Telling The TRUTH
112412 Telling The Truth 28 Minute Program
[music] You're listening to "Telling the Truth" from Triple T. Christian Youth Ministries, "Telling the Truth to and Through Teenagers." Here is Triple T. Founder and President George Dooms. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." As Paul said to the church in Philippi, "May I relate this same thing to you?" Philippians 1.27, New King James Version, "Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ." "So that whether I come to see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel." There you have it. A wonderful way to live. A tremendous series of moments to reflect, worthy of the gospel of Christ, and then with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. Do you have faith personally in the Lord Jesus? Do you have faith to believe that others are going to come alongside of you and pray with you and go with the gospel to those who need the Lord? Are you putting your faith into effect by reading the Word of God and by asking Him to give you the guidance that you need to go with His Word to people who need Him? You can, if you will. Make it your lot in life today. Who are you praying with? Are you really believing that God's going to make you usable and use you this very day? The Apostle Paul had a personal ambition, a spiritual ambition. Listen to Philippians 3.9, New King James, and be found in Him not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, that that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. It's the faith factor that makes all the difference. Our righteousness is as filthy rags, but God's righteousness is absolutely perfect. So let's get in tune with the Lord today. Let's talk with Him. Let's read His Word. Let's fellowship with other believers, and then let's go to take the gospel to people who need to know Jesus. Four things you can do every single day. One, pray. Two, read God's Word. Three, fellowship with other believers. Even if you do it by telephone, if you can't do it in person, by email, or whatever means and methods you want to use. But fellowship, and then activate your influence. That's number four. Communicate Christianity. Go with the gospel to people who need the Lord. You can, if you will, the determination has to be inside you. So will you go after praying and reading and fellowshiping with other believers? I hope you will. May I say precisely to you what Paul said to the church at Colossae. We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ and of your love for all the saints. Colossians 1, 3, and 4. Do King James' version. Yes, giving thanks to God, to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is an opportunity that we have all the time. Since I have heard about some of you, and I have heard from some of you, I am so thankful for you because of your faith in Christ, your love for the brethren, and your determination to take the gospel to people who need the Lord. That's what Christianity is all about. We are saved to serve. We are to go with the gospel. We are to pray. We are to read God's Word. But then we are to put into effect the things that we have read. After sharing with other believers, the fellowship is wonderful, but it should only be for the purpose of going to serve the Lord. There is somebody you can reach that I can't, but you can. So will you? It's your decision. If you determined to go, God will guide you and direct you and open doors quickly. Paul said it to the believers in Thessalonica nearly 2,000 years ago. May I say it to you today? We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father. That's 1 Thessalonians 1, 2, and 3, the King James Version. Giving thanks to God for people like you, for those who listen to this broadcast, for those who make it possible for you to hear it, we are very thankful. And we thank God for those folk who are there behind the scenes doing what needs to be done in order to get the gospel to go forward. A work of faith, a labor of love, and so with patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God our Father, we give you thanks because you are making a difference. Will you pray with us and for us? When you go with the gospel, you're obeying God. Keep doing it. Keep going. Keep praying with other believers. Keep anticipating what God is going to do in the hearts and lives of the folk with whom you are going to share His good news. Listen to 1 Thessalonians 1, 9, New King James, and relate it to you and me today where we are. For you know, from the Word of the Lord, has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out so that we do not need to say anything. Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing to be able to understand that because you are hearing and heeding God's Word, that the job is being done, the Lord is being exalted and people won one person at a time? God wants to make you usable and use you. If you are willing, He will. So why don't you do this? Why don't you say, Lord, here I am. Send me to my Macedonia, to my Achaia. Wherever it is you live. And then after reading God's Word, fellowship with other believers. Then go with the gospel, sharing with somebody right where you are. Prayer changes things in people. Prayer needs to be going before every effort and energy we put forth so that when we know God hears and answers prayer, we can expect results. Do you pray expectantly? Do you really believe that God is going to hear and answer? He will. May I share with you again today the joy formula? Jesus first, other second, yourself last. Second Thessalonians 1-3, New King James Version says, "We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting because your faith grows exceedingly and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other." Do you know that when you take the gospel to somebody, your faith grows, especially when that person or persons respond to God's truth? And when you fellowship with other believers, then you can actually have more love toward those that need the Lord as well as for the believers. Together we can accomplish tremendous things for God's glory, but we need to love the Lord first. Let our faith grow exceedingly because of our love for Him. Bask in His Word, praying diligently with people who also know the Lord. And in that love relationship, let us take the love of God, our love of the Lord Jesus, and help people know that the only way to get to heaven is to believe on Him, Jesus Christ. You can hear people waiting. It's up to you. There are going to be times when it's going to be very hard to keep going with the gospel. It may be that today will be one of those days for you. Persecutions, tribulations are out there for you to endure, just like the Thessalonians did. So that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure. 2 Thessalonians 1-4, New King James. Yes, patience and faith will allow you to tell all you need to be for the glory of the Lord using the one life He has entrusted to you for the furtherance of the gospel of Christ. God has given us the privilege as a ministry to be a partner in youth evangelism with a number of God's churches of various denominations. Bible-believing pastors and people working alongside ministries that are aggressively evangelistic can accomplish wonderful things for God's glory. Make sure you are in one of those churches that believe the Bible is totally true. The inerrant, infallible, changeless, inspired Word of God. When you're in that kind of fellowship, wonderful things can happen. Every Saturday at 7.27 p.m., you are invited to attend a live youth event at Triple T, 13,000 U.S. 41 North at Boomville in Harmony Road, midway between I-64 and Evansville Regional Airport. Every first Saturday, a good news club for ages 6 to 9 is available in a separate room. For more information call 812-867-2418 or visit www.tripletchristianyouth.org. Shocking things happen quickly. I was getting ready to put the car in the garage and suddenly I looked up and a deer was just a few feet from where I was driving. The deer scampered into the woods. I went on into the garage. My heart pounding a little faster than normal. Things happen, things happen quickly. Most of the people within the sound of my voice today know where they were last Tuesday. They know where they were when the ground shook. Were you one of those who felt the earthquake? God is wonderfully in charge of our world. He is the one who knows what should happen when. I'll always remember the board meeting we were having in our living room a number of years ago. We were debating the budget of Triple T Christian Youth Ministries. And all of a sudden we heard a big noise and the house started to shake and everybody ran outside. We realized that we had experienced a real earthquake. Going back inside, my friend and board member Enlon Waller said, "Gentlemen, I believe God's gotten our attention now. Let's pass this budget." There was a chuckle, but the budget passed. God has a plan. He has a divine design for you and for me. I was able to get a brand new little booklet this week for a friend of mine, Mike Ficher. He is the Director of Indiana Right to Life. It's titled 25. 25 Leadership Keys for the Generation that Will End Abortion. I want to share with you chapter 1. Read the manual. Tucked away near the middle of your Bible is the hands-down, best leadership advice that you will ever read, period. How's that for an opening statement? It's true. The Book of Proverbs is the culmination of God-breathed wisdom that applies to every facet of your life, including leadership principles that will keep you on the path to excellence. I'm often amazed at how many leaders will attend seminars, spend big money on motivational bestsellers, or endlessly pursue college courses while never bothering to crack the black book, "Collecting Dust on the Nightstand." Sound old-fashioned? I guess you're right. It's so old-fashioned that it plums the depths of wisdom found in God before the creation of the universe. You can't get any more old-fashioned than that. Let me ask you this. Whose wisdom would you rather follow? The Book of Proverbs carries with it another unique benefit by way of its being broken into 31 chapters. Hence, your leadership program is made quite simple. One chapter of Proverbs each day corresponding with the day of the month. It doesn't get any easier than that. Remember, the Book of Proverbs isn't hocus-pocus, meaning you won't absorb its meaning by cursory review. In fact, it's so deep that you can spend a lifetime studying its wisdom and you'll continually find something new. It's that good. A long time ago, a teenager said, "George, I found out something Sunday morning. We had a visiting speaker in our church, and he told us something remarkable." He said that there are 31 maximum days in a month. Now, I knew that and she knew that. But he also said there are 31 chapters in the Book of Proverbs. Then he said, "Why don't you read the proverb of the day, for the rest of your life? It will change everything about you." She said, "Isn't that a great idea? I agreed." And I decided I was going to try it. The only problem is it would be late at night and I hadn't read the proverb of the day. So I would struggle through it, sometimes make it all the way through, sometimes not. And I realized I wasn't doing things quite the way they ought to be done, decently and in order. And then I reflected on how I got through college. Mary and I were married and I hunched over a floor furnace every morning between 5 and 5.30 to read the lessons that I needed to read, especially boring pages of history. And it was a very difficult task, so I decided to work out a deal with George Dooms. That's me. I said, "Okay, George, here's what you get to do. For every page of history you read, you'll get a bite of breakfast." I learned to read rapidly and eat slowly, and I'm still doing both of those things. And so I said, "Okay, if that's how I got through college, why don't I work out a self-disciplinary circumstance that will help me read the proverb of the day?" So I made this deal with myself. Number one, George, you can't have a bite of breakfast until you've read the proverb of the day. You can't read the newspaper. You can't turn television on or radio on. You can't do anything before you read the proverb of the day talking to God first. The formula is, you talk to the God of the Word before letting the Word of God speak with you. And so it began to make sense, and it began to become a lifestyle. Day in, day out, week in, week out, month in, month out, year in, year out, decade in, decade out. And I'm still doing it. I did it this morning, planning to do it in the morning, because God's Word is quick and powerful and sharpened in a two-edged sword. So commit yourself to reading one chapter of the book of Proverbs each day by reading the chapter corresponding with the day's date. Pray that God will open your eyes and give you understanding. That's a real-life application to this very, very special word. Now, take a listen. Take a listen now. Take a listen today, because today is Proverbs 24, because today is the 24th of November. This is God's Word. Listen. Do not be envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them, for their heart devises violence and their lips talk of troublemaking. Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established. By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. A wise man is strong, yes a man of knowledge increases strength, for by wise counsel you will wage your own war, and in a multitude of counselors there is safety. Wisdom is too lofty for a fool. He does not open his mouth in the gate. He who plots to do evil will be called a schemer. The devising of foolishness is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to men. If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to this slaughter. If you say, surely we did not know this, does not he who weighs the hearts, consider it? He who keeps your soul, does he not know it? And will he not render to each man according to his deeds? My son, eat honey, because it is good, and the honeycomb, which is sweet to your taste. So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul. If you have found it, there is a prospect, and your hope will not be cut off. Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous. Do not plunder his resting place, for a righteous man may fall seven times, and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity. Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles. Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him. Do not fret because of evil doers, nor be envious of the wicked, for there will be no prospect for the evil man. The lamp of the wicked will be put out. My son fear the Lord and the king. Do not associate with those given a change, for their calamity will rise suddenly, and who knows the ruin those two can bring. These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to show partiality and judgment. He who says to the wicked you are righteous. Him the people will curse. Nations will have harp him, but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them. He who gives the right answer kisses the lips. Prepare your outside work, make it fit for yourself in the field, and afterward build your house. Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, for would you deceive with your lips? Do not say, I will do to him, just as he has done to me, I will render to the man according to his work. I went by the field of a lazy man, and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding. And there it was, all overgrown with thorns, its surface was covered with nettles, its stone wall was broken down. When I saw it, I considered it well. I looked on it and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. So show your poverty, come upon you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man. Isn't that great? Get in the habit of reading the proverb of the day. Stay tuned for more information just for you. [music] As we think about all the things for which we can be thankful, why don't you start listing some things just for your benefit, and hopefully the benefit of others too? What are you most thankful for? And second, and third, and so forth. I am so thankful that I had the privilege of living in a home where some people, my mother and my dad, took me to a Bible-believing church. My dad was not a believer when I was born, but soon afterward, by the time I was two, he came to know Jesus Christ personally. And then at the ripe old age of eight, on a Sunday night, in a little church in my hometown, after night after night of preaching and singing, in what they called a revival or an evangelistic effort, I understood fully and completely that George Dooms had sinned and come short of God's glory. I admitted that I was a sinner. I turned to Jesus from my sins. I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. On the wall behind the pulpit was a cross. And around that cross were the words. Christ died for our sins. I knew it. I believed it, I responded to it, and that night, I was born again. When I got home, my parents said, "George, you don't have to pray the little prayer. Now I lay me down to sleep anymore. You're a believer. You're a member of God's family. You can talk to the Lord about anything you need to, anything that you want to. And I learned to pray, the night I became a real believer in Christ. Very shortly after that, just a few months, we moved from our state of Illinois to the state of Virginia. I was surrounded by people who believed that everybody from Illinois was the enemy. They were still fighting the Civil War in their minds. And so I had a rough time. But I learned to pray. And I had a pastor friend there who had been my folks pastor. In fact, the one that led my dad to the Lord. And he was the one that got them to move to Virginia. And so every day after school I would run to his house and go up to a study and he would pray with me and for me. And again, I learned to pray. And I've been praying diligently ever since. Sometimes more diligently than others. But knowing that God hears and answers prayer. This is a time of reflecting on all that God has done in the past few months. Back on January the 28th, we had our 2,400 consecutive Saturday at Triple T. Christian Youth Ministries. We've been here every Saturday night and we're continuing as God makes it possible for us to go through this open door. God willing, just a little bit over a year from now, on December 28 of 2013. Triple T will have the 2,500 consecutive Saturday. Again, I say God willing because only he can make these things happen. We're within called Tiger Team. Tiger means teens involved going evangelizing regularly. We train these tigers in pure evangelism and leadership. And they learn how to share their faith. And wonderful things have been happening. Things like kids sharing Christ on the bus. One girl said to her seat mate, "Do you have a Bible?" She said, "No." She said, "Let's go to the cafeteria together and I'll see that you get one on it." She gave her a Bible. But she opened the inside flap of her New King James Triple T Bible and shared with her God's ABCs. And the girl accepted Jesus. The next week, two other girls in another school had bowed for prayer. They had been trained at the Tiger Team Training Day. And so they were praying before the meal. And a girl next to them said, "What were you guys doing?" They said, "We were praying. We were thanking God." "Well, why do you do that?" "Well, because we love the Lord, because God has provided everything for us." And they kept talking and the girl got more curious. And they shared the Gospel with her. And there, she too accepted Jesus. Project Proclaim continues to go with the Gospel. Evangelistic youth efforts go all the time. Traveling tigers are being trained. And fair share is on the horizon for the summer. And we look forward to seeing what God's going to do. We invite you to express your thanksgiving to God by being a partner with Triple T. Will you? Christ through you can change the world. Every Saturday at 7.27 p.m. You are invited to attend a live youth event at Triple T. 13,000 US-41 North at Booneville and Harmony Road, midway between I-64 and Evansville Regional Airport. Every first Saturday, a good news club for ages six to nine is available in a separate room. For more information call 812-867-2418 or visit www.tripletchristianyouth.org. For your free copy of The Telling the Truth newsletter, call 812-8672418, 812-8672418, or write Triple T, 13,000 US-41 North, Evansville, Indiana, 477-25. Tune in to Telling the Truth next week at this same time on this same station. [MUSIC] [MUSIC]