Love and Forgiveness!

For Wednesday, December 17, 2025:

John 15:17 NLT, Jesus speaking: “This is my command: Love each other.”

Some days, when writing, I can’t top what actually happened. One of our regular readers wrote about a shopping incident that involved caring, compassion, love, and forgiveness. Dana Jo used this incident as an allegory to our relationship with God. It’s a little longer than usual, but I ask you to read to the end. There’s a message in here for all of us.

 "I was at Kohl's today and heard a loud crash and something shattering. Being nosy, I walked towards the sound and saw some people whispering and looking back to the end of the next aisle. When I walked down that aisle, I saw that an older lady had hit a shelf, and many things had fallen to the ground and were broken. She was kneeling on the floor, embarrassed, frantically trying to clean up. I felt so bad for her. Everyone was just standing there staring at her.

So I went and knelt beside her and told her not to worry, and started helping her pick up the broken pieces. After about a minute, the store manager came and knelt beside us and said, ‘Leave it, we will clean this up.’

The lady, totally embarrassed, said, ‘I need to pay for all this.’

The manager smiled, helped her to her feet, and said, ‘No ma’am, we have insurance for this; you do not have to pay anything!”

 If you have read this far, give me another minute. Wherever you are, close your eyes, and imagine God doing the same for you! Imagine the broken pieces of your mistakes, or the pieces of your broken heart from all the blows life has thrown at you, all over the floor, and you’re there trying to collect all of the pieces and fix them yourself. Now imagine God comes and kneels right down beside you, smiles and says to you, ‘Leave it all there, I will clean this up for you.’ He loves you that much and wants to put all of those pieces back together if you will let Him! With Him, we have this insurance, and it’s called GRACE! It’s free! All you have to do is ask Him to forgive you, help you, and to heal you. He’s faithful, I promise! ❤️”

 I vowed a message for each of us in this anecdote, so here we go! God doesn’t order us around like slaves. He presents us with opportunities, and watches how we respond. The woman in this story needed a helper, and we’re all supposed to love one another. So my friend jumped in to help. God is waiting for each of us to do the next right thing. Life will present us with plenty of opportunities. When any of us offers help to someone, God smiles!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

Trials and Tribulations!

For Saturday, November 29, 2025:

Romans 5:3-4 NLT: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”

“Thank you, Lord, for these problems in my life!” Somehow that prayer doesn’t seem to make sense. Shouldn’t being one of the faithful give us a better life, protect us from problems? The logical answer is ‘yes,’ but that’s not how life works.

 If we have conquered a problem in the past, we’ll have God-given experience in dealing with it. We’ll recognize the same issue if it crops up again and know how to proceed. Our experience can help others battling similar demons. Case in point: Most alcohol and drug counselors are themselves in addiction recovery. Similarly, people undergoing cancer treatments form small groups to support one another through brutal therapy. Being kind and helpful, i.e. loving our neighbors, is what Jesus told us to do.

With a Christian viewpoint, we can change life’s biggest problems into valuable Kingdom assets, and the world will be a better place! Salvation awaits the faithful!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

 

Talk to the Lord!

For Saturday, May 28, 2022:

Psalm 55:22 NLT: “Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.”

David is not talking to the Lord about a long-time enemy. His complaint is about a close friend who betrayed him. If this conflict was with an expected enemy, David would know how to retaliate. But when a friend turns against you, it’s sometimes complicated. It’s time to talk things over with God.

It’s inevitable that we’ll all experience some problems, and David’s advice is that when things get difficult, it’s time to talk it over with the Lord. If you’re a believer, you’re on the ‘God Team.’ Our Father is the coach, and he will take care of you! He will not allow you to slip or fall. David was convinced that his fate did not rest in the hands of treacherous men.

Spurgeon writes, “If I cast my burden upon the Lord, what business have I to carry it myself?”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Rescue & Hope!

For Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Psalm 40:13 NLT, David praying: “Please, Lord, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me.”

We tend to remember David as either the little shepherd boy who took down the giant Goliath, or later as the powerful king of the Hebrew people. But there was an in-between time that didn’t go so well.

As a young man, David had been anointed as the future king, but many tried to prevent that from happening. For several years, David found himself on the run dodging sharp spears! Rather than give up, he called on the Lord for help.

The message here for all of us is that when life doesn’t go so well, we too should call out to the Lord. Our Creator God is full of forgiveness and compassion. He is a God of second-chances, rescue and above all hope!

"Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord.” (Ps. 40:3b)

Pastor Norton Lawellin

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

Psalms 121 - My Help Comes from the Lord!

Dec. 04, 2017 Monday Message:

“My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” Psalms 121:2 NIV

People focused on legalism seem to think God is out to get them. They think He set incredibly high standards that no one could ever achieve, thereby dooming mankind forever.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. God’s desire is that no one would perish, and to that end, Jesus came to earth to help us. Jesus’ sacrifice paid the price for the sins of the world. The penalty for your sins and my sins has been prepaid. All we have to do is acknowledge our sin, declare Jesus to be our redeemer and stick with him in all things. It’s the best gift ever! In return, we get to spend eternity in heaven right along with Jesus, who is already preparing a place for us.

If you’re having trouble with this, God will arrange your rescue. When David’s train was going off the tracks – adultery and murder come to mind – God sent the prophet Nathan to point David in the right direction. Yes, it was God who arranged David’s rescue. He’s a God who loves you and is waiting for you to come home. He has a gift for you if you’re willing to accept it.

“The Lord will … watch over your life, … both now and forevermore.” from Ps. 121:7-8

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship meets next Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. Pastor Michael Pilla leads us through Advent - See you at church!