Tag: Christian

The Other Christmas Story

On By Robert W. PeckIn Articles, Blog, Christian2 Comments

A few years ago while visiting family for the holidays, I was asked to share something at our gathering, like maybe reading the Christmas story, you know, the one depicted in every church play and recited by Linus in A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Now maybe it’s just because I’m a guy, or I might have watched too many episodes of Tim the Toolman Taylor souping things up because he wanted “More Power,” but I don’t get stoked over babies, shepherds, and cattle lowing in a manger. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that story and I’m all for it, and cardboard angel wings strapped to a kid for a play are cute, but I’m looking for something more, like a supernatural reality with the power to change things.

While praying about what to share, the Lord brought John chapter 1 to mind and showed me that it’s “the other Christmas story.” It’s the same story viewed from a different perspective.

Continue reading “The Other Christmas Story” →

Things We Know That Just Aint So: In the Last Days Everything Will Get Worse and Worse

On By Robert W. PeckIn Christian3 Comments

Does the Bible really teach that spiritual and moral decline are a sign of the last days and the second coming of Christ? For that matter, what are the last days and when do they start? What if Satan has conned the church into believing for an increase in evil that doesn’t have to happen?

Discover a Biblical understanding of what the last days really are, what’s happening in those days, and the church’s job of advancing the kingdom on earth.

Continue reading “Things We Know That Just Aint So: In the Last Days Everything Will Get Worse and Worse” →

Unraveling Sin’s New Testament Definition!

On By Robert W. PeckIn Blog, Christian5 Comments

Part 3 in the series “Knowing the Truth About Sin Will Set You Free”

In previous messages in the series, “Sin: Knowing the Truth About It Will Set You Free,” we have learned that there is no longer any condemnation for sin and that the Old Testament law system has been abolished. Yet the term sin is found in the New Testament and even before the giving of the Old Testament law sin existed. So if sin isn’t the infraction of a law system, what is it and where did it come from?

Find a New Testament definition of sin and learn how to live free from its destructive effects by living the new covenant, kingdom way.

Message presented to ZChurch.life April 27, 2024

Review of previous messages

  • All sin has been paid for for all time by the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:12).
  • Since all sin is paid for, there is no act of human conduct that can condemn us if we are in Christ (Romans 8:1, John 3:18).
  • The Old Testament law system has been abolished, nailed to the cross, and made obsolete (Ephesians 2:15, Colossians 2:14, Hebrews 8:13).

The primary point of this message is to get us to stop hearing the word “sin” as meaning individual infractions of law in a works-based system and the associated condemnation for failure.

We need to understand the different meanings of the word “sin,” and when, where, and how to apply them.

Continue reading “Unraveling Sin’s New Testament Definition!” →

The Lesser of Two Evils

On By Robert W. PeckIn Blog, Political1 Comment

The following is a guest post by my friend Riley J. Hood. The subject of voting for the lessor of two evils has been a constant theme since I began to be politically active in the 1990s. Riley addresses the matter well, so I will post his comments as representing my own views on the matter.

The Lesser of Two Evils

“Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.” I Chronicles 21:10

By Riley J. Hood

I was watching a DVD made by Christians in 2016. They had a question-and-answer session, where a poorly worded question about choosing the lesser of two evils was read. “As a Christian, my conscience is deeply conflicted in this election. I don’t feel right voting for the lesser of two evils. How do I participate in the election without violating my Christian conscience?” I don’t know of any real person who makes that argument in such airy-fairy terms. The question is an obvious straw man.

It was answered by Dr. Ben Carson, “It is a very appropriate question for me, because I’m a brain surgeon, and the reason God gave us a brain is so that we could make decisions. You know every day when you get out of bed and you get dressed and you walk out that door, until that time you get back in that bed you are making choices between the lesser of evils because we live in an evil world. If you are unable to do that then you really can’t exist. So that’s a cop-out quite frankly.” He continued his answer by comparing choosing a paper cut versus having both your legs amputated. Then he appeals to the audience to be concerned about the nation. His argument has some truths in it, such as living in a fallen world, and God giving us a brain.

But quite frankly the cop-out is “choosing the lesser of two evils,” if and when you didn’t have to. What Dr. Carson leaves out is that a healthy person doesn’t have to give himself a paper cut, because he is more afraid of amputation. It is kind of like a person with a crummy job thinking his only two choices are being worked to death for substandard pay, or to break his pinky with a ball-peen hammer so he can collect disability. All the while ignoring his options to find a better company to work for.

Continue reading “The Lesser of Two Evils” →

Ministry: See a Need, Meet a Need

On By Robert W. PeckIn Christian1 Comment

Message delivered to ZChurch.life March 23, 2024

A lot of believers go around wondering what their calling is, questioning whether they are called to ministry, and if so, to what ministry. While not everyone is called to an official full-time ministry with a fancy title, every member of the body of Christ is called to bear fruit, bear much fruit, and have fruit that remains. So how do you find your ministry? For Elder Bob Peck, it’s been by seeing a need, then meeting that need.

Message Outline

Do we have to serve? We don’t have to serve, we get to serve.

Two errors –

  1. Some err in thinking we don’t have to serve and in not wanting to serve.
  2. Others err in thinking we have to serve, we must serve, or that Jesus isn’t pleased with us because we’re not serving him well enough. That’s old testament, works based-performance based thinking that we can dispel with right now. We’re not under works but under grace.
Continue reading “Ministry: See a Need, Meet a Need” →

Getting a New Covenant Perspective

On By Robert W. PeckIn Blog, Christian5 Comments

Part 2 in the series “Knowing the Truth About Sin Will Set You Free”

Message delivered by Robert Peck to ZChurch (https://zchurch.life), February 24, 2024

Imagine yourself in a time of prayer in the presence of God. Now imagine that in the middle of fellowshipping with Him, you discover you’re currently committing a sin. Would you suddenly feel condemned? Would you cringe and turn away from His face? Would you fear being separated from your heavenly Father’s love? If so, then you don’t have a full revelation of what happened at the cross and have not thoroughly grasped the realities of the new covenant. It’s time to drive a stake through the heart of old testament, works-based thinking, and get a new covenant perspective.

OUTLINE

Introduction

People struggle to understand sin and forgiveness.

We seem to think that we got saved by grace, but stay saved by works and not sinning again.

My breakthrough began when I realized the difference between the Old Testament and the new.

My big breakthrough came when I realized I could sin while standing right in the presence of God, fellowshipping with him, and not be separated from his love for a single moment.

The primary point of this message is to break the stronghold of Old Testament, works-based thinking that brings into bondage and condemnation.

Continue reading “Getting a New Covenant Perspective” →

No Condemnation for Sin

On By Robert W. PeckIn Blog, Christian5 Comments

Part 1 in the series “Knowing the Truth About Sin Will Set You Free”

Message delivered to ZChurch.life June 10, 2023

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Knowing the truth about sin will make you free – free from condemnation for sin and free from bondage to sin. First, we need to know the truth of what sin really is. Sin isn’t just a list of dos and don’ts; our spiritual standing with God isn’t just a balance sheet of credits and debits. All your debts have been paid, and nothing more can ever be laid to your charge. But that’s only where the story of life in Christ begins.

Message Outline

WHAT IS SIN?

Is it a system of dos and don’t? If so, is it just the top ten? But there’s a bunch of other commandments in the Bible. Then there’s all the things that our religious traditions have taught us to think are sin. There ends up being more dos and don’ts than a person can keep track of, so how do you identify what’s sin and what isn’t?

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

One definition for the word translated sin is “to miss the mark.” The mark is the glory of God. Anything outside the circle of God’s perfect glory in the center of the target is sin.

If you want to live by a system of dos and don’ts, then the do is to do all the fullness of the glory of God, and the don’t is don’t do anything inconsistent with the perfect glory of God.

Continue reading “No Condemnation for Sin” →

Question Everything… Even God

On By Robert W. PeckIn Blog, Christian2 Comments

Message delivered to ZChurch, March 11, 2023

It has been said, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” God says that His people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Whether the deficit stems from ignorance of the facts or the error of thinking a thing to be true that just ain’t so, the results are just as deadly. You can avoid a world of hurt by learning to question preconceptions and confirm the truth that will keep you from the pitfalls of the enemy.

MESSAGE OUTLINE

Question Authority?

There used to be a bumper sticker that said “Question Authority.” It was understood to mean “question the government,” or “rebel against the established order.”

I went from not questioning the government, to questioning some taxes and regulations, to questioning unconstitutional acts of government, to questioning where government got its authority from, to discovering government got its authority from we the people but then questioning where we got our authority from.

Continue reading “Question Everything… Even God” →

In the Name of Jesus

On By Robert W. PeckIn Blog, ChristianLeave a comment

This message was presented to ZChurch.life, August 6, 2022 (see full service at https://youtu.be/ym2nYxgiqLI)

Most Christians are accustomed to ending their prayers “in Jesus’ name, Amen.” Many have even been told that we are to cast out devils and heal the sick “in Jesus’ name.” But what does it really mean to do these things in Jesus’ name? Is the name “Jesus” the Christian equivalent of a magic word? Is it like saying, “abracadabra, devil go away… in Jesus’ name?” Do we automatically get what we ask for in prayer simply by uttering the sound of Jesus’ name?

It may surprise you to know that there is no power in the mere letters, syllables, and sound of the name “Jesus.” Nevertheless, all authority both in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus and made available to the new covenant church through Him.

Learn where the real power of the name of Jesus lies and how to access it in this message by ZChurch elder, Robert Peck.

___________________

In the Name of Jesus

Most Christians are accustom to ending their prayers with “in Jesus name, amen.” Many have even been told that we are to cast out devils and heal the sick “in Jesus name.” We get this from passages like:

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Precious Is the Death of His Saints

On By Robert W. PeckIn Articles, Blog, Christian5 Comments

On Saturday, September 22, 2018, at the age of 92, my mother, Arlene Peck, went home to heaven to be with her Lord and Savior and all the saints, including numerous family members, who have gone on before.

About a month before Mom went home to heaven, when she had lost her appetite and mostly quit eating (except for ice cream that is), the phrase “precious is the death of His saints” kept coming to me (I realize that’s not an exact quote of the scripture, but it’s what was in my head). Knowing that I was facing the final chapter in this story and that my mind was not fully grasping how to deal with the sense of impending loss, or the appearance of death winning, I went aside to pray and seek God. As I prayed, I found myself asking the Lord for His perspective on the matter, that is, how He sees it and/or wants me to see it.

However, before I discuss the answer that God gave me, I need to share my mother’s story. Yes, my mother was kind, good, and respected by all who knew her, but I want everyone to know what went into making the person they knew and loved. Continue reading “Precious Is the Death of His Saints” →