Offering!

For Friday, March 7, 2025:

Leviticus 7:28-29 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you present a peace offering to the Lord, bring part of it as a gift to the Lord.”

3,000 years ago, everyone had to raise their own livestock and harvest their own grain. You couldn’t just stop at Cub on the way home. Here, the Lord is telling Moses to tell the people to bring a little extra for the Priests. Not more fat to burn on the altar, but the breast, good meat, something of sustenance for the religious workers.

Nowadays we give mostly dollars. Cash and checks in the offering. Visa and Mastercard on the web site. Venmo and Paypal for direct deposits. The Old Testament suggested a tithe, 10%, for the Lord’s work. The good news is that we got to keep 90%! The New Testament suggests sacrificial giving. Don’t stop at 10%. Put a little extra towards God’s work.

In Jesus’ day, the mindset was that their Savior would be taking believers to heaven soon, so they really wouldn’t need money or property. Many in the first church, called The Way, sold their homes, their land, their livestock and donated the proceeds to the church. As the saying goes, “You can’t take it with you!”

So prayerfully consider what the Lord would have you do. Talk it out with God. You don’t have to decide this minute. Take this project home, and let the Lord determine your direction, your commitment to growing the church and to making disciples of all nations. What is your piece of God’s project? Then do what the Lord calls you to do.

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Sanctified!

For Wednesday, June 12, 2024:

1 Peter 2:9 NLT: “You are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”

Followers of Jesus are different. They were hand-selected by God, sanctified, set apart from the general population. If you’re a part of that group, God has something special in mind for you. You have a purpose in his vast eternal plan!

Friends, our lives should be an example of living in the goodness of God. We should be doing our best to love the Lord and to love our neighbors. That’s an uncommon way for most people to live. But by living God’s way, we can teach others the goodness of God. We can lead by example! Christianity can grow through attraction!

Talk about being blessed! If you’re a believer, God called you out of the darkness (a sinful world) and into the light, a perfect world hosted by Jesus the Christ. God only wants the best for you, and he has great plans for you!

Remember to say ‘yes’ when God taps you on the shoulder!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Called!

For Tuesday, May 21, 2024:

Ephesians 5:8 NLT: “Once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!”

"All you have to do is change everything!” Does that sound simple to you, or quite complicated? When a person becomes a Christian, a radical transformation should take place. Rather than sin, the Christian now takes the high road. Rather than living in darkness, Christians now live in the light! An observer who knew the old person might not recognize the new person! That’s OK!

The change we see isn’t just for the sake of change. It’s a change for the better. Because our sins have been forgiven and we have an inside track to the hereafter, there should be more joy on our faces! By loving one another, everyone will know that we are Christians!

Jesus didn’t forgive you so you could mope around being earnestly pious. Jump for joy! The Bible says that we should share the Good News with everyone, that we should make disciples of all nations. In other words, teach Jesus’ redeeming truth to those who don’t look like you and don’t speak like you.

The Bible speaks of the “priesthood of all believers,” a priest simply being a religious leader or teacher. In the Old Testament, priests followed in the tradition of the tribe of Levi or the priest Melchizedek. Christians follow Jesus. You’re a priest, a Christian leader, if Jesus says you are. Churches don’t make pastors; Jesus ordains Christian leaders!

Are you called?

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Chosen By God!

For Tuesday, March 05, 2024:

Isaiah 6:1a NLT, Isaiah speaking: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne.”

Isaiah was special, hand–selected by God. To complete his mission successfully, he had to know there was another realm; that death was not the end. When he counseled people to repent and return to the Lord, they wanted to know why. What’s in it for us?

Eternal life in the presence of the Father, that’s what! We call it heaven. God’s desire is that we could all join him in his Kingdom, in his time. God and sin can’t exist in the same place. Therefore if heaven is our goal, atonement for our sins should be a priority in our lives. Jesus became the sacrifice for the sins of the world, and he took the sin of the world to the place of the dead. Those who know Jesus repent and are forgiven, acceptable to enter God’s Kingdom.

I find it interesting that God presents heavenly things in human terms so that we can understand. God is spirit, and we come from spirit and will eventually go back to spirit. So does God have a human-like form? I doubt it. And I doubt there’s a giant chair in the sky, his throne. God, in his wisdom, presents things to Isaiah in human terms, so that he might better understand. For Isaiah, God is clothed like a King and sits atop the highest throne. Isaiah gets it, that God is the Supreme Being, the Creator of everything!

And Isaiah’s scene is preserved in Bible writings, so that we all might better understand!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Called!

For Wednesday, December 6, 2023:

Mark 1:17 NLT: “Jesus called out to Simon and his brother Andrew, ‘Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!’”

First Simon and Andrew, and a short time later Jesus adds James and John to the mix of what was to become the 12, the “Apostles.” When Jesus called them, they immediately ceased what they were doing, dropped everything and went with their Messiah. Immediately!

Let’s look at the big picture. Everyone knew the prophesies concerning a heaven-sent Savior, and here standing right in front of them, calling out their names, was Jesus, saying, “Follow me.” They had been issued an invitation by God’s own Son. Friends, that is not a time to be wishy-washy. The Bible says that God understands hot and cold. Hot is better. What God doesn’t want to see is lukewarm, someone given an invitation from heaven who can’t make up their mind. If God taps you on the shoulder, the proper response is to get going, and the right time is now!

Oftentimes the person being called wants to get their affairs in order and let their family and friends know what’s going on. There’ll be plenty of time later to fill in the blanks for them, to gather the pieces of your old life. But in this scenario, you should only have one response to Jesus’ call: “Yes, Lord!”

Joyfully serve the Lord today!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Brothers and Sisters!

For Wednesday, September 20, 2023:

Romans 8:29-30 NLT: “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.”

God’s people are the believers, those 100% dedicated to God, Jesus and his plan for our salvation. Jesus is the firstborn, but as believers we are adopted into the Holy Family. Apparently God’s plan is to re-make each of the believers until they fully resemble Jesus. God taps believers on the shoulder and calls them to join his Son and all the other believers. God arranged for the price of our sins to be paid in full. Jesus took care of that. So believers are now justified in God’s sight, worthy of being his son or daughter! God’s glory now surrounds believers, eternal residents of the Kingdom! Welcome to the family!

God provided for everything!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Commissioned!

For Saturday, July 1, 2023:

Romans 1:1 NLT: “This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News.”

Jesus had personally tapped Paul on the shoulder to be an apostle, a devoted follower of Jesus and a preacher of the Gospel. His conversion was beyond remarkable. He took his call very seriously. You might say that he jumped with both feet into the deep end! Paul never did anything half-way. While he accomplished a lot of ministry along the way, Paul’s ultimate goal was to bring the Gospel to Rome.

Jesus said we all should help with evangelism. Before he ascended, Jesus commissioned believers to make disciples of all nations. There were no exceptions and participation wasn’t optional. Our individual pieces of the evangelism puzzle may look different, but we’re all a necessary part of the equation.

Like Paul, we’ve all been chosen to help spread the Good News! We’re blessed to be a part of Jesus’ team!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Called to Serve!

For Tuesday, October 4, 2022:

Judges 4:5 NLT: “Deborah would sit under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go to her for judgment.”

God had chosen to speak through Deborah, well-known as a prophetess. Therefore her words were known for truth; the people of Israel trusted what she said. So she was also called as a judge.

A female from a male-dominated society seems an unlikely choice for a prophet or a judge. Yet Deborah was God’s choice, and Israel had confidence in her judgements. When called to serve, Deborah said, “Yes!” It might have been far easier to turn down the commission, but that was not God’s plan.

Each of us may be called to serve, sometimes in an unlikely situation, and we too need to be prepared to say, “Yes!” God knows what he’s doing!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Called to Serve!

For Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Exodus 3:10 NLT, God speaking to Moses: “Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”

When God taps you on the shoulder, it’s time to get going! Consider the ridiculousness of disobeying God. It just never works out!

Moses gives the typical human response; we’ve all heard it: “I think you have the wrong guy!” But God’s not about to change his mind. He will equip you and walk alongside you as you fulfill His call.

Believers with keen eyes and ears will be watching for God’s opportunity rather than instinctively saying no.

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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