Telling The TRUTH
123111 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. Have you considered what really happened to that baby in the manger? The Christ of the first Christmas? What happened to Jesus? Listen to Hebrews 12-3, New King James Version. For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. Anytime you are having a pity party, think about what God has done for you. Think about what Jesus did to be tempted, not to yield, to live perfectly, and then to die. The baby lived, grew, walked, taught, touched, and died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried, and on the third day he rose again. Why? Because God so loved the world. God loves you and every other person. But what are you going to do about the love that God bestowed on you? Are you living for the Lord? Are you determining to wrap up the old year and begin the new with Jesus Christ in first place? Be willing to suffer for Him whatever happens in your life tomorrow. To keep Jesus in first place. Have you done it? Are you doing it? You have wonderful opportunities, unspoiled moments. Go. It's a brand new day. It's a brand new year. What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do with it? Listen to Hebrews 12-4, New King James Version. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. No, you've had it pretty easy compared to what the apostles had, and especially what Jesus went through. But what about tomorrow? Are you willing to live for the Lord no matter what price He calls upon you to pay? Are you willing to be God's ambassador to go everywhere, doing His will, accomplishing His purpose with the one life He has entrusted to you? Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. Yes, it's a brand new beginning, but what are you going to do with all of your tomorrow's? Are you going to take God's glorious gospel and share His good news with people who need to know Him, whom to know a right is life eternal? Are you willing to pray, to read the Word of God, to fellowship with other believers, and then to go and share and present a plan of salvation, the way of redemption to people who need the Lord? I hope so. It becomes a wonderful, wonderful series of opportunities that God provides just for you. Have you stumbled yet? It's only the second day of a brand new year, but listen to Hebrews 12.5, New King James Version. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons. "My son, do not despise the chasing of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him." Yes, God wants us to follow Him, and when those temptations come, and sometimes we slip and fall for a moment, we need to turn back to God immediately, to ask for His forgiveness, and then to move full speed forward, to glorify the King of kings, the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. Are you willing to be made usable and then used of God no matter what happens? Don't be discouraged when you are chastened. When God rebukes you, understand that He is trying to get through to you. His Word will reach out to your heart if you will allow it to happen. So, stay in the Bible, stay in the fellowship with other believers, keep praying, and keep telling others about Jesus Christ who died, was buried, and rose again, and who came to give life more abundantly. Who do you know who needs to know the Lord? Who are you going to pray with about that person for whom you are concerned? And when are you going to go to Him or her with the gospel? God is love. God loves you. Jesus Christ died for you. Now He wants you to live for Him. And when you mess up, when you slip and fall, God is going to let you know He really loves you. Here's how. For whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scorges every son whom He receives. Hebrews 12-6, New King James Version. Do you understand that? When you really love someone, you are going to reach out to them and you are going to help them understand that they need to live right, to do right, and to be right. And that's what God wants you to do and to be for Him and for others. Will you? Will you put Jesus Christ in first place? And when you do mess up, will you ask Him to forgive you? If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all in righteousness. But that doesn't mean we don't have to pay a price when we mess up. God loves you. He will chasten, He will scourge, and He will bring you back into His loving arms. God is waiting for you to come back to Him. He is waiting for you to serve Him. He is waiting for you to pray, read His word, fellowship, and tell others about Him. Have you ever messed up? Has your father reached out to you to correct you? My dad was a wonderful person, but my dad was not real tolerant when I messed up. He let me know when I had done wrong and he gave me something to remember my wrong doing because he gave me an old-fashioned spanking. Hebrews 12-7, New King James says, If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? I am so glad that God loves me so much that once in a while He spanks me. I don't have to receive those spankings because I don't have to mess up. But from time to time I do and God pours out His love toward me and lets me know how much He loves me so that I won't do it again. So I will remember to do right and not to do wrong when temptation comes. When God loves you, He is going to let you know how much He loves you when you disobey Him. Read the Bible, heed the Bible, pray, fellowship with other believers and then tell others about Christ. One of the things that people do so often is to sin by not doing what they're supposed to do. To Him who knows to do good and does not do it, to Him the Bible says that is sin. And when you sin that way you'll get a spanking. I have a wonderful Christian friend who talks about God taking Him to the woodshed when He messes up. Has God ever taken you to the woodshed? If not, then you probably are not really in tune with Him and not believing as you should and not a follower of Christ because you are going to mess up sometime. You are going to do the wrong thing or you are not going to do the right thing. But listen to Hebrews 12-8, New King James Version. "But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons." What does that mean? That means that if you get by with sinning and God doesn't spank you, then you really are not one of His children. How do you know if you are one of God's children? Have you really believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Turn to Him from your sins and receive the gift of God eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord? If you told people that you are a believer and told them how they too can be a believer, and if you have prayed with other believers and read the word of God and talk to the Lord and try to follow His leadership and do His will for your life, then you can know you will be spanked when you mess up because God loves you. Tell people about Jesus. Some of my fondest moments are to look back after my dad had spanked me. It was not fun, it was not a moment of joy, but in retrospect it was a marvelous series of moments. Hebrews 12-9, New King James explains why. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in suggestion to the Father of spirits and live? I respect my dad so highly. I miss him so much. God took him to heaven at an early age, just 63, and he was gone. But I still remember moments of our times together, moments when he helped me know right from wrong, moments when he corrected me, moments when he really showed me how much he loved me. And then he helped me become all that I needed to become ultimately someday because he cared so much, and he gave so much of himself to me. That's what God is doing for you and me today. Know this, God loves you, and he wants you to love him back. How do you do this? By believing his word, by telling other people about the gift of God, eternal life, through Christ Jesus, our Lord. 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. You can multiply your ministry. Do you personally believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you admitted you have sinned, turned to Christ who died for your sins, was buried and rose again on the third day? Have you received the gift of God eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord? Have you confessed with your mouth the Lord Jesus, believing in your heart, that God raised him from the dead? For with the heart when believes under righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10-10 New King James Version. If not, you can right now, will you? If you've decided to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have a ministry, a responsibility to tell the truth to others. Here's how God tells you to multiply your ministry. 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. For I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a major faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. That's Romans 12, 1-6a New King James Version. As a believer in Christ, you are a member of God's forever family. There are Christians waiting for you to partner with them. The Book of Acts tells a dynamic, world-changing story of the Church of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. He was with his apostles for 40 days. He commended them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, "You have heard from me." Jesus said, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me, in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." As the 11 watched, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. The 11 returned to Jerusalem, went up to the upper room with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. They continued with one accord with prayer and supplication. And when Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, about 120 were there. Peter quoted from the Book of Psalms about Judas, who would betray Jesus, "Let another take his office." Then they proposed to and prayed, "O Lord, you who know the hearts of all show us which of these two you have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship." Matthias was numbered with the 11 apostles. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews devout men from every nation under heaven. And when the sound occurred, the multitudes came together and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marbled, saying to one another, "Look, or not all these who speak Galileans." And how is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes, and Aelomites, and those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia. Persia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya, joining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes. Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues, the wonderful works of God. So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "Whatever could this mean?" Acts 2, 1 through 12. Then Peter, standing up with the 11, preached, and when he gave the invitation to be saved from this perverse generation, that day about 3,000 souls were added to them. That's Acts 2, 41. The Lord added to the church daily, such as were being saved, Acts 2, 47. Many of them that heard the word believed, and the number of men was about 5,000, Acts 4, 4. Acts 5, 14 says, And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, and daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. Now in those days, when the number of disciples was multiplying, Acts 5, 42, and 6, 1, then the word of God spread, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, Acts 6, 7. For the Lord has commanded us, "I have set you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth." Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed, and the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. Acts 13, 47, 48, 49, and all those scriptures are New King James Version. God works wonderfully. Did you know what happened? He moved from addition to multiplication. Actually, the first was kind of a multiplication because there were eleven, one had messed up, and Matthias took Judas' place, and so now there were twelve again, and the twelve were meeting with others, and there were 120 altogether. Then, moving from there, Peter preached, and 3,000 more were added. So now we have 3,120, and the addition continues every day. Now about 5,000 men plus the women and children, and that means there were probably 10, 15,000, maybe 20,000 in Jerusalem who were believers in Christ. And then we come to the message that says the number of the disciples was multiplying. Then the word of God is spread, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. And this is what God does with you and with me, as we multiply our ministry. It takes partnership, working together with other believers, as I shared a while ago from Romans 12. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another, having then gifts differing according to the grace that has given to us, let us use them. That's the way God works. He wants us to work together. God has people with specific gifts that He's entrusted to them, some to you, some to me, some to others. And what He wants us to do is to find those people who complement the gifts that He has entrusted to us, and together to work in partnership to reach the maximum number of people in the shortest possible time, effectively. When we partner with other ministries, it is a wonderful thing to watch the Lord just put all the chemistry together. He puts this person with a totally different approach with us, and then another with another approach with us. And together we are able to reach out one with this approach, the other with that approach, and maybe someone else with another approach, and together this one, that one, the other, and with us in the middle of it, reaching far more people than we could if we were only doing it one particular way. For instance, last year, in 2011, actually, it's this year through tonight, but we were able to bring in a cowboy, Lehamoke, and used whips and ropes, and demonstrated all kinds of things in advance of what we call the Hosanna highway happening. Well, we've invited Lee to come back this year, and he and his wife, Darlene, are planning to be with us from the 17th of March through the 7th of April. Going out to as many different communities as we possibly can, sharing this unique technique of communicating Christianity. And then we brought in a singing group, a group from Asia, from South Korea, and from Indonesia, and we were able to go out into a number of communities using music and a very unusual presentation because of their cultural differences that really struck a note and a chord of relationship with the audiences where we were all over the tri-state. And then we worked with Todd Burden with basketball, a totally different idea, but using sports, we were able to go out to other communities and some of these the same ones, but new people, and God blessed abundantly. In the summertime, we go out to fairs, last year, this year of 2011, to ten different counties. The Lord willing, 2012, our goal is to go to 20 counties, and we have people coming in from across America that are going to be with us, and then from across the tri-state. And we're hoping to be able to recruit and train at least 100 traveling tigers, and at least 20 coaches to work with them to go with the Gospel this summer to fairs. And on and on goes the opportunities that God has provided for us to communicate Christianity effectively, working together, partnering with others, and helping the Gospel go to people that it couldn't go to any other way than when we worked together. He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he, not with him, also freely give us all things? Romans 832, New King James Version. The first four December Saturdays have been very significant, creatively communicating the real meaning of Christmas with celebrations. God's gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus, his son. December 24, last Saturday was very special. Christmas Eve Saturday, those attending walked from the Triple T building up the hill to our home. It was a joy to have students seated on the floor in front of the Christmas tree, surrounded by adults who care about youth. The evening was reminiscent of the early days in 1966 when we first opened the door to teenagers. It was a great privilege to be back in the setting where Triple T began. Listening to stories of so many of their most memorable Christmases provided meaningful moments. Tammy quoted from the Christmas story, Matthew 1 and 2, and I presented the gospel and challenged those present to be wise, seeking God and His will and sharing the good news with family and friends. Mary provided refreshments, including the Jesus birthday cake. Light the night, New Year's Eve All-Nighter is fast approaching at 7.27 p.m. tonight. To go through 7.27 a.m. tomorrow, January 1. Please pray for all who will be attending. The night will recap the 2011 Discover Your Destiny theme, challenging each youth and adult to be a Destiny discoverer. Saturday nights in 2012 are scheduled to begin January 7 with July and January, featuring an indoor beach party. July 21 is to be Tiger Team Training, Peer Evangelism and Leading Youth, and Key Action Plan Sessions for Adult Youth Workers, Coaches, beginning at 11.30 a.m. and going through the rally. January 28, the Lord willing will be Triple T's 2,400 consecutive Saturday and February 4, Triple T's 46th birthday. 2011 Outreaches have taken the Triple T team and several guests to 17 counties. So far in December, 64 youth have responded to the invitation to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with tonight to go. Please pray for these brand new believers and over 400 more who just celebrated their very first Christmas. As Christians. Pray for the Lord's guidance for light the night, for January Saturdays, and for the special 8 days of open house at Triple T from January 28 through February 4. Pray for Super Bowl weekend possibilities as we pursue God's will. Opportunities to reach thousands of youth with the Gospel are being prayerfully considered for the next two years. Pray please for the planning and presentations to multiply your ministry for the 100 weeks between February 4, 2012 and December 28, 2013. Triple T's 2,500 consecutive Saturday, the Lord willing. As I shared earlier, the goal is to take fair share to 20 tri-state counties in July and August, doubling the number for 2011. To accomplish this, we need to recruit, train, and send a hundred traveling Tigers and 20 key adult coaches. Pray's God for adults who care enough to provide transportation for Saturday nights and other Tiger team evangelistic youth events, keeping the ministry going, and please pray that the number of local church and ministry leaders willing to transport student groups will triple early in 2012. You have the opportunity of making a year in contribution and to help Triple T Christian youth ministries reach many more 10 to 19 year olds for Christ in 2012 and beyond. Pray and consider a year in contribution Triple T. You can give online www.tttchristianyouth.org or you can bring it in person. If you mail it, make sure that it's postmarked today or it doesn't count for a 2011 donation. To be counted, they must be postmarked, made online or received on or before midnight today. Saturday December 31. Please continue to pray that God will supply the needed finances to take care of all the outstanding obligations and to keep us moving forward with the Gospel in 2012. Let's praise the Lord for every family, individual, business, congregation, and foundation who invest time, talent and/or treasure through Triple T Christian Youth Ministries. Thank you for caring enough to pray, and especially for caring enough to pray about giving. If you've made a decision, thank you for whatever you're going to send or bring by. This is your moment of opportunity. There's a tremendous need. It's today, and God can meet the need through you. Let's claim Jeremiah 33-3 together. Call to me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know. Tell us what your needs and praises are, and we'll pray for you. You're appreciated very much. Thanks for listening. Have a wonderful wrap up to 2011 and a great 2012, giving all glory to God for what he's done and will do. Christ through you can change the world. [Music] 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 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. [Music] For your free copy of The Telling the Truth newsletter, call 812-867-2418, 812-867-2418, or write Triple T, 13,000 U.S. 41 North, Evansville, Indiana, 47725. Tune in to Telling the Truth next week at the same time on this same station. 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