God protected Enoch from death so he could teach Noah, providing the godly instruction that Methuselah and Lamech (Noah's grandfather and father) failed to give.

We earn God's favor by obedience; there is a direct tie between submission to His will and His favor. The more one submits, the more favor and grace accrues.

God's calling us is just our initial taste of His grace. Grace is unmerited, but it is not unconditional. We have an obligation to respond to God.

Rather than considering God's calling a badge of righteousness, the child of God must consider it to be a call to action, motivating him to yield and glorify God.

Consider two end-time, dominant forces: the Beast power of Revelation 13 and God. To whom will we yield to in the coming years?

God's people may fall into the trap of forgetting the sinful past from which God rescued them and come to look disdainfully on those not yet called.

The fear of God is the first line of defense, keeping us from profaning God's name, tarnishing the image of the Lord, and defending us from pain and/or death.

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.

Keeping God's Law brings bountiful blessings, harmony, and profound peace (Psalm 119:165), while the 'cheap' grace brings guilt, anxiety, and pain.

When we attain favor with God, we often find favor with our fellow man, but not always. We can find favor with both God and man if we value a good name.

We need to follow Nehemiah's example in submitting to God, focusing on the right goals, having wisdom in handling complex situations, and having courage.

In terms of salvation, works cannot save, but good works are the fruit of God's involvement. Grace frees one; works prove that one has been freed.

Sometimes we see God as unfair, but when we remember that we are worthy of death, we understand that God has demonstrated far more mercy than harshness.

Like with the heroes of faith, our testing will be commensurate with the job God has prepared for us. We must make our relationship with God our top priority.

Even though we have the free moral agency to run counter to God's purposes, we court disaster if we presumptuously plan against these purposes.

Amos describes the Israelites as proud and secure in their special relationship with God, while God castigates them for presuming He approved of them.

Sometimes we are disturbed, even angered, because an act of God seems unfair. We have difficulty because we do not understand holiness, justice, sin, and grace.

Christ favors the Philadelphia church, but such favor puts it under obligation. Sadly, God's favor causes some to think too highly of themselves.

Ezekiel prophetically warns Israelites today of imminent cultural collapse because of ungodly leadership. We must treasure and appreciate the truth we have.

The effect of the Worldwide Church of God seeing itself as Philadelphia has been profound, elevating organizational loyalty over faithfulness to God.

Liberty cannot exist without morality, or morality without faith. Today, humanists are destroying God's 'simple gifts' that made America exceptional.

Forgiveness is only the beginning of the grace process, enabling us to grow to the stature of Christ. Paradoxically, grace puts us under obligation to obey.