Twilight

I took this picture a few days ago when leaving work.  I just love the evening at twilight; you know, that moment when the sun sets and day turns into night.  The sky is still blue and filled with light, but things on the ground become dusky and obscured.  This always causes me to look up, because that's where the light is.  This time period in the cycle of a day is brief.  The light soon departs and the world is consumed by darkness.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus said, "For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes.  While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light." (Jn 12:35-36).

This past week while ministering at Tyler Junior College I did so with a broken heart.  I have a special intimacy with the Lord as He is portrayed in John's Gospel.  This week on campus, I recited the first three chapters of the Gospel According to John in open-air.  It appeared while doing so, that no one cared.  I am use to this behavior in open-air preaching, but for some reason on this occasion my heart was broken over it.  Perhaps it is the intimacy that I have with the Lord in these passages.

Here is the deal; I love the Lord Jesus Christ and all I want is for you to know Him like I do.  That is the reason that I am proclaiming Him.  If you know Jesus, you will know God, because Jesus and the Father are One. 

This amazing God who gave us all life is both love and truth.  We have all sinned and fallen short of His glory, but because He is love He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (Jn 3:16).



In Christ alone,

Mike Peek

Salvation from the wrath of God that we all deserve for our sin is a gift, by His grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.

Rejoicing and Scoffing

When I am preaching the Gospel, the good news about eternal life given to us by the grace of God through faith in His Son Jesus Christ alone, we are often met by three types of people.  The three types are those who ignore us (this is the majority), those who rejoice at the preaching of the Gospel, and those who scoff at the preaching of the Gospel.

Something has changed in recent weeks on the campus of Tyler Junior College.  While the majority continue to ignore us, the numbers of those rejoicing and scoffing have both increased.  Those who scoff have become more vociferous. 

I like to preach once each hour, from 10-15 minutes to the hour, because this is the time that the students are moving about changing classes.  During the interim we pass out Gospels According to John and talk with the students who have the period off.

This past Wednesday when I was preaching from 10:45AM-11:00AM two students were simultaneously opposing the preaching of the Gospel.  I didn't know this at the time until I would later speak with Jason McMurray on the telephone.  There was a man talking with Jason at the same time that a young lady came up to me scoffing.  There is no reason to go into detail, but as the case is the majority of time she had judged what I was doing to be unloving.

I am not the stereo typical street preacher; I do not hold up signs, nor call anyone names, I just solely talk about my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  I am also not a topical preacher, nor do I explain scripture.  While I do think that there is a place for each of these.  I have only one topic; it is the Lord Jesus Christ, and my style is to proclaim Him through scripture alone.

I do this for a number of reasons:

1. I am not ashamed of the Gospel (Rom 1:16).
2. I believe that the righteous man shall live by faith (Rom 1:17).
3. I believe that Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (Rom 10:17).
4. I believe that the sheep hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He knows them, and they follow Him; and He gives eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of His hand. (Jn 10:27).
5. I believe that it drives out the scoffer (Pr 22:10).

I do not like to argue with anyone.  I have found that when someone comes up to me scoffing; when they find out that I am reciting scripture alone it closes there mouth and they go away.  

 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
Or you will also be like him.
 Answer a fool as his folly deserves,
That he not be wise in his own eyes. (Pr 26:4-5 [NASB])

I think that this is the intent of the proverb.  The scoffer and the fool both go away, but I know that they go away thinking about the exchange.  And I hope when they go away that they consider that I did not retaliate with argumentation, but that I am seeking to follow the One whom I proclaim; the Son of God Jesus Christ.

Lord willing I will spend the remaining seven weeks of this semester going through all of the Gospel According to John.  Preaching 1 chapter at a time beginning at 10-15 minutes to the hour, 3 chapters each outing.  I have been able to hand out about 50 Gospels According to John each outing, about 450 thus far this semester.  I ask anyone willing to pray for this effort; that the sheep hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God and follow Him.

In Christ alone,

Mike Peek

Salvation from the wrath of God that we all deserve for our sin is a gift, by His grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. 

A Liar and A Fool

Wednesday mornings I have set aside to purposefully go out into the world and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.  What do I mean by share the gospel?  I tell people the good news about Jesus Christ; who He is, what He has done on behalf of His sheep, what He is presently doing on behalf of His sheep, and what He will do; as witnessed and testified to by His apostles in the New Testament.  Since the end of August I and another brother, Jason McMurray of First Baptist Lindale have spent every Wednesday morning until noon on the Campus of Tyler Junior College.  We purpose to do so Lord willing until the end of the fall semester.

This past Wednesday was quite a bit different than the previous weeks.  We found ourselves in many deep conversations and even under attack a few times, which had not happened during the semester previously.  The day itself began strange, even before arriving on campus.

I like to go running every morning when I get a chance.  My normal daily run is about five miles.  While out on a run I like to talk to God and think about His word.  This past Wednesday morning while yet early a car was headed towards me and slowing.  I have seen this many times before, I run on the back roads around Lake Tyler so often someone is lost and looking for directions.

The car had two men in it wearing shirt sleeves and ties.  The driver had a pamphlet in his hand and said; "Can we give you a gospel tract?"   I thought "This is strange!" I am 4 miles into a 5 mile run, thinking about what I am about to preach and a car pulls up beside me and the driver asks can he give me a gospel tract.  So I stop and ask, "Who are you with?"  The man then answered, "We are Jehovah witnesses!"  So I thought briefly as to how I should react to this unexpected meeting.  Being aware of their cult's delusion I elected not to get in a discussion with these men; I was after all on a back road not yet done running and I had somewhere else that I needed to be.  So I followed the advice of scripture and simply said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (Jn 1:1).  I then continued on my run.  Proverbs 26:4-5 says,

"Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
Or you will also be like him.
Answer a fool as his folly deserves,
That he not be wise in his own eyes."

As I continued to run I was now thinking about this meeting and a thought entered my mind.  What the man had said; "We are Jehovah witnesses!" was an out right lie.  In order to be a witness of someone you must first have seen them.  Well had these men seen Jehovah?  I think not, John 1:18 says,

"No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him."

And Jehovah Himself previously said to Moses,

 "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" (Ex 33:20).

There is but One witness of the Father and it is the Son of God Jesus Christ.  For He alone can say,

"I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father." (Jn 8:38).

And we Christians should not say that we are witnesses for Jesus Christ.  There are two witnesses for Jesus Christ and they are not us.  Jesus said to His apostles,

"When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning." (Jn 15:26-27).

This is the reason that I like to talk about Jesus using scripture alone and by handing out Gospels of John.  Almost everything that I say is either scripture quoted or scripture summarized.  Jesus is the Father's witness; the apostles and the Holy Spirit are Jesus' witnesses.

"What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.  These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete." (1 Jn 1:1-4).

Three Hundred and One

Over 5 years ago on June 19, 2010, I wrote my first blog post titled; "Jesus the Fulfillment of God's Law".   Since then the Lord has allowed me to write 300 post, this will be my 301st post to "A Slave of Jesus Christ".  I do not know who or if anyone reads what the Lord has given me to write, but I have determined to write on this blog once a week.  I do hope that you get something out of my thoughts and reflections as I follow my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I am not a Theologian in the academic since, but I read and memorize the scriptures daily.  I am not a preacher in the since of a defined pulpit inside of an inner-sanctuary of respected persons who sit and listen to what I have to say about the Lord Jesus Christ.  I am an open-air preacher (street preacher), and even in that since I am not a very good one.  I do not like to debate or argue with people; if you listen to what the Lord has given me to say, glory be to God, and if you do not listen the Lord continues in His glory.

I started doing this in January of 2012 after reading a post about some men who had been stoned in the country of Nepal for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Then singing the song "I Surrender All to You" in church.  The Lord used this to convict me to go and tell people about Him.  The next day I wrote a blog called "Sick of Church" .  Don't let the title full you, because it is diffidently not anti-church.  In fact it is pro-church.  What I was sick of was saying that I was a follower of Jesus Christ and not actually dying to self and following Him.


 My ministry of late has been to go to Tyler Junior College and spend 2-3 hours on campus one day a week talking with the students about Jesus Christ; who He is, what He has promised, what He has done, what He is presently doing, and what He will do.  A wonderful brother in Christ by the name of Jason McMurray from First Baptist Lindale, TX, has been joining me there on Wednesday mornings.  My church home is Sylvania Church in Tyler, TX.  I could not be doing this alone!

I like to begin by preaching the message that is linked on this page; "Who is Jesus?", then over the next 2 hours recite chapters out of the Gospel of John, pass out Gospels of John, and talk with students about the Lord.  It has truly been a wonderful time serving the Lord and loving my neighbor.  I hope that the Lord allows me to continue in this ministry for many years to come.  As the apostle Paul said, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Gal 1:21 [NASB])


In Christ alone,
Mike Peek

Salvation from the wrath of God that we all deserve for our sin is a gift, by His grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.