Brad McClure

Family Chaos

Brad McClure -

Welcome to the 86th issue of Pulpit to Pew Crew Newsletter, I'm Brad McClure, and we are on a journey through the Bible in 2023.

Hello Friends,

It's DAY 23 in our journey through the Bible, and this week is all about FAMILY CHAOS.

When I ended the Thursday podcast, Abraham sent his servant out to find a wife for Isaac. A much more comfortable scene for Isaac than the chapter before when he is strapped to an alter watching his dad raise a knife to kill him. 😳

In Genesis, years pass by fast. You may move one chapter, but it's been 100 years or more.

It's been four days since our last update on the podcast, but several generations have been born.

  • Isaac and Rebecca give birth to twins Jacob and Esau. Almost immediately, we see the beginnings of chaos. First, brothers bargain with each other over a "birthright," and then parent favoritism and deceptive plans lead to a classic but sad scene over the blessing.
  • Laban gives Jacob his daughter Rachel as a wife after Jacob works for him for seven years. No, wait, he tricked him. Jacob ended up with his other daughter Leah. And he has to work another seven years to have Rachel!
  • Leah and Rachel now both find themselves married to the same man. Leah begins having children, but Rachel isn't. Rachel gets jealous and convinces Jacob to give her a child through her maid!?! In a head-shaking twist and a heart full of envy, Leah decided to give her maid to Jacob. By the end of everything, Jacob ends up with children from all four women. Complete chaos.
  • Jacob's sons and daughter find themselves in a devastating situation. Dinah is raped, and her brothers deceive and murder an entire town of men.

As I said, this week is about FAMILY CHAOS.

I've given a quick overview, but if we were to stop and analyze these stories, we'd find roots similar to what we wrestle with today.

  • Jealousy
  • Envy
  • Deception
  • Greed

Given all of the chaos, one chapter not discussed much today was Jacobs's wrestling match with God.

During that evening, God reveals something we need to mention as we journey through the Bible. Jacob's name got changed to Israel.

And he ended up with 12 sons. As we continue through the Bible, you'll notice they are the 12 tribes of...Israel.

This Week's Thought

You would think God's people (Israel) and the lineage of Christ would be perfect. But you can see this week; these families were chaotic.

Maybe you feel like your life has been chaos. Well, it seems like you're qualified to be used by God.

Humble yourself and make sure you aren't the reason for the chaos.

Have a great week!

Brad

🎥 Here's a sermon I preached Sunday about what I would do if I were Satan to ruin families and churches.

If I was Satan

🎙 NEW SERIES

Here's a new series I'm teaching at our church. You can find it on the podcast.