The Thursday Update

JULY 6, 2023

LAKESHORE FRIENDS—

"If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." —John 15:10-11

Joy; it can be the most elusive thing we ever chase, yet everyone chases it. It can be here today and gone tomorrow. For some, joy is a rare occurrence. Others seem to live in a constant state of joy.

This Sunday, July 9, we'll continue our Fruit(Full) series as we look at what we can do to attain and retain joy even in the difficult times of life. It should come as no surprise that what we believe about God will seriously impact the joy we experience here and now. 

If experiencing joy is something you or one of your friends in whom you’re investing need to learn, we will look forward to seeing you here at Lakeshore this Sunday.

See you soon,
Pastor Brian

JUNE 29, 2023

LAKESHORE FAMILY—

We live in a culture that misconstrues the definition of love. They say that love is simply a feeling that can be passed over and ignored. Love, in the world, is used so loosely, that how a person loves a pair of shoes, is talked about in the same way that a person loves their spouse or children. Love, in the world, has been diminished to nothing more than a temporary emotion that has no power or importance.

Love means so much more than that though. The Bible says that love is the foundation of what we do as believers. Paul says that without love, we are reduced to nothing.

Love is the backbone and the pillar of what it means to be a Christian. Without love, we lose salvation. Without love, we are no longer set apart.

Love means so much more than what the world claims it to be.

"For God so loved the world" — it is through love that we have been given the opportunity to spend eternity with Christ. It is through this love that we even have the capacity to love. We love because he first loved us.

It is in Christ's love that we display love to those around us!

Love to you all!
Pastor Antoine

JUNE 22, 2023

LAKESHORE FRIENDS—

How close do you think you are to God these days? 

It’s an important question because the answer will determine so much.  First, it will determine how much you can enjoy this life when times get tough.  Second, it will determine how much you will enjoy the afterlife when this life is over.  Since being a Christian is ultimately a relationship with God, every true Christian would want to know that they’re close to God and growing closer by the day.

As you think about how to answer that question, it’s important to have an objective way to measure this closeness to God.  Otherwise, it becomes a subjective exercise and words like “good” and “fine” will be your answer.  We need something more concrete to measure this.  That’s where the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 come in.  They serve as a measuring stick for our closeness to God like few other things do.  We’ll explain how that works in our new series, Fruit(Full), beginning on Sunday.  Over the next few weeks, we’ll explain what these fruit are and how each one works in our life.

Ultimately, God is as close as we want Him to be.  When we want God as much as we want our next breath, we’ll get closer to Him and see these fruit come from our lives.

I hope you’ll make church a priority each week throughout the summer, and learn how to draw closer to God.

Warmly,
Vince