Purchased Possession

There has been something that has been on my heart and mind all this week and I would like to share that with you today. “that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:12-14). I read this even now and say wow! So much said in so few words! I am the purchased possession of Jesus Christ, I belong to Him and Him alone do I belong; He purchased me with His very own blood and now I am His slave. When given a direct command I most obey and where there isn’t a direct command I most seek to do what pleases Him. He has promised that He will return for His possession and I await and look forward to His return. I know that I am His because He has sealed me with His Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee until His return for me. A few years ago I heard the gospel that lead me to Jesus Christ and Christ alone saved me, He convicted me of my sins and I Repented and embraced Him, He became my Master and I His slave. You too are a slave, you just don’t know it; I didn’t know it either. Every person who has ever lived is either a slave of sin and Satan or a slave of Jesus Christ! You may think you make your own decisions but it is your sinful nature that makes decisions for you. I ask you, have you repented from your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation? This is the least spoken word in church today but it is the core of the gospel and if you haven’t heard it you haven’t heard the gospel, the word is “REPENT”. In Luke 18:9-13 my Lord Jesus told a parable about two men, one believed himself righteous a Pharisee and the other believed himself to be a sinner a tax collector. They each went to the temple and prayed to God, both men believed in God but only one was saved. The Pharisee prayed this: “God, I thank You that I am not like other men-extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess” (Luke 18:11-12). He patted himself on the back before a Holy God saying; “I am good, look at all the wonderful things I do”. The tax collector prayed this: “And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner’ (Luke 18:13)! The Lord Jesus said: “I tell you, this man (the tax collector) went down to his house justified rather than the other (the Pharisee); for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).

Repentance: “Repentance means that you realize that you are a guilty, vile, sinner in the presence of God; that you deserve the wrath and punishment of God, that you are Hell bond. It means that you begin to realize that this thing called sin is in you and that you long to get rid of it and that you turn your back on it in every shape and form. You renounce the world whatever the cost, the world in its mind and outlook as well as its practices, and you deny yourself and take up the cross and go after Christ, your nearest and dearest and the whole world may call you a fool or say you have religious mania. You may have to suffer financially but it makes no difference. That is Repentance” (Martin Lloyd Jones)!

Do this today! Realize that you are a sinner and Repent, turning from it in every way, deny yourself the pleasures of sin and embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord, your Master and you will be His purchased possession! Your life depends on it.


Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ

I am a slave

I would like to explain myself for you today, to give you some understanding of who I am. Why I do the things I do, say the things I say, and act the way I act. I am a slave! Yes, it is true I am a slave, I am owned. I have no independence, I have no rights, I am owned, I am at the mercy of my Master who purchased me, I am not my own I am His, I don’t make decisions for myself He does, I don’t live to please myself or anyone else for that matter, I live only to please my Lord, my Owner. I was bought by one Master I am owned completely by Him, I am available when and where He wants me and He requires my obedience, I am completely subject to His will alone, I am completely dependent on my Lord for everything; all that I have is His I own nothing of my own everything that I have is His He can give it to me to use as He wills and take it away again just as quickly. My wife, my children, my home, my job, my church are all His; He provides for all of these and can take them back anytime He wants. The money He gives me is not my own it is His and I must do with it what He says. All discipline and reward come from my Master only. He disciplines me as He wills and rewards me as He wills; I have no say so in the matter. I can’t leave, even if I wanted to.

You may begin to think that this is some kind of metaphor I assure you it is not, I am a slave bought and owned by one master. Now I must introduce you to my Master, my Lord, the one who owns me, Jesus Christ. You heard it right; I am a slave of Jesus Christ. Like I said, this is no metaphor, I am owned by Him, He is my Lord and Master and I am His slave. He purchased me, I am not free, and I am His. You see I owed so much that there was no way I could ever pay the price. The price for what I owed was my very life, eternal punishment in Hell. I was a criminal and had broken ten very serious laws numerous times, the laws I had broken are the very laws of God. God promises to punish everyone who does not keep His commandments (see Psalm 89:31-32). The Bible says: “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12). So when you and I stand before God and He asks: Have you always loved Me? Have you worshiped false gods? Have you used My name in vain? Have you always honored the Sabbath day? Have you always honored your parents? Have you murdered, hated someone or even been angry at someone unjustly? Have you committed adultery, had sex outside of marriage, looked at another person other than your spouse with lust? Have you stolen, taken anything that doesn’t belong to you? Have you ever lied? Have you always been 100% pleased with what you have and not desired the things that others have?

Now what will you say when your stand before God and He asks you, have you kept my commandments? You know the answer, the answer is no, you haven’t. Hell is the punishment for ALL who break His law His commands. Each of us will stand before God in judgment and each of us are guilty. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The price for these crimes is death in Hell, it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve broke the law, the judgment is based on whether or not you broke the law. Jesus was the perfect Lamb of God, He never sinned even once. The Bible tells us that He was God Himself in Human form. He did something that none of us can do and only He can do because He was sinless and God himself. He gave His life in place for sin, when He was crucified on the cross, then being God He rose from the grave defeating death and He offers forgiveness of sins. “He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). “For you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20 & 7:23). Jesus has paid the price for your redemption, He has paid the price for your sins, you don’t have to go to Hell but if you except His payment for your sins you no longer are your own you are His. “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9) “Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:11).

Let me be as blunt and open as I can be here. You are not saved if Jesus isn’t your Lord. You are saved when you except Jesus Christ as Lord meaning He owns you and you are His. Jesus said: “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angles” (Mark 8:34-38). If Jesus is your Lord, when He gives a direct command if you are His slave you obey it, when there isn’t a direct command you do whatever you can to please your master. I would like to invite you to become a slave of Jesus Christ just as I am. Purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ, owned by Him.

Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ

The more understanding I have, the less I understand

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Jesus said when praying to His father in heaven; “I think You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.” I am a sinner, I am not good, yet Christ died. God treated Jesus on the cross who had never sinned, or even had the capacity to sin like He had committed every sin by all who would ever believe. Then God treats those who have sinned as though we are righteous. Jesus did nothing deserving of death but was killed and we did everything deserving of death but receive life. The more understanding I have, the less I understand!

We are all sinners, sin is breaking the law of God and all who break the law will be held accountable, wether you like it or not the penalty for breaking God’s law is death in hell “where, Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.” “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” And Christ said of those who commit lawlessness; “Then the Son of Man will send out His angles, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” You know what sin is, God has written His laws on your heart. Have you ever told a lie? If you have you have broken the 9th commandment of God and the bible says “all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death”. Have you ever stolen anything, anything at all however small, if you have you are a thief and have broken the 8th commandment of God’s law! Have you committed adultery? Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Have you looked at another person with lust if you have you are and adulterer at heart and have broken the 7th commandment of God that says do not commit adultery. The 6th commandment of God’s law says do not murder and most people think they are good on that one but God’s law goes so much deeper than the surface, God sees the intentions of the heart. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment”. How often have you been angry at someone?

Now why do I ask you these difficult questions? Because I love you, that’s right I love you. Hell is real, there is a real place called hell where if you are not saved you will be forever. God sent His one and only Son Jesus to be His sacrifice for our sins. God poured out all of His judgment on Jesus who had never sinned and offers you who have sinned eternal life. So what must you do to be saved? Repent! That means to turn from what you are doing and turn to Jesus. No longer trusting in your own goodness but trust in Christ goodness, no longer trusting in your own acts but trust in the acts of Jesus, you can do nothing to save yourself but if you will Repent today and put all of your trust in Jesus Christ every sin you have ever committed or ever will commit will be wiped away and God will see you as righteous even though you are not. Is that not absolutely amazing. What an amazing God who would do that for us.

Trust in Jesus Christ today, your life depends on it,
Mike Peek

(Bible verses quoted in NKJV: 2 Corinthians 5:21, Matthew 12:25, Mark 9:44, 1 John 3:4, Matthew 13:41-42, Revelations 21:8, Matthew 5:27-28)

We Are Not Our Own

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain ~Philippians 1:21. We who are redeemed in Jesus Christ have been bought with a price, that price is the precious blood of Jesus Christ. I read a quote this morning by the late preacher of the 19th century Charles Spurgeon, whom said: "Christ will save you, but a part of the agreement on your part must be this, ‘you are not your own, but are bought with a price.’” If you would have Christ’s blood to redeem you, you must give yourself up to Christ—your body, your soul, your spirit, your substance, your talents, your time, your all. You must from this day be Christ’s servant, come what may." ~Charles Spurgeon. This quote got me to thinking about whom and what we are. So often it is, so easy for us to begin thanking that all of this is about us. We human beings are so silly! The way we act and think you would think that God the father created all things through us and for us. In the Gospel of John he tells us: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” ~John 1:1-3. Jesus and God the father were together before time began, God created all things, even time itself was created by God for His purpose. The book of Genesis in the account of creation the bible says that God created man in His own image. Then if we skip all the way to the book of Revelation it reveals to us the purpose of our creation, and that purpose is worship, we were created to worship.

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,
saying with a loud voice:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:
“Blessing and honor and glory and power
Be to Him who sits on the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever. ~Revelation 5:11-14

Our salvation in Jesus Christ is incidental to the purpose of God. God new before time began that he would redeem the elect in Jesus Christ for the purpose of worshiping His son Jesus Christ, “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,” ~2 Timothy 1:9. Your purpose and my purpose is to worship and glorify Jesus Christ, “ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” ~Philippians 2:10-11. I am so thankful that God would create me for this purpose, to put myself under the authority of God the son, to the glory of God the Father. That is why I say as Paul said: For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain ~Philippians 1:21.


Repent and Trust alone in Jesus Christ,
Mike Peek

Make Sure Your on the Right Path

Most paths have signs that give you an idea of where you’re going. Many years ago my wife and I lived in Colorado and I loved to go hiking in the mountains and there are a lot of paths in the mountains, my goal in hiking most of the time were to climb to the top of a mountain; at the trail head there were signs showing you which path lead to the top of the mountain, it would be color coded and you would follow that sign all the way to the top if you took the wrong path you would find yourself somewhere else miles away from your goal. There is but one way that leads to heaven and all other ways lead you away from your goaled of heaven, all other paths lead to destruction. “He who has the Son of God has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” ~1 John 5:12. Jesus said: “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by Me” ~John 14:6. “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” ~John 3:18. “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” ~Revelations 20:15. Is the path your on the way to life or is it the way to destruction. There is only one way!

You might say well what about all these religions in the world don’t they lead to heaven, if you look at each of them closely you will find a common thread through out them and that thread is self righteousness. They all have you earning your way to heaven. We can’t earn what we don’t deserve. God has given us a moral law, it is the standard by which God will judge the world and Judge us He will; “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” ~Hebrews 9:27. And it is the moral law that God will judge us by. If I asked you if you have ever told a lie, what would you say? The moral law of God says “You shall not lie” ~20:16. Now each of us will at some point die and after death we will be judged by God according to our deeds done in this life. If the law says “You shall not lie” but you have lied and cannot say to God I am good I deserve heaven when His standard is moral perfection, you have either followed His commands or you haven’t. You have either broken the law or you haven’t. How many lies does a person have to tell to be a liar, isn’t it true you tell one lie you are a liar. The Bible says: “all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” ~Revelations 21:8. Once a person has broken the law (committed a crime) there is nothing you can do to undo it, there is no amount of good deeds you can do to outweigh it, on the day of judgment and you stand before God to give an account of your life and He asks you have you kept my commands (have you lied?) you have no leg to stand on, it is a yes or no question. The penalty for breaking God’s moral law is death in Hell forever.

There is a way to escape this death and to have life and that way is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. He is the only one that has ever lived a morally perfect life. The Bible says that He was fully God (conceived of the Holy Spirit) and fully man (born of a woman). Being fully man He was subject to the same moral law that we are subject to. He faced the same temptations that we are faced with every day but didn’t once break God’s law. So He did something only He could do, He allowed Himself to be killed in our place, instead of us getting the punishment that we deserve He stood in our place and took the punishment we deserve, then being fully God He did something we couldn’t do, when He was ready He took His life up again (rose from the dead). Now He is the way to life, no one goes to heaven but by Him because He is the propitiation for our sins (the payment for our sins). Eternal life is yours for the taking; it is a completely free gift. All we have to do is except it. Except the fact we are not good, we have broken God’s moral law and what we deserve is Hell. Except the fact that Jesus is good and He took the punishment in our place. The Bible calls this Repentance and faith. Repent turn away from trusting in your own goodness trust in the goodness of Jesus to save you on the Day of Judgment. If you will do that you will be saved. “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” `1John 5:5.


Repent and trust alone in Jesus Christ,

Mike Peek

What's Up With That?

“But why do you call Me ‘Lord Lord’ and not do the things which I say? ~Luke 6:46. I was contemplating this yesterday and I got to thinking about the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ in particular His final command (“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” Mark 16:15). Then it occurred to me I’m 42 years old not far from turning 43 I calculated the days I have now walked the earth 16,604 days and I have looked back, I can’t think of even one time someone directly shared the gospel of our Lord with me. I have heard many preachers profoundly preach the gospel; I have listened as many a Sunday school teacher expound on the gospel of our Lord. I have sat in small group bible studies were everyone in the group professed Jesus as Lord and we all discussed the gospel, but I can’t think of even one time that someone that did not know me or my spiritual state one on one share the gospel with me or even ask of my spiritual state. So then I asked myself, how many Christians are there? In the United States 51.3% of the population call themselves Protestant Christian; there are 16,228,438 members in the Southern Baptist convention. So ½ the population of America claims to be gospel believing Christians who profess Jesus as Lord; Jesus said “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” ~Mark 16:15” yet no one has personally shared the gospel with me. It seems that there is something wrong! Jesus said “But why do you call Me ‘Lord Lord’ and not do the things which I say” ~Luke 6:46. What are the odds that 50% of the population were out sharing their faith as Jesus commanded, having 16,604 opportunities to witness to me and yet no one has, I cannot even begin to contemplate that, I have a statistics calculator and the odds are so huge that it just give me an error message. I can’t possibly be the only one! The only way that this is possible is if the number of Christians sharing the gospel has to be very small, not 50%, not even 1%, but a fraction of 1%; Which completely clarifies some things for me.

Jesus said “Not everyone who says to Me ‘Lord Lord’, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father in heaven will enter” ~Matthew 7:21. Am I suggesting some sort of works righteousness, certainly not; “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast ~Ephesians 2:8-9. We are all sinners and what we all deserve for our sin is death in Hell but God not wanting us to perish provided a way to save us, and that way is Jesus Christ, for all who believe (have faith) and profess Him as Lord. To call Jesus Lord means that He has total authority over your life, if He is your Lord you do what He says to do, period. He bought us with a price and that price was His very life, He was punished for us, He was bruised for us, He bleed for us, and He died for us. The Apostles began most of their Epistles with these words “a bond servant of or Lord Jesus Christ” meaning that they knew their lives were no longer theirs, that they belonged to God, they were purchased and Jesus was their master and servants obey their master.

I was like everyone else, not sharing my faith until the Lord woke me from my slumber at the end of 2009. One day while reading His word I read this; “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and Prophets.” ~Matthew 22:37-40. As I was praying and thinking about this it hit me like a ton of bricks; to love the Lord is to do what he says, and to love my neighbor is to warn them of the wrath to come. How do I do that? “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” ~ Mark 16:15.


Mike Peek

Repent and trust alone in Jesus Christ

What are Your Desires

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart” ~Psalm 37:4. The word delight means to take pleasure in someone or something; it is your source of happiness. To take delight in the Lord would mean He is your source of happiness and joy, you take pleasure in Him. To desire something would incline that you want something, it is a feeling of an unsatisfied state. Every one of us has desires, what are your desires? This verse is a promise from God and stated as fact by Kind David who had received the desires of his heart. The desire of King David’s heart was the Lord! There are many promises made in the word of God and God who cannot lie is truthful in all the promises He makes. Yesterday I read a prayer request from a women who is obviously hurting, she is evidently going through some major tribulation in her life, but as she is going through this tribulation her faith in God is wavering, not only that, she blames God for what she is going through stating why is God putting me through this. My heart goes out to her and I know that she is hurting, I have prayed for her. She like so many other people are doing and have done; are losing faith in their God, but while they are losing faith in their God, I fear that their God isn’t The God, The God of the bible. I would like to talk today about God’s promises.

What has God promised believers?
1. Temptation: We as believers are all promised temptation! In explaining the parable of the Sower and the seed Jesus explains that those who have a shallow faith when they are tempted will fall away. “But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away” ~Luke 8:13. But as a believer we hold on to God through every temptation if your delight is in the Lord He Shall give you the desires of your heart. “No temptation has ever taken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” ~1 Corinthians 10:13. Is there a way out? Through God always, the question is who do you love more God or the pleasures of sin?
2. Tribulation or Trials: We as believers are promised many trials! “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” ~John 16:33. Jesus talked about people without root in Him He said: “yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles” ~Matthew 13:21.
3. Persecution: We as believers are promised persecution for our faith! Most of the epistles of the Apostles where written in one way or another to God’s people who were being persecuted with encouragement to help them endure. This is the promise as Paul wrote to Timothy. “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” ~2 Timothy 3:12.

Now how does that sound? Does it sound like something you might want to sign up for? The problem isn’t God, the problem is us. People are being told come to God for love, joy, peace, and fulfillment; while those are fruits of salvation they are not the reason to come to God. If you come to God expecting love, joy, peace, and fulfillment but all you get is temptation, tribulation, and persecution you will soon be diluted, angry, and better and rightly so you didn’t get what you were promised but you did get what God promised. Well then you say why should I come to God if what I get is temptation, tribulation, and persecution? Jesus didn’t come to give you a happy life, He came to save you from the wrath of God, yeah that’s right the wrath of God himself. We are sinners, we have broken God’s laws and He is angry about that, so angry He demands punishment for our crimes and that punishment is death in Hell. You don’t think you have broken His laws then carefully look at his commandments. Have you ever lied? The ninth commandment says “you shall not lie”. The bible says “all liars their part is in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death” ~Revelations 21:8, and that is just one of his commands with many more to Go. God does love us all and while He demands punishment He is also merciful, instead of pouring his wrath out on you and I He poured it out on His sinless Son Jesus instead and offers us instead of the death we deserve eternal life as a free gift and all He asks is that we believe and place our faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. What better offer is there than that? We deserve death in Hell but instead get eternal life with God in paradise! That is the source of the fruit. You’re filled with joy because you get to go to heaven, you’re at peace because your sins are forgiven, and you know you are loved because He died for you, you are fulfilled because your desires are God and He gave you Himself! My hope and my prayer for you all is that you will trust yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ not for the things of this world but to escape the wrath that is to come!


Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation,
Mike Peek