Monday, February 27, 2012

To Demonstrate His Righteousness

Kind of an interesting week and an interesting day; God is so very gracious to me and has shown me so very much I am humbled. Earlier this week I wrote a letter that I will be using in witnessing for Him, the letter can be found at www.biggestquestion.blogspot.com . God has shown me something in compiling this letter that has just left me without words, all though my wife would disagree, she thinks I haven’t been able to stop talking about it, but in reality I haven’t been able to come up with words even to explain it all and still can’t, even though I will try. The biggest question is; how can God be just and merciful both? The bible tells us that God is Holy and just, but the Bible also tells us that God is merciful and love. God is described in scripture as being a judge, if He were to let guilty law breakers go free He would not be just nor would He be Holy or righteous, but God is Holy and righteous (morally perfect). Now if God punishes the guilty He is just but not merciful. The bibles says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Can you appreciate the contrast here? The bible tells us, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). So you can take anyone of us, before God, we are all guilty sinners; now what we have earned for our sin is death, being cast out of the kingdom of heaven into outer darkness (hell); but the gift of God is eternal life. How can this be? How can God give eternal life to the guilty and be righteous?

Justice and mercy in juxtaposition to one another is as dark is too light, as hot is too cold, as day is too night, and as north is too south. I could continue with these contrasting analogies but I think you see my point, they are polar opposites. You can’t be hot and cold at the same time; you are either fully one or the other or neither, but not both. And you can’t be just and merciful at the same time; you are either one or the other or neither. Now God is just and God is merciful, how can this be? I’m beginning to think that the most powerful scripture in the entire Bible is found in Romans chapter 3. While the Bible is full of absolutely amazing and wonderful things throughout all of scripture, given to us by God through His Holy Spirit, you can look at multiple text on how a man is saved through faith in Jesus Christ but the explanation of this question and the reason God did it is explained in Romans 3:23-26 and it is absolutely beautiful and amazing, every time I think about this I have to just glory in God, it is so amazing and it is the Gospel.

Now the wages for sin is death, so for God to serve Justice someone has to die and be cast into outer darkness (hell); but God is also merciful. God in his righteousness and glory made a Way so that He could be just and merciful at the same time and only God could do this, because only God meets the righteous requirements of His law. God became a Man and in the body of a Man took upon Himself the just wages of sin; He died on a cross at the hand of the Romans, God the Father turned His back on His only begotten Son Jesus Christ and He died, and He was buried. He paid a price that we cannot pay and then three days later defeated death and arose from the grave. He offers us as a free gift the eternal life that only He deserved, that we receive by faith in Jesus Christ. God paid in full our fine and while it was once a fearful thing that God is just, now it is wonderful that God is just. Why is this wonderful? Because our crimes have been paid for in full and being that God is just, you legally cannot be held accountable for those crimes ever again. Yes you can and will remember your past sins and regret them. In fact Ezekiel 36:31 tells us that God will cause us to remember our past sins and loathe ourselves because of them. But, for all who have repented and put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ there is no fear of punishment! Why did God do this? Romans 3:26 tells us why, “to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” All I can say to that is Wow, what an Awesome God!


Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Dear Friend

Dear Friend;

Do you fear God? The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). What would you say if I told you that the reason you should fear the Lord is because He is good? In fact, not only is that the reason to fear the Lord, but it is the most terrifying thing in scripture. You may ask what is so terrifying about that, you probably take comfort in the Goodness of God. We all know certain people, because of some of the things they do, we consider them to be a good man or woman. That is our problem; we have a twisted way of defining who is good, we simply compare ourselves to other people. You see God doesn’t just do good things; God is good, He has no comparisons! All that is good comes from God; anything outside of God is evil. God is good! Why is it so terrifying that God is good? Because we are not! “No one is good but One, that is God” (Mark 10:18). Just take a look around this world and you will know that something is terribly wrong, it is us, we break the laws of God every day; we all do, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Since God is good what is evil cannot dwell with He who is good. Some people get angry and I have heard some question the goodness of God asking in a statement format. “If God is good how can he send people to hell?” Well my friends, people go to hell because God is good, and we are not. So let us define evil; evil is the absence of God (all that is good). So what do you have in the absence of God? Absolute evil, hell is the absence of God, the absence of good, “outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12). It is terrifying to know that God is good, because we are not. He who is good cannot dwell with the wicked, because God is good He cannot commune with the wicked, He who is good cannot call the wicked to Himself.

“He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 17:15). The biggest question in scripture is if God is a good and just judge, how does He show mercy to the wicked? If God showed mercy to the wicked He would be neither good nor just, and if He is just then He is not merciful; but scripture tells us that God is just, and God is merciful. How can He be both? That is why I cannot stop talking about Jesus Christ; the answer is in the cross of Jesus Christ. “God is love” (1John 4:8), so He became a Man, “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). He lived a life without sinning and went to the cross at the command of God the Father and took upon Himself the sins of all mankind, He bore it all, the full wrath of God for sin, the full measure to satisfy God’s anger against sin. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). God the Father, treated His only begotten Son Jesus Christ who never sinned, as if He had committed all of our sins, “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23); and offers us as a free gift eternal life with God the Father that Jesus alone deserved. He was dead and buried then three days later arose from the grave defeating death proving who He is; Jesus could do this because He is God. How do you except this free gift of everlasting life in Jesus Christ; through repentance and Faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).


Repent, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved!


Mike Peek

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Step Outside of your Comfort Zone

This past week I have been meditating and thinking about repentance and I find myself at this time thinking about fear. I guess fear has been on my mind considering that it has come up now. Yesterday a friend said to me, “Satan hates you”, and that really made me think about some things. I have been doing something over the past three weeks that most would consider to be odd. I have gone out once a week and found a corner of a busy intersection of our community and stood there with a wooden cross; with the words (John 3:16) printed on the cross beam.



I had noticed that in our community there are signs everywhere and several held up by people. You see the homeless man with a card board sign that says “Will work for Food”. You see signs from businesses, some examples I’ve seen are furniture stores advertising sales, cash loan stores and restaurants all advertising for their business. A few weeks back in a worship service at church we were singing a song called; “I surrender all to you”, the lyrics for this song are very graphic and had a profound effect on me. What I see in church today is bothersome, it has become in many aspects a people oriented business. You have consumers enter the building, they are shuttled from Sunday school to the sanctuary where they sing some songs listen to the preacher then at the end of the service pay for their consumption with what we call tithes, then go about their lives and do it again next week. I’m no church reformer and will never try to be, but on a personal level this just does not seem right, it is not what I read in scripture. You go back in time 100 years or more and take someone who knows nothing about the way we do church today and have them read the scriptures, then fast forward them to the year 2012, do you think that what we do in church today would have ever entered his imagination based solely on scripture? I am no church reformer nor will I ever try to be, what I am is a believer in Jesus Christ and I desire to honor him.

So I set out three weeks ago under much fear, with no support from anyone and in fact my friends and family that I talked to about it didn’t want me to do it; but not one person could come up with a scriptural bases for not doing it; the only reasons they could come up with was the embarrassment factor, and all of scripture was telling me to do it. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15), “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47), “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). So we are to Go and we are to begin right where we are in our own community and spread out from there.

So I asked myself where are the most people in Tyler, TX found at? And the answer I got was in their cars. All people in this community can be found at one time or another in their car. Who comes into our churches? Most of the time believers, the majority of unbelievers are outside of the church. Since standing on the corner I have seen much. I have seen believers who will smile and wave, to these the cross has given encouragement for their commute home. I have had a few people yell something out in mockery, in mockery or not, the cross had an effect on them and the message written on the cross did as well. I have seen Muslims in their traditional dress having seen a believer holding on to the message of the cross, I have seen peoples from many facets of society and all have seen the cross and the message of salvation in Jesus Christ. Yes three weeks ago when I started this I was extremely fearful, I had no man at my side but I had the Spirit of God carrying me all the way. Each time I have done this I have done so after much prayer and calling out to God for strength. I am so weak and He is so strong. Paul said; “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). So I encourage you today not to fear; God is on our side, step outside of your comfort zone and declare to the world, that there is salvation and that salvation comes through repentance and faith in the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ!


A slave of Jesus Christ,
Mike Peek

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Why I Write this Blog

I love to talk about Jesus, He is everything to me. Each week I write down some of the things that God gives me because I can’t hold them in, I have to tell. Why do I go to church; to talk about Jesus? Why do I get together with Christian brothers; to talk about Jesus? One of the things that frustrate me the most is to get together with Christian brothers and talk about everything else but Jesus. Writing this blog has given me an avenue for doing just that; talk about my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and I am so thankful to Him for that privilege. The gospel of Jesus Christ is so incredible and so vast that we could go on for days exploring it and never exhaust all; we will never fully understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. I heard something this past week that has had an incredible impact on me and has given me so many answers and caused many more questions. Psalm 111:10 & Proverbs 9:10 both say, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Wisdom is accumulated knowledge and the bible tells us that this begins with “fear of the Lord”. Why should we fear the Lord? Well the answer to that question just may surprise you. Jesus said, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). This brings up another question in addition to the first. Why should we fear God and why hell? Again the answer may surprise you.

What would you say if I told you the reason you should fear the Lord is because He is Good? You probably think I have lost my mind about now but bear with me. In fact not only is that the reason to fear the Lord but it is the most terrifying thing in scripture. You may ask what is so terrifying about that, you probably take comfort in the Goodness of God. We all know certain people because of some of the things they do we may consider them to be a good man or woman. That is our problem, we have such a twisted way of defining what good is. You see God doesn’t just do good things; God literally is Good! All that is good comes from God anything outside of God is evil. God is Good! Why is it so terrifying that God is Good? Because we are not! That’s right; it is absolutely terrifying that God is Good because we are not. Since God is Good what is evil cannot dwell with He who is Good. Some people get angry and I have heard some question the goodness of God asking in a statement format. “If God is good how can he send people to hell?” Well my friends’ people go to hell because God is Good and we are not. The definition of Good is God; just some of the attributes of God we find in scripture are that God is righteous, God is Holy, God is just, God is merciful; all of which can be summed up in God is Good. So let us define evil; evil is the absence of God (all that is Good). So what do you have in the absence of God? Hell! Hell is the absence of God, the absence of Good. It is terrifying to know that God is Good, because we are not. He who is Good cannot dwell with the wicked, because God is Good He cannot commune with the wicked, He who is Good cannot call the wicked to Himself.

Proverbs 17:15 says, “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.” So if God is Good how can He allow the wicked in His presence, if God is just how does He justify the wicked. That is why I cannot stop talking about Jesus Christ, which is why I would like to tell the world about Him. Jesus bore our iniquities, all of our sin was taken upon Jesus Christ on the cross, and He bore it all, the full wrath of God for sin, the full measure to satisfy God’s anger for sin. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). God the Father treated His only begotten Son who never sinned as if He had sinned and treats us who have sinned as if we never sinned, “for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). He could do this because He is Himself God, He could die and when He was ready take His life up again as He did three days later rising from the dead defeating death proving to the world who He is. Jesus is our scapegoat, He took our place in death and we are offered as a free gift His place in life, if you are willing to except it. How do you except this free gift of everlasting life in Jesus Christ? Through repentance and Faith, Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). So Repent and put your trust alone in Jesus Christ, following Him.


Repent and trust alone in Jesus Christ,
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Food for the Believer

I would like to write to you today about “The Gospel According to John” Chapter 4:26-42, with the main focus being, the Lord willing, on verse 34. Jesus had just declared to the Samaritan woman at the well that He is the Messiah (Christ), and He did so at the exact moment that His disciples walked up, so that all would have heard. The woman runs off leaving her water bucket and goes into the city telling all the men in the city, “Come see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” (Verse 29) While she was gone, and before the Samaritans came out to Him his disciples began to eat, for the text tells us earlier that they had gone into the city to by food. But Jesus was not eating and this bothered His disciples so they tried urging Him to eat. “But He said to them, ‘I have food to eat of which you do not know.” (Verse 32) This answer caused His disciples to talk with one another, basically saying, what is He talking about I don’t see Him eating and could anyone have brought Him anything. Then the Lord tells Him what His food is and I find this to be so telling of our Lord and so incredible because in it is what He wants us to do and He is showing us what will fulfill us.

What is food? Food is nutrients for your body, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats to fuel your body processes. As your body depletes these calories you become hungry and want to eat, then taking in food satisfies your hunger. “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” (Verse 34) So further He explains this to His disciples in having them see the Samaritans as being ready for harvest and having them reap the harvest for eternal life. I see Jesus sitting there while His disciples ate food completely satisfied in the conversation He just had with the Samaritan woman. While the text does not say that she was saved, her fruit was evidence of her repentance and faith. What did she do? She immediately went and told all the men of the city.

Jesus said: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” (Verse 34) Now what I would like to do is put this into context for us, here and now, the believers in Jesus Christ. So I would like to do this by asking and answering to important questions.

1. What is Jesus’ will for us? After His resurrection and before He ascended to the Father He said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) So His command to His believers is to preach the gospel, tell people about the good news, that there is salvation from sin and it comes through the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ.

2. What was His work while He was with us? Jesus said, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)

So now let’s take the answers to those two questions and put them into the context of Verse 34 and relate those to us. Last week I wrote a blog called “Sick of Church”. We as believers were not meant to take up space in a church pew, sing some songs, listen to a sermon, go about our lives serving ourselves, come back the following week and do it all over again. Jesus said “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) Is it a fearful thing to go, you know it is, but it is also absolutely the most satisfying thing that you will ever do. Or should I say filling, as in a meal. The will of our Lord Jesus Christ is for us to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” and His work was seeking and saving that which was lost. So our food as believers is to do His will, which is to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” and to finish His work which was seeking and saving that which was lost. The church is the locker room; it is where you go to get bandaged up after doing battle, getting encouragement from your brothers and sisters in Christ who are also out doing battle. The church is also the practice field where you receive training to go into battle. Let us all be obedient to our Lord and “Go”. Come join me in spreading the gospel to our Tyler Community, our state, our nation, and the world.



“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,”
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
peekmikeb@aol.com