Category: New Testament

Posted in 1Peter, Romans

What are You Wearing?

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” Romans 13:14

Just because you have a new outfit in your closet doesn’t mean that you chose to put it on today. When we accept Christ into our hearts God gives us a new nature, but He doesn’t remove the old one. Christians have the ability to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” or to not put Him on. When we don’t put Him on we live governed by the same appetites, desires, fears, manipulations, and agendas that those in the world function under every day. Our lives become, “the survival of the fittest,” with a little God added on here and there.

But when we get up in the morning and put on the Lord Jesus, our new nature responds and transformation occurs, little by little, from glory to glory, until those around us can sense something different about us. It’s not just reflected in what we do but in who we are. They begin to smell the fragrance of His life in us even as we go about our daily responsibilities.

So what does it mean to put Him on? First, it means to die to self. When Paul said he, “died daily,” he was referring to dying to the carnal nature. Before you put on a new outfit you take off the old one. We have to do it every day because we won’t lose the old nature until heaven. Second, it means to choose an attitude that puts God first instead of self. Humility instead of pride, loving instead of competing, praying instead of presuming, serving instead of consuming, and thanking God for what’s good instead of whining about what’s bad.

We can’t produce any of these on our own, but we can choose an attitude that activates the new nature inside of us. In Christ, you have become a partaker in the divine nature (2Peter 1:4), so that what is easy for God can eventually become easy for you and me. We must practice putting on the Lord Jesus. The world around us rarely gets a glimpse of Christ even from those who call themselves Christians, so our lives stick out like a brand new outfit when we truly put Him on. Peter wrote: “Be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.” (1Peter 3:15) When they see Him, they will ask.

Posted in John, Luke, Mark

Destiny or Comparison?

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, ‘Lord, and what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” John 21:21-22

My wife and I were at a pastor’s convention and one of the speakers preached from Psalm 29 on the voice of God. His point was that we are formed by whatever voice we regularly listen to. He asked if we were listening to the voice of destiny or comparison.

He said that when we stop listening to the voice of destiny, the voice of comparison will take over. The fruit of operating out of comparison will either be a competitiveness that wins by making sure others lose, or a complacency that comes from self pity because we don’t think we’re as good as someone else.

The problem is how deeply ingrained comparison is in our hearts. Jesus told the disciples at the last supper that one of them would betray Him. Luke 22:23 says that “they began to discuss among themselves which one of them it might be who was going to do this thing.” But the argument about who was the worst quickly gave way to another one about who was the best because the very next verse says, “And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest.” (Luke 22:24) We know Peter thought he was on top from his statement to Jesus, “Even though all may fall away, yet I will not.” (Mark 14:29)

But the text above from John 21 finds Peter in a very different place. He has denied the Lord and has gone back to fishing. He used to think he was the best, but by now, we can imagine, he is convinced he is the worst. To bring him back to his destiny Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him. When he says he does, Jesus recalls him into the ministry; “…feed My sheep; …tend My flock; …shepherd my lambs.” It’s not about whether Peter thinks he’s as good at it as someone else, it’s only about loving Jesus and doing what Jesus told him to do. Denying Jesus didn’t change his destiny any more than our failures change God’s destiny for us. God has factored our weaknesses, mistakes, and even our sins into His plan.

After receiving his instructions Peter did what we usually do, he looked at the guy next to him and asked, “What about him?” Jesus said, “What’s that to you? You follow me.” Our job isn’t to keep track of anyone else’s destiny, that’s between them and God. Our job is to get our eyes off of people and on to Jesus. Let’s fight off the persistent voice of comparison, so we can fulfill God’s purpose for our lives.

Posted in Ephesians, Mark, Matthew

Part of the Bride

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:31-32

If you have accepted Christ you are a son or daughter of God, but you are not a bride of Christ. Jesus doesn’t have many brides, only one. The two will become one – Jesus is one and the church together is the other one. When we accept Christ we become part of the bride so to fulfill our destiny we must learn how to connect with each other. When we become one unified church, the beauty of the bride will go forth drawing people to Christ, the Spirit and the bride will announce the gospel, and finally, Jesus will come back and take us to the marriage supper of the Lamb. We don’t need anyone but Jesus to become a child of God, but we need one another to really be the bride. That’s why He is so insistent on unity.

Ephesians 4:3 says, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” “Make every effort” means work at it!  Jesus said if someone has sinned against us we are to forgive them without even going to them. “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:25) He said if someone has something against us and we know about it, we are to go to them and try to make it right. “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24)

This is real Christianity that really shows God we are serious. When we make things right, even if we don’t feel like it, the Father is able to bring healing to the bride and prepare us for the coming Bridegroom.

Posted in Acts, Luke

The God of Midnight

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.” Acts 16:25-26

In Luke 11  a friend comes to a friend at midnight because he has no bread. Even though he has nothing to give his midnight visitor he knows someone who does. He goes to this rich friend and after shamelessly, persistently knocking on his door, he secures provision for his other friend. Jesus said that this was how prayer worked and said that if we keep on knocking, seeking, and asking, the Father will give the Holy Spirit to us in a way that will reach our friends who have no bread in their hour of need. The point is to stay connected in friendship with unbelievers and don’t be discouraged if they don’t seem to be responding right now because midnight, the darkest hour, will come to their lives at some point, and then they will seek someone who they think might be able to help.

In our text Paul and Silas could easily have been despairing. While they were evangelizing, doing the very work God had told them to do, they were thrown into prison and chained up. They could have easily fallen into doubt and asked the question: “Why did God let this happen?” The Scripture mentions that it was “about midnight.” Maybe you’re in the middle of some dark circumstance right now and at the end of yourself. You have a choice just like Paul and Silas did.

They decided to trust God in the midst of their circumstances and began to pray and worship instead of grumble and complain. God’s response is astounding. There was a supernatural earthquake whereby the prison doors all opened and everyone’s chains fell off, yet no one got hurt. He is the God of midnight. When man is at the end of himself and there seems to be no hope, God is there, waiting to set people free and bring them to Himself.

Posted in 1John, John

Answered Prayer

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.” John 16:24

Oswald Chambers is convinced that prayer is more about coming into union with God than it is about getting things. The condition Jesus places on answered prayer is to ask “in My name.” What does that mean? Is it just a postscript at the end of a prayer, “…and we ask this in Jesus Name. Amen.”, or is it something more? Jesus makes another reference to answered prayer in the chapter before: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7) Two conditions: union with His presence, “if you abide in Me;” and with His word, “… and My words abide in you.” What if “in My name” means “in union with My nature and purpose to the degree that it is no longer your prayer but our prayer?” Jesus always gets His prayers answered and we always get ours answered when we are so in union with Him that two have become one, and our prayer is indistinguishable from His.

1John 5:14-15 would be in agreement with this thought: “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” The key is being one with His will which means intimacy before asking. We shouldn’t be trying to get what we want from God, but rather, trying to get what He wants inside of us. Before His will is done on earth someone needs to voluntarily pray it from here but I don’t think we can do that unless we are intimate enough to really pray in His name. Prayer is vital, but for it to be effective our first goal must be union with God. Only then will our joy be full.

Posted in Matthew

Believing in Hell

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“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

It is tempting for human beings to pick and choose the parts of the Bible they like and kind of ignore the rest. Everyone wants to believe in heaven; that God is watching lovingly over us; and that there is meaning to our lives. Jesus gives us all those things, but He also told us there is a hell.

On November 23, 1998 a man named Bill Wiese had a prophetic experience where he was sent to hell for twenty-three minutes. (Google “23 Minutes in Hell” to hear him tell the story.) Near the end of this dramatic experience the Lord spoke to Him about why this had happened: “Because many people do not believe that hell truly exists. Even some of My own people do not believe that hell is real.” (23 Minutes in Hell; pg 33)

To not believe in hell puts one at greater risk of ending up there. This would be the most tragic thing that could happen to any of us. We need to believe in hell, fear God, and make sure that we cling to Christ and His salvation so that we stay off the wide road that leads to destruction.

Posted in 1Corinthians

Spiritual Gifts

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Pursue love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts.” 1Corinthians 14:1

Part of God’s increased Presence among us is the manifestation of spiritual gifts. God wants us to love people so much that we want more for them than what is humanly possible.  He wants us to desire what only He can do for them.

In 2013, I was on a team that went to Belize and was in charge of a “Healing Service” we had announced. Before the service, a group of us were praying and earnestly desiring spiritual gifts. The only way it would actually be a healing service was if God did something beyond our preaching and praying. Only Jesus heals!

As we were worshiping, I had a dim picture in my mind’s eye of a woman holding an infant on her hip accompanied by a feeling of compassion. I asked for more, and somehow instantly knew two facts about this woman: she was a mom, but old enough to be a grandma, and she had a horrible back problem that made every day miserable.

At the end of the service I asked whoever this was to come forward, and it turned out to be our missionary, Linda. Her and her husband, Ron, had grandchildren but also had an infant they had adopted. Linda’s back was so bad she was afraid to sit down because she didn’t know when she’d be able to get up again. When we laid hands on her, Jesus instantly healed her so she gave testimony to the group. (She was still healed the rest of the week and three months later when she came to our mission’s conference!)

Then I asked our team if God was showing them anything. One of our leaders said he saw someone’s right arm in an x-ray and there was a crack in the bone. A young man named John came up and was instantly healed by the power of God. I found out his story from his mom a few days later when we were taking a bus to a region-wide prayer event.

John was 24 and had fallen away from God and the church. His mom kept begging him to come back to church, so he made a deal with her – “You stop nagging me and I will go back one time.” John had an ongoing problem with his right arm, so this was the service she chose.

I was stunned by her story of his healing and told her I’d love to talk to John himself about it. She said that would be easy because he was on the bus heading to the prayer meeting! God hadn’t just healed his arm; He had restored John’s faith.

Posted in 1Corinthians, 1Thessalonians, Ephesians

Concerning Spiritual Gifts 

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Pursue love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts.” 1Corinthians 14:1

The world needs more than what you’re good at; it needs what only God is good at. God has placed each of us in His body (1Corinthians 12:18) just as He pleased. We don’t choose our part; we can only, at best, discover and embrace it. This is called our ministry. Paul said there were a variety of ministries (1Corinthians 12:5) and a variety of expressions of similar ministries. (1Corinthians 12:6)  God loves to reveal Himself through our differing, unique contributions to His body, so we must accept our part and learn to honor everyone else’s part.

But the supernatural gifts are different from our ministries. These work “as the Spirit wills” (1Corinthians 12:11) and are dependent on His moving, not ours. Whereas your ministry has already been set, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are dynamic. Every believer has the potential of being used in any one of the nine supernatural gifts Paul lists. We are to pursue loving people so much that we want more for them than what we can do. While loving them, we are to “earnestly desire spiritual gifts,” those things that require the supernatural.

Paul gives nine gifts and each is powerful when meeting the needs of the person we’re ministering to. The gifts can be divided into three general categories:

The revelation gifts: Word of knowledge, word of wisdom, and discerning of spirits. (1Corinthians 12:8, 10)

The power gifts: the gift of faith, gifts of healings, and the working of miracles. (1Corinthians 12:9-10)

The oral gifts: prophecy, diversity of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. (1Corinthians 12:10)

When we cease to love people, we grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), and when we don’t make a place for the manifestation of God’s power, we quench the Holy Spirit. (1Thessalonians 5:19) God wants both His beauty and His power revealed through the church.

Jesus is so great that He can use flawed, normal people to do His amazing works through. This was His plan! We can’t do His works without Him, and He won’t do them without us. He’s calling us into an adventure of walking with Him. Let’s say “yes” to the beauty of His character and to His desire to use us in power.

Posted in Colossians, John, Philippians, Romans

Living from Victory

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Very soon the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet.” Romans 16:20

From God’s perspective, darkness has already been defeated through Christ’s triumph on the cross. (Colossians 2:15)  Jesus is not at war with Satan; He’s already won the war and now, through the gospel, is inviting us to live from His victory.

The key is walking in peace. We must first acquire the peace of God, and then we must learn to walk in the peace of God. When we do this, we become like a thermostat in our environment. “Very soon . . .” the darkness around us is crushed as the kingdom of God and Christ’s victory permeate the atmosphere we bring Christ’s peace to. Notice from the text, Satan will be crushed – his work, his plans, his voice – under our feet. Jesus wants us to share His victory.

So how does one get the peace of God? It starts with salvation where God offers us peace with Him through the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins on the cross. (Romans 5:1)  Once we are saved, we have continual access to God through Christ and have peace available to us if we give our anxieties to God in prayer. “Be anxious for nothing but in everything make your requests known to God with thanksgiving, and the peace of God which transcends understanding will guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

Getting peace is easier than walking in peace. How does one stay in peace in a world that creates so much uncertainty, fear, and anxiety? I believe the key is in the verse before our text in Romans 16 and in the verse following the reference in Philippians. Notice how similar they are: “I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.” (Romans 16:19) “Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things… And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9)

To stay in peace, we have to keep ourselves from focusing on evil and on what evil is doing.  When we focus on darkness we end up empowering it. Jesus focused on what the Father was doing and saying (John 5:19); to walk in peace we need to do the same.

If we lose our peace, all we have to do is bring our anxieties back to God and He will restore it again. Let’s practice living from victory until it becomes our lifestyle!

Posted in Acts, Hebrews

Keeping the Fire Burning

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each one of them and they began to speak in tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Acts 2:1-4

Every year I do a study leave in late January with three pastor friends at a cabin without any heat except for a little wood stove. Our friend who owns the cabin goes a day before the rest of us to get the fire going, so the place is warmed up for our arrival.

Another one of the pastors brings a minivan full of wood because the fire needs to keep going 24/7 while we’re there. All events that week take place near the fire – study, worship, cards, our ministry to one another – everything happens in front of the light and heat that come from the fire. Each of us take a part in keeping it going which involves opening the door and throwing another log on, and once in a while, removing excess ash.

What does all this have to do with us? This cold, dark world needs the fire of God’s Presence to draw them to Christ, and to melt the hardness of heart that easily occurs in our culture. The church is to be carriers of the Spirit’s fire. How do we do this?

  1. Recognize that human energy and zeal don’t start the fire, the Holy Spirit does. A tongue of fire “came to rest on each one of them.” The Holy Spirit is the Friend who gets the fire going for us, all we have to do is tend it and remove excess ash once in a while.
  2. Fellowship together is like wood on the fire. We are warned to not forsake regular meetings together (Hebrews 10:24-25) and are told to “encourage one another, day after day, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:13) The fire fell when “they were all together in one place.” God has designed us to need Him, and to need each other. We all know that an ember separated from the fire will quickly burn out.