The Thursday Update

JANUARY 9, 2025

Lakeshore Friends—

Life is filled with choices. 

From the moment we wake up, we are faced with literally thousands of choices as the day progresses.  Some are trivial and related to what we’ll wear, eat, and the like.  Some are more important and involve choices on how much money we’ll spend, where we will invest our time, and what we will apply our energies to.  But there is one choice that we must make every day that is more important than any other choice.  What is it?

Choosing who we will serve.

Some people reflexively respond that they are Christians and that they have already made the choice to serve God.  In a certain sense, they have a point.  In reality however, the decision to serve the Lord must be made every day— actually, every moment of every day— not just at some point in time in the past when they become a Christian.  The reason is simple: at any given moment we can easily choose to serve someone other than the Lord and that someone is usually ourselves.  It may be that we choose to serve our selfish desires, or our creature comforts, or our personal conveniences over serving the Lord, but whatever it is, choosing anything over the Lord at any given moment has consequences. 

At first, the consequences may be hard to notice.  Over time though, these choices will become detrimental.  Given enough severity, these choices could be really destructive.

That’s why Joshua says in Joshua 24:14, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.”

Are you making the right choices these days?  Is the Lord your first choice more often than anything else?  Have you ever made the choice to make Jesus the Lord of your life by putting your faith in Him alone for eternal life?

The greatness of your life depends on it.

Warmly,
Vince

JANUARY 2, 2025

Lakeshore Friends—

Happy New Year to you all! With the new year, it’s really common for people to do two things:

First, we assess the past year. Like a highlight video, we recall things that happened in 2024, both good and bad, and learn lessons from both. The other thing we tend to do is get ambitious with new goals for the new year. We dream about how things could be over what things are like right now. It could be related to our relationships, family life, finances, physical fitness, spiritual growth, or walk with God. We long for things to be better in the year ahead.

In a phrase, we yearn to “take new territory” in some areas of our life where we really want to see progress.

That’s what we began talking about last Sunday in our new series, “Taking New Territory.” Based on Numbers 13-14, we looked at God’s offer to give Israel His beautiful and prosperous promised land. Most of the people were too afraid to enter into this land, while Joshua and Caleb were too excited to not enter it. From this contrast, we looked at four things successful people do that unsuccessful people don’t, can’t, or won’t do. If you missed it, watch it here.

We’ll continue this series on Sunday because we want to help you take new territory in your life this year. Do you want to see that happen in your life? If so, join us on Sunday and get your new year started on the right foot.

Warmly,
Vince

DECEMBER 19, 2024

Lakeshore Friends—

What have we done with Jesus at Christmas?

When we look around, we rarely see Him anywhere. Most home decorations don’t include Him, but they do include other characters like Santa, reindeer, the Grinch, and snowmen. Lots of conversations exclude Him, but we hear a lot about having a happy holiday instead of Merry Christmas. News shows talk a lot about shopping and sales numbers, but not much about the real reason for the season (which isn’t really about money). I could go on and on, but I think you would agree that Jesus has been lost in all the activity. God’s Son has been pushed aside for cheap substitutes.

As I said on Sunday, if one of those mysterious drones flying around our airspace was to land on earth and some intelligent life walked out of it and tried to figure out what all they observed was all about, it’s unlikely they would conclude that it was all a reflection and celebration of the birth of the God who became man, Jesus Christ. There’s just so little around us to indicate what Christmas is truly all about.

That’s where we come into play. God calls us to “be Jesus” to the people we engage with. We can help them see Him, and the Christmas season is one of the best times to do it.

I hope you’ll help others see Jesus through how you live and what you share with them. One of the opportunities you have available right now is to invite friends and family to church on Sunday and Christmas Eve. People need Him and we can help them see the Jesus that so few people really think much about.

What will you do with Jesus at Christmas?

Warmly,
Vince