The gift of tongues (part 2)
Gregory Bishop(Audio: Spanish)
SUMMARY:
The pastor continues his series on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and focuses on the gift of tongues. He shares a personal experience of witnessing the gift of tongues as a teenager and how it transformed his understanding of God's presence. The gift of tongues is defined as the ability to pray, worship, or prophesy in a language unknown to the speaker. The pastor addresses various misconceptions and defenses people have towards the gift of tongues, encouraging them to open their hearts to what God has for them. The pastor reminds the congregation that God has always been in the business of pouring out His spirit on His people.
The anointing of the Holy Spirit has been present throughout the Bible, from the Old Testament to the New Testament. God has always poured out his spirit on his people to fulfill his ministry. In the New Testament, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to his disciples, which he did on the day of Pentecost. The disciples spoke in tongues, and many were converted. The Holy Spirit continued to be poured out on people as they preached the gospel, and it is still happening today. The book of Acts ends with the message that the preaching and pouring out of the Holy Spirit will continue.
The gift of tongues is a renewal of what God did in the past and is replacing lost gifts. It is a common gift in churches and should be practiced in an orderly way. The gift of tongues is not an indication of maturity in Christ and should be used for edification, exhortation, and consolation. At Pentecost, God was uniting people in the Holy Spirit, a new multi-ethnic nation.
The speaker explains the biblical basis for speaking in tongues, emphasizing that it is a gift from the Holy Spirit and a spiritual discipline that can help build up the individual believer. He also addresses common questions and misconceptions about speaking in tongues, such as whether it is anti-intellectual, whether it is necessary for salvation, and whether one loses control while speaking in tongues. The speaker stresses the importance of humility and respect for others in using this gift in a church setting.
The gift of tongues is a spiritual gift that not everyone has, but those who do have it can control it. It can be an instrument in prayer or it can revolutionize one's life. It is not a sign of being a second-class Christian and it is not for one personality type. Those who want the gift should seek it and be open to what God has for them. It is important to not settle for little and always seek more of God.Let's go to the word of the Lord. I invite you to open your Bibles to First Corinthians, Chapter 14. What did the pastor talk about last week? I like to ask, just to be sure that we have not forgotten from week to week what is being talked about. The pastor is doing a series of preaching and teachings on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And he was talking about the gift of tongues last week and we're going to do part two to this teaching.
So once again, you know there are some churches that only speak tongues. Do you think it is salvation itself that they speak in tongues so much? I think that it is not a problem here, to tell the truth, when I was 13, 14 years old here, the sermon was for me, it was the first that I heard the pastor talk about it and I suspect that there is still a lot of confusion and questions and disagreement and many things here. We have a very varied congregation, there are many new people and I have felt the Lord continue with that theme, do part two, so we sometimes call ourselves, we are Baptists here.