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And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Merry Christmas, everyone. Merry Christmas.
Are you having a festive time of year? I'm eating a delicious piece of sweet potato pie right now, except there's one catch. This pie might have been a re-gift. It might have come from someone to someone else to me and to our team here at Team Truth, courtesy of the amazing boss lady and one of our awesome team.
So, does that make this sweet potato pie any less delicious, is my question. And what about re-gifting? Let's get the Santa Claus out of the room.
Let's talk about the elephant Santa Claus in the room. The re-gifting phenomenon. Is re-gifting a sin?
That's the question I'm going to ask all hour long. What's going to help is your testimonies, your horror stories, your blessing stories, where you were given something that you already had. But it was just the exact right size of your second cousin, and you wanted him to have it. And he ate it up and loved it. But that's re-gifting.
But then you have another horror story. And what is that? Well, that came from someone who said this, these exact words. For my wedding, my husband and I received a punch bowl set. We did not register for one.
I mean, who used those things? But we opened it, and we saw the card inside. Congratulations, Sarah and Bob. Well, there's a problem.
I married a Frank, and my name is Kelly. So, what about when re-gifting goes bad? What about someone from Texas who said, one of my old boyfriends gave me a gift basket on my birthday? I had given the same basket to his sister for her birthday a few months earlier. Ouch. So, when has re-gifting backfired? Is it a sin?
This is on my IG, this is on my Facebook page. I'm asking everyone, and I'm asking you to call in. The toll-free number nationwide. This is going to be a great hour. We're going to talk about what is the gift that keeps on giving. In a sense, re-gifting is re-gifting. It's a reflection of the Christmas story of all things, believe it or not. How is that true?
How can that be? And what is something we can all contribute that will keep the giving going even after Christmas? I'm talking of kingdom eternal import. I'm Stu Everson, this is Truth Talk Live, special Christmas edition, special re-gifting edition. Tell me when you've been re-gifted, you didn't like it.
Tell me when you loved it. Tell me when you have re-gifted. I'm going to have to make some confessions today. Confessions of a re-gifter. Toll-free 866-34-TRUTH is a toll-free number nationwide.
866-348-7884. And tell me what you think about how this ties into the true meaning of Christmas. I got a confession to make.
I love re-gifting. I might be in trouble. I might be in big, big trouble. Maybe a family member may call in and expose me on this national radio show. Or maybe you want to give me some encouragement.
You want to talk about how re-gifting blessed someone else. Because you couldn't eat all that food. You couldn't eat all that delicious homemade... I'm going to take a bite right now. I'm going to take a bite right now to expose all those anti-regifters.
Right now, look at Grayson, our awesome producer. Grayson, I'm going to take a bite on the air right now. You keep watching me. I'm taking this bite. Mmm, that's good. Mmm, sweet potato pie.
866-34-TRUTH. I don't care if this was gifted, re-gifted ten times. That sweet potato pie is so good! Do I need it? I've eaten so much.
I could stop eating right now and be fine through the end of the year. I want to hear your re-gifting horror story or blessing story. At Christmas time, we got a pastor on the air who has a special word for us on this topic. Sir, is this a confession of a re-gifter?
Pastor Jeff, North Carolina caller. Welcome to Truth Talk Live, sir. Tell us what happened. It'll be a blessing. Don't worry.
And I really ain't going to use it. I would love to give this to you. And she goes, oh my gosh, thank you so much. And I love coffee. And I gave her the gift card.
But that was the re-gifting, and I was able to talk to her while she was making my sandwich about the reason for the season. Look at that right there. Let me see, how is there any downside to that, Mike? I don't see any downside to that. I don't either. Listen, I'm going to go out on a limb here.
If you're not concerned about re-gifting, you might be in sin. And here's why. I can't stand coffee.
Time out! There's dozens of people out there that need to be blessed, like this lady, maybe they can't afford coffee. And here you have a chance, Mike, to bless her, not only with a gift card of a valuable coffee that she can go and say, oh wow, I can go do this. I'm not having a great month.
I may not be able to make Christmas for my children. Now I can go to get this nice man who had plenty, who shared with me, and then you've got to share the Gospel with her. So I don't see any downside to that. You know, what if you just tossed it back at your boss or complained, oh man, why don't you give that to me?
Instead of thinking, wait a second, there's someone out there. How about this, Lord, lead me to someone who could use this. I love it, Mike. You blessed me today.
We've got other folks piling the call in. God bless you, my friend. Merry Christmas. God bless you. Merry Christmas, sir.
Thank you. Keep giving and keep regiving and keep giving the Gospel, because this is what it's all about. Let's go to Jeff. I think we got him back. Now we've got a break. There's that ghastly music, but that means that we're going to break and share some good news during the break and come back with Jeff, Jeannie, Alicia, and a bunch of other friends calling in on this special regifting edition of Truth Talk Live.
Is it a blessing or is it a blessing? Give us your stories, your testimonies, good or bad, and we're going to talk about it and how it ties in with the real meaning of Christmas. I'm Stu Everson. Don't touch that dial. Coming right back. Christmas.
So I always took it back or gave it somebody else. That's the gift that keeps on giving. Y'all got anything for me? Come here.
Come here. I like that Christmas sweater, by the way. Thank you. I got a candle for Christmas one year, and it still had the to and from tag in it from the other person. You feel like you got burned on that one, huh? Oh, yeah. But it still worked. You still put a good odor off, right?
It did, yes. Merry Christmas. The gift of regifting that keeps on giving, right? Okay, how about your horror stories? 866-34-TRUTH, your best regifting story. Is it a sin or is it a blessing? Toll free 866-348-7884.
We're talking about regifting. I have been living it all day long. Some things that come to you go past you, right through you to others.
Is that so bad? Or have there been some missteps there we need to talk about and deal with? As friends here on Truth Talk Live, I'm Stu Epperson. Great to have you on board. Our friends in Jacksonville, Florida, 91.7 FM, 91.9 St. Augustine, 91.3 Brunswick, Georgia. We love our folks listening all across Florida, all across the Truth Network, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Dayton, Ohio, 106.5 FM, on into Indiana, and we love it when pastors call. Like our next guest, we got him back on, Pastor Jeff wants to weigh in. Sir, good to have you with us, a North Carolina caller. Jump on in here, sir. Hello, Stu. How are you doing today?
Hey, fantastic. So what about regifting? Is it a good thing or is it a bad thing?
I think it's a good thing. I think anytime you have an opportunity to bless other people, you need to do it. People have done that with books. I've got books that were meant to be for somebody else.
It could be for clothes, it could be whatever. The Bible says it's better you're more blessed to give than receive. I love that. You know what, I think we should be givers.
Yeah, now our call screener says up here on a note that you have a really cool quote, and before you go there, I just want to make a point to that. So supposing, Pastor, you've been married for years, and someone gives you a really good book by Gary Chabon on how to prepare for marriage. Well, you might take the selfish view and say, oh, how dare they? Don't they know I've been married for 30-plus years? Who do they think they are?
They're just horrible mean. Or you might think of that couple you've been counseling who are preparing to get married, and that's the perfect gift for them, right? Absolutely.
You know, one of the favorite songs I love about the Christmas season, Little Drummer Boy, he goes to the beat of a different drum. If the Spirit moves you and asks you to do something, you don't need to use the word mine. You need to bless others. It's all about others. Our lives should be a blessing.
Yeah, it should be the most—Christmas morning and all day the whole time of year should be the happiest time of year because of what you are giving, not necessarily because of what you're receiving. Now, you've got to drop this quote on us. Our producer wrote up here, you've got a big mic drop kind of quote for us, and we've got to go to another caller.
Jump on in here with it. I just left on the window over, it's so crowded over there with everybody buying gifts. You know, when you buy gifts, you give it, and everybody now has to have a gift receipt because they want to take it back. And oftentimes when we open up presents, we say, oh, I didn't get what I wanted. I just want to remind the listener audience, all of America, if you did not get what you wanted for Christmas, just remember it's not your birthday. That's good. Grayson, you've got to admit, that's pretty good right there. It ain't your birthday.
What are you complaining about? Absolutely. All right, Pastor. What a blessing. Pastor Jeff, Greensboro, North Carolina, and what a blessing. You've got a Christmas Eve service coming up. Anything going on we need to know about?
We have a 430 and a 630 in Greensboro, North Carolina, always looking forward to it. Usually over a third of the people there are people there with family and they just want to come in. It's a great culture right now. Great gospel opportunity. We just need to give them Jesus. What's the church now? A lot of churches might be having that kind of thing. What's your church? We'll give you a shout out. My church is Mount Pisgah Methodist Church at 2600 Pisgah Church Road in Greensboro, North Carolina.
All right. I know this guy knows church. They've held to the Word of God and I appreciate your call, sir. I love that quote. God bless you.
Grayson, thanks for getting him in. We're going to go to Alisa now, and I've got a line open. If you want to call in with your best or worst regifting story tale, is it a sin?
Should regifting be outlawed? Or how has it been a blessing to you, and how does it reflect the true Christmas story? What about that pastor's quote? Alisa, you're on the air. Welcome! Thank you, Stu. Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! One of our regular guest hosts here, and something new is coming.
Just go ahead and tell them. There's a special minute of Oasis going across all these stations coming out in the new year. Can you give us a little preview? I don't want to let the cat out of the bag too soon, but tell us, Alisa. This is going to be exciting.
Sure. Your listeners can look forward to hearing an Oasis Minute, which is some theology, some teaching from Scripture. It's going to be super fun. I'm really looking forward to it. It's been a lot of fun working with Robbie to pull those together, so here we go. That's awesome. Well, thank you, by the way, for giving to us what you've received from the Lord and being a blessing to the rest of us.
That's pretty cool. And I know it's going to be a breath of fresh air. And I know Robbie and I both know it's going to be a blessing, because when you guest host Truth Talk, we're expecting to call any minute and say, Hey, don't come back. We want more of that right there.
Bring her back in. So we'll have to get you back in in the hot seat here sometime after the holidays. But talk to us now.
What about regifting? And have you got a little story for us? Well, I do have a story.
It's been several years ago. I was young, maybe an early teenager, and my aunt gifted my sister a phony Walkman, which was kind of hot at the time. And she gifted me a used PE T-shirt from her school. I'm assuming she was regifting that T-shirt, which, you know, I should have been appreciative. I was not appreciative, Sue.
I was not appreciative, I must admit. But I think regifting is great because if you get something and you really don't need it, then somebody else probably does need it and you pass it along to somebody. I have a hard time because I like, if I receive a gift and I think, you know, I'm going to regift that, I really like to give gifts that are personal. And so sometimes those gifts, they kind of sit in my closet and I'm like, I'm not sure who to give that to. But I did try to check my gift closet to give those things that I've been given once in a while.
There are not many of them, but, you know, once in a while you get something that doesn't fit, you can't return it, or maybe it's just not your style. And I have so many books, too. I need to regift a lot of books.
Well, and you think about it. I love books. I buy a lot of books. Yeah, well, think about that book. Like, my daughter's asked me about a book by A.W.
Tozier this morning, The Pursuit of God, which I've read many times. But I thought, if she's never read this book, giving her this book that someone gave me years ago, that could really bless her. You know, or I could think, oh, no, it's used and it's, oh, well, no. I mean, because we're so familiar with it. Like our caller from Ohio, Mike, he's so familiar with coffee.
He's around it all the time. Him getting a coffee gift card, he could have just been dismissive or resentful or angry or curmudgeon-y or bah humbug. Instead, he saw this lady who hadn't had coffee and probably hadn't bought coffee. It's not cheap.
Those lattes aren't cheap. You know, I know I've got children. But anyway, we want to hear your regifting story, 86634truth.
8663487884 is regifting a sin. I've got some email response and some online response. Alicia, Merry Christmas to you, and God bless you and your family. You too, Stu. We'll catch you soon. Can't wait to hear those Oasis minutes from you, and we'll be right back on Truth Talk Live.
Listen on the app if you can't listen on your local station. It's coming up right after this. 86634truth. All hour long, we're talking about regifting. Is it a blessing or a curse? Is it a sin? Or is it something good?
And I've got to tell you, man, I'm getting lit up. Here's what I was expecting. I was expecting a lot of people to text me, call me, and they may still and say, Stu, you're cheap. What are you doing regifting? Go get something original for someone.
Put some thought into it. But every call so far, even our special contributors, a pastor called, Mike called from Dayton. They're all talking about, they are all singing the praises of regifting. So what about you, friends?
I want to hear your story. Toll-free, 86634truth. It's a free phone call. 866-348-7884.
That's our toll-free number nationwide. If you want to grab a truth line and tell me, Stu Epperson, today's host, what you think, what say you about regifting, and how has it been a real blessing to you? How has it been like in the simple instance of the delicious homemade sweet potato pie, which I've already consumed in the first 30 seconds of the show? Grayson, you're my witness. You saw it go right down the hatch, didn't you? You saw me eat that sweet potato pie.
Boy, that was good. You're in there eating some cookies. Does anybody else gain enough weight to like, I could stop eating right now and be done for the year.
I'm telling you. But it's a great time of year, and you get that fruitcake. I can't stand fruitcake. This same aunt gives me this fruitcake every year. I'm so mad at her.
How about your neighbor two doors over? They absolutely love fruitcake, man. They'd pay you a thousand dollars for that fruitcake. We'll drop it in a bag.
Take off the little sticker that says to such and such from Aunt Dolores and take it over to the neighbor. So I just want to bless you with this. And you watch their eyes get as big as softballs and say, Oh my soul, I'm going to enjoy this. It's regifting. But is that a sin? Is that wrong? I mean, maybe we could say that if it's like, you know, Alicia called earlier, said she got a piece or an old piece shirt from an aunt who's kind of cheap. And, you know, she's going to laugh at that. I mean, you're not much you can do. Maybe there's not many people you can give that to, although someone out there needs a shirt, I'm sure.
So what about that? And I'm going to go to my Facebook. I've got a we've got a wonderful following on Facebook at Stu. Epperson's my page or my Instagram. If you're not following Instagram, please do.
And I want to read a couple of comments I've got from some people. Some good insights, some maybe, you know what, maybe a rebuke, a healthy rebuke will pop up. You know, maybe, Stu, I got re-gifted an ugly Christmas sweater that has been the bane of my existence.
Or I got re-gifted a nice little car with a bad transmission, you know. So anyway, give me a call. 866-34-TRUTH. I want to hear from you firsthand.
Toll free 866-348-7884. The deeper question, the redemptive question. Yeah, we're having fun with this. But the deeper question is, how does re-gifting reflect and connect to the real meaning of Christmas? The gift that keeps on giving.
What is the gift that keeps on giving? That is so important, friends. We're going to get into that. But we have an anonymous caller. Welcome to Truth Talk Live. Thank you for the courage to call a national radio show with your re-gifting blessing or horror story.
Jump on in here. Hi, my name is Terri and, you know, we give gifts some money and or presents or gifts or however. It goes from my hand with my good intentions, what's in my heart that I could see, what's in my heart, when it leaves my hand to go into the other person's hand, then it's on them. It's out of my hands. And so when a person gets a gift and if it's re-gifted, then you can kind of be amused because, oh, I recognize that.
And if you truly don't want to see it again, you can always go out of state, send it to an out-of-state goodwill, pay the postage and you'll never see it again. You know what? That's a great point. You know what?
It's you know what? But it's just like giving. You want to give something of value. You want to give something to someone to show love to them.
Right. So you want to give them something of value. Well, re-gifting is the same way.
I mean, like you said, you want to maybe if like, you know, like I probably if I if I have four daughters, I probably don't want to give the younger daughter something I gave the older daughter last year that she kind of discarded. That might not be that might be in the sin category or the neglect category or the the selfish category. So giving can be selfish. It can be narcissistic. It can be, you know, sometimes we give when we're giving others, we're really giving to ourself because we just think they should have that because we love that.
But they can't stand that. So we need to back up and say, OK, what would be valuable? What would be important to this person? I'll tell you what.
I'll tell you what saved us on that. A lot of ways, Terry, and I really appreciate your call and your insights is gift cards. You can give a gift card, can't you?
Yes. And then the other thing, too, is like that gentleman that gave the gift of the coffee while he's blessing others. So, again, what leaves what goes in your hand and it leaves your hand to another person, it's what they do with it. It's on them.
But I say it is a lot of people. Well, oh, it's Christmas. I got to give them something. And so instead of knowing the person, do you do you give a gift? That is for them to enjoy. Or do you give a gift for yourself? Yeah, right.
Right. Are you giving a gift to assuage your own conscience so you don't feel guilty for not giving them something? Well, that because I've been surprised and it's like I don't like this thing. And they are told by my face without words, you know, and you gave me something that you wanted to give me, not what I wanted. Yeah, that's really good.
I like what I don't like. Yeah, that's right. But even then, somebody wants what they gave you. Somebody would like that.
And so then that's an opportunity for you to be rather than just a receptacle for you to be a dispenser. Right. You see that, Terry? Yeah, I did do that. But at the time when I got the price for you and unwrapping it in front of the family and it's like, oh, my gosh, that's tough. Yeah.
I don't say a word my face is like instead of pinning that smile on my face. Here's the thing. How can I say thank you for something I could care less about? But at least, hey, be thankful that that person is alive. Be thankful that person took the time to at least do this. And in you still there, that person is someone that you can love and minister to.
Right. Even in this opportunity, you know, so it just opens up a whole lot. If we look at this, this gift giving, exchanging of gifts, if we look at it as as as as a mission field, you know, that is, you know, there's so many people that we can model the love of Christ, even in receiving something we don't want graciously because it was just given from the heart.
You know, there have been there have been some pretty bad gifts given. But people like the drummer boy, no one wants to hear a drum banging in their ear, you know, like what in the world? But that guy's playing his heart out. That little guy. Right. This is his gift. And he's, you know, so there's something there.
Yeah. God bless you, Terry. Thanks for your call.
I really appreciate your call. Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas to you and your family. Or should I say Terry Christmas? How about that? Yes, ma'am.
God bless you. What a great word from Terry about, hey, once it leaves your hand, how about her word there? It's it's no longer in your court. Once once you leave, you know, leaves your hand, the toll free number is 86634 truth. If you want to grab a truth line.
We've got some lines open at 866-348-7884 regifting. What do you think? How has it impacted you? What about the previous comments we've had? Now, I'm going to go to my Facebook comments. This is from John. He's he's a bud.
And he saw my little video I put up on there. And basically he said, Stu, regifting is not a sin. It's smart.
I love it. I'm getting a little amen corner going on here. People are starting to get this regifting thing even more. I'm not alone.
Am I am I this bad sinner for thinking regifting is good? I'd love your feedback. 86634 truth. Here's John finished by saying this. Another way to think about this. I care enough to find someone. Who can use what I might throw out? Now, think about that. Now, I do have a few people in my family that you wouldn't put it past them to throw a gift. I pulled things out of the trash can, not if it's on top of like, you know, dog poop. And I'm not going to pull that trash can.
It's got to. But if it's just sitting there like on top of a box and it's still got the tag on it. And it's a hat that didn't fit that person. I'm going to take that out and bless somebody with a nice hat. What about you regifting? There's extreme cases.
There are times we push the envelope too hard. Or maybe regifting has really been a game changer for you when someone gave you something that just didn't mean much to them. But for you, it's like my neighbor who gave another friend of ours a brand new chainsaw. He had a name brand too. He had six of them sitting in his garage. He says, I got to get rid of this thing.
How about that regifting? 866-34-TRUTH. Call me. One more segment left on Truth Talk Live.
866-348-7884. It's the gift that keeps on giving and keeps on regiving. All hour long. I'm Stu Everson.
We've been talking about regifting. Is it good? Is it bad?
Is it ugly? What are your horror stories? I got a bunch. I am telling you right now, I've got a whole lot of people have called in. A lot of people have weighed in online.
There is a there's kind of a consensus out there that it could be real good or it could be really bad based on what it is, who it's from, and all those details. But how in the world can we be a part of this? How can we be a part of giving from the heart that's unconditional, sacrificial, and altruistic? And think about this.
If you're regifting and it's from the heart, is that not okay? What do you think? 866-344-TRUTH. Now I've got a I got a couple lines open and I've got a few minutes left. And I would love to hear from you.
I would love to share my Christmas poem about the gifts of the wise men and Christmas shopping for Jesus. I also would love to read some more of these kind of horror stories to you that we pulled off of a interesting enough, a cosmopolitan Web site. This is interesting.
I don't know if I've read this yet. For my wedding, my husband, I received a punch bowl set. We did not register for one.
I mean, who who even uses those things? But when we opened it, we saw a card inside the card said, Congratulations, Sarah and Bob. The problem is I'm married to Frank and my name is Kelly. Oh, my soul. My little brother received a guest gift card. Guess is a retail store from a good family friend for his birthday. But there was no amount written on it. So the next time we went by the mall, we stopped, I guess, to check the amount. Fifty eight dollars and twelve cents. Interesting amount. Clearly it had been used and regifted.
Now, if you like that store and you like to close that store. Fifty eight dollars and twelve cents. Grayson, that's not a shabby amount. That's not a bad gift. I mean, you want someone to give you a new unused guest gift card for 20 bucks. Would you rather have that just because you're you're it's beneath you to take a regifted gift? You know what in the world? So my college boyfriend gave me a photo cube for my birthday one year.
It was really cute. But then I noticed that in the corner of one side it read Senior Prom 2005. His mom teaches that high school.
I realized he got it from her busted anyway. So there's a bunch of other things, a survey and whatnot. But I just thought those were interesting. And I've heard all kinds of stories today, some that I'm not going to share on the air.
And they don't want me to. Others that you know what are we have shared and you've heard I'll play. I kind of these two ladies, if you didn't hear this earlier, I thought this was cute.
Grayson, let's play this real quick. This is a little soundbite from some ladies I caught up to when I was at lunch today in Winston-Salem at Mr. Barbecue, of all places. Is regifting a sin? Tell me your best regifting story. It can be good or bad.
It doesn't matter. My mother-in-law always gave me a granny gown for Christmas, so I always took it back or gave it somebody else. That's the gift that keeps on giving. You all got anything for me? Come here.
Come here. I like that Christmas sweater, by the way. Thank you. I got a candle for Christmas one year and it still had the to and from tag in it from the other person. You feel like you got burned on that one, huh? Oh, yeah. But it still worked. You still put a good odor off, right? It did. Yes.
Merry Christmas. The gift of regifting that keeps on giving, right? So that's a whole that was fun. I mean, you know, people are you know, this is hits people now. Some people are they might get sensitive and they might get mad or maybe it was a big deal. Maybe it was a special occasion, you know, and and so. They kind of, you know, you didn't put a lot of thought into it now as a man, as a husband, as a married man, as a father, I am rightfully. I rightfully stand accused of not putting thought a lot of times into gifts for my daughters, for my wife. I'm working on that.
I'm a work in progress. But regifting, can it be that if you were a gift, you know, the fruitcake from two years ago, that's literally teeth breaking hard. That's maybe not the best regift. That's kind of a little bit of a weak item. But then again, here's the car keys to a brand new Jeep Cherokee.
Never been driven because I've got four in my garage. I've been blessed and I want to give this to you. Now, that is a regift. I wouldn't mind taking that regift.
I wouldn't mind. I wouldn't mind admitting I was regifted that when it's something like that or the delicious sweet potato pie that I had at the beginning of the show that I've been kind of raving about. Grace is enjoying some cookies in there.
It's a great time of year, whether it's food, the power of regifting. And what about these great gifts that the wise men brought Jesus? He went Christmas shopping for Jesus.
What would you give him? What would you give the one who has everything, who made everything? And by him, all things consist and exist. Colossians 1 16. Here's my little Treasure of the Cradle, Treasure of the Cross poem from First Words of Jesus. At the cradle, the gift of gold, of purest value, a currency for kings.
With hearts bowed low, his royalty behold. At the cross, the crown of thorns, salvation brings. Present him frankincense, a gift for deity, pure sweet aroma, an offering of laud. Yet the greatest offering would be on Calvary, where the spotless lamb bore the wrath of God. A fragrant scent to bless the lad, a savory gift poured at his feet. At death, his body would be later clad with swaddling clothes and myrrh so sweet. Treasure at the cradle, treasure at the cross, gold, frankincense, and myrrh all for him. The blood of the lamb shed for the lost to give eternal life, forgiveness of sin. And then I go on in this book to talk about the gift that keeps on giving.
And I really want to hone in on this. How often at Christmas do we give gifts based on what others have given us? We keep score, don't we? We're really good at reciprocating and such. Not so with the wise men. Their gifts were thoughtful, sacrificial, unconditional, and most importantly, Christ-centered. Remarkably, each gift of the wise men, the gold, the frankincense, and the myrrh, highlighted the mission of Jesus Christ. In fact, did you know that some modern-day experts attribute modern-day gift-giving to these sagacious givers, these wise givers? And I love this little poem, this little carol.
Have you heard this carol? What can I give him, poor as I am, if I were a shepherd? I would bring him a lamb.
If I were a wise man, I'd sure do my part. So what can I give him? I'll give him my heart. Have you opened your heart to Jesus? In a sense, when you're giving or regiving, you have been given a lot of things.
Think about what God's given you. He's given you ears to hear this program today. He's given some of you vocal cords to call this program today, or maybe to say some things about this crazy program, or whatever's going on. But he's blessed you with every breath you've taken.
How many times has your heart beat during the show today? And that's a gift from God. We don't know where the wise men got the gold, the frames, and the myrrh. Maybe they were regifting. Maybe they collected that from the people in the East when they said, hey, there's a star, we're going to go honor this king, we're going to go find this king. We're going to go over hill, yonder hill, travel here and there, hills and valleys, everywhere, following yonder star, and we're going to give them these gifts. And people said, here, give them this, and they were regifting. They were just conduits.
And that's the question. Are you a receptacle where you just receive? You're all about getting? Or are you a conduit?
Are you a dispenser? Where you take what God has given to you, and you allow God to give through you to others. And this is where we get to our bottom line truth. The Gospel comes to us freely. Freely he has given us, and freely we receive.
This is what grace is. It's unmerited favor from the Savior, who gave us everything. God loved the world so much, he gave. Jesus Christ is the gift of God. The wages of sin is death. We deserve sin, hell, and judgment. What did he give us? He gave us life.
The gift of God, Romans 5-8 tells us, is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So what do we do? This is the beauty. We hear these trivial, frivolous statements that are just parroted about. Oh, it's the gift that keeps on giving.
Well, guess what? There's one gift that keeps on giving. It is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Why? Because when he changes me, he turns me, Mark 1-17. Follow me, that's being born again, that's finding your life in him, and I will make you fishers of men. We are caught so we could fish. We are saved so we can help others find salvation.
We know him so we can make him known. This is the beauty of the gospel. This is why Jesus came on a rescue mission. He didn't come to make good men and women better.
He came to make dead humans, dead men and women, and children alive to bring us to life, to transform us, to give us a new birth and a new life. And that life gives us beautiful feet that Romans 10, verse 14, 15, 16 says, "'How beautiful are the feet of them who spread the gospel of peace.'" You are a carrier, and if your life isn't a funk, and you're down in the dumps and you're upset, then the question is, maybe you're hoarding, and you're, well, I'm saved, well, I checked that box. Well, what are you doing to help others solve that problem?
Because let me tell you what a real funk is. A real funk is not knowing Jesus and being bound toward an eternal hell without Christ. And if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are here to help others solve that problem. You are here to give them the gift and re-give them the gift of the good news of Jesus Christ. The only gift that keeps on giving is the gift of God, which Paul in 2 Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 16 says, "'Thank God for his indescribable gift.'" This is the gift, this is Christmas 24-7, 365, the gift that gives on into eternity. Who are you taking to heaven with you? Who are you spreading the good news to today?
