WElcome to 2011

Good Monday Morning to You. Happy New Year as well!! I hope this upcoming year brings you lots of good things, and God’s grace to deal with the bad. What do you want to talk about this new year? Family? Hopes? Plans for the upcoming year? It seems like a new year offers all sorts of new opportunities. Many people make resolutions. I heard on the news the other night that resolutions made and kept up to Valentine’s Day will likely be successful. I made a resolution to make no resolution until I needed to. Often throughout the year we can find some areas of our lives that need tweaking. For me it is weight loss, however, I started that last year and to date I have lost nine pounds. I do not need to resolve to loose pounds, so I will stay the present course. In the near future, I’m sure their will be something else I’ll have to take care of. My point is I’ll take care of it when the need arises --- not before.

Jesus taught us to live in the moment. In Matthew 6:34, Jesus said, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” In other words, taking care of the things of today will keep you plenty busy if you attend to them properly.

Yesterday was another banner day at Friendship Harmony Church. The attendance was extremely good and the Spirit’s presence was so obvious. I’m honored by everyone who walks through the door, but to have the LORD Himself meet with us is truly a gift of grace. He doesn’t have to make Himself felt at our Church, but He does so because He chooses to --- that is grace! That was the point of my message yesterday morning. I preached from 2 Samuel chapter 9. There we hear King David express the desire to do some act of kindness for any member of former King Saul’s family.

In that day whenever a new dynasty took over, the new king would search out any remaining members of the former king’s family and have them executed. That would keep them from making any claims to the throne. David discovered Saul’s son Jonathan, who had been a close friend with David, had a son who was crippled. David restored all Saul’s land to this man, whose name was Mephibosheth, and declared that from that day forward, Mephibosheth would eat at the king’s table. What an honor. What grace! Here is a man who was part of the “wrong family” and one who was useless as both a soldier or a servant, but David showed grace. He did not have to, he chose to. Mephibosheth’s name means, “dispeller of shame.” That is just what happened. The shame that Saul brought upon his family caused by his rebellion against God was gone. David had restored honor to Saul’s family through Mephibosheth.

This is a beautiful picture of the grace shown to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. Like Mephibosheth we were part of the wrong family. We were born in sin, meaning we were part of Satan’s family. Jesus chose to make a place for us at His table and declared that we would eat at that table with Him forever. What an incredible blessing. He did not have to, He just did. As Job said, “Blessed be the name of the LORD”

Have a good, safe, and healthy week. Feel free to either add a comment at the bottom of this page or send me an E-mail at preachercooper@hotmail.com. You may leave a prayer request, offer a praise report, or ask a question if you’d like. I enjoy writing these for you, but I also enjoy when you write back. Feel free to just chat if you’d like. Tell me what has been going on with you lately.

I’ll see you next Monday Morning With Pastor Vic!!