{"id":15578,"date":"2025-04-18T19:07:40","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T00:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/?p=15578"},"modified":"2025-04-18T19:10:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T00:10:26","slug":"its-us-not-us-and-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/15578\/its-us-not-us-and-them\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Us, Not Us and Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Pastor John,<\/span><\/p>\n

Today during coffee morning, when you were talking about Daniel asking God to forgive\u00a0us\u00a0<\/strong>(as opposed to one person) and how Jesus takes on our suffering, I was reminded of that section of offerings in Leviticus. I remember that we have\u00a0discussed how merciful it was for God to allow an offering for the sin of the nation, and it was basically the same offering as the sin of an individual.\u00a0\u00a0But one thing that struck me today was that God wants us to think of the one body of Christ in this way.\u00a0\u00a0One person’s sin\/hurt\/love\/joy should be all of ours.<\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, if one person is hurting, we\u2019re all hurting until Jesus takes that burden.\u00a0\u00a0He wants us to be so united that if there is a burden in the body, we each feel it, and then we can feel when it lifts, and rejoice in what God has done.\u00a0\u00a0When Carrie was testifying today, I felt that burden lift off her as if it was my own.\u00a0\u00a0It’s a wonderful thing to hear someone’s testimony and know that it is God, but this additional space is feeling the testimony together for what God has done for\u00a0us<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0We can know and feel it simultaneously…together!\u00a0\u00a0And that’s how everything works with the body of Christ: right judgment, joy, happiness, understanding, etc. That\u2019s really fellowship; it’s the immediate feedback of the feelings that unite us in the Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0Because, as you have said before, the knowledge of God is in the feelings of the Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0And that makes so much sense because the Spirit is the only thing alive on earth!<\/span><\/p>\n

I feel like there have been situations in the body lately where God is trying to take all types of burdens: from burdens of biological family, earthly possessions, jobs, God’s people who are disobeying Him, from carnal thoughts, etc. It is an opportunity for each individual\u00a0to be more in harmony with God and, thus, more united with each other.\u00a0\u00a0We have to have faith that Jesus can and WILL take those burdens away from each person, then we as a body can rejoice together in what He is doing for any one of us.\u00a0\u00a0And we can also be excited to anticipate what God will do for each of us so we can have more unity together.<\/span><\/p>\n

Family is not about genealogy\/biology anymore, as it was in the old covenant.\u00a0\u00a0In this covenant, it\u2019s all about spiritual unity.\u00a0\u00a0What a wonderful family of God we have!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wendy<\/span><\/p>\n

==========<\/span><\/p>\n

That is true, Wendy.\u00a0\u00a0It is our heavenly Father\u2019s great desire is for us to see ourselves as He sees us, that is, as His family, and for us to be close enough to share in each other\u2019s joys and sorrows.\u00a0\u00a0I am ashamed of the divisions that exist in the family of God, the divisions, I should say, which exist among us who believe in Jesus.\u00a0 We are all less than we could be in Christ, because\u00a0of the divisions that exist\u00a0among us.\u00a0 We need the strength we get from one another’s testimonies and faith.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In Jesus\u2019 prayer the night before he was crucified, he said that unity among those who believe in him would be a convincing testimony to the world that God had truly sent him:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

John 17<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I am not asking for these alone, but also for those who believe in me through their word,<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. that they all might be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may also be one in us, so that the world might believe that you sent me.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    That being true, it follows that divisions in the family of God is a convincing testimony that God did not send Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0It makes it harder for people to believe Jesus is Lord if those who call him Lord are themselves divided and confused.\u00a0\u00a0That is why I am ashamed of the divisions among believers that I have known; it is a reproach on the holy name of Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0He does not deserve that from the people he has rescued from sins and death.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    If there is anything we can do to make peace in the family of God around us, may God grant us the grace to do it!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    Matthew 5<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Pastor John<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

      Tell us what you think:<\/span><\/p>\n

      https:\/\/x.com\/WitnessofSpirit\/status\/1913384464429830532<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Hi Pastor John, Today during coffee morning, when you were talking about Daniel asking God to forgive\u00a0us\u00a0(as opposed to one person) and how Jesus takes on our suffering, I was reminded of that section of offerings in Leviticus. I remember that we have\u00a0discussed how merciful it was for God to allow an offering for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15578"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15578"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15581,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15578\/revisions\/15581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}