The Gift of Tongues
The God Within Us • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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I. ABOUT THE GIFT OF TONGUES
A. Jesus said that speaking in tongues would be a sign of a believer (Mark 16:17).
B. Acts 2 contains an account of how the gift of tongues was given to the believers. "As the Spirit gave them utterance" could also be translated "as the Spirit prompted their speech" or "as the Spirit gave them ability to speak" (v. 4). The multitude that gathered heard the believers speaking in several different dialects.
C. Language is an agreement between people that certain sounds have certain meanings. II. USES OF THE GIFT OF TONGUES
A. The gift of tongues allows us by the Spirit to express ourselves to God without funneling our feelings through our intellect. When words cannot express what we feel, we use a spiritual language that is beyond the limits of our understanding, so our prayer life is more satisfying
(1 Corinthians 14:4).
B. Paul taught that the best use of the gift of tongues is in our private devotions rather than in public worship (1 Corinthians 14).
1. The purpose of the gift of tongues is to communicate with God.
2. Although some churches allow what they call "messages in tongues" to be delivered during public services, actually these utterances are not "messages" at all, because tongues are directed to God.
3. Many times the "interpretation" that follows a "message in tongues" is really a prophecy, because it is spoken from God to the Church. An interpretation of tongues will be prayer to God (Acts 2:11).
4. Paul indicated that we can control the gift of tongues. The Spirit does not compel someone to interrupt a service with tongues. We can speak to God quietly within ourselves if we feel the Spirit moving (1 Corinthians 14:28,33).
5. When a person shouts, uses a shrill tone, or sustains sounds, that is not the Spirit speaking but the person reacting to Him. We can whisper in tongues if we choose to.
C. The Spirit helps us in our prayer life when we do not know how to pray for a situation (Romans 8:26, 27).
6. If we are unaware of needs or unsure of God's will in a matter that needs prayer, we can sometimes ask Him to do something that is in direct opposition to His will. Our prayer in the Spirit is always according to the will of God.
7. When we pray in the Spirit, we pray unhindered by our flesh, so selfishness and other sinful attitudes are eliminated from our prayer (James 4:2-3).
D. If a person does not want to use the gift of tongues in his prayer life, he has probably magnified his intellect to the point that he will not say anything that his intellect cannot grasp. Therefore, his prayer life is limited to English (or in the language he is most fluent in) and he misses a rich dimension in his prayer life.
