200. Christmas Break Episode

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

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