Telling The TRUTH
041611 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 God remembered Noah and every living thing and all the animals that were with him in the ark, and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided." Genesis 8-1, New King James. Yes, God knew what he was doing, and he protected Noah and the living things that were on the ark with him. God then determined it was time for it to cease and assist, and so he did it with the wind. Wind and water are both God's creations, and so he used one to cause the other to subside. God can still do what he wants to do with wind or water or anything else. What we need to do is to be in tune with him, to make certain that we are following his guidance and his direction, his instructions and his word. The stories of Noah and the ark are totally true. So is the gospel that Christ died for our sins, and he was buried, and he rose again on the third day. Have you believed? If so, tell people they too can become children of God. Pray with other believers. Take the gospel to those who need to know the Lord. There is somebody out there that you can reach, will you, prayerfully, carefully, and urgently. God is a timetable for everything that he does, everything that he has done. Listen to Genesis 8-2, New King James. The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. That's how God stopped the flooding. That's how God continued to protect Noah and the animals, Noah's family, and all creation, because God had compassion, and he still does. That's why he sent his son to live perfectly, and then to die, because you and I are sinners. Christ died for you. Have you responded to his love? Have you understood that by believing on the Lord Jesus, you can have abundant life, everlasting life? If you have wonderful, if you haven't, now is your moment. But if you are a believer, please share your faith. Please tell the story. Please let people know the real meaning of Christmas and Easter and what's coming. Tell people to trust in Jesus. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. Let people know that Jesus Christ is ready and willing to give them eternal life. Do you really believe the Bible? Do you believe the stories in the Old Testament? Do you believe the story, the documented story of Noah and the flood? Listen to Genesis 8, 3, and 4 New King James Version. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the 150 days, the waters decreased. Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the 17th day of the month on the mountains of Ararat. Yes, real places, real people, real events, and now God wants you to know, He will also save you. How? When you trust Him, when you believe His Word, when you know what the Bible says is true, when it tells you that Jesus Christ died for your sins, that He was buried, that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures. If you believe, live it, and be in tune with other believers. Pray for those who do not yet believe and go to them with the truth of who Jesus Christ really is. When you do that today, someone is waiting for you to go to them, to tell them that Jesus Christ loves them, died for them, and will give them eternal life. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month, in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. Genesis 8-5, New King James. Yes, that's what happened. The floods came, Noah and his family and the animals were protected. And then God said, "Enough is enough." God will also cause things to decrease that are flooding around you when you get in tune with Him. Do you really trust the Lord every moment of every day for everything that happens to you and your family? Do you believe that Jesus Christ loved you so much that He died freely for you? That He gave up His life because you are a sinner. I believe that. And I have received the gift of God, eternal life, through Christ Jesus, my Lord. And I hope you have. If you haven't, you can. If you have, tell others. Fellowship with other believers. Read God's Word together. Pray together and then go with the gospel to those people that you know who don't know Him, whom to know are right, is life eternal. People are waiting. This is the moment of opportunity. Your moment to share. Their moment to hear. Will you go today? God works in specific timeframes. One of those things that He uses is a series of days, 40 days. Listen to what happened, Genesis 8, 6, New King James. So it came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 40 days. Noah, a real man, a real individual, a person whose heart was in tune with God, a man who was obedient to the Lord, one who put his family inside the ark for safety, who followed God's instructions of putting the animals in, and now having been in the ark for 40 days, Noah opened the window. The windows of heaven will be opened for you when you're ready, but you have to open your heart. Will you do that? Have you? First of all, to receive God's gift of eternal life personally and secondly, to have a compassion for the people who don't yet know Him personally. If you will open your heart adequately, earnestly, urgently, then you can win souls for Jesus, will you? Souls for Jesus is our battle cry. Souls for Jesus will fight until we die. We never will give in. While souls are lost in sin, souls for Jesus is our battle cry. Noah and his family had floated for 40 days and then he opened the window. Listen to Genesis 8, 7 and 8, New King James. Then he sent out a raven which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. He also sent out from himself a dove to see if the waters had abated from the face of the ground. Experiments, details, testing the waters or lack thereof, Noah was determined to do what he was supposed to do when the time was right. Timing is very important. Today is the time to receive God's gift of eternal life. And you and I have the opportunity to redeem the time, how? By doing what God says to do, listening to his word, praying, having fellowship with others, and then going with the truth that Jesus saves, that he died on the cross, that he was buried, that he rose again and Easter is for real. Not just one day to celebrate, but for Christians every Sunday should be Easter. The resurrection happened. Jesus Christ is alive. Tell somebody today, the story of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ needs to be heard by someone you know. Noah has sent out a dove and listened to what happened. Genesis 8 and 9, New King James Version. But the dove found no resting place for the salt of her feet, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and drew her into the ark to himself. God wants to do a very similar thing to you and for you. He wants to draw you to himself, but you have to come willingly. Come all you who labor and are heavy laden, and he will give you rest. Peace, serenity of spirit and a oneness with the Creator of the universe. If you haven't yet, trust Jesus Christ today as your Savior, and if you have, then find some others who also have. Pray together for those who haven't, and then go with the truth and tell them how they too can receive the gift of God, eternal life. Let them know that Jesus Christ did what the Bible says he did. He did die for you, for your sins. He was buried. He rose again for you to give you new life through his resurrected life, bodily. Tell people how they can be saved. 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. Why did Jesus Christ really die? That's the question of questions. Who is Jesus? The majestic person. There are a lot of foolish people in the world and people who don't believe the truth. Psalm 41-1 says, The fool has said in his heart there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none who does good. Proverbs 28-26. He who trusts in his own heart is a fool. But whoever walks wisely will be delivered. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lay not in your own understanding, and all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. And then Proverbs 11-30. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise. Proverbs 10-21. The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of wisdom. Are you foolish or are you wise? Are you in tune with God or are you out of fellowship with the Lord? Have you had a moment of truth when you have said I am a sinner? Sometimes as I am speaking to people, especially youth, I say I am glad that tonight we have an audience of dirty rotten no good sinners, because the Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God has eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. We have a lot of things that happen and a lot of symbolism that we need to address. What about pretzels? We use creative communicators at Triple T. Christian Youth Ministries, and we found out some things because of the research that Tammy Dooms did. In the early six hundreds in southern France, northern Italy, a monk twisted dope pieces into the shape of arms folded in prayer. He baked them, and he gave them as a reward to students who memorized Bible verses and prayers. And P-R-E-T-I-O-L-A means a little reward. And that is the predecessor of the pretzel. When they formed the pretzel with three holes, it became associated with the Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And if you have a New King James Bible, you will see that very same symbol on that Bible. Representing the Trinity. In Germany, it was renamed Bretzel, and then later pretzel. Then immigrants brought pretzels to the United States. Pretzels were always soft, and then the hard pretzel began as a mistake. In the 1800s, a baker fell asleep on the job. Let the flames go out, restarted the fire, and the pretzels got hard. And he almost got fired, but then they became a best seller, like the pretzels that most of us enjoy today. So the story of the pretzel is really an interesting story about God's love, and rewards, and the Trinity. The promises continue throughout the Old Testament about someone, Isaiah 7, 14. Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin calls conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. By the end of the Old Testament, men were so far from God that they would turn aside for no less than someone who could fulfill their demands. Listen to Luke 2, 8-14, continuing reading from the New King James. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 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 host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will toward men." Jesus came. Jesus came, born of a virgin. Jesus came in total purity. Jesus is God the Son. Jesus is the Son of God. Another symbol that we use at Christmastime, and sometimes throughout the year, began in Europe as a white stick of sugar for children to eat so that they wouldn't wiggle in church. Ever hear of that happening? This is credited to a German church choir master. And then they bent the sticks into canes to represent a shepherd's crook. They gave them to children in church again to keep them quiet. The shepherd's staff symbolizes Jesus, the good shepherd. And then the hook was also used to hang the canes on Christmas trees. German and European immigrants brought candy canes to the United States, but the stripes appeared after 1900. A candy maker in Indiana used this very true meaning of Christmas to incorporate the symbols of the birth, the ministry, and the death of Jesus. There was a stick of pure white hard candy, white to symbolize the virgin birth, and the sinless nature of Jesus, hard to symbolize the firmness of the promises of God. The shepherd's staff to symbolize Jesus, the good shepherd, and the form of a jay representing the name Jesus. And then the red stripes were added by this Indiana person who really wanted to know that candy could represent the gospel. The three small stripes are to show the stripes of the scorching of Jesus, the large red stripes for the blood shed by Christ on the cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life. Isn't God good? Isn't God great? Isn't it wonderful to know that there are Christians who are creatively communicating Christianity with the pretzel and with the candy cane? What about the Easter egg? The egg is widely used as a symbol of the start of new life, a chick hatching. Spring celebrations incorporating the use of eggs predate Easter. The egg is seen as a symbol of resurrection. Dormant, it contains new life. Some Orthodox Eastern churches have Easter eggs with more symbolism with dyed red representing the blood of Christ and the hard shell symbolizing the sealed tomb of Christ. And the cracking of the shell symbolizing the resurrection from the dead isn't it interesting that even though the pagan society has taken the Easter egg and done something ridiculous with it and brought the rabbits into the thing and said, "Rabbits lay the eggs." Well, I'd like to see a rabbit lay an egg sometime. I used to raise rabbits as a kid and I never saw an egg in the nest ever. I did see some little bunnies, but they didn't hatch out of an egg that I could see. First Timothy 1, 15, who King James says, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief." 1 Corinthians 15, 3, and 4, "For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried and that he rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures." That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's not more than that, it's not less than that. That's it. Matthew 1 18 through 25 lets us know that Jesus is Emmanuel. God with us. God himself became a man. The Savior, not another prophet, not a political leader, not a judge, but the Savior of the world. The destiny of mankind turns on the answer to the question, "Who is Jesus Christ?" Listen to John 1, 1 and 2, New King James. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. The Word, ultimate reality. John 1, 14, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we became His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." The purpose of the book of John is explained in John 2031. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. Because of the nature of his life in ministry, Jesus Christ has become the person before whom no one can remain neutral. Those who examine the facts of his life are compelled by the logic of his magnificence to choose between acceptance and rejection. Who is Jesus? Really, they're only two options. He is the Son of God or a liar. I choose to believe the truth. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is God the Son. Consider these words of Jesus. He claimed to be equal with God. Several times the Jews tried to kill Jesus because of this claim. John 10, 30-39, New King James, says this. "I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from my Father, for which of those works do you stone me?" The Jews answered Him saying, "For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy. And because you, being a man, make yourself God." Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law? I said, you are God's. If he called them God's, to whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken." Do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world? You are blaspheming because I said, "I am the Son of God. If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me." But if I do, though you do not believe me, believe the works that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in Him. Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand. John 1245 says, "And He who sees me, sees Him who sent me." John 17-3, "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." John 5-18, "Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God." Jesus knew that His words were a matter of eternal life or death. He also knew that many people would refuse to believe. But to everyone who would believe, He promised the gift of eternal life. Here's how you can be a true believer in Jesus Christ. First, admit you've sinned. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3-23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, Romans 6-23. "Believe unChrist, 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, "Confess 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 with the heart one believes under righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation, Romans 10, 9, and 10. I hope that you have already received Jesus, but if you have it right now, pray this prayer. God, I've sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I turn to Jesus, your Son, to become my Savior, my forgiver, and I receive the gift of God eternal life through Christ Jesus, my Lord. And I am willing, Lord, to tell other people that I believe and how they too may receive your gift of eternal life by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then continue praying, for those who don't know the Lord, for those who do, who need to be sharing their faith in Him with others, pray. And I say to you, ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks, receives, and who seeks, finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened." Luke 11, 9 and 10, New King James. "Please pray for people to open doors where they can, when they can, to the triple T team and co-labours. Cowboy Lee Homoke will be with us through Palm Sunday. It's been a great ride with Lee and Darlene, and we have seen the Lord do wonderful things as we've gone to county after county, to church after church, to event after event, as we've presented a gospel and we've seen young people. Say, I admit, I've sinned. I'm willing to trust Jesus now, when to believe in the Lord Jesus, and then we prayed with them. What a great blessing. Then the missionaries to America from Indonesia and Korea are coming. They'll be here with us at Triple T and throughout the Tri-State, May 24 through June 6. And then the Team Missions International, Team Team and Leaders, and the Traveling Tigers will be sharing the gospel through June, July and August, September. Use the Vans of Association members and guests, and others will be going with the gospel here. And we'll be having the very special event, September 20, 21 and 22, right to us. TTT Christian Youth Ministries, 13,000, that's 13,000 US Highway 41 North, Evansville, Indiana, 477-25. We'd like to hear from you, and know this, when you pray and when you give, Christ through you can change the world. Every Saturday at 7.27 PM, 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 1st through 5th 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 Telling the Truth next week at this same time on This Same Station. [Music] [MUSIC PLAYING]