Life Lifters | Lakeshore Community Church

Oct 27 8:29 AM

Patience...Now!

Oct 27 8:29 AM

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

A lot of people confuse patience. They think patience is just waiting. There's a huge difference between patience and waiting.

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Galatians 5:22d

We're talking about living with an attitude. How to live in the Holy Spirit, the new you if you're a Christian, versus the old person, who you were before you became a Christian. By time you when you become a Christian, from that moment on for the rest of your life, life is a nonstop battle. Who are you going to live for? How do you know when you're living for the Holy Spirit, and not for yourself? Or how do you know when you're living for yourself, not for the Holy Spirit? It's real simple: the fruit of the Spirit. The more you see these nine fruit, not fruits, but fruit of the Spirit, the more you're living for the Holy Spirit. The less you're living these nine fruit of the Holy Spirit, the more, you're living your old self.

So far, we've looked at the first three fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, and peace. Today, we're going to talk about patience. This comes from Galatians 5:22d, "But the fruit of the Spirit is... patience." Patience is the word sometimes translated as long-suffering, which is literally the word in Greek. What is patience? A lot of people confuse patience. They think patience is just waiting. There's a huge difference between patience and waiting. Here's the definition I came up with for patience. Patience is the attitude that waits on God's timing for a result, by working on whatever can be done in the meantime. So, we wait on God, but we work on what we can work on. That's the difference between how many people understand patience and what the Bible says about patience. The problem with patience is that we want patience now. Think about how contradictory that is, "Give me patience now!" I want to be patient, but I'm being impatient. Does it makes sense?

Let me explain the difference between just waiting and patience. Just waiting is sitting around for results. Patience is doing all we can regardless. Just waiting is focusing on the problem. Patience is focusing on God's process. Just waiting has a critical attitude. Patience has a controlled attitude. When we're just waiting we complain. When being patient, we contemplate God. Just waiting, the result is "I got what I wanted." Patience, the result is "I got what I needed." Big difference between patience and waiting. The Bible teaches us to be patient on God, that a day with the Lord is like 1000 years and 1000 years like a day. Can you be patient and wait for God? You know, God's timing is perfect. God sets his watch differently than we set our watch. We want our problems done by noon. God wants our problems done when he has accomplished what he needs to accomplish in us. It's hard to be patient. It's hard. I'm convinced one of the most bold prayers you could ever pray is, "God give me more patience," because you know what, he'll probably answer that one real quick. He'll put you in a traffic jam, or he'll give you some people that are really hard to deal with, and you have to have patience. Patience is a virtue. That Greek word that is sometimes translated patience, mackothymia, means long suffering. It can sometimes be hard, and it can sometimes be a long, suffering process. But patience has a great reward. How patient are you these days? Are you patient with your spouse, if you're married? Are you patient with your kids, if you have kids? Patient with that cranky aunt or uncle that you're going to see at Thanksgiving and Christmas? Patient with that kind of jerky guy at work? Patient with people who don't share your faith? Patient when you're going through a trial? Patient when finances aren't arriving when you hope?

James says a farmer has to be patient for the crops, but man when that time comes, the crops come in abundance. That's how it is with God. God says, "You have to sow your patience and you'll reap righteousness." That's living with an attitude. The more patient you can be, the more you'll accomplish great things. "Better a patient man than a warrior who conquers cities." That's what Proverbs says. Do you believe that? I do. Let's pray. Father, all of us struggle with patience. We live in a country in a world that says, "Now, now, now! More, more, more!" Sometimes you say, "Not now. Not more. Less." Teach us to be patient, not to wait around, but to wait on you. We ask this through the Holy Spirit who gives us this ability to be patient. 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

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

Apr 09 8:50 AM

Patient Suffering

Apr 09 8:50 AM

Friday, April 9, 2021

We all suffer. We've talked a lot about suffering and about remedies. Today, I just want to give you a one word reminder.

Friday, April 9, 2021

James 5:7-8

This has been a challenging year for all of us. And life is challenging. One person said, "Life is hard, then you die." Whereas I think that's true, it's incomplete. Life is hard, then you die, but then if you're a Christian life is easy, because we're with God in heaven. But life is hard, no matter how you put it, no matter what your reason is. So as a result, because life is hard, sometimes it gets so hard that we suffer. And we all know that we suffer. You suffer, maybe health things, maybe relational things. Maybe you suffer emotionally, spiritually, relationally, verbally with people coming against you. Whatever it is, we all suffer. We've talked a lot about suffering and about remedies. Today, I just want to give you a one-word reminder. I don't know that it's a remedy in the sense that it will take away your suffering, but it is one of the most powerful words you need to remember when you suffer. And it's this: patience. When you suffer, you need to be patient.

I get that from James 5:7-8. I think James tells us to be patient because when we suffer, naturally speaking, the first thing we want is the suffering to be over. But sometimes God allows us to suffer more. This calls for us to be patient so God can accomplish his work. Look at what James says, "Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yeild its valuable crop, and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near." Now that's quite interesting. First, he says, Be patient for Lord's coming is near, and then he ends with the same thing. Then, he has kind of an inclusio in the middle of that bracketing idea, which is repeated at the beginning and end. He says this farmer has to wait. You know a farmer can't put a seed in the ground and go, "C'mon seed, let's go! I got till 5pm." You know, it just doesn't work that way. He has to be patient, has to wait for the process, has to wait for the seed. Have you ever seen pictures of a seed in germination? Essentially, the shoot sprouts and the growth spins around, and it shoots up and it gets stronger and stronger. There's a process. There's a season, and God has a season for your suffering. Because God has a season for your sufferings and it's not just haphazard, remember patience.

The text also says "Be patient and stand firm." Can you be patient? What's patience? Patience is not doing nothing. That's a myth. Patience is waiting on God. That's an active behavior, not a passive one. Can you be patient? The key to being patient is to remember that the Lord's coming is near. What's he saying? Even if the Lord doesn't come back in our lifetime, and nobody knows when he will, He will come back. If he doesn't come back in our lifetime, we will come to be with him, and it will be all over. At the end of the day, patience will seem like a small cost for the character development that God is using our suffering for. Can you be patient? I hope you'll be patient in your times of suffering, but not by twiddling your thumbs. That's not biblical patience. Biblical patience is waiting on God's timing. Can you do that? If you do, suffering will make more sense, and you'll be able to get through it, even if patience is hard, because it is a virtue.

Let's pray. Father, all of us struggle with suffering. All of us struggle with the pain and anguish that come with it. We don't like it. We fight it, we want out of it, we want it to be over soon. And that's okay. Except, that's part of why you will allow it longer - to build in us a patient perseverance and endurance. Help us to be patient by remembering that your coming is near, and our return to you is near. Help us to remember that is life isn't everything. So, whoever is suffering right now, give them a spirit of patience to wait on you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Mar 12 8:11 AM

Patience with God

Mar 12 8:11 AM

Friday, March 12, 2021

Today I want to talk to you about something that I know we all struggle with, and it's about being patient, specifically with God. We're going to look at Psalm 13 so we can gain a couple of 'truth nuggets' from this.

Friday, March 12, 2021

Pslam 13:1-3

"How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me."

There are three main points that I see here. Look at verse one: "How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?" What's he doing there? He's pleading to God. It's okay to feel the pain. It's okay to even have momentary fear within the circumstances. But cry out to God. Let him know where you are so that you can finally come to terms with that plea to God.

Then in verse two, there's something different. Then we ask God—we get more specific. He says, "Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall." Ask God specifically, just as Philippians says, "let your requests be made known to God."

Lastly, from verse three, is the truth about God. "But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me." At the end of the day, regardless of what happens, remember what you know is true about who God is. Remember what you know about the truth of God, even when the prayer isn't answered, and even when things get even more difficult. Remember what you know is true about God. So for today, I want you to remember those three things. Plead to God, cry out to Him, it's okay to feel it. Ask Him specifically for what you need. And third, remember what you know is true about Him.

Let's pray. Father, we know that life can get very, very difficult, and sometimes, Lord, we just need that extra amount of patience because we know our time is not your time. I pray that whoever's reading this would just have that encouragement and they would have the courage to plead to you and to cry out to you to ask you specifically what those needs are. And Lord, that we would remember what we know is true about you, regardless of how the circumstances play out so that we may always be encouraged. We thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.

By Pastor Brian Pawlowski

back

Connect with us!

Patience...Now!

Living With An Attitude

Time to Elevate

Patient Suffering

Patience with God

Topics