweh is a sin…) little David decided to take on the mighty Goliath. It was easier to convince God’s people to return after Goliath’s defeat!

If anyone asks you what to do to become a Christian, to square things up with the Almighty, explain “Repent and Return.” Don’t overcomplicate it. Realize that God WANTS everyone to Repent and Return!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Turn Around - Face God!

For Thursday, February 12, 2026:

Romans 6:19b NLT: “Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.”

In the Hebrew language, a person caught up in sin is said to be far from God, whereas a righteous person is said to be close to God. That’s a good way to look at it.

If someone appears to have drifted from religion, they haven’t necessarily placed Satan in charge. But they have wandered farther and farther from God. It’s then time to turn, do a 180 and get back closer to God. Teshuva(h) means return, in this case, return to the Lord. Repentance requires acknowledging the sin, regretting it, and vowing to take a better path as the person changes directions and returns to be closer to God.

Who is Lord of your life? (Jesus.) Are you close to God, or far from God? (Closer is better.) If your eyes can’t focus on God, you may be facing the wrong direction. Time to flip around and head back the right way!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

Bitterness and Resentment!

For Wednesday, July 16, 2025:

Luke 15:25b NLT: “When the older brother returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house.”

The Prodigal Son story hasn’t quite ended. We know the father welcomed him home with open arms. But we also must consider his assimilation into the remainder of the household. As Paul Harvey would say, “The REST of the story!”

One of my commentaries titles this section, “The bitterness and resentment of the older son.” In his mind, what mattered is what he wanted. But what really matters is what God wants! In this parable, the father represents our Father in Heaven.

The older son had never lived a prodigal lifestyle. When he heard the celebration, he refused to enter. “I never disobeyed...” he said, and, “You never gave me…,” clues that a deep-seated grudge lived within the older son. How long had he believed himself to be superior to the younger son?

Let’s get back to what God wants. God expects certain decisions to be ‘forever.’ If you want to be part of God’s team, great. That’s a forever decision. If you decide to be the ‘good’ son, you’ve got that position for life. When you ask Jesus to live in your heart and to be Lord and Savior of your life, that’s an eternal decision. Yes, eternal! God won’t come around daily, asking, “Are you still ‘in?’ Do you still believe? Great!” No, you told Him once that you were ‘in,’ and He expects your word to be good. So was the older son ‘in,’ or was he a backslider?

One more thing. The Hebrew word translated ‘repent’ really means ‘to turn,’ as in, “I was headed North but should have been going South!” It’s referring to turning our lives around. Repent and return. Instead of drifting farther from God, we all need to settle in closer to God, and make that permanent, a forever decision. Our word needs to be good.

Notice that heaven’s celebration begins with the radical transformation of even one sinner. “This son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So let he party begin!

When God celebrates, we should celebrate with Him. After all, heaven celebrated when each of us was saved!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Return To the Flock!

For Wednesday, October 25, 2023:

Psalm 80:3 TLB: “Turn us again to yourself, O God. Look down on us in joy and love; only then shall we be saved.”

I’ve used this analogy before. When day turns into night, we say the sun set. And when morning comes, we say the sun is rising. In fact the sun is stationary; it is the rotation of our planet that causes day and night. If it’s dark, it’s because we turned away from the sun.

Similarly, God doesn’t turn away from his people. But the Bible contains many examples of people turning away from God. It’s not that they stopped believing; but God had lost his priority in their lives. It happened so often that in the Hebrew language there’s a word for it: “teshuvah,” often spelled different ways. A Rabbi once told me, “I could write it in Hebrew, but in English I don’t know!” It means to turn, to turn a different way, or to re-turn, to turn back so that you can once again face the Lord head-on. In a way, it’s an analogy telling us to give God the priority in our pecking order that he deserves.

So we shouldn’t pray, “God come back to us.” Instead we should pray, “God, turn us back to you!”

God is right where he’s always been!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Wake Up Yourself!

For Wednesday, September 6, 2023:

Psalm 44:23-24 NLT: “Wake up, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Get up! Do not reject us forever. Why do you look the other way? Why do you ignore our suffering and oppression?”

The Psalmist is dancing around untrue precepts. But what’s true is that this is how God’s people felt at the time!

The truth is that our God never sleeps; He does not need to wake up or get up. It’s God’s people who need to wake up! The people had become complacent. It seems God no longer had the priority in their lives that he once had. The people never stopped believing, but God had been relegated to the back burner!

Sounds a lot like our country today! By and large, the USA is a Christian nation founded on Christian precepts. But many have lost their fire for Jesus. Backsliders can’t be bothered to join a church or participate in outreach, things Jesus assigned to the believers. Both as individuals and as a nation, we need to once again turn and face the Lord.

God is right where he’s always been!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship