Step up!

For Thursday, September 5, 2024:

Revelation 3:2b NLT: “I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God.”

God doesn’t want us wasting our time or his time. The church is Sardis had become lazy, still marching in place but not making any progress. And if we’re not moving forward, we’re falling behind!

This correction is for both the church as a group and its individual members. If you’re not on fire for Jesus, you need a course correction. Only you can make a conscious decision to put it in high gear!

There’s a saying in the Army: “Never volunteer for anything!” So when asked to help with something, we’re conditioned to decline. But church should be different. Within a church, not volunteering is quite a liability, for both the church and the volunteer. A senior pastor told my once that the same 18 people volunteer for everything! That in a church with 3,000 members worshiping just under a thousand each week! There’s something wrong with that picture, something that each of us can help correct.

As we approach the end times, time is growing short to step up and assist with Jesus’ mission. It’s time to get off the bench and get into the game!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Send Me!

For Wednesday, March 06, 2024:

Isaiah 6:8 NLT: “Then Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’

And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”

One seraphim touched Isaiah’s lips with a live coal, saying, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah was about to volunteer to be a missionary for God, a servant, one of God’s approved workers. So the Seraphim set Isaiah on solid ground with the Lord. He started his task with a clean slate, sins forgiven.

God asks, “Whom shall I send?” God, the Creator of everything, could have made robots to perform his tasks. He could have assigned the job to Angels. But God is looking for someone to step up. He’s looking for volunteers.

Isaiah jumps at the chance to serve the Lord. “Here am I. Send me!” God’s divine will to send and the human will to serve are in perfect coordination. This is what God planned all along, why he wanted none to perish. His desire is that all would repent and return to the Kingdom. After all, we’re compatible since we’re made in God’s image! Some won’t make it, but a good number will. God sent his Son Jesus to show us the way.

Isaiah is volunteering for a formidable assignment. The people of Judah had been disobedient, so God removed his hand of protection. Enemies will take over the promised land for a while. Of course, God is loving and forgiving, and eventually the people will see the light.

In our country, we are conditioned to say "no." When asked to do something, to volunteer for an assignment, to lead a group we automatically say “no.” We need to practice saying “yes” when it’s God who taps us on the shoulder!

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

'This' or 'That?'

Nov. 10, 2014 Monday Message:

“You (who love the Lord) are like a tree, planted by flowing, cool streams of water that never run dry.” Psalms 1:3a VOICE

Another ministry principle is, “If you’re doing ‘this,’ you’re not doing ‘that!’” It’s your choice.

God gives us all a new yellow pad every morning – each page is blank. Write, “Agenda,” or, “Things To Do Today,” at the top. As you plan your day, you’ll see some things that are good to do, and some things that could get you into trouble. Add some more good things to the top of the list – that Bible study you’ve been meaning to attend, volunteering at the church, the school, the food shelf, visiting the elderly – keep adding good things, and put them at the top of your list. You’ll have to re-write it a few times, adding the good things at the top, and pushing down the not-so-good things.

If you do this long enough, your entire agenda will be filled with good things, and the bad stuff will have fallen off the bottom of the page. It’s not hard - you don’t really have to make a conscientious effort to put aside the bad habits if your time is all booked up with the good stuff.

If you’re doing ‘this,’ you’re not doing ‘that’ is a good way to live. Fill your list with good things. Plant your roots near the living water that never goes dry. That’s where you find the good stuff.

Norton Lawellin

Every Sunday Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) gathers at 10 a.m. in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. This week, Nov. 16, Pastor Michael Pilla teaches from Acts 12.