{"id":7173,"date":"2016-04-05T23:16:31","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T23:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pjhmail.wordpress.com\/?p=7173"},"modified":"2016-04-05T23:16:31","modified_gmt":"2016-04-05T23:16:31","slug":"so-blessed-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/7173\/so-blessed-2\/","title":{"rendered":"So Blessed!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

I saw a sign today, a large billboard advertising a local church and claiming that this church was the birthplace of a local County, and also of a local University. \u00a0I then considered the significance of us, the body of Christ, knowing that we are not the church, and that the church is not the body of Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

What that billboard is really saying is, “Praise the church”, “You need the church”, “You need to be a part of the church, and to revere and submit to those who hold a place of authority within it”. \u00a0Men rule over God’s children in that place, with no authority from God to do so. \u00a0My, what a resemblance to Satan’s fatal mistake, in his desire to, “be like the Most High”.<\/span><\/p>\n

I cannot recall ever hearing a healthy member of the body of Christ calling lost souls to the body. There is no earthly door for which a man can enter into Christ’s body. \u00a0Jesus is that door, and all that the body of Christ can and should do, is point to Him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you, Jesus, that we are free from that heresy! \u00a0 Thank you that we know you are not there! \u00a0That is huge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It made me consider what it means to, “be made merchandise of”. \u00a0Merchandise is the inventory with which a business entices someone to do business.<\/span><\/p>\n

What merchandise just our little group would make for the church if God condemned us to such a fate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our liberty and peace, knowledge, music, freedom and power, paraded in front of lost souls – only to draw them into lifeless darkness that offers none of these things.<\/span><\/p>\n

It takes my breath, considering it.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are so kept by God! \u00a0These thoughts make me love people very much. \u00a0I am so thankful for that today.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Pastor John, I saw a sign today, a large billboard advertising a local church and claiming that this church was the birthplace of a local County, and also of a local University. \u00a0I then considered the significance of us, the body of Christ, knowing that we are not the church, and that the church is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7173"}],"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=7173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}