Life Lifters | Lakeshore Community Church

Nov 22 8:22 AM

TOP 10: What to Do When You're Weary (Originally Published 1-8-2021)

Nov 22 8:22 AM

Monday, November 22, 2021

Sometimes strengths, weaknesses and limitations just lead to weariness. Some people are so weary that a good night's sleep, a stiff cup of coffee, and a week's vacation can't solve it. You've experienced soul fatigue. What do you do when you're weary, or when you just feel so weak?

Monday, November 22, 2021

Isaiah 40:29-31

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!

Hi everybody, thanks for joining me for another day of Life Lifters. This week, we have been talking about strengths, weaknesses, and limitations. God has a purpose for the strengths, weaknesses, and limitations in your life. Today, I want to talk to you about what to do when you're weary. Sometimes strengths, weaknesses and limitations just lead to weariness. You're tired of having to exercise strength, you're tired of being weak, you're tired of having limitations, and you're just weary. Some people are so weary that a good night's sleep, a stiff cup of coffee, and a week's vacation can't solve it. You've experienced soul fatigue. It's not just physical. It's every part of you that is immaterial: it's emotional, mental, spiritual. What do you do when you're weary, or when you just feel so weak?

You wait on God. You turn to God. I want to look at a very classic passage in Isaiah 40:29-31. I think these verses speak mostly for themselves. I just wanted to encourage you, if you're weak and weary, take these words in. Isaiah says, "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings. like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." What's Isaiah the prophet saying from God? He's saying everybody is weak and weary. It's not just a physical vitality thing. That's what I said at the beginning. It's the immaterial side. He says that even youths grow tired and weary, even young men stumble and fall.

Isaiah tells us to hope in the Lord. Hope is an interesting word. Another translation says, "Those who wait on the Lord." When you're hoping on God, you're waiting on God. Waiting is not a passive activity. It's an active activity in the text. Those who wait actively through hope on God will renew their strength. They will get back the strength that they were lacking. When you do that, you'll be soaring on wings like eagles. You know, if you watch eagles soar, you'll notice they don't flap a lot. They know how to leverage the wind around them to just glide. It's a beautiful thing to watch an eagle glide. What's he saying? He's saying when you wait or hope on the Lord, he'll renew your strength. And you'll glide like an eagle, you'll fly above the problems of mediocrity, and it won't take that much work, because God is working through you.

Isaiah also says that you will run and not grow weary, walk and not be faint. Well, I don't know about you, but I run to the mailbox and I'm winded. Well, I'm not quite that bad. But I get on the treadmill for a half hour, and I'm tired. He's saying you will run and you won't grow weary when you wait and hope on the Lord. You will walk and not be faint. This has the idea of going for a long, long walk. A day's journey was 20 miles, meaning you can walk 20 miles in a day. That's a long walk. And so you can do that and you won't faint. Here's my point. When you're weary, wait or hope on the Lord. renew your strength in him. He will give you mental reinvigoration, spiritual vitality, emotional booster shots. He'll encourage you, but you have to wait on the Lord. To wait on the Lord means you're looking to him. You're hoping in him. you're basing everything that energizes you on him. Life will drain you faster than anything. God will replenish you. I often think of coming to church as like a rechargeable battery for people. There aren't as many of those today, but you plug them in and they charge up. Every Sunday we charge people up and, hopefully, get them through another week. I hope this passage will also do that for you.

Let's pray. Father, there are people listening to me who are weak and weary. I pray that they would find a renewed strength as you promised through your prophet, Isaiah, in this text. I pray that they will run and not grow weary, walk and not faint. That they'll soar through life like an eagle, effortless, gliding, riding the winds the way you created them. I pray that you strengthen them now. In Jesus' name, amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

May 12 8:37 AM

Time to Elevate

May 12 8:37 AM

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Sometimes, we have to elevate our lives above the level of mediocrity, elevate it above the level of problem solving, to a level where we soar above the problems, pains, persecutions, and pressures of life.

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Isaiah 40:29-31

Today, I want to talk to you about soaring above life's problems. Or, if I can put it another way, sometimes we just have to say, "It's time to elevate." For example, a team will play a tough opponent, and the coach will say all week, "We have to elevate our game this week if we're going to beat these guys. We have to elevate our game." Sometimes, we have to elevate our lives above the level of mediocrity, elevate it above the level of problem solving, to a level where we soar above the problems, pains, persecutions, and pressures of life.

That's what I want to talk to you about, today. I want to read a very famous passage in Isaiah 40:29-31. If you are familiar with the Bible you may have heard this, but I'm going to add some insight that I hope will help you appreciate it even more than you already do. The prophet Isaiah, speaking on behalf of the Lord, says this, "He [the Lord] gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Are you weary? God will give you strength. Are you weak? God will give you power. He says even youths grow tired and weary. In other words, people who are young can get burned out. Then he says that young men stumble and fall. Young men are the next stage above youths, and they stumble and fall. He's saying this problem is a problem for all of us. But look at the solution. Even though youths grow tired and weary, young men stumble and fall, those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. Let's stop right there. "Those who hope in the Lord." Another translation says, "Those who wait on the Lord." Another translation says, "Those who rely on the Lord." All those ideas are present there. Hope requires that we wait and rely on God. If you will hope, wait, and rely on God, he will renew your strength.

Then, Isaiah talks about eagles. He says, "They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, and they will walk and not be faint." It says they'll renew their strength and then soar like an eagle. Eagles are interesing. They have a long lifetime, and are very vigorous, strong, and vibrant. They are extremely long-living birds, and what's interesting is that even when eagles get older, their feathers will come out, and they'll be replaced by new feathers, even in their old age. The new feathers replicate the feathers they had when they were young. This goes along with the idea of renewing your strength, and has the idea that that your old feathers, which have served you so well all these years, get replaced by new, young feathers. How would you like to have a new, young you? A new, young lower back. A new, young left shoulder? I'd like to have one of them new, young lateral LAD arteries. I would get rid of these four stents. But anyway, God will renew your strength like he does for an eagle. Then, Isaiah says, "They will soar on wings like eagles." You know, eagles fly higher than virtually any other bird. They fly so high to avoid all their adversaries. Here's what I want to say to you: instead of being under your problems, why don't you fly over them? The Bible says that if you wait, hope, and rely upon the Lord in your difficulties and problems, you can elevate and soar above mediocrity. Maybe it's time for you to elevate today.

Let's pray. Father, help us to elevate above our problems. Help us not to sit, soak, and sour in them. Help us to do it by waiting on you for your perfect timing, hoping and expecting you'll do something great. Let us not rely upon ourselves. Do all this for anybody who is weary and tired, whether they're a youth, an older person, or a middle-aged person. Help anyone who is just stumbling, struggling, and weak. Give them the strength when we do what you ask us to do, in Jesus' name, amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Feb 10 8:01 AM

Hope for the Heart

Feb 10 8:01 AM

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

John 14

Thanks for joining me for Life Lifters. I'm here on stage after football Sunday, but I was on this very spot right here on Saturday morning, doing a funeral for a great member, a man named Roger. He became a Christian at 68 years of age which is pretty rare. He was a wonderful man and if you come to our church, you probably knew of Roger. He served on our security team and one of the most gracious human beings you've ever met. He passed away and I did his memorial service here on Saturday. It struck me that when I do a memorial service, and then an internment, which is the graveside ceremony, I always turn to a classic passage, and that's John 14:1-4 and I want to share that with you today.

This devotional for today is called Hope For The Heart. Our hearts are the place where hope resides, or where hope doesn't reside. And we need that for our heart. I don't know where you're at. But some of you may need an infusion of hope, a little hope encouragement blast, a little energy, a little love, a little affection for that hope. I want to share it with you today from John 14. The disciples needed comfort. Jesus predicted that he would die, he predicted that Peter would deny Him. The disciples were confused, they were a mess. They knew that Jesus would leave them. They didn't fully comprehend that he would leave them and come back one day.
John 14, gives them that comfort that even though Jesus would leave them, he'll come back. I believe the very comfort he gave the disciples 2000 years ago, is the same comfort he extends to us. Now, look at what it says, Jesus speaking to the disciple says in John 14:1, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me." Why? Because he is God. It continues, "In my father's house, are many rooms. If it were not, so I would have told you, I am going there to prepare a place for you? And ifI go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." Then jumping to John 14:6, it says "I am the way, I'm the truth, I am the life. And no one come comes to God the Father except through means of me".

Life can get you down. Life can zap your heart of hope, it can really really drain you. I want to encourage you - you need to fill your heart with hope through the Scriptures. But this promise says this, even when you're discouraged, you need to comfort, life has just drained you, never forget that Jesus is preparing a place for you. If you have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and you are a Christian, he's preparing a place for you. Notice the text didn't say he's just preparing a place. He said he's preparing a place for YOU. It makes me wonder if God will do something unique for each individual to make our part in the great house of God even more special? I think just being with Jesus is everything I need, and it's everything you need, but he's going to make it special by his mere presence.

The disciples were confused and he says, "I'm coming back for you". Here's the good news - Jesus is coming back for the church. We don't know when he's coming back for the church. If he doesn't come back in my lifetime or your lifetime, when we die in our faith in Jesus Christ, if we have it, we will be with him and we have a great place. And here's what I know, when the future is going to be tremendous and heaven I can endure the challenge of life on Earth. When I know heaven is great, I can understand and I can make it through Earth not being great because it fills me with hope. So I want to give you hope for the heart. This life isn't everything. God will help you get through this life, no doubt, but I hope that you will place your hope in the fact that in heaven, God is preparing a place for you.

Are you prepared for the perfect place that God has prepared for you? Think about it. Have you ever heard the saying, "so heavenly minded, you're no earthly good"? I think you're the most earthly good when you're the most heavenly minded because when you think about heaven you want as many people there and you start giving your life away. I'll tell you what, when you give your life away to other people, God blesses you back and he'll bless you back with hope.
So what kind of hope do you need? For what do you need it for? Jesus said, these words will comfort you and I pray that the hope of heaven will get you through the hurt of life on Earth.

Let me pray for you. Father, we all need an infusion of hope. We all get discouraged and I pray whatever it is that, even now, the thought of being with you in heaven will give people hope, a hope to cope. Thank you, Lord, that you'll come back for us, if it is our privilege to be here when you come back at the rapture, that next great event in the future. But regardless of how, when we die and stand before you as Christians, we will be in heaven. Thank you for this, in Jesus name. Amen. I pray that fills you with hope and I hope you have a fantastic day.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Jan 21 2:38 PM

Finding Hope in a Chaotic World | Part 4 | Seeking God's Truth

Jan 21 2:38 PM

Thursday, January 21, 2021

[Include first sentence or two from blog post here as a preview above the 'read more' button]

By Frank De Luccio

Jan 20 2:29 PM

Finding Hope in a Chaotic World | Part 3 | Not of this World

Jan 20 2:29 PM

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Welcome back to Life Lifters! We've been talking about some of the chaos and difficulties in our world and I just want to give us a little perspective today. So, I live in the town of...

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Philippians 3:20; John 14:1-6

Welcome back to Life Lifters! We've been talking about some of the chaos and difficulties in our world and I just want to give us a little perspective today. So, I live in the town of Greece, so I am a citizen of the town of Greece. Greece is in the county of Monroe, so you could say that I am a citizen of Monroe County. We could take that further and say Monroe County is one of many counties in New York State and, therefore, I am a citizen of New York State. Even further, New York is one of 50 states in the United States so, therefore, I am a citizen of the United States. But if I stopped there by saying I'm a citizen of the United States, I would really be selling myself short because there is an even grander vision than that; I could say that I am a citizen of Heaven. If you are a follower of Jesus, you can say the same thing! So, the encouragement I want to give you today is that we are not merely of this world, but we are in this world. The bigger picture is that our ultimate citizenship is in Heaven. The things that we do here on Earth should be the things that prepare us to be in our final home, which is in Heaven.

The apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 3:20, "our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies, so that they will be like his glorious body." You see, we are citizens of Heaven because we are Christians. As followers of Jesus, we've been adopted into the family of God, therefore, we are heirs and our citizenship is not merely here in Greece, or Monroe County, or New York or the United States; our citizenship is in Heaven.

Jesus encouraged us with His words in John 14: "Do not let your heart be troubled." Let's stop there. All the stuff that's going on in our world, "do not let your heart be troubled." This is not our final place. Yes, we must live here. Yes, we're here today. Let's make the most and the best of today, but Jesus is telling us "do not let your heart be troubled", and here's why. He goes on to say, "trust in God, trust also in me. In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so I would have told you, I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me. That you also may be where I am." Think about that. Jesus left Earth, He died on the cross for our sins, rose from the dead 3 days later, was on earth for a little while, and then he went back to the Father in Heaven to prepare a place for you!

I take great comfort in that. Jesus has been with the Father for about 2000 years. Can you imagine what kind of place He is preparing for you? The Bible gives us a glimpse into Heaven, but it is going to be so much more than words can describe. So when we think about what's going on in our world, I want you to remember you are not just merely a citizen here of this world. You are a citizen of Heaven.

There comes a time when God is going to come for you and bring you to Heaven where there's no more tears, no more crying, no more pain or sorrows or death. But it's a place that has been described as paradise, a place where we will be with the Lord forever, for eternity. I hope you find great comfort in that today. See you tomorrow.

By Frank De Luccio

Jan 19 2:11 PM

Finding Hope in a Chaotic World | Part 2 | Our Response to Sorrow

Jan 19 2:11 PM

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Lamentations 3:21-24; Jeremiah 17:7-8

Welcome back to Life Lifters! Yesterday we were talking about the chaos and the turmoil that's been happening in our country and around the world. So let me ask you a question... are you getting tired of this? Are you getting weary? Are you beginning to lose hope with the constant barrage of bad news that we face? Well, if the answer is yes, you are not alone. A lot of people are feeling the same way. Even I have gotten tired of this new way of living. But we have to carry on and we have to find hope.

In the Bible there is an Old Testament prophet named Jeremiah. His nickname was the 'weeping prophet' because Jeremiah was living in the city of Jerusalem in a time when God was about to do something to the nation of Israel because of their their poor behavior and sinful ways. God was about to have the nation of Babylon attack Jerusalem and take the people of Jerusalem into captivity and exile back in Babylon and destroy the city of Jerusalem. God was speaking to Jeremiah, telling him to have the people repent and turn their ways back to God. It was not a popular message. Jeremiah caught a lot of flack from people for this. He was afflicted, abused and persecuted.

In all of this, we see Jeremiah write a book called Lamentations. If you think about the word 'lament', it means sorrows. So this is a book that God gave us, called sorrows. A book of sorrows. God understands that we are going through a period of sorrows ourselves right now. In Lamentations 3:18, Jeremiah says this: "So I say, my splendor is gone, and all that I had hoped from the Lord, I remember my affliction, and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall, I will remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this, I call to mind, and therefore, I have hope. Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed. For his compassions never fail. They are new, every morning. Great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, the Lord is my portion. Therefore, I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to those who seek Him."

We see from Jeremiah, even through all his problems and afflictions, that he recognizes it's a bitter time and that he's wandered from God. He knows he should be close to God, but he's wandered from Him. When we wander from God, that's when we lose our perspective. That's when we begin to lose hope. Jeremiah tells us it's like bitterness. It's like gall, the bile that our liver produces—doesn't that just sound disgusting?

Maybe you're feeling the same way today. Jeremiah goes on to say that even though his soul is downcast and even though he's sorrowful, he calls to mind the Lord and the hope that he has in the Him. Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed. We are not going to be destroyed by this. God is going to see us through this and He's going to preserve us. His mercies are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness God! That's where we get the the great hymn from, "Great is Thy Faithfulness", right from this passage right here. I want to encourage you today to put your hope in God. Put your hope in Him and seek your hope through God alone.

As we wrap up here today, I want to flip back to a passage in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 17, where it says this: "but Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree that is planted by the waters, that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought, and never fails to bear fruit."

We are in a year of drought in many ways, so I want to encourage you to send out your roots deeper into God. Draw closer to God through all of this. Don't back off. Don't retreat. Instead, draw closer to God through all of this because he is the one that is going to provide the hope and refreshment, just like the tree gets its refreshment from the river. We may be in a year of drought like Jeremiah was, but I love that last part of the verse about the tree that puts its hope God. It will never fail to bear fruit—referring to the fruit that we spoke about yesterday from Galatians 5:22, the fruit of the Spirit.

So I want to encourage you today: seek God, put your hope in Him and He will be faithful. Go ahead and share this devotional with your family or friends if it was encouraging for you today. We'll see you tomorrow.

By Frank De Luccio

Jan 18 1:48 PM

Finding Hope in a Chaotic World | Part 1 | Our Response to Chaos

Jan 18 1:48 PM

Monday, January 18, 2021

Galatians 5:22

Welcome to another week of Life Lifters. We hope this series is encouraging for you and that it really gives your day a 'lift' and a great start to the morning.

This week I want to talk to you about some of the chaos and difficulties that we've been seeing in our nation for almost a year now—the coronavirus, the shutdowns, people getting sick and losing their lives, quarantining over the summer. We really saw how divided our nation is over racial and political issues, too. We went through a difficult election cycle this year and it's still continuing with the most recent riots down in Washington, D.C.

So while there's a lot of chaos and strife going on in our nation, the truth is that so many of these things are out of our control. We can't control what happens, but there is one thing that we can control amidst the chaos, and that is how we respond to it. I want to share with you a passage that the apostle Paul wrote in the book of Galatians. He talks about something called 'the fruit of the Spirit'. If you look at Galatians 5 as a whole, the apostle Paul is comparing and contrasting a life that is living in a way that follows the Holy Spirit and one that is living after the sinful nature. When he talks about the life that lives after the Spirit, he talks about something called the fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians 5:22 it says, "but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control". These are not nine different pieces of fruit—all of these characteristics make up the fruit of the Spirit. It's one fruit, and this is the fruit that should be present in our lives when we call ourselves Christians.

If you think about how a tree works or how a plant works to produce fruit, there's typically a vine—and Jesus, in fact calls himself the vine—and then there's a branch that comes off of the vine. Jesus says that we are the branches and in order for the branches to produce fruit, they have to remain connected to the vine. That's living a life that follows after the Spirit. So Paul is telling us that when we are connected into that vine, the fruit that we're going to produce has the characteristics of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

So let me ask you, are you seeing these things play out in your life? As you think about the chaos that's going on, are we acting in love with the people around us? People who may have different opinions than us? Is there joy in our lives, or are we miserable? Is there peace in our lives, or is it full of strife and stress? Are we patient with people, or do we just cut them off and start talking on top of them? Are we being kind? That's a tough one, especially for the people that might live in your own household... oftentimes, we're not really kind to those people.

So are we being kind? Are we being faithful to our Lord? Are we being faithful to our commitments to people? Are we acting in ways that are good? Are we exhibiting self-control in our lives? These are the things that Paul is is talking about. These are the things that Paul is saying, as Christians, we should be seeing in our lives. So I want to encourage you today to examine yourself. Look at Galatians 5:22. Are you seeing these pieces of the fruit of the Spirit play out in your life and, if you're not, let me challenge you. You need to go back to the vine and you need to go back to Jesus. Are you spending time in His Word? Are you praying? Are you worshiping? Are you taking the time to listen for the voice of God in your life to lead you and guide you?So take some time today and think about that. Pray and ask God, "where do I need to go deeper so that I can see more of this fruit in my life?"

By Frank De Luccio

Jan 08 8:07 AM

Strengths and Weaknesses | Part 5 | What to Do When You're Weary

Jan 08 8:07 AM

Friday, January 8, 2021

Isaiah 40:29-31

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

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