Everybody, what is going on? You know what time it is. You're listening to join the Journey podcast with your host, Emma, daughter.

Thanks for joining. Today, we're reading Genesis 5 through Genesis 6-8, and I want to answer one simple question.

Why are genealogies, the long lists of crazy names in the Bible? But before we dive in,

I've got a couple reminders for you. It's not too late to grab a Join the Journey journal for this

year. We'll put the Amazon link in the description, as journaling can be a great way to help

avoid distractions while doing your Bible study. And secondly, it's Friday, which means today the first episode of Join the Journey

Jr. is releasing or has released. We'll put that link in the episode description as well.

It would really help out all the families listening if you'd leave a review for Join the Journey

Jr. Whenever you launch a podcast,

it can be really challenging for your first few hundred listeners to find it. Leaving a review

will help families be able to more easily search for Journey Jr. All that said, we'll put the

link to the adults' journal and the link to the junior podcast in this episode's description.

So let's dive right in.

Beginning in Genesis 5, why are genealogies in the Bible?

To put my cards on the table, I'm just going to put it out there that I am a nerd.

Back when I worked in college ministry, right out of college, right after graduating college myself,

I became incredibly interested with the Old Testament. And more specifically, the Lord began to develop

a deep passion in my heart to teach college students who'd grown up in the church their entire lives

how to study the Bible and how to understand that all of the books fit together to form one big story.

And as I prepared to teach and coach college students, I became really interested in genealogies.

And the obstacle for many of us is that we begin to read the Old Testament,

and we come across passages like today's's where we see long lists of crazy names

...