Church Fellowship

"The church as God’s ordained institution headed by Christ. The church is composed of all believers, and is organized for worship, for fellowship, for the administration of the sacraments, for spiritual growth and support, and for evangelizing the world."

The invisible Church are those who have faith in our Lord but one cannot discern who are a part of His invisible Church. However, Jesus and the disciples founded a visible Church and we see the formation of that Church in the book of Acts. This Church is the Catholic Church and is the self-same Church that Jesus prayed that we would all be one within. Otherwise as professed Christians and not being obedient to His Church would place us outside of His will, blessings, promises and grace; if not fully but in great measure. Those outside of His will would be those that some describe as "playing" at Christianity and not following Jesus.

There are some outside of the visible Church which some call a "remnant" that are not be on the path to the narrow gate but may be saved by God’s mercy. These are those who seek God but are deceived into being outside of His visible Church by no fault of their own. While not a part of the visible Church they can be considered a part of the invisible Church. So, Jesus and the disciples formed a visible Church as we see after Pentecost recorded in the book of Acts and it could be said that there are those known only to God who are a part of that visible Church against their will or knowledge that will be received in Glory to be a part of the Church Triumphant. But, as one can see in Scripture this is not the ordinary way to be saved through His Church but as an extraordinary example of His mercy.

The gates of hell will never prevail against His visible Church because of the protection of the Church by the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost. The Church is other worldly and heavenly in its nature and is endowed with its holiness and veracity from its founder Jesus. Jesus gave His promises to His visible Church so that the world could see the testimony of His Church as the pillar and ground of the truth and a shining city on a hill (Mat 5:14) It is the will of God that all should be saved by and through His Church as it is the Church that was commissioned to spread the Gospel throughout the world both corporeally and individually. The Church is a refuge and the Ark from the sins and temptations of the world. It is heaven on earth where Christ dwells in the Tabernacles and is worshipped. So if the visible Church ceased to exist it would make Jesus a liar and a pretender as the Messiah and Savior of the world because all of His promises would be proven false.

Unity requires that there be a knowledge and physical manifestation of that unity. That is the Catholic Church which is the visible Church. The invisible Church does not represent unity because it is known only to God which may be unified in faith but not in purpose.

The purpose of the Church is its testimony in spreading the "good news" to the world. That requires a visible unity. The world will never know if those who are in the invisible Church are preserved but the visible Church will always be the witness to the world that it remains after empires and governments have fallen, political ideologies have been born and died and false and counterfeit religions have come and gone. It is a testimony that Jesus is God of the Trinity and that His will be done on earth as well as in heaven regardless of the snares of Satan and His lies against humanity.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

Then who is Jesus to you. An angel? In Hebrews it says:

"Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they."
(Heb 1:4)

And who created the Heavens and the Earth?

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
(Gen 1:1)

And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who CREATED all things BY Jesus Christ:
(Ephesians 3:9)

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by HIM were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by HIM all things consist.
(Colossians1:13-17)

Jesus existed from the beginning, not from the time he was born as a man. Jesus was glorified by the Father after he was resurrected. Jesus submitted to the Father in the perfect example of what a follower of Christ should do.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
(John 1:1)

The Word is Jesus. Through the word all things were created.
The word was with God from the beginning. The word was God.
It can’t be any clearer to me that Jesus is not an angel, or a man, or some guru. It is clear to me that Jesus became flesh so that in the flesh he could show himself to be perfect, dying on the cross for our sins, so that the Son of God would be glorified.
So don’t let corrupt doctrines say that Jesus is just an angel. Jesus is the Son of God having a Father by conception of the Holy Spirit.
Just because some corrupt church called God "Trinity" does not mean that you are a pagan for believing that Jesus is the Son of God.

Jesus is God and the Bible contains the truth.

It would be difficult to explain everything in a short answer.

I would suggest you visit the below website. You will get all the answers, for the below questions and many more.

1) Did Jesus really exist?
2) Is Jesus God?
3)Why should I believe that the Bible is accurate, or the word of God?
4) What is the Holy Trinity?
5)What is so special about Jesus? Why cant I just view him as an ordinary man or a teacher or a prophet? Why should I see him as God?

http://jesustrinity.blogspot.com

I have been accussed of having a demon, what do I do?
This is a serious question: I attend a pentacostal church, there is a pastor there who I believe habors a slight attraction towards me. We had a guest preacher the other day who talked about "move mountain move" and a man standing next to the pastor pointed to me and then pointed to the door and everyone saw this. Now no one speaks to me, I am not invited to fellowship anymore. Why are they doing this. I dress very modestly as oppossed to many other women in the church there who are dressed very seductive like but I don’t. I am involved in ministry. I have had several men of the church and just random people from there driving by my house at night and in the morning. I really used to love this place but now I am miserable, everything is wrong at my job now my church and it is the only thing I look forward to each week and if I have to leave I think I will be crushed…. HELP!

Well, they were wonderfully helpful and supportive. You might need to find another church, but you’ll probably be better off without those kinds of people.

I was under the impression that this church welcomes the gay community, Is this true of false?

http://www.efcakron.org/
says
We are an open and affirming church. Our congregation consists of christian lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight persons of various ages.

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Any straighter from the horse’s mouth and my hand would be wet.

i have heard of it. i think there is a church in anchorage but definitely where i live.
i dont believe men are apostles except the chosen 24 in the LDS church.
i believe men can call themselves apostles if they think they are called by God. but they are not ordained with authority to speak for HIM
Micah 3: 6, 11
Ezek. 22: 28
28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken.

Jer. 29: 8
8 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.

Acts 16:
16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:

Have you heard about the World Council of Churches (WCC)?

What do you think of them? Is your church a member?

The following is from their website: http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=1637

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is the broadest and most inclusive among the many organized expressions of the modern ecumenical movement, a movement whose goal is Christian unity.

The WCC brings together 349 churches, denominations and church fellowships in more than 110 countries and territories throughout the world, representing over 560 million Christians and including most of the world’s Orthodox churches, scores of denominations from such historic traditions of the Protestant Reformation as Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed, as well as many united and independent churches. While the bulk of the WCC’s founding churches were European and North American, today most are in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific.

For its member churches, the WCC is a unique space: one in which they can reflect, speak, act, worship and work together, challenge and support each other, share and debate with each other. As members of this fellowship, WCC member churches:

* are called to the goal of visible unity in one faith and one eucharistic fellowship;

* promote their common witness in work for mission and evangelism;

* engage in Christian service by serving human need, breaking down barriers between people, seeking justice and peace, and upholding the integrity of creation; and

* foster renewal in unity, worship, mission and service.

1 John 2:15 " Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

Is it wrong for a Christian to just want to be by themselves? I don’t really feel that comfortable socializing especially with people I don’t know. I like doing my own thing. When I’m with others I have a hard time getting to know them and just being relaxed. I’ve always been like this, and fellowship with other Christians is hard for me.
There is a huge age gap in my church. Everyone is either too old, too young, or they are married and have families. I’m 32 and single, and I feel like the black sheep. I’ve attended the youth group at my church a few times, but I feel awkward around a room full of teens, although it’s better than being with most of the adults..
Can I still just go, enjoy the service, be a good Christian without having to socialize? I rarely even go out with family or friends..so it’s nothing against them…I’m just a private person. Should I feel bad about this? …Because I kind of do!

Lol, you sound exactly like me! Which is why I do most of my ministering through the gifts God has given me and I pray for people and I minister on the internet. Being anti-social.. is..well.. Let me put it this way. We are to minister to others to spread the word of the Lord and if you are anti social or shy or afraid to talk to someone about the Lord then you’re not doing your job as a Christian and anything that stops you from doing your job as a Christian is only the devil! I say only because our God is so much greater than satan which is why I don’t capitalize satan’s name at all. However satan is much more powerful than me or any of us alone but when we stand with God we can as it says in the bible “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen." – Matthew 21:21

Are Masonry and Christianity able to exist together. The S.B.C. says no, but does nothing to correct the fact that thousands of men in their convention are Masons. Hireling pastors are to cowardly to preach against Masonry for fear of loosing their “job”. How will men know that Masonry is an evil association filled with occult symbols, and blasphemy, if we don’t expose it. If they are truly converted, they will choose to leave it, if they are warned about its occult influence.

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The Rt Reverend Michael Curry invites you to “Bring Your All” to St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church where all are welcome.

For more information about St. Christopher’s, please visit
www.st-christopher.org or call us at 336- 869- 5311.

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Vacation Bible School at Sierra Grace Fellowship in Auburn, CA. The theme was “Operation Space”. BLAST OFF!!

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