The Thursday Update

Lakeshore Friends—

I hope you enjoyed Super Bowl Sunday, especially the best part which was being together as a church.  We get to tell God we love Him and to grow in our faith together.  As for the game, I enjoyed it (even if I wanted the Bengals to win), but not nearly as much as I did being with you in church.  I hope you did too!

Which brings me to this thought... 

It’s amazing how excited people get about football games and the Super Bowl (me included), and yet how nonchalant these same people are about the excitement of worshipping God and growing in our understanding of Him (me NOT included).  I realize so many people who really don’t care for God are going to act that way— you can’t expect someone to act like a Christian until they are one.  My amazement is centered on the fact that this “excitement discrepancy” is present in people who say they are Christians and say they love Jesus.  Which raises a question: if you get more excited about football (or insert any other thing here) than you do about Jesus and His church, what does that say?

The answer is pretty clear.

Our goal in this “Why I Love The Church” series is to get us all to fall in love with the church more and to make it the high point of our lives.  Jesus did that (Ephesians 5:25-27), so if we desire more of Jesus in our lives and want to be more like Him, then we will too.

As restrictions are being relaxed and we learn to live with COVID (which will be with us for the foreseeable future), I hope we will continue to have people return and continue to see more new people attend and become Christians. 

Having more people love Jesus and His wife (aka the church, the bride of Christ) is what life is ultimately about.

Warmly,
Vince

Lakeshore Friends—

This Sunday is an informal national holiday: it’s Super Bowl Sunday.  As we consume a record number of chicken wings (are they like $5 each this year?) and slices of pizza, we’ll watch the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Los Angeles Rams… hopefully! (Yeah, I love their LSU stars QB Joe Burrow and WR Jamar Chase as well as former New Orleans Saints DE Trey Hendrickson and SS Vonn Bell).

While I want Cincy to win, there is no sure victory for either team. But the amazing truth is that if you are a Christian, you have a guaranteed victory that is already yours.  We’ll talk about that on Sunday as we have the real Super Bowl Sunday fun at our 9am and 11am services.

If you’re into football, wear your favorite football jersey.  Yes, Bills jerseys are allowed— better, tolerated :).  I’ll have my much more preferred jersey on!!

Let’s celebrate what matters most in life, Jesus!  He is the one who gives us a certain victory!

Warmly,
Vince

WATCH THE BONUS VIDEO UPDATE FROM PASTOR VINCE:

Lakeshore Friends—

A number of years ago, I heard someone say something that has stuck with me all these years.  In some ways, it really surprised me, but as I thought about it more, it didn’t.  This person said that in the Bible, there is only one thing recorded in it that God seeks from people. What do you think that is? You can come up with lots of answers, and you may be close to what it is without getting it exactly right. 

The answer is this: our worship!  John 4:23-24 records Jesus saying that God the Father seeks worshippers.  Nowhere else does it say that God seeks anything else from us.  It kind of makes sense because if we give God worship, everything else will take care of itself when it comes to Christian disciplines.

Do you help God find what He is seeking in your heart and from your life?  Do you worship Him?  Regularly?  Sincerely?  Whole-heartedly?  If that’s the one thing God seeks from us, we would be wise to make it our priority, wouldn’t we?

Every week, we’re here to help with that.  Not just on Sunday mornings during our music sets, but as often as we can.

Take some time to worship God today, right now.  He seeks it.  We need to give it.  And our lives will be richer as we engage in it.

Warmly,
Vince