Moses - All In!

For Tuesday, November 11, 2025:

Hebrews 11:26 NLT: “Moses thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.”

Moses had been adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter and was in line to inherit the wealth of Egypt. But after some investigation and using common sense, he knew he wasn’t an Egyptian. He looked more like those who were servants to the Egyptians. He was Hebrew through and through! Now, he could have kept quiet and continued to enjoy the privileges of Egyptian royalty. But he did not! When Moses saw Egyptians unfairly beating a Hebrew, Moses rose to the man’s defense. They fought, the Egyptian was killed, and Moses knew it was time to get out of town!

At that time, Moses had not met the God of his people. Yet he chose to support this unseen God. Having been raised up in the Royal Palace, Moses didn’t have a religious upbringing. That all changed when God spoke to Moses from a burning bush that did not consume itself.

God said to tell Pharaoh, “Let my people go!”

Moses replied, “You’ve got the wrong guy!”

God didn’t change his mind, “Take your brother Aaron with you. He’s better at speaking.”

God didn’t back down, and Moses found himself standing before Pharaoh. “Let my people go!” Despite Pharaoh’s persistent reluctance to let the Hebrews leave, 10 plagues later, they were crossing the Red Sea, on their way to the promised land.

Moses was “all in” for the Hebrew God. He did not renege on the faith question, even when others around him were faltering. It was God who spoke to Moses from the burning bush. He was therefore 100% convinced, and nothing could change his mind. He was “all in!”

Are you “all in” for God? Could anything change your mind? I sure hope not!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

God vs Calf?

For Wednesday, February 26, 2025:

Exodus 32:1 NLT: When the Israelites saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. “Come on,” they said, “make us some gods who can lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.”

Impatient and fickle. Ungrateful and totally wrong! “Please, Aaron, make a god for us.” Dumbest request ever! I can’t believe Aaron fell for it. Moses’ brother should have known better, but it’s hard to oppose mob mentality.

The throng thought God was taking too long. They thought Moses was taking too long. They decided that if the real God wasn’t getting it done, they would make a god of their own. A golden calf. Bad decision. No one can make a God anything like our Creator God!

The Israelites must have short memories, forgetting all God did to get them out of Egypt. They must have forgotten the 10 plagues, culminating with the firstborn of everything in Egypt dying – everything except what was in the Hebrew camp! Had they forgotten the Passover? God said to never forget that and to celebrate it annually!

The behavior of these people disgusts me. If I were God, I’d feel like wiping them off the face of the earth, and he almost did until Moses intervened on their behalf.

Nowadays, “golden calf” is a synonym for anything that may look good but is fake and actually worthless. Idol, graven image, false god, pagan symbol and even the almighty dollar are listed. (Dollars are only valuable here on earth; they have no eternal value!)

So friends, don’t fall for any golden calf stuff. Focus on God Almighty, and as Paul said, “Keep your eye on the prize!”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Lift Up Holy Hands!

For Thursday, February 13, 2025:

Exodus 17:8 NLT: “While the people of Israel were still at Rephidim, the warriors of Amalek attacked them.”

Joshua’s team was sent to defend the Israelites against Amalek’s attack. Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron and Hur climbed to a mountain top. When Moses lifted his staff toward heaven, God gave the people of Israel the advantage. But Moses was old, weak and tired, soon unable to lift his hands any longer. So Aaron and Hur stood on either side of Moses, each of them lifting one of his hands. As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek.

After they were victorious, God told Moses, “I will erase the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” And I ask you, friends, have you heard of any Amalek people anywhere on the earth nowadays? God’s word is always good! What did the Amalek people do wrong? “They raised their fist against the Lord.” Bad decision, and as you’d expect, God won!

As we follow the people of Israel on their journey from Egypt to Canaan, note the relationship Moses has with the Lord. Whenever a challenging situation arises, Moses runs the problem past God, who always seems to have a solution. And when God’s intervention can assist the Israelites, he contacts Moses. This is a 2-way and yet unequal partnership. Yes, God desires a relationship with his people, but the true beneficiary is always Moses and the Israelites.

Q: Do you have such a relationship with God? Is he your partner, your consultant as you do life? When life drops a roadblock in your path, is God your rescuer? If you maintain a 2-way relationship with your Creator, you and the people around you will be the beneficiaries! That’s how it works!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Celebration!

For Saturday, February 8, 2025:

Exodus 14:31 NLT: “When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”

Humans are fickle. One minute they think that God is the greatest thing ever, and the next they forget about him. For all that God had done – all the plagues and now their journey out of Egypt – some Israelites were still wishy-washy about the Lord. But now, with the parting of the Red Sea and all the Hebrews escaping to the other side, but the Egyptian army being crushed by the returning water, the fence sitters were convinced. God had been extremely good to the Jews and all were amazed!

When God has been that good, the proper response would be to exalt the Lord, to lift up his name. Praise and worship are the order of the day, and that’s just what they did. The people of Israel gathered and sang hymns, but that wasn’t enough for Miriam the prophet, Moses and Aaron’s sister. She grabbed a tambourine and led the women as they sang and danced even more before the Lord.

While that celebration was good, we should all be celebrating the Lord every day. God deserves praise and worship whether or not he has done anything spectacular. He is still God, the creator of everything in the universe. He is our creator, our Father in heaven. So grab your tambourine and sing a song to the Lord today! Dance if you’re so inclined!

Psalm 150:3-5 “Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise him with the lyre and harp! Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes! Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals!”

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Glory of the Lord!

For Wednesday, January 29, 2025:

Exodus 9:13-14 NLT: Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so they can worship me. If you don’t, I will send more plagues on you and your officials and your people. Then you will know that there is no one like me in all the earth.’”

When reading Exodus, it’s easy to focus on Pharaoh letting the Hebrew people go. But there’s another lesson in all of this. God wants to let everyone know ‘that there is no one like me in all the earth.’ No one! Father God, his Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit are King of all kings and Lord of all lords over everything in the universe! All powerful supreme beings!

Now, if we had a problem in life, such as being a captive in Egypt, how long could that possibly last? 70, 80, 90 years? Probably less if you lived 3k years ago. God wants loyalists in his Kingdom for eternity, which is such a great number of years that it cannot be compared with a lifetime – the two are so different!

As God had commanded, Moses warned everyone to get inside a shelter and put your livestock in a barn, because hail like you’ve never seen is on the way! Then God directed Moses to lift his hand to the sky, and hail would fall destroying all the people, livestock and plants that were not sheltered. It all happened just the way God said. The entire country was devastated. People should not disregard God; they should highly-regard him!

We too should highly regard our God and his word. He chose believers to be a part of his Kingdom forever. We are blessed to look forward to an eternity in the presence of our Father! Thank you Jesus for making it all possible!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Flies!

For Sunday, January 26, 2025:

Exodus 8:20b-21 NLT: “Say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so they can worship me. If you refuse, then I will send swarms of flies on you, your officials, your people, and all the houses. The Egyptian homes will be filled with flies, and the ground will be covered with them.”

Looks like the gnats grew up! Big, nasty, obnoxious flies, everywhere – except the region of Goshen, where the Hebrews lived! Yes, the Jews were exempted from plague #4, the flies.

The Lord did just as he had said. A thick swarm of flies filled Pharaoh’s palace and the houses of his officials. The whole land of Egypt was thrown into chaos by the flies!

Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. That seems logical. Since Moses was the one who prophesied flies everywhere, it makes sense that he could also remove them. To accomplish this, Pharaoh agreed to let God’s people go into the wilderness to worship their God. Moses warned, “Pharaoh, don’t lie to us again and refuse to let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.” So Moses prayed for plague #4 to end the next day, and sure enough, the flies disappeared.

But once again Pharaoh changed his mind, reneged on his promise to let God’s people go. His hardened heart took precedence over doing the right thing, over honoring his word.

I’ve heard a pastor challenge his congregation: “Think this through to its logical conclusion.” Pharaoh perhaps doesn’t know who he’s up against – the Creator of the Universe! He will learn soon enough! And logically, Pharaoh, as mighty as he is, will never succeed in a battle against the Lord God Almighty. Pharaoh will soon understand that it’s God’s way or the highway!

When faced with decisions in our lives, we too should understand that it’s God’s way or the highway – and that’s the highway to hell! God’s way is always the right way, and if we’re stubborn and choose to disagree, we won’t win! Think it through to its logical conclusion. God Almighty always wins, and God Almighty is always right! Believers choose to play on God’s team!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Bricks, Schmicks!

For Sunday, January 19, 2025:

Exodus 5:9 NLT, Pharaoh speaking: “Load the Hebrews down with more work. Make them sweat! That will teach them to listen to lies!”

How do you define evil? It was bad enough that Hebrew lives had been reduced to brick-making. Now they were no longer given straw for the bricks. They had to supply it themselves. But the daily brick quota remained unchanged. In other words, assign significantly more work without extending the deadline. That’s evil, cracking the whip while overseeing an impossible task.

Furthermore, the Jews had not been listening to lies. They were hearing the words and commands of God Almighty, our Creator. Our God is incapable of lying. His words are to be highly regarded and respected. Moses and Aaron were doing the right thing, following God’s instructions!

Pharaoh’s anger resulted from the first confrontation with Moses and Aaron, but he retaliated with rage against ALL the Hebrew people, who now blamed Moses for their predicament. “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

 "Then Moses went back to the Lord and protested, ‘Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!’”

Moses speaks as if this was the end of the story, but we’re not done yet, and God’s not done yet! In fact, this is just the beginning of a scenario leading to the liberation of God’s people. By the end, the Egyptians will beg them to leave, and we’ll all be cheering! We’re on God’s side!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship