Tongues And Prophecy Series

Gifts of the Spirit part 2

JCC 22.11.09 pm

Quickly recap on part 1 as an introduction

Tongues and Prophecy

Slide 1 & slide 2:1 1 Cor 12:1-11 & v7

One gift magnified above another is evidently so out of proportion that it caused division, and they were accused of teaching heresy

Slide 2:2 & slide 3,4 and 5 1 Cor 14:1-25

Slide 6:1, 2 & 3

If you are speaking in an unknown tongue, you are speaking to God not men

In other words, it is a gift whereby a man might be assisted in his worship of God, or in his communicating with God

For by communicating in tongues, because you do not understand it, you are bypassing the narrow channel of your intellect

God has given to us a gift whereby we can bypass the narrow channel of our intellect and we can enter into a full worship with Him

It assists me in my worship and in my praise

If I speak in tongues I am actually speaking to God, though I don’t understand it

He assists me in praising and worshipping the Father, and in glorifying Jesus Christ

Slide 7:1, 2 & 3 Introduction to three tongues

Let’s look at the areas tongues are used in: slide 8:1, 2, 3

1. Human language:

Seen on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) and in the house of Cornelius (Acts 10)

Some say it is evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit

I personally think any manifestation of any one gift is evidence

Was Jesus filled with the Spirit? Yes

Did He speak in tongues? No

This tongue needed no interpretation

But a translation

What did the people hear on both occasions?

Praise and worship to God: magnifying the Lord

Slide 8:4 speaking TO men ABOUT God

It’s a sign for the unbeliever

A language not learned by human effort

They weren’t being preached to in tongues in their own languages

They heard them glorifying and praising God

The interpretation, bringing to the people understanding of your worship and praise to God, then does edify them

As you, by the Spirit, are declaring the glory, the power, the greatness of God, when they can understand your words of praise and exaltation in glorifying God, they are edified by your praises

2. A heavenly language slide 9:1, 2 & 3

Speaking TO God NOT men

Private devotion

4 1 Cor 14:2 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

Our spirit (notice small ‘s’) speaks mysteries to the Lord

But why?

To build us up

4 It only builds up or edifies the one speaking

Tongues is a gift whereby I am built up, I am benefited, I am blessed

Here is where people often make the mistake

They believe that tongues with an interpretation becomes equivalent to prophecy

Slide 10 It is not equivalent to prophecy

Not so, it’s a common mistake among the Pentecostal churches believing that tongues with interpretation

I am sure that as you have seen the particular phenomena of tongues in various places, you see an inconsistency here

For in observing over the years Pentecostal services where there were public utterances in tongues, they called them messages in tongues

And the interpretation so often was after this manner. "My little children, hearken unto Me, for I would call unto you today to praise Me. My little children, hearken unto my voice."

So often the interpretation, or the supposed interpretation is addressed to the people as God would be speaking to them

It would appear in the first person. "For I the Lord declared unto thee that today I am going to bless you," coming out as a message from God to man

Does that mean that the tongues are not genuine? No

It means that the interpretation wasn’t genuine

What often happens is, you do have the gift of tongues exercised, followed by a gift of prophecy and not the interpretation of the tongues

I think this is a common error in churches today, and you will find it almost universally too

Tongues followed by prophecy, rather than a true interpretation of what was uttered in the unknown tongue

So tongues with interpretation is not an equivalent or equal to prophecy, or the same as prophecy

For prophecy is when God speaks to the church to edify, to exhort, to comfort

Whereas tongues are addressed to God, divine mysteries, the secrets, the beauty, the glory as my spirit worships Him

Tongues, as far as I can understand from scripture, are always, as Paul declared here in verse two, addressed to God

We can pray to interpret what we say to Him, so then we understand