1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,080 A privilege this morning to open up God's Word together. 2 00:00:03,280 --> 00:00:06,040 And so if you've got your Bible with you either in the original 3 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:09,400 book version or in some kind of digital device, now is your 4 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:12,080 moment to produce it. We're continuing a series that 5 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:15,080 we've been doing for, I don't know, several weeks called 6 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:20,440 Impact, which is really looking at how a group of really, really 7 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:23,280 ordinary people ended up changing the world. 8 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,000 And so we're working our way through the book of Acts, and 9 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,520 we're just pausing wherever the Holy Spirit is mentioned. 10 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:32,439 And we're looking at what was really going on for those people 11 00:00:32,439 --> 00:00:36,800 in that place and therefore what it might mean for us in our time 12 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,200 in our place. And we've reached really the 13 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:41,560 ultimate mention of the Holy Spirit in the whole of the 14 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,760 Bible, the day of Pentecost. And so if you've got your Bible 15 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:47,880 with you, we're going to be first of all in Acts chapter 2 16 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:54,840 and later on one Corinthians 14, if you want to be like super 17 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:57,800 eager and on it, but let's just read together. 18 00:00:57,800 --> 00:00:59,280 Well, I say read together. I'm going to read. 19 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:02,120 You're going to listen. Acts chapter 2, verse one says 20 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:06,120 this. When the day of Pentecost came, 21 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:09,280 they were all together in one place. 22 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,080 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came 23 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:15,720 from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 24 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,760 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated 25 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:21,800 and came to rest on each of them. 26 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,560 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. 27 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,160 If if you're the kind of person who likes to like, circle 28 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:31,000 things, underline things in your Bible, all would be a good one. 29 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:34,760 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak 30 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,440 in other tongues or other languages as the Spirit enabled 31 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:40,520 them. Now they were staying in 32 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:43,600 Jerusalem, God fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 33 00:01:43,960 --> 00:01:47,000 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in 34 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,240 bewilderment because each one heard their own language being 35 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:54,240 spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked on 36 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:56,160 all these Who are speaking Galileans? 37 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:00,680 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native 38 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:02,840 language? And that's our scripture for 39 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,720 this morning. So now that we've got to know 40 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,120 each other a little bit over the last few weeks, I feel like it's 41 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,240 a kind of a safe and secure place to be able to share with 42 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:17,120 you that when I was 15 years old, I stayed the night. 43 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:23,480 I slept in a public toilet. And the reason like there is a 44 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,160 bit of a back story to that. I didn't just randomly one night 45 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:27,200 think I know what I'm going to do. 46 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:29,840 I, I was a scout. Do we have any scouts in the 47 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:31,800 room? You know, DIB, DIB, DOB, DOB. 48 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:35,320 I like I was in the scouts and, and it was a kind of a rite of 49 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:40,760 passage that basically we, we were driven me and some friends 50 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:43,600 to a car park at the bottom of a mountain. 51 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:47,920 And it was like, OK, you've got three days to get home and, and 52 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:50,760 it's like 50 miles away back to the youth hostel where we were 53 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:52,280 staying. You got, you got 3 days. 54 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:56,000 And so off we went. And, and I was like, right, 55 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:57,600 let's get the map. Let's have a look at where we're 56 00:02:57,600 --> 00:02:59,280 going. And my friend David was like, 57 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:01,720 no, no, no, we don't need a map. What do we need the map for? 58 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:04,040 He said, I was here a few weeks ago with my family. 59 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:05,720 I know exactly which way we're going. 60 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:06,960 It's this way. And off he went. 61 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:09,200 And I was like, guys, could we just please look at the map? 62 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:10,360 And he was like, I don't need the map. 63 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:12,920 I know where I'm going. So off we went up the mountain 64 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,960 and maybe like two or three hours later, he's looking 65 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:21,880 slightly less certain of the then he knows the way and the, 66 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,080 the clouds were starting to come in and you could hardly see your 67 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:27,920 hand in front of your face and the wind was really getting up 68 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:30,960 and and then it started to get dark and we and I was like, 69 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:32,760 could we please just look at the map? 70 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:34,720 He was like, I think I know the way. 71 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:36,640 I was like, no, no, honestly, I really think we need to look at 72 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,760 the map. And eventually it was properly 73 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,720 dark. We had no idea where we were and 74 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,480 and we met this old man who's probably about the age I am now. 75 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:51,160 And, and he said, he said, listen, you guys, I can tell 76 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:53,040 you're lost and this is quite dangerous now. 77 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:55,000 And so he basically took us down the mountain. 78 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:57,920 He took us to his van. He put us in the van, He drove 79 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:02,800 us to civilization and he left us there and we started to put 80 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:05,480 up our tent, But to be honest, we were absolutely exhausted. 81 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,080 And then just as we looked up, we realized that he dropped us 82 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:11,920 just outside the public toilet and, and we were like, well, we 83 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:17,399 could put up the tent or we could just use this shelter 84 00:04:17,399 --> 00:04:20,880 that's already been provided. And, and so, so we, so we went 85 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:25,280 into the gents and it absolutely stank. 86 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,080 And, and there was an inch of what we'll call water, but 87 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:32,680 wasn't really water on the ground, but we were like, it's 88 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:37,320 still better than being outside. And so we slept the night on the 89 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:42,720 floor of this public toilet. And then the worst part of the 90 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:45,960 whole experience was the next day we realised, do you know 91 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:46,960 what? Let's go and have a look at the 92 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:48,760 ladies. And we went to the ladies. 93 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:52,520 There were cut flowers. There was like, you know, it was 94 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:55,040 beautifully warm. It was just like, oh, I can't. 95 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:57,600 And that's basically the story of my life unfolding right 96 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,040 there. But you might be wondering what 97 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:01,520 my point is. And to be honest, I need to look 98 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:02,960 at my notes to remember what my point is. 99 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:06,800 Thank God he's given us the map. There you go, That was the 100 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:07,800 point. Thank God. 101 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:09,600 There you go. Very good, very good. 102 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:13,720 Thank God he's given us the map. You know, we, we don't have to 103 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,760 spend our lives wandering around in the dark wondering what a 104 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:21,520 Christian should be or, or how we're to live or, or what it 105 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:24,160 looks like to be a Christian in different environments. 106 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:26,040 Because God has given us the map. 107 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:28,720 He's given us this book. And I think what we're supposed 108 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:34,800 to do with this book is instead of being super self confident 109 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:36,440 and like, oh, I think I know the way. 110 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:37,480 I'm, I'm pretty sure I know the way. 111 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:39,840 I don't need to look at the map. Instead, day by day, we're 112 00:05:39,840 --> 00:05:43,840 supposed to re examine the map and we're not supposed to come 113 00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:47,480 to the map with all kinds of assumptions and preconceptions 114 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:49,880 and self-confidence. I think we're supposed to 115 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:55,840 approach the map with humility. Like, Lord, I, I'm not sure I do 116 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:59,880 know the the way and even if I think I do, I just want to 117 00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:02,440 check. And so really what we're going 118 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,440 to find ourselves doing as Christians day by day is saying 119 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:09,560 what does the text actually say rather than what I think the 120 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:12,680 text says, What does the text actually say? 121 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:16,040 And how am I going to go about applying that to my life? 122 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:19,880 And today we're going to do that with this extraordinary 123 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:22,960 phenomenon that appears in this text that we just read. 124 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,720 The whole concept that when the Holy Spirit comes into our lives 125 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,440 and into our bodies and we're filled afresh with the Holy 126 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:33,200 Spirit, there is a chance that we might find ourselves speaking 127 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:36,120 a language that we haven't learnt before, that nobody's 128 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:38,800 taught us. The Bible calls that the gift of 129 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,440 tongues or praying in tongues or speaking in tongues. 130 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:43,120 And we're going to look at that this morning. 131 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,200 Now let me just say to you, if you're new into church and 132 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,320 you're thinking, I knew it, these guys are all nutters. 133 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,560 You know, I would understand why you might think that. 134 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:56,440 But what I want to say to you is you came here today and maybe 135 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:59,720 you came to Hatfield or Hemel. You came here today because 136 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:01,720 you're looking for a power that will change your life. 137 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:05,400 And so all I'm trying to do today is introduce you to the 138 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:09,760 kind of power that might really change how you live and why you 139 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:11,960 live. And so that's what we're going 140 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:14,400 to do today. And just to warn you, I'm going 141 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:17,160 to go a bit deep this morning. There will probably be less gags 142 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:20,280 than usual, but that's OK. There are more gags next week. 143 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:22,800 And so I just feel like it's important to just kind of 144 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:24,000 address this. Do you know what? 145 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:27,000 Just by way of a gag, you know, it was quite funny when I was 146 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,960 typing my talk into my laptop. You know, when you get the word, 147 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:34,840 the the spelling slightly wrong and it says did you mean? 148 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:39,840 And so I, I typed in badly the gift of tongues and it said, did 149 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,320 you mean the gift of fondue, which I thought was really 150 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,360 funny. So we're not going to despise 151 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,320 the gift of fondue this morning, but we are mainly speaking about 152 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,720 the gift of tongues. So what is actually happening in 153 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:55,040 this text? The Holy Spirit comes on, these 154 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:59,800 disciples, 120 of them in the upper room, and the next thing 155 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:03,600 that happens is that they find themselves speaking in other 156 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:05,960 tongues. And if you're the kind of person 157 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:09,800 who likes to make sure you understand everything really 158 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:13,120 well, you might find it helpful. If you've got the NIV version, 159 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:16,720 for example, that I'm using this morning, there's a little a next 160 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:19,080 to the word tongues, and you follow that down to the bottom 161 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:21,360 of the page and it says all languages. 162 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,000 So when we're speaking about the gift of tongues, we're speaking 163 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:27,640 about languages, we're speaking in languages. 164 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:30,280 And so the Holy Spirit comes on them and they start speaking a 165 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:31,360 language that they haven't learned. 166 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:34,000 It would be a bit like the Holy Spirit coming on my beautiful 167 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:37,200 wife Taran, and then her suddenly speaking in Mandarin 168 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:39,520 Chinese. You know, I can assure you she's 169 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:42,280 never learned and been taught a word of Mandarin Chinese. 170 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:44,840 But that's the kind of thing that's happening here, right? 171 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:46,720 They're suddenly speaking Japanese. 172 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:51,200 And even more amazingly than that, there are people in the 173 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:54,120 crowd who are like, wow, that's amazing. 174 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:56,600 That's like my language. And suddenly they find 175 00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:59,920 themselves understanding what Taryn is saying, and she's 176 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:02,160 speaking about the good news of Jesus. 177 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:05,800 And they hear it and they repent and they're baptized, right? 178 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:08,280 So it's an amazing thing that's happening. 179 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:10,360 That's basically what's happening in this text. 180 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:14,400 There's actually only one other place really in the New 181 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:19,440 Testament where something like that is happening, where, where 182 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:23,560 people find themselves speaking a known human language that 183 00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:26,360 other people understand. And I, I think that's in Acts 184 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:28,800 chapter 10. So in Acts chapter 10, the 185 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:33,120 apostle Peter is in Cornelius's house and the Holy Spirit comes 186 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:38,520 on, all the people in the house and they start, well, actually 187 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:42,560 what it actually says is let me try and find it. 188 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:50,680 Acts chapter 10, verse 47, it says they Peter says they've 189 00:09:50,680 --> 00:09:53,280 received the Holy Spirit in the same way that we did. 190 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:55,800 In other words, in the same way as it happened in Acts chapter 191 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:57,880 2. That seems to be the only other 192 00:09:57,880 --> 00:09:59,920 place. And So what I want to suggest to 193 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:02,480 you this morning, and again, it's just my suggestion, it's 194 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:10,040 just my reading of the text, is that that idea that the Holy 195 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:13,480 Spirit might come on you and you might start speaking another 196 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:16,720 foreign language. That seems from the text of the 197 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:22,240 Scriptures to be a rare thing rather than a common thing that 198 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:24,160 enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit. 199 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:26,880 A Christian might just suddenly start speaking Japanese or 200 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:29,320 Chinese or whatever it is. That seems to be rare. 201 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:33,080 For example, it only seems to appear in the book of Acts. 202 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:36,760 It doesn't seem to appear in any other part of the New Testament. 203 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:39,240 It's never mentioned or taught about anywhere else in the New 204 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:41,520 Testament. And Christian history and 205 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:43,400 experience would also suggest that. 206 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:47,360 So, so most Christians you meet might have a story. 207 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:51,480 Like I've got one story. You know, my friend Paul Reed, 208 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:55,440 who led an amazing church in Belfast for many years, he, he 209 00:10:55,440 --> 00:11:00,720 tells a story about how he was in a, a, a meeting and someone 210 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,480 stands up and they speak really loudly in tongues. 211 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,240 And then the whole back row suddenly starts talking to each 212 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:07,960 other. And, and he's like, how rude. 213 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:11,160 They're just like, you know, not paying attention to what's 214 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:13,440 happening at the front. And it turned out that that 215 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:17,760 person had begun to speak Mandarin, unbeknownst to them, 216 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:19,720 and the whole back row was Chinese. 217 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:21,640 And so they're like, I recognised that. 218 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:24,480 And that was an amazing thing. That seems to be super rare. 219 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:27,280 Does anyone else in this room have a, a, like, I'm not going 220 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:29,880 to ask you to share it, but like, just you, you're aware of 221 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:32,920 something like that happening. OK, so I can see a few hands. 222 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:36,840 So it's not like it never happens, but it seems like it's 223 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:45,120 kind of rare. It's not the only form of 224 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:48,760 speaking in tongues that appears in the New Testament. 225 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:51,680 There's actually two types of speaking in tongues. 226 00:11:51,680 --> 00:11:55,120 The other one, which from the biblical text seems to be way 227 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:59,640 more common, is when a believer empowered by the Holy Spirit 228 00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:03,320 starts to speak in a language that doesn't seem to be another 229 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:07,280 human language. It's not Japanese or Chinese or 230 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:10,480 German or anything like that. This person is praying in a in 231 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:13,120 in a language that doesn't seem to be another human language. 232 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:15,480 Perhaps it's the language of angels. 233 00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:18,400 I'm getting that from 1 Corinthians 13. 234 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:20,640 You know, you've got this amazing passage that often gets 235 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:23,840 spoken at weddings, you know, all about love. 236 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:27,560 But it starts off, doesn't it, If I speak in the tongues of men 237 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:32,320 or of angels, but don't have love, I'm like a resounding gong 238 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:35,960 or a clanging cymbal. And so it may be, I don't know. 239 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:40,160 I, I, I read it recently and I was like, that would make sense 240 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,840 that Paul is giving two different types of this gift of 241 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:46,360 speaking in tongues, right? I'm speaking in the men in the 242 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:52,640 the language of men, IE German or Chinese or whatever, or I'm 243 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:54,200 speaking in the language of angels. 244 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:58,000 I'm speaking an unknown language and maybe that's the helpful way 245 00:12:58,000 --> 00:12:59,600 to think of it, but don't worry if it isn't. 246 00:13:00,560 --> 00:13:05,240 I vividly remember the first time I met anyone who's who's 247 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:08,360 prayed in tongues. It was my best friend and he 248 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:11,400 just said to me one day when I was a teenager, Oh by the way, 249 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:16,240 I've started praying in tongues. And if I'm honest, I thought you 250 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:21,000 poor chap, you know, but because my only experience of people 251 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:24,120 speaking in tongues was like episodes of Inspector Morse, you 252 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:27,160 know, where, where some people have no idea in this room what 253 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:29,120 Inspector Morse is, which is a very funny thing. 254 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:33,880 But, you know, people who are basically criminally insane 255 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:38,880 suddenly find themselves in a trance like state and they start 256 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:41,480 speaking in tongues on TV. That's, that's basically my own 257 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:44,080 experience. And so I said to my friend what 258 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:47,480 you would have said if you were there, you would have said, go 259 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:50,080 on then show me. And so he did. 260 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:55,120 And really in that moment, I, I knew two things. 261 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:58,880 I knew number one, my best friend is not criminally insane. 262 00:13:59,680 --> 00:14:05,280 And #2 I think that's the Lord. And so I, I don't know, I don't, 263 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:07,760 I don't wanna assume where everyone in this room or in 264 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:13,000 Hemel or Hatfield or, or indeed online is, is at with this whole 265 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:14,760 thing. But it might surprise you to 266 00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:19,840 know that this whole idea of praying in tongues is not 267 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:23,640 something that is extraordinarily rare or like 268 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:27,520 just for the lunatic fringe. This is something that literally 269 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:31,080 hundreds of millions of Christians around the world 270 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:34,480 would consider a beautiful and commonplace part of their 271 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,080 spiritual experience and spiritual life. 272 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:41,880 And So what I want to do is, is spend some time this morning 273 00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:44,640 thinking about what that might look like for each one of us. 274 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:48,080 And it may be that for lots of us in this church already, you 275 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:50,880 already pray in tongues, but it may be that there's a whole 276 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:53,680 bunch of us for whom that's not been our experience. 277 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,440 And so I want to kind of really unpack it and look at that 278 00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:57,880 today. And so that's what, as I said, 279 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:01,240 we're going to look at one Corinthians chapter 14 and say, 280 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:04,080 if you've got your Bible with you still, we're going to read 281 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:08,840 from verse one. It says this follow the way of 282 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:13,880 love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. 283 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:18,160 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people, 284 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:21,400 but to God. Indeed, no one understands them. 285 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:23,480 They utter mysteries by the Spirit. 286 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:27,120 But the one who prophesized speaks to people for their 287 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:30,040 strengthening, encouragement and comfort. 288 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:34,640 Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves by the one 289 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:36,920 who prophesized edifies the church. 290 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:41,200 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would 291 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:45,040 rather have you prophecy the one who prophesizes greater than the 292 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:48,360 one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets it so 293 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:51,520 that the church may be edified. And then for the sake of time, 294 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:53,400 we'll just skip forward to verse 13. 295 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:57,600 For this reason, the one who speaks in a tongue should pray 296 00:15:57,600 --> 00:15:59,400 that they may interpret what they say. 297 00:15:59,920 --> 00:16:02,800 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is 298 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,240 unfruitful. So what shall I do? 299 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:08,000 I'll pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my 300 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:11,080 understanding. I'll sing with my spirit, but 301 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:12,920 I'll also sing with my understanding. 302 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:15,880 Otherwise, when you're praising God in the Spirit, how can 303 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:19,520 someone else who is now put in the position of an Enquirer say 304 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:21,920 Amen to your Thanksgiving since they don't know what you're 305 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:24,120 saying? You're giving thanks well 306 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:28,840 enough, but no one is edified. I thank God that I speak in 307 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:31,800 tongues more than all of you in the church. 308 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,960 I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct 309 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:38,280 others than 10,000 words in a tongue. 310 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:41,240 And that's a bit more scripture for us this morning. 311 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:47,480 So let's just try and lay some foundations first of all and ask 312 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:50,960 the question like, what can we say that the gift of tongues 313 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:54,040 isn't? What isn't the gift of tongues? 314 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:56,680 And first of all, I would want to say praying in tongues 315 00:16:56,680 --> 00:17:01,160 doesn't make you a superior Christian, Karen and IA, while 316 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:05,480 ago we got new phones, we got the Google Pixel 7 phone and we 317 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:08,280 were so excited with it for about the first few weeks. 318 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:09,839 And it was like, wow, this is amazing. 319 00:17:09,839 --> 00:17:12,040 The battery lasts forever and the cameras are really great and 320 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:15,000 all those kinds of things. And then a friend of mine walks 321 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:18,280 into the office and he's like, I've got a new phone. 322 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:20,200 I was like, what is it? He said it's a Google Pixel 8. 323 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:25,400 I'm like, oh, suddenly I'm feeling like what I've got isn't 324 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:26,520 quite as good as what you've got. 325 00:17:27,319 --> 00:17:29,120 And some people I know worship Apple. 326 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:31,520 And if you do, you'll be saying, well, it's never going to be as 327 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:33,520 good as what I've got. And I, I totally get that. 328 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:37,400 But the, the point is, you know, so often in life we can feel 329 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:39,440 like we're kind of like second class. 330 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:44,920 What I got isn't as good as what you got, especially when it 331 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:47,000 comes to faith. For some reason, it's like, I 332 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:49,800 feel like, gosh, is everyone else finding this easier than I 333 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:55,160 am or, or did everyone else get more of a, an empowerment from 334 00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:58,600 God in some particular area? Because this is like hard and I 335 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:01,040 don't feel like my gifts are quite as impressive as your 336 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:03,400 gifts. And it can so often feel like 337 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:05,560 that. And yet the Bible, especially 338 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:08,760 the Apostle Paul is so often wanted to say to us, hey, 339 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:11,720 listen, there is actually no such thing as a second class 340 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:15,120 Christian, right? So, so it doesn't matter, Paul 341 00:18:15,120 --> 00:18:18,280 says, whether you're Jew or Greek, whether you're slave or 342 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:21,120 free, whether you're male or female, it doesn't matter. 343 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:25,880 You know, you're loved, you're accepted, you're approved of. 344 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:29,800 There's no such thing as a second class Christian. 345 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:32,720 In fact, Paul's always trying to fight against Gnosticism. 346 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:36,080 The idea that what I've got is like a secret key that you 347 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:38,520 haven't got, or I've got a secret knowledge or a secret 348 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:41,720 secret experience that is that you haven't got Paul's like 349 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:45,560 that's absolute nonsense. And especially when it comes to 350 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:49,000 the gift of tongues, if you start to think about it, you 351 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,920 know there are a number of different lists of gifts of the 352 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:55,560 Spirit throughout the Scriptures and, and for example, in 353 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:59,160 Ephesians chapter 4 or Romans 12, the gift of tongues isn't 354 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:03,480 even mentioned in the list. And then in One Corinthians 355 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:07,440 chapter 12, you have these two other lists of spiritual gifts, 356 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:10,320 and the gift of tongues comes right at the end. 357 00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:13,640 So it comes after the gift of faith and the gift of healing 358 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:16,120 and the gift of helping people and all these kinds of things. 359 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:18,160 And then the gift of tongues comes right at the end. 360 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,920 So I think what Paul would want to say to us is do not get hung 361 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:27,440 up over the gift of tongues. Just just don't get stressed 362 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,040 because it's not going to make you superior if you have it, and 363 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:33,280 it's not going to make you inferior if you don't have it. 364 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:36,280 There are all kinds of gifts and we should be desiring them all. 365 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:38,960 That's the first thing. The second thing is praying in 366 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:40,680 tongues. And this is a bit controversial. 367 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:43,840 So I'm I'm I'm just gonna say what I see in the text and then 368 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:47,440 leave this to your discretion and, and how you read the 369 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:50,200 scriptures. I don't think the Bible would 370 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:52,240 say that the gift of tongues is for everyone. 371 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:56,360 At the end of 1 Corinthians, I had some there's an intake of 372 00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:57,840 breath. Then I'm excited about that. 373 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:02,320 At the end of 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the apostle Paul is 374 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:05,400 asking a whole series of rhetorical questions. 375 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:08,400 And so, for example, he says, is everyone an apostle? 376 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:10,960 Now you tell me, what's the answer to that? 377 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:13,720 The answer's no. Clearly, not everyone is an is 378 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:16,000 an apostle. He says, is everyone a prophet? 379 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:19,160 The answer is no. Is everyone a teacher? 380 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:22,000 Do all work miracles? Do all have have gifts of 381 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:23,760 healing? And so he's expecting 382 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:26,840 rhetorically the answer to be no, no, no, no, no all the time. 383 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:29,880 And his last one is do all speak in tongues. 384 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:33,840 And so I think he would expect us to say, well, no, not 385 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:37,560 everyone. However, I think from the tone 386 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:41,880 of his teaching on the gift of tongues and, and the context, I 387 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:45,320 think we would expect the gift of praying in tongues to be an 388 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:49,200 extremely common gift. You know, it's not like he's 389 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:53,080 saying, well, if you go to the foothills of Kilimanjaro on a, 390 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:57,640 you know, the third Tuesday in September on a leap year and, 391 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:01,040 and you know, you, you look really carefully. 392 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:04,200 There's a hermit there who speaks in tongues once every 393 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:06,320 20-7 years or something. You know, I just don't think 394 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:08,200 that's the context. You're not expecting that. 395 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:12,640 Instead, he in the context of his teaching on the gift of 396 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:16,280 tongues, he's like, oh, you should be eagerly desiring the 397 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:18,360 spiritual gifts. He says that twice. 398 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:22,560 And then in one Corinthians 14, verse five, he says, I'd like it 399 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:25,920 if every single one of you was to speak in tongues. 400 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:31,480 So I think praying in tongues is something that that we would 401 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,440 expect would be super common. And I'm sure I'm not going to do 402 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:35,720 that. But if I was to ask for a show 403 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:38,240 of hands, I know that lots of people in the room today would 404 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:41,000 put their hands up. The last thing I want to say 405 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:44,360 about what praying in tongues isn't is it's not from the other 406 00:21:44,360 --> 00:21:48,800 place, by which I mean, you know, the place where you can 407 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,320 smell sulfur really strongly and it's hot under foot. 408 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:55,320 I I, and, and for some of you are like, why would you even say 409 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:57,440 that? And the reason I'm saying that 410 00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:59,760 is because some of you in this room will have been taught that 411 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:03,080 or you need to be super careful with the gift of tongues because 412 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:07,160 it comes from the devil or it's demonic or you're just not sure 413 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:09,160 if it is or it isn't. And so you just want to stay 414 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:12,280 clear of it just to be on the safe side, you know? 415 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:25,640 Do you? The things that the gift of 416 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:28,360 tongues isn't. What is the gift of praying in 417 00:22:28,360 --> 00:22:32,160 tongues? Well, the first thing is it's 418 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:34,600 prayer that's directed towards God. 419 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:36,600 We're praying in tongues towards the Lord. 420 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:41,280 Verse 2 for anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to 421 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:47,360 people, but to God. And then later on in verses 13 422 00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:51,000 to 17, he uses all these other little phrases that are 423 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,600 interchangeable with the idea of praying in tongues. 424 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:56,680 So he talks about praying with my spirit, singing with my 425 00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:58,920 Spirit, praising God with your spirit. 426 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:02,320 So it's really, really clear that praying in tongues, the 427 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:06,880 gift of tongues is an upward is a vertical gift, right? 428 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:10,360 And it's going up the way. So the gift of prophecy is God 429 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:16,320 speaking to us, and the gift of tongues is US speaking to God 430 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:18,800 with the language that He's given to us. 431 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,080 OK, so it's prayer directed towards God. 432 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:25,120 Secondly, it's in a language not learned or understood by the 433 00:23:25,120 --> 00:23:28,640 speaker. The average human being has 434 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:32,760 about 35,000 words in their vocabulary, apparently. 435 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:36,640 And so as I'm standing here, I'm just kind of selecting some from 436 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:39,480 my memory banks, right? I'm just like choosing words, 437 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:42,400 picking them off the shelf and out they come out of my mouth. 438 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:45,880 That's mostly how we speak in in human terms. 439 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:49,760 And if if I was speaking French now, then you would know a 440 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:53,600 couple of things. First of all, the modern 441 00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:57,800 languages aren't my thing. And, and secondly, you'd know 442 00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:01,200 that at some point in my life I've been to a French lesson and 443 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:03,320 I've learnt French. You, you know, like which 444 00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:05,120 probably most of the people in this room have. 445 00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:07,440 I know there's some people from the Congo in this church. 446 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:10,360 And so I, I'm not going to murder French in front of you 447 00:24:10,360 --> 00:24:16,000 this morning, but that's generally speaking how language 448 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,720 works. But it's clear from this text 449 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:21,760 that that that's not how the gift of tongues works, right? 450 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,080 I'm not using words or sentences or phrases that I've already 451 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:28,720 been taught or I, I learnt. In fact, even the speaker, Paul 452 00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:31,520 says should pray for an interpretation so that they 453 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:33,240 might know what it is that they're saying. 454 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:35,960 It says that in verse 13. For this reason, the one who 455 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:39,480 speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what 456 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:42,120 they say. And so mostly I don't understand 457 00:24:42,120 --> 00:24:45,040 what I'm praying or saying when I'm praying in tongues. 458 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:49,880 And that's because #3 it's prayer with your spirit and not 459 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,720 with your mind. It's prayer with your spirit and 460 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:55,600 not with your mind. Verse 14. 461 00:24:56,160 --> 00:25:02,000 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is 462 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:06,800 unfruitful. So it's not the kind of prayer 463 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,840 that we might have prayed earlier on in the service where 464 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:13,000 where, you know, Taryn is choosing words and she's praying 465 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,360 and all those kinds of things and she's in control. 466 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:17,240 This is a different kind of thing. 467 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:20,320 I'm praying with my spirit, spirit to spirit. 468 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:23,040 It's, it's kind of an uncomfortable thing, isn't it? 469 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,440 We, we in particularly in the modern Western world, we like to 470 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:30,920 be in control. Dare I say, we may even be 471 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:33,120 control freaks. You know, we like to have 472 00:25:33,120 --> 00:25:34,920 control. And so I want to understand and 473 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:37,400 I want to know. And I, but actually praying in 474 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:40,800 tongues is not like that. It's I'm praying with my spirit, 475 00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:45,160 but my mind doesn't know what it is that I'm praying #4 it's 476 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:47,720 mostly not understood by the people around you either. 477 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:52,800 The whole of Paul's argument here is it's like if a visitor 478 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:56,240 was to come in when people are speaking in tongues, the visitor 479 00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:59,160 has no idea what's been said. And that's why he says, I'd 480 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,960 rather that you speak five intelligible words than 10,000 481 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:04,920 in a tongue. And that's because what's 482 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:08,000 happening in this church is that they're just speaking in tongues 483 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:11,000 the whole service. And they like coming in morning, 484 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:12,640 everyone great to see you, you know? 485 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:15,040 And then off they go. I'm not going to do it now and 486 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:18,280 then. And then thanks very much for 487 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:20,520 coming at the end. And the visitors are like, now 488 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:23,280 I've got nothing. And Paul's like, please don't do 489 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:25,600 that because they didn't understand. 490 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,200 Nobody understands what's being said when they're speaking in 491 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:31,280 tongues #5 it's under our control. 492 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:35,640 Verse 27. If anyone speaks in a tongue 2 493 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:39,520 or at the most 3 should speak one at a time, and someone must 494 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:41,720 interpret. If there's no interpreter, the 495 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:46,040 speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and 496 00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:48,120 to God. Do you, do you see? 497 00:26:48,120 --> 00:26:50,440 It's like, this is under our control. 498 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:52,120 This is, there's an order to this. 499 00:26:52,120 --> 00:26:55,120 I can choose to speak and I can choose to not speak. 500 00:26:55,120 --> 00:26:58,400 You know, 2 or at the most three can choose to speak. 501 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:01,600 And then at the end of that, I'm like, no, OK, we're done. 502 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:03,720 I'm not going to speak. So this isn't like the Holy 503 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:06,760 Spirit comes on me. I'm, I'm like in a trance and 504 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:10,080 like episodes of Inspector Morse and suddenly I'm just like 505 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:12,480 babbling away and I can't stop myself. 506 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:14,080 That doesn't seem to be the thing. 507 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:17,960 It's under our control. It's actually quite an important 508 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:22,160 thing if you're thinking through as a, as a Christian who doesn't 509 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,560 yet speak in tongues and you're thinking, I think I was just 510 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:28,840 expecting it to happen to me. And it's like, no, no, you have 511 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:32,000 to actually use your lips and your tongue and your teeth. 512 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:35,600 You know, when Peter was walking on the water, he's standing in 513 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,040 the boat. He says to Jesus, tell me to 514 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:41,040 come and I'll come. And Jesus says come. 515 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,440 And so you can imagine Peter just standing in the boat 516 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:47,880 saying, no, I thought it was going to happen, but it turns 517 00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:50,320 out it's not happened to me. So I'm not walking on waters 518 00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:51,720 today. That's not what happens, is it? 519 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:54,360 He's like, he has to use his walking apparatus. 520 00:27:54,360 --> 00:27:58,800 He has to use his ankles and his feet and his toes and his thighs 521 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:00,160 and stuff. He has to walk. 522 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:03,360 He has to make a choice to walk. And it's the same with speaking 523 00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:05,200 in tongues, with praying in tongues. 524 00:28:05,360 --> 00:28:08,200 I have to make a choice. It's under my control. 525 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:13,000 I'm using my talking apparatus and I'm choosing to do it. 526 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:18,280 And lastly, verse 18 is mostly for personal use. 527 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:22,600 Paul says that he speaks in tongues more than anybody. 528 00:28:25,360 --> 00:28:29,840 But in the church, I'd rather we speak five intelligible words 529 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:32,000 than 10,000 in a tongue. In other words, it's like an 530 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,760 iceberg. You know, you can see he's, he's 531 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:38,160 opening up the window onto his own life and he's saying, well, 532 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,440 in my life, what I do is I speak in tongues more than anyone. 533 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:46,640 I speak in tongues all the time when I'm on my own, but when I'm 534 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,600 in the church, I'm going to do it less often. 535 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:56,080 And so this is like a devotional thing is for me is between me 536 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:59,320 and the Lord. And so actually, I think for 537 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,320 many of us, the Apostle Paul this morning is laying down a 538 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:11,000 challenge, which is if you speak in tongues, like is the bottom 539 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:17,240 part of the iceberg really big? You know, like, is the gift of 540 00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:21,000 tongues something that you occasionally might do in church, 541 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:25,520 but at home it's like, not so much, is it, is it like the, the 542 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,680 pullover that your granny gave you 2 Christmases ago that kind 543 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:30,880 of stays in the back of the wardrobe and you keep forgetting 544 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:34,440 is there or, or is it a pullover that you wear all the time? 545 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:38,400 I think it's a real challenge for us as a devotional, 546 00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:43,560 beautiful, strengthening, encouraging tool that the Lord 547 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:46,040 has given us to build us up from the inside out. 548 00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:49,360 Are we making use of the tool that He's given us, if indeed He 549 00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:51,840 has? And so finally, just coming into 550 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:54,280 land, let me ask this question. Why on earth would I want to 551 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:56,000 speak in tongues? Why would I want to pray in 552 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,240 tongues? Firstly, because speaking in 553 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:02,480 tongues builds you up, he says verse 4. 554 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:05,560 Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves. 555 00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:07,920 We don't really use that word anymore, do we? 556 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:10,720 Anything edified this morning? Very edified, thank you very 557 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:11,520 much. We don't. 558 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:13,880 We don't really use that word. But the word edified, it's a 559 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:17,640 construction word. It means I'm being built up, I'm 560 00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:22,160 being reconstructed. And the truth is, it's really 561 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:23,960 easy to feel low in life, isn't it? 562 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:27,520 Or to feel like life is gradually dismantling me or 563 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:31,160 deconstructing me. I feel less together as a person 564 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:35,000 over the course of a week. And so a beautiful gift that 565 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:37,800 might reconstruct me is a huge thing. 566 00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:44,480 When I was 22, I was on a youth weekend not very far from here 567 00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:47,720 and I received the news that my dad had died. 568 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:55,760 And I just have this incredibly precious memory of walking the 569 00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:59,200 half an hour or so towards my parents home where I was knew I 570 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:04,520 was going to see my mum and just crying out to the Lord saying 571 00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:05,800 Lord, you've got to strengthen me. 572 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:08,040 I need, I need strength for everything that's to come. 573 00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:13,680 And I just remember praying for a while and then finding myself 574 00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:16,680 praying in tongues to the Lord and feeling like this, almost 575 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:21,160 like liquid courage and liquid comfort was kind of being poured 576 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:25,600 into the core of who I am. And I'll never forget that. 577 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,920 Get that? The precious nature of what the 578 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:36,400 gift of tongues did for me in that moment to who like in in 579 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:41,440 this incredibly, this amazing moment of opportunity that we 580 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:44,640 have as believers in this country with God moving by his 581 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:47,720 Spirit in just the most remarkable way where we've never 582 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:52,160 known an opportunity for the gospel like we know right now. 583 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:56,880 If the gift of tongues is available to you, now would be a 584 00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:03,680 really good time to use it. And finally, why would I want 585 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:05,760 it? Because it adds a new dimension 586 00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:08,160 to my prayer life. I'm getting that from Romans 8. 587 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:10,000 But we don't. I encourage you to look at that 588 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:12,960 afterwards. Wayne Grudem, in his book 589 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,880 Systematic Theology, he summarises those verses like 590 00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:18,000 this. The Holy Spirit assists our 591 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:23,080 prayers by taking our groans and making them into effective 592 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,080 prayer. And that would be the testimony 593 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:29,360 of so many people in this room that you've often been in a 594 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:32,320 situation where you're like, I don't know what to pray, right? 595 00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:34,600 You hear about someone who's been in a car accident. 596 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:36,000 You're like, I don't know what to pray. 597 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:39,840 Or, or you, you hear about a situation that's happening in 598 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:41,960 the world and you're like, I just don't have the words to 599 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:44,200 express what I should be expressing to the Lord right 600 00:32:44,200 --> 00:32:46,560 now. What an amazing thing that the 601 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:50,160 Holy Spirit would give you some words that even you don't 602 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:53,840 understand, but somehow God hears the groans of our hearts 603 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:56,320 and make them into effective prayer. 604 00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:59,680 So what an amazing thing. And So what we're going to do 605 00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:02,560 this morning, just obviously time's running short, but we do 606 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:04,360 want to pray for some people this morning. 607 00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:07,760 And just so you know, we're not going to put you on the spot. 608 00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:09,560 We're not going to say, right? We're going to pray for a few 609 00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:12,360 minutes and then off you go. We're not we're not going to do 610 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:13,800 that. If if you want to do that, 611 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:16,120 that's great. But we, we do just want to pray 612 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:18,040 for you. Let me just say this, you know, 613 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,640 if if I had 10 people at the front of the church here and I 614 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:25,200 said, just give us your experience of beginning to speak 615 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:28,320 in tongues for the first time, we would get 10 different 616 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:31,440 experiences, right? So, so for some people, they'll 617 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:34,520 say, well, I just felt like my mouth was kind of pregnant and I 618 00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:36,800 just kind of needed to speak. And when I did, I found myself 619 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:38,720 speaking in tongues. For other people, they might 620 00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:40,840 say, no, it was just an act of faith. 621 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:44,360 I just, I just needed to start speaking and then see what would 622 00:33:44,360 --> 00:33:48,040 happen for others of us. It might be in worship, you 623 00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:51,000 might find yourself singing and, and praying out loud in worship 624 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:52,880 and suddenly you find yourself speaking in tongues. 625 00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:57,120 For me personally, I've been so frustrated for years at not 626 00:33:57,120 --> 00:34:00,240 having the gifted tongues. And you know, I was driving 627 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:03,520 myself crazy with it and I was asking the Lord over and over 628 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:05,520 again. And then one time I was walking 629 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:09,080 from the train station to my house and I was praying about a 630 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:12,400 particular thing and I just kind of slipped into it. 631 00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:19,040 But I would strongly, you know, the Bible says eagerly desire 632 00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:20,960 spiritual gifts. And so if you don't have the 633 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:22,880 gifted tongues or you're not sure if you do or you haven't 634 00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:25,920 received it thus far, I would strongly, I think the Bible 635 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:29,040 would strongly encourage you to seek the Lord in that regard. 636 00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:31,800 And so we're going to say goodbye to us, other sites and 637 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:33,400 the online community. God bless you. 638 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:35,440 Have an amazing week and the rest of us are going to stand.