Latest / Randy Unscripted / Back to Bethlehem - NaPodPoMo 2025 #28

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Back to Bethlehem - NaPodPoMo 2025 #28 · Randy Unscripted

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  Randy Black: Randy Black.
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  Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Black. Black. Black. He's a troublemaker.
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  Welcome back to Randy Unscripted.
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  I'm Randy Black, and this is
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  episode number 28 in our NAPOD
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  Pomo series for 2025.
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  We are in the home stretch. Remember, NAPOD Pomo, national
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  podcast post month. The goal was to post 30 episodes
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  in thirty days.
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  After this one, we have two left.
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  Now Thanksgiving is it's barely behind us, yet the shift into Christmas mode
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  hits the world today like a freight train.
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  You know how it goes. The the Thanksgiving dishes aren't even washed
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  before the flood of advertisements hits.
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  Black Friday,
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  small business Saturday,
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  Cyber Monday,
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  emails, notifications, store hours, countdown timers, all telling us we need to buy something right now.
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  And every year, I'm reminded of how
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  easy it is even for
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  believers
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  in God and in Christ
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  to get swept up in that noise.
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  Today,
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  I wanna take a moment and pull away from all of that and refocus our hearts on something much deeper,
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  much older,
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  and far more meaningful,
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  the birth of Jesus Christ.
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  This isn't going to be a don't buy anything message.
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  It's simply a reminder that Christmas didn't begin in a shopping mall.
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  It began
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  many, many, many years ago
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  in a little town called Bethlehem
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  in a manger.
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  We live in a culture
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  that measures Christmas
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  by spending,
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  how much we buy,
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  how early we shop,
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  how big the gifts are,
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  and how fast things sell out.
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  The world calls this the season of giving, but often
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  the giving is just commercial exchange.
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  The irony is that as the sales get louder,
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  the message of Christmas
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  gets quieter.
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  But scripture
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  gives us a very different picture.
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  Long before stores opened at 4AM or websites
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  tracked their clicks in the carts, and, you know, there was a night where
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  God
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  interrupted history with a kind of gift that
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  no earthly store
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  could ever provide us.
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  Let's look in Galatians chapter four
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  verses four and five where Paul writes,
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  but when the fullness of the time was come,
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  God sent forth his son made of a woman,
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  made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons.
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  Christmas,
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  it didn't appear because a retailer put it on the calendar.
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  It happened
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  because the fullness of God's
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  timing had finally arrived.
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  If you go back to the account in Luke
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  chapter two,
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  God announces Christmas not to kings,
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  not to wealthy,
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  not to the influential,
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  but to the shepherds,
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  people on the fringes,
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  people with no platform,
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  people who worked through the night while everyone else was fast asleep.
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  Luke chapter two verses eight through 11 says, And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,
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  keeping watch over their flock by night.
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  And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them.
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  And the angel said unto them, fear not, for behold,
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  I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
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  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior,
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  which is Christ the Lord.
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  No flashing lights.
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  No countdown.
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  No deals ending at midnight.
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  Just good tidings
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  of great joy
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  for all people.
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  And that joy wasn't rooted in possessions
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  or in decorations
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  or seasonal routines.
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  It was rooted in a person,
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  Jesus Christ,
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  the promised Messiah.
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  If we want to look and talk about the real meaning of Christmas,
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  we need to look to John chapter one verse 14.
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  There it says,
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  and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory
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  as of the only begotten of the father,
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  full of grace
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  and truth.
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  That right there is Christmas.
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  Not the wrapping paper,
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  not the stockings,
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  not the shopping list.
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  God came near.
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  God stepped into humanity.
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  God dwelt with us.
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  You won't find a sale that compares to that miracle anywhere today.
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  Now
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  I understand
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  the world we live in.
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  We buy gifts. We decorate. We participate in holiday traditions,
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  and there's there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
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  I'm not against Christmas shopping.
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  What I'm saying is this,
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  don't let the commercial rhythm
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  become the spiritual meaning.
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  Take time to slow down and remember why we celebrate it all.
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  Reflect on the birth of Jesus in ways that draw your heart closer to him.
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  Read the Christmas account in Luke one and two. Let the word speak to you fresh this season.
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  Pray for opportunities to share the hope of Christ.
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  Someone you know needs more than a gift.
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  They need the gospel.
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  Keep your celebrations centered upon gratitude,
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  not for what's under the tree,
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  but for the one who hung on the cross.
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  And let generosity come from the heart,
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  not the advertisements.
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  Give
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  not because marketing pressured you to,
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  but because God has given so richly to you.
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  At the core of it all,
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  Christmas
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  is a declaration
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  of God's love.
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  First John chapter four verse nine puts it beautifully.
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  In this was manifested the love of God toward us
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  because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him.
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  That's the heart of the season,
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  life
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  eternal
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  and abundant
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  through Jesus Christ.
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  The world tries to make Christmas temporary,
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  one weekend, one big sale, one frantic moment,
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  but God makes Christmas eternal,
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  the coming of the Savior
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  who changes
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  everything.
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  As you move through this weekend, whether you're shopping or resting, decorating, or spending more time with your loved ones,
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  remember this as we move forward.
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  Christmas
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  is not an event driven by consumerism.
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  It is a celebration
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  driven
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  by God's love.
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  Let the birth of Jesus anchor you.
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  Let his peace quiet the noise around you,
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  and let his presence
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  shape your joy
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  because the world can market products,
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  but only Christ
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  can bring salvation.
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  Thank you for joining me on another episode of Randy unscripted.
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  This is part of our napod promo series
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  for 2025.
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  May your hearts
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  stay centered on Jesus
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  as we move forward
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  toward the Christmas season.
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  And I'll see you here on the next episode
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  of Randy Unscripted.
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  I'm Randy Black.