The Thursday Update

DECEMBER 28, 2023

LAKESHORE FRIENDS—

We trust that you had a great Christmas celebrating with whoever you chose to celebrate with.  We hope that the services on Christmas Eve were used by God to help you do that at a super high level of joy and worship of Jesus.

As you enjoy a few days or the entire week off, we hope to help you prepare for the new year with our New Year’s Eve services (again at the usual times of 9 am and 11 am) as we kick off a new series to help you prepare for the new year with a spiritual growth plan for your life.  More than resolutions to lose weight or change some behavior, we want to focus on what you can do constructively more than what you must no longer do.

So I hope you’ll end your year thinking about the Lord at Lakeshore.  We have so much to thank Him for in 2023 and to look forward to Him doing in 2024. 

Warmly,
Vince

DECEMBER 21, 2023

LAKESHORE FRIENDS—

Christmas is almost here and I hope you’re excited about what it really represents: the birth of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.  I recognize this is a busy week for many of us so I’ll be brief. 

I hope you’ll do three things as Christmas draws near:

1. Prepare yourselves!  Read Luke chapters 1-2 and Matthew chapters 1-2, and take in the miraculous wonder of Jesus coming to earth as a child.  Ground yourself in the reason for the season above all else.

2. Be at church!  Attend a Christmas Eve service at 9:00 or 11:00 am, ready to have your heart moved if you come open for God to do it.  Be sure to arrive early, as it will be busy and pretty crowded.

3. Invite people to join you!  Have a conversation, make a call, send a text message, hand out an invite card, or email as many people as you can.  God will use the services, I am convinced of it, but people have to be here for that to happen.  I have many invites out and I’ve been praying that many will come.

Warmly,
Vince

DECEMBER 14, 2023

LAKESHORE FRIENDS—

Encouragement.  It’s the action of giving someone support, confidence, and hope. 

We all need it, yet most people struggle to find it.  I think that the number one reason why people are discouraged is because they look for encouragement in all the wrong places, from the wrong people, and for the wrong purposes.  So where do we find encouragement?  Here are two of the best places to find it reliably.

First and foremost, we find it from God Himself.  God is a God of encouragement.  He offers all who trust Him eternal encouragement (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17).  How could we ever find that from anyone or anything else?  Second, we find it from others who are walking in the same direction as we are.  It’s why 1 Thessalonians 4:18 says we should encourage each other with the words of God, and 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says the people of God who come together should encourage each other and build each other up.  See also Hebrews 10:22-25.

So if you need encouragement, you’ll find it from God’s Word and God’s people.  I think that’s why He created the church.  We’ll look at the subject of encouragement as we continue looking at the events surrounding the birth of Jesus in Luke 1.  All the more reason to be at church.

Warmly,
Vince