Telling The TRUTH
063012 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." The King wanted to know why Nehemiah looked so sad. Nehemiah 2, verse 3, New King James says, "And said to the King, 'May the King live forever. Why should my face not be set when the city, the place of my father's tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire." It was this devastation of Jerusalem that was so adversely affecting Jeremiah. He felt he had to do something. God has a plan for you to do too. When you see the devastation, when you see something in ruins, when you see a problem that needs a solution. Yes, your face can be sad, but your heart can be glad when you go before the Lord and ask Him for guidance and direction that only He can provide. Know this. You will always be sad when you have relatives and friends that from all outward appearances are not headed for heaven because they have not yet trusted Jesus. But you can pray for them and you can pray with other believers. Then you can go to them with the plan of salvation. You can trust that God will make you usable and use you to make an impact on the people who need the Lord, people whom you can reach. Will you pray? Will you pray with others? Will you read God's Word? Will you take the gospel? Nehemiah stood before the king. He was readying Himself, and then it came. Nehemiah 2-4, New King James says, "Then the king said to me, 'What do you request?' So I pray to the God of heaven. When you are faced with the difficulty, when you are perplexed, when you need wisdom, pray, and pray some more. Pray to the God of heaven, the God in heaven, and pray in Jesus' name, believing that He is going to hear you and answer you." Whatever is burning you right now, whatever you are facing that needs God's blessings, talk with Him. Make certain that you are presenting your request deliberately and distinctly to the Lord's in Jesus' name. And watch God work wonderfully to solve problems, to rearrange circumstances. One of the things that we need to do is to have a compassion on the people who don't know the Lord, and to reach out to them, to get prayer partners with us, talking to the Lord, and then believe that God is going to hear and answer prayer. Then go with the gospel to those people who need Jesus. Who do you know who needs Him? Who do you know who is facing spiritual difficulties? Who do you know that you can share Jesus Christ plan of salvation with this very day? Nehemiah 2.5, New King James Version says, "And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, "and if your servant has found favor in your sight, "I ask that you send me to Judah, "to the city of my father's tombs that I may rebuild it." Now the request has been made. Jeremiah first prayed and then shared the need, "Always pray first. "Pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks, "for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. "Thank God for what He has done, "for what He is doing, "and for what He is going to do "as you present your petitions to Him in Jesus' name. "There's a job to be done, a world to be one, "and there is something that you, "and only you could do the way God would be pleased "to have you to do it, "if you will get everything in tune with Him. "Make certain that you are praying consistently, "that you are reading the Word of God, "that you are doing what the Word of God tells you to do, "that you are having fellowship with other believers in Christ, "and together that you are determining "how to get the gospel to more people, "more effectively, more quickly. "God can make you usable, "and He can make you usable today. "Are you willing? "Would you go? "Would you go expecting God to hear and answer prayer?" Nehemiah had received word that Jerusalem was in ruins. He got an audience with the king. "Listen to Nehemiah 2-6, New King James. "So the king said to me, "the queen also sitting beside Him, "how long will your journey be, "and when will you return? "So it pleased the king to send me, "and I set him a time. "Always be ready to give an answer "when you are making a request "because sometimes something is going "to come across the mind of the person "to whom you are requesting help. "And you need to be ready to give an answer." Nehemiah was ready. God led, guided, and directed Him. God will lead you. He will guide you. He will direct you if you will move as He would have you to move toward people who need Him. Sin is rampant. Sin is abound, but Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried and He rose again on the third day. The Bible tells us that what we need to do is to believe. But we have got to help people see that need in their hearts so that they too can have life that will last forever. Who will you tell today? Somebody is waiting. You know the plan of salvation. But unless you share it, how will they know? It's up to you. When you have a burden, when you approach someone to help you lift that burden, make certain that you are presenting the details and all that is necessary to provide what is needed. Listen to Nehemiah 2.7, New King James Version. Furthermore, I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the river, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah." Now, that's a pretty heavy request. He led us from the king to the governors of all across the region. But he had to have that help in order to pursue his dream to go where he needed to go to do what needed to happen. You too can make requests, and God will give you the courage to ask the right person who can provide the help that you need to further your work for God's glory. Communicating Christianity is the need of the hour. I don't know how you were equipped to do it, but read the Word of God. Learn all you can about how to communicate, how to share, pray with other believers, and then after praying, go. Present the plan of salvation. Let people know that all they have to do is to admit that they have sinned, to believe on the Lord Jesus, to confess Him publicly, to tell others that they believe. Who will you tell today? Someone is waiting for you. William Carey, the father of modern missions, said, expect great things from God, attempt great things for God. Nehemiah 2.8, New King James Version, lets us in on that exact happening. Listen. And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel, which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy. And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me. Yes, expect great things, attempt great things, and watch it happen. Pray diligently, believing and God will help you receive what you are trusting Him to provide. What is your need this hour? Do you have compassion on the people who need Jesus? Are you willing to say, "God, make me usable and use me"? Are you willing to pay the price to develop all that God has entrusted to you? Are you willing to go? Pray, read, heed the Word of God, and then share the wonderful plan that God has provided to give eternal life to everyone who will believe? To believe on Christ means that you are trusting Him completely, to give you the gift of God, eternal life. It's yours for the asking, tell someone how, and God will do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. That's a promise straight from His Word. Listen to Nehemiah 2.9, New Kings James Version. Then I went to the governors in the region beyond the river and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. God will always go the second, the third, or however many extra miles are needed to help you accomplish the task that you are endeavoring to do for the glory of the Lord. Nehemiah didn't ask for the horsemen, for the captains of the army to go along with him, but the king knew that he needed them. So he provided them. God will always provide more than we ask for, even requesting from people as long as we bathe those requests in prayer. God hears and answers prayer. He will for you, he has for me, and he wants us to be ready to go with the gospel to people who need the Lord. So pray. Pray without ceasing. Read the Bible and then share. Put on the whole armor of God to stand against the wives of the devil and having done all to stand. Use the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and the shield of faith. 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 in Harmony Road, Midway between I-64 and Evansville Regional Airport. Every first Saturday, a good news club for those in 1st through 5th grades is available in a separate area. For more information call 812-867-2418 or visit www.tripletchristianyouth.org. Start where you are. That's what Nehemiah did. Everything begins with prayer. It continues with seeking God's will. First step is always to pray. Second step, seek God's will. Beyond that is goal-seeking. Seek God's will and then thirdly set your goals. And then fourth, start where you are. Not where you wish you were. Not where you have been. But where are you? Where are you geographically? Well today, geographically, I am in Vandenberg County, Indiana, just outside Evansville, Indiana, in the state of Indiana, in the Tri-State area of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, the Midwestern section of the United States, in the United States of America, on the continent of North America. We are here. We are a part of the galaxy. Right here on planet Earth. That's where I am. So where are you? Now if you're listening for your radio or podcast, you may be someplace else. Just find out where you really are. And then listen. You have to start right where you are. You have to start where you are geographically, but also physically. Where are you physically? What kind of a body do you possess? How is the physical you? Where are you mentally? Are you with me? Are we together? Are you someplace else in the world of daydreams? Mentally, where are you? Start where you are in your mind, and then start where you are socially. Who are your friends? Who are you next to? Who are you associating with? What kind of world is your world socially speaking? Where are you? Start where you are socially, and now the very important one. Where are you spiritually? Are you a Christian? Have you been born again? Have you admitted that you have sinned? Have you believed on the Lord Jesus? Have you confessed Him publicly? Do you know Him whom to know a right is life eternal? Are you truly a believer on Christ? Where are you spiritually? When you take this inventory and you do this checkup on the real you and you identify your position, then it's time to really start. In the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah was in a particular and peculiar position. God spoke to Him. In Jeremiah 33, the Bible says more over the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time while He was still shut up in the court of the prison saying, "Thus says the Lord who made it." The Lord who formed it to establish it, the Lord is His name. When Jeremiah was in that position, God sent Him a message. Jeremiah, start where you are. Here's what to do. Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know. Before you move from where you are, you need to call on the Lord. And when you do, He will show you what's next. He will give you the guidance and direction you need in order to impact your world. Starting where you are means that you have to take an inventory again of all those particular parts of you. And then you have to determine what you're going to do where you are. So where are you? I hope you're in a position to say, "God, make me usable and use me." I will give back to you all that you have entrusted to me. I will one more time present my body a living sacrifice. Here I am, Lord. Send me where you want me to go from where I am. As we've shared with you, the key idea and key means keep evangelizing youth is a very practical plan. It is designed to help you communicate Christianity. It is extremely flexible and therefore adaptable to all situations, including yours. It is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. Its development depends on your action. It is as expansive as you desire it to be. Its only limitation is your lack of involvement. Without you, it is worthless. With you, it is potentially as high as your sky, as wide as your world, as deep as your dedication. So where are you? We're sharing a tried and proven formula for effective youth evangelism. Every premise of this plan is based on four imperative fundamentals. One, the Bible is the word of God. It is meant to be followed consistently. You cannot be an outstanding Christian worker without personally adhering to the concepts of the scriptures, beginning with an individual intimate relationship with Jesus. Secondly, prayer is basic. It is a daily necessity for your development and growth as a Christian. Prayer changes things and prayer changes people, believing always precedes receiving. Somebody has said, "Seeing is believing, but no, believing is seeing in advance what God is going to do." Three, obeying God's word predicates participating in God's work. It involves the total you, the mental, the physical, the social, the spiritual. Four, communicating Christianity is the number one task of the committed Christian. There is no such thing as commitment without communication. There is nothing that works like communicating the Christian message. God has told us to go. Jesus said go. And we are to go with the Gospel to the people who need to know about Jesus Christ. How does this all work? Well, we start where we are. We look around us. And certainly as we see ourselves in this particular position, someone has well phrased it, draw a circle around where you are and step into that circle and say, "God, start using the person in this circle to impact the world starting right now here today." And then bring into that circle other people and expand the circle. As you start where you are, you can have another committed Christian with you, and then another, and then another. And as you do this, you have this nucleus of three or four or more. And starting where you are, you reach out and bring other people into your circle, and you expand your circle. And as you contemplate not only finding out where you are, you need to determine what to do about it. We'll be sharing more of these details. But at this very moment, you need to make a list of what you need to impact that area. You're going to try to reach for Jesus Christ geographically. And then you need to delegate the necessary people to carry out the plan. You target your publics and determine how to best spread the word about the event or the effort to the people you want to reach. You make a personal preparation and then a group presentation. And again, you simply list what's needed. What do you need? Are there tools that you need, are there items that you need to put all of this effort together so that you can reach out to a whole bunch more people in just a short, short time? In a matter of a few weeks, you can have an impact right where you are. And the only way the impact will really be living up to its name. And really effective is for you to have all the tools gathered in one place at one time where you are. And when you get them there, you take an inventory and you have to determine what else you need. You have to make that determination yourself only you can. And as you look around you, where you are, you make certain that in the middle of that circle, are you and those people that are with you, you're going to get the job done. You're going to be saturating that circle with prayer. Pray, talk to God. Talk to God specifically. Thank Him first for what is already done. Tell Him what you really believe needs to happen. What is the desire of your heart? How many people do you want to try to reach for Jesus? All the details are ready for you to present to the Lord in prayer. And pray again and again about them. And then thank God for what He's going to do. Thank God in advance for what He is doing for the provisions for your impact. Impact means I must personally advance Christianity today. Then you ask yourself two questions, if not I who, if not now when. When you get into the habit of thanking God for what He has done, thanking Him for what He is doing, thanking Him for what He is going to do, you get in a very special prayer circle of circumstances. And I hope that you will get this concept. I hope that you will share it with the other people in that circle that we talked about, that you have drawn and put other people inside with you. Understand that concerted, concerned prayer, sharing burdens, sharing blessings will help you get the job done. Again, make certain that you know where you're going, what you're doing, what's going to happen, how you're going to affect the most possible people in the shortest possible time. Continue to reach out to where you need to be. But don't move out of that circle until you make sure that all of the entities are there. Understand? You need to keep your inventory sheet all the time. Your inventory sheet is a very practical thing. It's basically a planning sheet and on your planning sheet, you list the things you need, the items you need to be obtained, the things that need to be planned, the things that need to be done, the people to be seen, and even let us to write and phone calls to make and appointments to keep. When you do all of this, you can make an impact. It can happen beginning with you and extending through other people to touch your world. Keep a checklist. Make sure that you have done what you are supposed to have already done, and if you haven't, make certain that you determine when you're going to do it. You see, to be a very effective Christian communicator, you have to determine how you're going to share the good news of the saving power of Jesus Christ with people who need the Lord. Are you certain that your effort is going to be aggressively evangelistic? Are you certain that everybody is going to be a part of this who is a Bible believer? And are you certain that the results that you are doing are going to be involved with local Bible believing churches for follow-up? Move in the direction God would have you to go, and some tremendous things can happen. They can transpire when you determine to do what God wants you to do. Are you really Bible believing? To be Bible believing means that the Bible is the inspired, infallible, and errant Word of God, and you trust it totally. It must be the foundation on which everything you do is built. And then you need to make certain that those who meet Christ, those who profess to believe on Him, that they are going to be involved in a local Bible believing church so that they will be instructed and followed up so they can grow in Christ in the days after your efforts are completed. That doesn't mean you quit. That means that you get ready to attack again and put together another outreach to people who need the Lord. So start where you are after having sought God's will for every facet of every outreach that you are doing. After setting specific goals, make sure that you are doing your part to reach those goals. Again, pray about them, saturate everything in prayer, and then move out from there. Call to me, God says, and I will do what? Answer you. God wants to hear your prayers. He wants to answer your prayers. He wants to give you the guidance and direction that you need to get the job done effectively for His glory. So continue to use the tools effectively that you have at your disposal. And then think not only about starting where you are, but the direction that you are going to go from here. How far are you going to go? Let me ask you to take a personal inventory about those things we mentioned moments ago. How high is your sky? There is a song that is titled "How Big is God?" How vast is his big domain? How high is your sky? Does it go just over your head? Way up to the ceiling? Or does it go all the way through the ceiling? Does it bounce off the clouds? Does it penetrate the clouds? How high is your sky? And then starting where you are, ask yourself, how wide is your world? How far out do your horizons stretch? How wide is your world? Expand it from where you are to the greatest degree possible. Don't stretch yourself like a rubber band until it breaks, but stretch yourself as far as you can stretch without breaking. So how wide is your world? How many people are you going to try to reach? To bring the gospel to them and to share with them God's plan of salvation? The key, the real key, the essential is how deep is your dedication? How far down inside does your commitment to Jesus Christ really go? How long lasting will it be? Are you willing to pay the price no matter what? Are you willing to do whatever you have to do to accomplish this for God's glory? Are you willing to take that first step to start where you are? Then if you do that, understand that moving out from that piece of geography where you are, alphanet little hunk of turf that you find yourself on, taking that first step, then the second and the third, you're going to keep going until you accomplish what needs to be accomplished. But there has to be that beginning point and you have to take your inventory inside your circle before you step out of your circle before you expand your circle. And then those people who are working with you inside your circle are going to know what to do and how to do it. There's no way that we can emphasize too often Romans 12, 1 and 2. I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. It may not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you might prove is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. I want to ask you three quick questions. Number one, will you pray for this ministry that we call triple T or telling the truth? And secondly, will you ask God what part you could have and should have to join with us to be a partner? We have information to send your way. We ask you to please check our website. It's easy to find tttchristianyouth.org. Again, tttchristianyouth.org. We're looking forward to communicating with you, to hearing from you, and to be able to share with you ways that you can allow. 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 Boone Building Harmony Road, midway between I-64 and Evansville Regional Airport. Every first Saturday a good news club for those in first through fifth grades is available in a separate area. For more information call 812-867-2418 or visit www.tripletchristianyouth.org. For your free copy of the telling the truth newsletter call 812-867-2418, 812-867-2418, or write Triple T, 13,000 US-41 North, Evansville, Indiana, 477-25. Tune in to telling the truth next week at the same time on the same station. [MUSIC]