 1 Corinthians chapter 14 beginning at verse one, reading to verse five. Paul writes, pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. For no one understands him, however in the spirit he speaks mysteries. But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied. For he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues unless indeed he interprets that the church may receive edification. And so as we know the Apostle Paul has been writing a word of correction as well as encouragement to the church in Corinth. As we looked at chapter 12, we note that he was writing concerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit as well as emphasizing the spiritual unity of the body of Christ. Then we move to chapter 13 and in that chapter he shared what he called a more excellent way. And as we have seen this excellent way that he was referring to would be the way of love. And so he's been speaking concerning the gifts, the unity of the body of Christ, and the love that demonstrates that we really know God. Here in chapter 14 Paul returns to his teaching on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and is now writing, especially concerning the gifts of tongues and prophecy. And so he's going to instruct the Corinthians concerning the proper use of these two particular gifts. So as we begin in verse one, I want you to notice how he says, pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. And so he begins by issuing two basic commands here. One is he says, pursue or chase after hunt or follow after love. And then secondly, he says, desire spiritual gifts. And so you're supposed to pursue love, but you're also supposed to desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. And so pursuing love and desiring spiritual gifts, both of those things are within the framework of the will of God for the believer. But notice with me, he begins by saying pursue love. He didn't say pursue spiritual gifts first. He said, pursue love. So love is always going to be that fruit of the spirit in which the gifts of the Holy Spirit operate. And so if we don't have the love of the spirit within us, then the gifts of the spirit are going to be out of balance. And so what he wants us as believers to do is to make sure our number one pursuit is that of the love of God and also its expression in loving our neighbors as ourselves. But even as we're desiring and pursuing the love of God and love for others, we ought to be desiring spiritual gifts. If we're going to be desiring spiritual gifts, then what is the gift that I should desire? And he says, especially that you may prophesy. Now, why would he say that? Well, he answers that in verse two, for he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. For no one understands him. However, in the spirit, he speaks mysteries. And so why do you want us to prophesy? Well, why would you prefer us to be seeking to be able to prophesy? Because as he answers that question, he who speaks in a tongue doesn't speak to men, but to God. When you're speaking in a tongue, he says you're speaking mysteries. Notice that in verse two. The word mystery is a word that means a hidden or secret thing, something that is not obvious to the understanding. This is something that when I speak in a tongue, it is something that I need to remember that I'm speaking to God. And as I am exercising the gift of tongues, it may be that nobody in the room that I am speaking in will say I have several people with me. Nobody in that room will necessarily understand that that language that I'm speaking, because this is something that's mysterious, because it's something that is basically between God and me when I exercise this particular gift. Unless I have an interpreter, if I have an interpreter and you'll see this in a moment, that makes it a bit different. But here he says he who speaks in a tongue doesn't speak to men, but to God. No one understands him. However, in this very speaks mysteries, but verse three, he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. So the gift of prophecy is for the purpose of the entire fellowship's well-being. When I exercise the gift of tongues, and I'm speaking in a tongue, I am being personally edified. There is a spiritual blessing that takes place within me on a personal level. But when prophecy is being exercised, it is the mind of God being communicated to the congregation. And so when the gift of prophecy is being exercised, the people of God are able to benefit from that. Now when somebody is speaking in a prophetic way, notice with me he speaks concerning edification, he speaks concerning exhortation, and he speaks concerning comfort. And so when the prophecy is taking place, there is an edification that is intended. The word edification speaks of the act of building something up. It speaks of promoting somebody else's spiritual growth. When he speaks of exhortation, that is a word of encouragement and consolation. And then when he says you're speaking a word of comfort, that would be an address made for the purpose of persuading, calming, or consoling somebody. And so when prophecy is occurring and the Holy Spirit is moving on the individual who brings a prophetic word to the congregation, it's going to be one of those things that is plain to be understood. There have been times when people have uttered what they would say as a prophecy. And it's so difficult to understand, you don't have a clue what's being said. Yay, mine little children. I will give the, you know, hindspeak to climb the high mountains. And you're there saying, now wait a minute, what's a hindspeak anyway? And what mountain are you talking about? And there have been times that I have heard people who have uttered prophetic utterances that are mysterious. They're hard to figure out. I can still remember a young man in church I used to be the assistant pastor in, who was one of these seekers. I mean, this was a guy in his early days, a young man, who would say, I just want God to speak a word clearly to me. And he didn't understand that all he needed to do was his devotions and God would speak very clearly. But a lot of times people desire to have an Instagram from God, you know, kind of like a Facebook message, an instant message or whatever, you know, bang, oh, I hear you, you know, so that's what they really want. They don't want to spend the time that is normally necessary for you to develop an ear to hear the voice of the Lord. And so they want God to instantly speak to them and all. And he was one of these young men. And he used to be so frustrated because he said, you know, I just want a clear word from the Lord. And I remember being in a believer's meeting with this young man, when one of the brothers turned to him and said, God will give to you hinds feet for the high mountain. And I will never forget when he came to me afterwards, he goes, I can't take this anymore. Why doesn't God just tell me straight up? What do you want? So I told him, say God wants you to shut up and stop complaining, man. But a lot of times people see the prophetic word as being something very mysterious. But it's actually something that Paul would say when God is moving in that fashion, it's something that's it's much more comforting and more deep than that. He speaks of edification because it's a word that's going to build you up. I have been in meetings where people have brought the wrath of God upon the meeting. You know, there's, you know, in essence, telling everybody you're all a bunch of worthless sinners and all of you are going to burn if you don't turn. And I say raw man, come on. I mean, you got to stop this, man. Why do you do that? So no, they'll say you're gonna you're gonna burn if you don't turn. And but I have discovered very often, that's really the anger of the individual speaking, the frustration that comes out of that person, because they're so tired of what they see as as apathetic Christianity and thus they kind of like embellished their own concerns by saying this is God's word to you. Paul says, listen, when God is speaking in a, in a meeting, he brings a word of edification, he wants to build you up. He wants you to have a stronger faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says he also brings a word of exhortation. That's a word that simply speaks of an encouragement. It speaks of bringing comfort to you. God wants you to know that in Christ, all things are possible. God wants you to know that you are more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ, who bore your sin on that cross that you might have victory in your life. He wants you to know that. And he wants to bring comfort to you. He wants to bring us to a place of consolation. He wants to bring us to a place of peace with him. And that's what happens when a word, a prophetic word is being spoken. There may be certain elements of it that awaken you to awaken me to areas of my life that God is dealing with. Things that, that will clarify for me. And, and I know that the Lord is speaking and there's something I need to do. I need to deal with this so I can be more solid with him. But the end of it is going to be a sense of, you know, God's in control. I'm going to be all right because Jesus Christ paid that price for me. And so when a prophetic word is being spoken, it is for edification, exhortation, and it's for comfort. And that's what Paul is speaking about here when he says, he who prophesies speaks edification, exhortation, and comfort to men. But he goes on in verse four to say, he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself. But he who prophesies edifies the church. So tongues, the gift of tongues when exercised has a personal effect and does not by itself provide edification for all who are present. He says in verse five, I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied. For he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets that the church may receive edification. So I want you to see this when he says, I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied. That word wish isn't used in the way that we normally use it. You know, I kind of wish that wish list kind of thing that we can have. No, the word wish here in its context is really more of a sense that this is my wish for you. It's more of a command. It's more of an encouragement. It's more of a permission for people to desire to prophesy. My wish for you is that you would hunger to bring a word to the congregation. It's not that Paul is saying I don't want you to exercise the gift of tongues, but between the two gifts, if you were to have one exercise in congregation, he's saying my desire would be that you would be one who brought a word of edification, exhortation, and comfort to the body of Christ. I would that you all, I wish that you all, my desire is that you would all desire to prophesy. Now I'm not stopping you from speaking in tongues because Paul would be saying I want you to do so, but my greatest desire is that you prophesy. Now, why is that? Well, he says in verse five, because he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues. Now in this context, when he says the one who is prophesying is greater, in the context, the word greater there speaks of has a deeper or greater importance. The gift of prophecy is a gift that builds up the entire church. So he's writing this for the sake of emphasis. Obviously, the Holy Spirit knows who to gift and what to give that person, which gift to give that person. But he said, he said it would be my desire that if you're pursuing spiritual gifts, that the gift that you would be pursuing would be the gift of prophecy, which is, I have to be honest with you, and I've been around for a while now, and I think that because there's been some misunderstanding in the gifts of the Spirit, that oftentimes people have put the emphasis on the wrong kinds of gifts. Paul is not saying we shouldn't have a desire to speak in tongues. He's not saying that you shouldn't want to be able, and we'll see this in a moment, what he's speaking about in more clarity, but he's saying, listen, if you had two gifts that you had access to, which would be the more important gift? He says the greater gift would be that you would prophesy why? Because when you speak in tongues, you're building yourself up. But when you prophesy, you're building the body of Christ up. And unfortunately, in some church disciplines and some denominations, the emphasis is put on the gift of tongues. So there are those who will say that there is no way that you will know whether or not you've been baptized with the Holy Spirit, unless you have the accompanying evidence of tongues. And so the entire search, if you will, the entire pursuit of the gifts of the Spirit are really basically brought down to simply seeking one gift, and that is the gift of tongues. And I've had more than one conversation over the years with people who have said that they were in their particular fellowship for a long time and felt like second-class citizens. Because while they were there, the emphasis was that you should speak with tongues, and if you don't, then you really don't have the fullness of the Spirit. And so they felt, because they didn't speak with tongues, that they were not as spiritually matured, that they hadn't been baptized with the Holy Spirit, hadn't arrived in a spiritual sense, and thus they felt like second-class citizens within the confines of their own Christian church that they were going to. But Paul would differ with that. He said, I would wish that you all spoke with tongues. My great desire is that you would all have this particular gift. By the way, there's an inference there that not all people do speak with tongues. He says, but if there was a desire in your heart, if there was something within you that you had as a longing, long to pursue love, desire spiritual gifts, but especially desire that you might prophesy. Why? Because you will build up the body of Christ with your prophesying. When you speak with tongues, you're building yourself up. But when you prophesy, everybody has the benefit of being comforted. Everybody has the benefit of receiving encouragement. And they all have the opportunity of receiving exhortation. So when I speak in a tongue, I build up myself. When I prophesy, I build up the body of Christ. Therefore, desire that you might prophesy. Desire that you might be able to bring the mind of God to the congregation. Desire that you might be able to communicate the heart of God to people. Because if you have a heart like that, you'll be able to minister effectively to the entire congregation. So if you're going to be pursuing anything as a believer, pursue love, make that your number one endeavor. Ask the Lord daily. God, teach me to love. Teach me to show consideration for others. Teach me to have compassion on other people. Teach me to care about them. Help me to learn to lay my life down. Teach me to love in a society such as ours that has basically encouraged, especially in the upcoming generations as I see it, has really encouraged people to seek their own for themselves. The message of the gospel still rings true. To die to self and pursue the edification of others. That's really what Christianity is. A house that's divided within itself cannot stand. If you have people at war with one another always seeking the best for themselves, I guarantee you that house is filled with chaos and confusion and a lot of bitterness and anger. If your house is filled with me first mentality, if your home is filled with I'm going to do things my way for my own benefit and I really don't care how you feel about it, I guarantee you there's a lot of pain in that house. In churches, when churches are filled with that me first mentality, I guarantee you there's a lot of division within the confines of that fellowship. When is the last time you ever heard of a church split? That split over people arguing who was the greatest servant in that church? Have you ever heard of a church split over service? No, it's normally I didn't get things done my way. People didn't give me what I wanted. It's normally split over selfishness. It isn't split over servanthood and so if I'm going to be a servant then what I need to do is seek the Lord for love and as I seek him for love and I pursue his gifts then the gift that I should be asking God for if I'm going to pursue one at all is going to be a gift that builds up the body of Christ that edifies you so that the church is being built up and that's basically what Paul is speaking about. My desire is for you to prophesy. Why? Because he who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks with tongues. He is more important. The gift of prophecy builds up the entire church. Now he moves on into verse six and says but now brethren if I come to you speaking with tongues what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching. So when am I going to profit you? Paul is saying if I came and I only spoke tongues in front of you then what profit would that be for you? You need other gifts also not me simply speaking in tongues. So what shall I profit you unless I speak to you by revelation, knowledge, etc. When he speaks of revelation how am I going to build you up? It would be like this and I could illustrate it like this. Whenever I teach and I'll show you this in a moment in scripture but whenever I teach because I have the gift of tongues because I do speak with tongues I could just begin speaking in tongues right now and you'd look at me and you'd go is he mad? I mean unless there's an interpretation what good is it to you? And for 40 minutes I could stand here speaking in tongues what would it do for you? How would you be built up? And so you have the ability to make a decision concerning the exercise of gifts. They are actually operating under the the basis of faith and your will and so I can make a decision to come and speak to you in tongues but that's what Paul is saying. If I were to come and speak to you in tongues what good would it be to you? There has to be something else there present as I'm with you that will build you up and so it's not just that Paul would come to speak with tongues but he speaks about other things he speaks of revelation when he says revelation that word revelation is a disclosure it speaks of a disclosure of truth it speaks of instruction concerning things that up to that point were not deeply known or unknown so he says it'll profit you if I come bringing you some revelation see as an apostle Paul would reveal to them the depth of the mysteries of God these are people who are receiving instruction and the apostle Paul had a depth a wellspring of things in God that they had no capacity of understanding yet that's one of the things that we could talk about for just a moment how do you how do you make that understandable you get saved you're 30 years old you get saved never read the bible never really heard much of the gospel you had some friends who were Christians every once in a while your friends would speak to you and say to you you need the Lord and you would say yeah yeah that's great yeah everybody needs a little God in their life but one day the Lord grabbed hold of your heart and when he grabbed hold of your heart when God brought conviction to you and you heard that gospel clearly perhaps for the very first time in faith you said to God God be merciful to me I'm a sinner forgive me cleanse me of my sins wash me make me new Jesus come into my life I want to be your temple make me the temple of your spirit I by faith receive your salvation your gift that offer and the minute you did that the second you in faith did that you were born again you're born again you're going to go to heaven your name is written in the Lamb's book of life you're just as saved as Billy Graham or any other believer who's ever walked the face of the earth you are just as saved as that person is but you would not for a moment I would hope you would not for a moment think that you had equal knowledge of scripture that Chuck Smith has the moment you got saved I am saved and now I'm as deep as Pastor Chuck I don't think so it doesn't happen that way just because you're saved doesn't mean your understanding and depth of experience is equal to somebody who's been walking with the Lord for many years right it's like the the kid who just got their driver's license you've been driving for many years that kid just got their driver's license they're 16 years old they just just barely passed and then they want to start instructing you on how to drive after you've been driving for 10 15 20 30 years and what do you do you just kind of smile is that right oh you didn't turn on your blinker should have turned on your blinker now stop you know oh really you're going to help me to drive now when you could barely walk yesterday and now you could drive there have been times and I tell you this you know I've been in the ministry for a long time and I have had pastors new pastors with new churches who want to explain to me how to do ministry because after all they got ordained last week and they understand ministry and it's not that I'm so arrogant it's just that you have to take things into consideration if I've been pastoring for these years and you just became a pastor it may be possible that I have things I can share with you so Paul is simply saying if I'm going to come and bless you speaking in tongues in and of itself isn't going to be doing that if I'm going to be coming to bless you I want to bring a revelation to you I want to give to you insight and depth because that's what Paul could bring to the conversation because Paul had a depth in the Lord in Galatians chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 Paul said 14 years ago I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me also and I went up by revelation and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles but privately to those who were of reputation lest by any means I should run or I had run in vain I came to bring revelation I came to explain the things that God has given them to me so he says if I'm going to be a benefit to you I want to bring a word of depth to you he also speaks of knowledge when he speaks of bringing knowledge that's the deeper knowledge of Christ that belongs to the more mature it's what we usually call meat the meat of the gospel babies in Christ cannot perceive the deeper things of the Holy Spirit because a baby in Christ is yet to experience deeper things the Bible speaks concerning the fact that that when somebody's born again they're a baby in Christ babies in Christ usually have the milk of the word but over time through exercise in other words through putting these things into practice the baby who at one time was nursing and getting the basics the foundations the fundamentals will move into something called meat the meat of the work they're the deeper things they're the things that the more mature have understanding of there are times again when a pastor is speaking with a young person in the church a young believer and that pastor will be speaking on the fundamentals on the basic things because they're building that person up and they're sharing some things and there are many times when I have spoken to a younger believer and I'll say well the Lord says this that they you know almost physically almost scratched their head saying I'm not quite sure I'm following that so it's kind of like what Jesus said what I'm doing now you don't understand but you will understand these things later because you're going to gain experience and as you gain experience walking with the Lord it's going to begin to make more sense to you and you're going to be able to look back and say so that's what he was talking about when he said this so Paul says I want to bring to you some things of depth I want to bring to you some things to increase your knowledge Hebrews chapter 5 verses 12 through 14 says it like this for though by this time you ought to be teachers you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God you have come to need milk and not solid food for everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness or he's a babe but solid food belongs to those who are of full age that is those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil so maturity takes time and so Paul says I want to bring to you some things I want to reveal some deep things to you I want to give you an increase in your knowledge but he also speaks of by prophesying he says I want to reveal the mind of God to you and I want to speak forth his mind to you and then he says I can increase you by teaching and teaching is interesting because teaching is something that is in general occurring and it can occur within the confines of a young believer to the mature every time we have a Bible study there are things that I say that that kind of like can be received by everybody everybody receives it because there's a basic truth and so it's a general thing that every believer can say amen to but then they're the mature ones the ones who have been with Christ for many years and there'll be something that may pass by somebody who is really relatively new in their faith that is caught by that person who's been walking with the Lord for a while and so every time the word of God is taught if it goes long enough and the study is deep enough there will be young believers receiving from God and there'll be the older more mature ones who say that's exactly right and so teaching is a gift of the Holy Spirit whereby an individual is provoked to learn when teaching takes place there's when you read your Bible you speak about you you read about Jesus preaching and teaching when Jesus would preach preaching is usually it's a gift of the Spirit that is that is utilized that will cause a person or provoke a person to consider what is being said and make a decision concerning that and so when someone is being preached to there's a word that's going out that's causing that person to hear and have to decide when teaching is occurring it is giving information that that person is willingly receiving that is going to increase their understanding in the ways of God so every time the word of God is communicated there is preaching and there is teaching you can preach to believers but normally that's because you are provoking them to make a decision you also are preaching to those who have yet to receive Christ because that is what your desire is for them to be provoked by the Spirit to come to faith in Christ but at the same time you can be teaching which is the dissemination of information with the anticipation of a production of a transformation of that person's life through assimilation of what the word of God says did you get it did you write that down transformation comes through assimilation assimilation is in regard to the information the information given is assimilated which transforms a person's life when somebody is giving the word of God there's an intent to give information but that information is intended to provoke that person in faith to receive when that person receives it that person is assimilating when they receive that then the sure proof that learning took place is a changed life that's how you know somebody's really learning when I was in school one of our professors said the definition of learning is a relatively permanent change of behavior when somebody learns something they change the danger is just to use the Bible as information you just got information I have known people in the past who listen to Bible studies not to grow but to have more information to give to somebody else so they're listening to the Bible study not for themselves but for you or somebody else so they go and they take what they heard and they repeat it to somebody else every Bible study that you ever hear is for you if you think that way you'll grow every Bible study that you ever hear is for you so that you can hear and God can say see I can do this in your life then you personally take that home and you live it when I teach on marriage and the family and I'm teaching on husbands loving the wives man you should see the CDs fly off the shelves for that one and there's always women in line waiting to buy it to give it to their husband but every message is really for you isn't it when I go and I hear teaching I'm not thinking oh I wish Marie were here right now she really needs to hear this I'll buy her the CD I'm there saying speak Lord for your servant hears what is it you want me to know what are you going to give me today to help me love you more what are you going to expose in my life today that you're not pleased with because I want I want to know you you know when we sing our songs when you're singing the songs a lot of times we get caught up in wanting to make sure we're on the right tune right you want you're making sure you're hitting the right notes you know because you see the person standing in front of you going like this with their hands over there it's going stop Jesus stop them from singing a lot of times we get caught up a lot of times we get caught up with singing the song right singing the song properly you know aw tozer one time said this he said Christians never lie except when they're singing praise to God isn't that interesting Christians never lie except when they're singing worship songs to the Lord what are you saying tozer he's saying we sing things that we don't intend to do all that I have is your Lord is that right is that true you know I'll go to the cross really really I'm walking on water really you know for me I sink more than I walk so I hear the songs and I sing the songs I was just doing that you were too and I'm looking at those words and I'll be honest with you I'm saying God make this real in my life make this real in my life because I sing a lot of songs that I don't live and these are just songs so when you listen to the word of God can you make an agreement between you and the Lord that what the Lord says you'll do because if you're willing to do that I guarantee you your life will change your life will radically change you'll become mature so Paul says what benefit do I have if I come to you and I speak in a tongue you're not understanding but if I bring a revelation if I bring knowledge to you a word of prophecy to encourage you if I bring a teaching to you your life will change if you listen so he's contrasting these gifts tongues builds me up personally prophecy edifies the congregation and so that's what he's sharing about he goes on in verse 7 and he says even things without life whether flute or harp when they make a sound unless they make a distinction in the sounds how will it be known what is piped or played even music he says has to make musical sense to the hearer or it's just noise when you look at music music has rhythm it has chords and melody it has harmony simple structure all of that is extremely important so he's simply saying without things without life like a flute or a harp even music has to have organization then he continues in verse 8 and he says if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound who will prepare himself for battle the trumpet when he speaks about a trumpet is not simply a musical instrument but it was something that was used for various reasons in the military when I was in the army trumpets you actually had certain sounds made by the trumpet that had different meanings you would have what was called the called arms you would have a trumpet sound that was to sound a charge there was the sound of the trump that would wake you up and they had the sound of a trumpet at night it was bedtime and then they have taps I mean there was a variety of things that the trumpet would do so I'm speaking concerning the fact that a trumpet needs to have a certain sound it has to be certain in what it is what the music or the sound is being made or it's not communicating to the people who hear it so if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound who will prepare himself for battle so likewise you unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand how will it be known what has spoken for you will be speaking into the air communication takes into consideration the hearer and their ability to understand so you need to speak things that are easy to understand again in contrast tongue when somebody is speaking in tongues that is not easy to understand but you could also make this something that is very practical Frank Pastore was in our fellowship for 23 years Frank Pastore all of you if you knew of Frank and know that he went home to be with the Lord recently Frank Pastore is one of the smartest men that you'd ever you'd ever meet very very bright man he and I could have a lot of conversations and I could stay with him because he chose to keep the level of his communication the level I could understand and that to me was a very important and very humble thing I mean if you wanted to impress me by using large words and quoting authors I've never read you could have done it pretty easily I've never been one and I think I'm speaking to a group of people who are similar I've never been one who gets overly impressed with people using large vocabulary big words I haven't been that way as a teacher but the Lord had to teach me that because when I was first beginning to teach I was going to college and going to college you begin to expand your vocabulary I'll take you a step further just to try and make sense of this for you when I just before I got saved I started reading again I hadn't read anything other than comic books for years the last year before I got saved I picked up books and started reading them again so I started reading a variety of books when I got into the military I was now saved so I started picking up books by different writers one of the writers that I was reading was a German existentialist and I started reading books by this guy because he had some spirituality to him but the problem with this guy is the words he chose to use were so large I didn't have a clue what he was talking about so what I did is I started reading his writings with the dictionary so I was constantly opening the dictionary to find out what he just said so I started expanding my vocabulary simply by reading a man who had an expansive vocabulary that became a habit in the way that I spoke because I'm reading these books with big words so now I go into college as I'm in college the professors are starting to introduce me to concepts and words and being the ignorant man that I am want to impress people so I start taking these words and I start using the words in Bible studies and so as I'm using the words in Bible studies I'm not taken into consideration who I'm teaching my dad is one of my Bible students my dad went to the eighth grade that was as far as he went educationally my father was a very intelligent man but in his day he had to quit work at 13 to work the fields to provide money and food for the family that was typical of my dad coming out of the depression era and there weren't a whole lot of kids who graduated from high school because many of them during that era had to quit school to provide for the family and my dad came from a family of 12 kids so they had to take care of the family so my dad did not pursue education went into the Navy at 17 got out got married started having a family and so my dad was a reader he would read the reader's digest every night my dad had it right next to him it was like his Bible and he would read the reader's digest he was always reading the newspaper he was a reader he was intelligent but he was not educated so now I'm teaching Bible studies and I stand up there and I say well you know as the tetragrammaton expresses to us and that's a nice word my dad was smile and the spirit of the Lord said your father this is the truth the spirit of the Lord spoke to my heart and said your father's very proud of you he doesn't understand a word you're saying but he is proud of you I am not kidding that's the truth that's the truth the spirit impressed my heart and the scripture says you need to utter words easy to understand thank God for the intellectual believers there are so many of them and I thank God for them they're warriors for us thank God for them I don't put them down and I thank God for their vocabulary I really do but the Lord a long time ago said make sure well my he taught me this but Pastor Chuck expressed it to us when he said make sure that you put the cookies low enough on the shelf for the kids to get to don't use concepts and words that strain people to the point they don't know what you're talking about they may feel that you're real deep but they walk out unchanged because you didn't help them to know Jesus and teaching is supposed to help people to know Jesus it should be like salt making you thirsty for more of him but if you're using concepts and words that impresses the crowd but doesn't edify them you're speaking over their head you're speaking in the air you're speaking over their heads it's something they're not going to grab hold of Paul said my desire is to say things easy to understand so that everybody's edified especially in a time when the mystery religions were so so big in society where things that were said that were mysterious and hard to understand were looked at as being deep Paul was saying I want you to have clarity I want you to know the Lord and I want you to walk with him so I will make sure that I take in consideration the hearer and their ability to understand in verse 10 there are it may be so many kinds of languages in the world none of them is without significance therefore if I do not know the meaning of the language I shall be a foreigner to him who speaks and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me communication is two-way it is intended to communicate with someone else don't don't be speaking a language no one understands make sure that you're able to communicate verse 12 even so you who sense you are zealous for spiritual gifts let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel be zealous to minister for the edification of the entire body because that's the purpose of the gifts and when you exercise your gift do not draw attention to yourself remember in chapter 12 verse 7 how he said the manifestation of the spirit is given to each one for the profit of all so be desirous of building up the body of christ verse 13 therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret for if I pray in a tongue my spirit prays but my understanding is unfruitful what's the result then I will pray with the spirit and I will also pray with the understanding I will sing with the spirit I will also sing with the understanding otherwise if you bless with the spirit how will he who occupies a place of the uninformed say amen you're given a thanks since he doesn't understand what you say for you indeed give thanks well but the other is not edified so let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret if one speaks in a tongue there needs to be an interpretation if there's no one present who can interpret then you pray to interpret if you do not receive the interpretation then remain silent when he says in verse 14 if I pray in a tongue my spirit prays but my understanding is unfruitful notice how he says my spirit prays in other words I'm giving vent to the spirit's utterances neither my mind nor those hearing me will intelligently understand what is being said if there's no interpretation then there's going to be no blessing for those who hear the tongue they're not going to be able to say amen it's your giving of thanks well what is the result in verses 15 through 17 then I'm going to pray with the spirit I'll pray with the understanding I will make a choice to do this I'm going to pray I'm going to sing I'm going to bless and I'm going to give thanks by the spirit's empowerment I pray he says and I sing in the spirit now when I speak in tongues I can also bless with the spirit when he speaks concerning blessing verse 16 if you bless with the spirit when he speaks concerning blessing that word bless means to praise it means to celebrate with praises so again tongues is a language that praises God it's a language that celebrates God's greatness it's like what it says in Psalm 66 verse 8 bless our God you people make the voice of his praise to be heard so you bless God in tongues you speak of how great he is and you give thanks to him and and when interpretation takes place people are going to hear of the glory and majesty and power of God all you need to do is go back to Acts chapter 2 when the day of Pentecost had fully arrived the Holy Spirit had baptized the 120 in that upper room and they poured out began to speak in languages unlearned Acts chapter 2 verse 11 says we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God in Acts chapter 10 verse 46 it says they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God so tongues is a language that blesses God it speaks of his glory speaks of his power it speaks of his majesty and when somebody is interpreting they're going to be saying something of that nature so if somebody was speaking in a tongue in a believer's meeting and there's an interpretation it's usually an impression that's given to you it's not a word for word translation it's an impression and then you give that interpretation you're going to say something about how great God is how great you are how wonderful you are how powerful you are we worship you it'll be praised to the Lord now notice in verse 16 how he says if you bless with the Spirit how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say hey minute you're given a thanks since he doesn't understand what you say uninformed speaks of an unlearned man as opposed to an educated one this speaks of somebody who is unskilled it's in reference to a novice in the faith so he's saying how can somebody who hasn't been brought into maturity yet understand what's taken place and how can they participate because they're uninformed yet he said your praise is good but it's not joined in with that novice and finally he says in verse 18 to the end I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding that I may teach others also than 10,000 words in a tongue I underscored that in my scripture I've had that underscored now for many years many years I would rather speak words that are easy to understand that will cause people to draw closer to God is what Paul is saying that ought to be our attitudes to finally verse 20 brethren do not be children in understanding however in malice be babes but understanding be mature grow up spiritually you're saying have mature desires I was young once 20 about 28 at this time I was part of a group of 12 men who were placed in ministry at the Calvary Chapel that I eventually became an assistant pastor we had an older gentleman who at that time to me older meant that he was about 60 years old now I see him as a young man but at that time he was around 60 years old and we were having a meeting and he had said something to the effect that he had small spiritual needs I'm trying to remember exactly how he put it I have small spiritual needs I only need a little bit of the word of God once in a while throughout the week because my spiritual needs are so small now I had gone with this brother to a smorgasbord and he had gone up to fill his plate three times so I couldn't help but wonder why his physical appetite was so great and his spiritual appetite was so small because he's saying I don't need to eat much of the word of God now he was one of the elders at that time and when he said that to me again remember I was 32 years younger than this man when he said that in the meeting I said I have a bit of a difficulty with what you just said with what do you mean what I just said what you just said you just said your spiritual needs are small when in reality we're supposed to hunger and thirst after righteousness so they should be great they should be greater than any physical appetite that I have for the word of God tells us that I have desired your word more than I desire my daily food so there should be a spiritual hunger in an elder's life and I didn't understand it so I quoted the scripture to him chapter 14 verse 20 where he says do not be children in understanding however in melisby bays and understanding be mature that's what we're supposed to be you see when it comes to being malicious when it comes to bearing grudges being angry desiring worse things for people we should not have that desire but what he's saying is listen if you have a desire for anything have a desire to be an adult be mature grow up in the things of God don't remain infantile my granddaughter stella she's learning to grab my beard and pull herself up and she smiles as she's doing that painful thing to me and just today I had her in my office in between services and I'm looking at her and I've got my face next to hers I've just grown to love this baby I'll be dedicating her on Easter and so I just love this baby and she's got this toothless smile and I was speaking to her today now she doesn't understand me but I was saying one of these days you're going to need some advice and she's six months old you're going to need some advice and you're going to come to papa and you're going to say papa there's a boy who likes me what should I do about it and I'm going to tell you make sure he loves Jesus because if he doesn't love Jesus he will not love you and I'm counseling a six month old she's a baby do you think she's taking my advice no but one of these days when she's mature she will be wise to take advice like that in understanding be mature in malice be like a child don't hold the grudges one of the things about children that I learned as a father is that your children forgive when they're small very quickly you can say I'm sorry I didn't mean to get upset with you I'm sorry and they will say it's okay daddy it's all right they do it very quickly don't they they do if your kid is not saying it's all right I would sleep with the lights on I'm going to get you I remember many years ago I was unjust to one of my children and I said to them forgive me my response to you was not right I'm so sorry forgive me it's okay daddy I still remember the conversation it's okay daddy I said no it's not it's never okay it's never okay for me to not be kind to you it's never okay I'm sorry I didn't want them to start making excuses for bad behavior even it was from their father it's wrong and I apologize because I was wrong in what I did I was wrong for being upset and I'm sorry I wanted my children to grow up to know the Lord and I wanted to provoke them to see his love from the beginning so when they grew older they would have an innocent still about them because they had matured in the things of God so in malice be children in understanding be man in understanding grow up and that's how it works in the kingdom of God you grow up in the things of the Lord we'll stop here and we'll pick up next week at verse 21