Confident Hope!

For Tuesday, April 28, 2026:

Colossians 1:4-5 NLT: “We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.”

Paul is writing this Epistle to the church in Colosse. It could have been written to any group of believers. Paul could have been writing to your church today!

Church is more than a social gathering. The common denominator is what Paul calls “confident hope,” also known as belief or faith. We believe everything that Jesus told us: Everything that we know was created by God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus is our rescuer, our redeemer. Jesus forgave our sins and proved that there is life after this life. When he said, “See you later,” he was going to prepare a place for us in the eternal Kingdom. Death is not the end for us, just as it was not the end for Jesus.

Believers share unshakable faith in the promises of Jesus. When we first heard the Gospel or Good News, it made sense to us. Our devotion has only grown stronger as time marches on. Like Paul and like the Colossians, we’re blessed by sharing confident hope!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Persistence!

For Wednesday, June 25, 2025:

Hebrews 3:13 NLT: “You must warn each other every day, while it is still ‘today,’ so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.”

Stick-to-itiveness. That’s what we need. Goofy word, but it’s in my dictionary! This scripture encourages us to help each other stick with what we learned from Jesus. He IS coming back, but we don’t know when. Our hearts need to be right today, because tomorrow may be too late!

If we could graph the Hebrew relationship with God, it would look like a rollercoaster – up and down, up and down, closer to God, farther from God. When God has things going well in our lives, humans tend to say, “Thanks, God, but I can take it from here!” We eventually fail and crawl back to God, whining, “Please, God, help us out of this mess we’ve made.” God again rescues His people, giving them a second chance, a third chance, etc.

Things are no different nowadays. Unfortunately, mankind’s tendency is to grow complacent in our worship and in our devotion to the Almighty, and we begin to let things slide. Christianity gets put on the back burner. It’s not that we completely stopped believing. It’s just that religious matters don’t hold the priority they once did in our lives. People caught up in this are called backsliders!

Some theologians teach that if we can fall away from Jesus, we were never really “in” in the first place. Asking Jesus to be Lord and Savior of your life should be an irrevocable decision.

The Bible says, “If we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.” We should all strive to be with that group!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

New Earth!

For Friday, April 4, 2025:

John 14:23 NLT, Jesus speaking: “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.”

If we please Jesus, the Father will also be pleased. Remember, they are of one mind, really just one God. The acknowledgment of our relationship with God is our obedience. When the angel told Mary she’d be delivering a savior into the world, she replied, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” That’s obedience! When Abraham set out to offer little Isaac as a sacrifice to the Lord, that was absolute obedience. (Thankfully, God stopped the sacrifice – the scenario was only a test of Abraham’s devotion and obedience.)

We often speak of going to heaven when we die. We teach only two choices, heaven or hell. Christians choose heaven, but that’s not our final destination. The Bible promises the “New Earth,” fully restored and perfect in every way. I believe God will restore the Earth to “Garden-of-Eden” specs, and the Bible says that the New Earth will be our forever home. Jesus preparing a place for believers includes restoring mankind’s home, planet Earth.

Jesus says that he and the Father will walk among us, and that’s where I want to be. What an awesome community! We may not even have to fill out “change-of-address” forms!

If it’s good enough for Jesus and the Father, it’s good enough for me!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Christians!

For Saturday, February 24, 2024:

Mark 13:13 NLT, Jesus speaking: “Everyone will hate you because you are my followers. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Jesus is again teaching about the end times. Remaining a loyal believer won’t be easy. Jesus says that faithful believers will be despised. We must remain strong enough to stand up under immense pressure.

Unfortunately, there is a world-wide trend away from religion in general and Christianity specifically. If the US continues the current rate of decline, we’ll soon look like Europe, with beautiful old churches in the cities, all boarded up. A recent survey showed only 65% of Americans claim to be Christian, skewed radically toward the elderly. As we lose supporters through attrition, they’re not being replaced by younger generations. We still have work to do!

Unshakable faith, devotion and loyalty – that’s what we need as the end times grow closer day by day. Jesus said that if we endure to the end, we will be saved! I pray we all get there!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Faith!

For Wednesday, April 5, 2023:

Matthew 21:21 NLT: “Then Jesus told the disciples, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen.”

Jesus had just cursed a fig tree that offered no fruit, and it withered and died. He claims that “If you have faith and don’t doubt,” you too can do miraculous things.

Faith is the key to becoming a child of God – faith in God and his Son. Jesus gives us the key to a heavenly eternity in God’s presence. All we can give him in return is our total devotion, our unshakable faith!

God always hears the prayers of his children, and he answers prayers. Prayer works, but remember that the answer can be yes, no or not just yet!

"You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Pure Hearts!

For Saturday, January 14, 2023:

Matthew 5:8 NLT: “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.”

When a woman and a man love each other enough to consider marriage, they say, “I love you with all my heart.” Not just what the lips say, and more than a few polite actions. This is an ‘all in’ commitment to one another, with ‘forever’ attached to it! Jesus‘ words, “pure hearts,” carry the idea of honesty and unflinching devotion to God’s value system.

This is a warning to all who are not pure in heart, including the Pharisees who appear pure in ceremony, clothing and food. But their emphasis on ritual and the law was used to persecute others. They had forgotten to be forgiving and to love their neighbor.

The best reward of all is seeing God. In this life, those with pure hearts will find God in nature, in scripture and in our church families, and then face-to-face in the next reality. Keep your eyes peeled; God is all around!

Seeing the Lord fills us with hope!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Psalms 86 - Right Thing, Right Reason

March 20, 2017 Monday Message:

“Protect me, for I am devoted to you. Save me, for I serve you and trust you,” Psalms 86:2 NLT

Sometimes, it seems that David doesn’t get things quite right. Like in Psalm 86, it seems like he’s saying, “I do this for you, God, so you owe me. Hold up your end of the covenant.”

But God’s covenant with His people isn’t a mutual-aid pact. Rather, it’s an unconditional love arrangement.

We are to serve God, trust God, and be ever-devoted to God because it’s the right thing to do. He is, after all, our creator. Love the Lord without any expectations of what He’ll do for you in return.

Likewise, God, who has adopted us into His Holy Family, loves his children and takes care of us, knowing that we won’t be perfect. Historically, God’s people seem to get close to God, then drift away for a while, and then repent and return. Fortunately he’s a forgiving God, a God of second chances. God loves us all through our life’s journey, with no expectation that if he does THIS for us, we in return will do THAT for him. Now we SHOULD do what God is asking, but his love for us isn’t dependent upon our response. God’s agape love for us is unconditional. That’s what the Bible says.

In fairness to David, if you’re closer to God, you’re farther from sin, and life will always go better. But love the Lord because he’s the Almighty God, not because you’re expecting something in return.

Do the right things for the right reasons.

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship gathers next Sunday, March 26, 2017, at the Akina Church, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. Pastor Michael Pilla preaches from Luke 19:1-10 – Zacchaeus up a tree!

Psalm 16

September 28, 2015 Monday Message:

“Lord, You make known to me the path of life;
    in your presence there is fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalms 16:11 ESV

In Psalm 16, David expresses his extreme devotion to God, and explains how that has proven to be a good decision.

The saints, followers of the Lord, are those with excellence in the land, whereas sorrows multiply for those who pursue other gods.

The Lord is David’s portion, his cup, his lot in life. And David is OK with that. In fact, he testifies that walking with the Lord has worked out well. It’s been a good decision, and if he had to do it all over again, he’d make the same decision again. David reports, “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”

The Lord counsels and instructs David. “Because the Lord is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” Following the one true God has, over and over again, proven to a wise choice, and has filled David with confidence, both as a leader of Israel and as a leader of worship of the Lord. “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; You will not let your holy one see corruption.”

And David sums it up like this: “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) gathers at 10 a.m. every Sunday in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. This Sunday, Oct. 4, Pastor Michael Pilla wraps up our Acts series.