The way God chose to bless the world through Abram is a picture of how God blesses the world today through Christ. God said that all who related rightly to Abram, He would bless. And now God says the same thing, except dealing with a greater person - Jesus Christ - and dealing with a greater blessing - eternal life. 

This is the beginning of the storyline of God's people in the Bible. And it's beginning to answer the question: How do we become God's people again?

Besides having a great name, Utnapishtim was the one man who survived the great flood according to the Babylonian flood myth. But what does that have to do with the Bible's account of Noah and the flood? If we compare the differences between the Bible's flood story and the other cultures' flood stories, then we will learn a lot about God and how he is different than any other God. And we will also learn the truth about us as humans. 

The story of Cain and Abel is incredibly similar to the story of Adam and Eve sinning in the Garden. But one of the major differences is that, instead of Satan speaking with mankind before the sin takes place, God has a conversation with mankind before the  sin takes place. What God says to Cain teaches us about how God deals with us before  we sin and what He says in order to deter us from sinning and attract us to obedience. 

How does God respond to sin? When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, God's response tells us everything we need to know about how God responds to sin in our lives personally and also how He ultimately deals with sin for good. 

God responds by 1) giving us grace and space to recognize our wrong and repent, 2) He allows consequences to sin in order to teach us the ultimate consequence of Hell, 3) He reminds us that sin deserves death, and 4) He atones for our sin, enabling us to get back to paradise with God through Jesus Christ. 

What exactly is sin? Nowadays it seems that everyone has their own definition. The only way we can really know what sin is, is if we study sin's origin story... and that's exactly what we find in Genesis chapter 3. 

Sin is not determined by whether something is helpful, beneficial, or "for the greater good". But sin is something that is tied to a relationship. It is something that has to do with how two people relate... but not just any two people - God and mankind. 

God created us in the Garden of Eden with a purpose - to subdue the Earth. Basically, that means he created the resources and told us to make a civilization and build a world for humans to thrive in. That is our original purpose as humans, and it is a purpose that will never change. 

Do you know what that means?? We'll be doing all of it in eternity with God. So often we think about eternity as something that doesn't seem all that exciting. But if we look at Genesis chapter 1, we can find a blueprint for our God-given purpose, which will only grow stronger in eternity. Construction, engineering, writing music, running businesses, cooking meals... these are all things that "subdue" the earth, and they are all things that we will be doing in eternity. 

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is just one of many terms that describe an experience that Christians have all throughout the book of Acts. It is an experience that Jesus defines as a "clothing with power" in order to fulfill the commission to be His "witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the Earth." It is an experience with the Holy Spirit that results in extraordinary power to be God's witness. If you feel that you lack power as a witness, don't seek the newest tactic or technique or book, pray and ask God to clothe you with power by the Holy Spirit. 

One of the main reasons why we don't desire to edify other people to become more like Christ is because the way we relate to people is wrong. We feel a strong and immediate connection with people because we share the same interests or maybe because we are related by blood, but we don't feel that same strong and immediate connection with people because of spiritual reasons. In other words, the fact that I am connected with God should be the most important thing that either connects me or doesn't connect me with other people. When we begin to connect with people based on how we relate to God, then we will find that our desire to edify others is very strong and the spiritual gifts are following close behind!

The spiritual gifts can be tricky. Sometimes they can just as easily lead us away from God as they can lead us towards God. The difference is the reason why we are pursuing them. For our own spiritual power? To seem like we are closer to God than other people? Maybe because they just seem cool? Or to love and encourage other people to know God?

Super powers? No, not really. The spiritual gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 are given to us so that we can present the fact that God is real to the world. We are bringing a "foreign" message to the world - the Gospel is a message from Heaven and about God, both of which we cannot see or touch. So, the Holy Spirit works through us supernaturally in order to show others that the supernatural message we are preaching is valid.