“Happy New Year”! How often we are greeted with that greeting. We are told “to” but not “How to.” Here are three principles that will help the person who employs them to have a Happy New Year!

 Number One: We must have a “Kingdom mindset.” Matthew 6:22 tells us that our eyes are the “lamps” for our bodies. A pure eye allows sunshine into our souls. Stay positive. See what God has done, and is doing for us and through us.   Don’t allow your life to be governed by negative thoughts and/or deeds. Stay away from negative people. They are poison to the soul. When you can’t isolate yourself from negative people, you can always insulate yourself with the living, covering, Word of God. “Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies, for they are ever with me”  (Psalm 119:98)

 Number Two: We must “settle the God matter” in our lives. We can only truly serve one master. As Christians, we cannot vacillate when it comes to things of God. We must say with certainty, as did Joshua: “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15 d).

 Thirdly: “Get a Kingdom perspective.” Our focus should be the Kingdom of God. (His Kingdom – where the will of God is manifest in the earth realm). We must aim at, and strive after, His Kingdom and His Righteousness, for the fulfillment of our prayer: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” When we really know, I mean really know, that God is in control, that He is sovereign, that He has the preeminence in all things, then it becomes abundantly clear that it isn’t our position, but our disposition that makes us happy. The question then arises, when should we apply these principles to have a “happy new year”? Let the Psalmist give us some spiritual insight: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).

 There are three hundred and sixty-three more days in 2016. Begin each of them with the acknowledgement that God Is, and walk in Him, and you will have a happy day, and hence, a Happy New Year. Be blessed in 2016. The best is yet to come.

 Pastor J. Amos Jones

“Happy New Year”! How often we are greeted with that greeting. We are told “to” but not “How to.” Here are three principles that will help the person who employs them to have a Happy New Year!

 Number One: We must have a “Kingdom mindset.” Matthew 6:22 tells us that our eyes are the “lamps” for our bodies. A pure eye allows sunshine into our souls. Stay positive. See what God has done, and is doing for us and through us. Don’t allow your life to be governed by negative thoughts and/or deeds. Stay away from negative people. They are poison to the soul. When you can’t isolate yourself  from negative people, you can always insulate yourself with the living, covering, Word of God. “Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies, for they are ever with me”  (Psalm 119:98)

 Number Two: We must “settle the God matter” in our lives. We can only truly serve one master. As Christians, we cannot vacillate when it comes to things of God. We must say with certainty, as did Joshua: “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15 d).

 Thirdly: “Get a Kingdom perspective.” Our focus should be the Kingdom of God. (His Kingdom – where the will of God is manifest in the earth realm). We must aim at, and strive after, His Kingdom and His Righteousness, for the fulfillment of our prayer: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” When we really know, I mean really know, that God is in control, that He is sovereign, that He has the preeminence in all things, then it becomes abundantly clear that it isn’t our position, but our disposition that makes us happy. The question then arises, when should we apply these principles to have a “happy new year”? Let the Psalmist give us some spiritual insight: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).

 There are three hundred and sixty-three more days in 2016. Begin each of them with the acknowledgement that God Is, and walk in Him, and you will have a happy day, and hence, a Happy New Year. Be blessed in 2016. The best is yet to come.

 Pastor J. Amos Jones

Here we are in the waning days of the year 2015 and at the thresh-old of a brand New Year. The end of a year is a time of reflection and of thanksgiving. In 2015 we experienced challenges, some heartaches, some pain, some difficult moments, but through it all, God has been faithful!

 Psalm 91 is a testimony to the security of those who trust in God. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: My God; in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence” (verses 1-3).

 For the believer there is a “hiding place” where there is safety under the protective wings of the Lord. Know this, dear ones, Satan can’t get to you because you are in a “secret place”. In the year 2015, God kept us. The hunter’s trap or “snare of the fowler” is a metaphor for danger from an enemy. “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: The snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:7, 8). Our help, yours and mine, is in the name of the Lord. We praise God for His divine protection in 2015 and we are assured that He will protect us and never forsake us in the year of 2016. How we thank Almighty God for all He has done, and is continuing to do, in our lives. To Him be glory, now and forever.

 H A P P Y   N E W   Y E A R!!

 Pastor J. Amos Jones

Barbara Dillard!

 What a wonderful and gracious lady. Although this Church has suffered a profound loss with the passing of Sister Dillard, yet the mere mention of her name transports one to a very pleasant place. A place of class, caring, goodness, grace and family. Might I also add, a place of femininity and Christian womanhood.

 Sister Dillard loved this Church and it’s Pastor. She was a seeker. One who would delve into the richness and fullness of God’s word to broaden her understanding of the triune God. To the end that “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear” (Proverbs 25:11-12)

 Sister Dillard sought the wisdom of God that she might impart it into the lives of others, and especially the young people of our Church. We indeed owe her a debt of gratitude for possessing that which is so uncommon and that is “Common Sense”.

 We are grateful to God for the life and legacy of Sister Barbara Dillard, good member, good friend and classy lady.

 Pastor J. Amos Jones