Sunday, September 30, 2012
UNLAWFUL PREMEDITATED KILLING
Murder is defined as the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another (Google) or the crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice aforethought. (Merriam-Webster) By either definition it is planned and carried out by one human being taking the life of another intentionally. Irregardless of what laws man makes, the laws of man will never supersede or trump the laws of God, men may suppress this in there unrighteousness or selfish evil intents but every person has the laws of God written on their hearts. The sixth commandment says “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13) and all nations (all people groups) know this in their hearts, even though they suppress this in their unrighteousness. The country that I live in has legalized murder, the murder of children in the womb. This was legalized by a decision of the U.S. Supreme court on January 22, 1973 on a case of, Jane Roe vs. Henry Wade. (Wikipedia) Since that decision there have been over 53 million lives taken through what is called ‘Doctor assisted abortion’. (180movie.com) There are instances for whatever reason that a baby does not make it to term and dies while still in the womb, the natural process is for the women’s body to abort the remains of the life that had ended, this is a horrific tragedy to any expectant couple. I have held the hands of friends who lost there unborn babies in this way and they are crushed. A ‘Doctor assisted abortion’ is much different. In a ‘Doctor assisted abortion the baby in the womb is alive and through many different techniques that I don’t want to even go into, the life of the baby is taken and then the remains are removed. Think about that for a minute, on one hand you have a women who wants to have a child and the child dies in her womb and her body expels the remains, and on the other hand you have a woman with a live baby who doesn’t want it so she has a doctor kill it and forcibly remove it from her body. The woman who wanted her child knew that the child in her womb was at one time a living person and that is why she grieves. The woman who has her child killed by a doctor and forcibly removed does so with the knowledge that the baby in her womb is a living person but suppresses that knowledge in her selfish unrighteousness and the doctor and nurses that perform the act do so with full knowledge that the baby in the womb is a living person but suppress it in there unrighteousness of greed for money. Regardless of what the U.S. Supreme court says it is murder, it is one human being taking the life of another human being with malice aforethought.
Why am I writing this? The reason I am writing this is because in the United States of America is in an election year. While I am not interested in politics or the wrangling there of, in fact I most often do not watch the news because of this and especially the 24 hour news networks of FOX NEWS, CNN, MSNBC, etc. But I have friends that do, I have made mention of my concerns for the two men running for President of this country and I have made mention that I will not vote for either, so I am writing this as an explanation for this decision. As I have made it know in the previous paragraph, assisted abortion is murder and I will not support it in any form. The Democratic Party in their 2012 platform has stated that they; “Strongly support Roe Vs Wade and all assisted abortions regardless of ability to pay”, in another words if you can’t afford to have your baby killed they will pay for it for you. They would actually take money from you and me to pay a doctor to kill someone else’s child. That is deplorable! As long as that is the Platform of the Democratic Party I cannot nor will not vote for a Democrat running for any office. If you are a Democrat and running for office and disagree with your parties platform my suggestion is to leave that party.
The Republican Party in their 2012 platform has called for a ban on all ‘assisted abortions’ by constitutional amendment. It seems crazy that you would have to make and amendment to stop the murder of children but that is the way it is in the city of man. I do applaud this platform, but while I applaud this platform the Republican Party has elected as their Presidential candidate a man who is in support of ‘assisted abortion’. How you say? While running for U.S. senate in Massachusetts, he backed abortion rights. Since running for President he has changed his position to saying that he is against abortion except in cases of rape, incest and where the life of the mother is threatened. Basically, his position has not changed, just his wording and regardless of the wording the intentional premeditated killing of a child is murder. (source, Huffington Post)
Now I ask you, how does rape or incest justify the murder of a child? When making the decision to end a life the question shouldn’t be how that life came into being, the question should be is it a human being or is it not and if it is a human being or even if you are not sure there is no justification for killing the child. We have in this country a law called capital punishment; it is set aside for the most heinous of criminals. So are you telling me, in the case of rape or incest you are going to do to the unborn child what is restricted for only the most heinous criminals in our country? Are you going to punish the child with the death penalty for the crime of the father?
Now let’s look at the threat to the life of the mother. I am a Registered Nurse and have worked with critically ill Cardiac patients for many years and while doing so I have had pregnant women as patients. While I cannot go into detail or talk about any of these patients, all of them have a commonality. In each case in no way was the mother at risk because of her child, in fact in every case it was the child who was at risk because of the mother’s health. And in every case great measures were taken to assure the health of the child, with numerous health professionals becoming involved at beck and call at any moment to assure the life of the child. Now explain to me how if all of these people are willing to be involved to assure the life of these unborn children, how does the child suddenly become worthless if she doesn’t want him or her? Let’s say you witness a car accident and one of the cars goes over the side rail into the lake. You pull over get out of your car jump into the lake and swim to the sinking car, in the car is a mother and her child. You are able to get one door open and the one closest to you is the mother and you only are able to rescue one so you hall her out of the car to safety, then watch in sadness as the car sinks containing her child. You were only able to save the mother now tell me how ridiculous would it have been for you to have killed the child before saving the mother, but that is exactly what the proponents of abortion in case of threat to the life of the mother are doing.
Now I realize the Democratic Party has been taken over by the morally corrupt of the land. As their Party platform is in favor of abortion, homosexual marriage, removed the mention of God in their platform and regularly call good evil and evil good. The candidate and current President while though I respect his office and would not say anything ill of him as many do in political wrangling, he is in full support of his parties’ platform so thus he will not get my vote on Election Day. Now while the Republican Party is for a total ban on abortion they have elected as their Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney who is for abortion in rape, incest and where the life of the mother is threatened. While I know and understand that there are many issues at hand in this election and the candidates are vastly different on many topics I cannot nor will not vote in support of anyone who is for abortion in any since of the word, so Mitt Romney will not get my vote either. So what will I be doing on Election Day? I will trust the creator, sustainer, and redeemer of life, The Lord Jesus Christ.
For anyone who has read this I encourage you to go to 180movie.com and watch a 33 minute documentary that will rock your world.
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Faith Is Not Meant to be Private
I have grown to consider myself to be an evangelist all though very small, and all believers should, for that is the commission the Lord gave us all before ascending to the right hand of the Father in Heaven. As I have become experienced in sharing my faith I have come to realize that there are three different ways I do this, with some blending at times between the three.
1. Passive
2. Passive Aggressive
3. Aggressive
Passive Sharing of faith in Jesus Christ - What do people generally talk about? People generally will talk about what is most important to them, what they think about most. What is on my mind most often is the Lord Jesus Christ, so I naturally will talk about Him given the opportunity, not out of effort and not purposeful, His word is on my mind at all times. I consider this to be Passive because I am not purposefully going out of my way to share my faith but it is the natural manifestation of a spirit filled follower of Jesus Christ to talk about Him, His word, and what God is doing in your life.
Passive Aggressive Sharing of faith in Jesus Christ - In addition to natural conversation as we interact with people throughout daily life God has purposed in my heart to hand out Gospel tracts with a clear doctrinally sound gospel message to most people that I come into contact with, cashiers, wait staff, etc., it is away to communicate the gospel to a large amount of people when you do not have the time or means for a lengthy discussion. Gospel tracts are great; the receiver may read them then or keep them for later, they often will put them in their pocket then they wind up at home for others to read. I have an array of tracts with varying catchy statements on one side transitioning into the law and gospel on the other side. I also carry million dollar bill tracts in my wallet; these are great to pass out to cashiers when you are paying for something. I also like to leave these in waiting rooms and in public places, people will initially think they are money so they will pick them up and hopefully read them. You know those postage paid return envelopes you get in the mail when someone sends you a credit card offer or some other solicitation? I never throw those away, I drop in a gospel tract, and then pray for the person who will open it, then seal it up and put it back in the mail box. I consider gospel tracts to be Passive Aggressive because I am passing them out as I go throughout my daily life but I am doing so with the hope that someone may read it and come to repentance and faith, but at the same time I am dependent on them to actually pick up the tract and read it. I have a few sources where I get my tracts. A few I design myself and have them printed at a local print shop but I also order large numbers of tracts from either Living Waters or One Million Tracts.
Aggressively Sharing faith in Jesus Christ – This has changed over the years, the first aggressive or purposeful witnessing that I did involved gospel tracts. Black Friday 2010 I got 100 gospel tracts, headed to the local mall, walked around the mall and said; “Merry Christmas, God has given us the greatest gift of all” then handed them the tract then moved on. This was aggressive because it was not part of my everyday life; I had set a time and date, prayed about it, then set out with the specific purpose of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with people. Throughout that next year I went out a few times purposefully handing out tracts. The beginning of this year through the internet I saw what some other believers were doing to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, I came under conviction. I made a 4ftx2 1/2ft wooden cross with these words on the cross beam “ARE YOU READY” I got this idea from an evangelist named Tony Miano. This is great because people will ask you, “Ready for what?” and there opens a door to share the gospel. At the beginning of this year I began going out to street corners in my community with the cross as people drive by for 30-60 minutes at a time at least once a week. At first I was quite and just stood with the cross but I will now sometimes do stop light preaching, a quick gospel message between stop lights or just simply recite scripture, this is best on nice days when people have their windows down. I along with some other men will go to events and preach the gospel in open-air. The first time I did this was on Good Friday this year. Nothing is more aggressive than preaching the gospel in open-air, because people will hear the law and gospel weather they want to or not. Now the word aggressive may have negative connotations in your mind and give you emotional apprehension. I don’t mean ugly or abusive which is what you might think when I use the word aggressive, all though sometimes a hearer may get ugly or abusive when they hear the law and gospel or see the cross because it is offensive to them. I call these things Aggressive Sharing of faith in Jesus Christ because when I do this I am going out with the sole purpose of sharing the law and gospel with as many people as I can, even those who may not want to hear it. Another aggressive type of sharing of your faith is one-on-one witnessing, if you have ever purposed to share the gospel with someone and did so that is aggressively sharing your faith.
The point I am trying to make is this. Our faith is and always has been meant to be displayed publically! Jesus said; “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33) This does not mean that we earn our salvation by confessing Jesus Christ before men. Salvation is a gift of God, by the grace of God alone, through faith alone, in the Person and work of Jesus Christ alone. So what is Jesus saying here? If you believe you will confess Him before men and if you do not truly believe you will not, confessing Jesus before men is a natural manifestation of a saving faith. What keeps a true believer from sharing his faith at times? The answer is fear of man. Listen to what Jesus said about fearing men, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28) So brothers and sisters let us share our faith!
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15)
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Sunday, August 26, 2012
“For this is the will of My Father” John 6:35-40
Jesus had walked across the sea to Capernaum after feeding the 5,000. He got into a discussion with the people whom He feed on the other side of the sea and the people in Capernaum. In verse 35 Jesus makes an incredible declaration; He declares Himself God and Life when He says to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst”. Then He goes on to tell the people, “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe”. He declares that He is life itself but this life is not theirs because they do not believe. Like my daughter would say, “Wait, what?” You heard it right, Jesus says that He is life, and states metaphorically that whoever comes to Him and believes in Him will have life. Wait a minute, what happened to repeat this prayer after me, now if you said that prayer you are saved? What happened to you have a God sized hole in your heart that only Jesus can fill so except Him into your heart? Exactly, none of those clichés are in scripture, they are manmade! What we do find in scripture repeatedly is to have “repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21) Now, Jesus told these people that even though they had seen Him with their eyes they didn’t believe. So who then can believe?
Verse 37 tells us how a person comes to believe, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” So what is a believer? A believer is a gift from God the Father to God the Son. And He says that all that the Father gives Him will come to Him. He doesn’t say that they might come to Him; it says they will come to Him. He doesn’t say I am standing with my arms wide open hoping that you will come, in very plain language He states, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me.” He also states what will happen to those who come to Him, He will keep them, “and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” Now I have to tell you, this statement by Christ is one of the greatest in scripture. It lets us know who He is and who we are.
I have no delusions of who I am in this world; I am a man of little importance. If the Lord took me tonight there would be few people to even notice or even give a second thought to my departure from this world, except maybe my family and a couple of friends. But I and everyone who has come to Jesus by faith is a gift from God the Father to God the Son. Just think about that for a moment, let that sink in. You may be going through a time of depression and may feel insignificant in this world but if you have come to Jesus Christ by faith you are a gift from God the Father to God the Son, and Jesus says that He will keep you. I personally can’t think of anything more wonderful and amazing than that.
Jesus goes on to say in verse 38, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” Every believer is a gift from God the Father to God the Son, and God the Son was sent by God the Father to redeem His gift. And in verse 39 He tells us, “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.” Then He summarizes in verse 40 stating, “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.” So let us summarize. Jesus Christ was sent by God the Father to redeem those who God the Father gave Him as a gift. All that the Father gives Him will come to Him and everyone who comes to Jesus Christ by faith did so because they were given to Him by God the Father. Everyone who comes to Jesus Christ by faith Jesus Himself will raise up on the last day. How awesome is that? What an absolutely wonderful and amazing God that He would save a wretch like me.
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Saturday, August 18, 2012
God Used FireProof
Just the other night I decided to watch the movie “FireProof” I hadn’t seen the movie for quite some time. I have indicated on this blog before that the Lord used that movie to bring me to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. So before watching the movie again I spent time in prayer and asked God to reveal to me what it was in the movie that He used to bring me to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17); so my question was, what did I hear?
I do not want to go into detail to tell you what this movie is about, so I hope you have seen it and if you have not seen it I suggest you do, it’s an excellent movie. The movie had reached the scene where (Kirk Cameron’s character) Caleb Holt was walking a trail with his father John Holt. John Holt was sharing the law and the gospel with his son Caleb Holt. Caleb was attempting to justify himself when he realized his sinful state before God and came to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. The next scene was at the fire house. Caleb Holt (Kirk Cameron) comes to his friend and confidant Michael Simmons (Ken Bevel) and tells him that they both now shared the same faith. Caleb and Michael begin a discussion about marriage and divorce and Michael said; “You’ve got to beg God to teach you how to be a good husband and don’t just follow your heart because your heart can be deceived, you’ve got to lead your heart!” I realized that was it, which was what God had used to bring me to the knowledge of sin, to shut my mouth, to leave me guilty before him, and to bring me to the foot of the cross. I then remembered that the line had such an effect on me that I had written it down in my phone. So I began to scroll through my phone quickly and I knew that it was on December 19th, 2009 that I had watched this movie. So I get to the bottom of the list of notes on my phone. In fact it was the very first note that I had ever put on this phone. I made a copy of it for you to see.
As you can see there are three statements, dated December 26th, 12:05 PM. I can’t tell you what a treasure it is to find this note. Three statements! I know that morning while in Sunday School I had come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ writing down on a paper two statements, as the class was writing down goals for the coming year. I wrote:
1. I would give God complete Lordship, I would follow Jesus were ever He lead me.
2. I would love my neighbor as myself.
Given the time of the note on my phone of 12:05 I evidently wrote this note on my phone after Sunday school while sitting in the church service, three things.
1. The quote from the movie, which was what God had used to bring me to the knowledge of sin, to shut my mouth, to leave me guilty before him, and to bring me to the foot of the cross. “You’ve got to beg God to teach you how to be a good husband and don’t just follow your heart because your heart can be deceived you’ve got to lead your heart!”
2. “Good enough!” I’m not absolutely sure what I was saying here, put I’m pretty confident that I was indicating that I was not good enough.
3. “I resolve to let Jesus be the Lord of my life, everyday!”
Yes this is a beautiful gift from the Lord and a wonderful memory from the day the Lord saved me. I give you but a caveat to this. While this is a nice find and a treasure to have and keep, my faith is not in the fact that on that day I wrote these things down, my faith then and now is alone in the Son of God Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. I have one thing to say to you all, repent (turn from your sins and turn to God) and by faith alone receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
I do not want to go into detail to tell you what this movie is about, so I hope you have seen it and if you have not seen it I suggest you do, it’s an excellent movie. The movie had reached the scene where (Kirk Cameron’s character) Caleb Holt was walking a trail with his father John Holt. John Holt was sharing the law and the gospel with his son Caleb Holt. Caleb was attempting to justify himself when he realized his sinful state before God and came to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. The next scene was at the fire house. Caleb Holt (Kirk Cameron) comes to his friend and confidant Michael Simmons (Ken Bevel) and tells him that they both now shared the same faith. Caleb and Michael begin a discussion about marriage and divorce and Michael said; “You’ve got to beg God to teach you how to be a good husband and don’t just follow your heart because your heart can be deceived, you’ve got to lead your heart!” I realized that was it, which was what God had used to bring me to the knowledge of sin, to shut my mouth, to leave me guilty before him, and to bring me to the foot of the cross. I then remembered that the line had such an effect on me that I had written it down in my phone. So I began to scroll through my phone quickly and I knew that it was on December 19th, 2009 that I had watched this movie. So I get to the bottom of the list of notes on my phone. In fact it was the very first note that I had ever put on this phone. I made a copy of it for you to see.
As you can see there are three statements, dated December 26th, 12:05 PM. I can’t tell you what a treasure it is to find this note. Three statements! I know that morning while in Sunday School I had come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ writing down on a paper two statements, as the class was writing down goals for the coming year. I wrote:
1. I would give God complete Lordship, I would follow Jesus were ever He lead me.
2. I would love my neighbor as myself.
Given the time of the note on my phone of 12:05 I evidently wrote this note on my phone after Sunday school while sitting in the church service, three things.
1. The quote from the movie, which was what God had used to bring me to the knowledge of sin, to shut my mouth, to leave me guilty before him, and to bring me to the foot of the cross. “You’ve got to beg God to teach you how to be a good husband and don’t just follow your heart because your heart can be deceived you’ve got to lead your heart!”
2. “Good enough!” I’m not absolutely sure what I was saying here, put I’m pretty confident that I was indicating that I was not good enough.
3. “I resolve to let Jesus be the Lord of my life, everyday!”
Yes this is a beautiful gift from the Lord and a wonderful memory from the day the Lord saved me. I give you but a caveat to this. While this is a nice find and a treasure to have and keep, my faith is not in the fact that on that day I wrote these things down, my faith then and now is alone in the Son of God Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. I have one thing to say to you all, repent (turn from your sins and turn to God) and by faith alone receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Do Not Be Deceived
There is something that has been bothering me as of late and up until now I haven’t put it into words or rather the Lord has not granted it. In my daily bible reading I have been reading “The Gospel According to Matthew”. The greatest sermon ever preached is in Matthew 5-7, “The Sermon on the Mount” by God incarnate Jesus Christ. There is so much in this message that it just boggles the mind, I have been particularly drawn to chapter 7. The other night I was reading and Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:21-23) Now lawlessness is defined in scripture as sin, to be lawless is to be one who is not following the law specifically in this case the laws of God. So lawlessness is doing what you want despite what the law says. “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.” (1 John 3:4)
While I was reading this passage and meditating on it the Lord drew me to another passage, this one an Epistle written by Brother Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to the church at Corinth. “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) Do this passage in 1 Corinthians and the passage in Matthew chapter 7 go together? I think so and that is very frightening indeed. Now let’s go back a little further in Matthew 7 to verses 13 & 14. “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) The narrow gate has been accepted throughout church history as faith in the Son of God Jesus Christ, and the narrow way as an obedient life. That being said, can you be lawless and obedient at the same time? The two are opposed to one another.
There is a system that has cropped up in our culture and I believe that it has come out of American indulgence. Have you ever heard the term, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too”? But this system that has cropped up says that you can. Often times it is not outwardly spoken but has become common practice. The system that I speak of is the thought that you can live like the world, indulge yourself in sin, but if you ever at one time in your life said a prayer asking Jesus into your heart you have eternal life. That my friend is a lie from Satan, who cannot tell the truth, he has never told the truth. He lied to our Father Adam and our Mother Eve in the garden and has been lying to their children ever since. The bible does not say that. What does the bible say, what did the Apostle Paul say he preached? “Solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15) Before ascending to the Father He said, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46-47) Isn’t that what Brother Paul did and said as we saw in Acts 20:21?
So what am I saying? There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent (turn from their sin and turn to God) and, by faith alone receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. My friends you don’t get to keep your sins and have eternal life too. Sin is death, Jesus is life. The sins listed in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 are very specific and anyone practicing those will not inherit the kingdom of God. Verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 6 tells us what the Corinthians did to be saved. It says, “Such were some of you”, meaning they had stopped doing those sins, “but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” So they stopped doing those sins and put their faith alone in Jesus Christ, His shed blood on the cross paid for their crimes and they were justified before God, and you can be too. The author of the book of Hebrews tells us, “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.” (Hebrews 10:26-27) Is this to say that a Christian does not sin? No this is not to say that a Christian does not sin, unfortunately a Christian does sin. So what is the difference? The difference as stated in Hebrews 10:26 to “go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth.” The true believer from time to time falls into sin but cannot stay in a continual state of carnality, the Father will not allow him to. As a loving Father he disciplines his children, if the child of God falls off the narrow path the Father God disciplines him and directs him back onto the narrow path. The true believer cannot and will not remain willfully in sin because the pressure from God will be more than he is able to bear. The false convert can and will remain in a continued state of carnality. How many people do you know that say they are Christians but are living in fornication (sex outside of marriage), Adultery, drunkards, or thieves, and yet the bible tells us that anyone practicing these things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So what are you to do? Repent (turn from your sins and turn to God) and, by faith alone receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and you will be washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Now I realize that this makes people mad for one if two reasons; either they themselves are willfully sinning or they have a family member or friend who is willfully sinning. For them they know that what I and the word of God are saying is true, but they love their sin, so this angers them. For others, they would rather remain deluded that their carnate family members and friends are saved than face the fact that they may be headed to hell. But remember these words of our Lord, “If you right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” (Matthew 5:29) Do you think Jesus regarded sin as serious? So why talk about this? What do I care? I care because I was one of those people who said he was a Christian and lived in a continual state of carnality sinning willfully but by the grace of God he saved me, I was born again, receiving His Spirit, repenting from my sins, and trusting alone in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I was truly dead in my sins and He gave me life. Also I know that the majority of people around me; family, friends, coworkers, my community, my country, and the world will die separated from God for all eternity unless they repent (turn from sin and turn to God) and by faith alone receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That is the motivating factor for writing this blog and for going into all the world and preaching the gospel to every creature. I cannot save anyone but God has chosen to use preaching as the means to bring people to faith. “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14) “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
While I was reading this passage and meditating on it the Lord drew me to another passage, this one an Epistle written by Brother Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to the church at Corinth. “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) Do this passage in 1 Corinthians and the passage in Matthew chapter 7 go together? I think so and that is very frightening indeed. Now let’s go back a little further in Matthew 7 to verses 13 & 14. “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) The narrow gate has been accepted throughout church history as faith in the Son of God Jesus Christ, and the narrow way as an obedient life. That being said, can you be lawless and obedient at the same time? The two are opposed to one another.
There is a system that has cropped up in our culture and I believe that it has come out of American indulgence. Have you ever heard the term, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too”? But this system that has cropped up says that you can. Often times it is not outwardly spoken but has become common practice. The system that I speak of is the thought that you can live like the world, indulge yourself in sin, but if you ever at one time in your life said a prayer asking Jesus into your heart you have eternal life. That my friend is a lie from Satan, who cannot tell the truth, he has never told the truth. He lied to our Father Adam and our Mother Eve in the garden and has been lying to their children ever since. The bible does not say that. What does the bible say, what did the Apostle Paul say he preached? “Solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15) Before ascending to the Father He said, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46-47) Isn’t that what Brother Paul did and said as we saw in Acts 20:21?
So what am I saying? There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent (turn from their sin and turn to God) and, by faith alone receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. My friends you don’t get to keep your sins and have eternal life too. Sin is death, Jesus is life. The sins listed in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 are very specific and anyone practicing those will not inherit the kingdom of God. Verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 6 tells us what the Corinthians did to be saved. It says, “Such were some of you”, meaning they had stopped doing those sins, “but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” So they stopped doing those sins and put their faith alone in Jesus Christ, His shed blood on the cross paid for their crimes and they were justified before God, and you can be too. The author of the book of Hebrews tells us, “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.” (Hebrews 10:26-27) Is this to say that a Christian does not sin? No this is not to say that a Christian does not sin, unfortunately a Christian does sin. So what is the difference? The difference as stated in Hebrews 10:26 to “go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth.” The true believer from time to time falls into sin but cannot stay in a continual state of carnality, the Father will not allow him to. As a loving Father he disciplines his children, if the child of God falls off the narrow path the Father God disciplines him and directs him back onto the narrow path. The true believer cannot and will not remain willfully in sin because the pressure from God will be more than he is able to bear. The false convert can and will remain in a continued state of carnality. How many people do you know that say they are Christians but are living in fornication (sex outside of marriage), Adultery, drunkards, or thieves, and yet the bible tells us that anyone practicing these things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So what are you to do? Repent (turn from your sins and turn to God) and, by faith alone receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and you will be washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Now I realize that this makes people mad for one if two reasons; either they themselves are willfully sinning or they have a family member or friend who is willfully sinning. For them they know that what I and the word of God are saying is true, but they love their sin, so this angers them. For others, they would rather remain deluded that their carnate family members and friends are saved than face the fact that they may be headed to hell. But remember these words of our Lord, “If you right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” (Matthew 5:29) Do you think Jesus regarded sin as serious? So why talk about this? What do I care? I care because I was one of those people who said he was a Christian and lived in a continual state of carnality sinning willfully but by the grace of God he saved me, I was born again, receiving His Spirit, repenting from my sins, and trusting alone in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I was truly dead in my sins and He gave me life. Also I know that the majority of people around me; family, friends, coworkers, my community, my country, and the world will die separated from God for all eternity unless they repent (turn from sin and turn to God) and by faith alone receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That is the motivating factor for writing this blog and for going into all the world and preaching the gospel to every creature. I cannot save anyone but God has chosen to use preaching as the means to bring people to faith. “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14) “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Why do you seek Jesus
Why do you seek Jesus? I would like to talk with you today about John 6:26-34. Jesus had just fed five thousand men with five barley loaves and two fish. He sent His disciples away on a boat, slipped away from the people, met His disciples out at sea by walking out to them on the water. The people came looking for Him and found Him on the other side of the sea and asked Him how He got there; and so He answers them and has a discussion with the people, revealing their hearts, and why they truly came seeking Him.
So why do you seek Jesus? These were seeking Him because He fed them, and they wanted more food. Is this not what the prosperity gospel does today? Prosperity preachers attract men and women to come to Jesus to fulfill the desires of their hearts, which is health, wealth, and fame. This is just awful, and Jesus distances Himself from men such as these that desire to use Him for worldly gain. These men have taken the worldly American dream of being rich, healthy, and powerful and simply brought that into the church. Saying come to Jesus and you will have no problems, come to Jesus and you will have riches, come to Jesus and He will make you famous. Really!? You read the bible, you read the words of Christ and you get that out of it, seriously! When I read the bible, when I read the words of Christ, this is what I hear clearly and repeatedly; forsake all that this world has to offer and you will have riches in heaven, not the kind of riches this world offers, the Lord Himself is the pearl of great price, the Lord Himself is the treasure hidden in the field and He is worthy of selling everything for.
So these people came to Jesus seeking worldly things, and so He tells them “do not work for food which perishes, but for food which endures to eternal life.” Which you don’t have to work for at all, because if you come to the Son of God He will give it to you, nor can you work for, it is grace (unmerited favor), a gift. So they ask Him “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus said something that no man in his self-righteousness wants to hear, something that no man centered religion on earth can accept. “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” Then they prove that they did not get it when they again basically say, prove yourself by bringing bread down from heaven. Moses said, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.” These people wrongly thought that Moses had brought the manna down from heaven, “it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven.” So they thought when Messiah comes He would give them bread. Jesus repeatedly shows throughout His ministry that while the things that occurred in the past were a representation of Him, the things themselves are not. “But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results.” The manna was a representation of Christ coming down from heaven to give life. Christ wasn’t there to feed them food; He was there to give life everlasting through the sacrifice of His own body on the cross for the sins of men, for all who believe. So I ask you again, why do you seek Jesus? In meditating on these scriptures I have considered my own motives, I suggest that you do the same.
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Quotes: (John 6:26-34, Deuteronomy 18:15, Matthew 9:16)
So why do you seek Jesus? These were seeking Him because He fed them, and they wanted more food. Is this not what the prosperity gospel does today? Prosperity preachers attract men and women to come to Jesus to fulfill the desires of their hearts, which is health, wealth, and fame. This is just awful, and Jesus distances Himself from men such as these that desire to use Him for worldly gain. These men have taken the worldly American dream of being rich, healthy, and powerful and simply brought that into the church. Saying come to Jesus and you will have no problems, come to Jesus and you will have riches, come to Jesus and He will make you famous. Really!? You read the bible, you read the words of Christ and you get that out of it, seriously! When I read the bible, when I read the words of Christ, this is what I hear clearly and repeatedly; forsake all that this world has to offer and you will have riches in heaven, not the kind of riches this world offers, the Lord Himself is the pearl of great price, the Lord Himself is the treasure hidden in the field and He is worthy of selling everything for.
So these people came to Jesus seeking worldly things, and so He tells them “do not work for food which perishes, but for food which endures to eternal life.” Which you don’t have to work for at all, because if you come to the Son of God He will give it to you, nor can you work for, it is grace (unmerited favor), a gift. So they ask Him “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus said something that no man in his self-righteousness wants to hear, something that no man centered religion on earth can accept. “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” Then they prove that they did not get it when they again basically say, prove yourself by bringing bread down from heaven. Moses said, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.” These people wrongly thought that Moses had brought the manna down from heaven, “it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven.” So they thought when Messiah comes He would give them bread. Jesus repeatedly shows throughout His ministry that while the things that occurred in the past were a representation of Him, the things themselves are not. “But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results.” The manna was a representation of Christ coming down from heaven to give life. Christ wasn’t there to feed them food; He was there to give life everlasting through the sacrifice of His own body on the cross for the sins of men, for all who believe. So I ask you again, why do you seek Jesus? In meditating on these scriptures I have considered my own motives, I suggest that you do the same.
Mike Peek a slave of Jesus Christ
Quotes: (John 6:26-34, Deuteronomy 18:15, Matthew 9:16)
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Divided Person
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
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
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