to our study this evening uh... so if you open your bibles to the book of first corinthians now i'm gonna be reading out of for my own sake in this study uh... i'm gonna be reading out of the one of the first additions of the new international version before it started to become a perversion so it's still a good version but i'm gonna be reading out of this and uh... And so I think Ruth's going to put some of the scriptures up there. But we're going to be in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 tonight. And what we're going to be doing is we're going to be talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And we began to talk about discernment last time, and we sort of ended right in the middle of this study. And tonight we're going to talk about tongues and interpretation. Now, as we look at these gifts, these gifts are really awesome gifts, and I'll share a little bit about them, I think, in the church, amongst a wide variety of Christians and denominations. Tongues and interpretation. are probably the most misunderstood, feared, maligned, abused, misused, and on the other hand neglected or rejected gifts of all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. You see the most, I think, imbalances abounding when it comes to the gift of tongues. And so tonight, what we want to do is try to really seek to find a balance and see what the scripture really does have to say to us about what tongues are. I think, just like I said there, they're often very, very misunderstood. Now, let's go ahead and take a look at our text and we'll read about it. So look at chapter 12. We've been going through this chapter verse by verse, and looking at the gifts one at a time as we've been going through them. But we're going to begin looking in chapter 12, verse 10, it says, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another the ability to speak in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues, and so these are listed in the gifts that were distributed by the Holy Spirit to the church. Now, as we look at the gift of tongues, I think it's interesting as we think about this, because what we find is of almost all of the gifts that we look at in the New Testament, tongues is really the only gift that we don't find manifest in some form in the Old Testament. So the gift of tongues is really a New Testament gift. Now, the thing about it though, what's interesting, is that it was prophesied in the Old Testament that the gift of tongues was coming, which is really interesting. So what I wanted to do tonight, in order to kind of get the whole gist of the teaching on tongues, And there's a lot of it in here in chapter 14. I just wanted to read it so that we can get it in our minds, and then we'll kind of jump back into this chapter a little bit and look at a few different things as we talk about tongues tonight. But listen to what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 14. He says, follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. For anyone who speaks in the tongue does not speak to men, but to God. Indeed, no one understands him. He utters mysteries with his spirit. But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement, and comfort. He who speaks in the tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified. Now, brothers, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction? Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds such as the flute or harp, how will anyone know what is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes? Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air. Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me. So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in the gifts that build up the church. For this reason, a man who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say amen to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you, but in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue. Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil, be infants, but in your thinking, be adults. In the law it is written, through men of strange... tongues and through the lips of foreigners, I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me," says the Lord. Tongues then are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some of you who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convicted by all that he is a sinner, and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare, so he will fall down and worship God exclaiming, God is really among you. Verse 26, what then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two, or at the most, three should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God. Two or three prophets should speak, and the other should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn, so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak. Then those will be teaching on this section later. They are not allowed to speak. Where are we? I see I messed up now. But must be in submission, as Allah says, if they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home, for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. Did the Word of God originate with you, or are you the only people it has reached? If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored. Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way. So there we have the gist of the teaching in the New Testament on tongues. And so Paul lays it out for us. Now, as I said a while ago, it was prophesied in the Old Testament that the gift of tongues was going to come. Turn with me to Isaiah 28. We just had it quoted here, but I want to show you. Back to Isaiah in chapter 28. And we'll look at verse 11, Isaiah 28 verse 11. It says, very well then with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people and so here there's a little glimpse where God says that he's going to speak to and that's why it was a sign that was given that God when he gave the gift at Pentecost as we'll look at here in a little bit it was a sign that something supernatural happened and God was going to use this sign for the people of Israel to hear other languages, and that was a sign of a miracle that God had done something incredible. So, as we look at this whole idea of it being attached to tongues, when we look back at chapter 14, verse 21, that's what he's quoting. He says, in the law it is written through men of strange tongues and through the lips of foreigners, I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me. So it was a sign that was given. Now Jesus also prophesied that this gift was going to be given. Now some people argue about the validity of this chapter, but it's in my Bible and so I believe it. And so in Mark chapter 16, if you turn over there, listen to what Jesus says. So you got Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And so it's in the four Gospels. And in Mark chapter 16, listen to what we're told in verse 17. It says here, Look at verse 15. It says, He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe. In my name they will drive out demons. They will speak in new tongues. They will pick up snakes with their hands. And when They drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all. And they will place their hands on sick people and they will get well. So Jesus speaks about the coming of this gift as well. So he said these are the signs that are going to accompany the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Now, what is tongues? If we ask the question, what is tongues and why was tongues given? How was tongues used in the New Testament? Now, again, like I mentioned before, there is probably more misunderstanding and controversy, excuse me, and abuse or neglect over this one gift than any other gift. And there are extremes on both sides when it comes to the gift of tongues. Now, it's first mentioned Besides what we just looked at, the manifestation of it is mentioned in Acts chapter 2. So let's turn over there. And we're going to look at the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled and given to the church as Jesus said would happen. So if you look over with me at the book of Acts and we're going to begin looking in chapter 2 verse 1. Acts chapter 2 verse 1, it says, When the day of Pentecost came, they were all gathered together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. Remember we've been talking about the filling or the baptism or the coming of the pond of the Holy Spirit. Here is where it happens. So they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now they were staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard the sound of When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And the word in the Greek for language there is dialectos. It means known languages, okay? And so utterly amazed they asked, are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Yet how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome. So what we're getting here is that these Jews had come from all of these places because they had been scattered. Remember they had been dispersed, they had been scattered, there had been wars, they had gone into captivity. So they were spread out all over the place, but they would come to Jerusalem from all of these places speaking the native languages of where they came from. And so now the apostles begin to speak in tongues, but the people that are coming from these places hear the apostles and the 120 speaking in their own native languages from where they had come from, from Egypt and parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs. We hear them declaring, notice, the wonders of God in our own tongues. Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, what does this mean? Some, however, made fun of them and said, they've had too much wine. So they thought some people thought they were drunk, because it was just craziness, right? So it was a sign that the Holy Spirit had come. Now, a couple of important points. First of all, the miracle, the gift, and I think this needs to be clarified because I've heard this before. I believe, and I think the scripture's clear, that the miracle or the gift was in the speaking, not in the listening. Some have tried to say that the unbelievers or the people that were there, the non-Christians that didn't get baptized in the Holy Spirit, that they were only hearing them in their languages. But I don't believe that that's what was happening. They were literally speaking in their languages. The miracle wasn't in the unbelievers and how they heard it. The miracle was in the speakers and how they were speaking it. So they were literally speaking these different languages from these different places. And the people could hear them declaring the wonders of God, the praises of God in their own native tongues. Now, as they hear them, and they hear these languages, in fact, verse 4, notice in verse 4 here, notice what it tells us, it says, and all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. The Dore version says, has it like this, as the Spirit prompted their speech. So they were prompted in their speech to speak in these other languages. Now, at the first manifestation of tongues here in Acts chapter 2, what we find that they were doing at this moment is that they were praising. They were declaring the wonderful works of God. And so they were speaking in known and in real languages. Now, they didn't learn these languages. That's the miracle of it. They didn't know how to speak these languages, but the Holy Spirit gave them the ability to speak and to worship and to praise God in another language. Now the second point that I want to bring out in this is that this was not preaching either. A lot of people will try to say they were preaching. It doesn't say they were preaching. It says that they were praising. It was a form of prayer or worship or adoration. And it was directed to God. It was not directed to men. It's sort of like you might say they were like worshipping like the Psalms, and they were worshipping God. And so this is consistent with what Paul says back in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 2, where Paul says, for he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men. So the tongue is not directed, the person speaking in a tongue isn't speaking to men directly like if God was prophesying through them. He says, he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. So the direction of the tongue is toward God, it's praising, it's worshiping Him. So that's what we learned from looking at this. Now in Acts chapter 10, Cornelius, when he received, well let's turn over there real quick. In the book of Acts, this is when the Gentiles first received the same gift. And what's really cool is that when they received the gift here in Acts chapter 10, Peter's witnessing to him. He's sharing the gospel with them. He's been sent there by the Lord. He was hesitant to go because they were Gentiles. He goes into their house and he basically begins to share the message of the gospel with them. and it says in verse 44 that while Peter was still speaking these words he's sharing the message of the gospel what Christ had come to do about forgiveness of sins life through his name he's preaching the message verse 44 but while Peter was still speaking these words the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message and the circumcised The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on even the Gentiles, for they heard them, notice, speaking in tongues and praising God. So there we see tongues again, and it's what? It's praising, it's worship, it's adoration, it's directed toward God. So they heard them praising God. There have been those that have said, well tongues is a miraculous gift but it was given for preaching. It wasn't for preaching according to what I can see in the scripture. That would be God speaking to men. Rather we're told, he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Now obviously the gift itself is a sign from God. God used that sign to speak to the Jews and the Gentiles, the people, that something miraculous had taken place. And so in that sense, God was speaking to them in a bigger or a more general sense. But the actual words themselves were directed Godward, okay? So, men were speaking to God. Now, in 1 Corinthians 14, 14, turn with me there. We're gonna be looking at these a little bit because we're trying to decipher what's going on with this gift. But in 1 Corinthians 14, 14, notice what it says. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. And he says, and I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. And so we see once more that it's a prayer, it's praise, it's singing. Tongues can come in different forms, but the direction is always Godward. Now, I have heard people say this, and you probably have too if you've been around the charismatic circles or the Pentecostal circles, that they'll say, well, I've been given the gift of heavenly language, or I have the gift of tongues, of angels. And here's where they get this idea from. Look over at 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Paul the apostle, he had just finished saying, in chapter 12 verse 27 he says, now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it and in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then also those having gifts of healing, those who are able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues and then he asks this rhetorical question the answer is no to all of these he says are all apostles? No, some of them are Are all prophets? No, not all of them are, but some of them are. Are all teachers? No, not everybody's a teacher in the church, but there are some teachers. Do all work miracles? Not everybody had that gift, but some did. Do all have gifts of healing? No, but some do. Do all speak in tongues? The obvious answer is no, not everyone speaks in tongues. Do all interpret? No, not everybody can interpret. But then he says, but eagerly desire the greater gifts. And he says, now I will show you the most excellent way. And here's where they get the idea that there's angelic tongues, and then there's the tongues, the dialectos, or the tongues that we're talking about that we see in the book of Acts, that were earthly languages. But here's where they come up with this idea. Paul says, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, But have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge. Now Paul, obviously what he's doing here is he's drawing a contrast. He says, even if I could do this, If I could fathom all the mysteries of God, and have all knowledge, obviously nobody can, right? And if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I'm nothing. So what Paul says, if I could speak in the tongues of men, and of angels even, but I don't have love, big zero. So I don't think he's necessarily saying that the angelic tongues is something that people get, some get, and some get the earthly dialects. I just think what he was doing here is he was just saying, look, if we could do this and we could do all this and yet don't have the love, it's a big zero. So he was just using it as an illustration. But some people take it and say, oh see, there's tongues of angels. And I have the angelic heavenly language, they'll say. Now what's amazing is that these 120 disciples in the upper room that received this gift, as they're praising God, and these languages, like I said, they're not learned, they're given by the Holy Spirit, and it was instantaneous that they were able to learn these languages. Now, how many of you can speak more than one language? Anybody in this room? Don't be shy, yeah? Okay, how many of you can speak, okay, if you can speak more than one, let's say you can speak two. How many can speak more than two, like three? Wow, you guys are awesome. Well, we had a lady in the church here that could speak at one time. She's moved on, but I think she spoke six or seven languages, something like that. It was five or six or seven. And I was always amazed at how she was able to learn languages. Like, I grew up... in the Hispanic family, both my parents spoke fluent Spanish. In fact, my son-in-law, Zach, was freaking out the other day because my mom came to visit us. She drove all the way from Albuquerque last Sunday, this past Sunday, all the way from Albuquerque, four hours, stayed two hours, and drove all the way back. Like, Mom, stay with us. No, no, we gotta get back, you know? But she was talking to the kids in Spanish. And Zach's like, man, your mom speaks good Spanish. How come you never learn? I go, because I was a bonehead. I wish I would have learned. And now everyone tells me, you should learn Spanish. I can't. My brain is like a fossil. I can't learn Spanish now. I probably could, maybe, if I had to. But anyway, some people just seem to have a knack for languages. And when we went to Romania, I remember Julie, the girl that has this knack for languages, she knew we were going to go to Romania. We were going on a missions trip. There were 18 of us from, I think 16 from our church and 18 total that went from here to Romania for two weeks on a missions trip. And it was a total blast. We did all kinds of awesome stuff. But Julie found out we were going to be going to Romania. She didn't speak Romanian. And so she says to me, she says, we have a couple months before we're gonna go, and she says, I'm gonna try to learn a few words in Romanian so that when we get there, I can kind of help us out a little bit if we need to. I'm like, okay, that'd be cool, Julie. Well, we land, we get there, and we get off the plane. Well, we meet them, they got on a different flight, and we met them there, and we start talking to the pastor, and Julie starts speaking fluent language Romanian to the pastor back and forth, and I'm like, What? How did you learn how to speak Romanian in two months, you know? I was freaking out on her. It's just not right, you know? And so, anyway, but so tongues, so you can see how tongues kind of, the way that the gift of tongues was given, it's really an intellectual sort of an insult to many people. Because it's not the mind, it's the spirit bypassing the intellect and speaking in a language that the speaker himself often doesn't even know what he or her is saying, the language that they're speaking in. In other words, if you're given a gift of tongues, you might not know what language, you probably won't know what language you're speaking in. And so it's a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. Now the primary use of tongues was to pray like we saw, to pray, to praise, to worship through the bypassing of the intellect directly by the Spirit. And so it's a great way to really get deeper with the Lord or allows the Lord to speak through you. Notice what Paul, the way he describes it in chapter 14, verse two, he says, notice, he says, for everyone or anyone who speaks in the tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him. He utters mysteries with his spirit. And then, or some versions will say divine secrets. So it's the Holy Spirit interceding then on behalf of the believer. And we don't, because sometimes we really don't know how we should pray, but the Holy Spirit intercedes then and speaks on behalf of the believer in an intercessory way with the gift of tongues. And so the tongues is a wonderful gift, but it's a gift for self-edification primarily. It's of all of the gifts. All the gifts have been given really for the edification of the body of Christ, the edification of others. You're supposed to use your gifts to be a blessing to others. But when we look at tongues, the gift of tongues, the speaker edifies himself. That's why 1 Corinthians 14 tells us in a public setting, and we just read it, that tongues are only to be exercised out loud if there's someone there who can interpret. Otherwise the person is to speak quietly. Notice, look down, where did I read it here a second ago? Yeah, verse 28, if there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church. It's not saying you can't speak in tongues in church, but if in the church you're speaking in tongues and there's no interpreter, well then you need to be quiet because it says, because people aren't gonna get edified by what you're saying, but they should keep quiet in the church and speak, notice, to himself and God. So you're talking to God, you're praising, you're worshiping. So if there's no one there to interpret, the person is supposed to keep quiet. So interpretation of tongues is essential. Now remember this, tongues is not for the purpose of saying, look how spiritual I am, right? Because that's what I think happens sometimes. People, in certain church circles love to speak out in tongues as loud as they can. And I grew up, my baby Christian life was in a Pentecostal church. And Dee and I met in this church basically. We were going to this Bible study at a Pentecostal church, it was called Tabernacle of Praise in Paradise Hills in Albuquerque, a Pentecostal church. It used to be a Baptist church and then they converted to a Pentecostal church. They all got filled with the Holy Spirit, and I guess they kicked them out of the Baptist church or something. And so they were a Pentecostal church now. But so we would go to church there, and the way that the church services would start every single time, is it would start with some praise and music, praise and worship, and then all of a sudden, somebody would start prophesying, and they'd be prophesying. And then after a couple, a little bit of prophesying, every single time, the whole church would break out in tongues. And it would just be like 10 minutes of pure chaos. Everybody just like, you know, whatever. And they're all speaking in tongues. And that was what happened week in and week out, week in and week out. And the thing about the gift is this gift is really a private gift unless there's someone there to interpret. So it's not a gift that's been given for you to show off how spiritual you are. I remember one time here in town and I was invited to come speak or to do opening prayer for a big ecumenical kind of service that they were having down at Goff Park. And they said, Pastor Joseph, will you lead us in the opening prayer? I said, yeah, sure, no problem. So I got there and there was lots of people there, a lot of people I didn't know, a lot of people that weren't from our fellowship. We had people from our fellowship there too. So I started to pray in English, the only language I know. Well, I can pray in tongues, but I'm not going to do it in front of you. But I started to pray in English, and all of a sudden lots of people start praying in tongues, but they're yelling. And literally I could not hear myself think. I was like, my brain, you know, and it just freaked me out because I'm not used to that. And not only that, it's disorderly according to what Paul says here. So Paul says, unless you're speaking intelligible words with your tongue, no one's going to know what you're saying. He says, you'll just be speaking into the air. And he says, you may be giving thanks well enough, but he says, no one can say amen to your thanksgiving unless they know what you're saying. So Paul goes on and he says, unless there's an interpreter, the speaker has to keep quiet in the church and speak between himself and God. So you can control the volume. That's why he says, keep quiet and speak between yourself and God. I've heard people say, well, when tongues comes upon me, I just can't control the volume. It says right here. So as a young believer, I remember being in this situation and it just kind of messed with my mind because I was like, why are they doing this? And then when I started to read this and understand that there's order to what God says and these are misuses or abuses and they're not being done correctly, well then I'm like, why don't they read 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14? It's here, because this was one of the problems in the early church. Right? We see verse 23. Notice the problem that was going on. Here Paul is addressing and he says, so if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues and some do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? Yes. That's what happens. So Paul is saying, look, we need to do things in an orderly manner in the church. So he says, pray or prophesy, but let it be done one at a time and let there be an interpreter. Two are at the most, three should speak. You know, this is the order that he gives to us. That's what he tells us in verse 26 to 28, right? He tells us to do it in an orderly manner. So he concludes in 1 Corinthians 14 verse 39, notice what he says, But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way. So by saying, my brothers, be eager to prophesy and not forbid speaking in tongues, he's saying, look, be open to the gifts of the Spirit. Don't forbid it. But he says, but let everything be done in a decent and an orderly way. So this gift of tongues, and the way that we look at it, and like I said, there's different views on this. There's, I shared with you on the other gifts as well, and some of the other gifts, that there's a whole group in the church today that are called cessationists, and they believe that these gifts ended, and they were signed gifts, and they ended, they were only for the early church, they were only for the time of the apostles. Once we got the full canon of scripture, that we don't need these gifts anymore. That's one interpretation of the gifts, or 1 Corinthians 13, when that which is perfect is come, that which is, you know, he says, in verse nine, he says, for we know in part, we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. So they use that one verse, and they somehow interpret that to mean we don't need gifts anymore. And I don't believe that that's what it's talking about. I think it's talking about when Jesus comes back, when his kingdom is here. We're not gonna need all these gifts anymore. But in the meantime, I do believe that we need them and they are for today. However, is it a must? Do all Christians receive it? The answer is obviously no. And I know a lot of people who have this gift, the gift of tongues, but I also know a lot of people who don't have the gift of tongues. And guess what? They both love Jesus. They both love Him. I know a few people who say, you know, it's not for today. And I know a few people who say it is for today, but both of them love Jesus. So here's the thing, tongues is not an issue of salvation, nor should it be an issue to be divided over or to fight over. If someone says that they have the gift of tongues and they wanna use it, let them, go for it. But don't be saying, that's of the devil. And I hear people say that sometimes. I was on a conversation the other day on a public setting, and that's what some of the people were basically saying, that if you're speaking in tongues now, that it's a counterfeit from Satan. And it's like, what is wrong with you? That's like calling a gift, something beautiful that the Holy Spirit's given to the church, that it's of the devil. That's wrong. So here's the way I look at it, and I've shared this with you many times. I personally, I want any gift that the Holy Spirit wants to give to me. Anyone. And I prayed, I remember when I got saved and I didn't get the gift of tongues. Remember I told you when I got laid, they laid hands on me and all that? I didn't get the gift of tongues. But later on I began to pray, I said, Lord, if you wanna give me the gift of tongues, go ahead and give it to me. And all of a sudden, one time, the Lord gave it to me, and it's been a great gift. And I pray in tongues a lot. You never will hear me probably, but I pray in tongues a lot under my breath, or if I'm in counseling, or if I'm in prayer where everyone else is praying in English, I might be praying in tongues to myself. And so I pray in tongues a lot. Now, do I understand what I'm saying? No. Is it kind of weird? Yeah, it seems kind of weird. But I really do believe that the Lord has given that. Does He give it to everybody? No, but maybe He does want to give it to you. Do you have it yet? If you don't, maybe He wants to give it to you. But maybe He's going to give you some other gift. So, if you don't have the gift of tongues, it doesn't mean that you're not filled with the Spirit. There's many, many people that are filled with the Holy Spirit that have other gifts besides that gift. Now, finally, let's end with, oh good, we have a little time. Finally, let's end with the gift of interpretation of tongues. Now, the interpretation of tongues, listen carefully to this, because It's not necessarily the gift of translation. Translation and interpretation are not the same exact thing. Languages have meanings, right? So, if you're translating something, it's word for word for word. Exactly. Interpreting what someone says may not be the exact word for word thing. So languages, the interesting thing about languages is that there's so many languages on the earth. I think I read the other day, I forget how many there were. I mentioned it a while back. Something like 6,000 or something. There's a lot of languages on the earth. But it's amazing because when you think about what a language is, is all languages are are noises. They're noises that have meanings attached to them. They're noises with definitions attached. So I've used this illustration in the past, but let's just say that we were gonna make up our own language, okay? And we were gonna learn it here in this little group. So I said, okay, from now on, ug, when I make the noise ug, right, it means pizza. Okay? So then I said, let's go to Ugg Hut. And you guys all know what I mean. Let's go to pizza, because it's pizza, right? We agree that Ugg means pizza. So languages, what they do is they have meaning. And so when you're communicating, in order to be understood, there has to be a way to attach meaning to the sounds. What's cool to me is like, God is the one that really created language in the first place. And it was God, apparently there was one language on the earth, in the book of Genesis, and then God confused the languages, the people, and they all began to spread out at the Tower of Babel, and they couldn't understand each other, so they kind of broke up into their own little groups, and they had different languages, and God gave them language. So you see it there in the book of Genesis, where I guess we could kind of say that was sort of like tongues, but it was for a whole different reason. God confused their languages and then they had all these different ones instead of just one. But anyways, as we look at this whole idea of languages, Paul says the interpretation of tongues is important so that those who hear can say amen to the person's thanksgiving. Now, just as the tongue is miraculous, I believe, according to what Paul says here, that the gift of interpreting tongues is miraculous too. It's the Spirit, the Holy Spirit giving the person the ability to hear a language that they possibly don't know, even an unintelligible language to them. They don't know what it means, they don't have the meanings, but they are able then to interpret the language that they don't know as the person that is speaking the language that they don't know, you're hearing it, and then you are able to interpret what they're saying. Now, you can see the difference between interpretation and translation in Daniel chapter five. In Daniel chapter five, something cool happens. God writes on the wall with his finger and says, many, many, tekel, yufarsen. Four words, right? Just four words. Now when you, a literal translation of those words means numbered, numbered, weighed, divided. Okay? That's a literal translation. But then Daniel interprets the meaning of the words. He doesn't give a literal translation. He interprets the meaning of the words and he says, many means God has numbered your kingdom and it is finished. Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and have found wanting. Yufarsin, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians. So you see the difference between a literal interpreting of the words versus, or translation of the words versus interpretation. So he interprets the words, and so Daniel gives this much longer interpretation. than just a literal translation of the words. He interprets what is being said with those words. So the gift of interpretation is an amazing gift because then what you can do is you can really hear what the Holy Spirit is saying as He is interceding or worshiping or praising through the person. I want to close with a story that I found, and this is a cool book. We have these in the library. It's called Living by the Power of the Holy Spirit in Your Life, or Living Water is the main title, but it's written by Pastor Chuck Smith who's passed away. Now Pastor Chuck Smith, what's cool about Pastor Chuck Smith that I loved about him, such a simple teacher, but Pastor Chuck Smith came from a four-square church. And so he came out of the Pentecostal movement, and then he became a Calvary Chapel pastor. He started the Calvary Chapel movement, a whole separate thing. But he really began to study the scripture, and he came out of a church that taught, you know, everybody has to speak in tongues and all that. But he started to say, you know what, there's order in the scripture. and there's a right way to do it. And so anyway, he wrote this book, it's really cool, but I wanna read to you something neat about interpretation that he writes that I thought was really kind of interesting. Here's what he says. Several years ago when Calvary Chapel was in transitional form, we gathered each Sunday night in the East Bluff Community Center. One evening on Pentecost Sunday, 55 or 60 of us had assembled to remember the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the early church. At the end of our Bible study, I suggested that we all worship and praise the Lord and wait upon Him as they did when the Holy Spirit descended on Pentecost. As we did so, Lynn, the woman I mentioned, and I guess he talked about her earlier, in the previous chapter, began to speak in French. With my three years of Latin, I was able to pick up a portion of what she was saying. I could tell that she was giving a lovely praise to God. Lynn was thanking the Lord for the beautiful song he had put in her heart. It was her love song to him, a song of joy and blessing. It was especially moving because prior to her conversion, she had been singing in nightclubs. When she accepted the Lord, she left that lifestyle and began to use her beautiful voice to sing for Jesus. This night in French, She was thanking the Lord and praising him for the joyous new song he had put in her heart. I could understand just enough of it to enjoy her celebration, but not enough to give an interpretation. My wife, however, who doesn't understand any French at all, began to interpret. And I began to rejoice. It was exactly what I had understood. I knew that neither Lynn nor my wife knew or had studied French. So to hear such a perfect interpretation of Lynn's expressions of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, so close to a literal translation, I had my own Pentecost that night. So isn't that cool? So it's just neat how this gift obviously is still for today. God wants to give the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the church. Should we be open to them? Yes, I believe we should. I remember talking to someone not too long ago that said, I don't want tongues, I don't want tongues. And I'm like, if the Lord wanted to give you that gift, why wouldn't you want it? I mean, it's a little bit strange of a gift, but it's a gift that you edify yourself with. And all of the gifts, to me, are such a blessing. Whatever the Holy Spirit wants to give to us in empowering us and equipping us for serving Him, If we can be equipped better for serving Him, bring it on, right? So this is cool stuff. I mean, it may be new to you. Maybe you've had a different teaching of it. I'm sorry you were misinformed, but just kidding. So of course, my teaching's always perfect, and so everyone else, if theirs is different, they're just wrong, that's all. But I'm just joking. But we have different, like I said, there's a bunch of different views on this. So maybe some of the stuff I've said, maybe you don't agree with, or maybe you've heard it differently, but this is the way that I understand it, and this is from my own studies, this is what the gift of tongues is for, and this is what the gift of interpretation is for, and hopefully if God wants to give us those gifts, that we'll be open to whatever He has. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this time together. We thank You for Your Word, and what a blessing it is to be able to study it, Lord, and just to see the cool things that You've done and that You do in Your Word, Lord, the working and the empowerment and the gifting of the Holy Spirit to the church. Father, I pray that we would be a spiritually empowered and enabled and gifted church. A group of believers, Lord, who are desiring to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, that we are open to whatever you have for us, so that we can serve you and one another better, and that we can bring you glory. Lord, we admit that without the power of the Holy Spirit, Lord, we can do nothing. And so, Lord, we pray for the empowerment of the Spirit daily in our lives, and that we might be overflowing with living water. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.