{"id":86,"date":"2026-01-29T13:36:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/?p=86"},"modified":"2026-01-29T13:36:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T13:36:48","slug":"i-want-a-raise-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/29\/i-want-a-raise-2\/","title":{"rendered":"I Want a Raise! (2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know what you\u2019re going to say \u2013 I\u2019m never satisfied, right? Last week I said I wanted a raise in attendance and enthusiasm. Now I\u2019d like another raise \u2013 a raise in our expectations<\/strong>. Pessimism makes us self-defeating. If we think, \u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d then we probably won\u2019t even try. Israel wandered in the wilderness forty long years because their expectations were too low! We can do anything God wants us to do (Phil. 4:13). \u201cI want a raise!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I want another raise \u2013 a raise in evangelism<\/strong>. We have good news, and God will not hold us guiltless if we remain silent (study 2Kings 7:3-9). Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). His last recorded words before He ascended back to Heaven were of world evangelism (Acts 1:8). When persecution scattered the early Christians, they \u201cwent everywhere preaching the word\u201d<\/em> (Acts 8:4). Will it take being persecuted for us to do the same? Let our purpose be that of our Lord. \u201cI want a raise!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I want another raise \u2013 a raise in our love<\/strong> (for God and for each other). When you get right down to it, everything else is symptomatic. Do we not attend? That\u2019s a symptom of lack of love for the Lord and for each other. Do we not evangelize? That\u2019s a symptom of lack of love for the lost as well as for the Lord. If we truly love God, one another, and the lost, other matters will fall into place. Jesus said, \u201cIf you love Me, you will keep My commandments\u201d<\/em> (John 14:15). And John said we cannot love God unless we love our brother also (1John 4:20). I think we do love each other. However, like the Thessalonians, let us \u201cincrease more and more\u201d<\/em> in it (1Thess. 4:9, 10). \u201cI want a raise!<\/span><\/p>\n

\r \t
\r \t\t\r \t\t\"\"<\/a>\r \t\t  <\/span>\r \t\tSend article as PDF<\/span>\r \t\t  <\/span>\r \t\t\r \t\t\r \t<\/form>\r <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know what you\u2019re going to say \u2013 I\u2019m never satisfied, right? Last week I said I wanted a raise in attendance and enthusiasm. Now I\u2019d like another raise \u2013 a raise in our expectations. Pessimism makes us self-defeating. If we think, \u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d then…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading… I Want a Raise! (2)<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions\/87"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakesidecofc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}