Second Chance!

March 23, 2026, Monday Message:

Luke 3:17 NLT, John the Baptist speaking: “The one coming soon (Jesus) is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”

Before you can make bread from wheat, the protective outside part of each kernel, the chaff, must be removed. Nowadays, we just buy flour at a store, but in Jesus’ day, people had to do their own milling, so this was common knowledge, and a good analogy about mankind and the life after this life.

The good portion is preserved, gathered and kept in God’s storehouse. We call that God’s heavenly Kingdom. The remaining worthless chaff is permanently disposed of in a fire. In Revelation, John writes about a lake of fire for the unrepentant.

Friends, we are living in our second chance. We can choose Jesus as our Savior, or we’re allowed to make a bad choice. But there are no more do-overs! The right or wrong choice has eternal consequences.

Choose wisely!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

Re-boot!

For Wednesday, January 7, 2025:

Hebrews 12:26-27 NLT: “When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: ‘Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also. This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.’”

God chose to love mankind, but it hasn’t always been easy. We have repeatedly let Him down. If this relationship continues, God would be forced to work forgiveness into His vocabulary.

Q: Do you ever play a computer game, lose, and a button pops up on the screen: “Try again!” We are engaged in a much more important game of life with God, and when we fail, God graciously puts a button on our home screen: “Try again!” We don’t deserve a second, third, or fourth chance, but God would rather see us succeed!

There will come a time in God’s mind when it’s best to wipe the slate clean and start over. (This will be the end of second chances.) The Bible speaks of a New Heaven and a New Earth, everything put back the way God intended when the universe was created. Born again, but this time better, all cleaned up. Those hell-bent on living their own way, sinning and disobeying God, will get their wish. They’ll get to spend time with Satan. (God doesn’t send people to hell. They themselves choose to not go along with God.) Those who have repented and returned to the Lord will get another chance at the good life, free of sin, free of temptation. Jesus will have prepared a home for the faithful.

The things that cannot be shaken are God’s word and truth, which are pretty much the same thing. God’s truth endures from generation to generation. It’ll be easier to hear God’s word after he clears out all the rubbish competing for our attention!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

Raised from the Dead!

For Sunday, January 4, 2026:

Romans 6:4b NLT: “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”

Believers are inextricably linked with Jesus the Christ, although His way is a path from which we should not want to escape. In fact, we should think of a link with Jesus as a gift. If we aren’t connected with Jesus, we’d have no chance at the glorious life after this life that awaits believers. If we are sincere believers, total forgiveness and salvation reserve our place in the hereafter.

And friends, isn’t that all we really want, to live in God’s eternal kingdom? Only good people will be there, those who are radically transformed by the redeeming nature of Christ Almighty. The forgiven will be our neighbors. We may be surprised at how nice everyone is! In Heaven, it will be like everyone is on their best behavior. If God – Father, Son or Holy Spirit – asks us to help out with something, we won’t hesitate. We would be honored to be invited to participate on the winning team!

Jesus rose from the dead in three days, fully restored and still eager to serve God the Father. Even though the sin of the world was heaped upon him as he died on the cross, he took that burden to the place of the dead and left it there. He was given a second chance to change the minds of those who watched him die three days ago, and now see him dancing a jig on the grave of sin. Someone brought back to life should turn heads!

Like Jesus, mankind was burdened with sin, but believers have born again, given a second chance to get things right. When you get to the pearly gates, confidently tell the gatekeeper that you’re with the guy seated just to the right of God. That’s His Son, Jesus! He’ll welcome you with open arms!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

Change!

December 29, 2025, Monday Message:

Romans 6:1 NLT: “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not!”

A change of heart on our part would be evidence of our gratitude for God’s gift of forgiveness and salvation. The Lord’s efforts are effective and efficient. He doesn’t seem to waste his time doing needless stuff. So God planned to rescue those who need rescuing. (Friends, that’s all of us!) A Savior wouldn’t have been sent unless people needed saving.

Being born again implies a second chance to get things right, to prioritize the Lord in our lives. We should learn from our past mistakes. The Bible word translated ‘repent’ means to change, like a change of direction. “We were going north, but God showed us that we should have been traveling south!” Radical transformation should be the result of God’s gift, God’s grace. Continued sinning should be out of the question.

God’s gift should bring about positive change!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

The Father’s House

Truth and Freedom Church

Knowledge of Good/Evil!

 October 13, 2025,Monday Message:

Hebrews 10:29 NLT: “Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.

Sometimes we’re better off not knowing. Let me explain.

When Adam and Eve were first created, they didn’t know about sin and judgment. They innocently romped through the Garden of Eden, doing whatever they pleased and enjoying life. Sometimes God would walk with them in the evening, along the stream. Understand that Adam and Eve couldn’t sin, because they had no knowledge of right and wrong. God had told them, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

God was right! Predictably, mankind did exactly what they were told to NOT do! Eve saw that this unique fruit (knowledge of good and evil) was good, and offered some to her husband. Knowing they had done wrong, both hid from the Lord. With the transfer of knowledge, the bar had been raised. Now that they could discern good from evil, they were expected to choose “good.” Now that they could separate right from wrong, they were expected to choose “right.” As it was, they surely would have perished without the intervention of Jesus, who took the sins of the world upon himself.

In today’s example, the people knew all about Jesus and the new covenant. So ignoring those things would constitute willful and intentional disobedience, people thinking their way was better than God’s way. It never is.

As we model our lives following the footsteps of Jesus, we should be accustomed to knowing good from evil, and always choosing “good.” We may not be perfect, but our God is a God of second chances. Our shortcomings won’t derail God’s goals for us!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Decision!

Daily message of hope...
For Friday, August 1, 2025:

Luke 16:28 NLT, The Rich Man’s dialog as Jesus concludes the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus: “I have five brothers, and I want Abraham to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.”

Every person living in every nation will get their chance to hear the Good News of the saving grace of Jesus. They will learn about repenting and returning. Everyone will learn about getting a second chance, a time to straighten out their relationship with God Almighty. So what about these additional brothers in Jesus’ parable?

They were told about God, His Kingdom and a life after this life by Moses and the other prophets. Jesus, the Messiah, was prophesied long before he arrived. They should have had all the information needed to make a decision.

In fact they had not decided in favor of Jesus, and those who are not for Jesus are against him. Jesus is saying, “You had your chance, but you turned me down! Don’t keep asking for more chances! You’ll probably just turn me down again!”

Which is why, when offered an opportunity to follow Jesus, our answer should be a prompt, “Yes, Lord!” A positive decision is what God wants. No straddling the fence. We need to pick one way or the other. Wishy-washy is the same as saying ‘no.’

Billy Graham used to have a daily radio show called “Decision Today.” I always liked that name, because TODAY is the best time to settle the question of your eternal destination!

Pastor Norton Lawellin
Jesus In the City Fellowship

Second Chances!

For Tuesday, June 17, 2025:

Luke 13:8-9 NIV, Gardener speaking: “Leave the fig tree alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then I’ll cut it down.”

The gardener is giving the fig tree one last chance. Following Jesus gives mankind second, third and fourth chances. God doesn’t throw us away the first time we sin. We’re given an opportunity to repent and return, to correct a situation and make things right with our fellows. Like I said yesterday, it doesn’t seem to matter as much what you did as a sinner, as what you INTEND to do as a repentant believer!

As he died, Jesus took the sins of the world to the place of the dead. Our sin problem is thereby solved. We all need to look to the future. What has changed? What do we intend to do differently? Actions speak louder than words, so hopefully people will acknowledge your newly changed behavior rather than dwelling on the past. Paul is an extreme example of this. If you only considered his past, his persecution of Christianity, Paul would never be elected leader of a Christian fellowship. But on the road to Damascus, Paul did a 180! He became the leading itinerant evangelist of the New Testament!

By sending Jesus to walk alongside mankind, God is giving us another chance. His desire is that ALL would repent and return. If there’s no fruit, the fig tree will be cut down and thrown into the fire. If mankind doesn’t accept the Son – God’s gift of salvation – we too will be thrown into the fire.

Friends, this is serious business, and Jesus doesn’t mince words. Today is the accepted day to choose your eternal destination. There are only two choices: God’s way or the wrong way! God’s way grants us everlasting happiness. The other way gives us eternal misery.

Choose wisely!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Second-Chances!

For Tuesday, December 31, 2024 New Years Eve!

Genesis 3:21 NLT: “The Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.”

 Genesis 3 – God had barely finished creation when the train went off the tracks! Only one thing God commanded the couple to do – just one thing! Don’t eat fruit from the tree of life. But the serpent, master of temptation, told Eve, “Your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” Now who wouldn’t want to be “like” God?

 Eve fell into the serpent’s trap, and brought her husband along too. But this New Year’s Eve, as people are making resolutions to do better in the coming year, I want to look at God’s reaction to this whole mess. Let’s consider the character trends of God.

 God made them new clothes from animal skins, much better than the fig-leaf apparatus they had rigged for themselves. After this initial sin, the first disobedience to God’s instructions, God’s initial reaction was to be loving, forgiving and caring. Second chances and do-overs fit with God’s character. And that goes for all of us, not just Adam and Eve! If we confess our sins and admit we have been wrong, God will forgive us and grant us a fresh start in life.

 Draw a line in the sand separating the old you from the new you, and take a Mulligan on the old you. Our God is a God of second chances!

Pastor Norton Lawellin
Jesus In the City Fellowship

God Who Loves Us!

For Saturday, August 17, 2024:

Revelation 1:5 NLT: “Jesus Christ is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world. All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us.”

Our triune God is the one who was, who is and who is to come. Our God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is past, present and future. Jesus was the first to rise from the dead, showing us the way to glory. His blood sacrifice covered our sins, thereby cleansing believers and making us suitable for heavenly residence.

Think about it: Christ died for us while we were still sinners, so apparently rescue is more important than retribution. God granting second chances takes precedence over judgement. Saving souls is better than letting them wither and die.

We worship and give praise and thanks to the one who freed us from the bondage of sin!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Plucked out of Danger!

For Thursday, August 1, 2024:

2 Peter 2:9 NLT: “So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment.”

We are either on God’s side, or the wrong side! Sheep are separated from the goats, and God keeps track of who’s on which list. On the day of reckoning, the wicked will see condemnation, while the righteous will be plucked out of harm’s way, rescued as part of God’s eternal plan.

When the entire world was evil, Noah was warning against God’s impending judgement. So Noah and his family were plucked away from the evil and rescued from the flood. God takes care of those who believe and are loyal. Likewise, Lot was plucked out of Sodom and Gomorrah. This righteous man was saved while the sinful cities were turned into ashes.

At that time, the percentage of people loyal to the Lord was dismal, and God instituted a plan to raise that average. By sending Jesus to rescue mankind, God put his new plan in motion. We think of our God as a God of second chances. And third chances, fourth chances, etc.

God’s plan worked like this: Jesus would take the sins of the world to the place of the dead, giving mankind a fresh start. And without the burden of sin, believers would be suitable residents of the eternal kingdom, forever in God’s presence. That gift of a second chance is called ‘grace,’ an unmerited gift from God. We receive it by faith, faith in who Jesus is and belief that everything will work out just like Jesus said it would!

Place a lot of faith in the wisdom behind God’s plan!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

New Covenant!

For Thursday, June 13, 2024:

1 Peter 2:10 NLT: “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”

When God makes a move, it’s oftentimes a BIG move! Let’s look at the Old Testament. God had identified his chosen people. God sent them rules and commandments, so that their lives could go better, so they could be spared pain and misery. It didn’t go well. Turns out that mankind wasn’t very good at adhering to God’s commandments. The world diverted their attention, and people lost sight of the ultimate goal, eternity in God’s presence. Far too easily people lost enthusiasm for their Creator God. God had given mankind a pass/fail system, and basically good people were failing!

Jesus came to earth and brought a New Covenant, God’s revised plan for mankind. It was filled with mercy, forgiveness and second chances, totally unlike the Old Covenant!

Believers are the beneficiaries of God’s mercy. His desire is that none would perish, and God always gets his way!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Lies!

For Wednesday, March 20, 2024:

Mark 14:56 NLT: “Many false witnesses spoke against Jesus, but they contradicted each other.”

The trial of Jesus was bogus. The outcome had been decided before the trial began! The ministry of Jesus had been a thorn in the side of the Sanhedrin, who wanted to put an end to this matter.

The leading priests, religious teachers and high council of the temple didn’t know as much about God, heaven and the Torah as Jesus. It made them appear inadequate. Large crowds would gather to hear Jesus teach truths they’d never heard before, and quite a number believed him! Before Jesus, the pecking order at the Temple was set in stone, but now Jesus was disrupting everything. Temple loyalty was being divided. “But,” thought the Temple leaders, “if Jesus was eliminated, it would be easy to once again rein in the populous!”

The only good thing to come of all this is that it was fulfilling Jesus’ mission on earth. It was completing God’s vast eternal plan. At the end, from the cross, Jesus said, “It is finished.” His mission was finished; his task completed; his goal accomplished. Jesus would take the sins of the world to the place of the dead, leaving those who repent and return forgiven, acceptable for an afterlife in the presence of their creator.

That’s why it’s called, “Good Friday!” It’s the day mankind was given a second chance! It’s the day mankind was rescued!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Restoration!

January 15, 2024 Monday Message:

Psalm 32:5 GNT: “I confessed my sins to you; I did not conceal my wrongdoings. I decided to confess them to you, and you forgave all my sins.”

God’s desire is that each one of us would repent and return; that none would be lost. So when we confess our sins before the Father, his eye isn’t so much on the sin as it is on our restoration. That’s what’s most important to him. God is focusing in on our repentance. God is in turn dispensing forgiveness and restoration. Remember, forgiveness follows repentance!

Q: If God is willing to completely forgive confessed sin, what should we do? The answer is obvious. We should forgive just as God forgives! God sends our record of sin to the bottom of the deepest ocean; separates it from us as far as the east is from the west.

Therefore when a believer returns to our midst asking for forgiveness, our job is to offer complete and total forgiveness and restoration, no exceptions! Welcome the transgressor back into our community with open arms. Restore their pecking order within the Holy family. Treat them with love and kindness. That’s what God would do.

Remember the woman caught in adultery? The religious leaders dragged her in front of the crowd, demanding that she be stoned. “What do you say, Jesus?”

Our Savior showed the woman an abundance of mercy. “Let the one who has never sinned cast the first stone!”

At this point, I believe she was plenty sorry she ever considered adultery! It all ended like this. One by one her accusers dissipated until no one remained except Jesus and the woman. He counseled her, “Go and sin no more!” No anger; no vengeance. Just love and a second chance – a simple, “Make a fresh start and try to do better next time!” That’s what Jesus did!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship