 Hello, David Diger Hernandez here. Welcome to Spirit Church. Today I'm going to cover a topic that I've covered before. It's called the language of the Holy Spirit or speaking in tongues. And I want to cover this topic again because I feel it's a very important topic, especially for nowadays, when there seems to be somewhat of a spiritual vacuum that's been created in the church world. Now, I'm not saying that to sound critical. I'm not saying that to be obnoxious and pinpoint this again and again. But I really do sense in my spirit that there is a hunger for the deeper things of God, especially in the rising generation, in my generation, in the new generation of believers who've recently committed their hearts to Christ in the past few years. And we want something fresh from heaven. We want something that God has for our generation. We want him to move with miracles, signs, wonders, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, salvation to sweep across the land. We want a move of God. But I believe that one of the key aspects of a move of God is prayer. And I believe that one of the key gifts of prayer is speaking in tongues. You know, in the world, you look at the various organizations and systems that have their own lingo. And that lingo is presented in a way that expedites communication and allows for people to communicate ideas much quicker than they would have if they didn't have a lingo. For example, please have their lingo. Medical personnel has lingo. The military has lingo. And even television production has its own lingo. There are certain key words and phrases that you have to know that would help to get the production to go faster. Did you know that between you and the Holy Spirit, between you and God, there is a language that is powerful, that is potent, that expedites the communication, that allows for the Holy Spirit to pray for you through you from your very own mouth? What is the gift of speaking in tongues? Is the gift of speaking in tongues for every believer? What if any restrictions that Paul the apostle placed on the gift, what does the Bible really say about speaking in tongues? I'm hoping today that we can remove premeditated ideas, presuppositions, that we just come to the Scripture and we say, Lord, we're open, our hearts are ready, our minds are open to anything that you have for us. And we want to hear what the Scripture says concerning this gift. So the first thing I want to talk to you about is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 through 16. And often you'll hear the verse gets read aloud and it's read with somewhat of a mysterious tone to it. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him. And they stop there and oftentimes this verse gets referenced as something that's alluding to a later life or later eternity or the heavenly realm that when we die we're going to enter this place. We're going to enter heaven where there are things that no eye has seen or no ear has heard. But in the very next verse, verse 10 the Scripture says, But it was to us that God revealed these things by His Spirit for His Spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets. In verse 11, 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 11 the Scripture says, No one can know a person's thoughts except that person's own spirit. And no one can know God's thoughts except God's own spirit. Verse 12, and we have received God's spirit, parentheses not the world spirit, so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. Verse 13, when we tell you these things we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead we speak words given to us by the Spirit using the Spirit's words to explain spiritual truths. Verse 14, but people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it. For only those who are spiritual can understand what the spirit means. Verse 15, those who are spiritual can evaluate all things but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. Verse 16, for who can know the Lord's thoughts? Who knows enough to teach Him? You see there's an ancient teaching, even the early church taught this and the early church understood this, that man is not his body, man is not his mind, man is not his soul, man is his spirit. And this age old teaching can be summarized in this phrase, I am a spirit who has a soul that lives in a body. I am not my body, I am not my soul, I am my spirit. So man is trifled, body, soul, spirit. Jesus said, don't be afraid of the one who can destroy your body. Be afraid of the one who can destroy both the body and the soul in hell. In other words, there is no spirit in hell. Before you gave your life to Christ your spirit was dead, your God connection. You were like a radio with a broken antenna, the waves of God were all throughout the land but you were too broken to be able to receive any signals that he might send. And so when you were saved your antenna was plugged back in, you were repaired, your spirit was brought back to life, your God connection, spirit to spirit. My spirit communicates with God's spirit and I was born again, as Jesus said, if you want to enter the kingdom of heaven you must be born again of the spirit. So my spirit comes back to life, I can communicate with God and who I truly am lives again. That's why the scripture says that I was dead in my sin or I was dead in my trespasses. I had no life in me, I was a dead man walking. But when you were saved the resurrection power of God entered you, resurrected your spirit giving you a new identity and you were born again of the spirit. People who aren't saved live life from the outside in. Their outer circumstances influence their inner reality, their inner feelings, their inner knowing, their inner thoughts. But as a believer my inner reality dictates how I respond to my outer circumstances. In other words, I may be in a storm but a storm can never be in me because I live in an inner place in a heavenly realm spirit to spirit communicating with God and whether you're aware of it or not, as you go about your day there's a celestial conversation taking place in the heavenly realm spirit to spirit, your spirit, God's Holy Spirit. That's what 1 Corinthians chapter 2 is talking about. It says, nobody knows God like God's Holy Spirit and nobody knows you except for your spirit. Who can know you as well as your own spirit except for God. So we in fellowship with God fellowship spirit to spirit communicating deep things, deep truths and we know one another and that is how God reveals himself. We understand these things the scripture says because we have the mind of Christ. Being spiritual really is all about how you relate to the Holy Spirit. So I am a spirit who has a soul that lives in a body. The scripture says that I may be pressed but I can never really be crushed. I may be struck down but I'm never really destroyed. You can persecute me but I'm never abandoned. He's talking about what they can do to the body, what they can do to the emotions but even though they can crush the body or press on the body they can never really crush the spirit. Even though they can strike you down in body they can never really destroy your spirit and even though you may be persecuted here upon the earth you're never abandoned because deep inside that fellowship continues despite what happens around you and as believers we know that we have this connection with God we have this connection in the spirit to where God is constantly in fellowship with us the Holy Spirit he's not looking to rent an apartment or he's not looking to check into a hotel he's looking for permanent residence in you he's looking to abide with you remain with you sustain that fellowship between you and him that's what he wants to do so there were some questions I had about the Holy Spirit and many people have about the Holy Spirit when is he received? because it can seem confusing to say especially when I use terminology such as the baptism of the Holy Spirit which comes concurrently with the gift of speaking in tongues so when I say oh the believer needs the baptism of the Holy Spirit some people say wait a minute I already have the Holy Spirit they get real defensive about their spirituality sometimes believers can be very defensive about this a lot of insecurity that goes into it and because of our insecurity we often miss out on the more that God wants to give us so some people will say well God wants you to be a servant of his and serve him in the ministry we say no I'm not a servant I'm a son or we say well God wants to give you more of his power I already have all the power in heaven but really it's semantics and we have to stop being so defensive with our spirituality I'm not saying that's you but many people are like that and the truth is that when I say that someone needs to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit they need to receive the evidence of speaking in tongues their first thought of their first defense is always going to be well I already have the Holy Spirit I've already received him I'm already spiritual and it's not that we're trying to challenge anyone's spirituality it's just that God has more in fact the scripture says in Romans chapter 8 we're going to answer this question here when is the Holy Spirit received? Romans chapter 8 is interesting because it really goes against a lot of the modern thinking so Romans chapter 8 verse number 9 and a lot of the way the modern world thinks is we're all children of God we're all equal in God's eyes and that's really not the biblical truth Romans chapter 8 verse 9 says but you are not controlled by your sinful nature you are controlled by the spirit if that's a contingency if you have the spirit of God living in you and remember and this is just by the way a disinterested common if you will in parentheses and remember that those who do not have the spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all I want you to think about the heaviness of that go down now skip ahead a few verses to verse 14 we're going to read verse 14 through 16 of Romans chapter 8 the scripture says for all who are led by the spirit of God are children of God so if you have not received the spirit that makes you fearful slaves or you have not received the spirit that makes you fearful slaves instead you received God's spirit when he adopted you as his own children now we call him not then we can't call him father before then but now because we have the Holy Spirit now we call him Abba father for his spirit joins with our spirit there's that inner fellowship again to affirm that we are his children we are his heirs in fact the scripture says together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory but if we are to share his glory we must also share his suffering now this scripture parallels the scripture in 1 Corinthians when it talks about that inner fellowship inner spirit to spirit communication and the truth is that if you're a spiritual person those who are not spiritual are not going to understand you your confidence comes off as them as arrogance so as a believer I look at the word I read it every day and I say I believe this I have confidence in it and you go out you have that confidence in your God and people look at you as arrogant you go out with certainty you have the most pressing questions with certainty and people get offended by that when we try to preach the truth of hell or sin or judgment or wrath though that is not the primary focus of the gospel when we do preach that as an essential truth a core portion of our faith a part of the foundation of the gospel message so when Jesus saves what does he say from he saves from sin and hell when you preach that aspect of it you're judged as being bigoted or closed-minded or being hateful or judgmental you name it you'll slap a label on you that's what they do with the spiritual Jesus could not be handled by those who were offended by him in fact that's why they killed him Jesus was so spiritual that people were just offended by him and they killed him he claimed to be God and those who are led by the spirit the children of God were spiritual we cannot always be understood Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13 to 14 also tells us a similar truth that has to do with we are only children of God if we have the Holy Spirit so this was interesting to me and I'll tell you why because in Luke chapter 11 and again we're still on the question of when is the Holy Spirit received Luke chapter 11 verse number 13 says this and this almost seems to create what is called the catch 22 or something like of a paradox here so Luke chapter 11 verse 13 this is what amazed me here this is the words of Jesus he's talking about how God can give good gifts in comparison to us he says you being evil human beings you know how to give good gifts to your children yet you don't trust God to give you good gifts he is going to give you the Holy Spirit if you ask him but he says this to them he says so if you sinful people there he is being meek and mild and comforting so if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him and I thought wait a minute Lord only those who have the Holy Spirit I consider your children and only your children can ask you for the Holy Spirit to me it seemed like a catch 22 so I have to be a child of God in order to ask my father for something but then if I have the Holy Spirit that's the only time I can ask God for anything seems to be a catch 22 until I realize that the baptism of the Holy Spirit that Jesus is referring to that many of the letters of Paul were referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit as referenced in Acts chapter 2 is a second experience to salvation so at salvation I receive the Holy Spirit in my spirit remember body soul spirit I receive him into the deeper parts of who I am I receive him inwardly and baptism I release him at salvation I receive him at baptism I release him from the soul to the body from the spirit to the soul to the body from the spirit to the soul to the body I receive him in my spirit at salvation because he brings me to life and at baptism the flood waters overflow Jesus said out of your belly or out of your innermost parts shall flow rivers of living water so that spirit to spirit communication comes out like a flood from my spirit to my soul to my body and it floods over my mind my will my emotions my intellect my personality my actions my demeanor the way I talk the way I look at things where I go it affects everything from the inside out so this is a second experience in John chapter 20 verse 22 we see that Jesus breathes on his disciples and he says receive the Holy Spirit Jesus breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit yet these are the very same people that in Acts chapter 2 had to go and wait why don't you think about that Jesus says here's the Holy Spirit and he breathes the Holy Spirit on them and then in Acts chapter 2 it's that very same group of people that is waiting for the Holy Spirit to come now wait a minute why would they need to wait for the Holy Spirit to come if Jesus already breathed the Holy Spirit on them again in Acts chapter 9 let's go to Acts chapter 9 and Luke also wrote Acts so Acts chapter 9 is a perfect transition over here from where we read that in chapter 11 Acts chapter 9 verse 1 this is concerning Saul who turned into Paul the apostle meanwhile Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord's followers so he went to the high priest he requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers in the way he found there he wanted to bring them both men and women back to Jerusalem in chains as he was approaching Damascus on the mission a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me who are you Lord? Saul asked I love that Saul didn't know who he was but Jesus had such an authority on his demeanor that even though Saul didn't know who he was he knew enough to call him Lord he says who are you Lord and the voice replied I am Jesus the one you are persecuting now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do the men with Saul stood speechless for they heard the sound of someone's voice but Saul no one Saul picked himself up off the ground but when he opened his eyes he was blind so his companions led him by hand to Damascus so here is Saul he's on his way to murder Christians and the Lord stopped some dead in his tracks now he's breathing threats against the Lord he's persecuting the church at that point Saul is not a child of God he did not have the Holy Spirit had he had the Holy Spirit he would not be persecuting the followers in this way because if anyone has the Holy Spirit they call Jesus Lord so Paul or Saul could not have been a child of God then he could not have had the Holy Spirit then in the next verse we see now there was a believer now this man Ananias the believer referenced here in this verse was a child of God calls him a believer now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias the Lord spoke to him in a vision calling Ananias the Lord said go over to Straight Street to the house of Judas when you get there ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul he is praying to me right now so Ananias goes over and go down to verse 17 this is the main point I want to make here verse 17 so Ananias went and found Saul he laid his hands on him now listen very carefully what he says he laid his hands on him Saul wait a minute Saul could not have been Ananias's brother unless he was God's child and Saul could not have been God's child unless he had the Holy Spirit Saul repented Saul got right Saul was saved and he received the Holy Spirit because you can't have the Holy Spirit and be saved the Holy Spirit is present at the very moment of salvation they cannot be separated otherwise you can't become a child of God we've already established that when I went down Saul he laid his hands on him and said brother Saul the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road has sent me to you so that you might regain your sight and watch this and be filled with the Holy Spirit now wait a minute Saul already had the Holy Spirit if he was a believer if he was Ananias's brother but this that he received was something secondary Jesus breathed on the disciples and waited for a second experience with the Holy Spirit Saul made himself right with God he became a child of God and Ananias calls him brother and then says receive the Holy Spirit there is yet another example of this in Acts chapter 8 verse 14 through 17 this one's a little more straightforward Acts chapter 8 verse 14 through 17 says when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God's messages they sent Peter and John there as soon as they arrived they prayed for these new believers remember they were added to the number they're counted as one of them new believers to receive the Holy Spirit and verse 16 says the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus so there was a baptism unto repentance that produced salvation and then there was a baptism with fire that the Holy Spirit came Acts chapter 19 verse 1 through 5 gives us another instance where believers had to receive the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit a second time Acts chapter 19 verse 1 says when Apollo was in Corinth Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus on the coast where he found several believers verse number 2 did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? he asked them no they replied and then he says in verse 3 he asked them then what baptism did you experience? verse 4 and they replied end of verse 3 beginning of verse 4 and they replied the baptism of John Paul said John's baptism here it is called for repentance from sin but John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later meaning Jesus as soon as they heard this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Paul laid his hands on them the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied this is a second experience so what is that baptism? as I reference in John chapter 7 verse 38 the baptism is not when you receive the Holy Spirit but when you release the Holy Spirit so how do I know this is of God well you can reference back to Luke chapter 11 Jesus said look and I want to be very sensitive to some of you who are watching because many of you have seen some very bizarre disorderly, unorganized and really ugly displays that were done in the name of Jesus there have been many strange actions that people have taken and they've claimed that it was the Holy Spirit telling them to act in that certain way now I do acknowledge that the Holy Spirit does often call us to do radical things and the Holy Spirit does, he has spoken of prophets in time past to do very strange displays and you know Jesus spit in the mud and put it in a blind man's eyes it's radical and it's not exactly reserved but the Holy Spirit is a gentleman the Holy Spirit is classy the Holy Spirit is reserved the Holy Spirit is gentle and I want to talk to you you may be watching this and you want all that God has for you but you've become reserved you become shy you become turned off to the idea of the baptism of the Holy Spirit of speaking in tongues because of the displays that you've seen you've seen many people do strange things or maybe people abuse it maybe you were pressured into speaking in tongues I mean I can go through the list but for whatever reason you have mental barriers and emotional reserves I want to tell you something if you ask God for bread he's not going to give you a stone if you ask God to receive the Holy Spirit you're not going to receive anything else some people are so afraid of receiving this they're afraid of well it might not be of God well it might be demonic well it might be this, that or the other but when we approach God with trust it's not that I trust in my ability to discern everything it's that I trust that when I pray in the name of Jesus that he's not going to give me anything bad he's the good Father and from him all goodness flows from him comes the Holy Spirit and if you ask for the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus you say Father God I want your Holy Spirit, I want all that you have for me he's not going to give you a stone he's not going to give you something demonic he's not going to give you something that's ancient or of other religions God is going to give you the Holy Spirit if only you come and ask him in faith and you ask him in the name of Jesus he won't send nothing else so what is this gift? what is speaking in tongues? I talked to you about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and how the baptism of the Holy Spirit is when that flood goes from the inside the spirit outwardly to the soul and to the body but the gift of speaking in tongues is the speech that is manifested from the baptism of the Holy Spirit it's when that overflow reaches your mouth and so speaking in tongues really the Holy Spirit prays for us check this out, Romans 8 verse 26 says this and the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness for example we don't know what God wants us to pray for but the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words now this isn't necessarily directly referencing the gift of speaking in tongues but it is touching on that reality of that inner fellowship spirit to spirit that you have with the Holy Spirit so that when he prays for me he does so in a way that's in my spirit that cannot be expressed in words but in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 14 the scripture says this this is beautiful for if I pray in tongues my spirit is praying but I don't understand what I am saying you see when you pray in tongues the Holy Spirit is praying for you through you you often hear of many people who travel miles or fly in planes when I do services often I'll have people who come in wheelchairs coming from the hospital I've had people coming flying for one night just to be there from out of state even out of the country and the fly just to be in the service for two hours is not because I'm preaching trust me my preaching is not good enough to draw people to come in from another country but they come because the presence of the Holy Spirit is there and he is able to do so much yet I hear of these people who fly in the fly in of the services the fly in the conferences and they'll go from conference to conference to conference they think that Jesus wants them to live like homeless drifters it's not what God wants and they go everywhere and they just kind of do different things they switch churches every other weekend and they're kind of free flowing no structure really and it's not really all bad to want people to lay hands on even I've gone to services to specifically have specific men and women of God lay hands on me but isn't it amazing that we'll go through that extra length that we'll look for the prophet to lay hands on so we'll look for the minister to lay hands on so look for the one who has the gift of healing to lay hands on us yet when the Holy Spirit wants to pray for us we ignore it when you reject the gift of speaking in tongues you're saying Holy Spirit I don't want you to pray for me through me that's really what you're saying because this is the gift through which he communicates it's like this at least because it's written in English was written with 26 letters 26 letters gives us over a thousand pages 66 books and many many many concepts and ideas and words and stories even as I'm talking now if you were to transcribe what I'm saying here on this broadcast it'd be only 26 letters that were needed to transcribe what I'm saying but those 26 letters when you give them to the author those 26 letters and he can rearrange them to write whatever he wants he can write a story, a novel, a book that's what it's like when you pray in tongues you're giving the Holy Spirit syllables and sounds with which he can work when you pray in your own language you're attaching your own meaning to those words that you speak when you speak in English or Spanish or whatever language that you speak you're speaking by your understanding by your intention and every word that comes out of your mouth when you speak with human reasoning you're attaching your own meaning to each word but when you pray in tongues you're allowing that sound that syllable to be void of meaning and by faith saying Holy Spirit you attach your meaning to each and every word as I speak it and the Holy Spirit takes up the task of attaching heavenly meaning on our earthly syllables this is what he does this is the work of the Holy Spirit but he's not going to force you the Holy Spirit is not going to come down grab your tongue and start moving around a lot of people have misconceptions about this gift they think that they're going to lift their hands and suddenly they're going to lose control no the Holy Spirit doesn't make you lose control the Holy Spirit doesn't make you senseless or silly the Holy Spirit makes you sharp so the gift of speaking in tongues works in tandem it works with our obedience so the difficult God will do the impossible if we will do the challenging God will do the supernatural and for some of you it's a challenge and let's just be honest to go on speaking I forgot how to pronounce it it's to go on speaking with that sort of dialect or something that sounds so foreign or even to some silly but remember the Holy Spirit is misunderstood remember those who are spiritual are misunderstood that to speak in this way would kill my pride it would not be fruitful for my understanding but I'm able to speak in tongues because it's the language of surrender it's the language of faith it's the language of trust I trust with childlike faith that when I make those syllables and sounds that the Holy Spirit is going to come along and he's going to empower my action of faith and add meaning to those so that the prayers that happen spirit to spirit can manifest in my everyday life and all around me the power of the Holy Spirit his intention his meaning into your everyday life when you begin to pray in tongues it adds a power it adds an edge to your life it strengthens every spiritual gift it ripens every spiritual fruit it causes you to become more potent in the power of the Holy Spirit it causes the name of Jesus to be on your tongue more often when you pray in tongues you're building up your spirit you're allowing the Holy Spirit to take over that meaning and attach his own intentions to your prayers but you have to surrender anything that is supernatural begins as a command starts as a command becomes in action and miraculously becomes supernatural God tells us to speak in tongues you open your mouth you pray in tongues and the Holy Spirit supernaturally adds his own meaning again you're not going to feel some sensation that forces you and then you suddenly lose control you're in control the whole time that doesn't sound biblical Paul the Apostle wrote an entire chapter in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 that we're going to review in a moment 1 Corinthians chapter 14 Paul the Apostle writes an entire teaching on how we are to steward the gift of speaking in tongues why would Paul the Apostle spend a whole chapter in 1 Corinthians on telling us how to manage the gift if the gift couldn't be managed why would he write a whole chapter telling us how to control the gift if the gift couldn't be controlled the prophet is subject to the prophet and tongues is a prophetic expression because it's God speaking through man so that prophetic gift is under your control under your subjection under your will and you have to open your mouth and begin to speak it out you have to open your mouth and begin to give the Holy Spirit control of the meaning but you give them syllables and sounds with which you can work so the Holy Spirit is not going to force you you have to step out in faith it's kind of like an engine when you push your foot on the gas pedal you're not turning every little thing in that engine you're not putting all that power you couldn't go 65 miles an hour if you tried on your own but when you touch your foot on that gas you're just putting your intention and the engine takes over from there that's what it's like speaking in tongues when you open your mouth when you begin to speak words that have no meaning by will you start that engine and you put your foot on that gas and the Holy Spirit takes it from there that's the power it's something that communicates spirit to spirit you have to speak in tongues if you want the most out of your spiritual life that's just a fact there's no getting around that now there are three expressions of the gift of speaking in tongues and I'm going to tell them to you here real quickly number one the personal tongue number two there's the proof tongue and number three there's the prophetic tongue now in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 1-4 the scripture details the personal tongue listen to this let love be your highest goal but you should also desire the special abilities the spirit gives especially the ability to prophesy for if you have the ability to speak in tongues you will be talking only to God since people won't be able to understand you you will be speaking by the power of the spirit but it will all be mysterious verse 3 but one who prophesies strengthens others encourages them and comforts them a person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church now the word of prophecy he's talking about here is not your typical word of prophecy I'm going to show you what word of prophecy he's talking about he's talking about the prophetic tongue here but there's several things here number one Paul the apostle is contrasting the gift of speaking in tongues with the gift of prophecy now he is saying that the gift of prophecy is better for the benefit of everybody in a public setting but that in no way means that the gift of speaking in tongues is in and of itself bad Paul the apostle and 1 Corinthians he's not downing the gift he's not criticizing those who use the gift and he's not speaking negatively of the gift in any sense he's merely contrasting the gift of speaking in tongues with the gift of prophecy and he's saying the gift of prophecy in a public setting is much better obviously because there's other people there but then he says a couple things that are key in verse 2 he talks about that nobody understands what this guy is saying who's speaking in tongues it's all mysterious so this does away with the idea that speaking in tongues is an earthly dialect often many have tried to say that the speaking in tongues in chapter 16 that Jesus is talking about these signs shall follow them that believe they shall speak in new tongues some people have even tried to translate they shall speak in new languages because they say oh well he wasn't talking about this Pentecostal thing which by the way speaking in tongues is not a Pentecostal thing I'm using that merely for reference but some people say oh Jesus was only talking about the Pentecostal thing or Paul was only talking about this Pentecostal thing but really it was a language they were referring to and it's an earthly dialect that people can understand and it's a way of supernatural evangelism but in verse 2 we see that nobody understands it so how can it be an earthly dialect if nobody understands it because it's not just an earthly dialect speaking in tongues is this somewhat gibberish sounding lingo again the language of surrender, the language of faith it takes childlike faith to speak it because you have to drop your pride and your ego and trust that the Holy Spirit is attaching meaning to the other end that's why it takes so much faith so this cannot be attributed to earthly dialect but the scripture does say speaking in tongues, this is verse 4 is strengthened personally you grow spiritually personally through speaking in tongues that's number one, the personal tongue number two, the proof tongue Acts chapter 2 verse 6 says this now when this was noise to broad the multitude came together and were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language now here's where the confusion is this is why people think it's the language and heard them speaking in tongues I want you to think about that here's the picture of what happens the disciples are all there in Acts chapter 2 they're gathered together waiting for the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit falls the gift of speaking in tongues comes on them they all receive it, they begin speaking in other tongues and the crowd begins to gather around because they heard the Holy Spirit fall they heard it like a mighty rushing wind the scripture says and these people begin to gather and they start to marvel they look at all these people speaking in tongues that's the language now wait a minute each person in the crowd heard the group of believers collectively in their own language they didn't hear it wasn't that the believers couple of them were speaking Hebrew couple of them were speaking Aramaic couple of them were speaking Greek that's not what happened what happened was all the believers were speaking this this thing that sounds gibberish to us and those around them collectively otherwise how could they have heard a language at all if all of them were speaking over each other they couldn't have so each one hears them speaking in their own language and they could not have been speaking in more than one language at once because each one heard them so each man heard the entire group the scripture says each one heard them collectively speaking in their own language so I if I was an onlooker and I speak English I would hear the whole group speaking English somebody else there who speaks Spanish because each one heard them speaking in his own language so this is what's called the proof tongue because the scripture says so you see speaking in tongues is a sign not for believers but for unbelievers that's 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 22 and this proof tongue is when somebody hears you speaking in their own language when you don't know it so sometimes the gift of tongues when it's the proof tongue as you're speaking this they can super naturally and that is a powerful gift but one other point I want to make here in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 22 there are those who say that you shouldn't speak in tongues publicly or in front of unbelievers and I've always thought that was so silly I mean because the scripture says here so you see that speaking in tongues is a sign not for believers but for unbelievers now let me ask you a question how is a sign supposed to be a sign to unbelievers if you're not supposed to speak in tongues so that's just nonsense it's silly and we're going to go over Paul's regulations in just a moment but first I'm going to touch on this third and final tongue the prophetic tongue now the prophetic tongue is the one that Paul puts the most restrictions on because the prophetic tongue is when the believers are gathered collectively in a church service one person stands up begins speaking in tongues everyone goes silent he gathers the collective attention of those gathered in the group the group looks at him the guy speaks in tongues then he sits down and someone else stands up and gives the interpretation of the tongue that was spoken that is the prophetic tongue it's found in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 26 to 28 says this how is it then brethren this is Paul the apostle speaking now when you come together every one of you has a psalm has a doctrine has a tongue has a revelation has an interpretation he says let all things be done untoedifying now that's very key right there his goal for this letter is to make sure that at a collective service where the believers are gathered together in one accord that everyone is edified that's his primary concern he says it right off the top here now verse 27 he says if a man if any man speak in an unknown tongue let it go by two or by most three and only if that one interprets so he's saying when you're going to do this if someone's going to stand up and start speaking in tongues and gather the collective attention of believers make sure that that person is interpreted by someone with the gift of interpretation verse 28 he says this but if there be no interpreter let him keep silent in the church let him speak to himself and to God so that's the prophetic tongue now I want to talk about these restrictions a lot of people talk about this idea that because he's saying he's putting restrictions on the prophetic tongue that affects my personal tongue notice the three options he gives us here Paul the apostle says but if there is no interpreter he gives us three options let him keep silent in the church and let him speak to himself and to God so he has three options if he's not being interpreted be quiet speak to God or speak to yourself wait a minute first Corinthians chapter 14 verse 2 and 4 says that when I pray in tongues I'm not speaking to man I'm speaking to God no man understands me so I'm edifying myself I'm speaking to myself and I'm speaking to God that's that inner fellowship so he's not saying no one should ever speak in tongues in any church service when you're gathered or he's talking about gathering the collective attention of believers to prophesy to them make sure you have an interpreter and don't keep disrupting only do this because I want to make sure everyone is edified so this I think is very strong scriptural support to say that you can pray in tongues in church you can pray in tongues during worship you can pray in tongues during the prayer don't interrupt the service don't be disorderly make sure everyone is edified and if you do gather the collective attention of believers make sure to have an interpreter because you're not talking to God you're talking to yourself and that's where the personal tongue comes into play so his main point let all things be done decently in order that's what he wraps it up by saying now Paul's restrictions again let's look at this he's regulating it he's not discouraging it 1st Corinthians chapter 14 verse 18 Paul the apostle says I think God that I speak in tongues more than any of you 1st Corinthians chapter 14 verse 39 says therefore my brothers and sisters forbid not to prophesy or covet to prophesy and forbid not to speak with tongues that's a command he's telling us to do it and he even said I speak in tongues more than any of you now as to how he knew that I think there was some outward effect of the gift to speak in tongues there has to be so he has to be able to judge by saying I speak in tongues more than you all he has to be able to tell that there's something that he can do more than they can do so in other words it shows it's evident when you're praying in tongues there's more to your spiritual there's more power in your life Paul the apostle was able to look around at the result of everyone's life and say yeah I pray in more tongues than all of you sometimes you can tell some people go to the gym more than others it shows same thing with speaking in tongues Paul looked around and said I pray in tongues more than all of you he knew this and it was a fact it's written in Scripture so he's not discouraging it he's regulating it is it wrong for everyone to collectively speak in tongues if it's not disrupting the church service well let's take a look at the Bible here 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 26 to 28 again we see but if there's no interpreter let him keep silent in the church let him speak to himself and to God but in Acts chapter 2 verse 4 it says all of them if this was a live church service I'd say say all of them all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them he didn't stop and go guys guys guys I know God's moving we're all speaking in tongues but we got to do this in order he didn't do that well some would say well that's because it was in Acts chapter 2 they just receded well wait a minute Acts chapter 19 verse 6 says when Paul placed his hands on them the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied they all did doesn't record him saying wait a minute wait a minute didn't you guys it wasn't disorderly it's only disorderly when you're disrupting the church service now who is it for as I've spoken to you before earlier in this message and this is my last point who's the gift of tongues for is the gift of speaking tongues for every believer really look I know there's been a lot of I'm just being real with you I know there's been a lot of negative things that surrounded Pentecostalism I'm a charismatic Pentecostal I'm not ashamed to say that but speaking in tongues is not a Pentecostal thing the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not a Pentecostal thing the Holy Spirit is not exclusive to Pentecostals he's not prejudiced against other denominations he doesn't hold any loyalty toward one group in particular the Holy Spirit is for all who believe and I know there have been bizarre examples and really I and myself in my own ministry have been working to really combat personas if you watch my TV program for example as of right now what my TV program is you'll never see me asking for money on the TV program that's one because I've seen it abuse so much I want to just for now until we get to know my heart I'm not going to really do that you'll see it on the YouTube videos but that's about it and the second thing is I really believe that the Holy Spirit is classy his primary goal is he wants to convince you that you're a son of God your daughter of God isn't that most the battle just for your identity wondering who you are to who do I belong am I really God's am I really saved that's what the Holy Spirit does that's his primary function is to convince you to persuade you to remind you of the things that Jesus has said and to cause you to become to become firm in who you are and he pleads with you he cries of a father he makes it known that you're a child of God for which primary purpose but that doesn't mean that if we reject to get the speaking tongue just because it's not his primary focus that we're not offending him we're not hurting him my question to you and I ask this sincerely why would you want to receive anything less than all for which Christ died to give you why would you say no to a gift of God because of what others have done others have acted out in I'm not trying to make you feel guilty I'm trying to wake you up look the Bible teaches this and this can change your life and you may have said well nothing's happened I've I've tried to receive the gift well then I referenced you back to what I said earlier about you got to open your mouth you got to make the syllables and sounds and trust that the Holy Spirit is attaching and really once you get going it's kind of like driving a car again every turn I made was very purposeful I was very focused on every turn every signal I was very thoughtful and intentional about every detail of my driving now it's kind of just become a part of my nature same thing for speaking tongue at first it's very intentional and then it becomes a flower but you got to turn the key you got to light the ignition you got to open your mouth you got to surrender first you got to have faith that he's going to attach his meaning to you when you begin speaking and not the other way around so what does Paul mean when he writes the following 1 Corinthians 12 verse 30 have all the gifts of healing do all speak with tongues do all interpret and he's asking a rhetorical question he obviously means no but again remember there are the different aspects of tongues he's talking about the public expression I believe remember he's talking about interpretation right along with the gift of tongues and that leads me to believe because he addressed it right in 13 and 14 that he's talking about the public gift of tongues or the prophetic gift of tongues not everyone is meant to do that in a church service just like not everyone is to have a healing ministry not everyone is to find that primary focus there's the office and there's the gift I believe so for example all gifts are for every believer all believers are to evangelize but not every believer is an evangelist all believers are to speak for God when he puts it on their heart to do so but not everyone is called to be a prophet as recorded in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 all of us are called to encourage one another and to some degree build disciples but not all of us are called to be pastors all of us need to understand the word all of us need to be able to teach this word and give an answer for the hope that is within us but not all of us are called to be a teacher in the same sense all of us are called to speak in tongues but not all have the specific prophetic gift of tongues that Paul is talking about Mark chapter 16 verse 17 to 18 says in each sign shall follow them that believe in my name they shall cast out devils and they shall speak with new tongues and finally I think the final note here and I won't read it all but in Acts chapter 2 we see that Peter gets up and tells the people remember the people had gathered because the noise what was noise to brought as the King James so politically puts it the people had all gathered everyone speaking in tongues each one heard them collectively in his own language speaking in tongues and Peter gets up and he tells them that what they're seeing and hearing is two things or what the gift of the promise of the father is is two things he says this number one it's for all who have been called that's Acts chapter 2 verse 39 and just as you see and hear today Acts chapter 2 verse 33 so who was the promise of the father for all who have been called what does Peter describe as the promise well he describes it as what the people saw and heard and what did the people see and hear when people saw the fire of the Holy Spirit the people heard believers speaking in tongues the promises for all who are far off both what you now see and hear the gift of tongues is for every believer God wants to give you a gift today will you let me pray with you and let's believe that God is going to give you this gift of speaking in tongues right now right here right now but you got to open your mouth prepare your heart because God's going to do this for you right now so there's someone watching me you've been asking this for a while and you wondered God is it am I doing something wrong you felt guilty because you couldn't receive it but the reality is you have to open your own mouth you have to make the sounds and the Holy Spirit you'll feel his unction come on that and if you ask him and it doesn't manifest right away that's okay because he's given it to you because the word of God says he gave it to you so even if you don't feel anything even if nothing happens don't walk away discouraged walk away knowing you've received it already that's the reality despite what you feel despite what you experience you got to believe the word of God so Father in Jesus name I pray for that one watching right now I was ready to receive the gift Father I pray that all mental barriers all emotional reservations would be removed we thank you Father for this gift of the Holy Spirit we thank you Father that you are now filling them to overflowing some of you are going to be able to fill the presence of God right now it's flowing although I could feel the power of God on me right now it's flowing it's coming out of my hands right through that lens and right through whatever screen that you're watching this on Lord I thank you that your Holy Spirit is now moving that the fire of God is passing through and now present the presence of God is on you right now that's the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit open your mouth begin to speak in tongues Father like that tongue on fire in Jesus name I'm going to say the word fire in a moment when I say the word fire it's going to hit you and you're going to fill it on you when you do open your mouth you have to make the sounds and the Holy Spirit will fill them Father right now the fire of God filled them to overflowing we thank you Father we bless your name for it in Jesus name well that's it for the lesson here on this week for Spirit Church now I know it's a little bit longer than usual but when I when I talk about speaking tongues I want to cover it in detail now if you've been blessed by this ministry you follow me on instagram or facebook or twitter or youtube whatever and maybe you watch us on television however you're receiving from this ministry you know it's people like you that help to fund all of this there are people here that work full time for the ministry I'm a full time evangelist and we have television production cost and so on you see it all come out on ministry you know what we're about the ministry does more than just television we do internet broadcasting we do events all over the world we do Christian publications and we disciple and mentor believers to take the power of God I travel all over the world to different churches we have a radio broadcast we have audio itunes podcast we have blogs that I put out every week and write we're just putting out the gospel for believers and unbelievers alike content content content traveling all over 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within 30 days we've set aside some for those of you who want to become partners with the ministry 30 dollars a month you sign up today as a 30 dollar month partner make sure you write in there on the special note or when you call let them know that I said you can get the book Carriers of Glory I will sign it to you personally as a thank you for becoming a partner that's a book on becoming a friend of the Holy Spirit well thank you until next time remember nothing is impossible with God I'll see you next time God bless you