Sunday, July 31, 2011

Hello from Cincinnati!!

Good Monday Morning To You!

Hello from hot, Hot, HOT, Cincinnati, Ohio. Yesterday marked the fifteenth day in a row of at or above 90 degree temperatures. In two more days, a new record for consecutive days of 90 degrees will be set. The old record dates to 1901. However, before I proceed, I know many of you have been praying for me, and also Bess and the family. First, I want to thank the LORD for allowing me to go on a little further. I also want to thank the doctors and medical staff at the Bethesda North Hospital for the fine care I received. Not only was it top quality, but you could sense genuine human compassion from these good people as well. It is no wonder I chose to be born at Bethesda 57 years ago! I also thank Brenda Conley, and Bill Wolfe for keeping everybody informed. Thanks goes to my family who is even now my best support system. Finally, I thank each of you for your prayers, calls, cards, and E-mails. I was told I was being prayed for from as far away as France. Wow!!!

One thing I learned was how important a visit from the preacher is when you are in the hospital. As a pastor, I have made thousands of hospital, care facility, and at home sick calls. I knew the visits were appreciated, but I had never really considered that those visits were valued and treasured. However, when I became the patient, I quickly saw it from another perspective. I received visits from the hospital chaplain, Thad Griggs, another Southern Baptist colleague. My mom’s Pastor, Brady Clark, stopped by to visit and pray with me. Two of my dearest friends, Pastor Jim Rankin and Pastor Norman Patterson along with their wives, Lisa Rankin, and Chris Patterson came by. Each of these visits was to me a gift more valuable than gold. It sure seems different when you are the one lying in the bed looking up instead of the one who is above the bed looking down.

You do not have to be clergy to bless someone with a visit. Do you know of someone who is confined due to illness, or even age? Plan to make a trip one day soon to see them. Phone calls are nice, and cards are fine, but nothing beats that face to face visit. Go see someone this week.

I have my final cardiology visit here in Cincinnati today at 10:30a.m. Bess and I plan to make our way back to Florida on Tuesday morning. Please pray for our trip; poor Bess will have to do all the driving. Perhaps next week I can tell you a bit more about our journeys, which included visits to some of the winter friends of our Church. My the Lord Jesus bless each of you, and I’ll see you next Monday Morning With Pastor Vic.



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Monday, July 25, 2011

Update on Pastor Vic

Good Monday Morning to you,

This is Michele, Pastor Vic’s oldest daughter, we just wanted to give you a report on dad.

I would first like to thank everyone for their prayers and support for my family, it means the world to us. While we had a few very scary days last week, it appears that Pastor Vic is on the mends. The LORD has heard all our prayers and my dad's doing much better.... He is expected to have surgery on Tuesday (tomorrow) when they will put in the defibrillator to keep his heart pumping. He does have an infection in his blood, so that date is tentative and could change.

If you would like to stay up to date on any news concerning Pastor Vic, please visit the Friendship Harmony Baptist Church's Facebook group. Brenda Conley is doing a wonderful job updating everyone, so you can be sure to get the latest information. (Thank you Brenda.) Again, thank you so much for your prayers and well wishes....please continue to pray that his surgery goes well and he and Bess can start home.

That said, hopefully dad will see you next week on Monday Morning with Pastor Vic.

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Sunday, July 17, 2011

On The Road With Pastor Vic

Good Monday Morning To You!

First, to answer a question many of you have asked: What happened to the Monday Morning Blog last week? On Thursday of last week Bess and I left for a two day conference sponsored by the Florida Baptist Convention. It was very good, but rained cats and dogs the whole time. I had planned to write the blog on down time, but I was exhausted after each daily session. On top of that, the motel had no internet service. We spent a few days on the road and went to stay in some friends of ours condo in Moncks Corner, South Carolina. We got to go and visit Charleston S.C. From genealogical searches my daughter Amanda and I have done, we think the Coopers first came to this country through Charleston. We know that two families of Coopers came ashore here. The first was an aristocratic family, who was part of the House of Lords in the British Parliament. They were wealthy land barons. The Cooper River was named after them. The second family was servants; not slaves, but servants. What I need to find out is were we descendants from the group that got off the boat with their noses stuck up in the air, or were we the ones carrying the luggage. I can tell you at this point, it does not look good.

Friendship Harmony had two good services while we were away. I heard that yesterday’s service was very good. My thanks to our Director of Missions, Everett Rafferty, for sharing the names of these pinch hitting pastors. Our people had good comments to say about both. I do not have their notes to share with you, but I have reached back to last September to the second message I ever preached at Friendship Harmony. It was called Together In The Boat. I wanted our people to know that this new ship we found ourselves in had Jesus on board with us. With Jesus on board, no harm can befall you. Here are those notes.

Together In The Boat
Mark 4:35-41
By Victor Cooper
09/01,03,04/10

Intro: As you navigate the seas of life is Jesus together with you in your boat? He was with His disciples in their boat, and even in a fierce hurricane type storm, because they were together with him, everything turned out fine.

I. They were together in their efforts. V37
A. Several of them were experienced shipmen.
1. Undoubtedly they tried to handle it.
2. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
A. God gave you the ability to learn what you know. He expects you to use it.
B. Some situations are outside your realm of expertise.
B. The Bible does not elaborate on how hard they tried, but they were together in agreement, “We cannot handle this!”
1. They were correct. Jesus addresses the storm using the same words He used to cast out demons.
2. Jesus likely knew this storm was satanic in origin.
Cf. Job 1:19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men…

II. They were together in their prayer. V38
A. Hear their desperation in their cry.
B. Their prayer was an attempt at manipulation.
1. They attempted to shame the Lord into delivering them from the storm.
2. A simple, “Help us Lord we’re perishing and we don’t know what to do,” would have been sufficient.
C. Jesus honored their unity of prayer. Matthew 18:19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

III. They were together in their growth. v40
A. Jesus questioned their cowardice.
B. It was a great object lesson in faith.
C. Jesus taught them that as long as He is onboard all will be well.

IV. They were together in their worship. V41
A. In stilling the storm Jesus assumed the authority exercised only by God in the Old Testament (cf. Pss. 89:8-9; 104:5-9; 106:8-9; 107:23-32).
—Bible Knowledge Commentary
B. They would soon know in their hearts what they now knew in their heads!

Conclusion: Are you together with Jesus onboard your boat? If not, why not invite Him aboard! All He is waiting for is an invitation from you.

I hope you have a good week. I will tell you a bit more about our trip into the Carolinas next week. I’ll even tell you how I found myself in Virginia, quite unprepared for. I’ll see you next Monday Morning With Pastor Vic!


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Monday, July 4, 2011

Change Happens

Good Monday Morning to you. Happy Fourth of July! America’s birthday, officially known as Independence Day is traditionally known as the day of family cook outs, parades, and fireworks. This year marks year number two hundred thirty five of our breaking away from Great Britain. How do you plan to spend the day. My trucker son Kevin is home for a week and he loves to fire up the grill, so steaks will abound at our house. Three of my four kids will be here, but I wish Amanda and her family as well as my mom, brother, and his crew could come as well. Oh well, maybe one day…..

Last Wednesday Bess and I, along with Bill and Pat Wolfe and Brenda Conley got to go to Tampa to see the Cincinnati Reds play the Tampa Bay Rays. To round out the day, the Reds won. I was real impressed with the Ray’s Stadium, Tropicana Field. It was my first experience of seeing the Reds at some place other than Crosley Field, Riverfront Stadium, or Great American Ball Park, all homes of Cincinnati. I could not believe how many Reds fans were at Tropicana! Not only that experience, but Tropicana Field is a domed stadium. I’ve never watched a baseball game indoors. It was different, but I enjoyed it. I wish Great American Ball Park had a dome, although it is pretty cool to sit in the stands and see the traffic out on the Ohio River.

You will notice I named three Reds fields. Crosley Field gave way to Riverfront Stadium which in turn gave way to Great American Ball Park. There was nothing wrong with Crosley Field, but they changed. I’ve seen many good games at Riverfront, but they changed again. For good or bad, better or worse, change happens! My sermon yesterday talked about change. The title came from a sixties pop song titled, How Can I Be Sure? I first preached this message in February of 1995 at Calvary Baptist Church in Cincinnati. I updated it a bit, and preached it again. Updated. Is that a synonym for change? Did even it change? With all the changes in life, the song’s question is legitimate: How can I be sure; in a world that’s constantly changing? The 2011 version of the sermon notes are below. I hope you find them helpful.

How Can I Be Sure?
Malachi 3:6
(Read text at place marked)
By Victor Cooper
2/5/95 --7/2/11

Message goal: To help people see that the only true assurance is in Jesus Christ.

Intro: There was a pop song in the 60’s that said, “How can I be sure, in a world that’s constantly changing?”

There is an answer to that question!

I. When I was a child, there were no:
1. Micro Wave Ovens
2. Velcro fasteners
3. Fax machines
4. On star communicators
5. PC’s
6. CD’s
7. Ipods
8. Open heart surgeries
9. Heart stints
10. Surgical lazers

II. As some of these things made life easier and better, spiritually people got worse.
- In my childhood:
1. The number one problem in schools was gum chewing.
2. Street gangs were more obnoxious than dangerous.
3. You could understand the words to a song.
4. Vulgarity was not seen or heard on TV, radio, or movies.
5. Dancing didn’t look like an act of perversion.

III. Scripture teaches that there will be change.
A. 1 Cor. 13:8 says that:
1. Prophecies shall fail
2. Tongues shall cease
3. Knowledge shall vanish away.

i.e. change happens!

If change is inevitable, then ,
Q. “How can I be sure, in a world that’s constantly changing?”
A. *** text *** Malachi 3:6, “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”
Change should not cause us to fear because Christ is changeless! [This is the doctrine of immutability.]

Q. How can I be sure, in a world that’s constantly changing?”
A. 1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We can be sure because our victory is in Christ Jesus, our LORD.

Q. How can I be sure, in a world that’s constantly changing?”
A. 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
Israel faced change, but was sure because of the Rock.

Q. How can I be sure, in a world that’s constantly changing?”
A. Luke 6:48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
Sing together: This Rock is Jesus, yes He’s the one.
This Rock is Jesus, the only One.
I’m very sure, I’m very sure,
My anchor holds, and grips the Solid Rock!

Conclusion: Hebrews 6:19-20 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast,… even Jesus, made an high priest for ever…

Have a safe Fourth of July, and a good week. Miss Bessie and I have a Bible Conference to attend later this week up in Orlando. I say up, because from our home, Orlando is north. I’ll let you know about it next week on Monday Morning With Pastor Vic!


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