“Standing
for the New Covenant Truth in a World of Lies”
A
Serious Question: How's your faith or absence of it working for you?
“There
are few things quite so boring as being religious, but
there is nothing quite so exciting as being a Christian!” –Major
W. Ian Thomas
“Most folks have never discovered the difference between one and the other, so
that there are those who sincerelytry to live a life they do not
have,
substituting religion for God, Christianity for Christ, and their own noble
endeavors for the energy, joy, and power of the Holy Spirit. In the absence of
reality, they can only grasp at ritual, stubbornly defending the latter in the
absence of the former, lest they be found with neither!
They are lamps without oil, cars without gas, and pens without ink, baffled at
their own impotence in the absence of all that alone can make man functional;
for man was so engineered by God that the presence of the Creator within the
creature is indispensible to His humanity. Christ gave Himself for us to give
Himself to us! His presence puts God back into the man! He came that we might
have life—God's life!
There are those folks who have a life
they never live.
They have come to Christ and thanked Him only for what He did, but do not live
in the power of who He is. Between the Jesus who "was" and the Jesus
who "will
be" they live in a Spiritual
vacuum, trying with no little zeal to live for Christ a life that only He can
live in and through them, perpetually begging for what in Him they already
have!” –Major
W. Ian Thomas (1924-2007)
Welcome to the homepage
for my website bhartmann.org—a distillation of the glorious
Reality of the timeless New Covenant Truth.
Perhaps it is no coincidence
that you are reading this.
I love to talk and teach about our Lord Jesus Christ, the freedom
and rest He
provides for us, and His work in us and through
us—a wonderful paradox!
Please
take the time to explore this whole page and visit the links below.
My email link is at the bottom of this page. (photo)
May your time be fruitful and may His teaching Spirit lead the way!
VIDEO LIBRARY [Please click on the Links below, scroll down, or CLICK HERE] (Today's technology allows us to watch and learn with a couple of clicks...)
• God's Transformation Miracles - The Value of a Soul(Simply Sharing Jesus with Franklin Graham)
Past, Present, FUTURE– When is
Jesus coming back? Are you ready? (He first came as the "Suffering Servant"
and He will return as the "Righteous King.")
•
Four Schools of Intepretation/Three Millennial
Views – 2010 Handy Chart on Interpreting Revelation
(Revelation
1:3 says: “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy,
and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time
is near.”)
• Mrs. Babylon (Feb 2013) Are you sometimes apprehensive about understanding the Book of Revelation?
If so, you are in for treat! This message on the 18 verses of Revelation 17 by Pastor Ross Reinman
is a MUST LISTEN...
Please set aside 50 minutes and you will be blessed by this teaching! [Entire Series Here]
Revelation 17:1-18 (NIV) One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”
Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.
“This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.
“The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings — and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”
Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God’s words are fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”
“He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit produces life.” 2 Corinthians 3:6 (HCSB)
“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived
Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ.” 2 Corinthians
11:3 (NKJV)
For Jesus prayer was as necessary as breathing. If the Son of God felt such a great need for contact with the Father, how much more do we! But WHY?
Why
do we need to pray? Certainly
God, who knows everything, knows our needs.
Why do we need to tell Him what He already knows? We think the purpose of prayer
is to give
information to God. No, the purpose of prayer is not to inform God about our
needs, but to conform us
to His will. Prayer doesn’t change God. Prayer changes us. It changes our attitude
from complaint to
praise. It enables us to participate in God’s eternal plan. It makes us aware
of our total inadequacy
and God’s infinite sufficiency.
The Testing of our Head Knowledge... Now in your life this is a recognition of the fact that God never teaches you something without having appointed a time when you will be put to the test. It is easy to come to a church service or a Bible class and open the Bible and learn the marvelous truth which thrills you. I often rejoice at seeing light break suddenly upon people's hearts and their faces light up as the truth of God comes home and they rejoice in the knowledge of it, but head knowledge is one thing, and heart experience is quite another. The wonderful thing about God's dealings with us is that he never lets us learn something that he doesn't put us to the test on in our own life. In other words, he has appointed a day when what we learn out of the pages of the Word will indeed be put to the test down in the place of pressure in our daily experience.
The knowledge of the head is always put to the test. God is forever conducting examinations. Have you discovered that? He is forever bringing us to the place of actual combat, for life is certainly more than a Boy Scout picnic. The learning of truth is not simply moral or mental acrobatics, but this is something designed to be tested in the hurly-burly of life, in the mud and blood of our daily experience of living.
"It is now apparent as we look back over the centuries that it has been the
will of God to have each generation feel that it is living in the very last
days of civilization. Each century has found the church fearing the cataclysms
of its own time as the last to come. Yet, inexorably, each passing century
has moved the world nearer the final end.
This sense of imminence is God's device to keep believers expectant and full
of hope in the midst of the world's darkness. Evil becomes more subtle in our
own day, and the difference between truth and error more difficult to detect.
The raucous voices of the age pour forth deceitful lies and society becomes
permeated with false concepts widely viewed as truth.
We too need to gather together to encourage each other [Heb 10:19-25] and renew
our hope by sturdy reaffirmations of the eternal truths of God's Word.
We are a privileged people, privileged to draw near to the living God;
privileged to speak out concerning our flaming hope; and privileged to
stir one another up to love and good works. Carl F.H. Henry has well said, "Many
Christians now live among neighbors who, swept by tides of immorality, fear
herpes more than they fear Hades, and some even think God is a lofty synonym
for gobbledygook" (Henry 1989; 152).
Every age of Christians has had to live in such a world, and today's Christians
are no exception!
They must take care, therefore, that their Christian witness is real, practically
expressed and based on a thorough knowledge of who they are in Christ..."
What
Reality do we have on the inside? “All through the Scriptures the emphasis is on the need for reality inside,
not mere outward conformity to ritual and custom. According to the Bible, the
ultimate test of faith has always been: does it lead you to serve, to help
somebody in need? Do you feel motivated to act? If you do, your faith is real.
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this: To visit the
fatherless and widows in their affliction..." (James 1:27 KJV).
Someone has written
Pure religion prompts you— To give Dad a more welcome greeting when he comes home than the dog.
To know if the postman's wife is sick.
To put the hymnals back in the rack to save the janitor work.
To speak kindly to your younger brother.
To iron the dress for your sister.
To listen to the troubles of another.
To give away not the unwanted dress , but the one you might wear again.
To remind the Sunday school superintendent that Mrs. Smith might like to teach.
To help paint your neighbor's basement.
To make benches for the beginners' department.
To call the elevator man by his first name.
To be on time for meals.
The acid test is not, ‘What does my religion do for me?’ but, ‘What does it
make me do for others?’”
What
is the greatest truth God has to impart to man?
"The
greatest truth which God has to impart to man, I am convinced from
my study of the Scriptures, is what the Bible calls "the New Covenant," the
new arrangement for living which God has made possible to his people. We
are not merely to try to do our best to serve Christ, to mobilize all our
human resources, and put them at his disposal. The believer's dedication
to God is not the primary call of the Spirit. Rather, the New Covenant is
the understanding that God himself is pleased to live in us and to work through
us. He is ready to do everything he demands of us, and to utilize us in the
process. Our wills and minds are involved in it. We still make the choices,
but he does the work. The power comes from him. And there is no demand made
upon us in the Word of God which we are not capable of meeting -- if our
reliance is not upon ourselves but upon God, who is ready and able to give
to us power to do it, if we are ready and willing to step out, and start
doing it. This great truth is able to transform people, to transform congregations,
and to turn the church into a powerful army, "... bright as the sun,
terrible as an army with banners" (Song 6:10b RSV), able to accomplish
tremendous things. But the New Covenant has been relegated to silence in
so many parts of the church.
What I am saying is that it is necessary for us to learn again to speak out
about these things. How can you be what God wants you to be, and utter the
truth he wants you to declare, if you do not know the Scriptures yourself?
This is why it is so incumbent upon you that you learn, really learn, the
Word. Paul writes to the Corinthians,
“This is how one should regard us, as servants of
Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. (1 Corinthians 4:1
RSV)”
The "mysteries of God" are those sacred secrets that human life
needs in order to operate properly, which are given to us in the pages of
the Word, which will save life from boredom and dullness, and transform it
into excitement and electric adventure in Christ. This is what we need again
to display before the world. Paul wrote to Timothy, "I write
these things so that you might know how you ought to behave yourself in the
church, which is the pillar and ground of the truth," (1 Timothy
3:15 KJV). Did
you ever think of the church that way? The church is the pillar, the support,
and the ground, the foundation, of truth in the world. It is as the church
declares these great, unshakable facts of life that the world begins to obtain
light in its thinking, and is able to handle properly some of the knowledge
it discovers as it investigates various aspects of life. This is what Jesus
surely meant when he said, "You are the salt of the earth, you are the
light of the world," (Matthew 5:13a, 5:14a RSV). And if the world is
in darkness, it is because these truths lie hidden, not only in the church,
but, oftentimes, to the church. We need to discover them again and begin
to proclaim them -- again I stress, not only here but out where you live!"
It is good to spend time in the Bible where one can see pictures of the
Christ (Messiah) in the Old Testament and meet the Person of Jesus Christ in
the New Testament. At some point we realize the essence of the Gospel, the good
news of the New Covenant, that: By faith we are placed in Christ (baptized into)
so that what is true of Him is true of us (we are righteous because He is righteous...).
Shall we ask what God wants and answer in seasonal fashion?
The Seasons of life and the Life of Salvation
God wants us to know Him (John
17:3) so that in our Savior and Lord Jesus
Christ and through His Holy Spirit we can lovingly walk with Him in obedience
through the seasons of life.
The Seasons
He wants us to successfully weather the storms and trials of life (Winter) by
trusting Him;
He wants us to enjoy the refreshing newness and fruitfulness of His Life (Spring);
He wants us to soak and bask in the Truth and Light of His Word (Summer);
He wants us to wait in Faith and Hope for His Kingdom to come while participating
in the harvest with Him. (Autumn).
Unlike the orderly cyclic Four Seasons, we know that our seasons of life randomly
fluctuate. But despite the season, we are able anytime in the New Covenant to
place our trust, our life, our ministry, and our hope in He who is greater than
he (Satan) who is in the world. We are able to allow Christ to continue His ministry
in us as us—as His witnesses each uniquely created according to His purpose.
How well or often do we choose to make ourselves available to Him for His
work in His infinite grace and mercy? How does the Lord avail Himself through
our thoughts, words, and deeds? A Clue: How well do we hear the thoughts spoken
and expressed by another person when we are concentrating on our own thoughts?
(My thoughts are not your thoughts...Is 55:8-9)
Alive In Christ—the redeemed, righteous, resurrected Life
Do we consider ourselves dead to sin [free from the bondage and power of sin
and the preoccupation with sin] and alive in Christ who is free from the presence
of sin and who paid the penalty for sin?
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become
the righteousness of God.2Cor. 5:21 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.Rom 6:11 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit
is alive because of Righteousness.Rom 8:10 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in
me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved
me and gave Himself for [to] me.Gal. 2:20
N.B. Please know many Christians rightfully will say, we
want you to LOOK to Jesus and lazer focus on Him... And beware: "If
you look at
me: shame on me, AND shame on you, because like the Apostle Paul said in His
letter to Timothy (1Tim
1:15-16),
I am the worst of sinners!"
But, we ARE to spend our time with our Savior & Lord
asking and hoping that the
Spirit of Christ is speaking and acting in and through us—allowing the LORD to bring others into His family. Amen.
brh/April 2011
The Startling Truth of the Triunity
of God!
IF you have invested the time to research the links on this
page and explored and listened to several of Ray Stedman's messages on RayStedman.org
(newly revised) I would like to tell you of a weighty and valuable book
originally published in 1932 that has recently been republished (amazing in its
timing) and made available at a very inexpensive price, namely, The
Secret of the Universe, by Dr. Nathan R. Woods (1874-1961).
With very little argument
it can be said that Ray Stedman (who I never met in person) was one of the foremost
expository preachers of the 20th century. This is what Pastor Ray Stedman (1914-1992)
said in a 1989 class he gave after over 40 years in ministry.
"When I was a student at Dallas Seminary, one rainy day I was browsing around
the library trying to find something to read, and I stumbled across a small,
dusty book way back on one of the book shelves that I had not seen before. It
hadn't been checked out much, but the title intrigued me. It was called The
Secret of The Universe. I thought this was a strange place to be
running into the secret of the universe, on the dusty back shelf of a library,
but if that's what it is I'd like to find out. I checked it out and
read it, and I've never read a book that had more profound impact on
me than that amazing book. Its author was the President of Gordon College
and Seminary back in the 30's. His name is Dr. Nathan R. Wood."
Many others have said the same thing! The book deeply explains (consider
it was compiled circa 1920's) how our Triune God reveals His unity in triunity
throughout His creation—through the self-evident fact of triunity. The
Trinuity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit reflected and expressed in the triunities
of space, matter, time, and man is the secret of the universe. Even though
we cannot fully understand the Trinity
of God, it's no excuse to merely dismiss it as an item of faith we cannot understand,
criticize the concept or its origin, or at hellish worst to reject it;
our faith (a gift from God's unmerited grace) is in fact based on knowledge revealed
to us.
For example, each human being consists of body, soul, and spirit.
Simply stated, we would not be complete without all three (1Th
5:23). Likewise, we
can only know time in its triunity of past, present,
and future.
Perceptively, one can also see the triunity
of our physical reality we live in—time, space,
and matter—in the very first
verse of
the Bible. (Our new, born-again Spiritual
reality is found in understanding the basic need for the New Covenant
seen by comparing God's beginning creation work of the heavens and earth with
His redeeming creation work in mankind—Gen
1:2. My bracketed interpretive comments, for your
consideration, are inserted relating to our "analogous" beginning/former/old
condition before our human spirit is indwelt and made one in mysterious new
covenant union
with the Spirit of Christ, see Rom
8:9 and 2
Cor 5:17.)
1 In the beginning [of time] God created the
heavens [space] and
the earth [matter]. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty [after the fall,
mankind (originally formed of the dust of the earth) was born separated from
the presence of God (Spiritually dead), ignorant of the Creator's forming purpose
(formless)
and void (not filled—empty)
of the indwelling presence of God's Spirit],
darkness [no light = blindness] was over the surface of the
deep [formless abyss/still purposeless], and the Spirit of
God was hovering [separate
from / watching / waiting / moving] over
the waters [the void, unfilled spirits of human beings in union with
darkness].
Genesis 1:1-2 NIV
(How neat to see Gen 1:3 say: "Let
there be light," and
there was light. Later Jesus said, I am the Light of the world.
Again the analogy is evident considering darkness cannot exist in the immediate
presence of light—light dispels darkness, etc....)
Islam and Judaism (non-Messianic) among other faiths specifically deny the
triunity of God—one God existing in three Persons. We see earthquakes and other
disasters along with oppressive rulers, false teachers, and deceptive government
not ceasing to ebb, but rather steadily increasing to flow... Now is
the time to understand the One True Triune
God, and this book is a must read for all, because grasping the Unity
of God in His Triunity is an absolute foundation of faith, and the essential
element of how the Lord operates (Spiritually lives) through us in His New Covenant!
My prayer is that the Holy Spirit of God would lead you to
examine this book so you can know in increasing measure our loving Father who
revealed Himself through the Son Jesus Christ—the Lord of Lords—the
Light of the World, and in turn allow Him
to express His wisdom and love through you to others. The Father of lies John
8:44 and the Master of darkness and deceit—Satan—who leads the world astray Rev
12:9 would
have you dismiss all this as foolishness. How wondeful that we have the ability
to wisely choose!
For Donations, please visit my
good friend Lambert Dolphin's expansive
Website
Library and click on any of his Contribution links. You will be a blessing
and he will be blessed. Thank you and may our Lord God bless you as He works
in and through you!
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in
me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."John 15:5
Men's Ministry PowerPoint Presentation (download 5.4 MB) Let's
Play Ball!(Best to view in "Slide Show" mode!)
<
Scroll Down for More Videos...
The Value of a SoulThree of God's Transformation Miracles with Franklin Graham(32-Minute Video)
Please enjoy listening and readingalong as you watch the short classic “Old Barns” video —
And have a Blessed Day!
(When the one advertisement box pops up, just click the X to make it go away :-)
What a joy to come to know the Crossroads of life; do you know what Way to go?
Video: "Final, FINAL Days"
(Scripture
verses brought together as "Breaking News" for
all!) (Interview with Gary Kah regarding the Last Days, during Jan Markell's "Understanding the Time" 2009 Conference.)
"The Light of the World" - Powerful preaching by farmer evangelist Angus Buchan (watch
full screen)
.
Awesome Video: "Why Worship?" For more in-depth answers please read:What
is Worship?
Worship is a Huge Thing! Is worship about what we Get or about what we Give? For more in-depth answers please read:What
is Worship?
A thought-provoking Video: "Jesus vs. Religion" Jesus leads to humble, confident joy; religion ends in pride or despair
-Mark
Driscoll
Jeff Bethke explains his heart behind "Why I
Hate Religion, But Love Jesus" video
Is Making Disciples Difficult? (Francis Chan & David Platt)
Download a Personal Tool to make Disciples of Jesus (here)
"The Power of Words"
A wonderful Marketing Video that is designed to elicit a powerful Emotional Response...
But, God's sacrifice of His Son should elicit a humble Reasoned Response
for us
to exercise His gift of faith in Jesus Christ in obedience to the calling of the Spirit...
This will result in a life-exchanging experience where one no longer is spiritually blind
because of The Power of The Word made flesh! John 1:1,1:14
The Life Cycle of Churches
(A 4-minute video by Chuck Missler - July 2013)
"When God is Uncooperative"
(Short Intro by Andy Stanley - 2Cor 12:9a)
Full Teaching HERE
Yosemite in High Definition Video—Amazing! For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen... Romans 1:20
The BLB Institute Course on Worldview Evangelism
The biggest lie is that we all create our own reality and destiny... Learn more about the prevalence and dangers of today’s worldview...
Everything is Always Changing!
What is it in existence that is steady and consistent? Why should we worship?
A Life-Changing Video for Everyone: "Never Give Up" Timeless Wisdom for Recovery and for implementing new Life Skills! Over One Billion People know have been ministered to by Nick Vujicic
The Nothing Box!
How are men's and women's brains different?
STOP IT!
A Classic Comedy VIdeo from Bob Newhart
Michael Franzese - Mafia Kingpin to Christ's Servant
The amazing and riveting interview at Patrick Henry College on September 11, 2015!
(Interview starts at 6 min. 30 sec.)
Can You Be Gay and Christian? Dr. Michael Brown Do we interpret the Bible through the lens of our sexuality, or
do we interpret our sexuality through the lens of the Bible?
An excellent and loving explanation to arm you with the truth!
"The Evidence of Things Unseen" Dr. Ross Reiman Are Circumstances in your Life making you want to let go of your Faith?
At your wit's end? This message is for you!
"Blue Beats Green" (The Full HD Video!) A very worthwhile movie to absorb and ponder... (103 minutes)
Do you understand the difference between Ecology and Environmentalism?
