The Rest of the Story

Summary

Podcast Summary: Christmas: The Rest of the Story with Rick Renner

Episode Title: The Rest of the Story
Host: Rick Renner (with Joel)
Podcast Network: Destiny Image Podcast Network
Date: November 3, 2022
Episode Length: ~17 minutes

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Episode Overview

In this engaging and deeply insightful episode, Rick Renner, accompanied by his son Joel, explores the profound biblical truths and historical context underlying the Christmas story. Broadcasting from Moscow, Rick shares how family traditions and personal memories intertwine with the gospel narrative, ultimately guiding listeners into a richer, more meaningful understanding of Jesus’ incarnation as described in the book of John. The episode features both heartwarming anecdotes and careful scriptural analysis, aimed at deepening appreciation for the true meaning of Christmas.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Personal Christmas Traditions and Memories

[00:00-06:16]

• Rick shares childhood memories of selecting a Christmas tree with his family, the significance of having a real tree, and the tradition of visiting six living grandmothers on Christmas Day.
• Quote:
  "That picking the tree was such a big part of our Christmas experience... my parents taught me that we were to honor our elders. That is such a memory for me." — Rick Renner [03:35]
• Joel contrasts his own childhood spent abroad, noting that without extended family, their immediate family became closer and developed their own traditions.
  • Quote:
    "We gained a different experience, but I think that being separate from the rest of our family, it made us create our own separate family traditions." — Joel [05:16]

2. Transition to Scriptural Reflection: The Mystery of Jesus’ Incarnation

[06:16-15:46]

a. The Prologue of John: The Word Was God

[06:16-08:32]

• Rick dives into John 1:1-3, investigating the Greek text to uncover nuances.
  • Quote:
    “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. The Greek says prosthanteon...The Word was face to face with God…such a precious intimacy between the members of the Godhead.” — Rick Renner [06:30]
  • Emphasis on Jesus’ divine nature, not just as a representative or component of God, but as fully God Himself.
• Jesus as Creator: All things came into existence through Him.

b. Jesus: The Light in Darkness

[08:32-10:15]

• The “light shined in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:5).
  • Greek word katalambano: to seize or overpower.
• Insight: No darkness can overcome or master the light of Christ.
  • Quote:
    “It doesn’t matter how much darkness seems to be around you. It does not have the power to tackle you, conquer you, master you, or take you down. The light always comes shining through.” — Rick Renner [09:55]

c. The Mystery: Creation Recognized the Creator, People Did Not

[10:15-12:47]

• When Jesus entered creation, nature obeyed Him, but people did not recognize Him due to His humble appearance.
  • Quote:
    “When Jesus spoke to the wind, the wind recognized the voice of the Creator... but people did not recognize Him because He was so disguised.” — Rick Renner [10:52]
• Free will: God gave people the choice to recognize or reject Him.
  • Joel observes that "those who were paying attention noticed Him, but the masses, of course, did not." [11:19]
• Illustration from Greek: the king who dresses as a commoner and is unrecognized among his people (schema).

d. The Gift of Becoming Children of God

[12:47-15:46]

• John 1:12-14: Those who receive Jesus are given the right (Greek: exousia, delegated authority and influence) to become children (Greek: technon, dependents) of God.
  • Quote:
    "The offer of salvation was given. But there has to be a recipient who will take it... you'll receive the authority... to become a son of God." — Rick Renner [13:15]
• Salvation is entering union with Christ ("believe into His name"—Greek: eis), being born of God, not of man.
• Incarnation explained: The Word “tabernacled” (pitched a tent) among humanity — Jesus’ body was the tent God used to live among people.
  • Quote:
    "God pitched a tent. God took on human flesh and He tabernacled Himself among us." — Rick Renner [15:30]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On family and faith:
  "I can say that our kids really never lost anything by living overseas. I think they gained everything... It made us create our own separate family traditions." — Rick Renner & Joel [05:10–05:16]
• On the power of Christ's light:
  "It does not have the power to tackle you, conquer you, master you, or take you down. The light always comes shining through. That is the promise of God. Can you say Amen to that?" — Rick Renner [09:55]
• On the Incarnation:
  "He removed all his visible outward attributes of God and assumed the fashion of a man... They did not even recognize him." — Rick Renner [11:29]
• On salvation:
  "If you'll take the offer of salvation, you'll receive salvation. And with salvation you receive the authority... to become a son of God." — Rick Renner [13:15]
• On union with Christ:
  "When you release your faith, you enter into union with Jesus Christ." — Rick Renner [14:23]
• Closing exclamation:
  "Praise the name of Jesus." — Joel [15:46]

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Important Timestamps

• [00:00-04:30] — Rick’s personal Christmas memories and family traditions
• [04:30-06:16] — Joel describes growing up overseas; reflections on forming new traditions
• [06:16-08:32] — Introduction to John 1; theological discussion on the Word’s divinity and intimacy with the Father
• [08:32-10:15] — The meaning of “light shines in the darkness”; real-world application
• [10:15-12:47] — Creation recognizing Jesus; people’s failure to see the divine
• [12:47-15:46] — The mechanics of receiving Christ; Greek word studies on salvation, authority, sonship, and the incarnation’s “tent” imagery

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Summary Tone

Rick’s teaching style is warm, approachable, and deeply reverent. With a blend of nostalgia, practical insights, and faithful exegesis, he connects the ancient gospel story to both personal history and present-day life. Joel provides supportive commentary and lived experience as a missionary child, affirming the uniqueness and power of family traditions forged far from extended relatives.

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Final Blessing & Takeaway

• Rick closes with a prayer for listeners to experience their best Christmas season yet, filled with strength, patience, and joy centered on the birth of Jesus.
  • Quote:
    "Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray this will be the best Christmas season that our friend has ever had." — Rick Renner [16:26]
• Encouragement to let God's Word work in listeners’ lives (“Ecclesiastes 8:4”).

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This episode will leave listeners with a renewed awe for the incarnation, a sense of belonging in God’s family, and practical encouragement to let the light of Christ shine—no matter the surrounding darkness.

Transcript

[Rick Renner]

My name is Rick Renner and today I'm seated in front of our Christmas tree in our studio in Moscow, Russia. This really is Moscow. Can you imagine? We're broadcasting the Word of God from Russia to you. There was a time when we were taking the Word of God to Russia. But now the word of God is coming from the Russian capital directly into your home. And I want to say thank you for turning on your device and and letting me come right into your space. I've been dealing with you for days about the Christmas story. Actually, I call it Christmas the rest of the Story. If you just read the Gospels as they are, they are marvelous. How I love to read the Christmas story. But when you really dig deep into the text and look at the Greek words and when you look at all the corresponding historical facts we know in connection with the Christmas story, it is just amazing what. What all is in the Christmas story. I remember growing up as a young boy sitting around the tree, especially when I was young, when my daddy would read to me from the Gospel of Matthew about the magi coming to the birth of Jesus, I could just imagine them coming in. Well, my imagination did not match what I really found when I studied. There was so much more to that than I ever imagined because no one ever really opened it up for me as I've been trying to open it up for you. And I pray that it's been a blessing to you. If this series has been a blessing, would you please let me know? Contact me, send me an email. Call us. I would love to hear what these programs have meant to you. But today we're going to continue looking at Christmas the Rest of the Story. And in tomorrow's program, we're going to see about Simeon and Anna, two people who were in the temple waiting for the coming of the Lord. And what we need to do now to prepare for the next coming of Jesus. It's going to be powerful. So stay with me today and be sure to come back tomorrow. I'll see you in just a minute. Today, as I told you in the introduction, we're going to talk about the rest of the story. But you know, I was remembering Joel when I was a little boy. I loved Christmas. And do you know, it was one of my favorite Christmas memories. No going to the lot to choose the Christmas tree for our house. And I can remember going there with my mother and my daddy and my two sisters. We'd crawl out of the car and we'd walk among all the trees and we would try to choose which was the best tree for our family and the tree that we could afford. Because trees were kind of expensive. Then we'd tie it to the top of the car, and we'd drive it home and set it up and. And I remember when a friend of ours got an aluminum tree. We were so offended. I thought, how could you have an aluminum tree? You have to have a real tree at Christmas. I even wondered if anybody had an aluminum tree was really saved. We just thought you had to have a real tree. And then my grandmother got an artificial tree, and I knew she was saved. Wasn't long till my parents had an artificial tree. That picking the tree was such a big part of our Christmas experience. And on Christmas Day, we would open the gifts at our house. After my dad read the Christmas story, then we would gather around the tree and we would open the gifts. And then we would start geriatric ministry. You say? What do you mean by that? Well, I had six living grandmothers. How many grandmothers did you have when you were growing up? I had Grandmother Renner, I had Grandma Edie, had Grandma Bagley, Grandma Faulkner, Grandma Joe, Grandma Cora. I had six living grandmothers. And on Christmas, we went to see four of them. Four of them every single Christmas. So first we go to Grandma Renner's house, and Grandma Renner would make a big spread. And we would have lunch together after we opened the gifts at her house. And then we try to wrap that up pretty quick so we could begin geriatric ministry. And I remember as a little boy feeling like all we do on Christmas Day is go see old people the whole afternoon. We would go from one old people to another group of old people to another group of old people. But that's what we did because my parents taught me that we were to honor our elders. That is such a memory for me.

[Joel]

Well, this explains a lot to me, because when I was growing up, we didn't have any grandmas to go to. No grandparents. Well, you had them, of course, but we lived overseas. We didn't live in America. We lived in Latvia, and now we live in Moscow. But that explains to me why we spent so much time reading the Bible and going over the Christmas story. Because we didn't have anybody to go visit, actually.

[Rick Renner]

We didn't have a family tradition with our relatives at all because they were in America and we were here.

[Joel]

We were totally separated.

[Rick Renner]

We never saw family on Christmas. It was just us. But you know what? It. It never hurt us, did it, Joel?

[Joel]

Of course not.

[Rick Renner]

It really caused our family to be very Tight. I can say that our kids really never lost anything by living overseas. I think they gained everything. What do you think?

[Joel]

Of course, we gained a different experience, but I think that being separate from the rest of our family, it made us create our own separate family traditions. And that was very enjoyable.

[Rick Renner]

And today, now the boys are all married and they have kids. And we've continued the same tradition. Every single Christmas. We all meet here and we sit around the Christmas tree and we read the Christmas story before we open a single gift. And one thing my dad taught me was to be really organized. I remember when I was a kid, my dad had everything so organized that when every gift was unwrapped, the wrapping and the trash was all in the trash can before we even opened the gift. And in our house today, there's not a shred of wrapping paper anywhere. It's all in perfect order. It's just a fun day, isn't it?

[Joel]

It's a very fun day.

[Rick Renner]

And then we eat together. We eat together, we have a good time. But the rest of Russia is not celebrating Christmas when we celebrate Christmas. Because Christmas in Russia is on January 7th.

[Joel]

That's right.

[Rick Renner]

But hey, we got to jump into the Bible. Okay, let's go to the Scripture. Today we're going to go to the Gospel of John. So do you have your Bible?

[Joel]

Right here.

[Rick Renner]

Let's open our Bibles to John, chapter one. And in John chapter one, John begins talking about the mystery of Jesus. And he says, in John 1:1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. These verses are just amazing. In John 1:1, he says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. The Greek says prosthanteon. It's very, very important. It says, the Word was face to face with God. It describes the unity in the Godhead before Jesus. Manifestation as a baby Jesus and the Father were. They were face to face with each other. It describes intimacy so intimate they could nearly feel each other's breath breathing upon each other's face. It's a picture of such a precious intimacy that between the members of the Godhead. In the beginning was the Word and the Word. You could really translate. It was face to face with God, and the Word was God. Which means Jesus is not a component of God. Jesus is not a symbol of God. This verse says the Word was God. The Greek is very emphatic. Jesus is really God. Jesus is God. My friends, every time we call Jesus Lord, we're talking about God. Then in verse two, it says the same was in the beginning with God. Verse 3. And all things were made by Him. The Greek word is eginito. It really means all things came into being by him. And here we find Jesus is the Creator. The apostle Paul also wrote this. In Colossians 1. He said, all things came into being by Jesus. He made all things. He was before all things, and by him were all things made. And now in John 1:3, we find Jesus Creator. All things, the Greek says, came into existence by Him. And without him was not anything made that was made. Isn't that amazing?

[Joel]

It is truly amazing.

[Rick Renner]

Then in verse 4, in him was life, and the life was the light of men. Look at verse five. And the light shined in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. When Jesus came into the world, the world was filled with darkness, spiritual darkness. But the light shined in that darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. What in the world does that mean? Comprehended in Greek is the word katalambano. The word katalambano means to grab hold of, to seize, to wrestle, to pull down, to master, to finally make your very own. It is the picture of pouncing, seizing or latching hold of a thing with all of one's might. It could depict a runner who ran with all of his energy to obtain, seize, tackle, conquer, comprehend, overtake or master a prize. But within the Context of John 1:5, an RIV of this verse would be the light shined in darkness, and the darkness did not have the power to tackle it, conquer it, master it, or take it down. And friend, I want to say the same thing to you. Jesus Christ is in you through the person of the Holy Spirit. And through you the light is shining in darkness. It may be darkness in your family. It may be darkness in this season of the year, as you're with unbelievers or people who don't share your same convictions, it doesn't matter how much darkness seems to be around you. It does not have the power to tackle you, conquer you, master you, or take you down. The light always comes shining through. That is the promise of God. Can you say Amen to that?

[Joel]

That's the truth. And I really like John, chapter 1, verse 12.

[Rick Renner]

But as many as, oh, wait, we're not there yet. We're going to get there in just a minute. Look at verse nine. That was the true light. Talking about Jesus, which lighteth every man that Cometh into the world. Verse 10. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him. Now, Joel, look at this. He was in the world, the world was made by him. So the Creator came into the earth When Jesus was born, and the world

[Joel]

knew him not, the Creator came to his creation, and the people didn't know him.

[Rick Renner]

Creation knew him, yes, but the people didn't know him.

[Joel]

It's amazing.

[Rick Renner]

When Jesus spoke to the wind, the wind recognized the voice of the Creator. When Jesus spoke to the waves, creation recognized the voice of the Creator. When Jesus Moses multiplied the elements, the bread, when Jesus multiplied the fish or walked through a wall, creation recognized the voice of the Creator, but people did not recognize him because he was so disguised. He took on the form of a servant, as we saw in the last program.

[Joel]

But it really speaks about how God gave people free will. Those who were paying attention noticed him, but the masses, of course, did not.

[Rick Renner]

Well, verse 11 continues to say, he came unto his own, and his own received him not. You know, we saw in the previous program, the Bible says that Jesus assumed the fashion of a man. That word, fashion, the Greek word schema, describes a king who looked out the window of his palace, looked down at his people, and so wanted to be with his people, but could not because he was the king. They would see him, his crown, his clothing. So he decided to change his fashion, the Greek word schema. And the story says that the king took on the clothing of a commoner, slipped out the door of his palace, walked among his people, and the people didn't even know who he was. The king was literally walking among them, and they did not recognize him. That's what happened to Jesus. Jesus removed his splendor. He removed all his visible outward attributes of God and assumed the fashion of a man and looked so much like a man that the verse says, he came unto his own, and his own received him not. They didn't even recognize him. But listen to verse 12. Listen to verse 12. But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Wow.

[Joel]

Wow.

[Rick Renner]

That word receive is the Greek word lambano, which in this case means to take hold of, to make one's own, or to accept and take what is being offered, which means the offer of salvation was given. But there has to be a recipient who will take it. Jesus offers salvation to the entire world. That it has to be received, it has to be taken. And in this verse, it says as many as received him to as many as received the offer and took the offer to them, gave he power. The word power is the Greek word exousia, which describes delegated authority, a delegated right. And it often denotes those who have influence, which means if you'll take the offer of salvation, you'll receive salvation. And with salvation you receive the authority. You receive the delegated right from heaven to become a son of God. And because this word exousia can also carry the idea of influence, it means you will have influence as a son or daughter of God. It says he gave them power to become the sons of God. The word son is even important. The Greek word technon. It describes a child or, or anyone living in full dependence upon his parent. It emphasizes a childlike attitude of the heart that willingly submits to a parent. True, genuine children. You will become a real child of God, dependent upon your heavenly Father if you will receive the offer which God presents to us. And then it says to become the sons of God. Even to them that believe on his. The word on is even important, Joel. In Greek it is the word eis. The word eis really means into. If you're going to translate this literally, it would mean even to those who believe into his name. It carries the idea of union. When you release your faith, you enter into union with Jesus Christ. Then in John 1:13, it says, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. We're talking about being supernaturally born of God, and that's what salvation is. Then in verse 14, John tells us about Jesus birth and Jesus life on earth. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. But the word dwelt is the Greek word for a tent or a tabernacle. It literally means to pitch a tent or to live in a tent. Jesus physical body was just the tent that he lived in during his life. God pitched a tent. God took on human flesh and he tabernacled himself among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth.

[Joel]

Praise the name of Jesus.

[Rick Renner]

Isn't that amazing?

[Joel]

Amazing. Just amazing.

[Rick Renner]

I've so enjoyed being with you today. We're out of time, but Joel and I will be back in just a moment and we're going to pray for you.

[Narrator/Announcer]

In Rick Renner's timeless new book, the Rest of the Story, Rick uncovers the stunning details of the Nativity story you have never heard through its detailed watercolor illustration. The Rest of the Story invites families to explore the true meaning of Christmas as they interact with the story across nearly 300 decorated pages. Order the book Today Christmas the Rest of the story for just $44.99. Pick it up in stores wherever books are sold. Don't miss this special Christmas offer

[Rick Renner]

and Joel and I want to pray for you. Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray this will be the best Christmas season that our friend has ever had. We pray for strength. We pray for patience. We pray for everything that they need to deal with, every person and every situation that they're going to confront and that they will enjoy themselves this year around the birth of Jesus. In Jesus name, Amen. Thank you for being with us today. And remember Ecclesiastes 8, 4, where the word of a king is there is power. Let God's Word work in your life today and I'll see you in the next program.