By Mike Peek

My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me. ~Job 17:1  Job was a man who was in total anguish and he longed for the grave because the grave might provide some relief from his anguish. Not only had he lost his children, his possessions, and his health but friends did not understand his anguish and mocked him as a sinner deserving the suffering that he was going through. These men did not know but assumed that God brought all of this calamity on Job because of some wickedness on the part of Job. They could not believe nor perceive that God would allow evil to overtake the righteous. However, God does allow evil to overtake the righteous. God allows evil to overtake the righteous for his glory and our good. The best man that ever lived was the Son of God whose name is Jesus. Jesus came from Nazareth, a city in Galilee, a northern region of Judea. It was an area that many Jews lived in, north of Jerusalem in the midst of gentiles. Gentiles were what the Je...

Psalms 25:10 All the paths of the LORD are lovingkindness and truth To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies. Is it true? Can it possibly be so simple, that the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies? But what covenant? The Lord did not make a covenant with my fathers, for I am not of the blood line of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. However, there was a promise that through Abraham the Lord would bless all the families of the earth. This promise has been fulfilled in the person of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant the Lord made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant that the Lord made with the sons of Israel in the desert. Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant that the Lord made with David, that one of his descendants...

Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. This phrase is stated four times in the last five chapters of Judges. Moses commanded the sons of Israel to not do what is right in their own eyes when they cross the Jordan to possess the land of Canaan (Dt. 12:8) but to do observe all that the Lord God commands. Jesus summarized the Law in  Matthew 5:48: “ Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Moral perfection in thought, word and deed is what God expects from his sons. Throughout the history of Israel, the sons of Israel proved themselves to not be sons of God but sons of Adam. The history of Israel can be summed up in this saying: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23) However, God is compassionate and gracious; therefore, He did not leave all to die in their sin but provided a way for all to be justified; the way is the redemption which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ...

Dear Neighbor, Is the God of Israel your God and is the Son of God your Lord? God created all things, He is Almighty and there is no other besides Him. Jesus Christ is his only begotten Son our Lord. Jesus lived a righteous life pleasing to God. God said of him, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” There is no other man who has ever walked on the earth in whom God was well pleased. Jacob referred to God Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth as the God of Abraham and Isaac. God appeared to Jacob when he fled from his brother Esau and God prospered him during his sojourning, but it was not until he returned that Jacob called God Almighty my God. When Jacob was converted to God, God renamed him Israel, for he had striven with men and with God and had prevailed. Jesus referred to God Almighty as My Father and God referred to Jesus as My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. All authority has been given to Jesus Christ, in heaven and on earth. Is the Father of Jesus Ch...

Dear Neighbor, Do you have the mind of Christ? The mind of Christ is the Spirit of God. All the things of God are revealed to us through the Spirit. Jesus said that after his departure, the Father will send the Holy Spirit in his name. The disciples knew Jesus as teacher and Lord but he told them that the Holy Spirit would now be their teacher. “He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (Jn. 14:26) The human mind is forgetful but the mind of God (the Holy Spirit) is not forgetful. Who can instruct God? (2 Cor 2:16) Men teach things kind of strange. One thing that men teach is something called the Ordo Salutis. It is a latin term that means “Order of salvation.” The Ordo Salutis is a technical term intended to designate the consecutive steps in the work of the Holy Spirit in the salvation of a human being. The way that our minds work, we think in time; therefore our thought pattern is linear. When we study something like the salvation of a huma...

Dear Neighbor, I created and printed a gospel tract. I say created in the since that I took the things that God created and formed them into a message. The truth is that I cannot create anything, only God can create from nothing; we however, can take the things that God has made and form them. The tract that I formed is from God’s material and it is two sided just like the revelation of God. On one side is a picture and on the other side are words. Each side is a representation of God’s revelation. The picture represents the natural revelation, the created world that we live in and walk on. The words represent the special revelation, that is the Word of God.  The picture was taken by my wife when we were visiting Hawaii. It depicts earth, vegetation, mountains, light, sky, water and a rainbow. I chose this picture because it so vividly depicts natural revelation.  When I look at this picture, much less the actual scene, I know that there is a powerful creator who made these th...

Dear Neighbor, In the beginning, God created all things. I was created in the image of God; therefore, I ought to be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect. But I am not perfect, I have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. I know that the wages of sin is death, but I trust that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  I believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. God said of him, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” (Mt. 3:17) Jesus came preaching the gospel of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mk. 1:15) Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and he was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures. I know that salvation from sin and death is already not yet. I trust that I will be saved from sin and death but this has not yet occurred. The apostle Paul Wrote in Ephesi...