“What you see is what you get.”  Heard that before?

Dear Ones, please know that statement is conditional.  It is dependent upon who controls “what you see.”  If the one making the offer is Satan, the grand adversary of God and man, I can assure you that you will not get what you see.  You see, Satan is the master illusionist.  He is “the deceiver of the whole world.”  (Revelations 12:9)

It is the intent of Satan to defeat the divine plans of grace purposed by our Heavenly Father for His creation and to seduce men to evil and their ruin.  Hear St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 2:11:  “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us:  for we are not ignorant of his devices.”  The Deceiver will show you and me that which is not best for us and not in the Father’s will.  The illusion is “this is good for me.”  May I tell you “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Dear Ones, stay in the Father’s will.  Let Him give you the “good and perfect give.”  Be strong as you walk in Him.

 Pastor J. Amos Jones

If you are, unfortunately, a person who is afflicted with the character trait of being “tight” with your finances, I have help for you.

First of all, let me define “tight”.  The word is a fifth ward euphemism meaning:  “one who is stingy or miserly.”  (We were not conversant with words like parsimonious, niggardly or penurious, but we knew tight).  Being “tight”, stingy or miserly is not God’s way, nor is it how God would have us live our lives.  God is the God of abundance.  Hear the Word of God.  “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.  For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”  (Luke 6:38)

The ability to overcome being “tight” is found in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian Church, Chapters 8:1-9 where he addresses the matter of the collection of money for the poverty-stricken Christians in Jerusalem.  In discussion, the churches of Macedonia, Paul giving the true principle of all Christian giving.  In verse 5 of chapter 8, there is the key “first gave their own selves to the Lord.”  It is astonishing the difference that God’s grace makes in the lives and attitudes of His people.  When you first give yourself to the Lord, His will becomes your will.  A spirit-filled person realizes that he/she is a steward and that God is our Source.  Freely, we have received, freely give.  “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will He pay him again.”  (Proverbs 19:17)

To overcome being “tight” give yourself to the Lord and He will direct your path.

Pastor J. Amos Jones

As we approach Church Anniversary “78”, this Pastor can see in this Church a people that the Lord calls sanctified.  Not because they are without fault, but because they have a relationship with Christ.  Success was the Church of God at Corinth.  Paul writes to the Corinthian Church to instruct and restore the Church in it’s areas of weakness.  He says to them in 1^st Corinthians 1:2, “Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ called to be saints,”  They were set apart for the Lord, declared holy through faith in Christ’s atoning death on the cross.

The Corinthian Church had “positional sanctification” and it is quite clear from verses 4-7, they were gifted.  That notwithstanding, they were in need of massive doses of God’s Word.  How important it is for any Church, (Friendship included) to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  The desire of the child of God is found in Psalm 119:33, 3 “Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statues; and I shall keep it unto the end.  Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.”

Friendship, you are gifted saints of God.  To fully fulfill our calling, to be all that God has ordained us to be “teach me the way of thy statutes”:  (Sunday School, Mission, Brotherhood and Bible Study), “Give me understanding” (Prayer and Teachers meetings).

Friendship, the resources are available, in year “79”.  My prayer is we will avail ourselves of that which the Father has provided that we may be what He wants us to be.

 Pastor J. Amos Jones