Telling The TRUTH
070911 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. Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. Genesis 13-2, looking James Version. Very rich. How about you? Are you very rich? I'm very rich, but not in livestock, and silver, and gold. I'm rich because I know Jesus Christ personally. I'm rich because of the Christian friends who are coal labors in getting the gospel to people. I'm rich because God loves me, and sent Jesus Christ his son to die, to be buried, and to come out of the tomb, to be the risen Lord Jesus living in my heart. I'm rich because I have the opportunity of sharing God's good news with you, and with others, every place I can, whenever I can, and wherever I can. What about you? Do you know Jesus? Are you excited about Him? Are you telling other people about Him? And the unsearchable riches of His glory? God wants you to do that. He wants me to do that also. So tell the truth to as many people as you can, as quickly as you can. Pray, read God's Word, fellowship with believers, and then tell people Jesus saved. Sometimes when we backtrack, it is essential that we understand that God has a purpose and a plan, and a divine destiny for every step we take, whether north, south, east, or west. Listen to Genesis 13, 3, New King James Version, and he went on his journey from the south as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and A.I. Going back to Bethel, back to the place of prayer sometimes is by far the greatest trip we can take. What about you? If you gone back to your Bethel, back to the place where you met Jesus Christ, back to the place where you fellowship with other believers in Christ, back to the place where you have grown in grace and the admonition of God's Word, back to the place where you received a burden from God to take the gospel to people who need to know Him, back to Bethel. Let's pray for one another, and let's pray for people who need the Lord. Let's pray diligently, let's pray definitely, and let's expect God to not only hear but to give great results. Pray, read God's Word, fellowship with other believers, and then go with the gospel to someone right now. Genesis 13-4, New King James Version says, "To the place of the altar which he had made there at first, and hear Abram called on the name of the Lord." Yes, back to Bethel, back to the place of prayer. God wants you and me to understand that there is a certain moment in our lives when we need to surrender everything to the Lord and trust Him for all of our tomorrows. Yes, God has a plan for you and for me. He is connecting us today, and this is a divine design put together by Almighty God, the creator of the universe. He wants you to hear, he wants me to share, he wants us to do something about our Bethel. Pray, then get up and go. Once your heart is in tune with the Lord, saturate yourself with the Word of God. Learn the plan of salvation, and take the gospel message to people who need to know Jesus. Pray diligently with other believers, heed God's word, and pray, and pray again. Always be ready to go back to Bethel, and then get up, get out, and go with the gospel. We can do that today. I hope you will. I hope you'll open the Word of God, let it penetrate your heart, and then share. Wealth, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Genesis 13.5, New King James Version says, "Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. Having stock does not necessarily make you or me a lot wealthy." Rather, real wealth is a relationship with God. What are you doing with what you do have? Are you investing your time and your talent and your treasure for the furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Are you allowing the Lord to make you usable and use you? Are you taking what He has entrusted to you, and are you doing something positive about what you have and with what you have to reach people who do not have a relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ? Are you praying? Are you trusting the Lord? Are you reading His Word? Are you fellowshiping with other believers consistently? And then together, are you prayerfully presenting God's plan of salvation to those who need to know Him, Jesus Christ, Son of God, God the Son? You can, will you? It's your decision, yours alone. Sometimes come from all kinds of circumstances, sometimes when you and your relatives have too much. Listen to the problem at Abram and Lothad, Genesis 13, 6, New King James. Now the land was not able to support them that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. Too much stuff, and yet it's all part of God's plan. Listen to the Lord, let Him speak to you through His Word. Read the story of the beginnings. Read Genesis, the whole thing, and watch how God is working through, for, and with people. People need the Lord. People everywhere have always needed the Lord. God has put you on planet Earth at this specific time for a special purpose to communicate Christianity. If you have trusted Jesus personally, then you owe it to the Lord, and those people who don't know Him to take the gospel to them. Pray, read His Word, fellowship, and pray with other believers. And then go, tell the good news of the saving power of Jesus Christ. Go now, go today. Jealousy and envy cause turmoil and trouble. Listen to Genesis 13, 7, New King James Version. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock, the Canaanites and the parasites, then dwelt in the land. Jealousy, envy can be awful. Having too much stuff, and being envious of the person who doesn't have quite as much stuff as your stuff can be devastating. Don't look at other people's possessions and covet, but rather thank the Lord for what He is interested to you personally. It's what you do with what you've got that counts. God holds you responsible. And I've shared it before, and I want to share it with you again today. God holds you responsible, not just for what you do or do not do, but for what you could do if you would do what you should do. So what should you do? You should pray. You should read God's Word. You could have fellowship with others who are concerned about those who do not know the Lord. And then together you should take the gospel to a world in need, one by one, person by person. Will you do that today? God's uncle Abram was a wise, godly man. Listen to Genesis 13-8, New King James. So Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brethren. The wisdom that came from Abram to Lot was profound. We don't have to fight and quarrel and be jealous. We can solve our problems by looking squarely at the set of circumstances in which we find ourselves and then do something about them." You're going to be learning more as you look into the book of Genesis, as you hear the story that God really unveils for us to know that he has a plan, he has a purpose. He wants us to be where we should be, when we should be there, doing what we ought to do for his glory. Always give honor and glory to the Lord. It's a delight to share these truths with you, and to challenge you, to take the truth of the gospel to people who need the Lord. Pray, read God's Word, fellowship with other believers, work out your strategies together, determine to whom you're going to go, with whom you're going to share, and then go with the gospel. Do you have a Bethel? Abram had a Bethel, the place between Bethel and A.I. He built an altar to the Lord, and then he left, went to Egypt, was forced out, came back to Bethel. One of my Bethels, my special Bethel, I can't go there anymore the way I used to. I'll explain in just a moment. I'll begin at the beginning. My folks lived on a farm in Wabash County, Illinois, just outside of Mount Carmel. My mother was expecting me, and the doctor said, "Why don't you come on in and stay with your parents to my mother, and why don't you and your husband Lawson come in for the weekend, because if the baby is born, I can't go all the way out in the country and maybe get there in time, and your parents live right across the street from my office, so I'll be available. So at eight o'clock, on a hot August morning, I was born, a little house in a bay window on Walnut Street in Mount Carmel, Illinois. The house is still there, the bay window is still there, ownership has changed again and again and again, but that's where life began for me, eight o'clock, one Saturday morning. And then eight years later, on a February evening, the last night of a two-week crusade, in a little building on 2nd Street, then called 2nd Street Baptist, now a storage building, I responded to the invitation. I had been under conviction for a full year. I responded, I went forward, my mother on one side, my dad on the other, the evangelist, the pastor praying with me, the singer continuing to lead the congregation and song, and that night I was born again. When I got home, I learned to pray. My parents said, "George, you don't have to pray, now I lay me down to sleep anymore." Now you talk to the Lord about anything and everything that is on your heart, because you now have a direct access to the throne of God through Jesus Christ, now you're Savior. So when you pray in Jesus' name, you can ask anything that you will, and God will hear an answer. And so that was my second Bethel. My third Bethel is now a home. It used to be a house that was converted into a place where a congregation met, that called themselves Grace Memorial Church. It was there that I had the privilege for the very first time of speaking God's Word, and of sharing a gospel with the folk in my hometown. Went back there after my first year at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, in June of that year, a lot of years ago. Back home for a one-week crusade in that same building. My aunt and uncle live next door. They're both in heaven now, and that building no longer is a church. It's converted back to a house. Grace Memorial Church, as such, does not exist anymore. They moved the congregation to another building. They built it. I was there for a crusade the very first time it was used, and then they changed the name. And all kinds of things about that ministry changed. It used to be a wonderful place where people could not only fellowship in the Lord, but could fellowship with other believers from other denominations and other congregations in town. My pastor when I was in high school, Charlie Patterson, brought the Youth for Christ idea to town. I became Director by default in my hometown, my senior year, inherited a radio broadcast as he changed positions and pastrats and went to Elkhart, Indiana, where he was trying to really move forward with an organization called Christian League for the Handicap that was actually born in the living room of my home as my dad, became the Vice President and worked with Charlie Patterson, who was the President. There were trips to Chicago, trips to Wisconsin, trips to Iowa, always to try to further that ministry. And then one day I had the opportunity of going to Wisconsin and being the camp speaker for a week to those handicap folk and leading some of them to Jesus Christ. Another Bethel, buildings are still there, not the same. And my real Bethel, where I learned to pray, always with a very, very close relationship to the Lord began and what was sometimes a bean field and a corn field and in between that was a runway and it was there called Beckerman field, the edge of Mount Carmel on 9th Street, Highway 15 that I learned to fly. And as a high school senior, it would be my opportunity to taxi the airplane down to the edge of the runway, to push the stick forward, ease the throttle forward and pull the stick back in the airborne. Because I was very lightweight, it took me a while to get the airplane up and up and up and I wanted to go up to about 2,000 feet. Because up there I felt closer to the Lord than any place I've ever been, because it was just God and me and at Piper Cub J3. Now I can't fly by myself because of all kinds of circumstances, including my eyesight. I still like to fly, I always get a window seat when I'm flying commercially, because I like to look at it, God's creation. It brings me back to a little degree to that Bethel, but not to the same place where I was so many times, so many hours, flying alone. God has a plan and a purpose for you and there's a Bethel in your life. I have a lot of Bethels now that I go back to and one of them is just right here at Triple T. In my office there is a place for me to go and be alone with the Lord, pour out my heart to Him. Last Saturday night I went back to my Bethel to really talk to the Lord about the immense need. I went with a broken heart because I couldn't convince people to say, "Yes, I will go and give at least a week of my summer to share the gospel." I saw one respond but nobody else, and I learned that later some people said, "Well, I'm praying about it. I'm going to talk to my parents about it." You've got a telephone call just today saying, "Yes, if a parent okayes it, I can go." And so we're praying desperately and definitely forgot to bring people into the picture to take fair share out to the tri-state area. Fair share is a wonderful idea. Fair share begins July 9, the Traveling Tigers and the Tiger Team Task Force will be trained and then we will go with adult leaders joined by a team of teenagers the next weekend from all across America with Team Missions International, pitching Triple T tents at county fairs and street festivals. Students will give a free cup of cold water in Jesus' name. Using a survey about teenagers, they'll present the gospel in Bibles one-on-one. Fair share 2011 is to go through August 6, climaxing with Big Splat, our watermelon knight at Triple T. Moving forward, the plan is to take the gospel to as many tri-state counties as possible. Saturday July 16 is the midpoint of summer surge. The church is partnering in the youth of Angels and will provide ongoing fellowship and they will follow up those who are making decisions for Christ. What a delight it is to work with inter-nominational circumstances with ministries of all kinds of signs on the outside, but with the Word of God being proclaimed and shared and the fellowship factor being wonderful was Believers in Christ. What a great thing to see God at work. To watch the Lord doing what only He can do, the ways that only He can do it. We need you to pray with us and for us as we keep on going with the gospel. If you'll stay tuned, I'm going to give you the good report about what God did during April and May in the first part of June. Like you know what has happened can happen only more so in the days before us. So listen if you will to this good report as we talk about again, God's working in the hearts and lives of people. Know this that if you will invest your time and your talent and your treasure, you can have a part in something special, stay tuned. The specialty team Tammy, Mary and myself, and on a couple of occasions, Shelly Bernard traveled with Lee and Darlene Homoke to seven counties, April 1 through 17, introducing Hosanna Highway. The team had seventeen opportunities to share the gospel, pastors and youth leaders of ten local churches affiliated with seven different denominations and three other Christian ministries hosted the team. Attendance totaled several hundred. People responded to the invitation to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. At least sixty Christian youth made a commitment to carry their Bibles to school and share their faith with their friends on campus. Hosanna Highway, a dramatic visual creative Christian communication, featured some of the world's greatest teenagers and some preteens. They were involved before, during and after the presentations, behind the scenes and our front and center. The video and live productions were written and presented by students with guidance and direction from Shelly Bernard, Kim and Karen Foltz, Tammy, Mary and myself with Darlene and Lee Homoke. Saturday, April 16, Chiz writer wowed the crowd with his God-glorifying trumpet before and following Hosanna Highway. Several parents, grandparents, siblings, classmates and friends, including some pastors, attended one of the evenings at Triple T. And then, the Triple T team with the missionaries to America from Asia took the gospel into the Tri-State region as God opened doors of opportunity. They presented their inspirational testimonies in unique cultural music, May 24 through June 6 in 11 Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky Counties. The MTA's from Indonesia and South Korea are sponsored by Teen Missions International. The Tri-State tour was coordinated by Triple T Christian Youth Ministries and local churches partnering in youth evangelism with Triple T hosted the teams in Boonville, Indiana, Princeton, Volonia and Vincennes, Indiana, Albin, Lawrenceville, Mount Carmel and Olney, Illinois, Hardensburg, Kentucky and they were at Triple T. At least 85 made decisions for Christ during these outreaches in April, May, 1 June. But let's give God the glory. 1 Corinthians 131, New King James says, "He who glories let him glory in the Lord." Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to God's mercies, he saves us and others who will respond to the gospel. The Bible says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God." Philippians 4-6. Meanwhile, we've been privileged to be at Teen Missions International in Merritt Island, Florida and share the challenge to take the gospel back when the kids come back from their mission outreach worldwide to their high schools or their junior high or their colleges. We've asked them to pray. We've asked them to find people to get involved with them and to pray and to publicize and to pray and to choose coordinators and chairman and correspondence and to pray and then to contact us. Through Triple T. Christian Youth Ministry's Bible Clubs have been operative at some time during the past 45 years at schools and towns across Illinois and yet in Kentucky. Other key Christian students have formed prayer triplets and they have taken this idea to every state in the United States and to nine of the ten Canadian provinces. Just last week we had people from 23 states, two Canadian provinces in Africa make the decision to go back and get an on-campus Bible Club going or growing and to put together a Tiger Team impact. 67 responded to do that from all over America and beyond and we'll be going again to challenge more people and we need your prayers as we do this because God's doing wonderful things. Want you to pray especially and want to invite you to come. On the 16th of July to Jesus Christ, change in the world's summit. Liam Oke will be back with us God willing with his ropes and his whips and we'll have the lesson which is a very unique automobile motorcycle and with a built-in puppet stage we'll have the Teen Missions team here from across America we'll have a lot of the world's greatest teenagers involved and you are invited to be part of it all. Why don't you send at least twenty dollars prayerfully investing that amount at least in some of the world's greatest teenagers for training. If you will great things can happen, they'll provide a scholarship for one of them to come to the summit. Know this 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. 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 tell in the truth next week at the same time on The Same Station. the same time on The Same Station. (upbeat music) (dramatic music)