Creation, Condensed Version!

For Friday, March 20, 2026:

Genesis 1:31 NLT: “Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!”

God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – created the planet Earth, made light and darkness, separated land and water, grew vegetation, put the stars, moon and sun in the sky, gave us fish and birds, next land animals, and finally male and female human beings. That all took six days, and God rested on the seventh, designating it as Holy. After each day, God declared his creation “good,” but in its entirety, following the sixth day, God declared everything to be “VERY good!”

We have been given the privilege of living in that well-designed world. At one time, it was all very good. Unfortunately, mankind has done a lot to make that not so. Sin, lust and corruption have tarnished God’s creation. Satan and his demons have done all they can to derail the project. Right now, the world we live in is a big mess!

The Good News is that God promised to fix everything! He sent his Son, our Savior Jesus to take away the sins of the world. He’ll restore the earth to be the New Earth, just the way it was originally designed. He’ll splash total forgiveness on loyal believers so they can join him in the hereafter. God’s desire is for all to repent and return. You and I can sign up for that program!

Let’s all join God’s eternal heavenly Kingdom, where there’s no sin, no sickness or disease, where people love God and love their neighbors. What God wants turns out to be a very good way for us to live! Hallelujah!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Jehovah-jireh!

For Saturday, December 6, 2025:

Romans 5:6 NLT: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”

There’s a lot in this scripture. Let me review a couple of basic Christian principles, and then we’ll have a look.

1. God and sin are incompatible. God is perfect, and everything around him is perfect. Sin is hugely imperfect and is not tolerated in God’s presence.

2. When God formed mankind, the final step of creation, he looked at everything and declared it “very good!” He loves us, so his desire is that everyone would repent and return to his dwelling place, Heaven. God is willing to forgive repentant sinners if we’re willing to discard our errant ways and if our desire is to come home.

Mankind had no way to obtain forgiveness on our own. Helpless. So God sent his Son, Jesus, our redeemer, to rescue us. As Jesus died, he took the sins of the world to the place of the dead. And mankind, suddenly without sin, found ourselves eligible to take up eternal residence in the Lord’s presence.

God-the-provider, Jehovah-jireh, sent exactly what we needed, forgiveness and redemption, exactly when we needed it. God is good beyond measure!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

The Battle Continues...

For Sunday, October 13, 2024:

1 John 5:5 NLT: “Who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.”

Christians realize that there’s a huge battle taking place as we speak. Satan and his minions are still mistakenly thinking they have a chance at owning the souls of this world, your soul and my soul, our eternal essence. They are wrong! The battle becomes more fierce the closer we come to the end of the age. Satan is running out of time, so harder and harder he keeps trying, but he will ultimately lose.

God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – looked at everything he created, and declared that it was very good! So his desire is that we spend eternity in heaven in his presence! That’s why Jesus came to rescue mankind, to offer us forgiveness. We are redeemed. The price has been paid to get us out of Satan’s sinful pawn shop. Jesus personally paid that price with his own life, forgiving mankind’s sins and opening the doors of heaven for believers!

Believers gather on Sunday to praise all the good things God has done for us, and to worship his almighty supernatural nature. We join other believers in making a joyful sound that can be heard in the throne room of heaven!

See you in church!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

New Life!

For Thursday, October 27, 2022:

2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT: “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

Jesus has placed a dividing line in our lives. There’s the “before-Jesus” life, and the “after-Jesus” life. The old life is gone, and a new life has begun!

Jesus described it as being “born again.” I look at it as getting a fresh start. Jesus took our former full-of-sin life to the place of the dead, and left believers as cleansed children of God, prepared for the Kingdom. Our lives are not just repaired or mended. Followers of Jesus are made anew by God’s workmanship. As with all of God’s creation, he can look upon it and declare it “very good.”

How blessed are we that God gives us a re-start in the midst of our lives!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

"Very Good!"

January 17, 2022 Monday Message

Genesis 1:31a NLT: “God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!”

Sometimes it’s good to step back from a big project, to take in an overview of how it’s all coming together. At the end of the sixth creation day, God did just that.

It was a huge undertaking, creating the universe with stars and planets; creating water and land; light to end the darkness; plants, small animals and livestock; and the crowning achievement, mankind made in God’s own image, male and female he made them. God gave each of his creations the ability to produce offspring of the same kind. Call it “sustainable creation!”

Turns out it was a good plan, well thought-out. God declared the project a success, and said that everything was very good! If God was pleased with the outcome, we too should be shouting, “Very good!”

We’re filled with confident hope knowing that our creation analysis aligns with the Lord’s!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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