Telling The TRUTH
040712 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, but above all, my brethren, do not swear either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no no, lest you fall into judgment." James 5.12, New King James Version. "Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Don't dilly-dally, don't be wishy-washy, be strong, be straightforward, and tell the truth. God wants us not to say, 'Oh, I will swear on a stack of Bibles.'" No, that's not biblical. That's not even what God wants anyone to do. But what does happen is people take things into their own hands and decide that they are going to swear something. And God says, "Don't do that. Be very careful in every relationship you have, in every situation that you embark on, so that God will be given the honor and glory and praise." Recently, I was really shocked when I read the story of a Christian businessman who did not give God any credit, any glory whatsoever. Maybe he did, but the reporter didn't. So we need to give God glory, honor, and praise for everything. Pray, read God's Word, fellowship with other believers, and then take the gospel to people who need the Lord. Will you? Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing Psalms. James 5.13, New King James Version. Praying is a wonderful, wonderful privilege that every believer has been given by God. Whatever suffering you are going through, whatever difficulties you are facing, whatever circumstances are beyond your fixing, pray. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think. And then if you are having some wonderful things happen, if this is a very good day for you, then sing Psalms. Sing praises. Thank the Lord through music. Let your heart rejoice and let your lips sing praises to the Lord. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Have you done that? Are you doing it? Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Are you thankful for what God has done, that Jesus died, was buried and rose again, and has provided eternal life for everyone who will believe? Tell people. Tell people the gospel story. Let them know Him. What you are about to hear is one of the most pertinent, powerful presentations from God's word about what happens when you pray rightly. Verse 516b, Nukeen James says, "The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." Let's break this down. Effective. That means you are doing it scripturally. You are doing it the right way, and you are saying the right things to God. Fervent. That means you really, really believe it's going to happen, and you are telling the Lord with all your being that it needs to happen. It might be something for which you are grateful and you are thanking Him, or it might be something that you need and you are asking Him passionately. Of a righteous man, righteousness is when we get close to God. Put on your breastplate of righteousness, the Bible says, God's righteousness is the only righteousness that works, and then avails much. That means that when you do it this way, praying effectively, fervently, righteously, great things are going to happen, God will hear and answer that kind of prayer. Are you in a position to pray that way? Do it. Some passages of Scripture don't need any comments. They simply need to be taken at face value. Here's one. First Peter 1, 3, Nukeen James. Listen. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." There you have it. God has provided salvation for every person who will understand that Jesus Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, that He rose again on the third day. When we think about the resurrection, not just at Easter time, but also for the Christian every single Sunday should be Easter. It should be the resurrection reflection. God wants you and me to understand what God has done, what He has provided for us. We need to tell others to pray fervently, diligently, to fellowship with other believers to read and heed the Word of God, and then go tell people that Jesus Christ is alive and He wants to live in their hearts. Tell them now, will you? Who do you know? Who from all outward appearances doesn't know the Lord Jesus? Are you concerned enough to go tell them the truth? It's intriguing when scriptures give the opportunity to see insights that compare our faith with some mundane things that most people think are so very, very valuable. First Peter, 1-7 Nukeen James, that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The genuineness of your faith is your faith genuine? Is it floundering? Is it secure? Do you really believe that God has sent His Son into the world to save sinners? Do you know that you are one of those sinners that Jesus came to save? That He died, that He rose again because you are a sinner, and I am too, and so are others. The genuineness of your faith, how much more precious than gold that perishes. Most people don't think about gold as perishable, but it's possible that gold can get tarnished and not be at all like it used to be. Your faith, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Praise God, honor the Lord, give glory to the Lord of hosts, thank Him, praise Him, and present the plan of salvation to people who need the Lord. Pray diligently, fill to the believers, look into God's Word. 1 Peter 1, 13, New King James gives us some great counsel, listen to God's Word, therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Step the loins of your mind, that terminology doesn't seem exactly fitting, but it certainly is. Make sure your mind is fixed on the things of God, on good things, not on crud and corruption. Be sober, there are lots of people in our world that are not sober. Some are drunk, some are drunk by their own thinking highly of themselves. Don't be that way, but look solely into God's Word, and then rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you through Jesus Christ as He has revealed to you through the Scriptures. That is tremendous for all of us to experience and to share with others. I have two motivations in my life. One to win people to Christ, and the other is to train them for Him, to motivate them to go with the gospel so that we can multiply our ministry. What are you doing with what God has entrusted to you? Are you sharing God's Word, the plan of salvation? Do you know that God expects, in fact, demands every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ to be holy? Listen to 1 Peter 1, 15 and 16, looking James, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy." How can that be? How can we be holy? Well, we can't on our own. Only God is holy, but the closer we are to Him, then the more like Him we will be. God wants you and me to endeavor to be as holy as He is. Now, it's an impossible goal, but the closer we draw through the Lord, the more He will bless us for our endeavors to be like Jesus. Jesus, the perfect person, born of a virgin, lived without sin, tempted but never yielded, the one who was able because of that factor to become your sin's substitute and mine. He died for our sins, was buried in rose again, the holy of holies, Jesus Christ, and now we need to allow Him to indwell every fiber of our beings, our minds, our bodies, everything, and to follow Him to do what He says to do. He said, "You shall be witnesses unto me. Are you witnessing to Him? Are you sharing the good news?" 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 those in first through fifth grades is available in a separate area. For more information call 812-867-2418 or visit www.tripletchristianyouth.org. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. Listen to the lyrics of this song, "Clothed in rainbows of living color, flashes of lightning rolls of thunder, blessing and honor, strength and glory and power be, to you the only wise King." Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come, with all creation I sing, praise to the King of kings, you are my everything, and I will adore you. John 1.14 says, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere, that Jesus Christ is born. Listen to Luke 2, 10 through 14, "Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people, for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, and this will be the sign to you.' You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger, and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.' Our God is a wonderful God. Listen to this song, "Into the darkness you shined, but out of the ashes we rise. There is no one like you, none like you. Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other, our God is healer, awesome in power, our God, our God." Psalm 45, "Many, O Lord God, are your wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts toward us cannot be counted to you in order. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered." Another song, "Into the darkness you shine, out of the ashes we rise. Because no one like you, none like you, our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other, our God is healer, awesome in power, our God, our God." Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other, our God is healer, awesome in power, our God, our God. Now listen to Luke 7, 22 and 23, "Jesus answered and said to them, 'Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard, that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised, the deaf hear, the poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is he who is not offended because of me. And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us? If our God is with us, then what could stand against? And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us? If our God is with us, then what could stand against? God is holy because he is perfect. Matthew 548 says, "Therefore you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect." The problem is that we can't be perfect because we do things that we know are wrong and this separates us from God. We need God. Hosanna is a Hebrew word that means "Lord save us now" and is also a shout of hope and praise, salvation is here. Is Jesus in Jerusalem? People were crying to God to help them and praising God for the salvation he was bringing. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold your King is coming to you. He is just and having salvation lowly and riding on a donkey, a cult, the full of a donkey. That's Zechariah 9-9. Make sure that you understand who God is and what Jesus has done. And on this Easter Eve Saturday, get it together with the Lord. I want to inject a little invitation to you to come tonight to Triple T at 727 for Hosanna Highways climactic performance. It started Thursday and then it happened again last night and now tonight. Romans 3, 23 says, "For all have sinned and for short of the glory of God." Romans 6, 23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, and Christ Jesus our Lord." The battle rages on. As storm and tempest roar, we cannot win this fight. Inside our rebel hearts, we're laying down our weapons now. We raise our white flag, we surrender, all to you, all for you. We raise our white flag, the war is over, love has come, your love has won. Here on this holy ground, you have made a way for peace. Laying your body down, you took our rightful place. This freedom song is marching on. We raise our white flag, we surrender, all to you, all for you. You raise our white flag, the war is over, love has won, your love has won. We lift the cross, we lift it high, lift it high. What is sin? Well, there are many different types of sin, but we all sin. We do wrong, things like lying, cheating, and stuff like that we know we shouldn't do. And then we don't do what we should do. God gave us a chance at life because He loves us. He wants us to live with Him. He wants us to tell everyone about what Jesus did for us to pay the debt for our sins. If you can possibly with us tonight, you'll hear the instrumental presentation of Jesus paid it all, and then were you there. John 3.16 will be quoted for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, and whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. It was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear? The hour I first believed. On the cross, Jesus said, "Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do." I've been set free. My God, my Savior has ransomed me, and like a flood His mercy reigns, an ending love, amazing grace. The final thing Jesus said on the cross was, "It has finished." And then comes some more of the song, "The Lord has promised good to me, His Word, my hope secures, He will my shield and portion be, as long as life endures. My chains are gone, I've been set free, my God, my Savior has ransomed me, and like a flood His mercy reigns, an ending love, amazing grace." Romans 10, 9 and 10 says, "Then if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the heart one believes under righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation. When that happens, my chains are gone, I've been set free. My God, my Savior has ransomed me, and like a flood His mercy reigns, an ending love, amazing grace." Jesus died on the cross because I deserved death. He never made a mistake. He did not deserve death. He died in my place. He paid the price for me so that I can be God's friend. Jesus did not stay dead. God raised Him from the dead, proving that He is God. Jesus showed up and told His friends to stop being afraid and to tell others that He is alive. Jesus showed them the holes in His hands and the side and ate food, proof that they weren't imagining Him. He stayed teaching them about how to serve God for 40 more days before He went to heaven. During that time, more than 500 people saw Him at one time. There's lots more evidence from history, even evidence that Christ was delivered from His enemies. Jesus told His disciples, after those 40 days, to give people evidence of His bodily resurrection from the dead. I want you to know that Jesus told us what to do after He was ascended to be at the right end of God the Father. Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." I want you to stay listening because we have more to share with you about what God wants you to do for Him. Have you admitted you have sinned? Have you believed on the Lord Jesus? Have you confessed Him publicly? We're going to talk more about that in just a moment. Have you admitted you have sinned? For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God has eternal life. In Christ Jesus our Lord. Believe on Christ, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Have you done that? Have you confessed Christ publicly? That if you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for what the heart one believes under righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. When you turn to the Lord Jesus from your sins and believe on Him, receiving God's gift of eternal life through Jesus, you have four opportunities, privileges, and responsibilities. As a believer, you can pray any time, any place. When you pray in Jesus' name, God the Father hears you. You can find answers to problems of all kinds and direction for all of your tomorrows, by reading the Bible, by responding to the message in this holy, inspired, and errant, changeless Word of God. When you believe in the Lord Jesus, you become a member of God's forever family, and you can find fellowship with other Christians by getting involved in a Bible-believing church, Sunday school, and youth group. The greatest way to grow in Christ is to share your faith in Him with your family and your friends. As we climax Hosanna Highway each evening, this is what we do. There's a song. It's called "Not a Shamed." I want you to listen to the lyrics. You are the fullness of the beauty I seek. You are. You are. You are the healer of the broken and weak. You are. You are. And then it goes on. Even though few may stand and proclaim your great name, it's the life I want to live because I am convinced there is none like you. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I will stand and boldly say that this is my life. You are the author of salvation and faith. You are. You are. You are the victory that conquered the grave. You are. You are. Jesus said, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the end of the earth." So what is your choice this day? Are you a dirty rotten, no good sinner, or a sinner saved by grace? You are going to go out and just keep on doing the things you've been doing, watching TV, not giving the love of God another thought, or are you going to go and call your friends and tell them about the marvelous things God has done for you. It's time for you to call somebody now and say, "Hey, let's go to triple T tonight. Let's go watch the final production of Hosanna Highway, some of the world's greatest teenagers and pre-teens and some former teens who put this whole thing together. And I think you're going to be surprised at some of the things you're going to see. I'll tell you what I'm going to do and what we're challenging those who are participating and being a part of all this to do, to go tell it on the mountain so the whole world can know that Jesus Christ is alive. Is he alive in your heart of hearts? Have you received Jesus' gift of eternal life by believing on Christ? Has it happened to you? If it hasn't, it can right now. God has a plan for us to put into effect for His glory. He's got guidelines. They're called His top ten, the Ten Commandments. Now as a believer, you have the power to say yes to purity and no to premarital sex, alcohol, drugs, and tobacco. Here's how. As a believer, be all you can be for God's glory. Respond to the challenge of 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 to God, which is your reasonable service and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. I hope that you'll be with us tonight, but if you can't possibly come, give us a call or write us a letter, and we will send you a copy of this very special Bible. It's the New King James Bible to get yours, call area code 812-867-2418. That's 867-2418, or write TTT-13,000, that's 1-3-0-0-U.S. Highway 41 North, Evansville, Indiana, 477-25. I hope you'll respond right now. Christ through you can change the world. Every Saturday at 7.27pm, you are invited to attend a live youth event at Triple T, 13,000 U.S. 41 North at Booneville and 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 812-8672418 or write Triple T-13,000, U.S. 41 North, Evansville, Indiana, 477-25. Tune in to "Telling the Truth" next week at this same time on this same station. [MUSIC] (dramatic music)