Obedience and Faith!

For Saturday, August 23, 2025:

John 13:2: “Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God.”

The Jesus we worship is both fully God and fully human. He was heaven-sent to redeem mankind, and this mission remained front-of-mind throughout his ministry. At the same time, he knew that mission would incur brutal treatment, suffering and eventually death (in the human sense.) Being fully God, he had control over everything. He could have pulled the plug on this mission at any time to save his skin. But that would have sabotaged the greater mission. He was willing to endure personal misery to bring heaven’s mission to fruition. We call this obedience.

God wants to see obedience in each one of us. Jesus’ mother Mary replied to the angel, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be with me just as you have said.” Total obedience! The concept is to 100% agree with the Lord. “Whatever God wants, I’m in!”

How did this scenario end? Jesus was raised from the tomb three days later, eventually returning to heaven and reuniting with the Father. Mankind’s sins had been forgiven according to God’s plan. You see, God’s plan always works out for the best! Pray that you and I could better learn obedience. And give us faith to persevere until it’s our turn to live in the Kingdom.

Obedience and faith – a good combination! Trust God – everything will be all right in the end!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Father's Plan!

For Saturday, June 24, 2023:

Matthew 20:18-19 NLT: “Listen,” Jesus said to the 12, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die. Then they will hand him over to Gentiles, to the Romans, to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

Jesus was both fully God and fully human. I find it interesting how Jesus (God) can speak of Jesus (man) as if he was another person. In this scripture, Jesus (God) is predicting the horror to befall the Son of Man, a name Jesus called himself. His pronouns are he and him.

Jesus, in addition to being mankind’s savior, was also functioning as a prophet. He knew what the future days would bring. He knew the persecution coming his way, ultimately resulting in death. He also knew that he would overcome death, rising on the third day. So in the end, everything would turn out OK!

God’s plan was for Jesus to take mankind’s sin problem upon himself, take that sin to the grave, and leave the believers suitable to spend eternity in the presence of the Father. We call it “The Great Exchange.” This is the best gift ever!

Sunday’s coming. On the third day, the tomb will open and Jesus will walk away from it all, just as his Father planned!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

God + Man = Jesus!

For Thursday, December 15, 2022:

John 1:1-3 NLT: “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.”

Jesus’ existence didn’t begin when he came to earth as a little baby. He was present at the very beginning. The Bible is clear – Jesus participated in the creation of everything!

Our Savior was both fully human and fully God. As God, he could heal those who needed healing and walk on water through a raging storm. As a man, he could bond with his disciples and show special care for his mother. As a man, he died, but as God, he took the sins of the world to the place of the dead. Jesus’ work on the cross redeemed mankind - made it possible for us to see heaven from the inside!

Believers don’t abandon their wounded on the battlefield. So just when we needed it the most, God provided a Redeemer. We’d never make it into heaven on our own, but Jesus has gone ahead to prepare our place! Thank you!

God’s timing is perfect!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Fully God, Fully Human

December 19, 2011 Monday Message:

Jesus, the baby in the manger, was fully God and fully human.

The “God” part is easy to understand when we remember Christ’s knowledge and wisdom, the miracles he performed, and how he conquered death.

The “human” part is more difficult for us to understand. We tend to compare the life of Jesus with our own life-experiences, but they are not the same.

We are part of a fallen world, a sin-filled host to anger, violence and corruption. While Jesus could live among us, he was not “of” this world.

The fully human Jesus is like mankind before the fall: a sinless person. None of us are sinless – not one! But the Bible says that Jesus was without sin. The closest he got to sin was when he took the sins of the world to the grave. If we do tshuva, repent and return, then Jesus takes our sin to the grave too, and covers us with garments of white. Then we, too, are not “of” this world.

May the peace of the Lord be with you and your loved ones during this blessed Christmas season.

Norton Lawellin