By Mike Peek

This week I have been reading from “The Gospel According to Matthew”, and as I have done so God has opened up this telling of Jesus Christ in a new and different way. The words came alive in a way I had never seen them before and in many ways it was as though I was hearing them for the first time. Of all that I read one verse in particular that I had read two days ago stood out and I kept referencing back to it as I read on. I guess I had not really noticed it before or was just more focused on the surrounding verses. The verse that I am referring to is Matthew 16:27, Jesus is talking with the twelve, He asks them who do men say that He is, then He asks them who do they say that He is. Peter says: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Lord proceeds to tell them how He was going to suffer at the hands of the elders, chief priest and scribes, that He would be killed and be raised from the dead the third day. Peter rebukes Him and the Lord says, “Get behind Me Satan!...

This morning God gave me a message through a short passage in the gospel of Luke and it is that message that I would like to impart to you today. There is an enmity that separates the people of this world from God and that enmity is God’s law. Enmity means a wall of separation. And this wall is a daunting and impossible wall to scale for no one can climb over it, no one can go around it because it is eternal, and it is impenetrable, you cannot break it down. Many try to scale the wall and die trying, many try and walk around the wall and never find its end, and many more try to go through the wall and are crushed by it. The good news is that there is a way through the wall, a very narrow gate by which you might enter and the pathway through the wall is difficult. Most refuse to enter through this narrow gate because they are proud, and many more stray off the path because it is difficult. To enter through this gate you must be; poor of spirit, mournful, meek, hunger and thirst f...

There are two things that I would like to talk about today; love and sacrifice. These two words are deep in their significance and meaning, they are a totality of scripture in a wonderful summary. They are so simple, yet so extremely difficult. These two words are both defined by the world and by the Bible, with the definitions in contrast. If you were to take all of scripture as incredibly vast as it is, it can be summarized in love and sacrifice. The first message is this. God loves you, so love God and other people. How is God’s love demonstrated to us? On the cross, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God does not love you because you are lovable, God does not love you because you are good, God does not love you because you are someone great, God does not love you because of your beauty, God does not love you because you are desirable. God loves you because He is love, “God is love” (1 John...

God had recently led me to read the Bible in 90 days. In the week following I prayed to Him and reflected over what I had read the preceding 3 months and God showed me a couple of different things. As you read the Word of God this rapidly you see things a little differently than you do when you focus on specific passages, you see the overall plan of God unfold before your eyes. Just a few words about the Bible, 2 Peter 1:21 tells us in talking about the Bible that “holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit”. In other words God used these men as instruments to write His Words. Just like you would use a pen, pencil, or computer to write what you want to convey to someone else, God literally used these men to write His word. The Bible is written by men inspired by the Spirit of God, it is literally God breathed, the Bible is God’s Words given to man. The Bible is amazing; it is 66 books, written over a period of 1500 years, by 40 different authors, on 3 different ...

Recently God had me do something that I thought was carrying on with the same but in reality it was something much different. I have read through the Bible cover to cover several times and have read through the New Testament more times than I know, but recently God had me do something a little different. He had me and a couple of other men read His Word in a rapid way. Beginning on the first of September 2011 we were to read the Word of God from Genesis 1:1 to Revelations 22:21 over 90 days. I came to repentance and faith in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in May of 2003, so I began following my Lord at that time. One of the things that He has had me do as His disciple is to read His Word daily. His word is quite literally the food for my soul. Before becoming a believer I was in the church on and off, I read the Bible some and even knew many scriptures; but the Bible was to me a book to read. Sure I believed in God and even believed in Jesus Christ but did not have the Spirit ...

If you do not believe in God who are you giving thanks to? We in America on the 4th Thursday in November celebrate an annual holiday called Thanksgiving. Most in this land celebrate this holiday, but what is it they are celebrating, is it Thanksgiving? I say to you if you are not giving thanks to the Lord you are not having Thanksgiving. Sure you are celebrating something; many celebrate time with family, many enjoy the parties feasting and food, many celebrate their wealth and prosperity, and for many more it’s shopping and buying things. It is a celebration for sure but is it Thanksgiving? The first official Thanksgiving service was given on May 14th 1607 near Jamestown Virginia. You may notice that I said service because that is what it was; it was a service in remembrance and giving of thanks to the Lord. There would be many such Thanksgiving services throughout the American Colonies, the most Famous of which is at the Plymouth Plantation of The Pilgrims in 1621. The lives...

I have enjoyed memorizing, meditating on, and writing about my Lord Jesus Christ as given to us through “The Gospel According to John”. I have reached a point in this gospel where the stories become larger, some more so than others. For example, I have begun to memorize John chapter 4, the story of the Samaritan women at the well takes up the first 26 verses of this chapter, then Jesus teaching His disciples about the harvest takes up the next 12 verses, then a shorter story comprising 4 verses of the Samaritans believing because of the testimony of the Samaritan women. Each of these stories vary greatly in size some are short, some are long; since it has been set before me by God to memorize, then meditate on these scriptures before writing about them, some changes will have to be made going forward which I think are good, because it will give me time to take in all that God has for us in this wonderful gospel. I typically memorize about 4-5 verses a week, since the first full sto...

I have been in a trial this past week and through this trial I have relied on my God, Jesus Christ; He has lead me to Psalm 17 which I have held onto all week and specifically verse 15. I have heard a lot of brothers and sisters in Christ over the years talk about their life verse, I however did not have one. Throughout the word of God there are a multitude of scriptures that I hold dear to my heart and many which stand high above others. Earlier this week one of my brothers in Christ who knew I was going through a trial sent me an email message by Max Lucado called “Contentment”. In this message Max Lucado asks the question: What if God’s only gift to you were His grace to save you? Would you be content? I pray to my Lord daily, I lift up to Him all the concerns of my life continually and I believe with faith that He hears all of my prayers and will answer them. As I told you earlier I have been undergoing a trial this week that has particularly hit me hard. Just like many of ...

(He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony as certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. ~John 3:31-36) Jesus is the Son of God, the creator of all things. John Chapter 1 told us that He was in the beginning with God and that He was in fact God, and that all things were made through Him (Ref. John 1:1-6). That He became flesh and dwelt among us, that God Himself became flesh. The Holy Spirit of God came upon Mary (a virgin) and she conceived and bore a Son and that Son was Jesus. N...

(John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ’, but, ‘I have been sent before him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He most increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.” ~ John 3:27-31). Sometimes or should I say often times we as humans want things that have not been given to us, often times we want recognition and that recognition is not granted us. We seek after the things we want and forget what has been given to us, we desire the things that someone else has been given and forsake what we have been given. John the Baptist is a great example of humility in action. He had gone o...

“After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and where baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison. Then there arouse a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—Behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him.” ~ (John 3:22-26) So now we continue with the Gospel According to John in Chapter 3. Jesus had finished His great dialogue with the Pharisee Nicodemus in which He imparted His Gospel, then departed Jerusalem and came into the land of Judea. We find Jesus and His disciples out in the land of Judea baptizing and teaching many, with many people coming to Him. It is estimated that this may have been a period of six months in which Jesus and His d...

“No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that h...

“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is e...

(“Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” ~John 3:7-12). As Jesus and Nicodemus talked, Nicodemus must have had a look of shock on his face because Jesus said, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” Also I can picture this conversation happening outside where there was a nice cooling breeze, and then Jesus says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where i...

(There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water, and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” ~John 3:1-6). Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews, which tells us that he was a respected man held in high esteem in the land of Judea among the Jewish people, and probably a member of the council, the ruling religious authority in Jerusalem. The Pharisees, as a group of pe...

(So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. Now when He was in Jerusalem, at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. ~John 2:18-25). Today I am going to talk about the last 8 verses of John chapter 2 completing my memorization of John chapter 2; God has shown me much through this chapter. I have had struggles th...

(This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him. After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise. Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”) ~John 2:11-17. Last week I wrote about Jesus changing water into wine and showed you how this miracle was a miracle of creation showing that this man Jesus of Nazareth was in fact the creator Himsel...