Tabernacle!

For Friday, August 15, 2025

Hebrews 9:2a NLT: “There were two rooms in God’s Tabernacle.”

God gave very specific instructions about the Tabernacle, a place to worship and honor the Lord. The outer room, called the Holy Place, contained a lampstand, a table and sacred loaves of bread. Next was a heavy curtain separating the inner and outer portions. The inner space was called the Most Holy Place or the Holy of Holies. This was thought to contain the presence of the Lord. In that room were the gold incense altar and a sizable wooden chest covered in gold known as the Ark of the Covenant. Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. That ark itself housed a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves and the stone tablets of the covenant.

Priests regularly performed their religious duties in the outer chamber. But only once a year could the High Priest enter the inner sanctuary. He would always offer blood sacrifices for his sins and the sins of the people, both intentional sin and sins of ignorance. Of importance to Christians is that the Holy of Holies was not freely accessible while the Old Covenant was in place.

But Jesus brought with him a New Covenant. As he spoke, “It is finished” from the cross, the curtain was torn from top to bottom. Mankind was no longer separated from our Creator. We no longer needed a priest to intervene on our behalf. We can now pray directly to God, because our sins have been forgiven. Jesus himself was the blood offering for the sins of the world.

Try it out! Pray directly to God today. It’s OK because you are forgiven! God is always listening and wants to hear from you!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

God's Commands!

For Thursday, March 20, 2025:

Leviticus 24:1-2 NLT: The Lord said to Moses, “Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.”

The light in the Tabernacle was to burn continuously, as a sign that God is looking out for his people 24/7. God is never on holiday, unable to help. We are commanded to do no work on the Sabbath, but God still keeps his eye on believers because Satan never takes a day off!

Nowadays there is no Temple, no Tabernacle, the location of the Ark of the Covenant remains a mystery and the Old Covenant has been replaced by Jesus’ New Covenant.

Later in ch. 24, God teaches that punishment should fit the crime: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” If someone injures another’s animal, they should replace it or pay for it. That seems fair. The most severe punishment, stoning, was reserved for those who take another’s life and for those who blaspheme the Lord. Only God determines when life begins and when life ends. And don’t dis God!

Jesus taught us to be more loving and forgiving. The New Covenant offers us second chances. If a repentant person has injured a believer, we are to forgive them 70 X 7 times. Jesus said we should not only love our Lord but likewise love our neighbors! Jesus was God coming to earth to rescue mankind from our sins. Jesus’ way is a good way to live!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Priests!

March 17, 2025, Monday Message:

Leviticus 21:1 NLT: The Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the priests, the descendants of Aaron.”

Under the Old Covenant, Priests were go-betweens. The general population was separated from God Almighty in the Tabernacle. On the people’s behalf, the Priests would offer sacrifices, sometimes to atone for someone’s sin, and other times just because that tithe belonged to the Lord. Priests were set apart from other Jews. They were considered special, sanctified.

In the New Testament, Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father who art in heaven...” So we no longer need a go-between, someone to speak with God on our behalf. Jesus said that any believer, you and I, can pray directly to God himself.

When Jesus died and took the sins of the world to the place of the dead, believers were purified. Our sins were blotted out, taken away, and now being without sin, we can speak directly with the Lord. The curtain separating the most holy place was torn from top to bottom, so it was God doing the tearing. People whose sins are forgiven no longer need to be separated from God.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Although he wasn’t born in Ireland, legend has it that Patrick did much to evangelize the region. And any day you can make new Christians is a good day!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Church Etiquette:

For Saturday, March 8, 2025:

Leviticus 10:8-9 NLT: Then the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your descendants must never drink wine or any other alcoholic drink before going into the Tabernacle.”

The Tabernacle was a special place. It was where God’s chosen spiritual leaders could meet with him. They would then convey the Lord’s instructions to all the Israelites. When God calls a meeting, you don’t want to miss a thing. The Lord deserves your full attention. So don’t imbibe prior to going before the Lord.

It’s the same way with our churches nowadays. Worshiping God deserves our full attention. Put on your Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes, and put a smile on your face. Come with a sober mind, prepared for the day’s teaching. You may be asked to meet with a newcomer or give your testimony to God’s goodness. When we go to church, we should be prepared to serve.

If our churches are to grow, each of us must have the Good News on our lips 24/7. While church is a place we attend, it should also be a place to which we bring people. Forgiveness and redemption are gifts we shouldn’t keep to ourselves. Jesus is handing out tickets to the hereafter, where forgiven souls can spend eternity with their creator. God’s desire is for everyone to meet there!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Faith & Patience!

For Wednesday, March 5, 2025:

For many Christians, today is Ash Wednesday, a day of penitence and fasting. It kicks off Lent, humbling us six weeks before we celebrate the Resurrection. It’s a tradition in many denominations, but not found in the Bible. If Ash Wednesday has meaning for you, go for it! If not, that’s OK too. Whatever gets you closer to Jesus is the right thing to do!

Exodus 40:34 NLT: “Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.”

With the Tabernacle completed to the Lord’s specs and double-checked by Moses, the Shekinah or Glory of the Lord descended upon it. If that cloud moved in a certain direction, the Israelites would follow God in that direction. If the cloud remained over the Tabernacle, they would set up camp there. So Moses was not leading the flock; God was leading the flock. They would arrive at the Promised Land in God’s time.

Looking at a road map, Egypt to Israel is only about 320 miles, right up the Mediterranean coastline. Mankind could hike that distance in about a month. But following the pillar cloud of the Lord, they spent 40 years on the desert. Yes friends, this was a test of faith, God testing their stick-to-it-ive-ness. If the people whined, “This is taking too long. I’m not sure God knows what he’s doing,” they lacked faith in God’s knowledge, strength and perseverance. God would have them wait a little longer before proving he was right!

We too need to conform to God’s timing. God will delay a worthy project if the resources or personnel aren’t assembled to bring it to fruition. We need to be patient with God; He’s certainly been patient with us!

God’s timing is always the right timing!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Prayer and Worship!

February 24, 2025, Monday Message:

Exodus 25:8 NLT: Then the Lord said to Moses, “Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them.”

God wants to live among his people. The people miss not having a designated place to worship. The solution to both dilemmas is to build something suitable. God was the architect. He specified all the dimensions and chose the materials to be used. The Israelites were the workers, bringing God’s vision to fruition! This tabernacle needed to be portable, as everyone was still wandering across the sand, so it was called an ark. The tablets God created of his 10 Commandments, his Covenant with mankind, would eventually be placed inside, hence the “Ark of the Covenant.”

Jews would worship at that tabernacle until they could build Synagogues and eventually the Temple. Christians build churches where believers can gather for worship and a sense of community. But remember that we can pray and worship anywhere. God is omnipresent, meaning he’s everywhere, not just in church buildings. Prayer and worship are trusting and loving the Lord.

We’re also commanded to love our neighbors, and a church gathering is where we often meet them. Being a believer isn’t a solo endeavor! So let’s all show up, roll up our sleeves and get to work.

See you at church!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

God's Son!

For Sunday, April 30, 2023:

Matthew 17:5 NLT, during the Transfiguration: “A bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.’”

The bright cloud is the light of God’s glory, called the shekinah. From the cloud, God clearly identifies Jesus as his Son. What an honor for John, James and Peter to have been present that day and to hear the Lord speak! I’ll bet we all wish we could have been there that day!

Peter, acting impulsively, wanted to build tabernacles, holy shelters, for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. But in a way, God identifying his Son was a rebuke of the plan. The Son of God is far superior to the others and should be set apart in a higher place, both physically and in our thinking. With these words from heaven, God the Father clearly set Jesus above the Law and the Prophets. Jesus is not merely another or even a better lawgiver or prophet. Jesus is God’s only begotten Son, one-third of our triune God!

Spurgeon writes: “God did not make us his children because he needed sons, but because we needed a father.”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Psalm 15

September 14, 2015 Monday Message:

“Who can live in your tent, Lord? Who can dwell on your holy mountain?” Psalm 15:1 CEB

During David’s reign, about a thousand years before Jesus, the Temple in Jerusalem didn’t exist. (His son Solomon was later allowed to complete the Temple.) Therefore the things of God, the items of worship, had to be portable. So the Lord’s tent is indeed the Lord’s Tabernacle, and if you reference several different Bible translations, you’ll sense the difficulty naming the “House of the Lord.”

Today we could simply ask, “Who gets to hang out at church, with the people of God?” It’s pretty simple: “The person who does what is right, and speaks the truth sincerely.” Psalm 15:2

The list of who is NOT welcome is longer: no gossip, no harming your friends, and no insulting your neighbors. The wicked should just stay home. Don’t cheat on financial deals, and don’t accept bribes against the innocent.

The house of the Lord is for those who keep a promise even when it hurts. And those GOOD people shall stand with the Lord forever. Psalm 15:5b

See you at church!

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, Sept. 20, Pastor Retha speaks from God’s Word.