The Thursday Update

AUGUST 17, 2023

LAKESHORE FRIENDS—

When you hear the words “meek” or “gentle”, what do you think of?

Do you think of a young kid having their lunch money taken away at school each day by a bully?  Do you think of a person becoming a human doormat for others to walk all over?  Do you think of someone who could never make it in this “me first” culture.  Those are just some of the pictures that may come to mind.  And that would be unfortunate.

Being meek and gentle are not only the eigth trait of the fruit of the Holy Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23, they are also traits that show more power than you might naturally think.  More on that on Sunday.

Living a meek and gentle life is always a better way to live than their rival counterparts: prideful and aggressive behavior.  It may not seem like it, but in the end there is a power to gentleness that exceeds any of the alternatives.  Gentleness can change situations and lives for the long haul, including our own.  And when we live this way, God keeps us from being run over and trampled on more than we would naturally think.

Are you striving to be a more gentle and meek person?  It is not natural and is not easy either.  But it is powerful and it is rewarding.

Warmly,
Vince

AUGUST 10, 2023

LAKESHORE FRIENDS—

The Beatles were not all that off when they sang, “All You Need Is Love”.  As you look around it is easy to see how our world has become so unloving and cold.  It’s to the point that LOVE is like a rare gem and is something that people desperately need to experience in their lives. 

As we’ve been learning on Sunday mornings in the Fruit(Full) series, LOVE is the basis for all of the characteristics that make up the Fruit of the Spirit. We have a great opportunity to show our community some LOVE coming up through LOVE WEEK.  From August 19 – 26, we'll be sending more than 225 volunteers to 17 project sites to meet a need in our community, all while showing them the LOVE of Jesus Christ.  Have you signed up for a project yet?  We still need about 70 volunteers to fill the remaining spots.  You can click here to register or stop by the LOVE WEEK table in the Atrium this Sunday to sign up.

I hope you will help us fill up the remaining spots so we can show our community some much needed LOVE.

Make a great day!
Frank D.

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