Men want to control their lives – it’s our training and our nature.  We are raised to be independent.  Most men are taught to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.  “Be a Man!  Life is what you make of it!” we’re told.  We are taught early-on that we can author our own destiny; we can be the captain of our soul, the master of our own fate – flawed teaching.

 Men want to control their own lives.  To “be a man”.  Even if we were not taught to seek independence, which most of us were, our own human nature gravitates in that direction.  We want the freedom to chart our own course.  We want the power to shape the events of our lives.  These are the hallmarks of our desire to be independent.  But, too often in our effort to be self-reliant, we move away from God and go our own independent way.

 There is a marked difference between taking responsibility for our lives and trying to live independently from God.  We are to take responsibility for our lives – no one will go to work in our place, no one will pay our bills on our behalf.  The difference is this:  Responsibility fully recognizes our part and God’s part.  Our part is to trust God and faithfully fulfill our duties.  God’s part is to provide for all of our needs and well-being.  Independence rebels against the influence of God, thinking it can meet its own needs.

 The independent man thinks, “I want to do what I want to do, when I want to do it, wherever I want to do it, with whomever I want to do it.  I want to be in control.  I want to satisfy my ambitions.  I don’t want to be dependent on anyone.  People let me down.  God will let me down.  I can make it on my own.  If I can be independent, then I can be in control of my own life, I will have the power, whether through money or influence, to get my own way; I will have the freedom to come and go as I please.”

 The opposite of desiring to be independent from God is to trust Him.  Hear what the Prophet Jeremiah tells us about trusting Him:  “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.  They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water.  Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought.  Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit.  (Jeremiah 17:7-8 ‘New Living Translation’)

 Be blessed Brethren, as we live responsible, yet dependent upon Him, lives.

 Pastor J. Amos Jones

HAPPY  FATHER’S  DAY!

On today, we celebrate and honor all fathers.  Be it our natural fathers or our spiritual fathers, we thank our heavenly Father for every one of you.

 We praise Him for your love, your wisdom, your fatherhood.  We thank God for how you carry out your duties toward your children.

 The following is a listing of Biblical duties of fathers: 

• Love Genesis 37:4
• Command Genesis 50:16
• Instruct Proverbs 1:8
• Guide and Warn I Thessalonians 2:11
• Train Hosea 11:3
• Rebuke Genesis 34:30
• Restrain 1 Samuel 3:13
• Chasten Hebrews 12:7
• Nourish Isaiah 1:2
• Punish Deuteronomy 21:18-21
• Supply Needs Matthew 7:8-11
• Provoke Not Ephesians 6:4

 Be blessed on this your day fathers, as you emulate our heavenly Father.

 Pastor J. Amos Jones

In the very recent past, the Friendship Church family has experienced the reality of death in a very personal way.  Death, of whom the Bible declares is “the last enemy that shall be destroyed.”

 Dear Ones, it is comforting to know that Christ will reign until He has put all enemies under His feet.  We then can join the Apostle Paul in declaring:  “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8:38, 39)

 God loves us with an everlasting love, as evidenced by how He will take a perishable, dishonorable, weak (and sinful) body – “a natural body” characterized by sin – and in the resurrection make it an imperishable, glorious, powerful body, fit to live eternally with Him.  The reality is, in the midst of life, there is death.  Therefore, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”  (2 Corinthians 1:3, 4)

 God!  The source of our comfort, provides comfort for us that we may comfort others who are in trouble.

 Be blessed as we follow Him.

 Pastor J. Amos Jones

In the very recent past, the Friendship Church family has experienced the reality of death in a very personal way.  Death, of whom the Bible declares is “the last enemy that shall be destroyed.”

 Dear Ones, it is comforting to know that Christ will reign until He has put all enemies under His feet.  We then can join the Apostle Paul in declaring:  “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8:38, 39)

 God loves us with an everlasting love, as evidenced by how He will take a perishable, dishonorable, weak (and sinful) body – “a natural body” characterized by sin – and in the resurrection make it an imperishable, glorious, powerful body, fit to live eternally with Him.  The reality is, in the midst of life, there is death.  Therefore, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”  (2 Corinthians 1:3, 4)

 God!  The source of our comfort, provides comfort for us that we may comfort others who are in trouble.

 Be blessed as we follow Him.

 Pastor J. Amos Jones

It is easier to build strong children than it is to repair broken men.  This vision statement adopted for the Youth Church is a recognizable reality, but it is also a biblical principle.

 We are grateful to the Lord for the great kids of Friendship.  We celebrate them and their many accomplishments.  As they enter the next chapter of their lives, I have twelve things to say to them:

•  Good going !!!
• GREAT !!
• FANTASTIC !!
• EXCELLENT !!
• WONDERFUL !!
• WOW !!
• Good Work !
• Superb !
• Congratulations !
• I’m very proud of you !!
• Keep it up !!
• I knew you could do it !!!

 Pastor J. Amos Jones