My Vineyard!

For Friday, October 3, 2025:

Luke 20:15b-16 NLT: “What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do to them?” Jesus asked. “I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others.”

Jesus is sharing the parable of the evil farmers. This is not a well-known story, but it has relevance for all of us, so let’s have a look.

A man planted a vineyard and leased it to others. As the owner, he was to receive a share of the crop. When it was time, he sent three representatives, and eventually his son, to claim his portion. The farmers drove away the reps, and murdered the man’s son, hoping to keep the vineyard for themselves. Jesus asks the listeners, “What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do to them?”

You already know Jesus’ answer: “He will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others.”

In this parable, the man with the vineyard is God Almighty. The farmers are prospective believers who made the wrong decision. They had a chance at eternal life, but they tried to cut God out of their lives. Didn’t work. As it turns out, God cut them out of His life! They had their chance. God will share eternity with those who are loyal and obedient!

Just like the farmers, each of us has been given an opportunity to play on the Jesus team. Have you said “yes?” I hope so. That’s the answer that points to eternal life in God’s Kingdom!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Arrested!

For Thursday, October 2, 2025:

Mark 14:46 NLT: “Then a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs grabbed Jesus and arrested him.”

The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders had been planning Jesus’ demise for quite some time. They didn’t want to arrest Jesus in the Temple. It would seem wrong. It would look bad if a temple teacher were arrested. “Keep police action out of our worship space!”

One of Jesus’ defenders produced a sword and sliced off an ear of the High Priest’s slave. Jesus restored the ear, to which I would say, “Look at what just happened. The man you’re arresting can heal whatever’s wrong and cure any disease! Perhaps we should rethink this!”

But without knowing it, the Pharisees were fulfilling God’s plan. The blood of Jesus was to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world. Mankind would thereby be redeemed. It would be a rough couple of days for Jesus, but after that, his mission would be complete. (“It is finished!”)

Jesus would have to walk through the fire by himself. (50) “All his disciples deserted him and ran away.” God was keeping them safe. If they stayed close to Jesus, they too would have been killed as accomplices. But God was counting on the disciples to function as leaders of “The Way,” the new Christian church! They needed to be preserved!

The church that the disciples established still exists nowadays, with many franchised locations. We worship at one each week. Thankfully, God had the disciples temporarily step back. When Jesus rose from the grave, they regrouped and came back stronger than ever. 2K years later, people are still signing up for the Jesus team!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Walls Torn Down!

For Wednesday, October 1, 2025:

Hebrews 10:21-22 NLT: “Since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”

God desires to live among the people he created. The Bible says that God loves us! The problem arises that there can be no sin in the presence of the Lord. By definition, sin and God don’t go together. What to do?

The presence of the Lord was in a special inner room, the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place. The entrance was covered by a large, very heavy curtain. Mankind could visit the Temple where God was exalted, but we had separate spaces.

Enter Jesus. After Jesus, everything is different. After Jesus, everything is better! As he died on the cross, Jesus took the sins of the world to the place of the dead and left them there. Mankind had been forgiven, redeemed, purchased back from Satan’s pawn shop, Jesus himself being the ultimate sacrifice for the world’s sins. And since mankind was no longer carrying a sin-burden, there was no longer a need for separation from God. The giant curtain was torn from top to bottom, a sign that God was doing the tearing! There was now nothing separating the creation, mankind, from our Creator God. He says our sins are forgiven and forgotten, and God is never wrong!

If we’re expecting company, my wife wants our place to look nice, so I go outside to mow the lawn and straighten up the yard. I work hard. Then I hear, “You’ll need a shower before they get here!” We want to look our best when meeting someone for the first time! Fortunately, we have Jesus to clean us up before we meet the Father!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship