That God is sovereign means that He IS God, the absolute governor of all things. This has profound implications for us: It means He chooses goodness or severity.

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.

In the example of a child summoned by a parent to clean up his room, the child's dawdling and complaining are not predestined nor are they part of God's will.

Correct actions become a sign—a witness—even without any preaching, which is why God's words are symbolically bound to the hand rather than the tongue.

It can be encouraging to us that our patriarchs and the prophets had serious doubts, but God overrode all their fears in accomplishing His purpose.

Only by combining the head, heart, and will can we attain full growth and maturity, godly character, and a mirror image of Jesus Christ.

After our calling, we must seek God and His way, for our conduct is motivated by our concept of God. Coming to know God is the church's biggest problem.

Unless we acknowledge God's sovereign authority in our lives, following through with the things we learn from scripture, we, like atheists, will not see God.

Rather than having an apathetic relationship toward God, we must ardently, earnestly, and fervently seek God in order to imitate His behavior in our lives.

Repentance is something we must do with our God-given free moral agency. Reconciliation is an ongoing process that enables us to draw closer to what God is.

The top priority for the Israel of God is to cooperate with Him as He develops godly character through their mortifying the old man and putting on the new man.

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.

The Laodiceans fail to reciprocate Christ's love for them. The comfort of prosperity blinded them to their spiritual condition, especially their need for Christ.

Deuteronomy constitutes instruction for the Israel of God, serving as a compass and guide, preparing God's people to enter the Kingdom of God.

Jesus commands His followers to take our cross and follow Him. Does He mean to carry a pagan symbol, or is there a deeper meaning to His weighty words?

Bearing our cross means our time on this earth is virtually finished, that we are willing to give up our lives, emulating the life of our Savior.

Fasting teaches us to realize just how dependent we are on God. Every day, every hour, every minute, He supplies us with everything we need for life.

God's solution to mankind's separation was sending a second Adam, Jesus Christ, to make reconciliation possible. Fasting shows our dependence on God.

The ultimate shame for a covenant people is to be found disloyal. God will be faithful to His purpose for humankind and will pursue it to its glorious end.

We have been called for the purpose of glorifying God by totally changing our lives, conforming to His character and image.

The primary function of a priest is to assist people in accessing God so that there can be unity with God. A priest is a bridge-builder between man and God.

We all tend to allow familiarity to lure us into carelessly taking something for granted. This is particularly dangerous regarding God and His purpose for us.

God personally handpicks individuals with whom He desires to form a reciprocal relationship. This relationship must be dressed, kept, tended, and maintained.

When people allow fear to rule them, they lose their mind. Fear of God, however, is not mind killing, but inspires a reverential awe of the Creator.

In the Parable of the Sower, Christ describes different qualities of soil. We must respond properly to the implantation of the seed—the word of God.

We do not need to excessively fear Satan, his demons, or the world, but we should fear and respect the One who has complete involvement in our lives.

Even though a Christian's potential is so wonderful, it is still necessary for God to motivate His children to reach it. This begins with the fear of God.

Once we accept God's sovereignty, it begins to produce certain virtues in us. Here are four of these byproducts of total submission to God.

What can we give God despite His owning everything? It is not possible to repay what God has done for us, but there are ways we can seek to reciprocate.

The Ten Commandments open with the most important, the one that puts our relationship with God in its proper perspective. It is a simple but vital command.

God, following a pattern, routinely calls the lowly and weak to guard against pride. God will transform the weak of this world through His Holy Spirit.

If we love another person, we like to think about him/her, to hear about him/her, please him/her, and we are jealous about his/her reputation and honor.

God's faithfulness is the foundation of our faith. We cannot live by faith unless we believe we have a God who is faithful in everything He does.

What kind of worship will God accept? To answer this, it is necessary to know the scriptural principles that apply because God does not accept all offerings.

God, as Creator, takes the initiative (as the potter over the clay) for the elect's salvation, enabling us to build the repertoire of habits called character.

God has blessed us with the Sabbath, a period of holy time, when He redeems us from the clutches of our carnality and this evil world.

The thesis of Chronicles seems to be that when God's people seek Him in repentance and humility, God comes to their aid; if not, they fail.

When the gospel of the coming Kingdom of God is preached in all the world, the ears that hear it are not always receptive of this priceless knowledge.

God has a vision for us, a vision He has been planning from the foundation of creation, an awesome plan to bring us into His very family, giving us His mind.

We must thoroughly examine ourselves, exercising and strengthening our faith, actively giving love back to God, to avoid taking Passover in a careless manner.

The fault of the Old Covenant was with the hearts of the people. Christ took it upon Himself to amend the fault enabling us to keep the commandments.

At the time of the end, sin will be so pervasive and so compelling that our only resource for enduring its influence will be our relationship with God.