The closer I become to my Lord the more I’m divided as a person. Let me explain; yesterday I wrote something on my facebook account after experiencing a death, this may help to clarify what I mean. “In Christ I find myself an emotional mess (wreck may be a more accurate word). I have inexpressible joy for the cross and extreme sorrow for the lost. We as believers must stop ignoring hell and start proclaiming the only cure, there is but one way.” One thing I have found to be true as I walk with Jesus and learn from him is this, if you are born again, you will not remain as you once were, He will change you. God has no intention of leaving us in our carnal, unregenerate state, He is transforming us, transforming us to be like Jesus; this process is not an easy one.
I have periods everyday when I am so overwhelming joyful for what He has done for me. Allow me to explain this through 1 Corinthians 5:21, “He (God the Father) made Him (God the Son) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (God the Son) (Parenthesis mine). It’s like this; I am a guilty criminal, God the Father punished His Son for my crimes and Jesus willing took that punishment on my behalf and now through faith in Jesus I am made right with God for all of eternity. I have believed in Jesus for some time now, but I am really just beginning to truly get just a small understanding of what He did, this is amazing, and why would He have done that, I most certainly would not have. The gospel is incredible, it is so vast a human being will never fully grasp the magnitude of what God the Father and God the Son did, amazing.
I also go through periods everyday where I mourn and lament for the lost. I love my fellow man and the thought of many of these people being separated from God for all eternity in a place called hell is sometimes more than I can bear. What is even more burdensome is that so many people in this country think they have eternal life because at one time in their life they said a prayer asking Jesus into their heart. An unbiblical practice that has no foundation in scripture, it is but a tradition of men. What does the bible say, repeatedly? Repent and believe in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Thank God I do not bear this on my own but bear this in Christ. Hell is a real place of torment, where there is no relief, and is separated from all that is good. Hell is spoken of using descriptive adjectives, outer darkness, flame, where the worm does not die; this is because heaven and hell are spiritual, we do not have the capacity within our carnal minds to understand. But I do understand this, it is eternal, it is awful, and you don’t want to be there.
This brings me to something that I just cannot wrap my head around; I just cannot figure this out. How can so many people fill our churches believing in heaven and hell, singing praises to Him, holding hands up high, studying His word, then never step out the door and warn anyone, and tell them that there is good news; this makes no sence to me at all, I don’t understand it. Listen to these words of Paul in talking about Jesus coming from heaven with His angels, “dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Is He righteous, to send those who don’t obey His gospel and believe in Him to eternal destruction, away from His presence and the glory of His power? It is absolutely righteous, because they are criminals who have broken His law, the Creatures laws. He is the potter we are the clay, the clay does not get to tell the potter what it thinks or what He the potter should and can do. And He would have been just as righteous to have punished me the same way, but He justified me by His blood, and saved me from His wrath by His grace through faith in Him. Every single person on earth has but one life to live, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27), and also knowing “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Why in all of creation would I not go warn people of sin, righteousness, and judgment; then tell them of the magnificent, wonderful, glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Can anyone explain to me why, this makes no sence? My conclusions as to why this might be are frightening to say the least, and listed in order from most prevalent to least, but I think sadly all exist just the same.
1. Unbelief - Many Christians don’t really believe in hell, I think they do this because the alternative is to frightening for them to bear. Just as unbelievers suppress the truth about God as seen in creation as proclaimed in Romans chapter 1, many suppress the truth about hell because they simply just don’t want to believe there is a hell. They have no problem believing in a loving God who would save sinful man, but refuse to believe in a righteous God who punishes sin. The problem is you cannot read the New Testament, especially the gospels and get that impression from the bible, the words of Jesus are very explicit on the doctrine of hell.
2. Disobedience – They want to do what they want to do regardless of what they have been commanded to do, busy with all the stuff of this life so they don’t have time to go out and tell others about the gospel. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15) He didn’t say after you’re done with all your stuff. In the parable of the sower from Mark chapter 4, there are four types of soils (or hearts) in which the word of God is sowed. The seed that falls beside the road never enters the church; the seed that falls on rocky ground come into the church then later leaves, there are two types that remain in the church. The seed that fell among the thorns and the seed that fell on good soil. The seed that fell among the thorns explained: “These are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Mark 4:18-19). The seed that fell on good soil explained: “they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold” (Mark 4:20). Sadly I think that the seed that fell among the thorns describes the majority in churches in America. The problem with that is there is no such thing as a non-fruit bearing Christian. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned” (John 15:5-6).
3. Fear of Man & loving oneself above others– Evangelism is fearful I will give you that, every time I step outside the door to evangelize the gospel I do so with much prayer and much fear and trembling. So it boils down to this, you are more concerned for yourself than for the well being of another person. Did Jesus not say, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)
4. Hatred – This one sounds horrible but I think it may be true for some, none the less. Some may not witness because they really do not want certain people to be saved. In heaven all will be together as one, “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice saying, Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Revelations 7:9)
Whenever I head out to evangelize the gospel; with the cross, witnessing, tracting an area, or open-air preaching, I usually tell people on my facebook account what I’m doing. The reason for this is I am going into battle, and I need all the weapons possible at my arsenal in fighting spiritual battles, if anyone at all would be willing to pray for me and the lost it makes all the difference in the world, and to just know that someone is with you prayerfully is more comforting than you can imagine. I also made a request when I announced that I was going to start doing this, that if anyone was willing to go with me to contact me. So I put this on my facebook for this reason. The biblical evangelism community to my surprise is incredibly small and spread out; I have gotten the pleasure of meeting a few of these brothers and a couple of others by telephone and email correspondence. God willing I will meet many more of these brothers at SuperBowl XLVII in 2013, Lord willing as we join arms and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in the city of New Orleans during the SuperBowl weekend festivities.
What do I mean by biblical evangelism? Brothers and sisters in Christ who go out into the highways and byways of the world and preach the gospel the way Jesus and the disciples did. Using the moral law of God to bring the knowledge of sin; then telling them about Jesus, His life, death, and resurrection, the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As you go through scripture you will see Jesus and the apostles give the law to the proud and grace to the humble. Unfortunately, there are those who have been put in place by Satan to give the street evangelist a bad name, and to close the ears of the unsaved before they even hear the good news. Men that preach condemnation, and never the good news of our Lord, preaching hate filled, judgmental, accusatory accusations to people they don’t know or have never even met, preaching condemnation and never get to the gospel, I believe for the purpose of hurting people. These people usually do not belong to a local church and are not submitting themselves to leadership. The exception would be the ‘Westboro Baptist’ who call themselves a church and have leaders but also preach hate filled, accusations, judgment, and condemnation, to people they do not know. Now that is not to say that people don’t get angry when they hear biblical evangelism preached, there is something about hearing the law of God that brings conviction, it causes some to mourn and makes some angry. You never have to accuse anyone, the law of God acting on the conscience of a man will do that, it is what it is designed by our creator to do. “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul” (Psalms 19:7). What is the law? See Exodus chapter 20 & Deuteronomy chapter 5 for the Decalogue or Ten Commandments spoken by God from the mountain from the midst of the fire. What is the purpose of the law?
1. Closes the sinners mouth, so that he will stop justifying himself – “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God” (Romans 3:19).
2. Brings the knowledge of sin – “because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).
3. It makes people aware of their guilt before God – “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet’” (Romans 7:7)
4. Acts as a tutor to bring us to Christ – “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).
The Law of God used correctly can bring a man to the foot of the cross but no further. At the foot of the cross a man must hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, “So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). And it is through faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ that we are saved. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40). My hope is that all believers in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, would step out the door and share the gospel with the world. “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5).
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
The Most Wonderful Words
What gives you comfort? For some it might be a particular type of food, a warm blanket, an interesting book, a warm cup of cocoa, a pet, a house filled with children, or any number of things. This has been on my mind for the past week as I have thought a great deal about what gives me comfort. For myself, what gives me the most comfort in the entire world is reading the word of God (the Bible). I picked up a bible one day and started to read it; I have done so now every day for over nine years straight. There are many factors that you could put together to say why I might have done this, but when you really get down to it there is no real logical explanation for it, outside of the divine providence of God. I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit God, drew me to the scriptures, and in doing so saved my life. I was such a sinful man; I have two emotions when I think about what I was before being born again of the Holy Spirit of God. I am sickened by it, followed by extreme overwhelming love and thanksgiving for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit God drew me to start reading His word, and saved my life through it. One of my favorite scriptures and for good reason is this; “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). This is why evangelism is so important, because saving faith comes from hearing the words of Christ, written and spoken.
As I began to read the Bible I really did not understand what I was reading. It seemed to me to be some interesting stories, and some heartfelt letters, but nothing more than that. I think that I was just like the average church goers in America, I believed in God, and thought I believed in Jesus Christ, but I really didn’t know Him, or even think about Him that much; my thoughts were always of myself. I would even pray for things I needed and for God’s favor, never His will. But as time wore on, one day turned into several, then days into weeks, then weeks into months, then months into years, something happened. I began to fall in love with Jesus Christ and to desire Him, I wanted to follow Him. Many of my habitual sins began to go away but others remained, I could not rid myself of them. I would sin, pray, asking God for forgiveness then turn around and do it all over again. It was absolutely ridiculous. If ever there was a man trying with all of his might to make himself right before God it was me. I would sin; ask for forgiveness knowing full well that I was going to commit the same sin again the next day. I had even convinced myself that I was now right before the Lord, and headed to heaven because I was a Christian, or at least I thought I was. In reality, I was a self-righteous, unregenerate sinner headed to a place called hell; I shudder at the thought.
Then one wonderful day this Holy God did something miraculous. He crushed me, when I say crushed me, I mean he ground me into powder. All my sin was laid before me, and I was naked with nowhere to hide. He revealed Himself to me and I was broken to the core. I repented at that moment and knew every single sin I had committed, and was committing was an offense against a Holy and Just God. I knew that I had to turn from all sin, and especially one particular sin that I did not want to give up for anything in the world. I knew that I had to give it up, but did not want to, so I even at this time wrestled with God. Have you ever wrestled with God? It is not a pretty sight; Jacob wrestled with God and limped the remainder of his life. So there I was laid naked before God, all of my sin exposed with nowhere to run and hide. What could I do at this point but to through myself at His feet and beg for mercy. He lifted me up dressed me in a clean robe, put a ring on my hand, and sandals for my feet; then said to me, “My Son has paid the price for your sins”. I was so overwhelmed with Joy; I had been redeemed, and knew that the life that I thought was mine was not mine at all, I had been a slave to sin. But now I was the purchased position of the Lord of Heaven and earth, Jesus Christ. I was now His slave; and on Sunday morning December 26th, 2009 I turned my life over to the Lord.
It was the Sunday before New Year’s Day, our Sunday school teacher handed out pin, paper, and envelope. He directed the class to right down goals for the year, and then seal them up in the envelopes; directing the class to open them up at the end of the year. I couldn’t pay attention very well to all this, because my thoughts were solely on what God had done that past week. Jesus had saved me, I knew what I was to do; I took pen and paper, and wrote down these two statements, sealing them up in the envelope provided.
1. I give God complete Lordship; I will follow Jesus wherever He leads me.
2. I will love my neighbor as myself.
Nothing and I mean nothing has been the same since, I had truly been transformed into a new creature; the old things had passed away and the new things had come. At this point I had been reading the Bible everyday for over six years and now suddenly it came alive. The words on the pages were quite literally the words of life. I understood what I read and could expound on it for others. The Lord has put me in situations, and led me to do things I never would have even imagined. Take for instance yesterday; I found myself on the corner of Copeland & Loop 323 with a cross preaching a short gospel message at each stop light. The cars would come and stop, I preached a gospel message that ended when the light turned green. Why? Two reasons, out of worship for my Lord and love for my neighbor; the gospel is real, the righteousness and justice of God are real, which means that everyone who does not believe will be in hell. So how can I do otherwise?
I have attempted in this letter to impart to you what the Bible means to me. The words on the pages of this precious book are the words of life; these words brought me to repentance and faith in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, saved from the wrath of God against sin. “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
As I began to read the Bible I really did not understand what I was reading. It seemed to me to be some interesting stories, and some heartfelt letters, but nothing more than that. I think that I was just like the average church goers in America, I believed in God, and thought I believed in Jesus Christ, but I really didn’t know Him, or even think about Him that much; my thoughts were always of myself. I would even pray for things I needed and for God’s favor, never His will. But as time wore on, one day turned into several, then days into weeks, then weeks into months, then months into years, something happened. I began to fall in love with Jesus Christ and to desire Him, I wanted to follow Him. Many of my habitual sins began to go away but others remained, I could not rid myself of them. I would sin, pray, asking God for forgiveness then turn around and do it all over again. It was absolutely ridiculous. If ever there was a man trying with all of his might to make himself right before God it was me. I would sin; ask for forgiveness knowing full well that I was going to commit the same sin again the next day. I had even convinced myself that I was now right before the Lord, and headed to heaven because I was a Christian, or at least I thought I was. In reality, I was a self-righteous, unregenerate sinner headed to a place called hell; I shudder at the thought.
Then one wonderful day this Holy God did something miraculous. He crushed me, when I say crushed me, I mean he ground me into powder. All my sin was laid before me, and I was naked with nowhere to hide. He revealed Himself to me and I was broken to the core. I repented at that moment and knew every single sin I had committed, and was committing was an offense against a Holy and Just God. I knew that I had to turn from all sin, and especially one particular sin that I did not want to give up for anything in the world. I knew that I had to give it up, but did not want to, so I even at this time wrestled with God. Have you ever wrestled with God? It is not a pretty sight; Jacob wrestled with God and limped the remainder of his life. So there I was laid naked before God, all of my sin exposed with nowhere to run and hide. What could I do at this point but to through myself at His feet and beg for mercy. He lifted me up dressed me in a clean robe, put a ring on my hand, and sandals for my feet; then said to me, “My Son has paid the price for your sins”. I was so overwhelmed with Joy; I had been redeemed, and knew that the life that I thought was mine was not mine at all, I had been a slave to sin. But now I was the purchased position of the Lord of Heaven and earth, Jesus Christ. I was now His slave; and on Sunday morning December 26th, 2009 I turned my life over to the Lord.
It was the Sunday before New Year’s Day, our Sunday school teacher handed out pin, paper, and envelope. He directed the class to right down goals for the year, and then seal them up in the envelopes; directing the class to open them up at the end of the year. I couldn’t pay attention very well to all this, because my thoughts were solely on what God had done that past week. Jesus had saved me, I knew what I was to do; I took pen and paper, and wrote down these two statements, sealing them up in the envelope provided.
1. I give God complete Lordship; I will follow Jesus wherever He leads me.
2. I will love my neighbor as myself.
Nothing and I mean nothing has been the same since, I had truly been transformed into a new creature; the old things had passed away and the new things had come. At this point I had been reading the Bible everyday for over six years and now suddenly it came alive. The words on the pages were quite literally the words of life. I understood what I read and could expound on it for others. The Lord has put me in situations, and led me to do things I never would have even imagined. Take for instance yesterday; I found myself on the corner of Copeland & Loop 323 with a cross preaching a short gospel message at each stop light. The cars would come and stop, I preached a gospel message that ended when the light turned green. Why? Two reasons, out of worship for my Lord and love for my neighbor; the gospel is real, the righteousness and justice of God are real, which means that everyone who does not believe will be in hell. So how can I do otherwise?
I have attempted in this letter to impart to you what the Bible means to me. The words on the pages of this precious book are the words of life; these words brought me to repentance and faith in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, saved from the wrath of God against sin. “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Is America Hostile to Biblical Christianity
Yesterday afternoon I was out with my cross, on the cross I carry are the words; “ARE YOU READY” this is in reference to Hebrews 9:27, “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment”. So the question is keeping with biblical Christianity, contrary to the modern American gospel. The modern gospel asks: “Do you want to go to heaven?” Biblical Christianity and historical Christianity asks the question; “Are you ready to face God in judgment?” Yesterday afternoon I spent one hour out with the cross at the corner of Broadway & Rice in Tyler, TX. While there I decided to listen to a sermon given by my pastor Phillip Dancy of Sylvania Church, this past Sunday evening called “Persecution and Early Church” (If you want to hear click on the title and it will take you to the sermon on sermon audio). As I was listening to this sermon he said something that I found very interesting, he told the congregation that we don’t know persecution because we live in America. He does allude to the answer toward the end of the sermon. Now while I am listening to this I have had several people drive by with angry looks on their faces, yelling who knows what at me, I don’t know why they think I can hear them over the sound of their motor or the other cars, and sometimes a word or two breaks through and I assure you it’s not nice. There was one woman in particular who was doing this, and then she grabbed her steering wheel in an attempt to frighten me, acting as though she was going to swerve her car into me. No, we are not martyred in America for our faith, but “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12)
Why is the church in America not persecuted? I have read the word of God and believed it; therefore I have set out to do what Christ told his disciples to do prior to His ascension to the Father. In following the word of God in doing this I have discovered a falsity in America. In going to the public square, to the highways and byways of America; preaching the gospel, handing out gospel tracts, and talking with people, I have discovered a truth. The church is not persecuted in America because the church is inside buildings not bothering anyone, which is contrary to what Christ told us to do. Biblical Christianity is so counter cultural to the American culture it is astounding. So how can we have so many people living in America that in some form say that they are Christians yet the culture as a whole is contrary to biblical Christianity? The answer, they are not all Christ who call themselves Christian.
As many of you know I have been memorizing the gospel of John, the last section that I have memorized is John 6:15-27. John’s account of Christ walking on the sea, John does not normally include things that were written in the other accounts of the Lord’s life, so why does he include this? Jesus walking on the sea was covered by Matthew and Mark in there gospels, so why does John include it in his? I think he included it because of what happens before He walks on the sea and after. Jesus had just feed five thousand men and possibly their families with five barley loaves and two fish, with enough left over to fill twelve baskets. The people want to make Him their king because of this, Jesus sends his disciples away and in the other gospels He sends the people away as well, and He then goes up on the mountain to pray. He later crossed the sea walking on it and entered into the boat with His disciples 3-4 miles from the place where they ate the bread, but what happens next I think shows why John includes this; it shows the true and false disciple. Christ’ disciples obeyed Him; they probably didn’t understand why He would have them cross the sea without Him, nor did they want to go without Him, they loved Him and wanted to be with Him. The people on the other hand were disobedient and they stayed on the other side of the sea looking for Jesus, nor did they love Him they just wanted to get something from Him; this shows the difference between the false convert and the true convert. The true disciple of Jesus Christ loves Him and just wants to be with Him, the true disciple doesn’t want anything from Jesus he is just happy to be with Him worshiping Him “Grace is sufficient”. The true disciple is obedient, he doesn’t ask why, if the Lord tells him to do something he does it no questions asked, even if it seems contrary or impossible, even if it will cause that disciple pain and suffering he does it any way out of worship. The false wants to see what he can get from the Lord, what the Lord will give him to make his life better, he doesn’t love the Lord or truly worship the Lord, and he loves himself and worships the creation rather than the creator. The false is disobedient, theirs is always asking the question, why, they are in this for themselves so if something would cause them difficulty why would they do that?
On July 4th a brother in Christ, Seth Capps and I went to Longview, TX, to their Fireworks show. We spent the evening handing out gospel tracts to the crowd, talking with people about the gospel, then just before dark we each shared from the word of God in Open-air and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. We received no outright hostility on this go around, we were primarily ignored, though I know that Jesus Christ was glorified and the crowd heard the gospel. We do this out of worship and the knowledge that faith comes from hearing the word of God, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) And I know that the gospel is the power of God for salvation, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16) While we were not imprisoned or beaten for preaching the gospel we did face obstinacy from a people who are following a brand of Christianity that says me first. And while we ourselves did not face imprisonment or beatings for our preaching of God’s word that was not the case for other brothers across the country. Jesse Boyd and Ricky Springer of “Full Proof Gospel Ministries” (click on the name to go to their ministry website) were preaching in Holly Ridge, NC at a public fireworks show in much the same way as Seth Capps and I. These two men had just spent one year in Nepal, Tibet, and India preaching the gospel in what is considered to be some of the most hostile places to the gospel in the world, all though they were stoned and beaten once, they never faced imprisonment during that year. They come back to the United States and had only been in country for two weeks, they were preaching the gospel at this public fireworks show in Holly Ridge, NC when a police officer puts a stop to their preaching, Jesse Boyd then rebuked the officers, telling them that they had a right to free speech and that the officers should be ashamed of themselves, he was then arrested. Could he have handled it differently, the answer is yes, would I have rebuked the officer, no, but I do understand Jesse Boyd’s point and the emotion behind it. America is suppose to be free, we are suppose to have a first amendment right to speak freely, yet here is an officer of the law, a representative of the state shutting down that first amendment right because he said that their preaching was bothering people, and in this case, just having left oppressive non-free countries you would think that you could freely speak. So is America hostile to biblical Christianity? With what I have experienced and others like me, I would say yes, despite that Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15)
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Why is the church in America not persecuted? I have read the word of God and believed it; therefore I have set out to do what Christ told his disciples to do prior to His ascension to the Father. In following the word of God in doing this I have discovered a falsity in America. In going to the public square, to the highways and byways of America; preaching the gospel, handing out gospel tracts, and talking with people, I have discovered a truth. The church is not persecuted in America because the church is inside buildings not bothering anyone, which is contrary to what Christ told us to do. Biblical Christianity is so counter cultural to the American culture it is astounding. So how can we have so many people living in America that in some form say that they are Christians yet the culture as a whole is contrary to biblical Christianity? The answer, they are not all Christ who call themselves Christian.
As many of you know I have been memorizing the gospel of John, the last section that I have memorized is John 6:15-27. John’s account of Christ walking on the sea, John does not normally include things that were written in the other accounts of the Lord’s life, so why does he include this? Jesus walking on the sea was covered by Matthew and Mark in there gospels, so why does John include it in his? I think he included it because of what happens before He walks on the sea and after. Jesus had just feed five thousand men and possibly their families with five barley loaves and two fish, with enough left over to fill twelve baskets. The people want to make Him their king because of this, Jesus sends his disciples away and in the other gospels He sends the people away as well, and He then goes up on the mountain to pray. He later crossed the sea walking on it and entered into the boat with His disciples 3-4 miles from the place where they ate the bread, but what happens next I think shows why John includes this; it shows the true and false disciple. Christ’ disciples obeyed Him; they probably didn’t understand why He would have them cross the sea without Him, nor did they want to go without Him, they loved Him and wanted to be with Him. The people on the other hand were disobedient and they stayed on the other side of the sea looking for Jesus, nor did they love Him they just wanted to get something from Him; this shows the difference between the false convert and the true convert. The true disciple of Jesus Christ loves Him and just wants to be with Him, the true disciple doesn’t want anything from Jesus he is just happy to be with Him worshiping Him “Grace is sufficient”. The true disciple is obedient, he doesn’t ask why, if the Lord tells him to do something he does it no questions asked, even if it seems contrary or impossible, even if it will cause that disciple pain and suffering he does it any way out of worship. The false wants to see what he can get from the Lord, what the Lord will give him to make his life better, he doesn’t love the Lord or truly worship the Lord, and he loves himself and worships the creation rather than the creator. The false is disobedient, theirs is always asking the question, why, they are in this for themselves so if something would cause them difficulty why would they do that?
On July 4th a brother in Christ, Seth Capps and I went to Longview, TX, to their Fireworks show. We spent the evening handing out gospel tracts to the crowd, talking with people about the gospel, then just before dark we each shared from the word of God in Open-air and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. We received no outright hostility on this go around, we were primarily ignored, though I know that Jesus Christ was glorified and the crowd heard the gospel. We do this out of worship and the knowledge that faith comes from hearing the word of God, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) And I know that the gospel is the power of God for salvation, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16) While we were not imprisoned or beaten for preaching the gospel we did face obstinacy from a people who are following a brand of Christianity that says me first. And while we ourselves did not face imprisonment or beatings for our preaching of God’s word that was not the case for other brothers across the country. Jesse Boyd and Ricky Springer of “Full Proof Gospel Ministries” (click on the name to go to their ministry website) were preaching in Holly Ridge, NC at a public fireworks show in much the same way as Seth Capps and I. These two men had just spent one year in Nepal, Tibet, and India preaching the gospel in what is considered to be some of the most hostile places to the gospel in the world, all though they were stoned and beaten once, they never faced imprisonment during that year. They come back to the United States and had only been in country for two weeks, they were preaching the gospel at this public fireworks show in Holly Ridge, NC when a police officer puts a stop to their preaching, Jesse Boyd then rebuked the officers, telling them that they had a right to free speech and that the officers should be ashamed of themselves, he was then arrested. Could he have handled it differently, the answer is yes, would I have rebuked the officer, no, but I do understand Jesse Boyd’s point and the emotion behind it. America is suppose to be free, we are suppose to have a first amendment right to speak freely, yet here is an officer of the law, a representative of the state shutting down that first amendment right because he said that their preaching was bothering people, and in this case, just having left oppressive non-free countries you would think that you could freely speak. So is America hostile to biblical Christianity? With what I have experienced and others like me, I would say yes, despite that Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15)
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Friday, July 6, 2012
4th of July Outreach
My brother in Christ Seth Capps and I went to the fireworks show in Longview on the 4th of July. We spent time worshiping Christ by handing out hundreds of gospel tracts to the crowd, talking with many people about Jesus Christ, and we both spoke the words of this life in open-air. We each shared the word of God in open-air and preached the gospel; I recorded Seth's open-air on my phone. I hope you will be blessed by it, I for one was. There is nothing like worshiping Christ in telling the world about Him.
"Repent and Believe in the gospel"
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
"Repent and Believe in the gospel"
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Monday, July 2, 2012
How will You Believe
Remember these words of Christ, “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12). It is very interesting how people will take Bible verses out of context to make them mean whatever they want them to mean and often times not realize what they have done. Most times when this is done, it is done parroting another who said it before. The most popular and most well known verse in the Bible is probably the most often miss used and miss quoted verse in all of scripture. Whenever you hear this verse quoted, it is most often quoted in and of itself not using the supporting scriptures that surround it, the book of Proverbs is a book of single one-liner quotations, the gospels are not. The gospels are a set of individual stories as a whole making a larger core story with a single theme in mind; the perfect sinless Lamb of God, the Son of God, God incarnate dying on a cross as a Man for the sins of man, being buried, and then three days later defeating sin and death proving who He is by rising from the dead, and that there is salvation from the wrath of God through Him.
A little over a week ago I was riding in a car with a friend of mine and the conversation over (The Doctrines of Grace) came up; he asked me a question about them because I am now attending (Sylvania Church) which is known to be Reformed Baptist. Now this friend of mine is a believer holding to the gospel; that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and three days later arose from the grave defeating sin and death. But, states that he has a problem with accepting (the doctrines of grace). Now while I love this friend of mine this does bother me, because weather he knows he is saying this or not, he is saying that God is not sovereign in all things. I personally except that God is in charge and in control of all things including; totally depraved men, the election of, atonement for, the drawing in of, and keeping those He has saved on the narrow path. God is in charge of it all, and I praise Him that I am not, because if it had been lift up to me this wretched man would still be lost; but for whatever reason known only to God, He saved me and I will continually be His, singing His praises.
This friend of mine said to me, “What about free will?” I told my friend, “God gave Adam free will to choose and he choose to sin, so all of mankind plummeted into depravity, because Adam sinned our nature is sinful, so you’re right, we do have free will, we have free will to choose what sins we will commit. Then he said to me, “What about John 3:16?” At this point we had reached our destination so the conversation had pretty much ended. So that poses the question, what about John 3:16, my friend had unknowingly answered his own question. Do you remember the words of Christ from the beginning of the page? “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12). This question is the point of the passage, and the conversation that the Lord had with Nicodemus. The Lord first gives the answer to the question, then asks the question, then begins to tell Nicodemus and us the heavenly things. The answer to the question is what is needed in order for Nicodemus and us, to believe the heavenly things, John 3:16 is in those heavenly things. So what is the answer to the question, “How will you believe if I tell you heavenly things”? “Jesus answered and said to him. ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’” (John 3:3). Then the Lord explains this to Nicodemus in more detail saying, “That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 6:6). In the eleven verses before Jesus poses the question, “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things” (John 3:12), He describes in detail what it is that would cause a man to believe. The Spirit of God! So if anyone ever asks me this question again I will answer in the same way Jesus did, “Truly, Truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
“Repent and believe in the gospel” (Jesus)
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
A little over a week ago I was riding in a car with a friend of mine and the conversation over (The Doctrines of Grace) came up; he asked me a question about them because I am now attending (Sylvania Church) which is known to be Reformed Baptist. Now this friend of mine is a believer holding to the gospel; that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and three days later arose from the grave defeating sin and death. But, states that he has a problem with accepting (the doctrines of grace). Now while I love this friend of mine this does bother me, because weather he knows he is saying this or not, he is saying that God is not sovereign in all things. I personally except that God is in charge and in control of all things including; totally depraved men, the election of, atonement for, the drawing in of, and keeping those He has saved on the narrow path. God is in charge of it all, and I praise Him that I am not, because if it had been lift up to me this wretched man would still be lost; but for whatever reason known only to God, He saved me and I will continually be His, singing His praises.
This friend of mine said to me, “What about free will?” I told my friend, “God gave Adam free will to choose and he choose to sin, so all of mankind plummeted into depravity, because Adam sinned our nature is sinful, so you’re right, we do have free will, we have free will to choose what sins we will commit. Then he said to me, “What about John 3:16?” At this point we had reached our destination so the conversation had pretty much ended. So that poses the question, what about John 3:16, my friend had unknowingly answered his own question. Do you remember the words of Christ from the beginning of the page? “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12). This question is the point of the passage, and the conversation that the Lord had with Nicodemus. The Lord first gives the answer to the question, then asks the question, then begins to tell Nicodemus and us the heavenly things. The answer to the question is what is needed in order for Nicodemus and us, to believe the heavenly things, John 3:16 is in those heavenly things. So what is the answer to the question, “How will you believe if I tell you heavenly things”? “Jesus answered and said to him. ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’” (John 3:3). Then the Lord explains this to Nicodemus in more detail saying, “That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 6:6). In the eleven verses before Jesus poses the question, “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things” (John 3:12), He describes in detail what it is that would cause a man to believe. The Spirit of God! So if anyone ever asks me this question again I will answer in the same way Jesus did, “Truly, Truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
“Repent and believe in the gospel” (Jesus)
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
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