Throwing The Baby!

Good Monday Morning To You!

How is your week beginning? I am told that about one third of the country is dealing with snow. Are you one of those? Here in south west Florida we do not get snow, but it can get quite cold. Last Wednesday morning our wake up temperature was 44 degrees. I know some of you are dealing with much colder temps, but to us 44 is a cold 44. I had my furnace set on 68, and it kicked on.

Once before I wrote about my mom’s parents, Ruby and Austin Emery. They were the only grandparents I knew because dad’s folks died in 1945, and 1952; I was born in 1954. Unfortunately, my Papaw Emery died in 1960, so I didn’t have him very long. As the oldest grandchild, I am the only one who remembers him. Mamaw, on the other hand, lived to a ripe old age. She has only been gone eleven years.

Mamaw Emery had a bit of a problem with my sense of humor. She would say, “You’re a preacher. Preachers aren’t supposed to act like that.” Even saying it, I could see the twinkle in her eye. To both Mamaw and Papaw Emery, I could do no wrong. If only Howard and Alene Cooper could have been convinced of that.

I remember a time in 1980 when we went to visit her. She lived next door to mom and dad, so I saw her often. My daughter, Amanda, was two years old at that time and she had a doll she called “Baby Sister.” In fact, that might have been what the manufacturer called it. This doll was the size of a two year old child. It and Amanda were equally matched. I was in dad and mom’s living room and decided to play a prank on Mamaw Emery. I put Amanda’s winter coat on Baby Sister and carried her next door. When we walked in, Mamaw said, “There’s my baby.” I asked her if she would like to see her, and she said “absolutely.” I said, "O.K. then, here you go." I threw Baby Sister across the room at Mamaw. I expected she would jump out of her skin. Here is where the tables were turned. She let the doll fall to the floor in front of her, and said, “I knew it was a doll when you threw it. I knew you’d never throw Amanda across this room.” She then proceeded to give me the “You’re a preacher speech.” When the real Amanda came in, all was forgiven, except for the fact she did not have her winter coat on. Believe me, I heard about that too. “Precious memories, how they linger, how they ever flood my soul, in the stillness of the midnight, precious sacred scenes unfold.” (Precious Memories, copyright 1966 by Stamps-Baxter Music. Written by J. Wright and Lonnie Combs)

As yesterday was what many churches call “Advent,” I felt it proper to develop a series of messages leading up to Christmas. It was “Expectation Sunday,” so the message followed that theme. I am not following the Advent schedule precisely as the Protestants and Catholics do. I am doing a “Baptist version.” I will be preaching the following messages on the subsequent Sundays leading up to Christmas. They will be “Proclamation Sunday” on 12/8, “Preparation Sunday” on 12/15, and “Exhilaration Sunday” on 12/22. If you cannot be with us at Friendship Harmony, be sure to view the videos which are available on Tuesday mornings. You can see them at www.facebook.com/friendshipharmony. You do not need a Facebook account to watch the video. The notes are below for your Bible study use.

First Sunday of Advent - Expectation ©
Genesis 3:14,15
1st in a series of 4 By Victor Cooper
11/29-30/13

Intro: Advent means “coming.” The birth of Jesus was the first advent; the first coming of Christ. Although most Baptists do not use the term “advent,” they certainly believe it. We call it Christmas.
Question: Why was Christmas necessary?

I. Man had sinned. V6
A. Their expectations were too low.
1. The tree would make them wise.
2. A high expectation would have been to understand that God’s wisdom was all they needed.
B. Their expectations had become clouded.
1. “… it was pleasant to the eye…”
C. Their expectations were self focused.
1. The tree was both good for food and pleasant.
2. It was also off limits.

II. Man became separated from God. V23-24
A. Eden was where they had enjoyed fellowship with God.
B. They were jolted back to reality
1. There were driven out
2. God’s curse was validated.

III. God still cared for man.
A. God cursed the serpent. V15
B. God made provision for them. V21
C. Even cursed, the ground would still provide. v17
IV. Man’s expectation was introduced. V15
A. “..I will put enmity between thee and the woman…”
B. “It shall bruise thy head.”
1. It indicates a deadly wound.
2. A heel wound is not deadly, only crippling.
Bible Knowledge Commentary: Satan would cripple mankind (you will strike at his heel), but the Seed, Christ, would deliver the fatal blow (He will crush your head).

V. Man’s expectation was a deliverer. V15
A. This is the first prophecy in the Bible.
B. It pointed to the first coming of Christ.
C. The Messiah will come. Genesis 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Conclusion: Isaiah 46:4 ESV says, “Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you.” This is our hope - it is our expectation! Christmas tells us of that glorious expectation. It shouted, “Expect your deliverer to come!”


I hope this Christmas season is one of joy and happiness for you and your family. This year will be a bitter sweet time for the Coopers. This will be our first Christmas without mom. I sure miss her, but she would want us to go on and enjoy celebrating the birth of Christ. We will, but she sure loved Christmas. You have a blessed and safe week, and I’ll see you next Monday Morning With Pastor Vic!!!

Why Does God Delay?

Good Monday Morning To You!

Did you have a Merry Christmas? I hope your’s was good and that Santa was good to you. Someone asked me if I got a lump of coal this year. I wish I had! It is cold here in Florida. The winds were fierce this 47 degree morning, and it felt like 35. To some of you who are experiencing single digit temps, that might not sound too bad, but to us cracker boys, we’re freezing! I do, however love the smell of coal burning; it brings back memories of being at my Mamaw and Papaw Emery’s in my pre-school years. I also love the smell of bacon frying in the pan. It too brings back cherished memories.

The service at Friendship Harmony was tremendous. We were able to tape it, and hopefully it will be on youtube by Friday afternoon. I will send out a special blog to let you know if that indeed does happen. I will also make an announcement on our facebook page.

Yesterday I spoke on the topic, “When God Waits.” Has He ever made you a promise then seemed to delay? Why does He do that? In the message we looked at an experience in the life of Noah, and discovered when God waits, He is preparing you for service, and preparing the circumstances for you. Below are the notes. I hope they help in your personal Bible study. As always, preachers and Bible teachers are also allowed to use them. I hope they help.

When God Waits ©
Psalm 93:3,4
By Victor Cooper
12/27,29/12

Intro: Does it sometime seem like God wait’s a long time between what He tells you He is going to do, then doing it? God has His reasons and they are always right. We see from the experiences of Noah some of His reasons.

I. He prepared Noah for service. Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
A. It was a learning experience.
B. It was a testing experience
1. He was mocked and ridiculed.
2. No doubt he wondered about it all.
3. Wondering is not a lack of faith, but quitting is.
C. It was a faith building experience.
1. As his fellowship with God continued, His faith grew.

II. He prepared circumstances for Noah.
A. God directed the building of the Ark. (Read Gen. 6:14-22)
B. God rules over circumstances.
Genesis 8:20-22 And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. [21] And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every ` thing living, as I have done. [22] While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
1. He promised no more would the earth be destroyed by water.
2. He promised the seasons would continue.
3. He promised there would always be day and night.

III. He prepared a covenant for Noah. (Read Gen. 9:12-17)
A. God gave His sign: The bow in the clouds.
B. Has God given a sign to us? Definitely: the entire Godhead has!
1. God the Father gave us a sign: Jesus.
2. Jesus gave us a sign: The Holy Spirit.
3. The Spirit gave us a sign: power.

Hopefully you will be able to see this message on Friday as it was delivered at the Friendship Harmony Baptist Church yesterday December 30, 2013 in the ten o’clock service. Have a good and safe week, and if you are to be on the roads tonight, New Year’s Eve, please be careful. Happy New Year from Pastor Vic, Bess, and the entire Cooper family. I’ll see you next Monday Morning With Pastor Vic!!!

The Forgiven Unforgiving Man

Good Monday Morning To You! Pour yourself a cup of coffee, or a big glass of juice and lets visit a while. Do you know what else sounds good? Bacon and eggs with gravy and biscuits! When I was a kid, we often visited my mamaw and papaw, Ruby and Austin Emery down in Harlan Co. Kentucky. There was no better way to wake up than to smell bacon and eggs frying. Not only that, but my favorite smell in the whole world is coal burning. There in Shields, Kentucky, that was how folk heated their homes, and some had wood/coal burning stoves to cook with. My mamaw had an electric stove, but her house was heated with coal. To this day I love to smell coal burning. It brings back good memories, and takes me back in my mind to those carefree days of the little yellow haired five year old who was the apple of his papaw’s eyes. Maybe you don’t like the smell of coal burning, or maybe you’ve never smelled it. However, for me, there is no flower that smells any better. It is not so much the smell, but the memories it recalls. Psychologists call it a trigger; something that triggers a long buried memory. They say smells are strong triggers. I guess they are right, but for me, I’d love to smell burning coal once again and let it take me back to Harlan County Kentucky in the late fifties. Yesterday was a super day at Friendship Harmony. Attendance was good, and the service was very uplifting. I began a series of messages from the parables of our Lord Jesus Christ. Parable one, and there is no particular order, came from Matthew 18: 21-35. In it we see a man who owed his king an enormous sum of money. In fact, he owed so much he could not pay. The king decides to sell him, his wife and children, and all his possessions to settle the debt. The man pleads for more time, but the wise and compassionate king, who realized the man could never repay the debt, forgives it and declares him debt free. He had been forgiven much! Later that day, the man sees a friend who owes him a small amount of money, and in his gratitude for what the king did for him, he forgives his friend his debt. That sounds good, doesn’t it? That is exactly what should have happened but didn’t. The first man, who the Bible tells us was brought before his king, takes the man who owes him by the throat and demands payment. Did you catch that? One man is brought while the other is dragged. Not only does he take the man owing him a small amount by the throat, but he demands payment. When the second man asks exactly what the first man had previously asked the king, he has him thrown into jail. The forgiven man becomes an unforgiving man. If you are a born again believer, Christ has forgiven you much. Your sin was infinite and vast, and you could not pay. I told the folk at Friendship Harmony a theological fact that most Christians do not want to hear; sin cannot be forgiven! Does that statement bother you? It should, because it tells us the infinite and vast horror of our sin. Sin is a violation of God’s law. If sin was only a breaking of God’s heart, it could be forgiven. However God’s holiness requires restitution. Romans 3:23 tells us that all of us have violated God’s law, and it cannot be forgiven. Payment must be made. That payment for sin is a word called “atonement.” Scriptures tell us that man will pay for his sin in the lake of fire. Not only that, but a sinner stays in that fiery place of torment, until the debt is paid. The trouble is, man can never be in hell long enough to pay the debt: it is an eternal sentence. The Bible tells us in Rev. 14:10-11, “… he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: [11] And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night… Christian are you glad you aren’t going to hell? Your debt has been forgiven! “Hold on preacher,” you are saying, “you said sin cannot be forgiven.” That’s right, sin cannot be forgiven, but sinners can. Remember this: “All sin must be paid for. Either Jesus Christ pays for it on the cross for you, or you pay for it in Hell. Take your pick. Lots of folk don’t like that kind of preaching. I’ve been preaching forty years this month, and for the entire time I never preached according to man’s likes. I can’t see starting now. As a believer, you know about atonement. Christ has atoned for (paid for) your sin debt. If you are unsaved, you still owe God, and will until you cry out to him for mercy as the first man did to his king. Now, if Christ has forgiven you much, should you not forgive your fellow man his sin debt to you? Remember, what he owes you is paltry compared to what you owed God. The parable also teaches us that one sure sign of a grateful heart toward God is a forgiving spirit toward others. Has someone wronged you and asked your forgiveness? According to Jesus, you must forgive. Peter asked in that same chapter of Matthew how often should he forgive. Peter suggested seven times, which was four more times than the rabbis taught. Jesus told him not seven times, but seventy times seven. In other words, don’t keep score. Forgive when genuine forgiveness is sought. Scripture also tells us that when we refuse to forgive, God withholds forgiveness from us. The king in our story brought the first man back before him. Jesus concludes the parable by saying, “And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. [35] So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." Matthew 18:34-35 (ESV) Are you a forgiven unforgiving person. Don’t let it be true of you! Remember, grudges hurt the one holding them more than the one they are held against. Forgiving is Biblical, but it certainly is not easy. It takes grace from God to be able to forgive. However, the kingdom of Heaven is a kingdom of grace. God is a grace giving God. The theological definition of grace is receiving from God that which you do not deserve. Therefore, granting grace toward others is forgiving them when they don’t deserve it. To receive it all they must do is ask --- just like you did when you asked God to forgive you. I’ve enjoyed our visit this week. I hope you have as well. Maybe Miss Bessie will fry me up some bacon and eggs - biscuits and gravy would round out the menu quite well. If she won’t, I’ll just have to forgive her. I’ll see you next Monday Morning With Pastor Vic!