Friday, January 4, 2013

I Surrender All to You


As I begin to write this I am overwhelmed with emotion, tears are welling up in my eyes; for I have drawn near to the Lord and have tasted His goodness. Nearly One year ago, on January 29th I wrote an article called (Sick of Church) and posted it on the 30th. (This article is an addendum to that article so if you want to read it just click on the title.) I didn't know at the time what the results of it would be, and it turned out to be the most significant thing I've ever written. Next to the Lord granting me Repentance and Faith in Jesus Christ what He showed me on that day and caused me to do has changed everything. It has been an incredible journey! In the last year I have found myself standing at street lights with a cross, preaching the word of God and gospel of Jesus Christ in open-air, reading scripture aloud publicly, and pleading for lives at an abortuary; all as a result of what God did on the morning of January 29th.

The day after the Lord awoken me from my slumber into Biblical Evangelism I posted the article (Sick of Church); one year later to the day I will be arriving in New Orleans, Louisiana with 110 other evangelist and will be preaching the word of God and gospel of Jesus Christ in Open-Air on the streets of New Orleans around the Superdome, the site of Super Bowl XLVII. With an estimated crowd to surround the Superdome over the course of the weekend of over 1.1 million, all of whom, without faith in Jesus Christ alone will perish in their sins. There will be people there from all over the world coming to worship their idol of wealth and prosperity. There is much work to be done! Why should we preach the gospel; because it is true and the ramifications of that knowledge are bigger than our feeble minds can comprehend? Allow me to tell you what I believe in regards to preaching the gospel; I believe the word of God and gospel of Jesus Christ. The word of God says; “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) and “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) and “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.” (John 10:3-4) and “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” (Isaiah 53:6). Me and the other brethren who will be on the streets of New Orleans are going as “Ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20) and will be preaching the word of God and gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost sheep of the world; all the while knowing that all are like sheep having gone astray, His sheep hear His voice and will follow Him, that faith comes from hearing, and the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes; so the gospel of Jesus Christ we will preached!

This past year has been an incredible Journey in the Lord, all caused by the Lord! Yes, I went out and did these things but he prepared them before hand so that I would walk in them (Ephesians 2:10) and I did them because He gave me repentance, He changed my mind. My thinking was changed by the Lord, therefore my words and actions followed suit, causing me to live out His command to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15). Don’t let me lead you to think this has been easy, this journey has not been easy; I have faced many barriers, heart breaks, setbacks, mistakes, and all the while battling against my own sin nature. It was as though nothing in the world or no one was in support of me doing this; each step of the way I was alone with the Spirit and Word of God beside me, once I had stepped forward in faith then the Lord surrounded me with other brethren being led by the Spirit and Word of God to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ throughout the world.

The previous year 2011 I had been following and learning from a ministry called Living Waters. I had listened to a sermon by John MacArthur about how we are “Slaves of Jesus Christ” and then read the book he wrote called “Slave”. I could then see throughout scripture that the Apostles and early Christians considered themselves to be slaves of Christ, bought at the price of His blood. So I changed the name of my blog to “A Slave of Jesus Christ” which it remains to be to this day. One day I was playing around on Google typing in “A Slave of Jesus Christ” and one of the things that came up was a blog by a man who I knew worked for Living Waters ministry whose name is Tony Miano. The first post on His blog was of him standing on a corner with a cross and the sound bite for the video was the sermon by John MacArthur I had listened to. I also found on his blog a post written by Tony Miano about how he started carrying a cross. So I went out, got material, made a cross, and it sat in my garage never being used. After I had written “Sick of Church” there sat that cross in my garage, so I took it up in the first week of February 2012 to Broadway Ave and Shiloh Rd in Tyler, TX and stood with it for 1 hour. I have now been out with it for minimum of once a week in various places around Tyler, TX ever since. I wound up writing Tony Miano around April 1st because I wanted to change the wording on my cross to “Are You Ready” like was on his and thought I should ask for his permission. He wound up putting my testimony of how I had started carrying a cross on His blog. His blog is called (Cross Encounters) and the article was called (Crosswalk Beginnings: Mike Peek). He is a full-time Evangelist who could use your support. On Good Friday April the 6th I preached my first Open-Air on the campus of UT Tyler and from that day the door opened wide.

I had been praying for the Lord to give me a partner to go out with. Right after I had fallen into obedience and preached the gospel in open-air I bumped into Seth Capps handing out gospel tracts; Seth and I have gone out and preached together several times since and now with our wives and another couple we are going to an abortuary in Shreveport, LA once a month to plead for babies lives with the word of God and gospel of Jesus Christ. He and I and four other men from East Texas will be going together to New Orleans for the Super Bowl Outreach. One year ago I was sitting in church like so many other Christians do, taking part in church socials, attending Sunday school, attending worship services, going to bible studies in homes and talking about sharing the gospel and never doing it. Then one Sunday morning the conviction of the Holy Spirit came upon me; I heard the call, I surrendered all to Him and went out into the mission field. One year later I have been out with my cross in Tyler, TX a minimum of once a week since, I have shared the gospel one on one with several people; I have read scripture aloud in parks and at road sides. I have preached the gospel all around my community, and in other communities, at festivals, and fairs. I have found myself in another state pleading for the lives of unborn children with the word of God and gospel of Jesus Christ. And I know that everything that has happened this past year is all of the Lord; for I have drawn near to the Lord and have tasted His goodness.


In Christ Alone;
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ