Life Lifters | Lakeshore Community Church

Nov 17 8:18 AM

TOP 10: Competence at Work (Originally Published 8-4-2020)

Nov 17 8:18 AM

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Today I am talking about one of the greatest traits you can have as an employee: competence.

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Proverbs 22:29

TOP 10 LIFE LIFTERS: For the next few weeks, we'll be re-releasing some of the top Life Lifters we've ever published since we started this devotional series. Join us as we look back at popular topics like prayer, joy, trust, and hope!

Today I am talking about one of the greatest traits you can have as an employee: competence. The person who has competence at work is the person who eagerly learns new skills, and they do their work with excellence. So first, they eagerly learn new skills. Some people say, "No, I'm not going to try that." I'll be honest with you, there are certain jobs I had where I didn't want to learn new skills. And guess what? That was not good for me. I just didn't want to do it, and it was wrong. We should be eagerly learning new skills, growing, and expanding. Then second, a competent person works with excellence. When they turn in their work it's thought out.One of the great things about Lakeshore staff is that I often ask them to do something, and then they come back to me with more. I say, "Can you do A?" And they come back saying, "Well, here's A, but I also found B, C, D and E." Guess what? I think they're very competent. And guess what? I also think, "How can I keep this employee? How can I give them a raise?" etc, etc, etc. We love when people are competent.

Where do I get all this from? Look at Proverbs 22:29. It says, "Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings he will not serve before obscure men." That word "skilled" is the same as "competent" in the language I'm using here. What's the proverb saying? By the way, proverbs are not promises. There's a difference. A proverb says that this is generally how life works. So, when you are competent and you're skilled at what you do, the proverb is saying that you're going to rise up in the ranks. You're going to start working and showing your skills before higher order people, not the obscure. When you are good at what you do, growing at what you do, everybody wants to keep you. You'll be the last person laid off. When people aren't getting raises, or very few are getting raises, you'll get them. And when people are getting raises, you'll get some of the highest raises, if you work at a good place of employment, because people who are good at what they do are special.

Are you good at what you do? Are you growing in your job? Are you asking your boss to learn new skills, going to new training, trying new things, given assignments and coming back with even more? If you're a stay at home Mom, are you building into your kids? Are you growing new parenting skills? Are you learning new ways to build into your children? Are you learning new ways to get good your profession as a parent? No matter what you do, you're either getting better or worse. It's very difficult to maintain. People who maintain, because the world is getting more complex and more challenging, even when you maintain you're really going down because the world is advancing and growing. Make it a goal to grow in competence. Father, thank you so much for helping the people reading this have more competence in their work. Help us all to eagerly learn new skills and to deliver their work as an excellent example of you and your excellence. We thank you for this in Jesus' name, amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Sep 24 8:17 AM

Joy in Seeing Others Grow

Sep 24 8:17 AM

Friday, September 24, 2021

It's easy to just appreciate what people do for you and think about it from your perspective, but the Apostle Paul has something to add to it.

Friday, September 24, 2021

Philippians 4:17-18

In my last life lifter, I wrote about the joy of getting help from others. It's pretty obvious that if somebody helps you, you should be joyful. And we want to not only be joyful for having friends or people to help us, but we also want to be joyful for God who provided those friends or others to help us. But it's easy to just appreciate what people do for you and think about it from your perspective, but the Apostle Paul has something to add to it. A little bit of background from last time, Paul was appreciating the gift that the Philippians gave him, and said, "No other church supported me, but you did. You supported my ministry when I really needed it the most." He said he was really thankful and finds joy in the help they gave. But now he qualifies it by adding even more commentary to say something beyond the joy he found in being helped.He also find found joy in the growth of those who helped him. So he didn't just find joy in what he received. He found joy in the heart of the people who gave.

Look at what he says in Philippians 4:17-18, "Not that I'm looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. I have received full payment and even more. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God." Paul is referring to the Philippines giving him a gift to fund his ministry when he was running low on funds, or had no money, and no other church helped him. He says he was not looking for a gift, even though he needed it, but was looking for something to be credited to the Philippians' account. That's a deep statement. In other words, at the end of the day you get money for ministry to help people grow. When you help people grow by having them give to your ministry, it's the same thing. Money is a means to an end, and that's to help people find Christ and grow in faith in Christ. He's saying, "That's what I'm seeing in you. The money is great, but the joy I find is not the money you gave, but the reason that you gave it because you have the right heart." He's talking about them and their heart in giving and how proud he was to see people growing like that.

Then he goes on to say, "I have received full payment and even more. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God." Those are the kinds of descriptions that speak more than just about the amount. They speak to the giver. And here's the point: when people help you, you should find joy in getting help from people. That's what we talked about last time. But if you love God, and you love people, you should also find joy from the way people are growing and maturing and being more Christ-like as they give to you. So you should be thankful for the gift and thankful for the giver themselves, and how they're growing and how they're being Christ-like when they help. One of the great things in life is to watch people grow.

At Lakeshore, we sometimes get a knock or a myth that all we want to do is help people who aren't sure about Jesus Christ put faith in Christ. People say that's all we care about. Anybody who has come here knows that's simply not true. The biggest thing is after you come to faith in Jesus Christ, we want to help you grow. It's why we offer things like First Steps, Second Steps, Discover Lakeshore, Discover Your Purpose, Small Groups, Midweek Bible Study, and the like. We do all these things for one reason. We not only want to help people become Christians, we want to help people grow as Christians. That's what brings us joy. It's one thing to see somebody become a Christian, but if somebody becomes a Christian and doesn't really grow, that's not as satisfying as if they did grow. We love that. So the Apostle Paul, he loved that the Philippians gave him a gift, but he loved even more that they were the kind of people that would give gifts. Do you love people for what they do? Or do you love people for who they are, which leads them to being generous and helping you in doing what they do? I suggest that you love people for who they are. Love them, appreciate them. Not only their gift, but appreciate them, because if you love people, you want to see people grow.

We live in a dark world where a lot of people aren't growing, aren't spiritually interested, and we need to celebrate those that are. I find joy in that. I find joy in seeing many of you who come to Lakeshore grow in your faith. It's exciting. I hope you'll do the same. So let's pray. Father, thank you so much for this message on the joy we find in seeing others grow. The apostle Paul found joy in the Phillipians growing, so help us to find joy in seeing others grow as well. We thank you for it in Jesus' name, amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

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

Jul 28 8:09 AM

Joy Killer #2: Suffering

Jul 28 8:09 AM

Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Today, I want to talk to you about joy killer number two, and that is suffering. If you don't handle suffering right, it will kill your joy.

Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Philippians 2:17-18

We have been talking about joy over the last few life lifters. All this week I am talking about some joy killers that the Apostle Paul shares will kill our joy. These are from his his letter of joy to the Philippians in the New Testament. Today, I want to talk to you about joy killer number two, and that is suffering. If you don't handle suffering right, it will kill your joy. I've seen people who had a pretty good walk with God, they go through a bout of suffering, and man, it wrecks their life or wrecks their faith. It wrecks their walk with God - they stop reading the Bible, stop giving, stop serving, stop coming to church. I see it again and again and again. They let suffering do what the evil one wants it to do: take away their joy. God wants suffering to do something better. He wants suffering to refine your life so you have even more joy, just like a plant that's pruned. Initially, you prune a plant and the plant is smaller, but by pruning the plant appropriately, it allows it to grow fuller and thicker. When you nail in a nail with a hammer, you have to bring the hammer back to go forward. Suffering is like that. It's like a pruning. It's like bringing the hammer back. It doesn't make sense, but when it's fully accomplished it changes us and fills us with joy.

I get that from Philippians 2:17-18. Look what the Apostle Paul says. He says, "But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me." Paul says, "Even if my life is being poured out like a drink offering." What does that mean? Basically, even if I'm in the process of dying because I'm living out my faith, you should rejoice with me. What Paul is saying is, "I know what suffering is all about. I know this life is temporary. I know suffering is always fitting into a plan for good for me, for God's work, and for God's people, and for the people who will become Christians." Paul had an amazing attitude towards suffering. Other than Jesus himself, I don't know anybody who suffered as much as the Apostle Paul. He suffered so much for the Lord. And yet, I don't know anybody that had more joy, other than Jesus, than the Apostle Paul, because he learned that suffering was doing a great work. He even said, Don't you even worry about me, Philippians. Don't worry about me. Rejoice with me because the suffering is for God's glory. Even if I'm being poured out like a drink offering, even if my life is slowly being taken from me through these circumstances, rejoice.

Can you do that? Can you rejoice in suffering? You say, "Vince, how do I rejoice in suffering?" You see God's work in it. You see God working something good out of something which is uncomfortable and not good in your own eyes. The other way to do it is to have eternal vision. You see the future, you see a reward in heaven. You see your life five years from now, if you handle the suffering well today, and that fills you with joy. Again, when you're suffering you may not be happy, that's okay. You don't have to be, but you can be joyful when you make the choice to rejoice in your suffering. Are you suffering? I feel bad for you. But God is doing something in you, and for that I rejoice with you. And I hope you rejoice in that too.

Let's pray. Father, I pray that we would all realize that suffering is not fun - it hurts, it stings - but it's doing something good in us. Paul said, don't cry for me. Rejoice because I rejoice. What an amazing attitude. Help me to find joy in my suffering. Help those listening to find joy in our suffering, knowing that you're the God who either sent it if we sinned, or allowed it if we didn't. Help us to be more and more like your son Jesus, because that will bring us joy, and suffering is a part of that journey. We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Jul 19 7:48 AM

Joy Because God Is At Work In You

Jul 19 7:48 AM

Monday, July 19, 2021

When I know God is at work in me, even if some of the edges that are rough need some extra work and smoothing, I can have joy.

Monday, July 19, 2021

Philippians 1:3-6

We all need a little pick me up when it comes to joy. Joy is something that is always available from God, but isn't always something that we engage in our life. So I'm going to spend the next few life lifters writing about joy. This week I want to talk to you about some reasons for joy. I will use the book of Philippians, kind of march through it a little bit, and give you some reasons to have joy. The first reason you can have joy in your life - that uncontainable, amazing feeling of inner satisfaction, peace, contentment, and robust energy that comes from God - the first reason you can have that joy no matter what is because God is at work in you.

When I know God is at work in me, even if some of the edges that are rough need some extra work and smoothing, I can have joy. Even if I have to go to the bandsaw and get some extra stuff cut off, or get stained and varnish, whatever it is, I know God is at work within me. It may not be pleasant, may not be easy, like how varnish stinks and sanding hurts, but it makes us better, and that's what our life is like. I find joy in that, and so did the Apostle Paul. In the book of Philippians, the book of joy, we're going to draw all these principles out for the next few life lifters. Today we will read Philippians 1:3-6. Writing to the Christians at Philippi, Paul said, "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

So, Paul says he's always praying with joy. Why? Because of the partnership that he has seen in the Philippians, because of the progress he's seen in their faith. This fills him with joy. Then, not only has there been progress in their faith, there's guaranteed to be future progress. Once God gets a hold of a person's life, once you become a Christian, God is doing a work that is unstoppable. He will not stop until he is finished. This is the great promise from verse six. Paul says, "I'm confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." He who began a good work in you - what's that? It's God's work in you the moment you became a Christian, if in fact you have. It's the work he began when he forgave you of your sins, when you put your faith in Jesus Christ alone. Paul says God "will carry it on to completion." It's not just a work he does when you become a Christian, it's work he does all the way until the day of Christ Jesus. What is the day of Christ Jesus? It's one of two things. It's basically when your life on Earth ends, and that happens one of two ways. Either you die, which is how it's been for 2000 years, or the Lord comes back for you at the Rapture and takes you to heaven. Whatever the day of Christ Jesus is for you, God says he'll keep doing the work.

When I know that all the things that are happening to me are not random - they're organized by God, and God is using them to do a work in me to help me be the best me - when I really take that to heart and to soul and to mind and to spirit, that fills me with outrageous joy. It ought to fill you with outrageous joy. Nothing that's happening in your life is devoid of the purpose of God, doing a work in you to make you the best person you can be in his eyes. So when you go through tough times, remember the joy you can have because God is at work in you. Do you believe God is at work in you? Do you believe God is using everything that's happening in your life to do a work in you, to bring you to the next place you need to be? When you get ahold of that truth it fills you with joy, outrageous joy. God is at work in you, accept it. See everything working in your life to make you the best you, and you won't complain about it, you'll see joy in it. Father, help all of us know with confidence that that you began a good work in us when we become a Christian. You will continue it until the end of our days on Earth. Thank you. Fill us with joy, with this confidence that you're at work in our lives, and I pray that if there's anybody listening to this who never began a personal relationship with you, that they would begin one by putting their faith in your son Jesus so they could experience this joy as well. Thank you for it, in Jesus' name. Amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Jan 05 8:44 AM

Strengths and Weaknesses | Part 2 | Weaknesses

Jan 05 8:44 AM

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Today, I want to talk to you about weaknesses. Don't worry, I want to talk about weaknesses in a constructive way.

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

John 15:4-5

Welcome back for part 2 of our series about strengths, weaknesses, and limitations. God has given you a set of strengths, a set of weaknesses and a set of limitations in your life. The weaknesses and limitations may simply be the result of our inability to live perfectly, but either way He has given them to you or allowed them in your life for a reason. We are looking at what that reason is this week. We began by looking at strengths. Why does God give you strengths? He gives you strengths to cultivate your confidence. You can read yesterday's Life Lifter to learn more.

Today, I want to talk to you about weaknesses. Don't worry, I want to talk about weaknesses in a constructive way. God has given you weaknesses to develop your dependence. If God didn't give you any weaknesses, you wouldn't know that He can help you through them. You wouldn't depend on God like you do. By allowing us to have weaknesses, He calls us, or even forces us if need be, to depend on Him. Where do I get that from? I get it from the well-known passage, John 15:4-5. In it, Jesus is speaking and says, "Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself, but must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing."

What was He teaching? Just like a branch can do nothing unless it has a vine it attaches to, we can do nothing without God. God gives you weaknesses to develop your dependence on Him. And the greatest thing you can do in life is develop your dependence on God, because He is a dependable God. And He wants to be the one that you acknowledge when you're weak. What weaknesses do you have? Do you struggle with bad habits? Have a temper? Are you independent, you like to do things by yourself? Has it been a while since you've been in church or read the Bible? Do you have trouble sitting still, or do you have trouble getting going? Whatever your weaknesses are, depend on God. That's what He wants to get out of you. He wants to develop dependence in you so that you depend on Him in your weaknesses.

We all have weaknesses. Nobody reading this can say, "I don't have any weaknesses." If you say you don't have any weaknesses, you just told me you have one, and it's lying, because you just lied. But God wants to use that to develop your dependence. You know what, when you're a little child, you hang on to your mom and dad's hand. My grandson, Brandon, who's nine and a half now is kind of getting out of holding my hand. Every now and then he'll hold my hand if nobody's looking. but he doesn't want me to hold his hand in front of his friends. And that's natural and understandable. But when he was really young, and he really needed a parent, he wanted to hold my hand. When Brandon was younger, sometimes even now when he's around strange people, he'll kind of come up and snuggle next to me and, and kind of have that confidence being near me. He thinks, "I want to depend on my grandfather, my Nono, because these are all strange people and I feel weak." God wants the same thing from us. That's why He's called our Heavenly Father. So wherever you're weak, develop your dependence on God. It's his plan.

Let's pray. Father, we all have weaknesses. Some of them have probably come to the forefront of our attention during this Life Lifters. I pray, God, that when we encounter weaknesses in our life that we would develop dependence on You. Like Jesus said, that we would be the branches that know that we cannot live unless we are attached to the vine. I pray that we would depend on You, God, as if our life depends on it, because it does. Help us to grow through our weaknesses, and to limit them and minimize them. We'll always have them, but help us to have victory over them. We asked this in the strong name of Jesus Christ, amen.

By [Pastor Name/Author]

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