Works are not the cause of salvation, but instead are the effect of God's creative efforts at bringing us into His image—a new creation.

Like Joseph, we need to realize that God—not ourselves—is the Creator, engineering events that form us into what He wants us to become.

God's creation did not end with the physical creation or our election, but God continues to work, giving us the motivation and the power to do His will.

God assumes the burden for our salvation, but we are obligated to yield to His workmanship—made manifest by good works, the effect of salvation.

Where does real power reside? All power has its source in God—and not just the kind of power we typically think of.

Human beings, even those who have been called, have an innate fear that God will not always provide. This fear originates in doubt about God's power.

We may be going through a period of hopelessness, but must believe that all things work together for those who believe and are called for His purpose.

The best human leaders are those who recognize that they are not the ones running things. Exceptional leaders submit to the reality of God's sovereignty.

The Bible makes it plain that salvation is by grace, but it is also clear that we are 'created in Christ Jesus for good works.' Grace and works fit together.

As we count the 50 days toward Pentecost, we should consider the events of our lives, coming to understand that they reveal God's on-going maintenance.

Humility, poverty of spirit, and acknowledging our total dependence on God are of the utmost importance. God responds to those who are humble.

Jesus and Abraham rose above their emotional pulls by exercising living faith—a faith built on acts of obedience. Faith can never be separated from works.

God gives grace from start to finish in a person's relationship with Him. It cannot be limited merely to justification and His forgiveness of our sins.

Grace implies empowerment for growth. It is the single most important aspect of our salvation, and His giving of it is completely unmerited on our part.

The Father and the Son are two distinct beings, not co-equal as the trinity doctrine proclaims, but with the Son deferring to the Father in all things.

Only in John 7 do we find some evidence of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day, providing a gold mine to discover what was on Jesus's mind during this time.

John 1:1-3 reveals Jesus' pedigree as the Logos (Spokesman), whose function was to declare or reveal the Father. He had existed with His Father from eternity.

The Holy Spirit is never venerated as a separate being. Our hope is the indwelling of Christ, used interchangeably with 'Spirit of God' and 'Spirit of Truth.'

Grace's influence extends beyond justification, into the sanctification stage where the believer yields himself to righteousness, keeping God's commandments.

In terms of building character, God does the creating, assaying, testing, and proving; we do the yielding and walking in the pathway He has set for us.

The majority of the growth or maturation of a pineapple plant takes place from within. The same holds true for our calling and conversion.

We tend to avoid acknowledging our weaknesses, but at some point, each of us will admit our powerlessness and inability to carry out God's will on our own.

God is intimately involved with the smallest details of our life, including our conception and birth, supplying spiritual gifts to carry out His work.

Egypt is not directly a symbol of sin, but instead the world. The Days of Unleavened Bread symbolize what God did for us, not what we did by our own power.

God is absolutely faithful to finish what He started, knowing the end from the beginning. Our strength is dependent upon the relationship we have with God.

As God sanctified Noah, saving him from the flood, we must trust God to sanctify us, protecting us from the holocaust of fire which will burn this earth.

While we are not yet 'all in all' with God's purpose for us, we will, if we yield to our calling and sanctification, become at one with God.