Telling The TRUTH
022512 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 Dumes. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death." James 1.15, New King James Version. The Bible also says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Christ Jesus our Lord." So desiring to do wrong gives way to doing it, and then ultimately it leads to death. God loves you. Jesus died so you could live. He was buried and he rose again, and what he wants you to do is to trust him completely, and then to share your faith in him with those who do not know him. Pray for them, pray for wisdom, for guidance, for direction, pray for other believers, and together make the determination to get the gospel to every person you possibly can. Continue to read the Word of God and let the Lord speak to you through His Word. Make certain that you are talking with him, asking for guidance and direction, and then praying for those who need to know him. Together, you and your fellow believers can go with the gospel. Who do you know who doesn't know the Lord, or who is having spiritual difficulties from all our appearances? Go to them with God's marvelous truth. The devil is deceitful and he wants to trick you. He wants to trap you. He will deceive you if you're not careful. James 1 16, New King James says, "Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren." Brethren is a word that means believer. Every person who is admitted he or she has sinned, who has turned to Jesus from his or her sin, who has trusted Christ, and who has been willing to tell others that they believe, confessing with their mouth the Lord Jesus, believing in their heart, your heart, my heart, that God did indeed raise Jesus from the dead. As brethren, we have the opportunity of growing in grace, how, by reading the Word of God, by praying diligently, by fellowshipping with other believers, and then determining to take the gospel to those folks who do not now know the Lord Jesus personally. So, don't be deceived. The deceitful one is out there, but you don't have to give in to sin. Put on the whole armor of God to stand against the wiles of the devil and having done all stand, then go with the gospel. Determine who needs the Lord. Work out the way to get God's Word to people for whom you care. One of the things that I really like to do is to give gifts. In fact, I like to give gifts to the Lord, but it is impossible to outgive God. Listen to James 1 17, New King James Version. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Isn't that fantastic? Isn't that marvelous? Every good gift, every perfect gift is from above, and comes from God, the Father of Lights. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." Then later he said, "You are the light of the world." How can that be? We are to reflect His light, like the moon reflects the sunlight. Are you doing it? Are you telling others? Are you letting your light so shine that others might see your good works? And they in turn might glorify your Father in heaven? It is a gift that God bestows that He presents, that He provides for you so that you can share Jesus Christ with others. Will you? Know that this is one gift you can give, the gift of encouraging others to trust Christ personally. When we are Christian communicators go into new territory, it is thrilling when the first fruits come forth. Listen to James 1 18, New King James. Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Isn't that what you would like to be? First fruits for the Lord so that then you can bear fruit and bring those into God's family who will also be among the first fruits where you are, where you are sharing God's love? Of his own will, God has a perfect plan for you, a plan for your life, and for mine. And he brought us forth by the word of truth. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." No one comes to the Father except by me. We need to tell that truth of who Jesus is, that He lived perfectly, being born of a virgin, tempted but never yielded, and then died for our sins, was buried and rose again, and now wants to meet the need of every person by giving the gift of God eternal life. Tell people how they can get that gift, to admit they've sinned, to believe on the Lord Jesus, to confess Him publicly, to tell the world that Jesus saves. The word of God has a multiplicity of truths and helps for every person who trusts the Lord. James 1 19, New King James Version says, "Therefore my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath." Let's look at that verse again, "Let every man be swift to hear. Stay tuned to the word of God. Listen carefully to what He is saying to you. Be in Bible-believing circumstances where you can hear the truth presented by people who love the Lord, who have studied His word, and then be slow to speak. Make sure that you are not mouthing off about things you do not really understand. Make certain that you are personally learning what the word of God has to say, and then when you are offended, when somebody crosses your path, who says something or does something that displeases you, be slow to wrath. Watch your tongue, watch your actions, and glorify the Lord. Be pleasant and be prayerful. Pray for the people who have offended you. Pray that they too will be given the opportunity of going to heaven. Tell them how. Let them know that Christ died for their sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He rose again, and wants to give them eternal life. When you read God's Word, when you study the Bible, when you look into the Scriptures, make certain that you are looking at them and following them in context. Certain verses stand alone, but when they are coupled with others, they really, really increase our understanding. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God, James 1-20, New King James. How can you be pleasing the Lord by watching your temper, by prayerfully, prayerfully, considering any move, any word, any action, so that you are not having a wrathful response to someone else? It's difficult. Sometimes people just are very hard to love and to understand, but God wants us to follow Jesus and to be all that we can be, to be examples to and of the believers. And when we do that, when we make certain that we are asking God to help us control our circumstances, He will. If anyone lacks wisdom, let them ask of God who gives to all liberally. Ask God to give you the guidance, the direction, the help that He is willing to do for you. God's Holy Spirit indwells every believer, and you can call on the Lord, and He will help you now to share your faith. Some verses of Scripture are packed full of information and inspiration and instruction. Here's one. James 1-21, New King James Version. Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. Isn't that wonderful? Tremendous. Lay aside all filthiness. In other words, it's up to you. You have to make the determination. You have to decide not to overflow with wickedness, but to actually put all of that at the feet of Jesus, at the foot of the cross, the cross on which Christ died for your sins and mine. Then receive with meekness the inspired word, the implanted word. Don't strut your stuff. Don't go around bragging, saying, "I know all this." Don't do that. Be very, very concerned that you learn what God is saying to you. Then comes this very special word, which is able to save your souls. Nobody can be saved apart from following God's plan of salvation that is presented so marvelously in the Word of God. Admit you have sinned. Believe on Christ. Confess Him publicly. Those verses are all there that immediately are available to you, so you can share them with others. 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 1st through 5th grades is available in a separate area. For more information call 812-867-2418 or visit www.tripletchristianyouth.org. Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in Word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 1 Timothy 412, New King James Version. What kind of an example are you? Do your words please the Lord? Do you keep your word and deliver what you promise? Do you know God's word? Are you hiding His word in your heart so you won't sin against Him? Be an example to the believers in Word, in conduct. How's your conduct? I remember in school they gave grades for conduct, and I was always afraid I might flunk conduct. I never did, but I certainly had some difficult moments with people. Did you? And next, be an example to the believers in love. Love is a wonderful word. God is love. God wants us to love one another, and He wants you to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, with all of your being. In spirit, what kind of a spirit do you have? Are you excited about things? Or are you down in the mouth? Are you one of those people that get enthusiastic when you see something very, very magnificent happening? Or are you lax a days ago and say, "Oh, yeah, isn't that nice?" Have the right spirit and allow the Holy Spirit to end well you? I was with somebody this week and I was talking about what I'm doing, a project that I'm working on, and I told him about a little snag and a little concern I had, and he said, and I was so surprised when he said it, he said, "That's the Holy Spirit." Speaking to you, listen to the Holy Spirit. Wow, what advice? What a wonderful thing it is to know that God's Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ. But be an example to the believers in faith. How's your faith factor? Have you put your faith implicitly in the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you believe that God is going to do what he says he's going to do? Pray without ceasing. And everything give thanks. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Rejoice always. Be glad about what God has done and is doing and wants to do. The faith factor. Faith without works is dead. You need to put your faith into effect. You need to believe and then to follow through on what you really, really believe is true. Jesus said, "Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find, knock, and shall be opened unto you." And then in purity. The examples of the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. What are the things called the tiger commitment? Teens involved going, evangelizing regularly. And we had a number of people. In fact, two-thirds of all those that were here, just a couple of weeks ago, said, "This is what they're going to do." They signed this very special commitment. Having personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, I commit to being a Romans 12, 1 and 2 Christian. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holding 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 at good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And then they said this. I will have a daily time alone with God through prayer and Bible reading and will memorize Bible verses. I will regularly attend and get involved in a local Bible-believing church Sunday school and youth group. I will share the gospel with my friends and invite them to Triple T and other evangelistic youth events. I will invest my time, my talent, and my treasure in Christian ministry. Believing that true love waits, I make a commitment to God, myself, my family, my friends, my future mate, and my future children to a lifetime of moral purity, including sexual abstinence from this day until the day I enter a biblical marriage relationship. And I commit to totally abstain from alcohol, drugs, and tobacco with God's help. It's a very strong, strong commitment and how thankful I am that God has given us some youth who are making that kind of a determination. Right now we're in the midst of putting together Hosanna Highway. Today's thrust is pray. Knock, and it will be opened unto you. People willing to pray daily is the number one need and goal and heart's desire at Triple T. Of our top ten, that's number one. Will you please pray for the Hosanna Highway construction crew, youth, and adult coaches? This afternoon at three o'clock they'll be gathering again. Last week a dozen of them, youth that is, did some brainstorming, came up with some magnificent possibilities. Several are gathering each week at three o'clock through the Saturday evening rally at Triple T. They are praying, planning, and preparing to tell the story of Jesus last week on Earth, from his triumphal entry into Jerusalem to his death, burial, and resurrection. Using audio, video, music, and drama, they will produce Hosanna Highway at Triple T, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, April 5, 6, and 7. We hope that you will be among us. We've set some goals, and we're moving forward, and it's exciting to watch the Lord do what only He can. And so today is the day we pray. Last week, March the 3rd, is going to be Bananas Night. It's Tiger Comedy, and it's going to be really, really interesting, but we're also providing Bananas Blitz for everybody who comes. Then March the 10th and March the 17th are going to be Tiger Team Training Days. And we are delighted that Chiz Writer, and the great trumpet players of our time, is going to be back with us, sharing his musical abilities, and helping those who come to the Tiger Team Training Day, how to use stage presence, how to handle a microphone. He's going to talk about programming, and getting those lulls and those moments of silence out so that everything is flowing smoothly, and going up and down, and in the direction it needs to go. The next week, March the 17th, God willing Lee Hamoke. Cowboy grew up in Arizona. We'll be back with us with his whips and his ropes, and he's going to be talking about the scourging that Jesus took, the ropes that they tied him with, and his persecution, his suffering, ultimately his death on the cross. His burial, and then his triumphant resurrection. March the 24th and the 31st, we're going to continue. And then, all during spring break, Monday through Friday, March 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30, kids are going to come, and they're going to be a part of what's happening, putting all of this together. Hosanna Highway crew members are praying diligently. A neat thing happened Monday of this week. School was out because of President's Day, and some kids came in and said, "Can we just be here for the day for several hours and help?" They put covers on Bible packets. They cleaned the auditorium and the restrooms, and they folded God's plan of salvation. God's ABCs, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them, and put actually Bible covers on several hundred Bibles. And then we had a time of looking at the Word of God and looking especially into Jeremiah 33, one through three, and wrapping it up with Jeremiah 33, "Call to Me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know." Then they took time alone with God, a quiet time, where for 15 to 20 minutes they just had a Bible and a notebook and a pencil, and they wrote down what this verse or these verses meant to them and how they were going to play it in their lives. The neat thing is, of those six that came that day, five of them are students at the New North Junior High School, just one mile north of Triple T Christian Youth Ministries headquarters, the Christian Communication Center, and we're excited about the possibilities of the days ahead. If you'll stay tuned in just a little bit, I'm going to tell you a true story that happened to marry in me a lot of years ago, but it's very significant. So don't go away, just stay listening, and we're going to tell you about something that happened 50 years ago last Saturday. Do you remember what it was? ♪ On February 18, 1962, Mary and I were meeting with the staff of Youth for Christ International, and we were really intrigued because our friend Dave Breeze had a radio with him, and I remember him saying, "This business can wait. What's happening now can't wait. We need to know what's going on. We need to tune in. Don't you guys know that this is history being made?" And then the reporter went into a gymnasium in Ohio, and he said, "Mrs. Glenn, we would like to interview you. May we?" And she said, "Of course." Her son, John Glenn, was orbiting planet Earth for the very first time that had happened. And they said, "Mrs. Glenn, no doubt this is the greatest day ever in the life of your son, John." And she said, "No, it isn't." And he said, "Oh, Mrs. Glenn, what could have been a greater day than this?" And she said, "The day he walked down the aisle of our little Methodist Church and accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior." And the reporter said, "Thank you Mrs. Glenn. Nice to chat with you." But it was too late. She already said it. The whole world heard it. And Dave and I and Mary were delighted that this had happened. We were also excited about the fact that this person was actually in this capsule and was orbiting planet Earth. What a day. 50 years ago last Saturday. Perhaps you saw the front page of the paper last Saturday with pictures of that happening and a picture of John Glenn today. Only two of the original seven astronauts are still alive and they were both being interviewed at NASA. And it was a great, great moment for us. But it was also the moment that Mary got very, very intrigued with space. And from that moment on, she wanted to know more and more and more about it. When I was at Bob Jones University, I was taking flying lessons again. But I had to take ground school and it was about weather. And Mary got real interested in weather. And she learned about clouds. She learned about the formation of clouds. She learned about what happened when and why. And she took copious notes and really, really got intrigued about weather. And she is still very, very, very interested in what happens when and where and why. And so because of that moment that we had 50 years ago, we now have, on our television set, the NASA channel, we are able to see things as they happen. And I'll always remember another occasion in our living room. As we were watching something happen, let me back up for a moment and tell you why this was so significant. We had the privilege of bringing two triple T, an astronaut. He had been the captain on two space shuttle missions and had been the commander on one. And so as he came and shared, I'll remember always, as he said to the students, it's impossible for someone to go into space, look down on planet Earth and not understand that there was a design creator who put it all together. His name was Ken Cockro. When I took him back to the airport, I said, "Ken, how can I pray for you?" I said, "Well, I've got a problem and only God can solve it." I said, "What's the problem?" He said, "I want to help put the International Space Station together." And I can't do it because they made me the acting chief of the astronauts. And I appoint the crews and I can't appoint myself. And if I don't get out of this job, I can never do that. But if I refuse the job, then I can't do it anyway because I'll be demoted. So just pray that God will do something. Well, we didn't hear anything, didn't know anything. Until one evening we were watching the NASA channel and we were watching what was going on. And we were seeing that the space station was being put together and the shuttle was there and we watched as an astronaut left the shuttle to go into the International Space Station floating and waving back and it was Ken. God heard an answered prayer and he was the commander on that particular shuttle mission. God will hear an answer prayer. Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know. Right now we are praying that God will give us 300 people involved between now and Easter. We're thrilled because of the numbers that continue to increase Saturday by Saturday. Need your prayers, need your support. Need you to know that we appreciate 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 Boonville 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 or 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 47725 Tune in to Telling the Truth next week at this same time on this same station. [Music] [MUSIC PLAYING]