Pastor's Weekly Update

OCTOBER 19, 2023

LAKESHORE FRIENDS—

God calls us to love all people, no matter what.  No “ifs”, no “ands”, no “buts” are allowed.  If God loves us with unconditional love, we must offer the same to others.

With all of that said, have you ever encountered a person who tends to suck the life out of you, like a vampire sucks the blood out of its victims?  It may be that they are so critical of you that you feel lifeless when you encounter them.  Or it could be needy people who always begin a conversation with you with words like, “what I could really use is…” and make you feel obligated to do something for them every time.  Perhaps it’s a manipulative person who is trying to get you to do what they want and you feel worked over every time they try.  What about the hypocritical person who tells you what to do but never takes their own advice?  Or the gossipy person who leaks information faster than a radiator leaks fluid after your car front ends a deer in rut?

After a while, you have no blood left inside.  But you still have to love them!  What do you do?

That’s what we'll talk about in our brand new series starting on Sunday, Relational Vampires: Loving The People Who Suck The Life Out Of You.  We’ll examine five of the biggest 'vampires' who seem to be more focused on a re-leech-tionship than a relationship, along with how we can spot them, help them, and respond to them.

Sound like something you could benefit from? Yeah, I've heard many of you laughing during the series trailer we shown the past two Sundays, so I think the answer is yes.

Why not invite family, friends, coworkers and neighbors to join you here on Sunday?  Let’s invest and invite people and live out what we just learned in our prevois series on the gospel.  We’ll do all we can to provide services that are power-packed and practically helpful.

Warmly,
Vince

P.S. Let’s keep praying for Israel and the Middle East (Psalm 122:6)