Participants: Pr. Doug Batchelor
Series Code: EG
Program Code: EG002836
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00:09 It's been 2,000 years since the glorious light of the cross
00:12 illuminated a world veiled in darkness and confusion 00:15 about the character of God... 00:17 And still today, the greatest need of mankind is a 00:20 revelation of God's love as revealed in the life of Christ. 00:23 Amazing Facts presents "The Everlasting Gospel" 00:27 with Pastor Doug Batchelor, 00:28 coming to you each week from Sacramento Central Church 00:31 in sunny California. 00:33 Discover hidden treasures in God's Word today. 00:38 I want to begin by telling you a little story. 00:43 More than 30 years ago, when I was a baby Christian, 00:47 I was hitchhiking in southern California; 00:50 I don't even remember where I was going, 00:52 but I do remember I was picked up by a matronly lady, 00:56 very nice, and she quickly shared with me that 01:01 she was a Christian and before she dropped me off 01:04 at the next on-ramp where I was going, 01:06 she said, "My house is not far from here, 01:08 can I get you some lunch," I thought that would be 01:09 very nice... took me to her home, 01:12 fed me a nice sandwich or something, 01:13 and she said, "Now I need to ask you... 01:16 Have you received the Holy Spirit?" 01:20 And I said, "No one had ever asked me that before 01:24 because I just was a new Christian, 01:26 I had accepted Jesus up in the cave," and I said, 01:30 "Well, I believe I have because the Lord has been giving me 01:34 victory over my bad language and drugs and these 01:38 different things," and she said, "No, no, no, 01:40 I'm not talking about that." 01:42 She said, "I want to know... have you received the 01:44 baptism of the Holy Spirit; do you speak in tongues?" 01:48 And I said, "No." 01:49 She said, "Well then you haven't received the baptism 01:51 of the Holy Spirit." 01:53 And she launched into a Bible study that, to me, 01:55 seemed a little bit out of balance 01:59 with what I was reading in the Bible. 02:02 And it wasn't long after that, I began to worship; 02:05 I was not part of this church. 02:07 I began to worship with a variety of different churches, 02:10 mostly charismatic churches in Southern California 02:14 in Palm Springs that practiced the speaking of tongues, 02:18 the way it is done in about 50% of the churches in North America 02:22 with these ecstatic utterances... 02:24 And I just did not have peace, even though I had a lot of 02:28 friends there, lovely people, that it was what I was finding 02:33 when I read the Bible. 02:35 And so, I really delved into a study on this subject, 02:39 and was very surprised by what I learned. 02:42 Now, this is something, I think we need to address because 02:47 it is permeating Christianity. 02:50 A misunderstanding of this doctrine is not only 02:54 influencing the one subject of the one gift of the Spirit, 02:58 dealing with tongues, but a lot that it also involves 03:02 is coming into many of the mainline protestant churches. 03:06 Now before we go to our study, I want you to put on your 03:09 seatbelt... the message today is dealing with 03:12 "Understanding Tongues" 03:15 This is becoming very common and pervasive in 03:20 not only protestant but charismatic churches 03:23 across North America. 03:25 The message today dealing with the subject of 03:27 understanding tongues, I thought it was important 03:29 to share with you because elements of these things 03:33 are spreading - they're becoming more accepted, 03:36 and they're even coming into our church... 03:39 And I think we need to understand the spirit 03:41 behind what's going on here. 03:44 Let me read something to you... 03:46 This is from the book, Second - "Selected Messages," 03:49 if you want to write that down. 03:50 Second - "Selected Messages," page 35, 36, 38... 03:55 "The Lord desires to have in His service, 03:58 order and discipline, not excitement and confusion. 04:03 The Lord has shown me what would take place 04:05 just before the close of probation. 04:09 Every uncouth thing will be demonstrated. 04:12 There will be, she's speaking about in the context 04:14 of a church service... there will be shouting 04:17 with drums, music, dancing. 04:20 The senses of rational beings will become so confused 04:23 they cannot be trusted to make right decisions. 04:26 A bedlam of noise shocks the senses and perverts that 04:31 which if conducted aright, might be a blessing. 04:34 The powers of satanic agencies blend with the din of noise 04:38 to have a carnival and this is termed - 04:41 the Holy Spirit's working. 04:43 Those things which have been in the past, 04:46 will be in the future. 04:47 Satan will make music a snare by the way 04:50 in which it is conducted." 04:53 And so, here it is saying that just before 04:56 the close of probation, which precedes the second coming, 04:59 these things are going to be reintroduced 05:00 and this was a message written to God's people to God's Church. 05:03 Well friends, that day is coming but it's not done, 05:06 it's going to get worse, I think; 05:08 these things are happening. 05:10 Some of you know about the cuckoo bird... 05:14 We've all heard about the cuckoo bird and cuckoo clocks... 05:18 But the cuckoo bird is known as a brood parasite. 05:21 See what they do is - they don't incubate their own eggs. 05:25 What the cuckoo bird will do, 05:27 and it's sort of tragic in nature... 05:28 It will go and lay its egg in the nest of another bird 05:32 like a reed-warbler or something and they even somehow 05:36 manage to counterfeit the look of their egg, 05:38 but you can see the cuckoo bird's egg is much bigger. 05:41 But then it's one of the great tragedies of nature... 05:44 When that cuckoo bird hatches out, 05:46 often before the other birds, it begins to push the other 05:49 eggs out of the nest, or even worse still, 05:51 it hatches out and it basically eats all the food 05:55 because it's so much bigger, and here I think, 05:56 you've got another picture... 05:57 Here you've got a pasture bird working itself to death 06:03 trying to feed this robust little cuckoo chick 06:09 that has starved the other chicks out of the nest, 06:11 and this poor mother doesn't even realize it's not her egg; 06:14 it's not her chick. 06:15 It's been introduced - it's called a "brood parasite." 06:18 Counterfeit brought in, becomes a big distraction, 06:21 and the next thing you know, the other birds are crowded out 06:24 while this one bird is stuffed! 06:28 The devil has laid an egg in the church that is being 06:33 fed and nourished and it's displacing the other 06:35 gifts of the Spirit, it becomes a big distraction... 06:37 And it becomes a counterfeit for the real Holy Spirit. 06:41 Now I need to be very gentle... 06:43 The greatest part of Christ's true followers 06:47 are in the fellowship of other churches. 06:50 I do not believe the greatest part of Christ's true followers 06:53 happen to be in my denomination. 06:56 I believe that God has true followers in many different 06:59 persuasions, but His sheep are being called out of Babylon. 07:03 And by the way, do you know where Babylon gets its name? 07:09 Babylon gets its name because man wanted to kind of 07:14 make a monument to himself; it became worship 07:18 of its own entity and God confused the languages, 07:23 and that's where you get the word "Babelean" 07:25 in Babylon and one of the primary characteristics of 07:29 Babylon is a confusion of tongues - did you hear that? 07:32 I mean, if you can know anything about prophecy, 07:35 one of the things in Babylon is this confusion of tongues. 07:39 And so, I may say more about that later. 07:42 Before I talk about some of the confused gifts of the Spirit, 07:45 I want to explain what the true is... 07:48 God does give His people and His church gifts of the Spirit 07:51 for the purpose of sharing the gospel. 07:53 For instance, read in Ephesians 4:8... 07:56 "Therefore He says, when He ascended on high, 08:00 He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men." 08:05 When we are married to Christ, through baptism, 08:07 we get a wedding gift... that's the Holy Spirit. 08:10 Repent and be baptized and you shall receive 08:12 the gift of the Holy Spirit. 08:14 That gift manifests itself different ways. 08:18 There are a number of gifts of the Spirit... 08:19 For instance, 1 Corinthians 12:7... 08:21 "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to 08:25 each one for the profit of all." 08:26 God gives everybody who becomes His child, 08:30 various gifts of the Spirit for the purpose of 08:33 ministering for Christ, that Christ might 08:36 operate through you. 08:37 And it goes on to say here, "For to one is given 08:40 the word of wisdom through the Spirit; 08:42 to another, the word of knowledge 08:44 through the same Spirit; 08:45 to another, faith by the same Spirit; 08:47 to another, gifts of healing by the Spirit; 08:49 to another, working of miracles; 08:51 to another, prophecy; 08:52 to another, discerning of Spirits; 08:54 to another, different kinds of tongues; 08:57 to another, the interpretation of tongues." 09:01 "Tongues" is one of the gifts of the Spirit, 09:05 but it is not the only gift. 09:08 The gift of tongues represents a language. 09:13 Now, if we're going to understand what the genuine 09:16 gift of tongues is, it's probably a good idea for us 09:19 to read what Jesus says here in Matthew 28... 09:25 "The Lord told the disciples, go ye and teach all nations... 09:30 go to all nations baptizing them in the 09:36 name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit." 09:38 In order for them to fulfill the great commission, 09:41 and go to all the world, they would need some kind of 09:43 an additional gift because of the 12 apostles, 09:46 how many of them were Jewish? 09:48 100%... What did they speak? 09:53 Hebrew, Aramaic, they probably understood 09:55 some Latin because they did have the Romans occupying them. 09:58 Maybe a little bit of Greek because the Greeks 10:01 had occupied a few years earlier. 10:02 Here in California, we typically speak English, 10:06 but if you're smart, you're going to be learning Spanish. 10:09 Right? So I mean, you know, you have different cultures 10:12 that have different influences, but if you're in Sacramento, 10:15 it's a good idea to understand a little bit of Russian. 10:17 How many of you know that? 10:19 Big Russian community here! 10:21 Well they did have some words and phrases they understood, 10:24 but they principally spoke Aramaic. 10:27 Now Jesus said, "Go teach the whole world." 10:29 How is He going to get these bright, but mostly 10:31 uneducated men to preach the gospel in all the world? 10:35 Mark 16:17- tells us what He would do. 10:42 Mark 16:17- "These signs shall follow those that believe. 10:46 In My name, they'll cast out demons; they will 10:49 speak with new tongues" Now notice something here... 10:52 Jesus said it would be a sign, a supernatural sign. 10:56 Now, some of you here... how many, I just want to see... 10:58 How many of you are bilingual? You speak more than one language 11:01 Some of you speak Spanish, some Russian, some Romanian, 11:04 some Filipino or one of the many dialects, 11:07 I should say of the Philippines. 11:08 There are a lot of different... we got an international 11:10 cosmopolitan church here. 11:11 We got some people who speak Fujian, 11:13 some who speak Samoan, some of you speak 11:16 3 or more languages. 11:19 That's not really what Jesus is talking about. 11:21 He compares this gift of tongues with casting out devils 11:26 and taking up serpents. 11:27 It is a supernatural ability to speak tongues 11:31 for the purpose of spreading the gospel. 11:33 Now, if you're wondering what the gift of tongues is... 11:35 the best examples are given in the Book of Acts. 11:38 You look at the story at Pentecost - turn with me to 11:42 Acts 2- this was our Scripture reading this morning. 11:46 There are 3.. how many? Three examples of speaking 11:51 in tongues in the Bible, not 4. 11:53 There are only 3 examples of this happening. 11:57 Some people think every time you're filled 11:59 with the Holy Spirit, you speak with tongues. 12:01 The Bible does not teach that. 12:03 There are 18 times in just the New Testament, how many times? 12:07 ... 18 times in the New Testament when people 12:10 were filled with the Holy Spirit. 12:11 Only 3 out of those 18 wasn't connected with tongues. 12:15 The other times, they were simply preaching the Word, 12:18 and I'll give you some examples of that a little further on. 12:22 Acts 2:1- "When the Day of Pentecost has fully come, 12:28 they were all in one accord in one place." All right 12:32 The Day of Pentecost was a holiday that took place 12:37 50 days... "penta" means 5. 12:40 We got a "pentagon," its a building with 5 sides. 12:43 Pentagram - it's got 5 sides to it, right? 12:46 Or the pentagon does, pentagram is something different 12:48 It's a 5-sided star. 12:50 So, it represents 5; 50 days after Passover was 12:54 a Jewish holiday called Pentecost. 12:57 There were 3 primary feasts where if you were a dedicated 12:59 Jew and you could make it, you would travel 13:02 over land and sea to get to Jerusalem for those feasts. 13:05 The most desirable feast to go to was the Feast of Pentecost 13:09 because the weather was perfect for traveling; 13:12 there was already some food beginning to 13:14 appear in the fields and so Jewish boys from the age of 13:18 12 up to 90, if they could make it, if they could afford it, 13:22 would come from all over the Roman Empire to Jerusalem 13:25 for Pentecost. 13:27 Now this is only a short time after the outpouring 13:30 of the Holy Spirit... or after the ascension of Jesus. 13:35 Jesus did not tell the disciples at first 13:38 to go to the world at large. 13:41 He said, "You'll receive the Holy Spirit and I want 13:43 you to start preaching in Jerusalem, and Judaea, 13:47 those are Jewish; then Samaria, 13:49 then the other most parts of the earth... 13:51 But they were to begin not going to the Gentiles, 13:55 but going first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 13:58 They were not commanded to go to the Gentiles 14:01 until the stoning of Stephen and the supreme court 14:04 of the Jewish nation plugged their ears and rejected 14:07 that wonderful presentation of the gospel. 14:10 So... during Pentecost, Jews came from all over the 14:14 Roman Empire, but they didn't all speak Jewish, listen... 14:17 "Now suddenly there came from heaven the sound of a 14:21 rushing mighty wind and it filled the house where they 14:24 were all sitting; then there appeared unto them 14:27 divided tongues, cloven tongues of fire and it sat on each one 14:31 of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, 14:34 and they began to speak with other tongues... 14:37 What does the word "tongues" mean? Languages 14:40 ... as the Spirit gave them utterance." 14:42 In other words, the Holy Spirit would inspire 14:45 different ones to speak different tongues 14:48 and share a message about Jesus and the gospel. 14:52 Now they were dwelling, they were abiding or camping 14:56 in Jerusalem, Jews... Who? 15:00 They weren't going to the Gentiles yet. 15:02 ...devout men out of... These were the Jews 15:06 devoted enough to come to the annual feast. 15:09 ...devout men out of every nation under heaven. 15:13 Jews had been dispersed all over the world, 15:16 not only because of the Romans, but because of the Greeks! 15:19 They were merchants and they were entrepreneurs, 15:23 and travelers and they were all over the Roman Empire. 15:25 My mother was Jewish; she didn't speak Jewish, 15:28 she spoke American. 15:30 And my grandparents, they were in New York, 15:34 but their Jewish families, they spoke Yiddish 15:36 which was sort of a corruption of German, Russian and Polish. 15:42 And, going back then, my great grandfather, he spoke Russian. 15:47 He was Jewish, didn't speak Hebrew. 15:50 The Jews all over the world today speak the language 15:52 of the country in where they live. 15:55 And so, you can say you're Jewish which is a nationality 15:58 but it's also a religion and you may not 16:01 even speak your native tongue. 16:04 So, God is getting ready to do something brilliant here... 16:08 There were devout Jews dwelling in Jerusalem; 16:12 they were there for the Feast of Pentecost, 16:14 from every nation under heaven and when the sound 16:17 occurred, the multitude came together... 16:19 They heard the mighty rushing wind and all the crowd 16:21 came near the upper room and there must have been 16:23 a courtyard present and they were confused because 16:27 everyone heard them... the disciples, 16:29 speak in his own language. 16:33 "They were all amazed and they marveled, 16:35 and they said to one another, "Look, are not all these 16:37 who speak Galileans?" 16:39 That means they spoke the language of the Galileans 16:42 which was Aramaic. 16:44 "How is it that we hear each man our own language 16:48 in which we were born?" 16:50 "Parthians and Medes and Elamites and those dwelling 16:53 in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 16:57 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya 17:00 adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 17:04 ...These are converts to Judaism who weren't even Jewish 17:07 by blood, the proselytes. 17:08 ...Cretians and Arabians. Listen, we hear them 17:12 babbling incoherently ecstatic utterances. 17:16 We hear them uttering all kinds of gibberish, 17:18 we don't know what they're saying... 17:19 That's not what they said. 17:21 "We hear them speaking in our languages, our tongues 17:25 the wonderful works of God." 17:27 Did they know what they were saying? 17:29 They were speaking real languages of the world 17:32 for the purpose of preaching the gospel. 17:34 Now, you think about this... 17:35 this was really a brilliant thing for the Lord to do. 17:38 What is the fastest way to disperse the gospel 17:41 around the Roman Empire? 17:43 The Romans had built the roads and the best way 17:45 those roads were used was for the gospel... 17:48 You've got these devout Jews who would come to worship, 17:50 not just any Jews, the devout ones. 17:52 They're ready to accept Jesus; they're looking for the Messiah. 17:55 They've got a sense of expectation; 17:57 they've come to worship. 17:59 The Holy Spirit is poured out. 18:01 They hear the roaring, the rushing; 18:03 they hear this commotion and they come to this courtyard 18:05 by this upper room and the disciples come out on the roof, 18:08 and they begin to preach. 18:10 And they gather together in groups and they begin to 18:12 speak to the different groups that are assembled 18:14 in the tongues that they understood. 18:16 You see, when man rebelled against God, 18:19 He cursed their tongues and it became confusion and babbling 18:22 When the Holy Spirit was poured out, 18:24 it reversed the confusion, now there's comprehension; 18:28 they understand the story of Jesus being the Messiah; 18:31 thousands were converted during that week, 3,000, 18:34 then 5,000 a few days later. 18:36 They then go away from the feast, they fan out 18:39 across the Roman Empire; they take back to their 18:42 respective countries, the truth that the Messiah had come, 18:45 His name was Jesus... so the Jews were the first 18:48 ones to spread the gospel around the world 18:51 because they heard it in their own tongue. 18:53 The Lord had to do something miraculous to give them 18:56 that ability to be able to preach the 18:58 gospel everywhere, right? 19:00 That's the gift of tongues! 19:02 What you're seeing in millions of churches around the world 19:09 masquerading as the gift of tongues is really rank paganism 19:13 that has found its way in to the church, 19:15 it has caused confusion. 19:17 And again, I want to emphasize, good people, dear people, 19:20 some of them are here today. 19:21 I know some are listening that have come out of these churches 19:25 like myself, that are being confused by this. 19:30 So is it clear, as you read Acts 2, what the gift of 19:33 tongues was... Jesus said, I want you to tell 19:35 the whole world - you don't speak the languages... 19:39 In one generation, the gospel went to the then civilized world 19:41 the greatest jumpstart of the gospel was when God 19:44 poured out the Spirit. 19:45 He gave them the supernatural ability to speak in languages 19:48 they did not formerly know. 19:50 There were 12 apostles plus 120 total in 19:53 the upper room... they spoke. 19:55 There are 16 different language groups mentioned 19:57 just in chapter 2; 19:58 at least those 16 different language groups were 20:01 represented that the disciples could speak in. 20:03 I bet you we have over 16 language groups 20:05 in this church right now, right? 20:07 Praise the Lord, most of you speak English also. 20:11 But, wouldn't it be wonderful if the Holy Spirit 20:14 was poured out, we could all go back to our native countries 20:17 and bring the truth the way they did, you know what I'm saying? 20:20 This is what happened, so it was a perfect 20:23 way for the Lord to do it. 20:24 Now I said there are 3 examples 20:25 of speaking in tongues in the Bible. 20:27 The other example is Cornelius. 20:29 And I'm not going to have time to read all these in depth. 20:31 If you read in Acts 10, you'll read where 20:35 Cornelius was a Roman centurion; now the gospel is going to the 20:41 Gentiles - this is after the stoning of Stephen; 20:45 Peter goes to this house, it's the first time he is 20:47 preaching to a Gentile... 20:48 Cornelius is a centurion from the Italian band. 20:52 What language do you think they spoke? 20:54 Latin, Italian... right? 20:57 He has servants in his household. 20:59 The servants in the Roman Empire could be from anywhere. 21:02 They spoke other languages. 21:04 Peter who speaks Jewish now, is being invited by the servants 21:08 in Cornelius' household to go and the angel said 21:11 Peter is going to come and he's going to teach to you. 21:13 Peter begins to talk; they understand partially 21:16 what he's saying - it's not their native tongue. 21:18 While Peter is preaching about Jesus in Aramaic, 21:22 the Holy Spirit falls upon them. 21:25 Acts 10:44, "While Peter yet spake these words, 21:32 the Holy ghost fell on them which heard the word. 21:35 Those who were of the circumcision which believed, 21:38 were astonished because as many as came with Peter 21:40 ... the Jews would come, were surprised that on the 21:43 Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost 21:47 for they heard them speak with tongues... 21:49 That means they understood them speaking with tongues 21:52 and magnify God. 21:54 That means they could understand what they were saying 21:56 in those tongues, they were magnifying God. 21:58 They weren't just babbling... does that make sense? 22:01 The same way the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 10, 22:04 is the same gift that you find in Acts 2. 22:06 If you don't believe Pastor Doug, 22:08 you read in verse 15, Peter, and this is in Acts 11:15, 22:15 you might want to look that up. 22:17 When Peter reports back to the council in Jerusalem, 22:19 how God is now sending the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles, 22:22 listen to what Peter says, "The Holy Ghost fell on 22:26 them as it fell on us at the beginning." 22:30 So what kind of gift of tongues do they get in Acts 10, 22:33 something new, a new variety? 22:35 Or is it the same kind of gift of tongues Peter says that 22:37 we had at the beginning? Right? 22:40 It's languages that could be understood. 22:43 Then you've got the third example of speaking in tongues 22:46 that you're going to find in Acts 19. 22:50 This also is a place where it talks about rebaptism. 22:53 The 12 Ephesian disciples. 22:56 We all know that Jesus had 12 Jewish disciples. 23:00 Do you know, after the gospel went to the Gentiles, 23:02 you find a story where there's 12 Gentile disciples. 23:06 Acts 19, Paul preaches to these 12 Ephesians who were 23:11 baptized by John the Baptist; 23:13 they had not heard the story about Jesus yet. 23:15 He preaches to them about Jesus. 23:17 He lays hands upon them, I'm in Acts 19:6, 23:21 "The Holy Ghost came on them and they spoke with tongues 23:24 and prophesied." 23:26 Now what does prophesied mean? It means they preached. 23:29 Prophesied does mean you walk around giving 23:32 astrological fortune cookies. 23:34 Prophesied means that you preach. 23:37 And so, could they understand 23:39 what they were saying in these tongues? 23:40 Yeah, it says they were prophesying, they were preaching 23:43 Were there different language groups present? 23:45 You've got Paul, you've got Luke, you've got Ephesians. 23:48 So there are several language groups that are present there, 23:51 they needed the gift of tongues. 23:53 They recognized there was the difference of tongues. 23:55 The very fact that Luke doesn't say the Holy Spirit 23:58 fell on them a whole different way; 23:59 they got a different kind of gift of tongues. 24:02 He doesn't say that which means it's the same 24:05 kind of gift of tongues that you saw in Acts 10, 24:07 and that you saw in Acts 2. 24:09 There you have it friends, we've looked at all 24:11 of the examples of speaking in tongues in the Bible 24:14 and no where do you see an example of this 24:18 incoherent muttering and babbling where the person 24:21 speaking may not even know what they're saying. 24:24 There is a counterfeit that has been introduced. 24:28 For every truth of God, Satan has a counterfeit. 24:33 Is there counterfeit love? 24:35 Is there a counterfeit for the Holy Spirit? 24:41 You can bet there is. 24:42 Does God has a counterfeit law, a counterfeit Sabbath? 24:47 The devil - I mean. 24:48 The devil has got a counterfeit for every truth of God. 24:50 It shouldn't surprise us that he not only has a 24:52 counterfeit for tongues. 24:53 There's a true gift of tongues. 24:55 I want to reiterate, I believe in all the gifts of the Spirit. 24:57 I believe in miracles. I believe in healing. 24:59 I believe in casting out devils, I believe in prophecy. 25:02 I believe in all the gifts of the Spirit. 25:03 But there's been a cuckoo bird egg 25:08 that's been laid in the church that is not the gift of tongues. 25:12 And, it has confused a lot of people, 25:15 and you know what breaks my heart? 25:16 While I was studying and preparing for this last night, 25:19 I read the testimony of one young lady who said, 25:22 "I have become a atheist because I grew up in a church where they 25:25 did the most bizarre things and she was referring to this 25:28 common practice of babbling incoherently, 25:31 the out-of-control behavior, and she said, 25:33 "I just couldn't believe that that was God," 25:35 so she had given herself to atheism, a young lady. 25:38 A lot of people have been turned away from Christianity 25:41 because God says, "Come now let us reason together." 25:45 God is not the author of confusion. 25:48 The pandemonium and the bedlam and the cacophony of noise 25:51 that's done in the name of the Lord. 25:52 That's why here at Central, we often make a big deal about 25:55 reverence in worship. 25:57 God is orderly and I think that there ought to be respect. 26:02 I like it when you say, "Amen," that's good! 26:04 And you're just saying, we agree, 26:07 but there's communication. 26:09 Now I'm going to get more into the process of that. 26:13 But even by definition, "glossolalia" 26:18 It comes from... this is this popular ecstatic utterance, 26:21 the babbling that they call speaking in tongues; 26:23 it's a combination of 2 words, "glossia" which means 26:28 "language and then to speak or tongues and then to speak." 26:32 According to the "American Heritage Dictionary," 26:35 it is fabricated and non-meaningful speech, 26:38 especially such seen associated with a trans-state 26:42 or certain schizophrenic syndromes. 26:45 That's not me, it's not my church, 26:47 this is the "American Heritage Dictionary." 26:50 What is a language? 26:53 According to the same dictionary, the language is 26:55 the use by human beings of voice sounds, often written symbols 27:00 representing these sounds in organized combinations with 27:03 patterns in order to express and communicate those thoughts 27:07 and feelings. 27:09 By any definition, the disjointed, repetitive gibberish 27:13 that you often hear is not a language. 27:16 As-a-matter-of-fact, I can't remember their names right now, 27:18 but a couple of gentlemen wrote some books and have done 27:22 some studies on this phenomenon that has spread through the 27:27 Protestant and Catholic Churches of speaking in tongues 27:30 where they recorded somebody speaking in tongues... 27:34 And then they took this to linguists from a number of 27:36 different countries; experts in studying languages 27:39 and articulation and they said, "What language is this?" 27:42 All of them came back with the same conclusion, 27:45 They said, "This couldn't be any language, 27:47 earthly or otherwise because most of it is repeating words 27:50 and there is no sequence, no system to it that would 27:54 communicate any kind of organized thought, 27:56 it doesn't meet the definition of language." 28:00 Now I have some quotes, this is from "The New York Times," 28:04 a recent article dealing with the subject of tongues. 28:07 The Catholics were quite worried a few years ago; 28:09 an estimated 1.3 million Latino Catholics have 28:13 given up the Roman Catholicism and embraced Pentecostalism 28:16 since immigrating to the United States. 28:18 Well, one way that they've compensated, 28:22 now the Catholic Churches are welcoming 28:25 speaking in tongues in their church.. 28:28 They find it doesn't really conflict with most of their 28:30 doctrines and so they figure, better join them than lose them. 28:35 And so a number of Catholic Churches 28:37 are now charismatic churches. 28:38 Go on to the next slide here... 28:41 Some one who is speaking about this... 28:43 Speaking in tongues is a controversial practice 28:45 to many Christians, but others consider it a gift from God. 28:49 Continue... And many people who attend the 28:53 "Freedom Valley Worship Center" in Gettysburg, 28:55 ...this is one church that they picked out... 28:57 prayed for that gift. 28:58 This is in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. 29:00 "For me, it's almost as if I'm able to tap into God's heart 29:05 and what He wants," said Amber Crone, 29:07 a member of the church. 29:09 "I don't really know what I'm saying, but I know it's 29:12 what God wants me to say and to speak." 29:14 "You can feel Him... I want you to notice the 29:17 emphasis on feeling... 29:18 "You can feel Him all around you; you can feel Him 29:21 speaking through the words that you are saying." 29:25 Next slide, Crone's friend, Kelly, describes 29:28 what she says is a feeling of connection to God. 29:31 "I know some people get a warm, fuzzy feeling going on inside; 29:34 for me - I get goose bumps actually." 29:37 Are goose bumps a feeling too? 29:39 So much of it is not dealing with spiritual enlightenment 29:44 of truth that sets you free. 29:46 It's all actually very basic and carnal. 29:50 And you might wonder, how did it find its way into the church. 29:53 In virtually every pagan religion of the world, 29:58 you find this dynamic. 30:00 It can be traced back, for instance to the 30:02 "Oracle of Delphi" in Greece and you know the Greeks had 30:05 conquered the then civilized world... 30:08 That people would go to this place and there is an actual 30:11 picture of the ruins of the "Oracle of Delphi" 30:14 and the whole cult religion was developed around this. 30:17 And the people were wanting a message from the gods. 30:21 They would go and consult the Oracle - 30:22 Have you heard that term before? 30:24 And what would happen is, the priest would go through 30:27 these incantations and there was a priestess there who was 30:30 called the "Sibyl" or a "Pythia" 30:34 and that's where you get the word - to say something 30:37 in a "pithy" way. 30:38 She would inhale these vapors that were intoxicating, 30:44 go into a trance; the music would be playing; 30:47 the drums would be beating; 30:49 she would begin to utter these ecstatic gibberish utterings, 30:53 and then the priest would interpret them. 30:56 And, as-a-matter-of-fact, I think I've actually got a 31:00 quote here that explains, from the dictionary, 31:04 or the encyclopedia, how this works. 31:09 I told you I've got a lot of information, 31:10 let me see if I can find this real quick. 31:12 Here we go - "While exhilarating music 31:14 was playing, the chief priestess named the Pythia 31:17 would breathe intoxicating vapors and go into a 31:19 frenzied trance and then begin jabbering. 31:21 The weird sounds of the priestess muttered were then 31:24 interpreted by the priest who spoke in verse. 31:27 Her utterances were regarded as the words of Apollo. 31:31 But the messages were so ambiguous, 31:33 they could seldom be proven wrong." 31:35 That's from "Compton's Encyclopedia." 31:37 Well, you know, we found this a lot in the 31:40 churches I used to worship. 31:42 I'll tell you another little study that was done 31:44 by the same gentlemen from New York who did the study on 31:47 tongues. 31:48 They took an excerpt on somebody speaking in tongues 31:51 in a worship service - got a clear recording, 31:53 and they went to 100 different charismatic ministers 31:57 that believe that they had the gift of tongues, 31:59 and they went under the guise of "We're Christians 32:03 and we got a recording of someone speaking in tongues 32:05 and we'd like to know what this message is." 32:07 They played the tape and the pastor would say, 32:10 "Oh, thus saith the Lord" and he'd say what the message 32:12 was and they'd write it down. 32:13 They took the same tape of someone speaking in tongues 32:18 to 100 different ministers... 32:20 Guess how many different interpretations there were? 32:23 100 different interpretations! 32:27 Which makes it a very dubious or a suspicious gift. 32:31 And yet, so many people, dear people and bright people... 32:35 And, you know, they used to call them "holy rollers," 32:39 they used to say it was the uneducated. 32:41 Oh, I haven't given you all the history. 32:43 This is very common... when I worked with the Navajos 32:47 in North America. 32:50 They would eat peyote, hallucinogenics; 32:52 they would go into a sweat lodge; 32:55 they would beat the drums all night long. 32:57 We could hear them from our mission station. 32:59 They'd go into a trance; they'd begin muttering, 33:01 jabbering and they said it was the language of the gods. 33:05 In Africa, very common... I've been there. 33:09 Beating the drums - all night long we could hear them. 33:12 And they'd finally get worked into a frenzy; 33:14 they'd go into a trance; they'd be possessed. 33:16 They'd say they're possessed by the gods and begin 33:19 jabbering and babbling. 33:22 And the truth is when many of the African slaves 33:26 came to North America and the Christian missionaries 33:29 would give them just the basics of the gospel, 33:31 many of them couldn't read English and they talked 33:34 to them about tongues and they'd say, "Oh, we know what 33:36 that is, we had that back home." 33:38 And they began to introduce the pagan concept of tongues 33:44 into their Christian worship, and it was at first 33:46 just among the slaves. 33:48 Then it found its way through the South among the poor. 33:51 Then it found its way to LA on what they call "Azusa Street" 33:55 and it became more mainline. 33:57 Then it went from just the Pentecostal Churches 34:00 and the Assembly of God Churches into the Methodist Churches, 34:03 the Baptist Churches, the Presbyterian Churches, 34:06 the Episcopal Churches and it began to spread. 34:11 But what you've got is it's a pagan trance. 34:14 These people are dear people and they just 34:17 have been swept up in this thing and it feels good! 34:20 I don't question whether they're feeling something, 34:22 I don't question whether a spirit is coming over them. 34:26 But if the devil was going to counterfeit the Holy Spirit, 34:29 and he's going to try and market it, 34:30 would he want you to feel bad, 34:31 or would he want you to feel good? 34:34 I mean, who would want to do it - if he didn't feel good? 34:37 So is that our criteria, what's our criteria to 34:40 measure whether something is true or not? 34:42 What does the Bible say? 34:44 I've got another quote here also from the New York Times. 34:47 Researches at the University of Pennsylvania took 34:51 brain images of 5 women while they spoke in tongues 34:54 and found that their frontal lobes, 34:56 the thinking, willful part of the brain 34:59 through which people control what they do, 35:01 were relatively quiet as were their language centers. 35:06 And here, we've got actual pictures of the MRIs, 35:09 you can see for yourself, they're posted online 35:11 from the study. 35:12 The language centers of the brain in the frontal lobes 35:14 were very quiet meaning that this gift of tongues 35:17 was not coming from the cognitive part, 35:19 but more, the animalistic feeling part of the brains. 35:24 That would make it suspect and some of the people 35:27 that go under this trance of tongues, 35:29 they're speaking in tongues and they say, 35:31 "Well I don't know what I'm saying." 35:33 It's a prayer language. 35:35 Now the Bible says that when you speak, 35:37 you should make what you say clear. 35:39 Let's go back to some of these principles here... 35:42 Turn with me to 1 Corinthians and we're going to look at 35:47 some of the verses that talk about the gift of tongues. 35:49 Just turn to 1 Corinthians and 35:51 I'm going to address this a little bit. 35:55 Start with chapter 14, for instance... 36:00 He talks quite a bit here about the gifts of the Spirit. 36:05 As-a-matter-of-fact, if you've got you Bible opened to 36:07 1 Corinthians 14:1, go up one verse to the last verse 36:12 of chapter 13, 1 Corinthians 13:13, 36:17 Oh, I want chapter 12, verse 31, sorry... 36:25 "But earnestly desire the best gifts, 36:28 and I'll show you a more excellent way." 36:30 He says - we should desire the best gifts of the Sprit, okay? 36:34 Now go to chapter 14, verse 1, "Pursue love and desire 36:39 spiritual gifts, but especially that you might prophesy." 36:43 So, of the gifts that we should desire, 36:45 what gift does Paul say that we should especially focus on? 36:48 Prophecy and prophecy, like I said is not talking about your 36:51 going around like Elijah or John the Baptist - making predictions 36:56 Prophecy here in 1 Corinthians is a Greek word and means 36:57 to speak in behalf of someone else. 36:59 It means o preach or to share, to teach for Christ, 37:02 the gifts of prophecy. 37:03 "For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, 37:06 but to God for no one understands him; 37:09 however, in the Spirit, he speaks mysteries." 37:11 Okay, we gotta stop here and explain something... 37:14 Most of what Paul says about tongues is in 1 Corinthians... 37:18 No.. All of what Paul says about tongues is in 1 Corinthians. 37:21 Paul wrote most in the New Testament. 37:23 He only talks about tongues in one book, 37:26 not even in 2 Corinthians. 37:28 As-a-matter-of-fact, Matthew never mentions tongues; 37:32 John never mentions tongues; 37:34 Luke never mentions tongues except in Acts - 37:37 he doesn't in his Gospel; 37:38 Peter never mentions tongues; 37:41 James never mentions tongues, 37:43 and yet, in spite of the silence of all these other 37:45 Bible writers, if you go to many charismatic churches, 37:48 you would think that that was all they talked about. 37:51 And when the gifts of the Spirit are listed, 37:53 they typically turn the list upside-down, where he talks 37:57 about the most important gift is prophecy; 37:59 the least important is tongues. 38:01 Now, back to Corinth... 38:03 Corinth was a booming, new, baby church 38:09 that Paul had planted. 38:10 It's a seaport in the Roman Empire where it was a 38:15 melting pot of people and slaves from all over the Roman Empire. 38:20 And some of them had come from Northern Africa, 38:23 and some of them had maybe come from India, 38:24 and some of them had come from Spain and from Corinth, 38:26 and they were from all over. 38:28 Their services were often very confusing because there were 38:33 people from all over the world 38:35 and they all spoke different languages. 38:37 Now I've been in churches like that where you not only 38:41 have the mother tongue of the people that you're with 38:43 but you've got other primary tongues, 38:45 and nobody wants to totally feel left out, 38:48 and so you got some people there who might speak English, 38:50 and some people there who might speak Korean, 38:52 and some speak Chinese and some speak Mandarin. 38:55 And so during the services, they'll have the guest speaker, 38:59 everyone wants to know what's being said... 39:01 I see it happening here at Central almost every week. 39:04 I'll see somebody leaning over to a brother or sister 39:07 that speaks almost only Spanish or almost only Romanian 39:11 or some other language and they're trying to whisper 39:13 quietly to that person while I teach and that's great! 39:17 Because otherwise, you know what has to happen 39:19 is I'd say something in English, somebody else would be here 39:21 and they'd have to say it in Japanese, 39:23 then a third person would have to say it in Korean, 39:26 and someone else would have to say it in Mandarin. 39:28 And so the services in Corinth were getting very confusing 39:31 because people were standing up whether there was a 39:32 translator - an interpreter or not and they are preaching 39:35 and praying and praising God and testifying! 39:37 What good will it do you right now if I should start 39:40 preaching the rest of the sermon in a language 39:42 you don't understand? 39:44 Would God understand if it was a language of the world? 39:47 Would He understand? Yeah 39:49 So I'm speaking mysteries in the spirit 39:51 if it's not profiting you. 39:53 This is what was happening... 39:55 That's what Paul is talking about. 39:57 Once you understand that at the outset, 39:59 it all makes sense and it falls into place. 40:01 He's chastising His church for their speaking without 40:05 organization in their services and languages 40:07 that people couldn't understand. 40:09 They were preaching and praying in some of their tongues 40:11 that they had received - some might have been 40:13 normal languages they grew up learning; 40:15 others they might have received miraculously - it doesn't matter 40:18 ... the people listening didn't understand! 40:21 Keep in mind, at the Day of Pentecost, 40:23 it was not the gift of hearing, it was the gift of speaking. 40:30 They were not ears of fire that landed on their heads, 40:34 they were tongues of fire - is that right? 40:36 But they didn't have the gift of hearing, 40:39 it was the gift of speaking in other languages. 40:42 So that why Paul said it was so important that when you do 40:44 speak in tongues, the people there know what it is 40:46 that you're saying. 40:47 Now, if there's anything that's clear 40:49 from 1 Corinthians 14, it's that he wants them 40:53 to understand what others are saying. 40:55 Let me just give you a couple of high points 40:56 because we're moving right along here. 40:59 For instance, verse 7, "Even things without life 41:03 whether flute or harp, when they make a sound, 41:05 unless there's a distinction in the sound, 41:07 how will it be known what is piped or played? 41:11 For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, 41:13 who will prepare himself for battle?" 41:16 Let me see if I... Oh, bless your heart, okay! 41:19 Thank you very much. 41:21 Now I want to really find out who owns this... 41:25 Do I have - I brushed my teeth before I started preaching, 41:27 can I use this? Yes! You trust me, 41:29 you might need to sterilize this end. 41:33 All right, if I was going to ask you to all sing along 41:36 with me, would you be willing? 41:38 Okay, I think you'll recognize this number. 41:53 No? All right, let me see, if I was to do... 42:14 All right, I've played a lot more of that one, 42:17 but if I were to go... 42:24 How many notes did I play? 42:26 Did you recognize it? Yes 42:28 Why? Because there's some organization 42:30 and distinction to it, right? 42:32 But what happens in these churches all the time, 42:35 there's no organization or distinction, 42:37 they don't know what's being said. 42:39 Paul said, "If the trumpet gives an 42:41 uncertain sound... I didn't have a trumpet. 42:43 I didn't think to bring one, thank you. 42:45 If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, 42:47 who will prepare for the battle? 42:49 When I used to go to military school, 42:51 every morning, over the PA speaker, 42:54 we would hear... 42:59 That was the sound - nobody made any announcement, 43:01 but we knew what that meant. 43:03 Then at the end of the day, we'd hear... 43:09 See, I can play the trumpet without the trumpet. 43:13 And that would mean go to bed. 43:14 Or, if they were going to charge... 43:17 No, that's not charge... 43:20 That means charge! 43:22 And so, but back then they didn't have walkie-talkies 43:26 for the soldiers. 43:27 When they're directing troops on the field, 43:30 they used a trumpet. 43:31 Can you imagine if you had some schizophrenic trumpeter? 43:36 And the general is saying... 43:38 "Okay, tell them - flank left, charge!" 43:40 And all of a sudden he decides, "You know, I'm just 43:42 going to let the spirit lead," 43:45 and there is an indistinct sound. 43:48 So what is Paul saying? 43:49 There needs to be a distinction in the sound 43:52 or who is going to know what's being piped or heard... 43:55 Are you seeing, in some of the churches, something being done 43:58 called "tongues" and there's no distinction in the sound. 44:01 You don't know what's being said. 44:02 Listen here... Verse 9, underline this. 44:08 If you forget everything about 1 Corinthians 14, 44:10 don't miss this verse and you won't be confused. 44:12 "So likewise, unless you utter, by the tongue, 44:18 words easy to understand, how will it be known 44:22 what is spoken; you will be speaking into the air." 44:27 Bingo! Slam dunk! 44:30 This is what Paul is saying in this book! 44:35 I could go on here... "Therefore, if I don't know 44:38 the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner 44:40 to him who speaks and he who speaks is a foreigner to me. 44:43 Even so, if you are zealous of spiritual gifts, 44:46 let it be for the edifying of the church." 44:48 It's got to build people up so they understand 44:52 what's being said, but a lot of my dear friends 44:53 that speak in tongues, they just start babbling, 44:57 and say, "Well, this is a heavenly prayer language." 45:02 Some are confused about the idea of praying in tongues, 45:06 have you heard that before? 45:08 They say, "Oh yeah, Pastor Doug, we agree completely 45:10 with Acts 10 and Acts 2 and Acts 19- that those were 45:14 languages of the world for the purpose of preaching the gospel" 45:17 But there's another gift of the Spirit that's praying in tongues 45:21 and this is, you know, the groanings that cannot be 45:24 uttered - spoken of in Romans where you don't know how to 45:27 pray and so you start to babble and it's just release, 45:29 and the Holy Spirit comes over and you pray. 45:31 First of all, how can you call it a tongue if it doesn't 45:37 communicate any thought? 45:39 Secondly, if you're praying and you don't know what 45:42 you're praying, how are you going to ever know 45:45 if that prayer was answered? 45:47 It's not even meeting the definition of tongue; 45:49 it doesn't meet the definition of prayer! 45:53 They take one verse - they say, "Well Paul prayed in 45:56 the tongue of angels." Oh really? 46:00 Turn with me back to 1 Corinthians 13:1 46:08 "Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, 46:12 but I have not love, I've become as sounding brass 46:15 or a clinging cymbal." 46:17 Did Paul speak with the tongue of angels? 46:21 Well let's find out - he says "though" 46:23 Some of you have different translations, does it say - if? 46:27 Some of you got translations there like 46:28 "New American Standard" and "New Revised Standard" 46:30 It says "if." 46:32 Notice if you read on in verse 2... 46:34 "And though I have the gift of gift of prophecy 46:35 and understand all mysteries and all knowledge." 46:39 Wait a second, did Paul understand all mysteries 46:42 and have all knowledge? Does any man? 46:44 He says, "though," what does though mean? 46:46 "Even if" 46:47 And he says, "And though I have all faith 46:50 so I can remove mountains" 46:51 Did Paul have all faith? 46:53 No, he said, "even if." 46:56 "And though I give all my goods to feed the poor..." 46:58 Well he did have his tent-sewing equipment. 47:01 "And though I give my body to be burned..." 47:03 He didn't - he was beheaded. 47:05 He's saying, "even if, even if, even if, even if." 47:07 "If I don't have love, it's nothing." 47:09 So the first verse is also an "even if." 47:12 Even if I spoke with the tongues of men and angels... 47:14 He's not saying he speaks with the tongue of angels. 47:16 And yet they take that verse and say... 47:18 "This is the heavenly prayer language, the tongue of angels." 47:20 Go back now to chapter 14 again, verse 14. 47:26 They'll take what Paul says here, "For if I pray 47:29 in a tongue, my spirit prays but my understanding 47:33 is unfruitful." 47:35 They say - see I don't even know what I'm praying here, 47:37 my understanding is unfruitful. 47:40 Let me re-word this - let me translate this into American, 47:45 how this would be better understood. 47:48 "If I pray in a language those around me do not understand, 47:53 I might be praying with the Spirit but my thoughts 47:56 are unfruitful to those listening." 47:59 For instance, there's probably a couple of you here 48:01 that speak a little bit of Hebrew; 48:02 I only remember one prayer in Hebrew, 48:05 and I'm sure I don't even say it right. 48:07 It's... "Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam 48:10 hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz." 48:12 I think it's the prayer over the wine. 48:14 Could be the prayer over the bread. 48:16 Oh, I didn't get it right, close enough! 48:19 In any event, you didn't know what I said, right? 48:23 The idea was that I'm praying, I might know what I'm saying, 48:28 but my understanding is unfruitful to you! 48:32 Paul is not saying that he didn't know what he was praying. 48:34 He says, "When I'm praying in the Spirit, 48:36 you don't understand what I'm saying. 48:37 It's unfruitful to those around. 48:40 Sometimes when you translate from one language 48:42 to another, there are words that you need to 48:45 add to complete the thought. 48:47 And so friends, what's happening now is here in the 48:51 church in the last days, there's a great counterfeit 48:53 that has found its way into the church. 48:56 Are we supposed to tell if a person has the Holy Spirit 48:58 by the gifts of the Spirit or by the fruits of the Spirit? 49:02 Does Jesus say - You'll know them by their gifts, 49:05 or you'll know them by their fruits? 49:07 You know what I think is really interesting... 49:09 God says He gives the Holy Spirit to them that obey Him. 49:14 God gives the Holy Spirit to them that obey Him, 49:18 and yet I remember a few years ago there was just a whole 49:22 kaleidoscope of charismatic ministers that were in the 49:26 headlines that got into different kinds of trouble 49:29 that we're not going to talk about, 49:31 and all of them spoke in tongues. 49:34 I also thought it was interesting that when they 49:37 traveled to foreign countries, they would take an 49:39 entourage with them and I've seen it on T.V. 49:43 They always had translators there that they paid 49:47 to translate their sermons. 49:48 And I thought, if you've got the gift of tongues, 49:50 why do you need a translator? 49:53 Well, I mean, you'd think that Tongues 101 would 49:55 at least be able to preach to the people who are there, 49:58 like the apostles did, right? 50:00 This is very suspicious and, friends, please don't 50:03 see this as an attack. 50:04 This is not offence, this is defense. 50:07 I'm afraid because I see it encroaching among our people 50:11 and among our churches and it's just spreading, 50:13 and it is a counterfeit gift. 50:17 This is the evidence of Babylon, 50:19 and I'd like to make an appeal. 50:21 I've got friends out there, I used to worship 50:24 with these people and they'd say, "Pastor, I have spoken 50:27 in tongues and it feels so good, I know what it's like, 50:29 how can you tell me it's not real?" 50:30 I'm not denying that it's real. 50:32 I'm saying it's coming from the wrong source. 50:35 Some of it might be self-induced. 50:38 Sometimes your mind can play games on your own body. 50:41 Some of it might just be plainly another spirit 50:44 and the wrong spirit. 50:46 And don't forget, the devil, if he does anything well, 50:48 he tries to masquerade as messengers of Christ. 50:55 And I had more than one person who said, "Pastor Doug, when I 50:57 heard this message, even though I spoke in tongues, 51:00 ... they said, this makes sense biblically, but Lord, 51:02 if I'm doing something and this is not according to Your will, 51:05 take it away from me." 51:07 I know an Adventist minister, right now, 51:11 who prayed that prayer, used to speak in tongues, 51:12 and he said it went away and never came back. 51:15 Of course he wasn't a minister back then, he is now. 51:19 God just took it away from him. 51:20 A lot of people have told me that. 51:22 You just say, "Lord, if this is not from You, 51:25 I want to go by the Bible." 51:27 And if you follow the Bible, you're safe. 51:30 And you know what the bottom line is, friends? 51:33 Whenever you're in doubt about what to do, who is our example? 51:37 Who is a Christian supposed to follow? Jesus! 51:41 Please tell me what verse it was where Jesus spoke in tongues. 51:45 Show me a verse in the Bible where 51:46 Jesus slapped someone on the head and they fell 51:48 down when He healed them. 51:50 I mean I'm not trying to be derogatory now, 51:53 but there's a whole lot of things that are being done 51:54 in Jesus' name now that Jesus didn't endorse, 51:59 and the idea of that, you've got to speak in tongues 52:02 to prove that you got the Holy Spirit is the antithesis of 52:05 what the Bible preaches and yet, I've been at these services 52:08 before where someone is sincere, they come forward, 52:09 and they say, "I want God in my life, I want the Holy Spirit," 52:12 and they say - you've got to speak in tongues, 52:13 and all of my charismatic friends would get around them 52:16 and they would all start to pray and they'd shout 52:18 and they'd beat the drums and they'd lay their hands 52:21 on this person and they'd shake them and sometimes 52:23 they'd even take their hands and push on their diaphragms 52:25 and say, "Do this," and if they didn't start speaking 52:27 in tongues then, then they'd say, "Say halleluiah, 52:29 keep saying halleluiah. 52:31 And they'd go, "Halleluiah, halleluiah" and they'd say, 52:32 "Faster"... Halleluiah, halleluiah 52:34 "Faster, Faster" and they're pushing on 52:35 their stomach and pretty soon their babbling. 52:38 And they'd say, "That's it!" 52:39 I said, "What do you call that." 52:40 "Well, we're priming the pump of the Holy Spirit, 52:43 so that living water can flow." 52:44 They call it "priming the pump." 52:48 Friends! That ain't right! 52:53 And you know what breaks my heart is - I've got friends 52:55 that were sincerely looking for God. 52:56 They went to the service, they tried to speak in tongues, 52:59 and they couldn't and they left dejected. 53:01 They never went back and they said, "You know, I tried 53:03 and I guess God just had rejected me, I couldn't do it." 53:05 They were sincere, they weren't going to fake it. 53:08 And so it didn't happen to them, 53:09 and they turned away from God altogether 53:13 because they couldn't manufacture this 53:17 counterfeit version of tongues. 53:20 That's why I'm preaching it! 53:21 Because I don't want people to be discouraged by this. 53:24 I don't want people to be distracted. 53:25 I don't want you to be confused. 53:27 In the last days... what did I read to you, 53:29 "Every uncouth thing is going to come into the church, 53:31 even among God's people." 53:33 And with the confusion and the bedlam and the cacophony 53:37 and the drums and the dancing, 53:38 all that is going to be coming in. 53:40 And if we're not aware of what the Bible says, 53:43 That God says, "All things should be done decently 53:45 and in order," and whenever you're in doubt about what to do 53:48 ... you do what Jesus did, 53:50 and you're safe, friends. Do you believe that? 53:52 Why does God give us the gift of tongues? 53:55 That we might tell about Jesus. 53:59 And I pray for the gift of tongues, the real gift! 54:02 It just empowers you more and more to be able to 54:04 talk to other people. 54:06 I think I shared with you one time, 54:08 I was driving across Deming, New Mexico, 54:11 I picked up a Mexican hitchhiker who spoke no English. 54:15 I had just prayed God would give me the ability 54:17 to witness to somebody and when I picked up 54:19 this hitchhiker, I thought "That's great!" 54:21 But he didn't understand me! 54:23 I said, "Lord, You got a sense of humor." 54:27 My Spanish back then was you know, 54:29 you could order at a restaurant and that was about it 54:31 in a Spanish restaurant and I prayed. 54:35 I said, "Lord, I need the gift of tongues because 54:37 I was driving from Deming, New Mexico to 54:39 Northern California and it was going to take 54:41 2 days in this old truck and this was going to be a long trip 54:44 I'd like to talk to him about You, Lord. 54:46 He said he wanted to come and do some work for me, 54:48 and I said, "Sure, I got firewood business and" 54:51 You know friends, I don't know how it happened along the way... 54:53 First I started making up words. 54:56 I just thought that in Spanish, you know, you just add 54:58 the word "o" or "a" to an English word and I said, 55:04 "I'm driving my truck-o up to the mountains-o to do work-o, 55:11 and you know, words started coming back to me 55:13 because I had heard some along the way, you know 55:15 I lived in New York City and I went to school with my 55:17 Puerto Rican friends and then I went to school in 55:19 California with my Mexican friends and I went 55:21 to school in Miami with my Cuban friends... 55:23 And somewhere along the way, I heard those things, 55:25 and Jesus said the Holy Spirit will bring things 55:27 to your remembrance and words started coming to me. 55:29 And the next thing I knew, I'm riding down the road 55:32 and I'm saying, "Tu quieres come viv-o conmigo 55:35 and travajo en las montanas, yo cortar lena." 55:38 And he said, "Aye" 55:40 One time, I wanted to know if he was hungry and I said, 55:43 "Tu quieres denaro?" I meant dinner, you know, 55:45 dinner-o and that meant money! 55:47 And he got very excited! 55:51 So, the reason I'm telling you this story is 55:54 ... the closest thing I've ever had to 55:56 the gift of tongues was that trip. 55:57 By the time we got to Northern California, 56:00 he and I were talking; he lived with us. 56:02 His name was "Omar Ayon." 56:04 He got baptized after living with us 6 months, 56:07 and I learned a lot of Spanish working with Omar, 56:09 let me tell ya! 56:11 I speak it a lot more when I have to, just enough to get by. 56:15 But this is what it's all about, it's for the purpose of 56:18 telling others about Jesus, Amen? 56:20 Let's pray... Loving Father in heaven, 56:23 Lord, I pray that the message here today has been given 56:28 in the Spirit of Christ and that people listening, 56:31 if they've been at all offended, I pray they'll 56:34 forgive the messenger and their hearts will be opened 56:36 to the message that we'll realize that there is a 56:39 truth and there are also counterfeits out there we need 56:42 to be aware of. 56:43 Lord, I pray that each person can better understand 56:47 Your Word and what it really means to speak 56:51 with the tongues of angels. 56:53 Bless us Lord, that You might touch our tongues 56:56 with the Holy Spirit and that we might speak Your words. 56:59 And I pray that you will set a hedge of truth about us 57:03 to protect us from the absolute blizzard of deceptions 57:08 that are coming to Your people. 57:10 Help us to take our stand based on "Thus saith the Lord." 57:13 Be with us Lord, as Your people and we thank You 57:16 again for the good news and the truth that sets us free. 57:19 We ask these things in the name of Him who is the Truth, 57:22 Jesus our Lord... Amen 57:26 A website whose roots date back to the beginning of time 57:29 SabbathTruth.com is the definitive 57:32 resource for Bible light on the Lord's Day. 57:35 Clear Bible answers for every question you've ever had 57:37 about the Sabbath. 57:39 Seven key topic headings guide you through 57:41 the purpose of the Sabbath. 57:42 Which day is the Lord's Day? 57:44 The Sabbath and prophecy. 57:45 Questions about the Sabbath. 57:47 How to keep it holy. 57:48 The Sabbath in history and many Sabbath resources. 57:51 Visit SabbathTruth.com today and share 57:54 your newfound treasure with a friend. |
Revised 2014-12-17