FELLOWSHIP HERE & ABROAD!

Fellowship Focus---Whatever the Bible version, v19 uses many different words to describe believers and many aspects of fellowship shared by believers of Jesus Christ regardless of nationality or Christian affiliation. 

Photo from Cornerstone House, Hungary 1997

Koszikla = Hungarian for Cornerstone

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (EPHESIANS 2:19-22, NIV)

• God's people--members of his household (NIV)
• Fellow citizens with the saints (ESV)
• No more strangers and sojourners (ASV) 
• No longer strangers and foreigners (ISV)
• No longer called outcasts and wanderers (The Voice)

Fellowship is built on Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone, (NIV), with the cornerstone being Yeshua the Messiah himself (CJB).

*Searches in many of the 100 versions and a few of 50 languages at BibleGateway.com enriched my understanding of God's people and Jesus Christ as the cornerstone for believers.

STEADFAST!

I love my steadfast bookmark! 

Not only for its  beauty and "steadfast reference" to its biblical context of being firm, unwavering and resolute in purpose, but for me it's the verse included that speaks to my heart. 

1 Corinthians 15:58 (NASB95)--Therefore, my beloved brethren be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your work is not in vain in the Lord.

The verse is so memorable to me because it was given to me in in 1997 in a gymnasium in Budapest, Hungary. Cots were spread out for us to sleep on until there until we could leave to travel to Kővágóörs, a village of 900 inhabitants. We would be at Cornerstone House, near Lake Balafon to teach English as a second language. 

Wide open showers were  provided in the gym but not a single shower curtain. Not to worry..... as a "just in case" gal I had packed a shower curtain. Plus, friend Pam had sent a large jar of peanut butter with me & I became everyone's friend because I had American peanut butter

A gentlemen helping us unload asked if this was a first time mission trip on a foreign field for anyone.  I raised my hand. That's when he gave me the note with the verse to encourage me to "keep on keeping on" in the work of the Lord!

That verse continues to speak to my heart.

July 16, 2015

Patti Lauren Johnson 

January 4, 1951-July 16, 2015

Nothing bonds the household of faith together quite like serving the Lord side by side----and in this case, on foreign soil.

A 1997 mission trip to Hungary is how I first met Patti. My first trip, her third. She was the veteran, I was the newbie. I was frantic, she was calm. I only knew a few on the team, she even knew some of the Hungarians. None of that mattered, as I discovered, because....we, as members of the household of faith, were all in it together---to share, along with English lessons, the good news of the One who was the "cornerstone of our faith." Patti did it well. I followed.
Oh, what a team we were at the Cornerstone House in Kővágóörs Hungary!

1st row l-r--Cindy E. Suzanne C. Cynthia G. Patti J. (I stood behind Patti)
2nd row l-r Jane M. Bill B. Garland T. Mike H. and Steve C, our leader

Most recently, I have spent the last month with Patti as she walked the final days of her cancer journey. I was not the only one from the "household of God," who came to minister to her and that was encouraging to both of us.
When I was asked to speak at her upcoming funeral, I wondered what I would say about the life of this quiet, gentle, beloved daughter of the Lord. And then I knew----share what she taught me about both living and dying as one who remains faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22, ESV)

For Christ was the "cornerstone" of her faith.......from the day I met her, until the day He took her home---July 16, 2015.