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Instead of
denying or downplaying this misunderstood spiritual gift, we should have the
courage to embrace it.

Last week after I
taught a class on the Holy Spirit at a ministry school in Pennsylvania, a
22-year-old guy from Maryland asked if I could pray with him. He had heard me
share how I was baptized in the Holy Spirit at age 18, and he wanted the same
experience. He was especially intrigued by the idea of speaking in tongues—something
he had never done even though he was comfortable around other classmates who
had this spiritual gift.

This young man,
Eric, understood that he already had the Holy Spirit. (We can’t be born again
without the Spirit entering our hearts and quickening Christ’s life in us.) But
he knew that Jesus offers us more—that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a
second experience in which the fullness of God’s divine power saturates us and
anoints us for supernatural ministry.

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When
discouragement tries to rob you of joy and hope, open your mouth and turn up
the volume.

Back in the old
days, if you saw a guy talking to himself while he walked down the street you
assumed (1) he had just walked out of a bar, (2) he was slightly on the loony
side or (3) he had misplaced some money and was retracing his steps—like when
absent-minded Uncle Billy lost his cash deposit in It’s a Wonderful Life.

Today lots of
people talk to themselves and we know they’re not drunk, crazy or confused.
They are wired to their phones, either with ear buds, headsets or Bluetooth
devices. (What do you call more than one Bluetooth? Blueteeth?) What’s weird is when you go into a men’s restroom in an
airport and guys are standing around talking to themselves—and closing business
deals—with the sound of toilets flushing in the background. Welcome to the
wireless generation!

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It’s time to check your posture: Are your hands in the
air? True worship requires surrender.

Christians used
to talk a lot about surrender. They called it the consecrated life, and they
sang about it in hymns such as “I Surrender All,” “Have Thine Own Way” or
“Wherever He Leads, I’ll Go.” These songs fueled the missionary movements of
the past.

Today? Not so
much.

How one brave Nigerian is risking his life to win militants and terrorists to Christ.

Kelechi Okengwu has taught me to face my fears.

This 32-year-old Nigerian evangelist will probably never star in a movie or be featured on the evening news. But he has been a younger role model for me since I met him seven years ago.

Converted to Christ at 21, Kelechi has spent the past decade reaching dangerous militants who are spreading violence on Nigeria’s university campuses. Through his Gospel Mania Project, the young preacher shares his faith with leaders of The Black Axe, Brotherhood of the Black Brigade, The Big Eye, The Pyrates, the Buccaneers and The Mafia—clandestine groups that mix African occultism with drugs and violence to spread fear and political instability throughout the country.

An Iranian evangelist says a spiritual awakening of
unprecedented magnitude is occurring behind the scenes in a nation known for
its terrorism.

Most Americans have put Iran on a blacklist. We’re concerned about Shiite militants who spread terrorism around the world, we don’t trust Iran’s nuclear weapons plans and we can’t stomach Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s human rights record or his maniac ways.

But my friend
Lazarus Yeghnazar, an Iranian evangelist based in England, hopes you will
develop some compassion for this part of the world. Most of us associate the
Bible with Israel, but did you know that Esther, Daniel, Nehemiah, Ezra and
Habakkuk all walked on Persian land that is now called Iran? In fact, the tombs
of Esther, Daniel, Habakkuk, Cyrus and Darius are in Iran.

For three years I’ve wanted to gather a group of friends for a time of encouragement and personal ministry. I…

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Pentecost is
Sunday, May 23. Here are four reasons we should celebrate the Spirit’s
outpouring.

I’ve often
wondered why we tend to ignore the historic events of Acts 2. We celebrate
Christmas for weeks, and we pack as many people as possible into our churches
on Easter Sunday. But
in our smug evangelical subculture, Pentecost is just an add-on, if it’s
noticed at all. We can take it or leave it.

Many
pastors will make no mention of the Holy Spirit this Pentecost Sunday, May 23.

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Many people today feel overwhelmed by negative
circumstances. But you can be sure the Lord has an amazing plan to carry you
through.

Long ago God promised He would send the Messiah
through the lineage of King David. Yet there was a time in Judah’s history when
the royal seed was almost snuffed out.

It happened during the oppressive reign of Queen
Athaliah, a selfish woman who was so power-hungry that she killed her own
grandchildren in an attempt to secure her position. The Bible says in 2 Kings
11:1-3:

“When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her
son was dead, she rose and destroyed all the royal offspring. But Jehosheba,
the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah
and stole him from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and
placed him and his nurse in the bedroom. So they hid from Athaliah, and he was
not put to death. So he was hidden with her in the house of the Lord six years,
while Athaliah was reigning in the land (NASB).”

Many Christians who defend biblical morality can sound
hateful when it comes to immigration policy. What happened to loving our
neighbor?

A few years ago I
attended my oldest daughter’s college graduation ceremony in north Georgia. The
school had invited a respected state legislator to address the students—a woman
known for her conservative Christian values. I enjoyed some of her remarks,
until she suddenly veered onto the subject of immigration policy.

This lady
launched into a blistering tirade against illegal immigrants and blamed them
for bringing danger, drugs and disease into the United States. An icy chill
went through the audience and students began to fidget nervously with their
graduation caps. I was embarrassed.

We charismatics celebrate the Holy Spirit, yet our theology of the Spirit is often off balance. Two popular charismatic speakers…

In February I spoke to a group of ministry leaders associated with a particular denomination in South Carolina. They are…

After spending some time last week with Bob Hartman, founder of Petra, my hat is off to a true musical pioneer.

Last week while I
was preaching at Cumberland Worship Center, a charismatic congregation in
Crossville, Tenn., the pastor invited a musician to the stage to play during
the offering. I didn’t think anything about this performance at first, until a
friend reminded me that the unassuming guy with the gray beard was Bob Hartman,
founder of the Christian rock group Petra.

There’s a rock
star in the house!