The Thursday Update

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

Lakeshore Friends—

Each year, October is designated as Pastor Appreciation month.  On behalf of all five pastors on staff here at Lakeshore, I just wanted to say thank you for all the kind things so many of you have said to us and have done for us this past month.  I even received a few cards and they meant so much to me (and us).  And yes, I did receive a couple of gifts too, and that is something beyond what I expected from you.  Again, thank you!

But more than anything else, the greatest gift I receive from you is seeing you at church on Sundays (and throughout the week) living, learning, and loving others as you are in pursuit of being more and more like Jesus Christ. 

Nothing makes me happier as your pastor than seeing you here each week, hearing how the services are impacting your everyday life, watching you welcome first-time guests with such care and personal attention, serving in one of the various ministries, and just having the desire to know God more deeply.  I feel like the Apostle John when he said this in 3 John 4:

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

So thank you for being such a great congregation of people to pastor.  It’s an absolute blessing to see you every time I do because you’re an amazing group of people who inspire me to try and lead you and this church with the very best I can.

Thank you for that!

Warmly,
Vince

OCTOBER 27, 2022

Lakeshore Friends—

Finding God’s will is not always easy… in fact, sometimes it is really hard to discern.  And yet, it’s so important for us to discover God’s will in our life if we want to live meaningfully and significantly.

My hope is that this new series, The Mystery of God’s Will, will help you get better at finding out what God wants for your life.  This is not a theoretical exercise, but one of the most practically important ones we can engage in.  Yet, maybe because it is not easy, it seems like people choose the common, the convenient, and yes, even sometimes the self-serving road because we believe the lie that we know how to satisfy our lives more than God does.

So I want to just remind you of the big idea of this series:  God wants to guide us to the place where we ultimately find the most satisfaction in Him.  Is that hard to believe?  It can be.  Is that true?  Absolutely and always! 

So if you really believe that and want to find God’s will in your life and be most satisfied in Him, then do these three things as often as possible:

1. Make God the desire of your heart!

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.   –Psalm 37:4, NIV

2. Seek God in every decision you make! 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.  –Proverbs 3:5-6, NLT

3. Follow God by learning to listen to Him!

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him?  In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.  –1 Corinthians 2:11-12, NIV

Let’s keep seeking God’s will and watch how He works in our lives in powerfully fresh and new ways.

Warmly,
Vince

OCTOBER 20, 2022

Lakeshore Friends—

Now that our 3D Christianity series is over, the “living it out” part still lies ahead of us.  Whether you are still discovering (remember that if you really seek God with your heart you will find Him), or are learning to consistently develop your faith (recall the “grow, know, row, and show” plan?), the ultimate goal is to progress to the declare stage— that place where we are the salt and the light for people who need it (Matthew 5:13-16). Most people in our world really need it!

The key to declaring your faith is to INVEST + INVITE— that is to invest yourself into people “right where they are” and then to invite them to faith and to church.  If you missed last Sunday’s important message, be sure to watch it here.

For our entire history, we have been an Invest + Invite church.  Our services are created with this in mind.  Hundreds of lives have been transformed because of this.  Yours may be one of them. We are putting a renewed emphasis on the Invest + Invite strategy and we want you to be a part of it!  It starts with a desire to see people around you come to faith in Jesus.

If that’s you, I want to encourage you to complete an Invest + Invite card at church and put it up next to the many that are up right now.  We’re going to be praying together for these people to allow us to engage them with the love of Jesus.

Nothing compares to the joy of helping one person find faith in Jesus Christ.  If you agree, join us in the Invest + Invite cause.

Warmly,
Vince