The gift of tongues (part 2)

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.

Does anyone know what our denomination is? You know what, I would say at least half don't know that we're American Baptists. Because? Because we behave more like Pentecostals in the sense of the Holy Spirit and the worship and the gifts of the spirit. We sometimes call each other baptism , that's why, isn't it? Confused Baptists, since I am a confused gringo, we are confused Baptists, we believe we are Pentecostals.

It's nice, we have both backgrounds: the Baptist emphasizes the word a lot, study, think. Pentecostals emphasize the moving of the Holy Spirit along with the study of the word. We believe that we can do both, study the Bible, be sober and thinking people and also be crazy people for Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, who move in the gifts. So that's why I want to talk again about that gift.

And I want to start with a testimony from when I was 16 years old. I was Catholic, a young man, I grew up in the Catholic Church, a beautiful family, thank God. My mom took me to church and some cousins invited me to spend the summer with them. And they were Pentecostals. My aunt, a good Catholic, my aunt told me when I was a baby, 'you will be a priest, you will be a priest', so something got confused in the transmission, it almost came out, almost, something like that.

So I went to be with them. She tells me, 'you are not going to be Pentecostal this summer. You are Catholic, but to play on the softball team you have to attend his church. God uses his ways to get us into his house. So I, 16 years old, used to congregate in that church where people were shouting, Hallelujah! They raised their hands, preached the word, and talked about a personal relationship with Jesus.

And I really liked, mind you, the sermons because I liked to hear direct teaching of the word, but I was a little uncomfortable with all the commotion during the services. I thought those people were crazy. And I remember one day, during that summer, the pastor was preaching, it was a beautiful sermon on suffering in the Christian life and how God is with us. And at the end, there was a time of prayer, and I felt something strange, something different. It was like a tingling, I don't know the word in Spanish, like a little water starting to flow. And I stood there looking at the floor and there was a moment of calm, everyone was silent for a moment and a Latina lady, it was not a Latina church, but a Latina lady stood up and began to speak in another language and I , 16 years old, I thought 'it will be Spanish'. And it was not, 'it will be French', it was not, what will it be? It will be Swahili. I didn't know, she talked, talked, and while she talked I felt something, wow, they were words that entered my heart.

And then there was another moment of peace and quiet. And another person got up and gave a message in English, this time, a very powerful message that spoke as if he added to the sermon that God is with us in afflictions. And I stayed, I found myself kind of crying a little, and I thought 'but what is happening to me?' I did not understand that.

Then I ask my cousin, who had invited me to church. 'But Mateo, what was that? And why did he speak that language, was he Spanish?' He says, 'no, he wasn't Spanish.' And I ask him, 'what language was it?' He says, 'oh, I don't know, maybe an angelic language.' An angelic language? But how? We don't know, she spoke in an unknown language, a gift of tongues. And it was a language and I asked my cousin, and she understood what he was saying. And he said, 'oh, no, no, no, that's why we had to wait for an interpretation from the Holy Spirit to give us a message.'

And he opened the Bible, the book of Corinthians, let's read the text. And I eat, but what? But why? Yes God, but why didn't she speak to us in English, why all this fuss and in a language that she doesn't understand? But I did not understand. But I tell you, that experience shocked me, because for me God was... I believed in God, I prayed my rosaries, I had my faith in God, I believed in Jesus, but for me he was someone far, far away. It was not so present that it could give the ability to speak in an unknown language. For me that was not part of my understanding of the Christian life. So this shocked me and it started a process for me of learning that Jesus was very, very close and that I could accept him as my Lord and savior. And then I find that some Catholics believe the same thing that they speak in tongues, that they have accepted Jesus; It's called the charismatic renewal and all that.

But then I accepted Christ, became a Christian, and it transformed my life. And it was watching the gift of tongues in action. And I want to talk more about that today, because I feel that there is still confusion. The thing is, there are people who believe that those who have a certain gift of the Holy Spirit are better than other people. I don't know if you've ever felt this, that a friend of yours starts speaking in tongues and makes you feel like you're a second class Christian? Have you been on these planes that have the first class section, and then all the others, the normal ones have to go back in the plane and be cramped and uncomfortable. They are only the special ones that can be in front of the plane.

There are some who make others feel as if those who speak in tongues are first-class Christians and those who don't are Kingdom citizens perhaps, but right there at the door, they're not real , the Lord's specials. And so we have our defenses sometimes.

There are others who insist that everyone has to experience exactly what one has experienced oneself. For me it happened that I began to speak in tongues when I was driving in my car, so you also have to get in the car, start driving and the Lord will give you that gift too, and if not, faith is lacking. You don't have enough faith. So there are these misconceptions.

There are other churches, and I have friends, look, they have experienced that, they even teach how to speak in tongues, they teach. They say, ok, just say babbabababa with me until you get the word out. And mind you, I have friends who have been gifted that way, so I'm not going to.... God can do whatever he wants, but we don't do that here.

The gift of tongues to define it. There are some new ones who are thinking, 'and why is b speaking in tongues? Why, what is that? Gift of tongues is the ability given by the Holy Spirit to pray, worship or prophesy in a language unknown to the same speaker.

The Gift of Tongues is the spirit-given ability to pray, worship, or give a prophecy message in a language that the person speaking does not understand what he is saying. That is the gift of tongues and we do believe that it is a special gift in the sense that it is a more general gift in the body of Christ.

We know there are many gifts, but not everyone has every gift. And it is so with the with of tongues as well. But the gift of tongues seems to be something different in the sense of being a more general gift, a gift that is more for the whole church. It is not that everyone is going to receive them in the same way, but it means that more are going to speak in tongues, than those who are going to be called I don't know what, to have an apostolic ministry, or teaching. It's something a little more general.

The other thing we believe is that it's for edification, that it helps people to be Christians closer to the Lord, than they would have been if they didn't have the gift sometimes. We have also seen that it is a gift that sometimes functions as the portal to a spiritual environment for the person and that is why we talk about it a lot. Amen.

There's a lot like this, you know we're going to pray first and then we're going to move on. Father, in the name of Jesus I thank you that you want to be close to us. Lord, thank you that you love us as we are, thank you that you do not want to be a distant God but a close God. I ask you for clarity in this time that we are going to share, Father, that you can answer some questions and give us peace in this matter. And I ask that it be for the transformation of many of us. Talk to us today, I ask you. Talk to me. I want to hear from you, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Last week we talked about babies speaking in tongues. I think I have one that does. But I tell you, there is a word that does have meaning. He has started saying 'dada', oh, oh. I feel the anointing when he says so. he says 'dada' the rest is baba. It has no meaning.

Some people think that speaking in tongues is speaking baby language. And it can be, in the sense that it is that same tenderness that inspires in God when we speak in tongues. But it is different because it is a known language. As I was saying, I believe that there are a variety of perspectives that we have in the church, we are, if you haven't noticed, a very diverse church. We have people from many different countries, from many different backgrounds, from many different jobs and socioeconomic levels. We have here among us some who were Pentecostals, who are in recovery, they would say. They're recovering Pentecostals. Because maybe they were in churches that were so, so hard on them that they say, 'oh, never ever, I want to be free of that. Some react and go to the other extreme and say, 'Gregory, don't talk to me about tongues because this brings back bad memories.'

Notice that we love Pentecostals, we have a lot of fellowship with them. But there are some who have defenses, maybe when they were children they laid hands on them and cried out in tongues for them, and tried to make them do it. And they were such negative experiences that people are left with defenses.

There are others who have come from more conservative churches that teach the word a lot and people have been taught to be very careful of emotionalism, that in charismatic Pentecostal churches, that people are crazy, they don't know It's based on the word, so be careful with that. We are people of the word, they say. And for having come out of this background, many also have their defenses up, they say 'ah, ah, they have taught me to be careful of that, so I'm not saying it's not from God but mn, it's not for me', they have their defenses on.

There are others who are new here who at this point think I'm half crazy. Gregory seems so normal, you live here in Boston, you are normal and here you are talking about speaking in another language.

There are some that maybe you think is from God but it is something so rare that you would never think it would be for you. Because they don't want to do weird things, they don't want to violate personal dignity and they think, it's not for me.

And there are others who have a lot of faith in the Lord and have sought the Lord for many years, they pray for hours every day, and they never experienced that gift, and they say 'and Gregory, what about me? What happens, why doesn't God give that gift to me?

Wherever you are I encourage you to open your heart a little and know that God has something for you. And know that he will listen to what God has. Maybe it's not to speak in tongues today or tomorrow, but God wants us to listen. So I encourage you to open your heart and receive what he has. God has always been in the business of pouring out his spirit on his people. This is nothing new, and it is not just for the New Testament. In the Old Testament there were even artisans who built the tabernacle and God poured out his spirit on them with a spirit of wisdom in design, in graphics, to do things, to build the Lord's own tabernacle.

Who knows their names? Someone knows? You can shout it. The anointed men to build the tabernacle with the Holy Spirit, Ojaliab, we have a scholar and Besaleel. Brothers, this is nice. You know that the spirit can anoint you even to put flowers. The spirit can anoint you to paint a wall, to design a building. You can pass.

Then the spirit anointed Moses and Moses reached a point where he felt very alone in the ministry, he couldn't take it anymore. and he says, 'God I can't deal with all these people, who am I? His mom? he said. The same, he said it like this, what am I their mother? Like a good Jew, a good Hebrew. And then God says 'Put 70 of them away and I'm going to take the spirit that's in you and I'm going to put these spirits on them.' And God did.

The same anointing was passed from Moses to the elders and they prophesied when it happened. There is a principle in that. Many times the filling, anointing of the Holy Spirit is contagious, that's why I like to stick with anointed people, I like to do it, because I want to catch what they have. Really, I sometimes stand next to people, show me who you're with and.... It's like that, more with spirit because this anointing sticks to you. That's where mentoring comes in, you get closer, you're prayed for and it's passed on.

Later in the Old Testament we had judges. We know the names of some of the judges: the female judge, Deborah, that man who blew the trumpet, you know who blew the trumpet, right? Shofar. Gideon.

The word says that the spirit clothed himself with Gideon, the spirit clothed himself with Gideon. Also with one who also had his complications, a man who had his temptations in life, Samson, that the word says that the spirit disturbed Samson to free his people, although he had his defects he also had a very special anointing.

And later, the word says that the spirit took possession of him to kill a lion and then have strength for battle. There was anointing to do the work of the Lord. God poured out his spirit on people to fulfill his ministry.

And then it happened with the kings. How many know where the word anointed or anointing comes from? It comes from the prophets who would approach kings with a vial of oil and pour the oil on the king, the person designated as king, but it wasn't a little bit of oil, it was enough oil to wet the priest's beard, when they anointed him. him. So they anointed him and he was the anointed of the Lord, and when they poured out the oil it was a symbol of the anointing of the Holy Spirit on him.

Do you know that there is a word in Greek for the word 'anointed', it is the word who knows? Does anyone know that discipleship, the Greek word for anointed, the anointed? Christ. They know that Jesus has, not a last name, Christ. Some think that Christ is the last name of Jesus. Jesus Christ, Joseph Christ, Mary Christ. It wasn't like that. It is Jesus the Christ, Jesus the anointed king, anointed by the Holy Spirit to be king. It is the Messiah which is the Hebrew word for anointing.

So always in the Old Testament he spoke of the anointing of the Holy Spirit until he got to John the Baptist, in the New Testament. And Juan preached, I am here baptizing you with water, but someone is coming after me who is going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And people said, 'baptize us with the Holy Spirit. And he says, 'the person that I point out to you, that I see the spirit falling on him, is the person who is going to baptize with the Holy Spirit.'

And how many of us know what happened to Jesus when he was baptized? He rises from the water and the Holy Spirit falls on him like a dove. And he and a voice from heaven, 'This is my beloved son,' is a play on words for David. He is my beloved son, my David, my king. Listen to him, listen to him. And he was anointed with the spirit and went out into the desert to be tempted and then he preached and did miracles and fulfilled his ministry.

The anointing, when he finished his ministry... now, if you notice, we're doing a little bit of a Bible tour. are you with me I know what to use... you know what? You have to use your brain, you have to concentrate a little bit on that because I want us to understand the context of all that.

So get to the end. Jesus is crucified and then, as we are going to celebrate this weekend, he rises from the dead and appears to the Apostles and tells them, 'before you go out to preach I will send you, but before you wait in Jerusalem for a while, wait because I will I will send what I have promised. It's not time yet, I don't want you to go out on your own to do things your way, wait because something is coming that will give you power.'

And the word says, and I love how says that, that they ask 'And now you are going to be the king? And he says, John certainly baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now, and you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and even the last of the earth.

You are going to receive power. You won't have to do this on your own. I will not leave them orphans. I have something for you, that this is going to give a wind behind you.

I don't know how many of you have tried to paddle in the water when you're not alone in a kayak or something? And how many have had the luxury of being on a sailboat, a sailboat with a wind behind it moving it. He says 'look, a wind is coming that is going to blow you, that is going to give you power to do what I have commanded you'.

So it is fulfilled and we go together to the Book of Acts, and we are going to do a quick study, from the bird's eye view, of Acts 2. I need the gift of languages in Spanish, I need it, Lord, give it to me. Acts 2. Jesus already told them, 'you have to wait, don't go crazy. Wait'. And it says in Act 2 verse 1:

“....When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together with one accord, and suddenly there came a noise from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind, and it filled all the thing where they were sitting and they appeared to them distributed like fire, settling on each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the spirit gave them to speak. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven, and when this noise was made, the multitude came together. They were confused, because each one heard them speak in his own language, and they were astonished and amazed, saying, "Look, they are not Galileans all these who speak, how then do we hear them each speak our language in which we were born? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamia, then a whole list of nations and then verse 11

“... Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speak in our languages the wonders of God. and they were all astonished and perplexed, saying to each other 'what does this mean?' Others, mockingly said, 'they are in must'

Most, I understand, means wine. So the day of Pentecost comes a wind that blew over them, fire appeared a little bit of fire over each one. You know that in discipleship we have an illustration of the disciples, Apostles on the day of Pentecost and each one has a little fire on his head and I never forget a sister who was scared by that and why do you have all those people burning here in that photo? He didn't know the story and he thinks, but how terrible why are they burning each one? But it was fire that does not burn, like the fire that was in the burning bush, which does not consume but is there. Fire, wind, they all begin to speak in other languages, other languages, understood by all who are there. Some are confused, others are flying and think they are crazy, or drunk.

Look, this is still going on today. When God pours out his spirit and there are demonstrations, some are confused, there are others who think but this one is really crazy. And maybe she is crazy but she is also filled with the Holy Spirit and blessed. And this is what happens.

So Tenira wonders, does the Apostle Peter say 'what you are observing is what the prophet Joel spoke that in the last days I will pour out my Holy Spirit on all flesh, no longer just a prophet, no longer more only a priest or a judge, now, as Moses the spirit was transmitted from him to his elders, now Jesus can pour out the spirit but not only on leaders, but on flesh, the elderly, children, slaves, kings, presidents, all will be recipients of the Holy Spirit, in the last days. So it was something special, a time of the anointing of the Holy Spirit that was a sign that the Messiah king has arrived and is pouring out the spirit of God to extend his Kingdom.

So the people were scared and said, 'what do we do?' And Peter preaches the Gospel to them, three thousand are converted, three thousand that same day, that same Peter who was frightened by a servant girl who question, and you were with Jesus? He says, I don't, I don't. A scared, shy man, wow, he wasn't that shy, but scared, yes. And then he was an anointed preacher, three thousand people converted in one day.

Later this kept happening, when the disciples spread out in every place where they went preaching the Gospel and that same spirit was poured out on the people. Let's skip to Acts 10. The Apostle Peter came to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile, a non-Jew and Peter is preaching the Gospel to him and while he is preaching to him, in verse 44,:

"...While Peter was still speaking those words, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the speech, and the faithful of the circumcision who came with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles also. .”

Because they heard them speaking in tongues and magnifying God. Then Peter answered, 'Can any man forbid the water lest these be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he ordered to be baptized in the name of Jesus and they begged him to stay for a few days. ”

As he was preaching fffff.. a wave of the Holy Spirit over them, a holy riot broke out. Everyone who was there began to speak in tongues. Receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. So this did not happen only on the day of Pentecost, but it was repeated when they continued to preach the Gospel. The same in Ephesus, and it is more in this verse Acts 1:8, says that you will be witnesses in Jerusalem, in Samaria, in all Judea, and to the ends of the earth.

If you study the book of Acts, in each of these places there is another Pentecost. In Jerusalem there is Pentecost, they preach. Then they go to Judea and the spirit is poured out when they preach the Gospel. In Acts 8, Philip goes to Samaria, the Holy Spirit is transmitted to the converts. Then he goes to the ends of the earth in Ephesus in Acts 19.

He knows that there are some who believe that this age of the Holy Spirit is over, that it is no more. The gifts of the spirit happened once, and they have good logic, mind you. Some teachers I love very much believe that, so I don't say it to criticize them, but they do say that Jesus died once for all. He rose once forever, went up into heaven once forever, and poured out his Holy Spirit Pentecost once forever. Amen.

I agree with that. The only thing different is that Jesus got up once for all time and poured out the Holy Spirit once forever, but he poured it out in a way that was repeated, repeated. It happened at Pentecost, it happened again in Samaria, it happened again with Cornelius and the people in his house, it happened again in Ephesus, and the Book of Acts if you read it, ends with an almost incomplete sentence. It ends that you are waiting for the end, when you read a story it normally ends by saying, 'the end', it's over, the story is over. If you read the book of Acts you will see that Paul is preaching for a few days openly without impediment, and what? It doesn't end, he keeps preaching, preaching, preaching, and then we keep preaching, preaching, preaching. The book of Acts is not over, brothers.

It is written, I don't want anyone to write another Chapter for me, but look, I saw a t-shirt that I liked, which says 'I am living Acts 28:29'. And the last verse of Acts is Acts 28:28. What he was saying with that shirt that I really liked, is that we are living the adventure of the Book of Acts that is continuing with us. The spirit was poured out there and it continues to pour out more and more and more and every time the Gospel is preached Pentecost is repeated in another way.

And brothers, we are part of that. We are part of it. And we are a very special part of that because we are living in a time of rebirth of certain gifts of the Holy Spirit in a special way. Beginning, throughout history there were revival movements, but we know that the church moved away a bit and then God has renewed it in each generation, he renews it more and more, in the reform he renewed it. Then there were revival movements, then in the year 1900 there was a phenomenon, something mysterious that began to happen, not only in one part of the world but in several countries at the same time. It happened in a place called Armenia, it happened in a place in Kansas, it happened in India, people began to receive the gift of tongues again, without communicating with each other, there were movements of people receiving that gift and speaking in tongues. There was a man, a poor, African American preacher in Kansas who was with a group of his people, praying on New Year's Eve, 1900, in Topeca, Kansas, and there among his group a lady began to speak in tongues. She laid hands on him and he began to speak in tongues. The whole group that was there began to speak in tongues.

He, his church grew, grew, grew, then he went to Texas, opened a school, and a man with the last name of Seamore also received this gift. He went to the city of Los Angeles and began a time of prayer, it was in 1906 and he began a time of prayer with his people. And on April 9, 1906, the Holy Spirit was poured out on this little group in such a special way that the house where they were praying collapsed. It's just that if you think we're troublemakers, this is nothing. Thank God, everyone alive, no one was hurt, thank God. I don't know how it happened.

So they had to open another place on a street called Azuza Street and a revival of that gift of tongues began. People from Armenia came, immigrants to Los Angeles, and they said 'but this happened to us 10 years ago.'

It was heard that people in India with very traditional, well-organized English missions began to speak in tongues in their mission in India among a group of girls in a school they had. And they also said, 'look, what is happening with us is happening in Los Angeles.

And it was so impressive that reporters came from all over the world to report what was happening. Because scandalous things were also unleashed. There were not only the leaders, they were not white gringuitos, but Afro-Americans. And there were African Americans and whites and Chinese who were there in Los Angeles, all there receiving the Holy Ghost together and hugging and having a good time like they were brothers or something. What a scandal the Holy Spirit made.

A reporter came, it is said, a Jew to discredit all this, to put all this movement in a bad light and someone stands there to speak to him in tongues and a Hebrew comes out, but perfect, telling him his name, the name of his family that he had to see in Los Angeles. He converts to Christ and writes an article 'but look, this is from God'.

Later, some of them went to a little place in South America called Valparaíso, in Chile, and the same thing broke out. Is it contagious? The thing we talked about,... boom, the move there. Some missionaries went to the south of China where the movement of the Holy Spirit was unleashed with that new gift.

Now, it didn't come out of nowhere. Notice there is a whole history of revival. Here in this same country, here in Massachusetts, there were revivals. The first great awakening, the First Great Awakening, with the Puritans, with all the people knowing Christ. At that time there were people who could have an entire region accept Christ, prisons are closed, bars are closed, because there is no business for them anymore.

Like that little town in Guatemala, Molonga, but this happened throughout the region. You couldn't escape the Gospel in those days. It happened again in the 19th century, the whole anti-slavery movement was the fruit of revival, prayer, and the movement of the Holy Spirit that people began to say, 'look, how can we have a country with slavery, if we are a country that believe in Jesus'.

So this has a whole background and the gift of tongues was unleashed in the 20th century again. Because God is in the business of maturing his bride and perfecting his bride to prepare her for his coming. So for this reason, it is nothing new, it is as old as the book of The Facts, but it is renewing what God did at that time and is replacing gifts that have been lost.

And then for many years this group was marginalized until in the years... but many Pentecostal denominations opened up. But it was the majority of the people in that country who looked at them as half crazy, until the 50's when they started some revivals with healing and evangelism.

Later in the 60s, recently, with the hippies, a movement began, what is called the Charismatic Renewal, when it was not only Pentecostals speaking in tongues, but also Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists , Catholics. A movement of the spirit that already.... who was, is not for a few, on all flesh I will pour out my spirit in the last days. They were not only people without much schooling, but some seminary professors began to receive the Holy Spirit in this way and the gift of tongues. They started some more respectable people speaking in tongues and it started to grow and grow.

In these years, I believe that God is restoring other gifts. In the 1980s, the gift of healing grew in use and practice throughout the Vineyard Church movement. In the 1990s, a rise of new prophetic people, with a more accurate, more developed, more common gift of prophecy. In our time, I believe, God is replenishing the apostolic gift of people, not to write new books of the Bible, but to move in an anointing similar to the Apostles, to cover regions and minister at that level.

God is in the business of replenishing his gifts and maturing his church. And brothers, we are part of that, we are part of that. We are part of history, we are living the last days. Jesus is coming soon and we have a role to play in that. So I want to talk a little bit about the gift of tongues and again why the gift of tongues?

If I talked about all that to put it into perspective, so that we can see the biblical background, the historical background of what we are talking about. But the gift of languages, mind you, many times it works like, I learned a new word last night, the cork for a bottle of champagne. And when you want to drink the champagne you have to uncork the bottle.

The cork isn't a big deal, but it uncovers a nice, rich drink, but don't be addicted to that, but now, this is good. Uncover a whole new life. The gift of tongues works like this many times, not always, but many times it is the cork, it is the entrance, the portal to a whole new awareness of the supernatural environment in the Christian life. And that's why we want to talk more about it.

First Corinthians 14. Are you still with me? Ready to study a little more. He notices that what we speak in tongues, we do not study. Were the Corinthians a spiritual people or a non-spiritual people? Who remembers? The Corinthians were super spiritual and super carnal people at the same time. How can that be? It was a church, but if you think we're in trouble, there's nothing new under the sun. In that church there was gossip, there were little groups in conflict with each other, there were people complaining against Pablo because he suffers too much. If he were truly anointed like us he would not suffer, he would not be imprisoned, he would be a super Apostle with all that. They were proud people, rebellious people, they had conflicts with each other, there were abuses in the workplace and lawsuits that reached the courts, there was sexual immorality, but gross, worse than it is in the world. It was a troubled place, a carnal church, but that is the paradox, that they also had many gifts of the Holy Spirit.

They spoke a lot in tongues. Brothers, something that we must emphasize and highlight: the gifts of the Holy Spirit do not indicate that a person is mature in Christ. A person can speak in tongues and be an immature, ugly, double-living Christian. You know what? Jesus says that some people who will have gifts of the Holy Spirit will not even enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus says, there will be some, many, who will say, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, have we not raised the dead, have we not done all kinds of miracles in your name?' I don't know you do evil.'

Christian maturity is not measured by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Gifts are gifts. God pours them out but does not indicate that one person is more mature in Christ than another person. There are some people who don't speak in tongues who are more anointed and more mature in Christ than I will ever be with whatever gift I have. So gifts and maturity don't necessarily go together, they should, but they don't always.

King Saul, at one point he prophesied, the spirit was poured out, he prophesied and he was in rebellion, so it's not like everyone is okay. So the Corinthians had problems that during their services there were many problems during their services: they disrespected the sacrament, let's celebrate now, they also had powers of speaking in tongues. Here, someone here starts speaking in tongues, pa, pa papapa, and someone here says, 'look, I'm more spiritual than her, what does she think there speaking in tongues, papapapapap', louder than the other one. Then another begins to prophesy, 'oh, look, I am spiritual here, let me prophesy a bit, prurururm gives him a message talking about these things.

It was a revolution and not a holy revolution. It was chaos. And Paul tells the Corinthians, God is not a God of confusion but a God of peace. So let's talk a little about the gift of tongues. We're going to learn how to use it in public worship, in an orderly way, but you'll notice that he takes it for granted that many are speaking in tongues, that many are practicing that gift. It was taken for granted that it was a common gift in all churches. They don't teach them, that 'look, that's a gift you should consider'. It is taken for granted that they are doing it, what they needed was teaching on how to do it in a proper way.

So he writes the book of First Corinthians, Chapter 14 to teach them. And in that we learn a lot about languages. Let's read verse 1 to 6, which says:

“...Follow love and seek spiritual gifts, but above all prophesy because he who speaks in tongues does not speak to men but to God, then, no one understands him, although through the spirit he speaks mysteries, but the one who prophesies speaks to men for edification, exhortation and consolation. He who speaks in a foreign tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. so I would like all of you to speak in tongues but more than to prophesy because he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets them so that the church receives edification...."

Come on to leave it there When I went to that church, a woman began to speak in tongues out loud and then the church, in order, waited for the interpretation. And that word shocked me, it helped me become a Christian. It was a key point in my spiritual progress. So this is teaching that in the church they should do things in order. But in this we also learn of the gift of tongues, although he is making another point.

I want to clear up some questions that people have that I've heard. Some have asked me, 'Gregory, on the day of Pentecost they spoke in many languages known to the listeners, but you and others in the church pray in tongues and we don't know what the language is, so is it the same or what, What's going on here? That is important to clarify.

At Pentecost it was a special moment when God was pouring out the Holy Spirit in this way for the first time, and he was also making the point that when languages…do languages divide people? , No? When did people start to divide the languages in the Bible? At Babel, everyone began to speak differently. Now, God is saying, 'Do you remember that all humanity was separated by language, now I am uniting people in the Holy Spirit, a new nation is being born, a multi-ethnic nation, a nation of Chinese and Africans, and Latinos. and gringuitos, and there is everything there, one in the Holy Spirit. Amen.'

So that was a message that God gave. But at other times in the Book of Acts, when people are prayed for, they receive the gift, they begin to speak in tongues, it doesn't say the word that was a known language. And here in First Corinthians, I want you to look with me at what it says in verse 2, 14:2, "...for he who speaks in tongues does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him even though he speaks mysteries through the spirit." ....”

So this says that although sometimes the gift could be used to evangelize or to rebuke like the story I told you about the Hebrew on Azuza street, it is usually a language that is not understood , that the person is speaking to God and not to men. Although look, I believe, there are many testimonies and I imagine that some of you have heard stories of someone praying in tongues and another person next to you listens, and says, 'but where did you learn to speak Mandarin Chinese so perfect, what's wrong?' This happens, there are many testimonies of that.

But what is normal, and at least in my life, is that it is a language that one does not understand what one is speaking. Maybe it's a familiar language, maybe someone from Africa is going to tell me, 'Gregory, you're speaking perfect Swahili, we can talk.' That's nice, isn't it, but now, I don't know what I'm talking about. And it usually is. It is an unknown language.

So by speaking an unknown language this means we are anti-intellectual. Are we anti-intellectual? Do we believe that the mind is something bad, that it should not be used? You have heard Pastor Roberto say this once, that you do not use your brain. Do not study. Don't progress in life. No no. God made my mind, the mind is a good thing. Speaking in tongues, and mind you, it's no accident that the world's most successful intellectuals in history have almost always been Christians, if you look: Novelists, poets, scientists, composers of the most beautiful music, Bach and others like that, Christians , Pascal, a French philosopher, Christian. Galileo, a scientist, a Christian, although the church at that time did not agree with him. Christians can be intellectual and should be. Amen.

Speaking in tongues is not anti-intellectual. You know if I listen, last night preparing this sermon there were people on the side speaking something from China or Vietnam, I don't know, an Asian language. There were people behind speaking in a European language, I think it was Russian. Another Portuguese side, I did understand a little bit of that, thank God. So 3 languages, they were speaking. For me speaking baba, speaking Greek, as they say, does that mean that what they are saying does not make sense? Does it mean that it is something anti-intellectual? No, it's very logical, it's a logical, well-known language. The only thing is that I don't understand it.

Do I have to understand everything in this life? There is much that I do not understand, I do not understand my limited mind, I do not understand the greatness of the universe. I don't understand the concept of infinity. There is a lot that happens in life. Last night I was thinking, I still don't understand how the Patriots lost the Superbowl, I don't understand, I don't understand. My brain is limited. I had to say that, I was just thinking about it. It is not right, it is not expected.

But just because I don't understand something doesn't mean it doesn't make sense. Now, my spirit perhaps seems to have the ability to speak to God in a language that I do not understand. It doesn't mean that it doesn't make sense, it's just that I don't understand the sense that it does. But brothers, believe me, it makes sense.

Linguists have done studies of that. They have put people who are experts in linguistics, to listen to recordings of languages of a great variety of languages and they had to analyze what they heard. And they mixed in this study that I read in an excellent book called 'They Will Speak in Other Tongues' that I recommend, they also put people talking baby talk and they put someone inventing, speaking nonsense, things that did not make sense, and the linguists were able to distinguish between those who were speaking in tongues and those who were speaking made-up baba. They knew, there were different patterns, they were able to recognize linguistic patterns in languages that had coherence as a language. The meaning was not understood but it had the normal patterns and repetitions for a language.

Those who were talking baba was not like that. And brothers, I know the different one because I speak baba with my son every day and it is different than languages, brothers, it is different, it is very different. And you can tell the difference, because he looks at me differently when he's speaking. It's really funny. I hope I'm not messing with the poor kids head.

Thus speaking in tongues, we do not understand but it is not anti-intellectual.

Another question: why speak in a language I don't understand? Why pray in an unknown language? Why do something so weird? There is an answer here in the Bible. I want you to look at verse 4 of First Corinthians, 14, which says, "... he who speaks in a foreign tongue edifies himself, he who prophesies better edifies the church.."

But the one who speaks in tongues is building himself up. you build yourself up physically by eating your vegetables, exercising, sleeping well, almost none of us do. But if you were to do it, you'd feel better, right? You build yourself up physically. In the spirit there are spiritual disciplines.

How many here listen to praise at home or in the car? How many do? How many here have an appointment with God that you set aside every day to read the Bible, pray a little and sing? How many congregate? How many have taken a discipleship class? Amen. Why do they do it? To build up. How do you feel differently when you are hearing the praises? You feel the presence of God more, it is easier to think like Christians, it is more difficult to sin. If you're listening to praise in the car, you're less likely to say one... you know... because there are praises there, you're more on the spiritual side. It's easier to say no to sin, it's more... you have more patience.

How many know when you stop doing these things the fuse is shortened, as we speak? It is so with speaking in tongues. Help, help the Christian to be more in the groove, more edified, closer to God. It is like a different gift from other gifts in this sense, in that it serves as a spiritual discipline, it serves as that for edification, it works. Why does it work? I don't know why fasting works, I wish it didn't work. I would like to eat all the time, but it works. I know that if we set aside time, I feel better, more edified, more anointing, better. Same with speaking in tongues. It works, I don't know why, it's a spiritual exercise that helps.

So one could say that one feels better in Christ because of that. Very important humility with that. I heard a phrase that I liked a lot: a brother told me, it's not that I'm a better Christian than anyone for speaking in tongues, but I'm a better Christian than I would have been if I didn't, I know it helps me. I still have so much to go, but better than I would be if I weren't going to. But I'm not better than anyone. And this is important.

As I said, there are some people who have never received that gift, who are... and believe me you know some, who are universally respected people in the church, like intercessors who pray, who fast , who receive prophecy, who cast out demons, who do not speak in tongues. So it's not necessary but it does help and I don't know about you, but I need all the help I can get. I need a lot of help, a lot of help.

Another question being asked. Some ask the question, and we know about the word, although I don't understand, the word says, let's go a little further. Are they still with me? I know this is long, this is a study but we are warriors in the Lord. I want you to read with me verse 13 which explains what are some things that are being said when someone prays in tongues.

“... For which reason he who speaks in a foreign tongue lives in prayer to be able to interpret it because if I pray in unknown languages, my spirit prays but my understanding remains fruitless, what then, I will pray with the spirit but I will also pray with the understanding, I will sing with the spirit, but I will also sing with the understanding, because if you bless only with the spirit the one who occupies the place of simple listener, how will he say the amen to your thanksgiving because he does not know what you have saying. Because you really give thanks, but the other is not edified. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you, but in church I prefer to speak 5 words with my understanding to teach others as well..." Amen.

So when you're praying in tongues you may be giving thanks, you may be interceding, you may be praising the Lord. How many here know what the new song is? Have you heard of the new song? When you just start singing in the spirit, it's like spiritual jazz because it doesn't have defined music, it's flowing in the spirit, speaking in tongues, speaking in English, speaking in Spanish, speaking whatever you want. It is flowing in the spirit.

So speaking in tongues we say many things. But he says that in church it is important to speak in a familiar language. So I have the question is it wrong if someone hears you speaking in tongues? It is sin? What happens if one day during worship you are there praying in tongues and then someone next to you listens to you and says, shut up, I'm listening. You must not speak in tongues.

No, no, no. Pablo is not saying that no one can ever listen to you. Look, there are times in the church, of clamor, when we are all shouting to the Lord at the same time, it is spiritual warfare. Some in English, some in Spanish and some in languages. Alright. Sometimes in intercession you can be ministering to a person and you don't know how to pray and you pray in tongues a little to later have more wisdom. Be careful that you are not distracting the person.

I have had pastors and once, look, don't be distracted, he speaks Spanish even if it's bad. The pastor told me this once. But you have to be careful not to be an impediment to others. They have noticed that sometimes when the spirit is moving, sometimes someone experiences the power in such a way that they lose control and almost everyone else has stopped, sometimes thinking about the Lord, and they are only thinking about the brother who is there having the demonstration. Those are the moments that sometimes the pastor says, ok, we are going to take the person aside to minister to him, because tongues should not be a show, they should not be to distract. But this does not mean that no one can hear you speak.

Some have asked, how do you feel when you speak in tongues? There is a strong emotion that you cannot say in another word. Sometimes it can be but brothers, I am going to tell you the truth, for me, 90% of the time when I pray in tongues, I feel nothing, nothing. I'm not very.... I don't know. When I pray in English or Spanish most of the time I don't feel all good, sometimes yes, and I cry and wow and I feel good. But if we wait for feelings we will never pray, neither in tongues, nor in Greek nor in Chinese.

That is, tongues is a gift that does not necessarily have a feeling. It can be, and many times it does, many times it is used as a pump that you have to prime the pump, you have to warm up the engine a bit and someone speaks in tongues and after a few minutes of that, Now, feel the anointing, thank God. Sometimes it works like that, but sometimes it doesn't.

Some ask the question, to speak in tongues does one lose control and have to go into ecstasy? Bababababb, and you lose control and the spirit starts moving your body. You know this is not biblical. Now, I'm not saying never, it could be. The spirit can do whatever he wants, he is the Lord, not me. But the normal thing, the Apostle Paul teaches, is that the spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet. And it is the same with languages.

Languages, one controls them. One thinks, but if you are controlling it, how can it be from God? Well, if you have the gift of teaching, when you are teaching it is that you are closing your eyes and letting the teaching come out of you, that you do not have to prepare anything. No, you prepare and do your job, but then there is an anointing that blesses what you do. Same with prophecy. You can open or close it like a faucet. You can start or stop. So that's why there are many who are waiting for the spirit to take over them, the spirit to take control of them and move their own tongue. And this is not going to happen.

Many times one has to start moving and then realizes that what they are doing is from God. Brothers, I want to end this time with a testimony. We talk about it because I know some people that the gift of tongues has revolutionized their lives. I know some people that was not a big deal.

How many of you here remember the guy I've been a friend of mine since college, super tall and skinny who's a missionary in Iraq, remember, Peter? At the university he prayed every day, two hours, for the Arabs, two hours, no matter what final exams, no matter what he had to do, two hours in prayer. A man of God, a man given to the Lord, 18 years old, mind you. And I told him about the gift of tongues. He was much more mature than me in the Lord, but I talked to him about that gift.

He says, 'you know I already pray a lot, I already feel I have a very strong relationship with God,' but he says, 'look, I want everything God has for me, God willing that I speak in tongues, I want to speak in tongues. If God wants me to eat ice cream, I'm going to eat ice cream. I want what he has for me no matter how foolish I am.'

So one night he had the flu and we were praying there, praying, in the afternoon, at night, and I pray, Lord, heal him , heal it. And he says, look, Gregory, pray for me that I can speak in tongues and be baptized with the spirit. So I laid hands and babbag, prayed for him in tongues and nothing happened.

After an hour, he comes, 'Hey Greg, you prayed for two things before, one of the things was answered and one of the things wasn't,' and he says, 'I still have the flu.' You're speaking in tongues and he said, yeah, wow. It's great.

But look, for him it helped but it wasn't a drastic change in his life. he already had a very spiritual life, but this was like another instrument. And he spent hours in prayer. If you want to spend the whole night praying for real, you have so many things to say. I'm out of words. I know some of you can talk, I know, and there's nothing wrong with that actually. But, most of us run out of words and there are times when we just have to let the spirit pray.

But brothers, there are other people, I want to share another testimony and then mine and we will finish with that. I have another friend who was also a very, very strong Christian, he prayed a lot, he believed in the word, he was 16 years old, look, a young man, but devoted to the Lord. And he was a super reserved, super shy man. He didn't talk to almost anyone. He read a lot, had many, many books. He read, read, read. He was a very modest man. One day he was prayed for and he received the gift of tongues. And he began to speak in a very low voice and then we looked at him and he was all, all red, but more than me, brothers, much more than me. But like a tomato, and a smile. And he was like, wow, like drunk, drunk. It was as if something had been revealed in his personality. It was a total transformation in his life, and he became great things for the Lord. What's more, he went to Iraq as a doctor and was there, and he also loves nature, he even wrote a book about the birds in Iraq, it's called 'Birding in Babylon'. He has his wife, he has several children, he adopted others, he is a leader in his church. It was as if the cork had been pulled out of his spiritual life.

So I don't know what will happen to you, if you receive that gift maybe it will be another instrument in your prayer life, but maybe it will revolutionize your life, maybe It's going to make you crazy for Jesus and I want us to lose that possibility, brothers.

In my life, I heard that and like a good 16-year-old I said, yes, I want that, why not. So they prayed for me, everyone praying, crying out, well Pentecostal. And I there praying, praying, praying. Nothing. Nothing. I felt nothing, absolutely nothing, nothing happened. And I said, but what happens, am I wrong? Why you and not me? Then the next week, in the time of prayer and praise and my friends fell on me again, praying for me, and me praying and crying out and fasting the day before. And what happened? What do you think? Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing.

Several weeks passed but I, Lord, I want that. This looks like fun, I want to have that gift too. One day, after prayer, a charismatic Episcopalian pastor was there, he put me, another sister from the youth group and they prayed for me and this time it was all very quiet, there was not much commotion. Some think that the move of the Holy Spirit has to be stirred up. Brethren, it is not so. the Holy Spirit fell on Jesus like what? like dove. So sometimes it's fire, sometimes... but sometimes it's a dove. So very mellow, very quiet, and one sister said, 'Gregory, I feel like I have a word for you,' and she was talking to me about very personal things, about my life and my calling. And another also spoke to me, and I felt good, look, nothing so spectacular, but I began to say a little word there, another little word, and I thought, no, this will not be from God. I'll be making that up. no, not that, because I don't feel anything, a fire, or anything. And then the lady told me that she prophesied to me, she said, Gregory, look, I heard something. Look, don't wait for the Lord to come back to your mouth, start talking. If it's slime, the Lord will forgive you, it's not the unforgivable sin, but treat it, go for it.

Driving home. I was like, ok, I'm going to talk about it. I started speaking those words, and I thought God up there in heaven looking like, who's crazy here, why are you talking to me baba? I thought. It was so natural that I felt like I was making it up. But when I got home, ten minutes, I knew that I wasn't inventing anything, that I was already flowing.

And I went into my house rehearsing English, to say hello to my mom, so she wouldn't throw me out of the house. Hi mom, hi mom, I get home, my mom looks at me and asks me, what do you do in those meetings? She was a believing Catholic, but a Catholic. And I say, nothing. I went up to my room and the language was flowing, flowing. Then I go downstairs again, and she's looking at me, 'Gregory, you're all red again. What's up?' And I said, 'Mom, I've started speaking in tongues.' And my mom says, 'don't tell your dad he's going to send you to the child psychologist we know. Seriously she said that, 'she's going to send you to the child psychologist we knew'. But mom, it's from God. And she, oh Gosh, this crazy young man.

But I tell you, it was for a while like being in love. There is reason that wine is compared, and people asked me and what is happening? At that time I made a list of all the sins that I could think of that I had done, and I burned it in the bathroom. What are you doing there in the bathroom, Gregory?' Nothing. 'I smell smoke'. Nothing. And me burning my sins. In the library evangelizing friends and... but it transformed my life, it was something very special.

But, mind you, after two or three weeks, the feelings went away. And I began to think, 'Is this all made up?' Until this pastor who prayed for me, taught me, after I was baptized and received the Holy Spirit Jesus as a dove, where did he go? He did NOT go to preach, he went to the desert and was tempted.

So it doesn't mean that we always live in the clouds, that we always walk like drunks. There are still ups and downs, but it is a gift that is there, that helps.

Brothers, I want to encourage you, those of you who have defenses, because maybe someone made you feel like a second-class Christian, for not having that gift, I want to encourage you. Forgive, forgive, heal yourself, don't let a person's bad attitude take away your blessing. Maybe you are a very cautious person or you think, 'but I'm not that rowdy, I'm very intellectual, that can't be for me'. You know what? It's not for one personality type, it's spiritual, it's not natural.

So not everyone is going to scream and cry, but for some letting that happen is going to be the first step to breaking something in your life. I have seen that there are certain things that release blessings in life, in emotional life. When we forgive someone who has offended us, healing is sometimes unleashed in our lives. In the life of discipleship, sometimes we begin to tithe, this first time, when we begin to do so, a new delivery is unleashed in our lives. The gift of tongues is like that.

Sometimes when we let this gift happen a whole new world opens up for us in spirit. Maybe it won't be the same for you. He knows that there are some who have already asked for that, perhaps once and then he says, if God wants me to speak in tongues, it's good that he come and give it to me, and then you're waiting for it to happen. There is nothing in the spiritual life that comes to the passive, you have to look for it.

Jesus says that we have to be like this neighbor who knocks on the door, who bothers his friend until not even for being his friend, but because of his inopportuneness, for being so shameless, the friend gets up and gives him what you want Jesus says, it is so, your heavenly Father wants to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

So if you've searched, keep looking, I hope you're not satisfied. Perhaps you already have the gift of tongues. I hope you are not satisfied. We all need more, more of God, more of the gifts, more of the anointing. Do not settle for little or much, we must always be looking for more.

But if you've searched, you've prayed, you've let people pray for you and it hasn't happened, well, relax. It's ok. It doesn't mean that God is angry with you, that you are in sin, or anything like that, it just means that it hasn't happened yet.

The Holy Spirit is like the wind, I can't control the wind. The wind blows where it wants and it is like that with the spirit. It's our part to seek and open up and it's God's part to do it, but don't expect him to move your mouth. Sometimes we have to move.

One more thing I want to say about that. My wife's pastor in California, he one day met a man on the street who lived near him, who was praying in tongues, on the street. And then he asks him, 'I want to speak in tongues too,' and the man said, 'look, I'm going to teach you,' and he gave him some words to say, and he said it and then began to pray. And look, it worked. He began to pray in tongues, and he is a blessed pastor and very intellectual and very sober as well.

So God works in unexpected ways sometimes. Now, I'm not going to teach you, I'm not going to give you words to repeat, but I encourage you to be open to what God has for you. Don't settle for little, say, Lord, I want everything you have for me, and if it doesn't happen today, that's ok, but I'm not going to stop looking. Amen.

Let's pray. Let's stand up. Amen. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, we stand before you, Lord. And I ask you for my life and for my brothers and Lord you say that the Kingdom of heaven is for the poor in spirit who know they are not rich. And Lord, I ask you to give us more of your Holy Spirit and I ask you for your children here, Lord, I ask you for us, as a congregation in León de Judá that we never be satisfied. Lord, may we always seek more of you, more of your anointing, more of your word, Lord in our lives. And I ask you to unleash this gift among us more and more. We ask you for revival this week, Lord. Father, I ask that this thought begin a process in our lives that will be for much blessing, in the name of Jesus. Amen.