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Transcript

200. Christmas Break Episode · 4-Freedom Podcast

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For freedom, you set me free. Not for change, not for guilt,
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not for Pharisee. Grace, lift the flame now I'm
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puffing. Peace signals and victory
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justified. Released.
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Welcome to the For Freedom podcast.
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This podcast exists to bring the freedom of the gospel for
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everyday Christians with everyday issues.
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I ain't. Saved by dress codes, not by
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what I eat. I'm covered in the
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righteousness. Washed from head to feet.
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No tally of tradition, No man made code.
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Blood bought my freedom. Now I ride that road.
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They clutch pearls when they see smoke rings rise.
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But my prey still ascends past the legalist cries.
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Christ plus nothing. That's the real math.
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So miss me with your fence laws and your extra path.
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He sat with sinners, I'm sitting with Saints.
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Slipping grace from the bottle, No room for face.
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I like one for liberty. Toast to the king.
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Every ash of sermon. Death has lost its sting.
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For freedom He set me free, Not for change, not for guilt, not
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for Pharisee. Grace lit the flame, now puffing
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peace, cigars and victory justified, released.
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For freedom, He set me free, not for change, not for guilt, not
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for Pharisee. Grace lit the flame now puffing
1:12
peace, cigars and victory justified, released.
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Let grace begin for fruit on me, Let me free.
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Not for change, not for guilt, not for Pharisee.
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Grace, let the flame. Now here are your hosts, James
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Seyfried and Brett Martin. Welcome back to the For Freedom
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podcast. We are coming to you today,
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which is the Sunday, Sunday, Thursday before Christmas, man,
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we're we are right around the corner knocking on the door of
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Christmas. And we've got a special episode
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next week for you. It's a re release of our top
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episode of this last year. Brett, we have had an adventure
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these last two weeks. Me myself, I don't know about
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you, but we can share a little bit of that.
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But how are you doing? How is life in your area?
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And how? How are things in Back of the
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Woods, my friend? Man, things are going good.
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We this has been the one of the busiest Christmases that I can
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ever remember going through. We haven't even usually we do
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caroling each year at the church and nobody has even mentioned it
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because we don't have time. We've got so many, so much stuff
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going on. Me and Emily did our Christmas
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shopping last night last minute and so usually we try to get it
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done a little bit earlier, but man, just a busy time of year.
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But man, everything else is going good.
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Things are going good at the church, things are going good at
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home, and things are going good with the podcast, so I'm
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tickled. I will say that I did buy my son
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a car and then depending next day it broke down.
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But bar that, everything's going good.
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That's great. Yeah, we are.
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We've been busy, man. We took 300 backpacks to
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Tennessee, was able to bless 300 children there in Kingsport and
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deliver Christmas to them from our church, which was a blessing
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to do that. And then just this past week,
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Brett, Monday, Tuesday, me, my brother, MY2 boys, we drove up
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to Pittsburgh, PA, and I went to the Monday Night Football game
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on there in Pittsburgh. What a great experience that
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was. I was pleasantly surprised with
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the Pittsburgh fans. In my mind, Brett, I was
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expecting Pittsburgh fans to be like Eagle fans, right?
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They're both in Pennsylvania. I was expecting them to be a
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little bit on the rough side, on the harsh side, not really
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accepting the people. We came in full blown Dolphin
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gear, toboggans, coats, jerseys. People are high fiving me like
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they're loving on us. They're giving us like, hey,
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thankful that you're here. Had one guy, Brett, come up to
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me, grabbed me, put his arm around me and said, I hate that
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you're here because I was all decked out in dolphins.
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He said that I love that you got that little guy with you
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pointing to my four year old son.
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And he said, I love that you're building that tradition.
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You're building that camaraderie with your son.
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You're building these memories. And so like I went to a Falcons
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game that would have never happened in the Falcons game.
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I've went to, I've went to some other places.
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So I was, I was very pleasant with that, went to the stadium
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till the next day, had a great time there.
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And so man, we've been busy. I've been burning up the road
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for the last couple days. I'm excited about just sitting
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down for a little while and being at home and then around
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until we turn around and, and fly off to Israel together.
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And man, I'm pumped about that. That's some exciting news from
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you that Emily's coming. And so you you've foregone me
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being your roommate for some reason, and you're going to
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allow Emily in your room instead of me.
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So yeah. I have upgraded, I've I've
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upgraded the roommate situation there.
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But sorry, James, my wife is coming, but I am glad that we
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didn't know she was going to be able to go.
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But the Lord opened the door there.
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And so now Emily's coming on the trip and we're super excited
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about that. And man, we've just been adding
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people here as it gets close to time.
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It's the 11th hour. People are calling, say, hey, do
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you have room on the trip? I want to go, you know, in the
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last week or so, we've added several people to the trip and
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it's getting bigger and the closer it gets, the more
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excited, you know, we've been looking forward to this trip for
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so long. There's kind of been to not,
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there's a little bit of me that's in denials like are we
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really going because we've been playing it for so long?
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But the closer it gets to it, the more real it becomes.
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And it is. It is right here upon us.
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And man, I just can't wait to go back.
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Yeah, it's, it's going to be great.
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I, I am so pumped about it and I can't wait to do it.
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And man, we are knocking on the door for Christmas.
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And so if you haven't bought any of our Christmas stuff, I mean,
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today, tomorrow is the last in order to get it in time for
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Christmas for our cigar company. And so that the great little
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gift that you can put under the tree to bless your dad, your
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grandpa, your brother, your mom, your dad, your grandma, maybe
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your grandma's a cigar smoker. And she's like, hey, let's do
6:33
this. So, so do that.
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Jump on there. It's a great way to help us out
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if you want to purchase my book or if you'd like one for free.
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Still do have just a couple of copies left.
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Brett, I had a guy reach out to me that knew you who lives down
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in Gulfport and I forgot his name.
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I've got it written down down somewhere that has asked for a
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free book. I told him I'd try to get him up
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with you and you could connect with him for a minute.
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His name is Michael Didon DIDON. Yeah, Michael Didon.
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Yeah. Yeah, so he's he's there, he's
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down in Louisiana. And I told him, I said, man, get
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up with Brett. Maybe he'll have a couple of
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books he can give you 1 so. Me and Michael grew up together.
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We went to our church, had a summer camp right beside his
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home, and so even though they technically didn't go to our
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church every time we had summer camp, since they were just right
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next door, they'd come to summer camp with us.
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So we kind of grew up going to camp together, me and Michael,
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he's a pastor now. And then I was like, I'm so
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proud of Michael. And you know, I know his dad, he
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pastors, his dad pastors the church I went to when I was very
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little. And so I know the family really
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well. I today I had another person
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reach out to me. You know, I used to go to school
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with, I'm not going to say the name because they just said it
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today. And I don't want to, I don't
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want to plaster people business out there.
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But somebody reached out to me say, hey, Brett, can I get a
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book? And I was like, yeah, man, let's
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get a book. And so we got some books coming
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in. We got a shipment, and we've got
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people wanting copies and we're going to give those out.
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Yeah. It's going to be great.
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So yeah, hopefully if you if you want one, we still got a few of
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those still left. I think I'll almost all of mine
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are in, so I'll start shipping those here soon.
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So it's going to be a great time.
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But I'll tell you this, I'll tell you this, it is Christmas
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time. And with Christmas time comes
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some major debates, if you will, some some things that that
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people will discuss, have discussed in antiquity will
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discuss in the future, some debates, some theological
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debates, some debates on the Christmas story.
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Were the wise men there? Were they not, you know, what
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exactly did they really go to Egypt?
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Did they not go to Egypt and things like that.
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And then you have debates on in your home about is do you put a
9:14
star on the tree? Do you put an, an Angel on the
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tree? Well, we are going to talk about
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today, one of the most large, the one of the largest debates
9:23
in recent history about Christmas time.
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And so I'm going to pose this question and we're going to give
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our views. Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
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Yeah, I'm going to Brett. I'm going to, I'm going to be a
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firm big no on this. I know other people are going to
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say it's a yes, it's a Christmas movie.
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I just don't see it. I don't feel it.
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I don't know. I mean, there's there's just no
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way I you give your take and then I'm going to give you the
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internet's version. And their take on the Is Die
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Hard a Christmas movie or not? I'm of course my position is,
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has been and always will be that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
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Now I know that there's a clip on there about Bruce Willis
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saying it's not a Christmas movie.
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That was actually a skit that was written out for him to say
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and not his opinion. I will also say that the Chris
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Christmas is mentioned several, several times throughout the
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movie. Some things in the movie
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couldn't happen unless it was Christmas time.
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Like they're at a Christmas party.
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And the only reason why the whole building is empty and
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everybody that's in the building is on one level is because it's
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a Christmas party. And so if it wasn't Christmas
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time, they wouldn't have been there.
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And somebody else said, well, you could take Christmas out and
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put in any other day, like Saint Patty's day.
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OK, so when is the whole building going to be empty and
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everybody's going to be on the same floor for for Saint Patty's
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party? I'm sorry it doesn't work.
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You, you, you watch the movie. It doesn't happen unless it's
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Christmas time. They've got Christmas music
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throughout, from Joy to the World, The Christmas and Hollis.
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And so I am just a firm believer that this is and has always will
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be, and has been and always will be a Christmas movie.
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Well, the genius of ChatGPT tells us that yes, Christmas Die
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Hard is a Christmas movie. It's a set at Christmas, driven
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by Christmas party, filled with Christmas music and edited with
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reconciliation and goodwill. They said this strip away
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Christmas, the story falls apart.
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It uses the season the same way. It's a Wonderful Life does
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pressure family redemption, just with explosions.
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It's not sentimental, it's seasonal.
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Tradition doesn't require tinsel to be true.
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That's right, Chris, look, Die hard.
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That is a Christmas movie and that's a hill I will die on.
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I'll die hard on. It there we go.
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There you go Brett. What is a what is a Christmas
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tradition? We're not going to be long today
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because I know that this is our last episode of the year.
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Next week we've got our most listened episode that'll be re
12:15
released and then we'll take a break in the month of January
12:19
for several weeks before we start back up.
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What is the Christmas tradition coming up that you just cannot
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live without? I'll tell you when I my the
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reason why I love Charlie Brown and I love Peanuts and Snoopy
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and all that. And I know you can't see it, but
12:35
by underneath my Israel pictures behind me in my office is a
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whole shelf of Snoopy, Charlie Brown related things.
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And part of the reason why I have that is for my grandmother.
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My grandmother. You know what's funny?
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My grandmother was Emily Martin. My sister's name is Emily Martin
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and my wife's name is Emily Martin.
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That's right. So, you know, she gave me a love
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for Snoopy and Charlie Brown. And one of the things that she
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always had on her tree, she had this Christmas, this glass
13:14
Christmas ball, this Charlie Brown Christmas ball that she
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had on her tree. And she put it up every year,
13:22
got a little chip in it. But it's really, really old,
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really, really fragile. And when she passed away, that
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was one of the things that she wanted me to have.
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And she gave it to me and I, I've still got it today.
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And every single year that I have been alive since I was a
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child, I've had that that Christmas ornament on every
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Christmas tree that I've ever had, I always put it out.
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It's always at the top by the star.
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I take the little hook wrap and I wrap it around the tree where
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it won't fall off because if it breaks it's over.
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Now I would did get a cat recently so I couldn't put it on
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the tree but I bought me a little glass case and I still
14:08
display it every single year. That's just something that I
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just refused to give up because it just reminds me of my
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grandmother and that that Christmas ornament will be a
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part of every tree I ever have from now on.
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Yeah, that's great Christmas tradition that we have.
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I I didn't get to go to it for about 15 years 'cause I was in
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college and then we lived in Idaho and there was times where
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I was just away for about 10 or so years, 10 or 12 years.
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But the ever since I can remember and even before that,
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our family on Mom's side always got together Christmas, the day
14:48
after Christmas. And this goes back to my great,
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great grandmother, my great, great grandmother, she the, the
14:55
Hudson side, she got up and she said she had five kids or seven
15:00
kids or something like that. And she said, I want you guys to
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have your family and your family time.
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And I know you're going to do different traditions, but if you
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give me the day after Christmas, I want all of my kids in my
15:13
house the day after Christmas. I don't want to interfere with
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your family. I don't want to interfere with
15:17
your in laws. But if you give me the day after
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Christmas, we will. So they begin meeting the day
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after Christmas like 60 years ago, 70 years ago.
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And that now has become the Hudson Christmas tradition.
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Every year the day after Christmas, we get together huge
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gift exchange food, phenomenal. It's, it's great stuff and we
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all get together and, and Christmas for me just doesn't
15:38
feel like Christmas until we do that.
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We get together, we share the Christmas story.
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They're Catholic or Lutheran actually.
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And so they, they, they read some different stuff.
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We go through some memorials of people that aren't there this
15:51
year that were there last year. We remember them.
15:53
We share stories, we share things that happened that last
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year. We share times that happened
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from 50 years ago about a cat that ran into a tree and the
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tree fell down on Christmas Day. Like we share all those stories
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that we've heard 100 times, but it's just family getting
16:07
together, having a great time. And it just helps me remember
16:12
the meaning of Christmas, right? And so that's one of those
16:15
traditions. Like if I don't go in for those
16:17
10 or 12 years, I didn't go. There was always that like pit
16:20
that I just met. I wish I was there for that.
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Like, I don't care about the gifts.
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I don't care about any of that. I just want to be around family,
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be around people I haven't seen forever.
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We always get a generational picture of all the kids and
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grandkids and grandparents and brothers and sisters and in
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laws. We all get together.
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We take a group photo. I think we're up to like 8070 or
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80 people to get together. Like small church that gets
16:45
together on the day after Christmas.
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So. Well, that's cool.
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Yeah, we got some good. You know, I would like to start
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a Christmas tradition for on this episode in the podcast,
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I'll tell you last year we posted for Christmas a poem that
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we made with me. It was about me, you and JC like
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to do. If it's OK with you.
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I'm thinking about this is I'm to take that poem and I'd like
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to tag it at the end of this episode when we post it.
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Could we do that? Yeah, I'll pull it out.
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Did we? Do we?
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We did audio of that, didn't we? I think so.
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I'll do you one better, Brett. I'm going to take that poem and
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I'm going to turn it into a song and we're going to release it
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next week on Christmas Eve as a song.
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As a song, OK. OK, I love it to it.
17:39
Send it to me. I guess I forget, but next week
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we're going to come out on up on the podcast on this episode,
17:45
Christmas Eve. I'm going to drop another song
17:47
on the podcast episode All. Right sounds.
17:51
Good. Here we go.
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But do you have one of the question before we get off, what
17:56
was it? Oh, all right, give me your go
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to Christmas snack. What is it?
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All right, just one. Give me one and an honorable
18:07
mention. One and we'll go honorable
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mention first at honorable Mission first candy pecans.
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Man, I started making these for Christmas time off the chain.
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They're great. Can't get enough of them #1 go
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to snack, go to item I started making.
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We do Christmas snack boxes for all the families.
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Instead of buying brothers and sisters a whole bunch of stuff,
18:30
we just make a bunch of snacks. The whole family gets together.
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We're going to start it tonight and tomorrow we're going to
18:35
start making snacks and put them in the little tins and give them
18:38
out. And my grandma used to make them
18:42
and then she stopped making them, so we started making them.
18:45
People can't get enough of them. Buckeyes, peanut butter.
18:48
Buckeyes, peanut butter, brown sugar, powdered sugar, all put
18:53
together, dipped in chocolate. It's like a Ricci cup, but it's
18:56
fresh, man. I there's just something about
18:59
it. And that's like my, I see them
19:01
laying there, boom, I'm grabbing them that they're going to be
19:04
great, go to snack. My honorable mention is my
19:08
mother-in-law. She makes, she makes cookies
19:13
every Christmas because she buys a whole bunch of snacks, but she
19:16
makes these red and green M&M cookies that are like some of
19:19
the best cookies known to man. And I can smash a dozen of those
19:24
in one sitting if I'm not careful.
19:26
They are so good. But I'll tell you one thing that
19:29
my mom used to do that it's really, really hard to find
19:32
someone that can do it because you have to do it when the
19:35
weather is just right is Divinity.
19:37
My mom would make some homemade divinity and it was just fluffy
19:42
perfection. She wouldn't always make it
19:45
because if the weather wasn't right and it wasn't going to
19:48
turn out good, she she wasn't going to make it.
19:51
But it's hard pressed to find somebody that that could do
19:54
that. But man, anytime I see some
19:57
divinity around, you know, and you got somebody around a
20:00
Southern kitchen near Christmas time who's going to make it,
20:04
Man, I just can't help myself. I could just eat my weight and
20:07
that stuff. Yeah, dude, that's great.
20:10
That sounds awesome. I'd love to have some of that.
20:12
And man, I can't wait till Christmas comes out.
20:16
Come Christmas comes next week, it's going to be a great time to
20:19
be around family. Like I said before we're we're
20:22
taking a couple of weeks off. We'll put out this episode in
20:25
just a couple. The next week on Christmas of
20:28
the re release of our number one downloaded episode of 2025.
20:32
I think JC or not JC, Nathan preached a message at Brett's
20:36
church for homecoming. We're going to drop it in
20:39
January and then be looking for our new episodes coming out in
20:44
January. We're going to finish up our
20:46
fundamental footprints. We've got one more of Jack
20:49
Treiber. Also just got some information
20:51
from Commonwealth that that is some great stuff that we may
20:56
share as well as a tagline. Thankful for all of our guests
20:59
this past year that came on and shared their story, shared their
21:03
experience. You know, you may not always
21:06
enjoy listening to what other people have to say, but it's
21:09
always a blessing when they get to share what they came out of
21:11
it. Sort of sort of see where where
21:15
other people's fundamental fundamentalism was that.
21:18
And so we're looking forward to that.
21:19
And then Brett, let's go ahead and talk about it.
21:21
We're going to be pausing that fundamental footprints and we're
21:24
going to be jumping into a dissection of I believe we had
21:28
talked about possibly doing the house church manual and
21:32
dissecting the house church manual.
21:34
There's also a couple of things that we've been kicking around
21:36
and we're excited about and so be on the look up for those next
21:40
year. We've got a lot planned, a lot
21:41
of things going on. Brett, any final words or
21:44
thoughts before we jump off here?
21:47
Looks like you said there's a The House church manual and
21:50
there was some other ideas. Couple of cans we've been
21:53
kicking down the road. For a while.
21:55
It's time to pick up the cans, stop kicking them and go through
21:58
them. And we think this is content
22:01
that, you know, our listeners really enjoy, would really like,
22:05
and we look forward to getting into it next year.
22:08
But, you know, just I hope everybody is good and Santa
22:11
Claus comes, you leave out the milk and cookies and you have a
22:15
really, really good Christmas to see with your family.
22:18
Absolutely. Until next time, to God be the
22:21
glory. Great things he has done.
22:24
Found my new name, found that good grace, found that healing.
22:30
And the tears fell down my face when I found my beginning has no
22:36
ending. From that second chance, from my
22:38
best friend, from my forgiveness, from my happiness.
22:39
I've been singing ever since about my.
22:48
Freedom, thanks for listening to the Four Freedom Podcast.
22:59
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