March 28, 2021

Dear ones, we are now one year into the coronavirus and God has been faithful.  The following is a reprint of From the Pastor’s Desk for March 22, 2020.

“All we have to fear is fear itself” (Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32 President of the U.S.A).  How right President Roosevelt was then, and how true that statement is today.  For many, and that includes some believers, the fear of the coronavirus has literally petrified them and they are incapable of acting in a required or expected manner.  Fear has traumatized them.

How many times in scripture does the Lord Jesus tell His followers to “fear not”? Answer:  Enough for us to get the message.  “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (wisdom)” (2 Timothy 1:7).  Paul mentions here three characteristics of the believer that will help us overcome our fear of the coronavirus or any other malady: Power, love, and a sound mind (wisdom).  These are available to us because the Holy Spirit resides in us.  Fear, my brothers and sisters, is a negative faith.  Fear says the worst is going to happen, while faith says God has everything under control.  Faith says: “For He will save you from the trap of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence.  He will cover you and completely protect you with pinions and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and a wall (Psalm 91:3-4 AMP).  Fear questions God’s word and the God of the word.  “So faith comes from hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the [preaching of the] message concerning Christ (Romans 10:17 AMP).

Dear Ones, all we have to fear is fear itself.

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Again, how faithful is our God!

Pastor J. Amos Jones

March 21, 2021

“For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6) We thank God that who He is, is who He has always been, and who He has always been is who He will always be.  He is the great I AM.  He is not subject to the whims or capricious ideas of a fickle society.  His immutability allows us to know Him in a real and personal way.  We know that He loves us with an unconditional love, therefore we can trust Him in every facet of our lives.  We know that He is Jehovah-Jireh, “the Lord provides” and will always be so.  Provides: “pro” means before: “vide”, to see.  He is the God who provides, i.e.: the God who has seen all our needs and has already met them.  Just as God provided for Abraham in Genesis twenty-two, so will He do for you in 2021.  He does not change.  The Lord said in Exodus 15:26:  “…If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians:  for I am the Lord that healeth thee.”

Just as He was Jehovah-Rapha at the bitter waters of Marah and Elim, He is still “the Lord who heals you”.  He can be to CORONAVIRUS today what He was to bitter waters.  God promised that if the people obeyed Him they would be free from the diseases that plagued the Egyptians.  Rapha means heal, restore, cure.  Healing is what God is. God does not change!  What He was, He is.  What He is, He will always be.  You can, dear ones, trust Him in everything.  He is a keeper.  Praise God for His immutability.

Pastor J. Amos Jones

March 14, 2021

In our Sunday School study, Unit II was The Call of Women.  Unfortunately we missed two weeks of this enlighten study.  Women have always contributed significantly to the work of the Kingdom, but have not always received the proper recognition.  In fact, in the Baptist Church we have bordered on female discrimination.  This, of course, is not the position of our Lord.  Jesus raised women from degradation and servitude to fellowship and service.

In Luke 8 we find women accompanying Jesus and the disciples as they travel throughout preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God.  In Jewish culture, women were not supposed to learn from rabbis .  By allowing these women to travel with him, Jesus was showing that all people are equal under God.  These women not only traveled with Jesus, they supported His ministry with their own money.  “And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto Him of their substances.” Luke 8:2-3).  Jesus elevated the status of women in the Kingdom, a direct contrast to the customs and mores of the Jewish culture. Jesus recognized the enormous worth of women to the Kingdom and this Pastor certainly shares in that recognition.

As Pastor, I am grateful and appreciative to the Father for the wonderful women of Friendship and for women in general. Lesson five gave us some insight into a certain woman named Lydia, a marvelous person who loved the Lord with all her heart.  To this Pastor, Lydia is the personification of the many women of Friendship who love the Lord with all their heart.  Women, co-laborers in the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.  To God be the glory for His marvelous utilization of Kingdom dwellers, be they bond or free, male or female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus.

Pastor J. Amos Jones

March 7, 2021

“Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?” (Amos 8:5)  These merchants kept the religious holidays, but not in spirit.  They couldn’t wait for the holidays and Sabbaths to be over so they could go back to making money.  Their real interest was in enriching themselves.  In the text, the Lord God is spelling out the hypocrisy of His people Israel and He is holding them accountable for their actions.  This passage of scripture literally reverberated in my spirit as I listened to Gov. Greg Abbot announce he is lifting the states coronavirus restrictions.  To quote the governor, “Open Texas 100 percent.”  Effective Wednesday, March 10, businesses across the state will be able to open at capacity.  Additionally, the statewide mask mandate is being lifted.  While we all want to go back to what we perceive is normal, it is the opinion of this Pastor that this is not the time to relax the coronavirus restrictions, particularly the mask mandate. It appears to this Pastor that the governor’s actions were callous in light of the 516,000 lives that have been lost to COVID-19.  In his announcement the governor said “This does not remove personal responsibility, personal vigilance is still needed to contain COVID.”  Let me emphasize the need for personal responsibility.

Dear members, let us continue to wear the mask, practice social distancing, wash your hands and get the vaccine when it is available to you.  Hear the word of the Lord: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear:  because fear hath torment.  He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18)

Pastor J. Amos Jones

February 28, 2021

Last Sunday was our designated Women’s Annual Day.  We did not celebrate appropriately because of water leaks in the building.  That notwithstanding, we praise God for Spirit filled, Holy Ghost led women, who are a blessing to the and in the Kingdom of God.  Women have always contributed significantly to the furtherance of the Kingdom.  The New Testament is rich in examples of Godly women used mightily by the Lord in the early church.  It has been this Pastor’s good fortune to have known and to know, Godly women who model the examples of the women in the early church.  What a blessing women are, and have always been! 

When this Pastor came to Friendship in 1973, there were caring, working, warm, and loving women who loved the Lord and His church, (and there still is), and sought the best for their new Pastor.  Women like Addie Lee Dogan, Minnie Ola Branch Johnson, Clara Ellis, Melvina “Susu” Ennis, Katherine Holloway, nurturers indeed, and blessed with many talents.  There were also talented workers like Verdell Cooper, Ivy Miller and Catherine Miller; and we cannot forget Julia Walton and Sadell Persons.  How faithful our heavenly Father has been.

Throughout these wonderful forty-eight years, God has always provided women who love Him and seek the advancement of His Kingdom.  This Pastor is truly grateful to the Lord for the caring, working, warm and loving women of 2021.  Women who love the Lord and are totally engaged. 

Dear ladies of Friendship: “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:  The Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:  The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”  (Numbers 6:24-26)

Pastor J. Amos Jones