Love Not the World!

For Friday, August 30, 2024:

1 John 2:15 NLT: “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.”

Love is a two-way street. If you love someone or something, you expect to receive reciprocal love in return. And all the world has to offer is sin, short-term pleasure with long-term problems. In “the world,” Satan wants to divert your focus from the Father. This is a battle that believers must win, and the Devil must lose.

As we focus on eternity, the Father’s love becomes evident. Christians speak of agape love, love that cannot be destroyed. It’s love like when a parent welcomes children back home, no matter what they’ve done wrong. They are, after all, our children. And believers are children of God. Jesus said to pray to “Our Father in heaven.”

As a believer, you’re a member of the Holy Family, so act like it. In your heart, join the family of God. Jesus will welcome us with open arms as we transition to the next reality. It’s God’s unconditional lovingkindness!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Agape Love!

For Thursday, October 19, 2023:

Romans 12:9 NLT: “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.”

Under the Old Covenant, mankind was to follow God’s commands. But Jesus gave us a New Covenant, whereby the laws are written on our hearts. Therefore everyone instinctively knows right from wrong. We have also been given a conscience to let us know when we’re wrong, to keep us on God’s path.

In Christianity, we hear about agape love, the highest form of love, the love of man for God and God for man. Agape love is a choice. God didn’t have to love us, but he does. Jesus spent all his time teaching heaven’s edicts and healing a great many. He loves us too. He died to pay our sin-penalty!

Some older Bible translations use a term I love: “Everlasting Lovingkindness.” In the original language, it’s agape love, and it’s forever. God’s not about to change his mind!

So when we sing “Jesus Loves Me,” we know it to be true!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

God's Unending Love!

For Saturday, September 23, 2023:

Romans 8:38a NLT: “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.”

Before Adam and Eve sinned, there was no religion in the world. There was only God the Creator. But the couple had been promised by the devil himself that they too could be like God. Regrettably, they took the bait. Suddenly there was unworthy competition for heaven’s throne, and sin had entered the world. Now God needed to make his laws and his value system known, so now we have religion.

Like any proud parent, God was disappointed when his children let him down, but the incident did not extinguish his love for us. God went so far as to send his own Son to pay the price for the sins of the world, so that we could join him in the hereafter. That’s how much God loves us! Paul goes on to say, “Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” His list is extensive but not exhaustive. In fact, nothing can separate us from God’s love.

Paul concludes v39: “No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Unshakable Love!

For Friday, September 22, 2023:

Romans 8:35a NLT: “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?”

The fact is that God’s mind is made up! He loves mankind, his premiere creation, unconditionally, like a parent loves their children and always welcomes them home. And with God’s mind set on that goal, nothing can separate us from the love of God and his Son.

Scripture goes on to say that Satan will persist in throwing roadblocks in our path, things that might deter us but will never stop God. Trouble, calamity persecution, hunger, being without resources, danger, even threatened with death — those are the devil’s tools. But God and his Son are persistent and they are of one mind. Their goal is to bring mankind back home to heaven, as many as are willing to come!

The paragraph concludes v37: “Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Unconditional Love!

For Friday, May 26, 2023:

1 John 4:10 GNT: “This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.”

Jesus talked about “love” so much that John continues expositing the subject(s). In the English language, we’re limited by having only one “love” word. “I love my job; I love my friends at church; I love my new car; I love my wife” – same word, but completely different meanings. But in the original language, there are different words for each kind of love.

Yesterday we talked about brotherly love, but today’s scripture shifts to unconditional love, what the Bible calls “agápē” love, where someone is loved no matter what! A parent loves their children unconditionally. We may not approve of their behavior from time to time, but they can always come back home. It’s been said that home is where when you go there, they always let you in!

Believers are adopted into God’s Holy Family. And since we’re Children of God, our Heavenly Father loves us without reservation. In spite of our propensity to sin, God is loving and forgiving and welcomes us with open arms.

How much does our Father love us? “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Love = Action!

For Thursday, May 11, 2023:

1 John 3:18 NLT: “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.”

Jesus and now the disciples persist in teaching Jesus’ new command – to love one another as he loved us! The concept was not commonplace back then, but the disciples had experienced the love of Jesus as they traveled with him and listened to his teaching. It had been very refreshing living that way, it’s what Jesus said to do, so now they’re out to tell everybody!

It’s said that actions speak louder than words. John writes that loving our brothers and sisters requires more than just agreeing with the concept. We need to put that principle into action, just like Jesus did. We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us!

Loving your neighbor requires action!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Agape Love!

For Saturday, February 11, 2023:

Matthew 7:9 NIV, Jesus speaking: “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?”

It’s been said that home is where when you go there, they have to let you in. No matter what! That’s unconditional love, which the New Testament calls agape love, not to be confused with sexual love or brotherly love. Agape is the highest form of love, the love of God for mankind and our love for our Lord. It’s similar to the love a parent has for their children. We love our children unconditionally, in spite of their faults.

Jesus teaches us to think of God as our Father in heaven, and he’s saying here that if we pray for bread, God will not give us a stone. If we pray for a fish, God won’t give us a snake. Parents forgive their offspring’s shortcomings and always want them to have the best. God is good – all the time!

"To all who believed Jesus and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.” Not from a physical birth or plan, but reborn according to God’s grace, adopted into the Holy family, beneficiaries of agape love - forever!

We’re all family now!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Love!

For Wednesday, June 1, 2022:

1 Thessalonians 3:12, Paul speaking: “May the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.”

Some people say that God is love. I agree, but that’s an over-simplification. God is so much more – the Creator of a universe, the Creator of all living things and the perseverance to keep it all running smoothly.

Jesus said that love is what the Pharisees got wrong. They were intentional about religious ritual and tradition, and they were intentional about following the Law. But they forgot to love the Lord and to care for their neighbors.

We’re told by Jesus to think of God as our Father. He loves us and forgives us just as any parent would love their own children, and we in turn should reciprocate, showing that same love back to the Lord and to our neighbors.

Love God and love your neighbor. That’s what Jesus said!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

God, Our Rock!

For Friday, May 6, 2022:

Psalm 102:2a NLT: “Lord, don’t turn away from me in my time of distress.”

God is our anchor, our unchanging rock. He made mankind in his image, and declared that his efforts were “very good!” Words aren’t adequate to describe God’s love for us, but the Bible we grew up with calls it “everlasting lovingkindness.”

Think of God as the sun, and mankind as our planet. Every day we say the sun sets, but in fact the sun is right where it’s always been. It’s the planet that moved, rotated away from the sun. And like the sun, God is still right where he’s always been. It’s mankind that has turned away from the Lord, put God on the back burner, so to speak. John the Baptist heralded hope to a damaged world. He taught that the acceptable thing to do is to repent and return to the Lord, for the kingdom is at hand!

The Kingdom may be closer than we think!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Love!

For Saturday, April 23, 2022

1 Cor. 13:13 NLT: “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”

We hear these words at weddings. We tend to think of love as between a man and woman or between two best friends. But Paul’s “agape love” goes much further. The Greek “agape” describes unconditional love, the love of God for man and of man for God, a love that persists regardless of circumstances. Jesus spoke of this, and also preached “philia,” brotherly love, our love for one another. Rather than only being concerned with self, Jesus introduced a new concept: concern and caring for the well-being of others

When asked the greatest commandments, Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus added “love” to mankind’s agenda!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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