THE STORY OF GOD'S FAMILY
Podcast based on The House Was Full
Central Thesis
The Bible is not simply a collection of 66 books containing unrelated stories about different people. It is one great story revealing who God is, what He wants from humanity, what went wrong with His creation, what He did to redeem it, and where He intends to take His children in the end. It truly is 'one story', and as such, the greatest story ever told.
One of the clearest threads connecting that entire story is family.
God creates.
Humanity rebels.
God pursues.
God promises.
God enters.
God redeems.
God adopts.
God restores.
The Bible begins with God and His human family together in creation. It ends with God and His redeemed family together in a restored creation. Everything between tells us how He brings His family home.

1. OPEN WITH THE QUESTION THAT STARTED THE BOOK
Suggested Opening
I didn't begin writing The House Was Full because I wanted to write another Christmas book.
In fact, I've come to believe the book has very little to do with Christmas as a holiday.
It has everything to do with a much larger question:
Who is God... and what does He actually want from us?
For much of my life, I carried another question:
Who am I?
My grandfather had been adopted into the Sullivan family, and that eventually led me into genealogy. I became fascinated with names, generations, family lines, and where I came from.
But somewhere in that search I discovered something much more important than my earthly genealogy.
My deepest identity wasn't found in a surname.
It wasn't found in DNA.
It wasn't found in an ancestral record.
My deepest identity was found in relationship with God.
I am His child.
And once I began looking at the Bible through that lens, I started seeing something I could no longer unsee.
Family is everywhere in the Bible. It is the theme that ties all the stories together in a clear and comprehensive understanding of God's plan for mankind.
Hook Line
"I went looking for my family tree and eventually discovered that the most important genealogy was the one that told me whose child I am."
Transition
That realization caused me to ask a question I had never seriously asked before:
What happens if you read the entire Bible looking for family?
Not merely marriages.
Not merely children.
Not merely genealogies.
But:
Father.
Son.
Children.
Brothers.
Sisters.
Bride.
Household.