Unfailing Love!

For Saturday, January 29, 2022

Psalm 89:2 NLT: “Lord, your unfailing love will last forever. Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens.”

God does not grow weary with loving mankind. Knowing that God’s ‘chesed,’ his everlasting lovingkindness is a forever promise gives us hope, even when life presents its challenges.

Jesus said that we’ll experience tribulation in this life, but to rejoice because he has overcome the world! And Jesus, his Father in heaven and the Holy Spirit created everything including mankind. God saw that it was “very good,” and he’s not about to change his mind!

Never give up on the Lord - He won’t give up on you!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Patience

For Thursday, October 14, 2021

2 Peter 3:9 NLT: “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”

God shows us his love, his everlasting lovingkindness, his chesed. The Bible says that love is patient and love is kind. And because all of mankind has not yet chosen to repent and return to the Lord, and because God’s desire is that none would perish, he persists in patience. He’s a God of second-chances, and that’s Good News for all of us! We have eternal hope!

Be assured that day of judgment is on God’s agenda – but not just yet. When everything is ready and the time is right, Jesus will return to personally usher all believers into eternity. He has prepared a place for us! If it were not so, he would have told us!

God is patient, so we should be too!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Child of God!

For Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Psalm 135:14 MEV: “The Lord will defend His people, and He will have compassion on His servants.”

Mankind tends to be concerned only with the present. But God is concerned with eternity. If you’re on God’s side, a part of God’s team, He will love you, show you compassion and defend you. He will protect you and sustain you, knowing you’re headed for his eternal Kingdom! When you’re a Christian, you become a child of God, and God looks after his children. It’s family business.

Knowing God is on our side fills us with hope!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Character of God

For Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Psalm 100:5 JUB: “For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endures to all generations.”

The conclusion to Psalm 100 gives us the perfect description of our relationship with God.

God is good, all the time. Don’t expect any bad stuff to come out of heaven - it’s Satan who harbors evil, not God. God shows us ‘chesed,’ which we translate as ‘lovingkindness.’ That’s God’s mercy, his caring for us, which includes sending Jesus to redeem us. God provided a way for us to see heaven from the inside. Mercy inhabits God’s character. This isn’t just for people in Bible times. God’s love, mercy and truth pass from generation to generation, so our future is filled with hope!

"The Lord is always good. He is always loving and kind, and his faithfulness goes on and on to each succeeding generation!”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

God's Promise!

For Friday, August 6, 2021

Psalm 119:65 NLT: “You have done many good things for me, Lord, just as you promised.”

God has poured so much good into each of our lives. Surprised? You shouldn’t be! God loves everything he created with a love so great that it’s difficult for us to comprehend. God looked at all he created and declared it to be not just good, but VERY GOOD!

‘Chesed’ is the Hebrew word for the love and mercy of God toward humanity. The principle shows up in all the psalms. The best translation I have found is, “everlasting lovingkindness.”

Say ‘yes’ to God’s never-ending love.

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

Love One Another!

For Tuesday, August 3, 2021

John 15:17 HCSB, Jesus speaking: “This is what I command you: Love one another.”

Jesus is wrapping up his teaching on caring for one another. The Father loves him. He loves the Father. He has loved us as the Father loves him. Brotherly love is mentioned, but also unconditional love. In Greek, it’s agape love, like the love a parent has for their child. Hebrew speaks of chesed, God’s everlasting lovingkindness, a love so great it’s difficult for us to comprehend.

As Jesus prepares to leave, he’d like to see his followers being nice to one another, being helpful, adding value. I think he could have issued another commandment, something like, “Be nice,” or, “Care for others,” or, “Do what you can to be helpful!” If the whole world could adopt Jesus’ attitude, we’d find ourselves living in a better place!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Unfailing Love!

For Saturday, May 29, 2021

Psalm 103:8 NLT: “The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.”

It must be challenging, being God over mankind! Some mornings God must shake his head in disbelief. “These humans – there’s no end to their shortcomings!”

That’s why it’s important for us to understand the character of God, what I call the ‘God trend.’ Our God-of-second-chances’ first reaction is always compassion and mercy. Fortunately for us, God’s anger doesn’t come to the surface right away. Our Creator would prefer that everyone repent and return to his care.

Everlasting lovingkindness is how God’s covenant love is described in the Bible. In Hebrew it’s ‘chesed,’ a love and peace so great that it surpasses our ability to comprehend it all.

Knowing God is truly on our side fills us with hope!

Blessings to all today!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

God's Love!

For Friday, October 30, 2020 

Psalm 119:76 NLT: “Let your unfailing love comfort me, just as you promised me, your servant.”

Like the song says, Jesus loves you, and Father God and the Holy Spirit love you too. They are one. In our minds, we tend to limit God’s love to the human love we give and receive, that of which we have knowledge. But that would be underestimating God! His love for us is much greater than our love, and that gives us hope! 

In older Bibles, we find the words “everlasting lovingkindness” to describe God’s love for us. This gives the love and the kindness a duration, ‘everlasting,’ which is forever!

The Jewish Bible uses the word ‘chesed’ to describe the bountiful love and mercy God shows toward humanity. Let God’s love serve as an example of the love we should show our neighbors. That’s what Jesus said to do! 

Blessings and safety to all!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

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

Reciprocal Love

July 22, 2019 Monday Message

“Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.” Ps. 36:5 NLT

Love should be a 2-way relationship – “Reciprocal Love.” God-the-creator loves you unconditionally, and he’s not about to change his mind – which leads us to the question, ”Do you love God as much as He loves you?” That’s kind of a rhetorical question, because as created beings, we’ll never be as good at something as the Creator. But it’s a worthy goal.

Jesus taught that we should “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” And then, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So God should be ‘first’ in your life. After that, love those around you, your neighbors. Be nice, be helpful. Do what you can to make things go better.

“Pour out your unfailing love on those who love you.” Get it? It’s “Reciprocal Love!” Ps. 36:10a

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship meets Sunday July 28, 2019, 10:30AM, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406. This week, Pastor Van Dickerson opens up 1 Cor. 6:13-20.

His Love Endures Forever!

July 15, 2019 Monday Message

“His love endures forever.” Ps. 136:1b

Psalm 136 is a list of God’s positive attributes, with each verse ending the same way: “His love endures forever.” Limited by mankind’s languages, it’s challenging to express exactly how much love the Lord has for us.

In the English language, we have only one word for love. “I love my car, I love my dog, I love my wife, I love my God.” We intend to state different degrees of love, but we have only the one word to express our emotions.

The Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament, gets us closer with “agape love,” the unconditional love a parent has for a child. The child might do something wrong from time to time, but we still love them. We still welcome them home. God still loves us even when we’re off track, and will welcome us home in spite of our transgressions.

The original language writes, “His chesed endures forever.” ‘Chesed,’ or ‘khesed,’ or sometimes just ‘hesed,’ is like extreme agape love, taken to the max! It’s an unconditional love that can never be changed, never be taken away. It’s forever love, no matter what happens. (It’s always challenging to write Hebrew words using English-language letters!) The King James version sometimes writes ‘everlasting lovingkindness,’ which always triggers my spellchecker!

God looked over his creation, and saw that it was very good. God has lots of extreme love for everything he created, and he’s not about to change his mind.

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship meets Sunday July 21, 2019, 10:30AM, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406. This week, Pastor Van Dickerson opens up 1 Cor. 6.

Psalms 136 - His Love Endures Forever

April 9, 2018 Monday Message:

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; His love endures forever.” Psalms 136:1 NIV

As children, we sang, “Jesus Loves Me.” But the love of God isn’t just for children – it’s for ALL of us. And God’s love is for all time – past, present and future. God’s desire is that none would perish, but that ALL would repent and return. In other words, there’s a spot in heaven with your name on it, and God wants you to claim it.

The original word used here for God’s love is “chesed,” which is often translated, “everlasting lovingkindness.” In the English language, we have only one word for “love.” I love my car; I love my dog; I love my wife; I love my God! We use the same word, but its meaning varies with context.

God’s love for mankind cannot be adequately described by any single word in the English language, but “everlasting lovingkindness” gets us close. God loves us so much that he sent his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NLT

Every verse in Psalm 136 ends the same way: “His (God’s) love endures forever.”

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship meets next Sunday, Apr. 15, 2018, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. Pastor Michael Pilla continues post-Easter messages.

Psalms 106 - Chesedic Love

Aug. 21, 2017 Monday Message:

“Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Psalms 106:1 NIV

In the Hebrew Bible, “Praise the Lord” is simply “Hallelujah.” “Hallelu” means praise or exalt – like saying “thank-you” to God for all He has done for us. “Jah” or “Yah” is God’s name. Some people translate God’s name as Jehovah or Yahweh, but the truth is that we don’t know the correct pronunciation of his name. Shout it out - Hallelu-Jah!

“His love endures forever” describes a special kind of love: chesed or khesed in Hebrew. There are many degrees of love, but the English language only gives us one word – love. When we say, “I love my car,” “I love my wife,” or “I love my God,” they have very different meanings.

Chesed love is similar to the love a parent has for their child. The child might be far from perfect, but the parent still loves the child simply because it’s a parent/child relationship. God told David that He would be a Father to David’s son Solomon. Jesus taught us to pray to “our Father in heaven.” It’s that love-of-a-child relationship that God has for his people.

Older translations of the Bible used the words “everlasting lovingkindness” to describe chesed. That’ll engage “auto-correct” or at least “spell-checker” nowadays, but it clearly describes God’s love.

All people matter to God. Therefore all people should matter to us.

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship gathers next Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. Lead Pastor Michael Pilla brings a message from God’s Word.

Psalms 90 - Restoration

April 24, 2017 Monday Message:

“Fill us each morning with your constant love, so that we may sing and be glad all our life” Psalms 90:14 GNT

Interestingly, Psalm 90 is credited to Moses. We don’t know if Moses actually wrote these words or if scholars took thoughts and phrases from the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Bible, and later assembled this prayer. There was no alphabetic script in Moses’ day.

But the theme is like many other Psalms. God’s priority in the Israelites’ lives had slipped – they are far from God, so God is withholding protection of Israel, most likely from the Babylonians.

Then the Jews wake up – they realize that they need to return to God, get closer to God. They’ve been trying to honor God, and the question of the day is, “How much longer, God, will your anger last? Have pity, O Lord, on your servants!” Psalms 90:13

Surprisingly, this story from Moses over 3,000 years ago is applicable today. Every day you can turn on the news and observe people in a lot of trouble because they’re far from God. The good news is when someone returns to God, and their life turns around. God is in the restoration business.

I checked a number of Bible translations, and God’s love for us is described as constant, faithful, satisfying, steadfast and unfailing. The Hebrew word is “hesed,” sometimes translated, “everlasting lovingkindness.”

If only we could love God as much as He loves us.

Norton Lawellin

Let’s worship together! Jesus in the City Fellowship gathers Sunday, April 30, 2017, at the Akina Church, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. Jesus cooks breakfast for the disciples on the beach, and teaches about faith and commitment. I’ll have the fish! See you at church!

His Love Endures Forever

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Nov. 24, 2014 Monday Message:

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His Love endures forever.” Psalms 136:1 NIV

This Thursday, Nov. 27, we celebrate Thanksgiving in the US. Psalm 136 is about giving thanks to God for a variety of things. It’s sung responsively, with the leader detailing many good things about our God, and the congregation responding, “His love endures forever.”

In Jewish tradition, this psalm is called ‘The Great Hallel,’ the supreme praise & worship song about the awesome nature of God.

In a word-for-word translation, “Give thanks,” would read, “Give God a hand!” Not like applause, but it means to worship with gusto, hands in the air, dancing, shouting – all-in praise for our Lord, just like David! And “Lord” is actually God’s covenant name, the name he said to use when he agreed to be our God and we agreed to be his people.

“His love” is hesed, God’s unconditional love for us, which the King James translates as “everlasting lovingkindness.”

How long is “forever?” Eternal is a good answer. But most people look at “forever” and “eternity” as moving forward in time, forever into the future. But the Bible’s “forever” extends in both directions - past, present and future. God wanted to redeem you before you were even born. His desire is that no one would perish.

Have a good Thanksgiving, a great holiday, thank God and remember his everlasting lovingkindness! His love endures forever!

Norton Lawellin

Every Sunday Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) gathers at 10 a.m. in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. This week, Nov. 30, Pastor Michael Pilla begins our Advent journey.