Life Lifters | Lakeshore Community Church

Dec 31 8:49 AM

Best of 2021: Joy in God Getting the Glory (Released 09-29-2021)

Dec 31 8:49 AM

Friday, January 31, 2021

When you live your life, when people see your life, do they appreciate God more? Do they see God's greatness in the way you live?

Friday, January 31, 2021

Originally Published September 29, 2021

Philippians 4:20

Through the end of the year, we’ll be rerunning some of the best Life Lifters from 2021. We hope you’ll join us each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning!

We have been working through the book of Philippians, focusing on the theme of joy. Today, we're going to talk about joy in God getting the glory. Look at what the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 4:20, "To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen." The whole goal of the Apostle Paul's life was to bring glory to God, to bring attention to God's greatness, to recognize God's greatness, to help other people see God's greatness by the way he lived. His goal was to bring glory to God. In fact, Paul also says, "Whether you eat, whether you drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

What does that mean? It means this, that when you live your life, when people see your life, do they appreciate God more? Do they see God's greatness in the way you live? Does God get attention and glory from others who see your life? Is that what you want from your life? Do you want your life to glorify God? We all fall short. We're all very imperfect, but the ultimate tenor and aim of our life should be to glorify God, to call attention to his greatness, so that others see how great he is. I want to see God's greatness even more my life, but after that, I want others to see how great God is through my life. That's why Paul says, "To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen."

Jesus said when he comes back, he's going to come back in power, and he's going to come back in great glory. When he comes back, he's going to set up His kingdom on earth for 1000 years,which is called the millennium, and he will be glorified by everybody. That's why we want to spend the rest of our days on Earth glorifying God. We glorify God by the way we live, by the way we talk, by our practices, by the way we show love, by the way we distinguish ourselves from the average person, by the way we give generously, by the way we give of our gifts in the church, by the way we help the less fortunate, by the way we serve , and by the way we treat other people (which is different from the rest of the world). There are people that have come to me, and if you've been a Christian long enough and you're striving to glorify God, I'm sure you've had the same thing happen, where people say, "Man, what is it about you? Why are you so nice?" And I get a chance to just say, "It's God in me. I give glory to God, because he's the one who does it in me." That's what life's all about.

So, I have a question for you. Is your life all about trying to bring glory for God? Paul prayed, "To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen." That's what I want from my life, and I think that's probably what you want from your life. Let's glorify God in all that we do so that, in the words of Jesus, we may let our light so shine, that people may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). Let's pray. Father, forgive us for those times when we haven't glorified you. Help us to bring glory to your name by the way we live. Help us to have others see it, so that they may glorify you, too. We know that one day you're going to come back in power and great glory, and you will rule and reign on the earth in glory for 1000 years. We want to help as many people as we can be a part of that. Thank you for this in Jesus' name, amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Dec 13 8:07 AM

Best of 2021: God's Gift to Us (Released 11-08-2021)

Dec 13 8:07 AM

Monday, December 13, 2021

When I'm thinking about gifts, there's this perfect gift that we have that has been offered to each and every one of us.

Monday, December 13, 2021

Originally Published November 8, 2021

Ephesians 2:8-9

Through the end of the year, we’ll be rerunning some of the best Life Lifters from 2021. We hope you’ll join us each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning!

Today we're talking about gifts. It's Christmas time, so we're all looking for the perfect gift. We go on Amazon, we go to Walmart, we go to Best Buy, we go to Target, and we're looking for this perfect gift for our loved ones and our friends. So we find this perfect gift, as we would think, and we give it to them. Then, a couple of weeks later, they don't use it. They use it for week one, they use it for week two, and then it just gets boring, it gets overused, and we never see them pick it up again. However, there's a perfect gift that we have. When I'm thinking about gifts, there's this perfect gift that we have that has been offered to each and every one of us. That's the gift of salvation.

Paul talks about this in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of work so that no one may boast." What Paul's saying here is that salvation, is a gift from God. What Jesus did for us on the cross is a gift from God. What's awesome about this is it says it's not of our own doing, we can't do anything to earn this gift. If we do something to earn it, then it's no longer a gift. So, that's the encouragement for today is that we don't have to do anything in order to get this this free gift of salvation that God has given to us. He has given it to us out of his love, out of his grace, out of his mercy for us, because he loves us just that much. As we go into this holiday season with Christmas right around the corner, I encourage each and every one of you not just to remember that the gift of God is free, and we don't have to do anything for it, but remember it's a gift that we can give to other people. So whoever you come into contact with, let them know what Jesus has done for them, so that they can also receive that free gift of God. So that's all I have for today. I hope you were encouraged. Until next time, make sure to love yourselves, love others, but most of all, love God. God bless.

By Pastor Antoine Evans

Nov 08 8:19 AM

God's Gift to Us

Nov 08 8:19 AM

Monday, November 8, 2021

Today we're talking about gifts. When I'm thinking about gifts, there's this perfect gift that we have that has been offered to each and every one of us.

Monday, November 8, 2021

Ephesians 2:8-9

By Pastor Antoine Evans

Oct 15 8:31 AM

God's Love Inspires Us to Imitate Him

Oct 15 8:31 AM

Friday, October 15, 2021

Today we're going to continue we're going to take a look at what God's love does inside of us, and specifically how it inspires us to imitate God.

Friday, October 15, 2021

Ephesians 4:32-5:2

Today we're going to continue we're going to take a look at what God's love does inside of us, and specifically how it inspires us to imitate God. I want to read Ephesians 4:32-5:2, in which Paul writes this, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." You know, leading up to this, this section of Scripture, Paul is telling us that because of God's love for us, we are no longer to live the way that we used to live. He goes and talks about the old self. He tells us to put the old self away and put on the new self, almost like you would put on a new shirt or blouse in the morning. He gives us a list of things that we should stop doing. Then, he tells us, "I want you to focus on this one thing, be an imitator of God."

A few years back, I used to be one of the worship leaders here at Lakeshore. My kids grew up seeing me playing guitar, leading the band, and singing. My youngest daughter, Mazie, when she was probably about four years old, one day I had a friend over and we were in in our dining room, sitting at the dining room table. Mazie was playing, and she used to have this toy guitar and a toy microphone. As I'm talking to my friend, I hear her kind of singing a song to herself. All of a sudden she stopped, I heard her praying, and then she looks up and says, "Okay, everybody can sit down now." She was imitating me as a worship leader. She grew up seeing me leading worship, praying, and telling everybody they can sit down now, and she was just imitating her dad, which kids do all the time. We, therefore should be imitators of our Heavenly Father, being kind and compassionate to one another. Why? Because God has been kind and compassionate to us. We should forgive one another. Why? Because we were forgiven of so much by God. We should live a life of love. Why? Because you are a dearly love child of God, and you've been adopted into his family. God's love for us is the model of how we should treat others. If we do not understand God's characteristics, then guess what? We cannot imitate him. How do you learn God's characteristics? Read your Bible, study your Bible, become a student of your Bible. That's how we get to know God.

"But Frank," you're saying, "you don't know what so-and-so did to me years ago." Or, "you don't know what this person said about my family. You don't know how they treated me." You're probably right, I probably don't know. But here's what I do know, I do know that God expects us to be kind and compassionate, forgiving those who sin against us, and living a life of love. Now what that looks like in your life, that's between you and God, but I do know that God through the Apostle Paul is encouraging us to be an imitator of God, to strive to be like him. "That's impossible," you say. Yes, it is an impossible task, but we have already been made perfect by God. Whether we act perfect or not is another story. But we should try our darndest to be an imitator of God because when we experience God's love in our life, it changes our heart. It gives us a new perspective. It allows us to do things that we thought were impossible, including forgiving that person, including loving that person that hurt you. We can do this. Jesus Christ, when we experience his love, changes us from the inside out, helping us to be that imitator of God, that dearly loved child of God that Paul talks about.

Let's pray. Father, thank you that you gave us your son Jesus, and because of the sacrifice that he made for us, we have a model to follow. You have given us a model to follow, Father, to be forgiving, compassionate, and loving. Help us to live a life of love. While that may seem like a daunting task, I pray that you change us from the inside out. Give us a new perspective. Help us to see. Help us to see what we can become when we allow your love to work in our lives. Thank you Father. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

By Pastor Frank De Luccio

Oct 11 8:42 AM

God's Love Adopts Us into His Family

Oct 11 8:42 AM

Monday, October 11, 2021

I really want to write about the importance of knowing and understanding God's love for us, and how when we understand that, and we have that in our lives, how it actually transforms us.

Monday, October 11, 2021

Ephesians 1:4-5

This week, I want to talk to you about God's love. Recently, in my quiet time, I was going through the book of Ephesians. God really impressed upon me the word "love" as I was reading Ephesians. The word love, or variations of it, such as loved, or loves, appears 23 times in the book of Ephesians. And 10 of those times talk about God's love for us. The remaining 13 times talk about how we should go about and love others. This really captured my attention. So today, I really want to write about the importance of knowing and understanding God's love for us, and how when we understand that, and we have that in our lives, how it actually transforms us. This is important because if you have a wrong view of God's love, it will cause you to 1) have a poor theology, and 2) to act in a manner that is unloving towards others.

I want to start in Ephesians 1:4-5, "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us for adoption, to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and his will." So the point is that God loves you so much. Maybe you've never heard that before, maybe you've heard it a lot, but the truth doesn't change. God loves you so much. He loves you so much that he chose you. He chose you before the creation of the world. He chose you before time began. He chose you to be adopted into his family. He did this through Jesus Christ, who took your place and my place on the cross. He paid the price for our sins with his blood, making us holy and blameless, setting you apart for his purposes, his pleasure, and his will.

And here's the thing. God's love is rooted in grace. What is grace? When I was a new Christian, somebody told me an acronym that I've never forgotten. Grace stands for this: God's Riches At Christ's Expense. We get to experience all the riches of God's glory and his grace at the expense of Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ is the one that paid the price on the cross for our sins. So, we get the benefit of what Jesus did on the cross, and God gives us this grace freely, we see this in verses six and seven. He gives us grace freely - you can't buy it, you can't earn it, you can't steal it. It's a gift from God. And we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Redeemed means we were bought at a price. Jesus paid the price in full on the cross for us. When we are in him, when we are in Christ, when we believe and we receive this gift, we are forgiven of our sins in accordance with the riches of His glory and his grace. Paul tells us that God's grace has been lavished upon us. I love that word "lavish" because it means it has been richly poured out on us or, or it's been showered upon us. Imagine just standing in the shower, and God's grace showering down on you. So, when you understand this, when you understand how much God loves you, that begins to change everything. That's what we're going to talk about the rest of this week. So let's pray. Father, I want to thank you for your grace. I want to thank you for your love, that you chose us to be adopted into your family. You loved us so much that you chose us before time began. And you've given us a purpose, and you've given us grace, you've given us forgiveness, you've redeemed us. Father, for all these things that we see in Ephesians chapter one, thank you, Lord. And thank you for changing us from the inside out, as we'll see the rest of this week. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

By Pastor Frank De Luccio

Sep 29 8:43 AM

Joy in God Getting Glory

Sep 29 8:43 AM

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

When you live your life, when people see your life, do they appreciate God more? Do they see God's greatness in the way you live?

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Philippians 4:20

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Sep 01 8:01 AM

Knowing the Object of Your Faith

Sep 01 8:01 AM

Wednesday, Septemeber 1, 2021

Imagine if I was to ask you, "What is your relationship with God like? What do you know about God? How is God working in your life?" If I asked you those questions, your responses will tell me a lot about how much faith you have.

Wednesday, Septemeber 1, 2021

Romans 10:17

This week, we've been talking about faith. Yesterday, we asked a question, "What is the object of your faith?" Today, I want to ask you, "Do you know the object of your faith?" And so I want to talk to you about the struggles that people have with faith. What I have found in in my almost 20 years of being a pastor is that when people struggle with their faith in God, it is more times than not tied to a lack of knowledge of who God is and his ways. Read that again: struggles in faith more times than not are tied to a lack of knowledge of who God is and his ways.

Lakeshore exists to help people discover and develop a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. If you were to just discover a relationship with Jesus, I assure you, you are missing out on so much that the Christian life has to offer. Therefore, it's more than just discovering that relationship, you've got to develop that relationship with Jesus Christ. Get to know God more and more every day so that you can have more and more faith and trust in Him. Imagine if I was to ask you, "What is your relationship with God like? What do you know about God? How is God working in your life?" If I asked you those questions, your responses will tell me a lot about how much faith you have. If your relationship with God is sporadic and surface level only, if your knowledge of God is minimal, then I am pretty darn sure that you do not have a lot of faith in God. On the other hand, if your relationship with God is consistent, if it's growing, if you're spending time with him, learning more about God by reading your Bible on a daily basis, then I am pretty darn sure that you have a lot of faith. Or, you at least have a growing amount of faith, more and more faith every day in him.

Romans 10:17 tells us this, "Faith comes by hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." The key to increasing your faith in God is to be in his word every day. By hearing the message, by reading it in our Bibles. The more you read the Bible, the more you will get to know God and his ways. If you are struggling to have more faith in God, then I want to encourage you to spend more time with him reading your Bible. But you may say, "Well, Frank, I already read the Bible." I want to encourage you, don't just read it, study it. Maybe you already study the Bible. Make sure that you're praying, speaking to God. You know, prayer doesn't have to be in some high and lofty English. It is just common, everyday language. It's having a conversation with God. Praying is also listening to God, spending time in quiet, just listening and letting God speak to you. Is it an audible voice? I've never heard it as an audible voice, but deep down inside in your heart, you sense the leading of God in your life. If you want to go even deeper in your faith, try fasting. Fasting is a great way to grow deeper in your faith and your connection and closeness to God. These are all spiritual disciplines to draw us closer to God to help us know Him and to know his ways better. The result will be an increase in our faith. When we know God more, we will trust him more, and we will trust his word in our lives in an increasing measure.

Let's pray. Father, thank you that you have given us the opportunity to know you through your word, the Bible. May we study it, may we apply it to our lives. As King David said, may we hide it in our hearts to know you more and more. Thank you that we can reach out to you in prayer. Thank you that we can sit in quiet and let you speak to us. Thank you that you've given us fasting to draw us closer and make us more and more dependent upon you, increasing our faith. Thank you, Father. For this we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

By Pastor Frank De Luccio

Aug 20 8:11 AM

Joy in Growing Closer to Christ

Aug 20 8:11 AM

Friday, August 20, 2021

The whole goal of becoming a Christian is not to say, "I'm done. I've got a relationship with Christ, I'm going to heaven!" No...

Friday, August 20, 2021

Philippians 3:7-8

I want to talk to you about one of the most basic things of the Christian life. And that's this: once you become a Christian, if you want to live a satisfying, joyful life, you have to get closer to Jesus Christ every day. When I graduated from RIT with my electrical engineering degree, Richard Rose was the president of RIT. And every graduating class would have a little reception at the president's house with some of their other classmates and with our department head. So Dr. Swaminathan Madhu was not only our department head of the electrical engineering department, he was my friend, because I worked for him as a technical lab assistant for the college. And I remember Dr. Madhu said, "Vince, now that you're graduating, you're ready to learn." And I said, "It's interesting, Dr. Madhu, because I've done a lot of learning." He said, "No, all we did was we taught you how to learn on the job." When I got my black belt in November of 1999, my karate instructor said, "Now you're ready to learn." I go, "Wow, I did all this testing. I passed all my katas, my basics, my sparring my upper and lower body basics, all these things and, and now you're telling me I'm going to learn more?" Yeah. I'm ready to learn. In other words, I had the basics. I knew how to do a basic block. But I had to learn shogi, or polish, on my technique, and chudan uchi, where I sprung back on a block and not just stuck it out there, and cover, and different things.

Here's what I want to say to you. When you become a Christian, it's the same thing as what Dr. Madhu and as my karate instructor, Kurt Sawyer, told me: when you become a Christian you're ready to learn. The whole goal of becoming a Christian is not to say, "I'm done. I've got a relationship with Christ, I'm going to heaven!" No, you want to love him more. That's what the Apostle Paul said - learn to love him more than anything. Look at what he says in Philippians 3:7-8, "Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ."

In other words, all the things Paul had before he was a Christian, the prestige of being a Pharisee and all of that. Nothing compared to the greatness of knowing Christ. Knowing, present participle, not "having known" Christ. Knowing. It's a process. He said he would lose everything if that's what it took to know Jesus Christ. And guess what? Jesus Christ demanded the loss of so many things for the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul experienced as much loss, or more, than any other human being ever has for the sake of Christ. And Paul said he would gladly suffer loss if it meant knowing Christ more deeply. He even says everything else is like rubbish, and honestly, the word for rubbish in Greek, which I've shared on Sundays here a few times, is the Greek word scubula. Excuse my crassness, but it is basically the word for for feces, dung, crap, whatever you want to say. And Paul says, all of that stuff that I had doesn't matter as much as knowing Christ. Do you want to know Jesus Christ at that same level? Do you want to know Christ more? You'd like to become a Christian? Great, now you're ready to learn, like my black belt and karate instructor, Kurt, said. Like the dean of electrical engineering, Dr. Madhu, said. Like Paul, now you're ready to learn more about Jesus Christ. You'll learn more about how to get closer to him. I want to know Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is infinite. That means that you'll never know everything about him. So I want to know more and more every day. Do you? How do you do that? Read the Bible every day. Pray every day, not only for yourself, but for others. Use your gifts to impact the world and share the good news in the church and in the world. Do these things and you'll get closer to Christ and you'll know him more.

Father, help us to know you more every day. Just like we know our spouses if we're married, just like we know our kids if we have kids. Every day we know them more, and we want to know you more, and nothing else. Whatever it costs, it's not worth anything compared to knowing you. Thank you for this. Help us to know you more in Jesus' name, amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Aug 18 8:12 AM

Joy in the Lord

Aug 18 8:12 AM

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Philippians 3:1

This is going to seem like a little bit of a cliche for those of you who are church attenders or regulars at church, but regardless, it'll be a reminder to you. And for those of you who are somewhat new, I want to say this: the only place of reliable joy is in the Lord. The only place you'll find joy in a consistent, reliable, never-ending way is to find joy in the Lord. I get that because in Philippians 3:1 the apostle Paul says, by way of reminder, which tells us we all need this reminder, "Finally, my brothers rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you."

If we break that down, he says, "Rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again," which means that he said this again and again. If he keeps repeating this, it means that chances are, like the Philippians, we need that constant reminder. We have to find our joy in the Lord. Then, he says a second thing: "...and it is a safeguard for you." In other words, it is so you don't get taken in. If you read later in Philippians, it talks about being taken in by false teaching or by other things that glitter. Not all that glitters is gold. Not everything that you think is going to provide joy is going to provide joy. In fact, I'm here to tell you that things that might provide joy will only bring conditional joy or temporary joy. The greatest, undeniable, never-let-you-down joy is joy in the Lord.

Are you finding your joy in the Lord? I find a lot of joy in my wife - I married up so high I got a nosebleed. I love my children, I love my grandson, I love my staff, I love the elders, I love the trustees, I love the people of Lakeshore, I love my friends, I love my golfing buddies, I love my neighbors. I love so many people, but they cannot bring me unconditional, never-changing joy like Jesus Christ can. If I expect that of my wife, of my children, or my grandson, I'm going to be disappointed. My ultimate joy is in Jesus Christ. You say, "Vince, how do you find your joy in Jesus Christ?" Ultimately, it's when you look to him for everything. "God, what do I do? God, what do I say? God, How can I know you love me? God, should I make this purchase? God, should I go this way or that way? God help me." God wants us to have a dynamic relationship with Him. And when you have a dynamic relationship with him and you are taking your cues from him, you will find joy. The best way to have joy in the Lord is to facilitate a continual relationship with him. If I like golf, but I never go to the golf course, I really don't like golf. If I say I find joy in being with John, and I never hang out with John, that's really not my source of joy. The way you're going to know that Jesus is the joy of your life is when you want to be with him. People say, "Well, I'm a Christian and I love Jesus, but I don't go to church." Well, you don't love him as much as you think because Jesus said, "I'll build my church," and Jesus said through the Apostle Paul, "Don't forsake going to church." So, it's the same thing. Here's what I want to say: find your joy in Jesus Christ. When you make a decision, find your approval from him, even if not everybody agrees. When you find a need in your life that is so desperate, turn to Jesus Christ. He can give you joy, and you can have joy in the middle of a trial when he is your source.

Rejoice in the Lord. I'll say it again: Rejoice! Find your joy in Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, help us to find our joy in you by deepening our relationship with you, by wanting to get to know you, by thinking about everything you want us to think about, by making decisions that please you. Yes, we will find joy from other people, but other people will let us down even if they don't intend to. You never will. Help us to reevaluate where we're finding our ultimate, top joy. I pray for everybody reading, that that top joy would be growing in their relationship with you, Jesus. We thank you and pray in your name. Amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Aug 11 8:05 AM

We Are One With Christ

Aug 11 8:05 AM

Wednesday, August 9, 2021

Sometimes you can feel like God is far off, like he's just way away from you. Sometimes the sky seems to be hard, our prayers seem to bounce off the clouds, and he just doesn't seem to be there. Well, there's good news if you have ever felt either one of those situations were true of your life and that God was distant.

By Pastor Brian Rathbun

back < view previous

Connect with us!

Topics