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

Love One Another!

For Thursday, May 4, 2023:

1 John 3:11 NLT: “This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”

This basic heavenly message has not changed, and I see no sign of it ever changing. From the beginning of creation, God has commanded that we be kind, that we play nicely with others, that we show compassion for the needy and care for our neighbors as much as we care for ourselves! Frankly, mankind hasn’t been very good at this. Considering Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the garden and the Cain vs Abel incident, the train was going off the tracks right from the get-go!

Believers need to learn from the mistakes of our ancestors. Mankind needs to reorient our thinking, our value system, to be in alignment with our Lord. When Jesus said – “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” – He was speaking of how we should treat one another.

That we show love to our brothers and sisters matters to God!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

The Gift of Today

May 4, 2020 Monday Message:

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24 ESV

Every 24 hours God gives us a new day, but it’s up to each of us to make the most of it. Each day is a free gift from God, but if you had to buy it, would you be getting your money’s worth?

Each morning God gives you a yellow pad, and at the top it says “Agenda” or “Things To Do Today.” You can fill the page with anything you choose – good things, bad things, fun things, stupid things – anything! Start numbering down the left side of the page, and then fill in all the lines.

You want to put God first on the list, which is as it should be. Then perhaps something for the Kingdom, and something for your home church. Maybe spend time with someone still searching for the Lord. Take a meal to a shut-in. Help out at the food shelf. Facilitate a small group or Bible study. Tithe. Offer a ride to someone who can no longer drive. Put good stuff on your agenda.

Perhaps in your old life you had some bad things on your list. For the moment, don’t worry about that. Just keep adding good things to the top of the list. Pretty soon the bad things will get pushed off the bottom. “Yes, Satan, it sounds like it might be fun to sin, but I just can’t find the time! My calendar is full with all the good stuff!”

In the musical “The Music Man,” Professor Harold Hill sang, “The idle brain is the devil’s playground!” Never were those words more true than during our current shelter-in-place pandemic. As Christians, we should do everything possible to keep our brothers and sisters connected, and to give each other’s lives structure. We’ll get through this easily if we’re part of a team, and the accomplishments of our team give our lives purpose.

So get your money’s worth out of each day. Fill up your agenda with the good stuff. Love God, love your family and love your neighbor.

May the Lord keep his hand on you and your loved ones during these trying times.

Blessings,

Norton Lawellin, Worship Pastor

Jesus in the City Fellowship.

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

Psalms 105 - God's Covenant

Aug. 14, 2017 Monday Message:

“The Lord our God remembers his covenant forever.” Psalms 105:8a NKJV

There are 43 places in the Bible where God says similar words: “You will be my people, and I will be your God.”

This is God’s covenant, first with the Hebrew people, and then with the followers of Jesus, who added, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

Just so you understand, a covenant is an irrevocable perpetual promise. As humans in a sinful world, we sometimes neglect our half of the covenant. Fortunately, God never forgets his promise. God is like a rock, like an anchor. God is the same yesterday and today, and we can count on him remaining true to his covenant tomorrow as well.

If we look outside the church, we can see that many humans haven’t held up their end of the covenant. They don’t behave as God’s people should. This past weekend saw violent confrontations in Charlottesville, VA, over a civil war statue, a white supremacy protest, protesters against that protest, and ultimately the death of a young woman, Heather D. Heyer, 32. None of that is the way God wants people to live.

Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another as I have loved you.” Yes, Jesus is the answer our nation needs – love, tolerance, patience and understanding are better answers than prejudice, hatred and violence. The more people we tell about Jesus, the better chance that we can swing the pendulum in a more positive direction.

Perhaps you could bring someone with you to church next weekend. Our God could be their God too, and they could become one of his people.

Norton Lawellin

Let’s worship together! Jesus in the City Fellowship gathers next Sunday, Aug. 20, 2017, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30 AM. The Pharisees complained that Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors. We’ll visit Matthew’s party this week, and see the assortment of people who came to hear the words of the teacher who loved everyone. See you at church!

Psalms 68 - The Family of God

October 31, 2016 Monday Message:

“God sets the lonely in families.” Psalms 68:6a NIV

Your church should be like your second home, and your “church family” should be your new extended family. Some of us have earthly families; some of us do not. But God welcomes us ALL into HIS family with open arms. When you’ve been adopted into the Holy Family, that’s your forever home. Your best friends are there. It’s your sanctuary when the world around you is dishing out tribulation.

“From your bounty, God, you provided for the poor.” Psalms 68:10b

Jesus taught us to love each other, to care for each other, and to share. If someone in God’s family has been blessed with abundance, that’s so they can help fellow family members and others.

“Our God is a God who saves.” Psalms 68:20a

When we pass from this life to the next life, the whole family will get to see heaven from the inside. Jesus has made it so that we can spend eternity in the presence of the Almighty, and that’s really Good News!

Norton Lawellin

Let’s worship together! Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets at the Akina Church, 3249 30^th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406, 10:30am. This Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016, Paul deals with sin in the Corinthian church. See you there!