Telling The TRUTH
111911 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. Now faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11-1, New King James Version. Faith, trust, belief. Those eternal factors make all the difference in the world. Between those who are headed for heaven and those who are not. Have you really trusted Jesus? Have you put your faith in Him implicitly, completely, without reservation? Do you really know that Christ died for your sins according to the Scriptures? That He was buried? That He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures? That's where we get our faith to believe the Bible is totally true. To trust in the Lord with all of our hearts. God wants you to know that faith can move mountains. Faith is a magnificent factor and it is the only thing that will get you and others eternal life. Are you praying? Are you reading the Bible? Are you sharing? Are you fellowshipping with other believers? Do you really believe the Bible is totally true? God's Word is quick and powerful and sharpened in a two-edged sword. God's Word will never return void. So rely on the Bible. Know that the Scriptures will help you in all of your tomorrow's. If you believe, then tell others about Jesus. Hebrews 11 is called the faith chapter. Listen to Hebrews 11, too, New King James Version. For by it, the elders obtained a good testimony. God wants you to have a testimony that's good. He wants me to have one, too. What that means is we are consistent. We really live the way we say others ought to. We put feet on our prayers. We activate our influence. A good testimony. When people look at you, what do they see? What do they say? What do they think about you? Have you related so directly to the Lord Jesus that people see Christ in you, the hope of glory? That's what the Bible says should happen and it can happen if we will avail ourselves of the opportunities of, first of all, reading the Word of God. Believing the Word of God. Putting the Word of God in effect in our lives. Fellowshiping with other believers around the Word of God and then taking the Word of God to those who do not know Him, Jesus Christ. You can make a difference in someone's life with your testimony. Is your testimony true? Are you doing what God would have you to do every moment of every day? Are you following God's leadership in your life? Are you concerned about others? Are you taking God's Word to them? What you are about to hear is one of the most profound statements in the entire Bible. Listen, by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. Hebrews 11-3, New King James Version. Do you understand what God is saying here? He is telling us that we have to have faith to believe that the worlds were framed. Were made by God speaking. By His Word. The things which are seen were not made of things visible. Nothing existed until God spoke. And when He did speak, the world came into existence. Genesis tells us precisely what happened moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day. And when you read the Bible, you have the understanding of God's omnipotence. God wants you to know that He is so powerful that He can change everything about you and me if we trust Him. Will you? Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not in your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. God wants you to take the gospel to people who need to know the Lord. Fellowship, pray, read and go. Someone has said that Hebrews 11 is the hall of fame of the faithful. Listen to Hebrews 11-4, New King James Version. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts and through it, being dead still speaks. Yes, God has a plan and if we follow His plan, wonderful things transpire. If we ignore His plan, if we rebel against His plan, then disaster is going to come eventually. What about you? Do you know what God wants you to do for His glory? Are you going to be faithful to Him? Are you going to put your faith into effect as you share your faith with folk who don't know Christ? I hope you will. I hope you will understand the responsibility along with the opportunity that God has provided for you and me to be His ambassadors, to be His communicators of the truth. Read His word. Fellowship with other believers, pray constantly and then go with the gospel. Someone is waiting for you to tell them the truth. It becomes your prerogative to do what God would have you to do. Are you willing? Let's listen to Hebrews 11-5, New King James Version, and catch a glimpse of another faithful follower of God. By faith, Enoch was translated so that he did not see death and was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing for people to say about you and about me, that we pleased God? Are you pleasing him today? Are you living for the Lord? Are you having a real time alone with God? Are you letting his word penetrate every fiber of your being? Are you listening to what God's word says, and then are you doing something about it? Are you praying consistently, diligently, directly for people who need the Lord? Are you having fellowship with other believers and together? Are you praying for those who have not yet trusted Christ? Are you working out the strategy, the way to go with the gospel to the people that you love, that you know, that you care about, who are not yet believers? If you will, God can make you usable, and you can please him. What you are about to hear is a very special, pertinent message from God, directly to you and me. Hebrews 11, 6, New King James Version says, "But without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." Have you met people along life's pathway who denied that there really is a God? Who claimed to be atheists? Of course, they know down deep in their heart there is really someone or something greater than they are. But it takes the faith factor to please the Lord. Without faith, we can't do that. We must believe that he is when we come to the Lord, and we must know that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. God has a special reward for you. He wants you to be a soul winner. What does that mean? That means that you will take the gospel to people who don't know Christ, and you will share the plan of salvation with them. That Christ died for our sins, that he was buried, that he rose again on the third day. That's the gospel. If they will trust Jesus, they will have life that will last forever. You are about to hear about one of the most faithful followers of God in all of history. Listen to Hebrews 11-7, New King James Version. "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an arc for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." There you have it. Noah, God's very special person. God found him righteous when others were totally unrighteous. What about you? Are you righteous? Not in your own way, nor can you be, for there is an unrighteous but God. We can put on his righteousness, though. The breastplate of righteousness will thwart the fiery darts of the wicked one. Satan wants to attack you, but if he will put on the breastplate, that whole armor of God, you can stand against the wiles of the devil. Check out Ephesians chapter 6. Learn what to do and how to do it, and then follow through. You can be a communicator of the gospel of Christ. Will you? 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, New 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. What do you know about Jesus Christ? The Bible has so much to share with us if we will look at it and read it and then apply it. Listen to the wrap-up chapter of 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 4. "Though he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by the power of God, for we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you are disqualified. But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified. Now I pray to God that you do know evil. Not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable, though we may seem disqualified. For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." I'm concerned and hope you are too about some of the happenings in our world today. A recent USA Today article shows that marriage is in serious decline. Just 50 years ago, three-quarters of Americans were married. Today those numbers have dropped to half. A survey done by Pew Research Center revealed that marriage is becoming obsolete. The writer of the USA Today article says that part of the decline in marriage can be linked to weddings performed by non-clergy. Quoting, "I don't have a one-size-fits-all fix, but I do know that just as with the building the little is more important than its foundation. So a marriage is starting point. The wedding day should be more than just cake and refreshments." Indeed, a survey done by TheNot.com and The Wedding Church channel.com revealed that one in three of those who used their website had used a family or a friend to officiate their ceremony. The USA Today writer points out that clergyless wedding ceremonies lack the necessary emphasis on the covenantal relationship between husband and wife. Of course, the decline of the marriage culture has serious societal ramifications. Studies show that children in married family household are less likely to live in poverty than children in a single parent home. A 2010 census showed that almost 40 percent of single parent homes were under the poverty line. In fact, the state of Indiana links a major cause of the state's poverty to the breakdown of marriage. In Indiana alone, the percentage of unwed births went from 5 percent in 1960 to approximately 44 percent today. That increase is staggering. We need to know that the sanctity of life, the dignity of marriage, and religious liberty all are part of the problem that is being ignored by so many in today's world. We need to pray. We need to pray that we will get it together with the Lord and share with those folk who don't understand that God is really the one to be respected. One of the problems that we face today is the youth problem of getting involved with stuff. That's really bad news. Kids from small towns and rural communities are in a real difficult situation. Listen, eighth graders in small towns and rural areas are more likely than their urban counterparts to use alcohol and drugs. Small town teens are 50 percent more likely to use cocaine than suburban teens. This information was obtained from a January 2000 study released at the U.S. Conference of Mayors titled "No Place to Hide." Experts said that rural areas are especially vulnerable to certain drugs because the strong odor can easily be hidden. Drug dealers have an easier time operating in small towns and drug smugglers are moving into rural areas. The study showed that rural eighth graders were twice as likely to have used Emma Hissavines including meth and those in large metropolitan areas. 82 percent were more likely to have used crack cocaine. 34 percent more likely to have smoked marijuana. 29 percent more likely to have drunk alcohol. 70 percent more likely to have been intoxicated. More than twice as likely to have smoked cigarettes and nearly five times more likely to have used smokeless tobacco. That's the dilemma. What's the answer? A relationship with Jesus Christ. A selling out to him first by admission of sin. God, I'm a dirty rotten no-good sinner. The Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned each one to his own way and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity, the sin, the short coming of us all. And so because we are sinners, we need salvation. We need to be redeemed. God will forgive our sins if we will turn to Jesus from our sins. How? By saying, God, I've messed up. I'm really sorry. Forgive me. Lord, I've fallen short of your expectations of me. I've done things that I shouldn't have done. I haven't done things that I should have done, so God forgive me. I want you to know, Lord, that I trust you totally as my personal Savior. I'm turning to Jesus Christ, your Son, to become my Savior. I'm receiving your gift of eternal life. I'm willing, Lord, to stand up and be counted for you, to confess with my mouth, the Lord Jesus, to believe in my heart, that God has indeed raised him from the dead. I know that with my heart, I'm believing, but with my mouth, I've got to confess that Jesus Christ is who he says he is, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, and my personal redeemer and forgive her. I want to receive the gift of God eternal life through Christ Jesus, my Lord, and I'm willing to tell others that I believe. Once you've done that, that's the beginning step. What do you do next? You pray. Pray without ceasing, pray all the time, pray consistently, first for yourself that you will be what God wants you to be, and then pray for others. Next, pray with others. Where two or three are gathered in my name, Jesus said, I will be in the midst of them, for where two or more agree on earth. It'll be done by my Father in heaven. So we are to pray. We are to ask not only for forgiveness, but for guidance and direction, ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened under you. So knock on God's door. How? By reading the Bible. By doing what God's Word says, a great place to begin right now would be the God, the Epistle of 1 John. It is filled with information and helps to cause you to be able to grow in Christ. God has something for you to do once you get things in tune with Him, and I hope you will. And then you need to present your body a living sacrifice every day, read God's Word, pray, and then find other believers to fellowship with and to pray with, and then get concerned about other people who are not yet believers in Christ. You have a world to win, one by one, your family, your friends, people as you come in contact with daily. Who needs Jesus? Can be told about Him by you. Present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Be not 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. For I say through the grace given unto you, to every one who is among you, not to think of yourself more higher than you ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to everyone the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body but all members do not have the same function, so we being many are one in Christ Jesus. That's Romans 12 1 and 2 and following. Put it into effect and then move forward to serve God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and being. Know that God has a plan for you. He wants you to follow His leadership. He wants you to help solve the problem that is happening in our world today. Will you pray? And will you share? Let me invite you to be a prayer partner with us as we continue to develop the Tiger Team Impact Key Action Plan. Training and resources for adult youth workers, equipping them to serve as coaches and local Bible-believing churches and organizations. Tiger Team Youth trained in pure evangelism and encouraged and supported by adult youth worker coaches are challenged to implement evangelistic youth efforts to impact their communities for Christ. Today is one of those 3G days. 3G stands for God's Global Go. It's a challenge to adults and youth to reach out to people. You're invited to pray and to get other believers and adults and youth together wherever you live and to claim your community for Christ. We want to let you know that we're here for you and we can put together a Tiger Team Impact Evangelistic Youth effort in your community. You can be a Tiger Team 8 encourager by giving just $20 the first $20 each year that someone donates the Triple T Christian Youth Ministries is turned into a scholarship to help train another teenager, anyone from 10 to 19 years of age in pure evangelism. Or you can be an enlarger enlargers give $20 or more a month and that provides a very special thing that we call the key ignition plan and it's available to local Bible-believing churches with all kinds of things that we put together to help them reach out to the people in their communities for Christ. Or you can be a Tiger Team expander. These teammates are people who invest at least $100 a month and when you pray and give to the Lord through Triple T, you can keep the harvest happening and we're excited about what God has done. Here's how this whole impact thing works. It's a tried and proven formula for effective evangelism. Every premise of the plan is based on four imperative fundamentals. One, the Bible is the Word of God, meant to be followed consistently. You cannot become an outstanding Christian worker without personally adhering to the contents and concepts of the Scriptures, beginning with an individual intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus. You must admit you're a sinner for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3, 23. You must believe on the Lord Jesus, placing your personal faith and trust in Him. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that who believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life, John 3 16. And then confess Christ before others. Share your faith with your family, your friends. Communicate Christianity 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 with a heart when believes to righteousness and with the mouth confession is made to salvation. And then next understand not only is the Bible the Word of God but prayer is a basic daily necessity for your involvement, your development and your growth as a Christian. Prayer changes things and people believing always precedes receiving. Third, obeying God's Word predicates participating in God's work. It involves the total person mental, physical, social, spiritual. And fourth, communicating Christianity is the number one task of the committed Christian. There is no such thing as commitment without communication. Impact means I must personally advance Christianity today. It helps you activate your influence by guiding you to set goals, helping you to attain them. It's not a magic formula. Without old-fashioned perspiration it cannot work. It requires three things, your time, your talent, your treasure. What are you doing with your time? What are you doing with the talent that God's entrusted to you? Are you investing your treasure to help reach people for Jesus? We invite you to right now connect with us. Send at least $20 and tell us your pray. You send it to triple T, 13,000 US Highway 41 North, Evansville, Indiana, 477-25. That address again is 13,000 US Highway 41 North, Evansville, Indiana, 477-25. We're looking forward to hearing from you. Come tonight if you can. 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, New 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 812-86724-18 812-86724-18 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. (upbeat music) (dramatic music)