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.

DOORWAYS

9/27/11 "Keep evil at bay TODAY," was a thought bantered around at H2H last week. Sounds easy enough but when it comes to making right choices in a fallen world, not always so easy---especially those kudzu thoughts. They start with just a simple crack in the doorway to your mind. Soon they take over. So what's one to do?

Erect a wall of faith. Brick by brick. Cemented with God's word. Similar to Isaiah 28:13 when Isaiah built his hearer's knowledge of God's truth "precept upon precept, line upon line" in order that they might not have to fall backwards, be broken or snared. Which is sadly what happened when they didn't build on simple truths. Their wall of faith crumbled. Where was the cornerstone of their faith? (Isaiah 28:16) Eventually the cornerstone of their faith was rejected. (Psalm 118:22) Theirs was not a stable edifice. They opened the door to deceit and closed their ears to righteousness.

An open doorway to an unrighteous mind can start with just a toehold of complaint, bitterness, resentment or anger.

Simple two point answer of what one is to do: build a wall of faith through the study of God's word; don't open the doorway to your mind to impure thoughts. Stop them at the threshold. If it opens slam the door loud and clear with the truth of Scripture.