Family business!

For Friday, August 4, 2023:

Romans 4:13 NLT: “Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on Abraham’s obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.”

No one other than Jesus has ever followed 100% of God’s Laws. So our relationship with God and our salvation is based on love, forgiveness and faith. We need to realize not only the power of God but how much he loves us. With that love comes forgiveness and second chances. That is grace, our gift from God.

Mankind’s part of this equation is to love the Lord, repent when we are wrong and have faith that we will be forgiven. God’s love for us is unchanging, and our love for him should be unchanging too.

Our salvation comes not from being perfect – no one could ever achieve that – but from having a right relationship with our Lord. Jesus told us to think of God as “Our Father in heaven,” and we’re to love our Father. And like any good parent, God loves his children. Remember that if children misbehave, they’re disciplined but they’re still in the family!

Our relationship with the Lord is family business!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

One God!

For Wednesday, August 2, 2023:

Romans 3:29-30 NLT: “After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.”

Jesus came to earth through Jews, and God’s Law was given through Jews. The next step should be for them to get the whole world on board, because there is only one God and he’s for all residents of our planet. He is OUR God too!

God’s gift to us is grace, undeserved favor. Mankind has been sinning for generations, and yet God loves us so much that he sent his Son to begin our redemption. God wants all believers to join him in the life after this life. He wants us to see heaven from the inside!

Our part of our rescue is faith – faith in who Jesus was, and that he will do what he promised. Our faith lets us receive God’s free gift of grace, and that gift is our salvation!

Faith lets us join the throng of believers!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Faith!

For Tuesday, August 1, 2023:

Romans 3:27-28 NLT: “Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”

This is Christian Theology in a nutshell. It’s not what most people would expect. Most non-believers assume that to be a Christian, you would have to follow certain rules and achieve certain goals. Then you could graduate from the Jesus School of Theology!

But that’s not how it works. That salvation would be a free gift requiring only faith is counterintuitive. It seems almost too easy. But then the good behavior, our giving nature, the loving our neighbor, come from our gratitude for what Jesus did for us, not from adherence to Laws. Jesus took away the sins of the world and included believers in the Kingdom! He has prepared your place. All is ready when it’s your time.

Believers have a reservation in the hereafter. Count on it. Jesus said so!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship