Interestingly, this word for FELLOWSHIP is: κοινωνία
koinōnia
koy-nohn-ee’-ah
From G2844; partnership, that is, (literally) participation, or (social) intercourse, or (pecuniary) benefaction: – (to) communicate (-ation), communion, (contri-), distribution, fellowship.

If there is therefore any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any FELLOWSHIP OF THE SPIRIT, if any tendernesses and mercies, then fulfill my joy, that you may be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. Do not let each man look upon his own things, but each man also on the things of others.
(Philipiansp 2:1-4)

Bonus Q: Is the "fellowship of the mystery", also revealed in "the fellowship of the Spirit"…(Who searches ALL things, yea, the deep (hidden) things of God)?

Thank you very much for considering this Q. and for sharing your truth seeking answers! : )

I hope you ALL have a very Happy New Year….as we join in the "fellowship of the Spirit"…where we may all say to God… "Happy You Near"! : )

This is an interesting version, the NKJV. I checked a few others ( Darby, NIV, RcV, ASV, AMP) and the translation for the word ‘ Fellowship " in the NKJV is seen as " Plan, Administration, Dispensation, Economy"

The Greek word, oikonomia, means house law, household management or administration, and derivatively, administrative dispensation, plan, economy.

God’s mystery is His hidden purpose, which is to dispense Himself into His chosen people. Hence, there is the economy of the mystery of God. This mystery was hidden in God throughout the ages, but now the New Testament believers, having been enlightened, are able to see it.

Within the Godhead, there was this Fellowship, this Oneness and a heart’s desire to create Man and that this Man would contain Him, be filled with Him, express Him and exercise His dominion on the whole inhabited earth. This was not in an individual man, but as we see in this verse in Ephesians, this image and dominion is seen in the Church as the Body of Christ. All the multifarious wisdom of God is seen in and through the Church.

One day we were all damaged by sin, and had no hope in this world. We were alienated from God in every way. The whole of creation was in a condition of ruin and under Satan’s usurpation.

But Praise the Lord! God, who had a fellowship, a plan,a purpose deep in His being, that included us. Even though Satan came in to frustrate God’s purpose, God would NOT be deterred. Satan thought that he had man under his bondage and damaged man to a point of no return. But God came in to rescue us, redeem us, bring us back to our rightful position before Him. He came into us as the Spirit and in this Fellowship of the Spirit, we who have believed into God have been made ONE with Him for His plan, His purpose, to meet His goal.

Today, we are Joined to Christ who is the Head. As His Body on the earth, we enjoy the fellowship of the Spirit and have been brought into the fellowship of God. This mystery is that God has taken hopeless sinners, and regenerated them, daily sanctified them, transform them from glory to glory, they bear the image of Christ and THROUGH this One New Man, made up of Christ as the Head and the Church as His Body, ALL Of God’s wisdom is shown to the authorities and rulers in the heavenlies, that ALL things WOULD be headed up in Christ. No longer would the whole of creation be in a state of ruin and turmoil. But all things, those things in the heavens, on the earth would be headed up in Christ. He will gain the preeminence, and have the FIRST PLACE in all things. God does this through the Church.

Satan thought he won. He did not KNOW or SEE this mystery hidden deep in God’s heart. He did not realize that the man he ruined would be redeemed, transformed, conformed and glorified as the ONE NEW MAN. That through the Church as the One New Man, God would carry out His fellowship, carry out what has been in His heart.

God has joined Himself to man, dispensing His very life and nature into us, filling us and we can stand with God on the earth, to bring all things in order.

Ephesians 1:10
Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him;

May we continue to take care of the Fellowship of the Spirit, to keep the Oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. Caring for what is on God’s heart by holding to Christ as the Head. We will be richly supplied with all that Christ as obtained and attained. We lack nothing.

God is gaining what He had mysteriously hidden in Himself since eternity past. It is realize in us today as the Church. What a mercy to be in such a place!

Would you explore other religious thought to find the methods by which God could be approached as a friend and companion?
Would you let a Hindu teach you meditation, or read the Bhagavad Gita for a description of what God is like?

How many people would feel as if they were doing something forbidden to even explore other religions?

I have done that and would always recomend that anyone who is serious about finding God should do the same. I have a friend who was a monk in a Christian Order and he prayed with all his heart to be drawn closer to God and within a couple of days he was directed to Paramahans Yoganandas ashram in California. And he immediately knew he was Home. He followed that Saint for four decades and when he died he did so in a state of Bliss, knowing what would follow and assured of the Love of God.

I would not trade the path that has opened for me for anything for it has led to peace and joy I would never have known through the misunderstandings of my early years in the Christian Churches I grew up in. I was raised in an orphanage so that we children went to whichever church our housemothers belonged to. I went first to a Presbeterian then to a Methodist, then a Southern Baptist and then Luthern. After that it was Religious Science and then Greek Orthodox. When I was five I was baptized by Paramahansa Yogananda and it took another thirty years for that to take hold and turn my life into a spiritual path. I am forever grateful for the teachings of dozens of Masters and Saints and Incarnations of God who have guided me toward spiritual joy. And I have only touched the hem of It’s robe.

Namaste’

There was also mentioned men must have short hair but if you read your bible, Samson had long hair and God gave specific instructions to keep his hair long. Women must be modest is the best way to instruct young ladies. If you go back to the strongs concordance it will explain what is modest. It does not say women has to wear dresses. Because a woman can wear a dress that flows tight to the skin and you can see every curve they have but yet covering every inch of her body. So is that modest?

I think we forget why Jesus came down to this earth for. Why did God send His son to save us. A lot of churches dwell on their doctrine and not on teaching love, kindness, hope, tenderness. Don’t get me wrong but doctrine is good but if we focus on all of our faults, we get discouraged and run from the church. A church is like a hospital, all the sick comes. If we weren’t sick then there won’t be anyone in the church. We all need fellowship with our brethern of our faith. We forget to take the needle out of our own eyes when we are looking to talk bad about someone else.

Remember faith without works is dead. We can go to church all day but if we don’t work at our faith to do right thing what God wants us to do then our work is dead.

Hello! You ask a very good question and I’ll what I can to help you understand why we believe what we do concerning apparel.

Deuteronomy 22:5 establishes (along with other verses) the *principle* of sexual distinction and separation. Even critics of our position acknowledge cross-dressing is prohibited. Hence, at the very least, how one dresses is relevant to our Christian testimony.

Some object that standards have changed and that it has become fashionable for women to wear pants. However, one must, to be historically accurate, acknowledge that trousers were originally worn by cavalrymen and men in general for generations *until* society began to move away from biblical morality to embrace secularism.

Men and women wore robes when the Bible was written (as everybody knows). That, however, is not the point. Whatever is culturally associated with men and women should be avoided by the opposite sex. As aforementioned, trousers were originally designed for use by cavalrymen and rapidly became everyday attire for men. While women continued to wear robes and dresses, men wore trousers for generations. It is only when women began to move *away* from their biblical responsibilities that they clamored to wear trousers. As more and more women began to occupy jobs traditionally held by men (especially during World War II) they correspondingly began to regularly wear pants. Once it caught on, it became a permanent fixture in Western fashion. It doesn’t take an Einstein to observe that Western society has NOT grown more spiritual, but precisely the opposite. Role reversal is one of the components that has propelled the breakdown of the family and we would do ourselves well to avoid that pitfall.

Christianity was generally uniform with respect to modesty and cosmetics (when Christianity had far more influence in society) until the advent of those "godly" Hollywood movies and that "anointed" television. When make-up wearing, immodestly attired actors became celebrities, churches began to abandon modesty wholesale. They used the oft-repeated canard, "Times have changed." No, times didn’t change; the world changed and they wanted to go along (they still do).

Even in our decadent society, restrooms all across America have a figure wearing a dress on the door of a women’s restroom (in many instances, without a corresponding ‘Women’ by the symbol), and the men’s restroom has a figure wearing pants. So, no, pants are still for men and modest skirts/dresses are still for women. Sound, godly principles haven’t changed, but our society *has* changed — for the worse. This is all the more reason the church should stand out as a bright beacon to a lost world and should avoid at all cost associating ourselves with the fashion and styles of the world.

I agree that one can overemphasize appearance. That, however, does not refute Biblical teaching. The fact some overemphasize dress does not imply dress is unimportant. The Bible instructs us to be modestly attired (I Timothy 2:9, I Peter 3:3), so it is certainly not "silly" to insist Christians should be modest in dress — unless one thinks the Bible is silly.

One final note with respect to Samson. I find it ironic they who decry Apostolic standards will object that Deut. 22:5 is in the Old Testament (meaning, of course, it can be safely ignored), but they will immediately jump to the same Old Testament to justify long hair on men. Space does not allow elaboration, but suffice it to say that context demonstrates such was the **exception** not the rule for Israelite men (see Eze. 44:20).

If you would like to discuss this further, feel free to email me.

There shouldn’t be anything wrong with talking to fellow Church-goers after the Church Service, but your fellow Church-goers shouldn’t be the focus of you going to Church and your focus during Church services.

I know that we wish each other peace during Mass at Catholic Church after the Priest asks us to do so after proclaiming how Jesus wished His disciples peace (and naturally us also). But, as for all the other parts of the Mass, we concentrate of that and not on socializing or observing others (although, sadly some do).

I’ve just really noticed your last sentence, "Church is about God, not about how nice the people are, should i just tell them that it’s not right for us and find a new church?". Well, you seem to somewhat know what you are talking about. If really the Church-goers are more centered on themselves than the fact that Church truly is about God, than yeah, I would suggest you leave that Church.

There are over the counter lotions that are very good, you can also use olive oil or just plain petroleum jellie. Be sure to drink plenty of fluids.
Antihistamines (per okay of doctor) might help with the allergies and a visit to the eye doctor might help your dry eyes.
Have some alone time every day to do something just for yourself , something that makes you feel good. Most churches have people that make home visits, you could watch TV religious programs or read books.
If anything you need to give 100% of your capability for your children.

"Come and see" . .
http://www.revivalfellowship.org/contacts.asp

Just a thought.

My husband and I are are going down a very long road of choosing the right church which so far has taken up four years of our lives. All we want is a church we feel that we belong to and are infact belonging to a family of caring, loving believers, who we can share, encourage and build our faith alongside our walk with God. A place where our 2 children can be happy, they can also grow and learn in thier faith with other like minded children…a place we can serve. We also feel that if we have any problems that we can turn to God/church for help. In four years we have visited 9 churches when we first moved into our new home. We stayed at 1 church for 4 months and the other for 3 & 1/2 years. We are a mixed race family in a predominantly white neighbourhood, we don’t feel particularly at ease with our current church as the preacher is so hung up on moving with the 21c that he actaully said all street preachers should be shot..(his words)amongst other things towards preachers from other denominations. and this is the most livliest church in our area, however the preaching and the worship is fantastic. the fellowship at my church is really…really bad, my husband says the people in his office are far more friendlier than those at church. We are normally a proactive couple who will talk to anyone, however we are very lonley in our current church.

I visited a church today a stones throw away, good preaching, they do sing hyms 18thc, and very old fashioned, I felt stuck in time, but more relaxed than my contemporary, 21stc century moving forward with the times church, however they don’t involve women in the work , and the childrens work is pretty thin on the ground.

I really need some genuine and honest insight.
I am so unsettled in my spirit…is there something I, or we are doing wrong?
Hi Sonichro, do you know you could be right although I had hoped that we weren’t in the business of looking for a perfect church as I do realise each church is not without fault. However…and interestingly enough, the church I visiited today’s message was about looking to God for answers, and following his leading and not our own.

Thanks again for your reply.

Sounds like your relying on yourself to find the perfect church. What I mean is you are looking for what the Church is able to provide you. Your spirit will remain unsettled until you decide to go where God has called you. All the factors your looking at are irrelevant when compared to God’s purpose. Your family could be called to bring a dying church back to life. God could be calling you to a place you don’t necessarily want to go. Trust in the Lord with all your heart…………you know the deal. Be Blessed