To our graduates, CONGRATULATIONS!  You have achieved a significant milestone in your life.  How proud we at FMBC are of you.  This, of course, is the first step in the marvelous, yet challenging, journey called life.  You have demonstrated the overcoming spirit necessary to accomplish whatever you choose to do or to be.  With that in mind, I need not remind you of the importance of making good choices and wise decisions.  Early on you were taught the necessity of making wise choices in life, knowing that there are consequence for your actions.    As you prepare for the next phase in life, set your sights high.  For you know that you can do all things through Christ who gives you overcoming power.   Remember, you are blessed.   

And to the Retirees.  Our Heavenly Father has been gracious to you.  And here you are, RETIRED!  You’ve waited a long time and the Lord has brought you to this time in your life.  There are those who would say, “this season of life”.  Personally, I prefer “this segment of life”.  As an illustration, there were three “segments” in the life of Moses, servant of the Most High God.  Segment one, forty years prince of Egypt; segment two, forty years shepherd and Nomad; and segment three, forty years prophet and lawgiver.  It was during the last segment of his life that we see the greatness of Moses.  It can be, retirees (recent and /or longtime), that during this segment of life you can be, like Moses, the most effective for the Lord.  Be blessed as you serve Him in your retirement.

Pastor J. Amos Jones   

May 2, 2021

There are times when words seem so inadequate, so incapable of conveying the heart’s message.  Even the most learned etymologist would experience difficulty in articulating appreciation and gratitude for the acts and deeds of the loving people of Friendship.  On today we share with the Greeters their Annual Day.  What a great group of people, who contribute significantly to the expansion of the Kingdom of God.  On this day we recognize the Greeters, and as such, we all share with them their core ministry.  Today, we are all Greeters.  In a much larger sense, the Greeters are part of the whole, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body:  so also is Christ” (1^st Cor. 12:12).  How thankful we are to God for the Greeters, and we appreciate their faithfulness to the Kingdom.  The same can be said concerning the choir, the Missionary Society, the Brotherhood, the deacon’s and trustees, the ushers and each and every member of the Friendship family.  To simply say “thank you” for all the awesome work and deeds that Friendship members do for the Kingdom, and for this Pastor and his family seems totally inadequate, however, it does convey the hearts message.  To the Greeters and to all of Friendship:  THANK YOU! and “The Lord bless you, and keep you:  The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you.  The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”

Pastor J. Amos Jones

August 25, 2021

“Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry” (Amos 5:24 NLT).  For many the recent guilty verdict in the case of the state of Minnesota vs. Derek Chauvin has been a source of great jubilation and a time of celebration.  For this Pastor it is a time of reflection and prayer.  We live in a time of superficial religion, and complacency, where there is the oppressing of the poor and a failure to acknowledge God.  This Pastor can remember the murder case of Emmett Till and the Rodney King assault case. When we as a people fail to honor and value human life, irrespective of race, (ethnicity), there has to be the realization that everyone answers to God.  All people, every person will have to account for their sin.  Derek Chauvin will have to account for his sin, his inhumanity to George Floyd.  While this one case is a step in the right direction, our heavenly Father has said He wants to see a “mighty flood of justice”.  Dear ones, to have that kind of justice we must turn to the “Just One.”  Let’s start here:  “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5, 6). For there to be a “just” judicial system there must be a “river of righteous living that will never run dry”. Let me close with this:  (1 John3:7) “Little children, let no man deceive you:  he that doeth righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous.”

Pastor J. Amos Jones

April 18, 2021

Question?  Are there times when we should not obey the government?  We should never allow government to force us to disobey God.  We are instructed to “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.  For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisted the ordinace of God:  and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.  Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?  do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:” (Romans 13:1-3).  Jesus and His apostles never disobeyed the government for personal reasons; when they disobeyed it was in order to follow their higher loyalty to God.  We who are believers, possess dual citizenship.  We are citizens of the United States of America, and importantly, we are citizens of the Kingdom of God.  It is the responsibility of every believer to do his/her best to make the state better.  We must learn that politics is not a dirty word.  As believers, we must elect Christian, or other higher principled leaders to public office.  That’s right dear ones, we must vote in every election.  Research the candidate and vote wisely.  Moreover, my brothers and sisters, you are salt and you are light.  If Christians make no effort to affect the world around them, they are of little value to God.  When authorities are unjust, good people are afraid.  Verse three refers to authorities who are doing their duty.  When these officials are just, people who are doing right have nothing to fear.  As the “Functioning Church”, we must “occupy until He comes”.

Pastor J. Amos Jones

April 11, 2021

An arrogant, self-absorbed, young man came to an old sage with an intriguing question.  You see, it was the intent of the young man to embarrass the old man who was known for his wisdom.  The young man came to the sage and said, “Old man, the bird I have in my hand, is it alive or is it dead?”  The young man had said to himself, “If the old sage says the bird is alive, I will immediately crush it, and it is a dead bird and if he says the bird is dead, I will open my hand and allow the bird to fly to freedom.”  The old sage answered with the wisdom that only comes from God, “Young man, the life of the bird is in your hand.  You control whether the bird is alive or if it is dead.”

Dear ones, if I may draw from that story, much of our lives are in our hands.  In Genesis 1:26, we are told that: “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness:  and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”  Our Heavenly Father has given us dominion, the right to rule and to reign with Him.  Let us understand that “We have been raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:” Be blessed as you walk in the awareness of almighty God.  

Pastor J. Amos Jones