Great Lakes Church

<p>Jesus signaled an end to one way of relating to God and the beginning of something entirely new. When you reduce church to its irreducible minimum, it is a group of people doing their best to follow Jesus—who came to clear the way to God.</p>

<p>Pride might be the trickiest word ever. It’s a good thing to find satisfaction in our achievements. It’s good to be conscious of our own dignity and have some self-respect. But when we become proud it’s a problem. And according to the Scriptures, pride always goes badly. So…how do we take pride without being prideful? We choose hope over haughty.</p>

<p>Maybellene’s jingle taught us to wonder: Maybe she’s born with it. In a makeup company’s ad, it’s beauty that’s in question. But we wonder the same way when it comes to people we see as humble; as if their character is something that just happened. As followers of Jesus though, we know it’s not luck – it’s a decision that’s made. Humility doesn’t just happen.</p>

<p>Humility is so powerful. During a conflict, it catches us off guard and puts us off balance. We expect others to be defensive and push back. But humility absorbs. We can be tempted by a lot of things we shouldn’t give in to. But when we give into the temptation of humility, the world changes for the better.</p>

<p>Kids are a lot of things, but independent isn’t one of them. They need adults just to stay alive every day. It’s interesting though, how the older we get the more arrogant we become; thinking we don’t need anyone else. But we label it as being a self-sufficient, independent grown-up. Jesus never told anyone to grow up though. In fact, He did just the opposite.</p>

<p>Scientists have identified that the universe is an ever-expanding landscape of stars, planets, solar systems, and entire galaxies that we can't begin to quantify. In the midst of it? Us. Floating on one of the pale blue dots floating through space... So what's it all for? And do we matter as much as we think we do?</p>

<p>Join us for an Espresso Shot talk (a jolt of energy/encouragement outside of our standard talk series) from Doug LaBelle. Doug has been on staff at Great Lakes, served on our leadership teams, mentored countless marriages, and racked up over 40 years of pastoral experience.</p><p><br></p><p>This week, Doug is digging deep on MARRIAGE. And regardless of whether you've been married, his talk teaches us so much about faithfulness, sacrifice, commitment, and choosing holiness over happiness.</p><p><br></p><p>Join us for a service on any given Sunday at 8:30, 10:00, and 11:30a in KENOSHA! Learn more at <a href="http://www.greatlakeschurch.com" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">www.Greatlakeschurch.com</a></p>

<p>Join us for a message from the "favorite uncle" of Great Lakes Church– Lawrence Kirby! As one of the lead pastors of OneVoice Church, Kirby brings an energetic spirit & convicting message as we continue our series on the book of James!</p>

<p>Join us as we wrap up "Do It Different" and we put a bow on how to choose genuine over grand when it comes to displaying our faith!</p>

<p>We’re always trying to find margin in our lives, aren’t we? We’re way too busy and stressed. But there are some areas in life, specifically in our faith, where margin might be a negative. And when it comes to people, we come to where Jesus would say it is.</p>

<p>Have you ever thought about this? Do you actually know what you look like? You’ve only ever seen you through a mirror, a recorded video or still photograph. In the end, that’s actually okay though – you’re not supposed to look like you anyway.</p>

<p>Christmas can be filled with wildly high expectations but it doesn’t have to be. And it doesn’t have to be a season of disappointment when those expectations aren’t met. In fact, those very things can make it awesome.</p><p><br></p><p>A Not So Hallmark Christmas, Week 1: Hallelujah Over Hallmark // Josh Petersen</p>

<p>There's a question you can ask yourself that will bring inescapable clarity to just about every relational decision you'll bump up against. But a word of warning: it's not for the faint of heart.</p>

<p>One good thing now... or two good things 10 minutes from now? When framed simply, the answer seems obvious. But when it comes to the crossroads, making the right choice can be much harder. win us as we explore the foundational FOURTH question in this series, which ultimately has fueled all the other questions we've explored so far.</p>

<p>It's not Jiminy Cricket or the voice of Morgan Freeman, but it is an internal compass that keeps us calibrated. When you're sitting in the middle of those stomach-churning, head-scratching, answer-seeking seasons- we have to be brave enough to lean INTO the uncomfortable, with the hope of a brighter outcome.</p>

<p>We tend to tell ourselves the stories we want to hear, like to hear, or may be most easy to hear. In any given situation, we will naturally seek the past of least resistance. But sometimes in order to move forward or truly face the music, we have to be deeply & unapologetically honest with ourselves. And as we move forward in our series of 5 great questions to help us at life's major crossroads, we find this one CANNOT be missed.</p>

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<p>Do you have any regrets in your life? And have you ever wondered how you arrived at those regrets? Usually, it's because of a decision we made somewhere along the way. Usually we focus on the "what" of the decision we made. What if we instead spent some time thinking about the "how" we made the decision? That could change the direction of our life.</p>

<p>What if the most important question we could ask in our marriage was also one of the simplest? This week, our friend Sam Gazunis shares some simple truths that serve as guidelines for us to take the next step in loving those closest to us.</p>

<p>We all have a few of them in our lives: frenemies. They’re the people we kinda have to be nice to but don’t really like. And if we follow Jesus then it’s even more complicated because we’re supposed to love them. But it’s their fault, right? They’re dishonest. They’re selfish. They’re gossipy. If only they’d change, we might take the enemy out of frenemy and just be friends. That would be fair thinking, but what if they don’t change? Then what? You might have to.</p>

<p>If you've ever been a parent or had a parent, you know it's not easy. In fact, it's downright difficult. And despite the countless blogs, TikTok follows and books promising to make it better, no one has solved the mystery of how NOT to mess up your kids. Except for Jesus. Even though he wasn't a father of earthly children, he gave us an overarching principal that changes the game...but it's not easy...especially for the parents.</p>

<p>Too often people fall into the trap of thinking that following Jesus means the rest of life will be problem free. But Jesus never promised that. In fact, he said just the opposite. What he did promise though, was there would be meaning in the rest of your life – including the hard parts. He promised that the hard parts would be growth moments; trust-building moments. That doesn’t make the challenging chapters of life easier, but it does make them better.</p>

<p>Your parents have said it for years: "show me your friends, I'll show you the future." But what if that truth wasn't just for teenagers to hear? One of the most overlooked stories in the Bible shows us the power of a close friendship, a personal invite, and the overcoming of skepticism...and the ripple effects it had for millennia to follow.</p>

<p>So many people sign up for a religion or a church community because of what they believe it will do for them. To be sure, there’s plenty that it will bring to an individual’s life, but when it comes to following Jesus it becomes more about what we can do for others. Even when we don’t think we have a whole lot to offer, the little we do can be used for something amazing...something that will change us forever.</p>

<p>Most fitness blogs will tell you that abs aren’t made in the gym; they’re made in the kitchen. In other words, what you do when no one is watching makes all the difference. The same idea applies to growing our faith – there are things we need to practice without the pressure of an audience. Because God wants your most you.</p>

<p>We all have drawers full of "life-changing" household products we saw on TikTok but have yet to see said promised change in life from them. The scrub brush didn't make your tub shine when it arrived, did it? The secret that isn't often mentioned is that you have to actually use the thing. That's the only way it works. You have to apply it to your bathroom. Jesus' ideas and principles are very much the same... they have to be applied too in order to make a difference and change a life.</p>

<p>Most of us count down to the weekend with every day we get the kids ready for school, go to work and make the commute. We just want a break from the frantic pace. Starved to escape the busyness, we daydream about tropical vacations. But sometimes we walk away from those breaks unfulfilled; like something was missing. We’re not meant to go all day every day, but maybe we’re not meant to totally shut down either. Perhaps there’s something more to the idea of rest... something bigger.</p>

<p>Do you remember the last time you lost your phone? Odds are you were in a hurry to get something done or be somewhere by a certain time, so your search was a rushed one. After looking the whole house over a dozen times, you finally ask someone to help you find it and when they do, you exclaim, “I looked there five times! How did I miss it?” That’s what hurry and haste does everywhere in our lives – it causes us to miss things as we go. And usually those missed things are the best things...the God things.</p><p><br></p>

<p>The design for our lives was never to rush through it. We push speed limits, we sprint through conversations, and we often miss the fullness of what God truly had in mind for us because we're not slowing down long enough to see it. Maybe there's something to be said for ruthlessly eliminating hurry from our lives.</p>

<p>Jesus doesn't give us a list of obligations. Instead, he invites us to participate in this grand adventure of becoming more like Him and showing His hope to the world, with the hope of making things a little lighter and a whole lot more freeing.</p><p><br></p><p>Join us as we hear about the nature of the great adventure He'll take us on, shared by our Director of Student Ministry Development, Darryl Lawler.</p>

<p>Our world is more connected than ever. Cell phones & social media mean an endless wealth of people at our fingertips... but is this the way to true rest & growth? Together we explore the path to the TRUE connection we need, and we define what we can look for to ensure we're being fueled by the proper source.</p>

<p>Many of us come from broken homes. Sometimes that’s divorce, sometimes it’s worse but not as tangible. As a result, we sometimes feel like there’s a lid on our life because of our last name. Or maybe we feel like failures because our best efforts to do it differently have fallen short. We’re frustrated, embarrassed, nervous, stuck and exhausted. But we don’t need to keep striving; we’ve been given a free invitation to adoption and an entirely new bloodline. We can stop running. We can stop burying. We can step into the light all bumped, bruised and broken. He wants us. He likes us. He cherishes us.</p>

<p>Most of our adolescence is spent racing to get older – and to some degree, getting away from</p><p>Mom and Dad. Then as adults we will often continue the same pursuit. We want to become our</p><p>own person and blaze our own trail in the world. Normal? Yes. Sometimes resulting in mistakes</p><p>and regret because we ignored the past and failed to contextualize it today? Yes. So how do we</p><p>do it differently? How do we become the generation that presses into the future with all the</p><p>lessons from the generations before us?</p>

<p>Have you ever noticed that two people can go through the same experience and come out of it with different feelings about what happened? It happens all the time; including with family. Parents, siblings and even cousins can have almost opposite stories about the way things were growing up. The narrative is in the mind of the one telling the story. Who we come from is framed by who we are today.</p><p><br></p>

<p>A moment can change everything. One decision to be different, think different and move different can end a legacy or start a new one. That’s a good thing…sometimes a bad one. Either way, we have the ability to change the future and do it different.</p><p><br></p>

<p>Every so often we are asked why we don’t like a certain person, party or sports team. And often our answer is, “Because my dad doesn’t like them.” And he would likely say something along those lines for why he doesn’t like them. We’re spending parts of our lives angry aacznd bitter but don’t have to. If we choose to see others through a different lens, we might get to change the generations-long story.</p>

<p>From adolescence to adulthood, most of us can resonate with struggling to find our identity. As we grow and change, we wonder “where do I fit?” and “how does God want to use me?” Our church has asked a lot of those same questions– and over the course of 15 years we’ve been able to hone in on what kind of church we want to be in this community. We’re just getting started!</p>

<p>What do you do when your now isn't the now your later had in mind? Sometimes our best-laid plans fall apart and the situation in front of us will change where we're headed forever. How will you respond?</p>

<p>Why is it that every time we know where we’re going, how we’re going to get there and when we’re going to get there something gets in the way? Inconveniences. Hurdles. Roadblocks. We face these every single day with every single goal. And usually we spend a lot of energy trying to get around them, but what if we shouldn’t? What if there’s something to the “setback?” What if it’s not a setback at all? What if it’s a setup for something better later?</p>

<p>There are a lot of people just surviving in life. They’re making it through every day but not much more than that. The week is a list of checkboxes that they work through until the weekend. Truth be told, there are a lot of churches like that too. Just existing. But shouldn’t it be better than that? If there really is a creative God orchestrating all of this, there has to be a point…a purpose.</p>

<p>The number one reason most people have jobs is to make money. Without a job our rent, car note, grocery bill and our Starbucks addiction won’t get paid for. So most of us get up every morning and go to a job we hate, and maybe think is pointless, because it’s a necessity not a passion. And because of that, we’re often left feeling like our lives may not matter as much as others. But nothing could be further from the truth. In Jesus’ Kingdom everything matters…even your work.</p>

<p>Most people look at their phone 2,000 or more times per day. And most of what we find on it stresses us out, makes us feel insecure, or is just bad all together. Usually our reaction to something like that is to run away from it. But if there’s a way for us to make it better–to change it–shouldn’t we? </p>

<p>It’s hard to run the race of following Jesus when the reality is: we’ll never be good enough! But everything we need to know about running the race with endurance and keeping our eyes on Jesus can be found in an interaction between a guy named Simon and a prostitute.</p>

<p>Your truth, my truth, we all have a truth. But can they all be true? If all truth is relative then how do we actually know anything at all? Does your brain hurt yet? If there is such a thing as objective truth, then it means everything to everyone. And that’s… the truth.</p>

<p>We all grew up being told stories. Some were from bedtime books to help us fall asleep. Others were fables created to help us know good from bad. More often than not, these stories taught us to behave in a particular way and become good citizens as adults. When we grew up though, we learned those stories were just that: stories. We know now they’re not real and sometimes they’re not even ideal in the real world. Is the Bible any different? Why shouldn’t we just mature past it like all the other stories we were told? Because they’re not just stories.</p>

<p>Where did all of this come from? That’s a loaded question, right? You might talk to 100 people and get 100 different answers to that question. One of the trickiest parts to answering, “God made everything” is the follow-up question: how? What if that’s the wrong question though? </p>

<p>Not many people argue that Jesus didn’t exist, but there’s still a lot of debate about what difference he actually made. Did he make things better? What did he come for in the first place? Did his death and resurrection change things?</p>

<p>So much of what we’re told as kids is expected to be accepted. The problem is that as we become adults, we start to explore the expected and end up with more questions than answers. Generations have done just that with the resurrection of Jesus. Just like they did the day it happened, we’re all asking… is it real?</p>

<p>Romans 8:14-16</p><p><br></p><p>The Church is a family...</p><p>The story of the church begins with Jesus picking 12 followers and inviting them into family. He committed himself to them because Jesus understood that the greatest healing comes through relationships. </p><p>The biggest questions in life revolve around relationships, where do I belong? Who do I belong to? Where do I fit in?</p>

<p>Loving people is hard – especially with difficult people. We just don’t feel loving all the time. But if we’re going to be like Jesus, we have to figure out a way to love everyone always, not sometimes. And that’s the key: we can’t do what comes naturally… we’re gonna need something supernatural.</p>