The Thursday Update

March 26,2026

Love is never easy, is it?

Consider that right about the time you think you are getting really good at loving people, someone comes into your life to test your true level of love.

They might do it by saying something less than flattering about you.  It may be that they have judged you for something that they think you did or didn’t do, but in reality do not really understand what actually happened.  Maybe they have gossiped about you behind your back to others.  Maybe someone you thought was a friend was actually using you in some way. 

These situations are never fun.  But they are used by God to do something important: they help us see how much we really love people and how we can find the love we need from the God who is never in short supply of it.

How can we know how much we really love people?

How can we find the power to love people when everything inside of us would rather not love them?

That’s what we will look at on Sunday as we cover “the other love chapter” in the Bible besides 1 Corinthians 13— namely 1 John 4:7-21.

I hope you’ll be here to sharpen and strengthen your level of love for other people.

Warmly,

Vince

P.S. Who are you inviting to Lakeshore for Easter services?  I snapped a picture of our new invite card (front and back in one picture) and will be texting it to many family and friends.  I hope you’ll do the same!

March 19, 2026

Lakeshore Friends—

So few people live in God’s love.  The things we see in our world every single day prove this.  The cruel things people say, the evil things people do, the active aggression people exhibit toward others, the passive aggression people mask toward others, and so much more. These are just a few examples.

When people who have never known God’s love do this, we should not be surprised.  When you don’t know God’s love, it is impossible to really love others fully.  Our goal for people in this station of life is to help them see God’s grace and love so that they can know what true love is inside their spirit.  That’s what we talked about last week in our “No Greater Love” series kick-off message last Sunday.  As Ephesians 2:1-10 tells us, we can move from death to life, from separation from God’s love to submersion in God’s love when we turn to faith in Jesus Christ.  Then we can learn to spend the rest of our lives living in God’s love personally and then expressing it to Him and others perpetually.

But how do you live in God’s love every day? 

How do you avoid drifting from God’s love when the waves of life come crashing in on you? 

And how do you avoid a total shipwreck that destroys God’s love in your heart and life?

It’s not as easy as it sounds.  Over the years, I have seen so many people experience God’s love by putting their faith in Jesus Christ only to have a short-lived encounter that doesn’t last.  It usually starts with little drifts away from God until they all start to add up to a journey that is way off course.  They just lose the love that God offered and gave them.

But there are hundreds of others at Lakeshore that seem to stay in God’s love, growing and living in His love more and more each day.

What makes the difference between those who live and stay in God’s love and those who do not? 

We’ll find some important answers on Sunday in Jesus’ words in John 15:1-20.  I hope you’ll be here to learn what they are.  Our world needs to see more people living in God’s love than ever before.  And we all need to live in God’s love if we are going to make it in this often-hateful world.

Warmly,

Vince

March 12, 2026

Lakeshore Friends—

A number of years ago, Jackie DeShannon sang a song that proclaimed something most people believe.  It was titled “What The World Needs Now Is Love”.  The refrain in the song says what should be obvious to everyone:

“What the world needs now

Is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now
Is love, sweet love
No, not just for some, but for everyone.”

This is one of many songs that espouse the virtue and value of love and how our world really needs love if it wants to survive.  Despite this, our world is sorely lacking in love.  There is a lack of love everywhere we turn— it’s on the streets, at our workplaces, in our neighborhoods, in our politics, and even in our families.

So what’s the problem?  Simply put, while our world talks about love, it clearly has no answer for what true love is, how love is fully expressed, and where love itself comes from.  Without those answers, people can never express true love.  Perhaps another song sung by local artist (and Gates Chili graduate 😊) Lou Gramm best describes the state of many when it comes to the world’s understanding of love: “I want to know what love is”.

So what’s the solution?  The Good News is that God says that we can know what true love is, how to express it to others, and where it comes from.  We’ll explain how, and so much more, in a new series we’re beginning on Sunday, “No Greater Love”.I’ll teach through four important passages of Scripture over the next four weeks leading up to Easter and provide answers to these questions about love. We’ll learn how there is no greater love than the love of God expressed in Jesus Christ.

I hope you’ll be here.  And if you know someone who has been “Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places” (by Johnny Lee), invite them to join you.

Warmly,

Vince