Stu Epperson and The First Words of Jesus

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He is the owner of the Truth Network, one of the wonderful group networks that carry my program. Stu, I'm so glad to have you here with us. I'm honored to be with you. I love what you're doing, and I just love how the Lord is using you to touch a whole lot of people, one of those people.

You're very kind, Stu, and I very much appreciate that. In addition to running a radio network, you also are a very, very successful author. You wrote a book called The Last Words of Jesus that was a huge book, and now you've gone back and done the first words of Jesus from the cradle to the cross. Jesus's first words were not recorded until he was 12, and yet you've woven this together into this amazing book that tells the Christmas stories.

Talk a little bit about that. Well, that's when these words were picked up masterfully in the Gospel of Luke. You have Christ in the temple, and the one who came to save the lost finds himself lost from his parents, but he wasn't lost.

They were. He was in the temple of all places, the place he was most at home, the place he was most comfortable, in his father's house. Basically, Jesus made two compelling statements that were questions. He asked a lot of questions in his life, a lot of provocative questions in his parables, in his ministry, in his preaching, in his dialogue with the disciples. Those first questions are some of the most profound, and they really set their trajectory and lay down the mission of why he came. After writing my first book, Last Words of Jesus, then I wrote my second book, First Words of Jesus, and I just have never been much for sequence and order and getting things in the right sequence there, but I really felt compelled to go back to where it all started in terms of time and space for our Lord, and that was in that beautiful manger, that cradle, and how he went from the cradle of the cross and what connects the cradle to the cross to the crown to the next great event in history, the great return of the king, which we are so looking forward to.

Those words in the temple are so profound. Two basic questions in Luke chapter two, and the questions just connect directly to why he came and what he would do and how the next two decades of his life would unfold. I love that Jesus, you said he asked provocative questions, and that is a theme that God has used in very teachable moments.

Questions themselves become the teaching instrument. This happened back with Job when God said, where were you? And so when you ask these questions, and I love the fact that you bring that out, that Jesus says, did you not know that I must be in my father's house? That's a profound moment. I love the way, have you been watching The Chosen?

Oh yes, yes. I haven't been to the latest one, but it takes you right in there, you know. I love the way they spotlighted that scene in The Chosen. I thought they did a great job of showing Jesus exploring his father's will, being in the temple there, and I thought that was wonderful.

Also, I want to change gears a little bit. You have great teaching on your broadcast every day. I mean, all day long, it's just pushing out the gospel. Yesterday, I happened to notice that John MacArthur was trending on Twitter, which that in itself is a remarkable thing. I mean, John MacArthur's 80 years old, roughly. I guess he's about 80, right? That's about right. He's trending on Twitter.

Isn't that something? And he's talking about what's going on in our culture and the decline and the horrific things that are going on with the sexual deviancy and all these kinds of things. Do you sense, as somebody who has a broadcast ministry of the gospel, do you sense there's an urgency to better teach, better equip, like nothing before?

You've grown up in this. A lot of people have no idea in your background that you've grown up in all this, but as I listen to Christian teaching now, I sense an urgency. The pace is quickening. Am I reading that right?

No question. There's an urgency. There's urgency all throughout the scripture. There's an urgency for Mary and Joseph to get to that town of Bethlehem. There's an urgency for the government to shake everybody down and get their money.

You can't tax them if you don't count them. There's an urgency of the first responders to the arrival of the newborn king, who were the least qualified, completely uneducated, never been to Bible college. They weren't allowed to go to the temple because they were unclean because they touched animals all the time and they kept animals on the Sabbath, which was a violation of every kind of Hebrew law. The first responders, it says in you go look at Luke chapter two, right around 16 and 17, it says they went out everywhere. There's an urgency to the shepherds to spread, to herald the good news. They were the first ambassadors of Christ telling everybody. Then it says in verse 17 in there, maybe 18, it says of chapter two of Luke, it says, everyone was in awe that these shepherds, these nomads, these guys that were really, you know, you tell your kids, here's who you don't want to grow up to be like, you know, you don't want to grow up to be a dead end shepherd who barely made it through, you know, grade school and is going nowhere in life.

And here they are heralding that a savior is born and what they saw when their world was lit up and that, you know, just outside on the hills, that little town of Bethlehem, when they were raising Passover lamps. So there's an urgency to Jesus when he goes in the temple, Peter, he is urgent. He says the first, his two first words were, first of all, why are you looking for me? So why are people looking for Jesus? Let me tell you, you better be urgent about finding him because if you don't find him, you are doomed.

Without him, it's hopeless. So he says, why are you looking for me? So why do people seek Jesus? Why do the wise men seek Jesus? Why do the shepherds seek Jesus? Why was there an urgency? Why would these wise wealthy dudes, these kings, these legends, why would they travel, you know, all over the place across crazy lands and really, you know, all kinds of landscapes, all kinds of braving, all kinds of who knows what kind of conditions, wild animals and everything to follow the yonder star. There's an urgency for them to go and behold the king. And they brought all kinds of gifts.

They put their money where their mouth was. They were the first Christmas shoppers. What would you give Jesus if you went shopping for him? And they were the first ones to, they really set us in the motion of, we don't know, we don't know that there were three, that's just a kind of a tradition. And we don't know that those were all the gifts they gave, but those gifts in my book, I talk about how they strongly represent redemptive language in the Bible.

You know, the gold of Frank Sissomer, he's king, he's, he's king, he's deities God, and he's a savior, you know? So there's a beautiful picture, but there's an urgency for them to get there. There's an urgency for Joseph and Mary to get out of town because there's this evil that's coming in that ends up having all kinds of bloodshed and all kinds of mourning and weeping. We don't think of Christmas time as a time of bloodshed and evil and mourning, but think about how hard it is. This is a hard time of year, Peter. People are going to call your show in tears.

People are going to email you. This is when they lost grandma. This is when they lost their spouse. And Christmas is really, really hard. And then there's an urgency for Jesus to go. They go to the, they go to Jerusalem, the holy city for his bar mitzvah, his coming out. He's 12 years old.

He's finally of age. And he doesn't make, he doesn't make any, waste any time. He high tails it right to his father's house. And he goes in there and he's there with all these wise men. I would have loved to have been a fly on that wall to hear what he said and what they asked him. And just the beauty of him listening, the word of God going to hear the written word of God taught in the temple and asking deep questions.

And there he was there. They're looking at the word made flesh. They're looking at God incarnate and his parents, mom and dad are panicked.

And they, like I said, lost the one who came to save the loss. And they're like, Hey, well, Jesus is like, Hey, why are you seeking me? So why do people seek? And then he says this great statement of urgency again, back to urgency, what can should compel all of us. He says, I must be about my father's business.

I am on mission. I am called by another father, Joseph, thanks for being the stepdad here. But I have a, I have the bloodline of the, of the, of the father, God, who's the first member of the Trinity. I'm the second member of the Trinity and I'm called to be about his business. And that's exactly what he came to do. John 17, four, Jesus said, what I finished the work that you have sent me to do his final words to the cross, John 1930 famous words to tell us tie one word in the Greek, three words in English, it is finished. So he came on mission.

He came on purpose. And he says, in John 2021, Peter, he says to all of us that follow him, he says, as the father sent me on mission to save you, so I send you. So he is calling us to go, not to hold this good news to ourselves, not to hoard it, not to hide it under a bushel. No, I'm going to let it shine. So as long as there's breath coursing through my lungs and blood flowing through my veins, I'm going to tell people about Jesus.

I'm going to use any way possible. Your program is amazing. You're meeting people in the, in the, in some of their deepest pain for this caregiving. It's remarkable. You know, carrying your program, carrying, like you mentioned, you know, Dr. MacArthur, Dr. Jeremiah, you know, these great Bible teachers who are giving the truth unapologetically, who may get thrown in jail at the rate that our country's going.

And they're turning anyone that speaks the truth in love about anything is, you know, become a hate crime. So yes, long answer to your short question, there's an urgency that God has put in me. And I really hope that, that it will spread and that I will be a super spreader of this blessed news of Christ. Because let me tell you something, when the King returns the second time, yeah, he came that first time as a precious little baby, a little child in a manger, a little child, infant child, meek and mild, a cuddly little baby. But he's coming again as a, as an almighty God, as a King on his white steed. Revelations chapter one, verse seven with a, with fire in his eyes and the word of God, the sword of the word of God in his hand. And he will come to bring about judgment upon the nations. And by then, my friends, if you're listening to my voice right now, it will be way too late. So do not miss the second coming when you celebrate the first coming, because that's the whole point.

It's a setup to bring us from that cradle to that cross, to that crown, to that coming, which will be any moment he'll split those clouds open and we will see him and we will be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump. Well said Stu, well said. I thank you for just that great Christmas message. Thank you for being a part of this program.

Thank you for carrying this program and helping get this word out to folks who are struggling. This season is a great season. And I know that you guys are excited. You've got a grand baby. That's going to make Christmas very, very exciting this year.

I would imagine it's going to be a little louder at the Epperson house. Absolutely. Yes, sir. Thank you.

It is exciting time. And I am very grateful for you. Merry Christmas to you Stu. Merry Christmas. Thank you for all you're doing, brother. Thanks for your friendship and for being just a part of this great, we're in this great adventure.

We have the opportunity to invite people to follow the King. Isn't that amazing? It is indeed. The first words of Jesus from the cradle to the cross, Stu Epperson Jr. Go out and get the book today and Stu, Merry Christmas. Thanks for being here today. Merry Christmas brother. God bless you. Merry Christmas to Gracie and your whole family. Yes, sir. Love you brother.

Thank you very much. Bye-bye. You've heard me talk about standing with hope over the years. This is the prosthetic limb ministry that Gracie envisioned after losing both of her legs. Part of that outreach is our prosthetic limb recycling program. Did you know that prosthetic limbs can be recycled?

No kidding. There is a correctional facility in Arizona that helps us recycle prosthetic limbs. And this facility is run by a group out of Nashville called CoreCivic. And we met them over 11 years ago and they stepped in to help us with this recycling program of taking prostheses and you disassemble them. You take the knee, the foot, the pylon, the tube clamps, the adapters, the screws, the liners, the prosthetic socks, all these things we can reuse and inmates help us do it. Before CoreCivic came along, I was sitting on the floor at our house or out in the garage when we lived in Nashville and I had tools everywhere, limbs everywhere, and feet, boxes of them, so forth. And I was doing all this myself and I'd make the kids help me.

And it got to be too much for me. And so I was very grateful that CoreCivic stepped up and said, look, we are always looking for faith-based programs that are interesting and that give inmates a sense of satisfaction. And we'd love to be a part of this.

And that's what they're doing. And you can see more about that at standingwithhope.com slash recycle. So please help us get the word out that we do recycle prosthetic limbs. We do arms as well, but the majority of amputations are lower limb.

And that's where the focus of standing with hope is. And that's where Gracie's life is with her lower limb prosthesis. And she's used some of her own limbs in this outreach that she's recycled. Obviously she's been an amputee for over 30 years.

So you go through a lot of legs and parts and other types of materials, and you can reuse prosthetic socks and liners if they're in good shape. All of this helps give the gift that keeps on walking. And it goes to this prison in Arizona, where it's such an extraordinary ministry. Think with that. Inmates volunteering for this, they want to do it.

And they've had amazing times with it. And I've had very moving conversation with the inmates that work in this program. And you can see, again, all of that at standingwithhope.com slash recycle. They're putting together a big shipment right now for us to ship over. We do this pretty regularly throughout the year as inventory rises and they need it badly in Ghana. So please go out to standingwithhope.com slash recycle and get the word out and help us do more. If you want to offset some of the shipping, you can always go to the giving page and be a part of what we're doing there.

We're purchasing material in Ghana that they have to use that can't be recycled. We're shipping over stuff that can be, and we're doing all of this to lift others up and to point them to Christ. And that's the whole purpose of everything that we do. And that is why Gracie and I continue to be standing with hope. Standingwithhope.com.