If you're the only one in your book club who wants to read books that will change your life, you need a new book club.

And we think you found it.

I'm Heather.

And I'm Susan.

And can we be the first to say, welcome to the club.

Welcome back, fellow Bible book clubbers.

It's Buck the editor here with Haley, the producer.

Hello, everyone. We're excited to continue on our journey today through Genesis, but want to let

you know that the Bible Book Club is on the road. So Haley and I are here in Florida, and I've got

Susan and Heather here on a Zoom call, and we're talking about God's Word in different states, different time zones, and the technology is awesome. So we're excited about today. Hey, ladies, how are you doing? Good. Ready to go. We may sound different, but we are here. Great. All right. Well, let's get started. So first, I'm going to give you a little recap. Last episode in Chapter 17, Abraham and his household are circumcised. And that's just a sign of God's covenant with Abraham and then his descendants to come after him. Now, this is a big deal. They are never going to forget it. That as adults, they were circumcised. It will be a constant reminder of what God is going to do through Abraham and Sarah through

this one family, not any other family. And that's why they are called the patriarchs. And Abraham really

believes, maybe even just for the first time, he's believing in God and trusting in what he tells

him to do. And then Abraham also, his character is being developed as just a really tenderhearted person.

And he remembers his first son, Ishmael, who came through Hagar, his slave. Remember, he had sex

with his slave because Sarah was unable to get pregnant. But now she is. And God is going to bless

Ishmael too. And this is Abraham's moment of really just having this

care and concern for his first son that is also going to do great things. I love these next two

chapters. And the reason I love them is because they're very intriguing. There's a lot going on that

we may not have ever read before. If we analyze things, and we're going to do that. And also,

because it is these stranger conversations, they are going to meet strangers and the strangers turn

out to be the Lord and angels. And there's this verse that's always intrigued me. It's in Hebrews

13. It says, keep on loving one another as brothers and

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