A Promise Kept

Harold Camping lets out a hearty chuckle when he considers the people who believe the world will end in 2012. "That date has not one stitch of biblical authority," Camping says from the Oakland office where he runs Family Radio, an evangelical station that reaches listeners around the world. "It's like a fairy tale. The real date for the end of times," he says, "is in 2011."

How to Know God’s Will

That must have been a thrilling day for Paul, Luke, Silas and Timothy. They had talked it over and all agreed: This was the will of God for them. The KJV puts it "assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us" How does a person come to that confident assurance? There are in this passage five principles for finding God's will.

The New Commandment

An ancient parchment records the remark of a pagan man by the name of Minucius Felix. He said of the Christians of his day, "They love each other before they know each other." Another first-century pagan exclaimed with astonishment: "Behold how these Christians love one another." If there is one thing that epitomizes the nature of God and His relationship to us, His creation, it is that one word love. If there is one thing above all others that Christ would have us show to each other it is love. What is new about this commandment?

Illustration: Mistaken Identity

With his request approved, the CNN News cameraman quickly used his cell phone to call the local airport to charter a flight. He was told a twin-engine plane would be waiting for him at the airport. Arriving at the airfield, he spotted a plane warming up outside a hanger. He jumped in with his bag, slammed the door shut, and shouted, "Let's go!" The pilot taxied out, swung the plane into the wind and took off.

Illustration: Stress, Worship

In his Turning Point Daily Devotional for Feb. 18, 2010, David Jeremiah shares this: "A Netherlands-based electronics firm is creating a bracelet that will change color and flicker from yellow to red when a person's emotions rise to unhealthy levels. It's being developed chiefly for stock traders on European exchanges. When trading becomes too intense and the trader's blood pressure rises, the device will issue a warning to 'take a time-out, wind down or reconsider their actions,' said the manufacturer. The results, hopefully, will be beneficial to investors--to say nothing of the stock brokers themselves.

Rely on the Spirit

In his book Deep Preaching (B&H), Kent Edwards writers: "The secret of 'Deep Preaching' is the Holy Spirit. Those preachers who allow the Holy Spirit to be their teacher are able to plumb to the depths of the ocean of God's Word and enter into a wonderfully richer understanding of Scripture.