Life Lifters | Lakeshore Community Church

Dec 29 8:20 AM

Best of 2021: Pleasing God Over Others (Released 04-04-2021)

Dec 29 8:20 AM

Wednesday, January 29, 2021

There is sometimes a perceived tension that you sometimes have to choose between whether you love God or love people, even if really loving God means always loving people, because you're doing the right thing. It's not easy is it?

Wednesday, January 29, 2021

Originally Published April 14, 2021

1 Thessalonians 2:3-6

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!

I want to talk to you today about our relationship to God and our relationship to people. Jesus said life is all about our relationship to God, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength," and it's all about our relationship to people, "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:30-31). There is sometimes a perceived tension that you sometimes have to choose between whether you love God or love people, even if really loving God means always loving people, because you're doing the right thing. It's not easy is it?

I've heard people say, "I don't care what people think about me, I don't care." Here's the truth, we all care about what people think. Some people care way too much. Others, I haven't met too many, but some people care way too little. The truth is, we all care about what people think. To deny it is to lie to yourself. But at some point, we have to decide who matters more, God or people. I've heard people say this, "Vince, I want to get baptized, but I don't think I'm going to do it because I'm worried about what my family would think." And I will tell them, "Okay, are you worried about what God thinks?" They say, "You know, I would do that, but I don't know what people would think. They'd think I'm a Christian freak." And I would say, "Well, what does God think?" And here's the thing, if you're living for God, no matter what happens they're going to think you're a freak. So you might as well confirm it.

I get that because it's 1 Thessalonians 2:3-6. Paul was explaining his ministry to the Thessalonians. The Thessalonians had been influenced by his ministry, and many of them became Christians. He wanted to come back, but he wasn't able to. He writes First Thessalonians because they were panicked, they thought the rapture had occurred and that the Lord had already taken the church out, and they were left behind because they weren't true believers. They were young, insecure, and unsure in their faith, and Paul explains why he couldn't be there. He then defended his ministry against others who said. People were saying, "Well, Paul's not a real apostle, he's fake. He's this and that." Paul was constantly attacked, and if you're in ministry long enough, there will always be people that will attack you. I'm not saying they're not sometimes right about me, or anybody else. I'm just saying that it's constant and sometimes very unfair. The apostle Paul used that opportunity to say look, I love you. But I love God even more. Look at what he says in 1 Thessalonians 2:3-6, "For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel.We are not trying to please men, but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed - God is our witness. We are not looking for praise from men, not from you, or anyone else."

He's saying, look, we weren't trying to trick you when we presented the gospel at some pseudo religious magic show. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, which is what accompanies an apostle. And, at the end of the day, God's going to test our hearts. He says, you know, we never used flattery, which is people pleasing. Nor did we put on a mask to cover up. We know there wasn't the COVID virus back then. To put on a mask to cover up greed was just an expression that means, "we're just nice to you to get your money." He goes on to say, we are not looking for praise from men. Not from you, or anyone else. Now that's interesting. He loved them. He cared for them. He wanted what's best for them, but he wasn't looking for praise from them. Seems so contrary to life. All I want to tell you is this, we love people. We want to please people. But we don't want to be people-pleasers. We want to be God-pleasers. Here's what I know, if you please God, he'll take care of everything else. Proverbs 16:7 says, "When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." So please God, He will take care of your relationship with other people. Don't be a people-pleaser. Please people at the appropriate level, but only under the overarching principle of pleasing God first.

Father, help us to be God-pleasers first, and people-pleasers second. Let us never forget that order. Let us take our lumps when we have to, but also remember that we live for an audience of one. For whoever needs to hear this today, maybe something's going on in their life and they need this reminder, speak to them. Speak to all of us and help us live this way every day, in Jesus' name. Amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Dec 22 8:38 AM

Best of 2021: What We Need is Love (Released 02-12-2021)

Dec 22 8:38 AM

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Some people share their views peacefully and quietly. Some people share them violently in an anarchist way. Regardless, if we don't share our message with love we never can win anybody to our side.

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Originally Published February 12, 2021

Romans 13:8, 10

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!

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We're going to be celebrating Valentine's Day soon, it's the day of love. I thought about what I could say about love? I think about our world and I think about what the Bible has to say and what what the world needs now, what we need right now, is love. I think of that song, "what the world needs now is love, sweet love". Aren't you glad you're reading this and not listening to me sing that? Let's just say I will not quit my day job. I don't even know who sang that song, but I know that they had the right answer.

Our world has a lot of people that have a lot of views. That's to be expected when you have 7 billion people on the planet. The problem is how people share these views. Some people share them peacefully and quietly. Some people share them violently in an anarchist way. Regardless, if we don't share our message with love we never can win anybody to our side. And what the world needs is love, sweet love. And I get that from a passage in Romans chapter 13, where it talks about love as we get closer and closer to the very end of time as we know it and the Lord returns. Romans 13:8,10 says, "let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law". So the first thing it says is that the only thing we should ever owe people is love. You always owe people love. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you forfeit your right to hate anybody because God doesn't hate anybody. He hates sin, but he doesn't hate people. So that's the first thing, we need to be a source of love.

Then I think about verse 10, where it says, "love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore Love is the fulfillment of the law". We see a lot of people saying "you need to change," but they're saying it with a bat, or catching things on fire, or punching, stabbing, shooting, and killing people. There's a lot of violence in our world and there's a lack of love. In fact, Jesus said "the love of many will grow cold" in the end times, and I think we're getting very close to there, if we're not they're already.

But this is your chance to shine, to show love when there's so much hate. I know this --I'm responsible for my behavior. I'm not responsible for how people respond to my queries. So be a person who extends love. I know Valentine's Day is for your sweetie, your boyfriend or girlfriend, your husband or wife if you have one. But, let's extend love and show love to people. We owe that to them. And if we want to represent Jesus Christ well, if we want to be heard, if we want to make the world a better place, we have to communicate the message of love. And most importantly, perhaps, if we want to model Jesus Christ so that people will see Him in us, let's show love.

So when you see people remember you owe them love and if you really love you will show no harm. Love is the fulfillment of the law. So I hope this week that you'll be a loving person that you'll show love everywhere you possibly can. I think your life will be better for it and maybe the world's a little better for it.

Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you so much for your love. Your love is what fuels our love. We live in a world of hatred, and enmity, and strife and bitterness, and cantankerous and fighting. I pray that we'll be people of love that we will love the people that we engage with even if we disagree. I pray that we'll be able to show your love through it and that people will see you in us. I thank you for this, in Jesus name. Amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Oct 20 8:19 AM

The Lost Art of Loving

Oct 20 8:19 AM

Wednesday, October 19, 2021

Galatians 5:22

Today, I want to talk to you about the lost art of loving. Unfortunately, more and more people are losing an ability to love, they're losing the desire to love, and they're losing the willingness to love. Jesus even said, as we draw closer to the end the love of many will grow cold. Interesting, isn't it? Well, today, I want to dig into, and kind of build off what I wrote about last time,which was about living with an attitude. The attitude God wants us to live with is the fruit of the Spirit. So each time I'm doing this, we're going to talk about one of those fruit. Not one of those fruits, but fruit, because it is the fruit of the Spirit. Today, I want to talk to you about the first fruit of the Spirit. It comes from Galatians 5:22, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love..."

What is love? There are so many misconceptions about love. Some people think love is a feeling, that it's nothing more than feelings. That's not true. Love does involve feelings, but love is not primarily a feeling. Another is that love is a falling. People say, "I've fallen in love with somebody," you know? It's like, "Help me, I've fallen and I can't get up!" I mean, that's about the equivalent of that definition of love. It's not really love, falling in love, because if you can fall in love then you can fall out of love. Then, it's out of your control. So, love isn't a falling either. Here's the third: love is not a fantasy. Love is not a fantasy. Sometimes on my day off, we'll watch the 12 o'clock news at noonday. They still have soap operas (I think they should be called dope opera because really, I think they're dopey). In these soap operas, everybody's having an affair with this one, everyone's cheating this one in business, it's just crazy. That perpetuates this whole idea that love is a fantasy. In love, you just get swept away, and all these crazy things. So, love is not a feeling, it's not a falling, and it's not a fantasy.

The proper concept of love, the fruit of the Spirit type love, has three parts. First is that love is a choice. Colossians 3:14 says, "Put on love." In other words, make the choice to operate with an attitude of love. Second, love is also a matter of conduct. Love is an action, it's not a feeling. We choose to love. 1 John 3:17-18 says, "If anyone has material possession and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."Love is an action. And then third, love is a matter of commitment. If you read the great love chapter, First Corinthians 13:4-8, you can look at the 15 traits of love there. You see that love is a commitment. So what do I want to say to you? There's a lost art today. It's called The Lost Art of Loving. We get a chance to squash the false views of love - feeling, falling, and fantasy - and embrace true love to show Jesus' love in a dark world. We can show love by being kind to somebody who maybe doesn't look like they're having a good day at the grocery store. Or, by just helping somebody financially, or just having a great conversation with your next door neighbor, or just being a great coworker. Whatever it is, you can show love.

I had a great conversation with one of our members. He was talking to me about a dilemma he was facing at work. He might even lose his job over the dilemma. It was amazing, when we are as we were talking the individual kept saying, "Well, with every decision I make, I want to be a great witness for Christ, whether I'm working there or not." I was so impressed by that. What was his main concern? It was showing the love of Jesus to other people. I hope that will be your concern. Here's what I know: the darker the darkness gets, the brighter the light shines. In other words, when there's less and less love, then the more people see love, the more it stands out and differentiates from everything else. So, let's be the kind of people who are loving. That's the first fruit of the Spirit. The first fruit of the Spirit is love. By the way, the more you're loving, the more you're living in the Holy Spirit, since it's one of the fruit of the Spirit. The less you're loving the more you're living, as we talked about last time, in the old person. The old person is bad. The Holy Spirit is good. Choose the Holy Spirit. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you'll help all of us improve our ability and our expressions of love. It's a decision, it's an action, it's a calling, it's a commitment. Help us to do that in Jesus' name. Amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Oct 18 8:04 AM

Living With An Attitude

Oct 18 8:04 AM

Monday, October 18, 2021

I want to talk to you about living with an attitude.... But I want to talk to you about living with a biblical attitude.

Monday, October 18, 2021

Galatians, 5:16-17, 22-23

I want to talk to you about living with an attitude. Whenever I say, "Boy, that person has an attitude," it almost always has a negative connotation. "Boy, he's got a bad attitude. He's got a down attitude. He's got a sour attitude. He's got an uncharitable, unloving attitude." But I want to talk to you about living with a biblical attitude. So, maybe we should call it living with a biblical attitude. I'm going to give you kind of an overview, and over the next nine Life Lifters, I'm doing my flavors, I'm going to talk about nine attitudes to live with.

I want to start by reading Galatians 5:16-17 to kind of paint the picture about the importance of living with an attitude, or a biblical attitude. Paul says, "What I say is this, let the Holy Spirit direct your lives and do not satisfy the desires of the human nature. For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants. And what the Spirit wants is opposed to what the human nature wants. The two are enemies." So see, Paul is setting up a contrast: live in the desires of the Holy Spirit, don't live in desires of your sinful nature. If you are a Christian, the sinful nature is the person you were before you came a Christian. Every day of life, your attitude is your choice. And every day of life, whether you're aware of it or not, whether you think of it in this context or not, here's the truth: You have a choice. You can live by the attitude of the Holy Spirit, or live by the attitude of your old nature. Some days we do a lot more of one than the other. Hopefully our goal is to live 100% with an attitude of the Spirit, and 0% with the attitude of our old nature. Attitude is important because attitude will help us choose - are we going to live for the Holy Spirit or for our old nature?

How do we live for the Holy Spirit? Watch this, you live for the Holy Spirit by living the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 talk about the fruit of the Spirit. It says, "When the Holy Spirit controls our lives," in other words, when we choose the Holy Spirit's attitude over our human nature attitude, "he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control." Then, he later says, "against such there is no law." Let me just briefly help you understand how to live in the Spirit, how to live by the fruit of the Spirit, because the fruit of the Spirit are not the same as the gifts of the Spirit. The gifts of the Spirit are the spiritual gifts we get when we believe. The fruit of the Spirit are not the gifts of the Spirit. Second, the fruit of the Spirit are not the gift of the Spirit. The gift of the Spirit is that the moment you believe you are given the gift of the Holy Spirit to help you choose the attitude to live for Him, not for our old self. These attitudes come from dependence on God. How do you live these nine fruit of the Spirit that we're going to be talking about? It's real simple. You have to depend on God, depend on the Holy Spirit. The secret to living the fruit of the Spirit, the secret to living the Christian life, the secret to living a life that chooses the Holy Spirit over your old nature and your old, pre-Christian, sinful lifestyle is this. Stop trying and start yielding. Stop trying to be better, and start yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the person of the Trinity who is most talked about in the New Testament as helping us change and live the Christian life.

Do you want to live with an attitude? You want to stop living for the old you and start living for the Holy Spirit, the new you? You want to live with an attitude that surrenders to God and lets him work through these nine fruit of the spirit? Let me just pray with you, Father, help all of us listening live by your spirit and not by our old ways. Let us embrace what you have to say to us in the fruit of the Spirit and embrace all nine fruit. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

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

Jul 05 8:20 AM

He knows Everything You Do

Jul 05 8:20 AM

Monday, July 5, 2021

Think about that, for a moment: The Creator of the universe, the Giver of all life has a desire to know you firsthand. How can he possibly do this?

Monday, July 5, 2021

Psalm 139:1-6

This week, I want to talk to you about Psalm 139, one of my favorite Psalms. It was written by King David, and today we're going to take a look at the first six verses of Psalm 139. It says, "You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain."

Let's break it down one or two verses at a time. Starting in verse one, "You have searched me, Lord, and you know me." There's something comfortable right there. In that very first verse when David talks about being known by God, that's comforting, because it's comforting to be known by someone. To be known by people who know you and love you. And David says that the Lord has searched him and knows him. Think about that, for a moment: The Creator of the universe, the Giver of all life has a desire to know you firsthand. How can he possibly do this? How does God know you inside and out? It's because God is omniscient. That's a big word that basically means he is all-knowing. God is omniscient. He knows everything about you and me. He knows everything about everything. The psalmist knew this about God.

And he continues in verses two and three, when he writes, "You know when I sit, and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out, and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways." See, God knows when you do things, he knows not only what you do, he knows when you do them, and he knows your thoughts. He knows where you are going, where you're coming from. You are never out of God's sight. You can try all you want, but you will never be able to be out of God's sight, because his loving eye is always on you, like a parent watching their child. I remember when I was a young dad, and I would take my kids to the playground when they were younger. They would try and hide behind the slide or one of the items on the playground, and then they would peek around the corner to see if I was still watching them. And that's how it is with God. We could try all we want to escape from God, but his eye is always on us, but not in a weird Big Brother kind of way, but in a loving way, in a caring way, because he desires to know us.

David continues. In verse four, he says, "Before a word is on my tongue, Lord, you know it completely." God knows what we're going to say. And he knows the thoughts that go into what we're about to say. He knows it completely and perfectly. He knows our motives. He knows the thoughts behind the words that we're about to speak. Verse five, "You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me." He goes ahead of you, looking out for you, looking out for pitfalls. He's behind you, guarding you, watching you. His loving hand is upon you. When he uses that word hem, think about the hem in your pants. It's the idea that God is both in front of you and behind you, hemming you in, covering you on both sides, from front and back at all times.

Verse six, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain." Not only could you never fully comprehend such knowledge that God has, but it's too profound for us to handle. But here's the thing. It's true, God is madly in love with you. He wants to be a part of your life, every moment of your life every day, and not just in the good times, not just in the bad times. He wants to be in your life during the ugly and during the triumphant times. Why? Because he loves you.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for this Psalm that David wrote for us to help us to understand how you know everything about us, and you desire to know everything about us because you love us deeply and profoundly. We thank you for that encouraging thought and the fact that you're always with us, going before us and behind us, knowing everything about us. May we take comfort in that today, knowing that we are so deeply loved. Thank you, Father. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, I hope you guys found encouragement in this today. Don't forget: don't just have a great day, but go and make a great day.

By Pastor Frank De Luccio

Jun 11 8:14 AM

Our Deepest Relational Need

Jun 11 8:14 AM

Friday, June 11, 2021

You have to realize that relationships have limits. You say, "But Vince, if relationships have limits and I have love-needs, and they can't meet my love needs, then where do I turn?"

Friday, June 11, 2021

Proverbs 20:6, Proverbs 18:24

Today, I want to talk to you about this truth: all human relationships have limits. I think you know that, but I think we sometimes forget it in the heat of relationships. Sometimes we put too much on people. We want people to meet needs they can't meet. We want people to love us in ways they can't love us. We want people to be something for us that they can't be, and the problem is not them. The problem is in our expectations. Relationships are important, you have to have relationships. The worst thing you can do to a human being is to put them in solitary confinement in prison. But you have to realize that relationships have limits. You say, "But Vince, if relationships have limits and I have love-needs, and they can't meet my love needs, then where do I turn?" You turn to the lover of your soul, to God, to Jesus Christ.

I get that from a couple passages in Scripture from the book of Proverbs, that great relational handbook. Proverbs 20:6 says this, "Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is really faithful?" The proverbs writer is saying what we have said before, which is that you have very few close friends. But this passage is also implying that there are limits to what people can do to meet your needs. Then, Proverbs 18:24 says this, "A man of many companions may come to ruin." Remember, we said companion are close friends. You can't have too many close friends.People will say that you can't have enough good friends, and I understand that, but you can't have too many people that are close friends because it's just physically impossible. And the text even says that if you do that, you'll just come to ruin because you're getting pulled in too many different directions.

The rest of that verse says this, "But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Nobody knows for sure. But this seems to be proverbs doesn't necessarily do this a lot. But it seems to be a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our brother. He's our father, he's the Son of God, he is our Savior, but He is also our brother in a certain sense. He is the lover of our soul, and he will love you in a way that no human being can. Are you making sure that your most important relationship needs are being met by Jesus Christ and not by human beings? Because humans can't do it. And they'll let you down and they'll hurt you not because they're intentionally doing it, although sometimes they do, but because they can't. Only Jesus Christ can. Are you letting Jesus Christ love you? You know, to become a Christian is the way you start letting him love you. And if you are not yet a Christian, you can't experience the love of God. When you say, "Jesus Christ, you are God. Jesus, I am a sinner, I sin, I mess up, I make so many bad decisions that hurt you, others myself, my family," and when you believe he died on the cross in your stead, in your place for your sin, and you receive him into your life by faith alone you become a Christian. Then you have his love, then you have the love of God. And you will have your deepest love needs met through Jesus Christ. You need your human love needs met, but there's a limit to that. Jesus Christ is infinite. And he'll meet your deepest needs in ways you never dreamed possible, because he's the lover of your soul.

Father, I pray that anybody who has over-relied on a relationship to meet their deepest needs, I pray that they would desist from that and turn to you. And if they haven't turned to you for the first time, I pray they would do that now. Just communicate what we just said and how you're our only hope. For those of us who already have, help us to stop over relying on relationships to meet our deepest needs and to turn to you. God, just meet our deepest love need. We pray this in your son's name. Amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Jun 09 7:47 AM

Relational Distance

Jun 09 7:47 AM

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Today, I want to talk to you about something that might throw you through a little bit of a loop, but it's really important. It's the concept of relational distance.

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Acts 15:36-40

Today, I want to talk to you about something that might throw you through a little bit of a loop, but it's really important. It's the concept of relational distance. Here's where I'm coming from. First of all, the Bible says that if you are a Christian you must love everybody, you don't get a choice. God loved you unconditionally. We love as he first loved us. If he loved us unconditionally, we have to love people unconditionally. You don't get a choice in this. Unless you want to be disobedient to God, you have to love all people, but not all people are truly lovable. So what's the rub? You have to love all people but not all people are lovable. What's the rub? The rub is this. There are some people you must learn to love from a distance.

I want to talk to you about a passage in the book of Acts. I found it very fascinating. It's the account of the Apostle Paul and Barnabas. They're really good friends and they're getting ready to do a missionary journey. In Acts 15, they have a Christian fight. I'd like to see that on pay per view. Let's get ready to rumble! Paul versus Barnabas the Missionary! Anyway, enough of that. So the Apostle Paul and Barnabas are getting ready to go on a missionary journey, they have a Christian fight, and we are witness to it in Acts 15:36-40. It says, 'Sometime later, Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers and all the towns where we preach the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work.'

So, in other words, Barnabas said, "Come on, let's take John Mark." John is also known as John Mark, he wrote the Gospel of Mark. Paul said, "Nah, I tried that already. He deserted us." There are two things happening that maybe you wouldn't read or know from the text. First, they have different personalities. Paul was more of a task achievement guy. He loved people, but he had to get the job done, the mission that God gave him - see Acts 20:24 where he says, "Nothing else, but the mission God gave me." Now Barnabas' name literally means Son of Encouragement. He was a little bit more on the people side. So he asks Paul to give John Mark a second chance, but Paul said, "I gave him a first chance, it didn't work." That's the first thing.

Here's the second thing, John Mark was Barnabas' cousin. So he knew him a little bit better, and there was maybe a little familial pull there. But listen to this, starting in verse 39, "They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord." They didn't even do the missionary journey together. You know, it's interesting, the Bible never says who's right or who's wrong. The Bible never even says if they totally patched things up, although there are some suggestions that they at least were friends. But here's what probably happened, at least, as a result of that occurrence: They were friends from a distance.

Sometimes, you're going to have to learn to be a friend from a distance, to love from a distance. There are some people I really don't want to engage with. They're toxic, they're dark, they're evil, but the God of heaven and earth says I'm called to love them. So, I have to love them from a distance. Is there anybody in your world that you have to love from a distance? Love from a distance. Give that some thought, because you are called to love everybody, and the two errors are either that you think to love means to pretend nothing happened. Wrong. The other error is to believe that love means you're not going to engage them even if they didn't hurt you, and you never can do anything. Wrong. Love from a distance is the answer.

Let's pray. Father, we all have people that drive us nuts, but those are the people who you have called us to love. Help us to learn how to love them. If needed, help us to love them from a distance. I asked this in the strong name of the lover of our soul, Jesus Christ. Amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

May 21 8:02 AM

A Reminder of God's Greatness

May 21 8:02 AM

Friday, May 21, 2021

It's important that you remind yourself of appointments, dates, holidays, etc. But even more importantly, you need to find a plan to remind yourself of the greatness of God.

Friday, May 21, 2021

Psalm 63:2-3

How do you remind yourself of important information? People do lots of different things. I have different reminders all the time. Sometimes, I'll have a reminder on my phone, and my administrative assistant sets reminders to pop up on my phone calendar. Sometimes, when I get in the office, events like somebody's birthday or a holiday pop up on my computer screen. I'm kind of old fashioned, I have a day timer with paper pages, and I write things in there as a reminder. Sometimes, I have little scraps of paper where I write notes. We have all different ways to try to remind ourselves, and here's what I want to tell you: It's important that you remind yourself of appointments, dates, holidays, etc. But even more importantly, you need to find a plan to remind yourself of the greatness of God.

So I want to talk to you about a brief reminder of God's greatness from Psalm 63:2-3, Listen to it, take it in, and think about how great God is. The Psalmist says, "I have seen you, God, in the sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better to me than life itself, how I praise you." He talks about God's power, glory, and love. Think about the power of God - he's omnipotent. Think about the glory of God and the unfailing love of God. God is great. He loves us when we don't deserve it. He glorifies himself through us, and we get some of the credit sometimes. He's all powerful. He's over your life, over this world, and over everything that happens, even if it doesn't make sense. For that, we need to be reminded of God's greatness. Maybe you need to put that verse on your phone every day when you wake up. God is great. Maybe you need to write yourself a note and put it on your mirror for when you shave, or put on makeup, or whatever you do in the mirror. You need to remind yourself of God's greatness.

When you do look at what the psalmist says, when you remind yourself of God's greatness, he says, "Your unfailing love is better to me than life itself." In other words, the Psalmist says he would rather have God's love than be alive. In fact, God's love is what gives us life. Are you in love with God? Have you remembered his greatness? Have you forgotten? Have you let the distractions of this world pull you away? I think of the great hymn, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full into his wonderful face. And the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace." I would even add greatness there.

Maybe you need to have a little heart-to-heart with God, spend a little time with God. A little reflection about God's greatness. Because I know this, when you acknowledge God's greatness, God will bring greatness into your life. Think about how good he's been to you. Think about all the things he's done for you. If you're a Christian and if he did nothing more than forgive your sins, put you in right relationship with Him, and promise that you don't need to do anything more, that would be enough. And yet, he does so much more. So, let's thank God for his greatness.

Father, you are so great. Your glory, your power, and your love are better than life itself. Remind us today, tomorrow, and every day that you're great. Whatever greatness we think you are, you're greater than that. Then, when we think you're greater than that, you're still greater than that. Every time we grasp a little more of your greatness, we realize there's infinitely more greatness to grasp. Help us to make you great in our lives as well. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

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