The Thursday Update

AUGUST 3, 2023

GREETINGS LAKESHORE FRIENDS—

"Goodness, the summer is flying." "My goodness, I don’t know where the time has gone." "Goodness gracious, you look like you took a bath in a mud puddle." "I’m indebted to your goodness."

The word goodness gets thrown around a lot these days, and not just in daily conversations.  It is a concept difficult to define and one that gets a huge degree of misuse when talking about God’s goodness.  Many times, people don’t believe that God is good.  They ask, “how could a good God allow all the suffering, abuse, violence, and calamity that we see in our world?”

We can’t answer every question about goodness this Sunday, but we can answer how you can acquire God’s goodness and then extend it to others.  It will be well worth your time.  After all, what family, what person, what work place, what neighborhood, or what town doesn’t need more people expressing God-level goodness?

We'll see you Sunday.

Blessings,
Pastor Brian

JULY 27, 2023

LAKESHORE FRIENDS—

While there are still so many kind people in our world, it sure seems like there are less of them these days.  I was watching the local news recently and five of the first six stories were all involved with some senseless murder, crime, or other act of violence.  It added a whole new meaning to the newsroom saying, “If it bleeds, it leads”.  There are a lot of stories involving a lot of bleeding these days.

But a lack of kindness can take on lots of different forms that don’t involve things that are so dark.  Sometimes, we simply don’t say thanks when it is appropriate, or we miss opportunities to do good when they present themselves. Sometimes we say things about people that are just plain mean.  We can fail to show kindness by commission and omission.

If we want to show people the love of Jesus, we have to stand out from the crowd, and one of the best ways to do so is to show kindness.  Lots of it.  Lavishly and lovingly. That’s something Jesus did for people regularly and it's what His followers do as well.

I need to be more kind sometimes and I want my acts of kindness to be intentional more so than random.  Maybe you do, too.

On Sunday, I want to help us learn how to live out this fifth fruit of Spirit.  I hope you’ll be at Lakeshore as we understand what kindness is and how it works in our everyday lives.

Our world really needs it, and so do we.

Warmly,
Vince

JULY 20, 2023

LAKESHORE FRIENDS—

I just returned from a fantastic trip to Italy visiting Laura’s family and friends whom we have not seen in 2 years.  It was a glorious time spent in the Italian countryside, on the beach, and in the mountains of the Gargano.  We even had the opportunity to minister to people and I was able to preach at a friend’s church one Sunday.  We feel blessed that God allows us to be able to take a trip like this every couple of years.

While we were in Italy, the temperatures were mainly in the 90’s and they even peaked above 100 degrees a handful of days.  Sunshine, heat, and humidity — to me, this is what marks summer.  While summer is continuing to heat up, this Sunday at Lakeshore we'll continue in our summer series, Fruit(Full). 

Each week we have been looking at a different aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians chapter 5.  I have the honor of speaking on Patience.  Me speaking on patience proves that God has a sense of humor, because He knows how impatient I can be.  Preparing for this message has honestly challenged and encouraged me to rely on God’s Holy Spirit to help me be a more patient person.  I hope you get as much out of this message as I have in preparing it.

Summer at Lakeshore will heat up even more as we get ready to kick off LOVE WEEK, which will take place August 19–26.  We have been preparing service projects around our community and we are going to need an army of volunteers to fulfill each project.  Volunteer signups begin this Sunday, July 23! They tend to fill up fast, so I hope you’ll be at Lakeshore in-person this Sunday to sign up for one of the many LOVE WEEK projects we have planned.

I look forward to seeing you all after being away on vacation and as always...

Make a great day!
Pastor Frank