Jacob seems to be anything but a model disciple. He’s a trickster, liar, and a selfishly ambitious man who fathers children with four women and leads a dysfunctional family life with jealousy and backstabbing. But Jacob is also Israel, the namesake of the Old Testament community of God, chosen and blessed. As such the sinner-saint who limps along with the Lord burdened by weakness and beset by problems, is the mirror image of all of us who follow Jesus. In His life, we see our lives, our struggles, our failures, and most especially, the God who loves us and chooses us as His own. As we explore his bio, from his wrangling in the tomb with Esau, to his death as an old man in Egypt, we’ll learn more about ourselves, and the God who is with us, and for us, in Jesus, the Messiah. My guest today is Chad Bird, author of Limping with God: Jacob & the Old Testament Guide to Messy Discipleship. Chad is a scholar in residence at 1517. Besides being a popular author, he speaks at conferences and congregations, and co-hosts the podcast 40 Minutes in the Old Testament. Chad and his wife Stacie live in Texas, where they’re blessed with 4 children and 3 grandchildren.
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