81. A Christmas Update

I do not mean to be mean. I do mean to be mad. Those that criticize this kind of preaching, they don't like authority! If you ain't got the King James, you ain't got... Hey, if you don't have a King James, you don't have a Bible. And it'd be surprised. Son, don't go to sleep while I'm talking. Hey, hey, hey, don't you lay your head back. I'm important. I'm somebody. I love you. You know I love you. Have I convinced you I love you? You better nod your head yes, are you? Come on, put it right there. Stay awake and you listen to me. I still believe if you have cold day and healthy, I get my balance with a woman. I'm a preacher. When you got dressed today, you dressed deity. This is the For Freedom Podcast. A podcast that is part of the RFP network that seeks to bring freedom in Christ from the spiritual abuse of legalism. Now here are your hosts, John Holyfield and James Saifert. And so fundamentalism is designed to unpack the idea of authority from Scripture. The problem with that is that that's not the defining principle in Scripture. It is a part of Scripture. But the defining principle in Scripture is love. And now I'm not saying that all men who sit under that teaching will become abusive. But what I'm saying is the ones who are abusive will be drawn to that sort of teaching. I don't want to give people just a list of things they can start doing differently until they have a heart out of which they're going to be doing those things differently. But I think bitterness is different from hurt. I would say that hurt or even abuse does not have to result in bitterness. I don't know what it is now. And a baby in the background. Well. That's how we know we're in a good spot. Merry Christmas from For Freedom Podcast. And a happy new year to you, Jonathan. Merry Christmas, you filthy animal. That's right. Man, we watched those. We finished watching those the other night. All the home alones. That's the two. We got to watch those every year. Did you watch the newest one yet? No. Come on, John. It ain't got Joe Pesci. If it ain't got Joe Pesci and it ain't got Daniel Stern, it's not worth watching. And Donald Trump, too. He's in the second one. Let me ask you this. Did you watch the new Christmas Story Christmas? I've never seen the original. John, you're fired. I got fired. This is horrible here. John, the newest one. The original just looked like torture to watch, so I've never seen it. I've had to watch the original one since I was a child because I was Ralph and my younger brother was his brother. I can't remember his name. And so the newest one came out, and me and my wife decided to sit down and watch it. And I'm not going to lie, John, I was pleasantly surprised. They did a really good job. They made some good key moments that pulled back into the old one, back into the new one. And I thought it was really good. I thought it was really well written and produced. And, yeah, it was pretty good. Huh. I was wondering if people were going to think it's trash or if it was going to be another, if it would be a worthy holiday classic. Yeah, it was. I thought they did a really good job of making good motions to the original. And they kept a lot of the same actors that were grown up now as adults with kids and reliving that Christmas time through their kids. You know, it's one good thing about being a parent is we get to relive those childhood memories through our children. And it's a great, great thing that God has laid out for us as parents. So it's pretty cool. Yeah. John, have you decorated your house for Christmas and you got your Christmas lights all hung and Christmas tree up? Well, we got the Christmas decorations out, but we didn't have anything outside. Yeah. I'm not big on decorating the outside of the house. Everybody else is. But I'm like, ah, humbug. I don't want to do it. And I found out that the lights that we have for outside just didn't work. So with the time schedule and just not really wanting to go buy new lights, we didn't really do anything on the outside. Yeah, well, this is our second year in our house and I have tried holding off on decorating the outside. You know, for the couple of years we lived in the parsonage, I didn't have to decorate because it's the parsonage, just not our house. And so then last year we moved into the new house. But this year I was like, you're decorating outside. Like buy the stuff and get your tail outside and decorate. So I hung up lights. We put garland around the everything. We've got our little inflatables out there. We're just going to add to it every year. We're not trying to go super huge this first year. But so we look like we're actually festive and we like Christmas at our house now. So it's been good. Nice. Not quite Griswold yet, but we're getting there. We're getting there. Yeah. Come on. One day I'll be a Clark and we'll have the best Christmas lights in town. Love it. Yeah. So, John, what's the deal? We finished up our 2022. This will be the last episode of 2022. We had a great little Spotify does their Spotify year and year and review. And we saw some great episodes. We recorded some good things. You know, one episode had almost 900 listens, which was pretty awesome with Nate Brooks and with. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And we saw some some good things there. I appreciate our listeners listening. We wouldn't do this if we didn't have listeners. But but, you know, we're December. This will be the last episode before the Christmas season, before the Advent happens. And then we'll be coming back in 2023. What's what's our looking like? What's our view coming up in 2023, John? Yes. So when we were at the RFP for the sake of the gospel conference, we talked about this. We've not talked about this on the podcast, but we were talking about we were thinking about doing a little bit of a rebrand. Or I don't know how you would what you would say, like what you would call it. But we're thinking about reassessing, readjusting just a bit. And I think we've decided we're going to keep the name for Freedom Podcast. Yeah, we're going to we're going to adjust the focus a little bit. And we are going to be dealing with life issues. And you might say that we've already been sort of doing that. We have. I'd say the last two episodes were really sort of soft introductions into that area where we talked about. I think we interviewed Jim Michael Kruger on his book, Bully Pulpit. We had Jim Quigley from the Addiction Connection and Freedom Farm Ministries. And so we're sort of getting into those types of things. And we're hopefully looking forward in 2023. We're thinking about doing a we'll have a new intro. And we are going to sort of have a new focus and really just sort of have some get some new life in it. I think I was getting a little bit burnout with a lot of things and this being one of them. And so James and I were able to talk about it when we went to the conference and sort of got rejuvenated by it. And so looking forward, like we're going to press a little bit of a reset button on 2020 when we get to 2023. And so we'll have like you won't you won't. We were not exactly sure when the next episode will come out. We know it'll be in the next in the new year. Yeah, we don't know for maybe February, a little after February sometime. Yeah, but once it drops, we're going to be we're going to be consistent. Yeah, like every week almost. So so that's what we're we're looking forward to. So we're still going to be the for freedom podcast, but really want to get into areas and interview people that can help with the Bible, bringing the Bible to everyday living and everyday life and in covering subjects like that and everything that we've done so far. So we we've done 80 episodes. So Jim Quigley's episode was 80th episode. We've been doing it for two years. Yeah. We started June 2020. June will be two. Yeah. Two and a half years. Yeah. So two and a half years. The podcast is gone. 80 episodes. It's it's had some ebb and flow with what we've been doing. And James and I have matured. Yeah. As we've gone along. We are not the same two people whenever the podcast started and whenever James came on. Yeah. We have different focuses. We have different different things we're passionate about. Yeah. And John, your your role as as you were a youth pastor when you started this as an associate pastor and now you're a senior pastor. And there's some things changing in that area of your life. We've all had. I think we've James, you've had a kid. I think you had a kid since we started as well. Didn't you? No. No. Maggie was born in February of 2020. So Maggie was a baby. I built a house. We moved into a house. We've we've been doing a lot of different ministry stuff. And, you know, so there's there's things change in life. And part of that change is us trying to figure out what the next role for this podcast is and and how we can complement the RFP network. We want to be an asset to the network. And part of that, I think, is just giving a good view of counseling. John received his certification through counseling to the ACBC this last year. I'm still in the process of that and getting my counseling certification. So there's a lot of up and downs and changes that we've went through in our lives. And so we want to we want to be consistent in that area as well in the podcast. And with some of those changes, you know, I'll be going to Israel, John, in the end of January. And so one of those episodes when we come back will just be a recap of Israel and what happened there and the events that we got to see. So so that's part of this whole process and how we can better serve you as a podcast. Yeah. Yeah. And I and I'm glad you brought up the thing about the RFP network, because we're we are we are definitely staying within the RFP network. And we we had some good times and talks with the guys while they're out there. And they're wanting to be more gospel focused going forward as well. And so this is actually and they're on board with what we're doing. And and so this is a move that is that is actually in line with with what they're they're doing. And you think about those guys going through some life changes as well. You know, J.C. starting a church in Chattanooga. Nathan starting a church in Asheville. Yeah. And so there's a there's a lot going on. Life is not slowing down. And we recognize that this is something that has been beneficial to others. And as an opportunity to bring biblical truth to to those and they can take it. And then if we can recommend a resource or if we can point you to a scripture that can be helpful and and help in your daily life and sanctification, then we we want to we want to be able to do that. And so that's that's probably one of our main goals and that kind of thing. So, you know, we we look back at I don't know, I haven't I've never really done seasons. Yeah. You know, some some shows do like season one, season two. But I've been going through and looking at it at, you know, each time we take a break and we come back, that's like a new season of the podcast. And I think in this last season, we have talked about biblical counseling. We've talked about being addicted to social media, being addicted to your phone. We finished our Galatians series. We interviewed some other RFP podcasts that are in the RFP network. We talked about hope and help in the marriage with Sean Perron, interviewed Sean Perron. We interviewed Michael Kruger on his new book, Bully Pulpit. And we've interviewed Jim Quigley about addictions and Freedom Farm Ministries. And so those are just a little bit of a taste of where we're going to be going in the future. Yeah. And if you have a topic that you're struggling with or you need help with or you'd like for us to address, we want you to reach out to us. Reach out through a private message to me or John. Shoot us an email. We have a website. You can go to our website and find our emails there. And, you know, we'll definitely work that in. A couple of the things that we're looking at doing through depression, anxiety, some things like that. We want to deal with those issues and help you in those specific areas of life. We know life is tough. We know life is hard. We've talked to several people at our meetups with family dynamics and how to deal. John, that was probably the two or three things. Questions were brought up. How do I deal with family members who are still struggling with a form of legalism? How do I deal with that? And so we want to help. We want to give those biblical help in those a lot of areas. And so if you have a specific issue you want us to talk about, let us know. And we'd love to address it in the future. Yep. James, you looking forward to Christmas? I'm looking forward to Christmas, John. Hey, my birthday is today of the recording when this comes out. And my wife gave me an early Christmas gift yesterday. I am a... John looked at me weird just now. She gave me... A package came in and she said, Will you please open this a day or two days early? And I said, I'm a firm believer, John. Birthdays are meant to be celebrated on your birthday. Not the day before. Not the day after. Not the week after. You celebrate your birthday on your birthday and you move on. And so I said, No. I said, My birthday is coming up in two days. I'll wait two days. And she just begged me, begged me, begged me. So finally, All the kids, They knew what it was. And so they begged me to open it. So I opened a present early. And most of you know, Some of you may know, I'm a huge Miami Dolphins fan. And so she bought me an orange and teal Miami Dolphin backpack to replace the backpack that I've got. And so I'm pretty excited about that. Pretty stoked. Thankful that she got that. So Israel's going to get a taste of the Miami Dolphins. That's going to be my traveling bag. And then I think she's got some other things planned for tomorrow for us. And I think we may be going out as a family or something. But it's going to be a great time. And just excited about, You know, Another new year, Another year older, 34 years old. And seeing what the Lord's got for us in the year of the Lord 2023. So I'm excited about the new year as well. So. Come on. Happy birthday. Merry Christmas. Yeah. Hey, We're good. We're there. John, What about you? Are you excited about Christmas? Spending time with family? Yeah. And been excited about getting stuff for the kids and that kind of thing. So. Yep. Excited about the holiday coming up and just finishing up some things at the church and gearing up for the new year and some new things we've got planned for the for our ministry this year. So. Well, We're going to we're going to close it down. Just a short one today. And just an announcement. Basically announcement episode. Yeah. But remember for freedom. Christ has set us free. Stand firm, Therefore, And do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Amen. Amen. It's a good word, John. And until next time, To God, Not the pastor, Be the glory. Thanks for listening to the For Freedom podcast. To find more content like this, Please visit RFPNetwork.org. To find more podcasts like this one, Resources and Meetups to encourage you on your journey. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.

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