Message given on August 17 PM, 2008
Old Testament references
Proverbs 1:23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I
will make known my words unto you.
From the book of Proverbs we see that the writer mentions reproof. The word
reproof means to bring the words of correction and asks the listener to make a
change or turn around. If the listener turns around and receives correction, he
or she is promised the Holy Spirit being poured out on them. So we see from the
Old Testament that we are promised the living water of the Holy Spirit if we
repent and turn to God. The Holy Spirit does not come into any vessel that has
not been cleansed from sin. Of course we know that to be cleansed from sin, we
have to believe in the power of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from sin.
Also from the book of Joel we read:
Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit
upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men
shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
Joe 2:29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I
pour out my spirit.
The prophet Joel foretells of the outpouring of the spirit on all flesh. The
apostle Peter quotes Joel in the book of Acts. Up until this time the Holy
Spirit is only poured out on one or two isolated people at a time to which the
Lord called into special service. In the latter days, it is to be poured out
upon all flesh. I say that of course with the understanding that it is to be
poured out upon those who seek and come God’s way. God will not pour out His
spirit upon those that do not believe or that reject His Son.
In Isaiah we read:
Isaiah 28:11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this
people.
Isa 28:12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to
rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
This promise of the spirit is a refreshing. I will mention more on refreshing
later.
Again in Isaiah:
Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry
ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine
offspring:
Isaiah speaks of the spirit as water upon those that are thirsty. Jesus refers
to the Holy Spirit as living water when He spoke to the woman at the well.
In the days of Moses some of the Israelites were jealous for Moses’ sake when a
group of people were filled with God’s spirit and began to prophesy.
Numbers 11:29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all
the LORD's people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon
them!
It seems like Moses may have had a hint of what is to come when he rebuked
Joshua for wanting to forbid people other than him from speaking by the spirit.
My message is mostly on the tongues or languages that usually accompany the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit because that is what usually causes so many to be
offended but we see in some places that prophesy also accompany the Holy Spirit
outpouring.
Many people assume prophesying is foretelling the future. It is usually not the
case although prophesying can occasionally contain warnings or comfort of the
future. All preaching is not prophesying but it is possible that preaching may
be prophesying. Giving a prophesy is similar to a message in tongues and an
interpretation of the tongues only prophesy is speaking without the tongues
proceeding it. In other words it is a message usually short in duration but
without the speaking in tongues occurring first. It is equal to tongues and
interpretation.
Notice that Joel speaks of both sons and daughters prophesying so we see that
the Holy Spirit is also for women. I’m glad the Lord doesn’t leave anyone out.
Reading from the New Testament:
Jesus promises the Holy Spirit on many occasions:
John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried,
saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly
shall flow rivers of living water.
Joh 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should
receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet
glorified.)
John the Baptist also speaks of the coming of the one who baptizes with the Holy
Ghost:
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh
after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Luke 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall
find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Luk 11:10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and
to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Luk 11:11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give
him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Luk 11:12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
Luk 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask him?
We see from these scriptures that the Holy Spirit is given to those who ask Him.
The Holy Spirit is a comforter to be with us after Jesus departed to sit on the
throne with His Father in Heaven.
Now we will go to the book of Acts:
Act 1:4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should
not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith
he, ye have heard of me.
Act 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the
Holy Ghost not many days hence.
Act 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord,
wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Act 1:7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the
seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:
and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
This outpouring of the Holy Ghost was to endue the recipients with power so that
they could preach the gospel more effectively. The Holy Spirit is the one that
convicts of sin and without the presence of the Holy Spirit no one can be saved.
Act 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one
accord in one place.
Act 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,
and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat
upon each of them.
Act 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit spoke through the ones that were in the
upper room. Looks as if they began to go out into the streets for many heard
them speak in the languages that they spoke in the countries where they were
born.
At first people thought they were drunk until Peter began to explain what had
occurred. He then quotes the prophet Joel.
Act 2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said
unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known
unto you, and hearken to my words:
Act 2:15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third
hour of the day.
Act 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Act 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out
of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Act 2:18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days
of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
Act 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them
which heard the word.
Act 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many
as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of
the Holy Ghost.
Act 10:46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered
Peter,
Act 10:47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which
have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
Some were speaking in tongues or in another language not understood by the one
speaking. They were speaking by the unction of the Holy Spirit. Some were
prophesying which is also speaking forth a message in a language that is
understood.
So we see that they were speaking about the mighty works of God when they began
to prophesy. Many were speaking at the same time. This spirit was poured out on
many people at the same time.
Sometimes we take the words of Paul that I will speak of later and take it to
extremes and get all bent out of shape if we hear someone speak in tongues in
church. I wonder what we would think if we would have been here on the day of
Pentecost when many were speaking on tongues and prophesying at the same time.
If God does something, who are we to criticize? Tongues is a gift of God. This
is a Pentecostal church. That is what we do. When we receive the Holy Ghost for
the first time and sometimes when we are gathering together and the Holy Spirit
is poured out over and over again, we will usually speak in tongues or in
another language other than English. Why do we get offended at something from
God?
If something occurs in the New Testament, I would be inclined to accept it
whether or not it is church tradition to do so. People shy away from tongues
because it is the one gift of the spirit that seems strange and foreign to them.
Others shy away from the teaching on tongues because they themselves never
experienced it and if one never has spoken in tongues it is easier for them to
assume that it was for the apostles only.
Teaching on the cessation of tongues may simply mean that the church did lose
those gifts as some began to enter into apostasy after the death of the apostles
as our beloved apostle Paul warned would happen.
The seven letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 indicate that some
churches had begun to fall away even when the Apostle John was still living.
When we start to fall away, naturally the gifts would not be in operation. So
those that wrote that the gifts died out after the death of the apostles were
right in one way but wrong in the reason. They didn't die out because God
withdrew them, they died out because of apostasy. God does not pour out the Holy
Spirit on those that are not seeking after Him and who do not repent of sin and
receive Jesus Christ.
In reading church history it’s easy to see that people were not being saved as
we would call it but converted to a religion called Christianity. There is a big
difference in being born of the spirit and being converted to a religion.
After the church went deeper into apostasy those that were once persecuted for
their faith, began to persecute those that tried to point out the errors the
church had gotten into. It took much bloodshed, prayers and tears to get the
church ready for another outpouring of the Spirit. Except for isolated cases,
the outpouring of the spirit did not occur until
the 19th century.
Without the Holy Spirit, the love of God is lacking in a believer. We just have
a mere religion and not the living presence of God within our inner being. If we
stop seeking to be filled with the Spirit we become a dead, dry, boring churches
that have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof.
In the latter part of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century we
saw a revival of the gifts of the spirit. This latter day outpouring did not
just occur in Azusa Street California, as some believe. It occurred in other
parts of the world. Some places were North Carolina, England, Armenia and
Kansas. I'm sure there were many other places. Tongues were evident mainly
because that gift catches more attention because it is different than all
others.
Just so we don’t assume that the Holy Spirit was only poured out on the day of
Pentecost, I go to other scriptures.
Act 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were
assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake
the word of God with boldness.
Act 8:14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had
received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:
Act 8:15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive
the Holy Ghost:
Act 8:16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in
the name of the Lord Jesus.)
Act 8:17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
So we see the Samaritans had received the word but the Holy Ghost had not yet
come upon them until Peter and John came and prayed with them.
Act 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them
which heard the word.
Act 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many
as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of
the Holy Ghost.
Act 10:46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered
Peter,
Act 10:47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which
have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
Act 10:48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then
prayed they him to tarry certain days.
Here is another incidence when we see the ones who received the Holy Spirit,
speak in tongues. This shows us that when we speak in tongues our spirit prays
and we are magnifying God.
People seem to get confused about the gift of tongues. First of all there are
different kinds of tongues. One is the tongues we receive when we are baptized
with the Holy Spirit. It is not always meant to be interpreted but it is for
devotions. It is given for us to worship and praise God. When we pray in the
spirit, we can pray in tongues or in our own language but sometimes when we pray
in tongues we know the spirit is praying through us and is praying the will of
God. If you ever have felt like you need to pray yet you didn’t know what to
say, tongues help us to pray. Sometimes we can get caught up in prayer that we
begin to pray the same way in our own language and it is also praying in the
spirit. We can also sing in tongues and sing with the understanding. There is
nothing wrong with worshipping God in this manner.
There is also a gift of tongues that is mean to be a message and interpretation.
It is a sign that it is a special message of the Holy Spirit for the whole
church. This is different than the devotional tongue. It is usually louder and
easily recognized to be a message. This type of tongue should be interpreted.
This is where we get confused. We think devotional tongues should be interpreted
but that is simply not the case. A message in tongues or a prophecy should
always be tested by the word of God and judged whether or not it is from the
Lord. We do not judge the person speaking but the message itself.
Some would deny this as being of God. It is normal to wonder at this since
anything new in the way of religion is always to be discerned. We are not to
accept everything that comes along without checking it out with the scriptures.
But alas, dear people, it is in the scriptures and it cannot be denied. First of
all if we think of tongues as languages instead of tongues maybe we can see that
it is not so strange. We would not think it strange if a person entered our
assembly and began to speak in Spanish if that was his native tongue and he
didn't know our language.
We would not consider it strange if we took a course in French and practiced
speaking in French. Then why do we think is strange that a person could begin to
speak in another language as the Spirit of God gives utterance. God probably
speaks every language known to man. It is miraculous, it is wonderful but it is
not weird or strange.
Some reject tongues because they have heard stories of accesses and strange
things happening that is not found in scripture. I will not deny that this
occurs. However, if a person becomes a believer in Jesus Christ and then goes
out and gets drunk by drinking too much alcohol, sleeps around with different
partners, cusses and behaves badly,
that doesn't cancel out the whole message of salvation or the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
So why cancel out a gift of God because someone or a group of people act
strangely. Satan tries to mimic and destroy any genuine work of God so it
shouldn't surprise us to see accesses happen among any revival movement. Of
course it’s going to happen because the devil does not want people to be saved,
or healed or believe in Jesus Christ. He is out to kill and destroy.
Even Pentecostals are starting to de-emphasize tongues and encourage less of
them spoken in public assemblies. They take the writing of Paul to extremes.
Paul was trying to maintain order among disorder so that those that needed to be
edified by the
Word of God could understand and be edified. He was not trying to stop anyone
from speaking in tongues during prayer time, or when the word was not going
forth by someone who was teaching the word.
Some go so far and to think anyone speaking in tongues in public is either not
of God or out of the will of God. That is not so. Paul didn't say anything about
anyone in the Corinthian church being "not of God". The gifts of the spirit are
perfect but we who receive them are not perfect. We are occasionally going make
mistakes.
We've got to get out of this mode though of accusing people of being, "of the
devil" or not quite right. By love serve one another. Do we realize what damage
we could do to a person by telling him that something he received from God was
of the devil? Or if we tell them they are out of order when they may be praising
God in another tongue when they wouldn't be considered out of order if they were
praying in a known tongue?
If something or someone comes along and speaks in tongues but it is not of God,
we do not have to fear. Do we fear someone who speaks in English and is of the
devil? No we don’t. As long as our hearts are right with God, we don’t have to
fear anything. Perfect love casts out all fear. He that fears has not been made
perfect in love.
If we are diligently seeking God with a heart that longs to receive all that He
has for us, He would not give us something that is not of His spirit.
If a preacher is presenting the word and another stands up and speaks in tongues
and no one else interprets that tongues he is still not out of order unless he
continues trying to speak with no interpretation and refuses to stop. That could
be considered out of order. That doesn't mean he is of the devil or some bad
person, it probably just means that he hasn't been taught the proper way to give
forth a message in tongues. He may just have the tongues that one receives when
they are baptized with the Holy
Spirit or devotional tongues and not the type of tongues that is meant to be a
message to be interpreted.
Whether or not we understand all about tongues is really not as important as
being kind and not be quick to accuse people because they do things a little
different. Naturally I say that with caution because if something happens that
is not in scripture, we have every right to question it.
The 13th chapter of Corinthians is used by some to prove that tongues and the
other gifts have ceased. I would say then, has knowledge ceased? The same
chapter indicates that knowledge shall cease. Speaking in tongues will only
cease either when that which is perfect has come which is the Lord Jesus and
seeing Him face to face, or until every single individual soul has been saved
and filled with the spirit on the face of the earth. We can see clearly that it
has not occurred as yet and another reason for the tongues to cease would be if
we allow it to happen and refuse to allow the gifts of the spirit among us. I
believe that the 13th chapter was put in there so that we would remember to
always operate in the gifts of the spirit with perfect love. Perfect love does
not puff up self but desires to edify the body.
If abuses or fanaticism occurs it most probably is because the teaching of the
word is being neglected. The gifts of the spirit also enables someone called to
teach to teach more effectively. I love good praise and worship services but we
must never have an hour of praise and worship and give only ten minutes to the
word of God. That is happening. If that happens we will not have all that we
need to face the trials of today. We need a balance between praise and worship
(tongues included if one prays in tongues) and the teaching of the word.
We still have good preaching in many churches today and I for one love good
preaching, but very little teaching verse by verse of the actual word. This is
something we need to avoid fanaticism. It also helps us avoid worshipping God on
Sunday and living for the devil all the rest of the week. Sound doctrine will
never go out of style. We need the word in order to probably exercise the gifts
of the spirit.
Since they are given to us to help us worship God in spirit (tongues), edify the
body of Christ (preaching, teaching, healing, prophesies, interpretations of
tongues, wisdom, knowledge, helps) and preach the gospel to the lost, it would
be sad indeed if the word itself was neglected since that is the main reason
Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit in the first place.
The greatest of the three things mentioned in the 13th chapter of Corinthians
above faith and hope is love. Jesus said that
"By this shall all men know that you are my disciples when you have love one for
another." That is a powerful message.
Love overlooks trivial things but love will correct important things. Love does
not cancel out sound doctrine but love will overlook unimportant faults. Love
will correct false doctrine but love will not be an accuser of the brethren when
they are innocent or weak. By love serve one another. If your Christian neighbor
does not speak in tongues yet claims to be save, do not say that they are not
saved. Does you Christian neighbor speak in tongues? Do not say they are in the
wrong. That is judging.
If your neighbor does not believe in the pre-tribulation rapture for instance,
that does not have anything to do with whether he is a born again believer or
not.
Paul closes his arguments in by saying, covet to prophesy and forbid not to
speak in tongues. Let everything we done decently and in order. If tongues were
not real, why bother to say that? Tongues are for today, the gifts of the spirit
are for today. They will only disappear if we let them. God doesn't force
anything on any of us. His gifts are too precious and holy to give to those who
reject them.
We hear about and sometimes see many strange manifestations going on. We do have
a responsibility to try the spirits and make sure they are of God. Notice we
don’t judge the individual but the spirit that is present in the services.
We shall know them by their fruits. Here are some things to look for.
• Is what we hear or see found in the New Testament scripture?
• Is what we hear or see endeavor to bring the lost to a saving knowledge of
Jesus Christ?
• Is what we hear or see bringing glory to God or the man (woman) doing the
preaching. Notice that even if they use the name of Jesus and claim they are
bringing glory to Jesus, they may be exalting self.
• Is what we hear or see edifying the body and drawing us closer to God?
• Is what we hear or see encouraging holiness or holy living?
• Is what we hear or see bringing us to repentance if we are not living where we
ought to be with God?
• Is money the main emphasis of what we are hearing or seeing? In other words
are God’s blessings being offered in exchange for sowing a seed with money?
• Is the music, hype and fervor of the service being used in a way as to
manipulate and work up the crowds into a frenzy or is it done to encourage true
worship in spirit and in truth with no high pressure tactics?
If we pray in tongues, our spirit is praying. It is great and there is nothing
wrong with this type of praying or worship. Isaiah foretold of this as a
refreshing that comes from the Lord. That is a good way to describe praying in
tongues. It is exactly like being refreshed in the spirit.
In public meetings we gather together to edify one another, worship together and
study God’s word. If one stands and speaks in tongues for a long period of time
without an interpretation given, he or she is praising God well but the other
people present will not be edified and the word of God cannot be taught
effectively, so we have to limit any long or loud worship to the time when the
message is over and we are worshipping at the altar or gathering just to praise
and worship. When its time for the message or when someone is testifying,
singing etc, we should speak quietly to ourselves and to God.
Sometimes people who have received this gift recently and have not been taught
these things may overdo it and we have to bear with them and not condemn them.
It doesn’t mean that they are of the devil or evil. It is not just tongues that
can interrupt the message. If someone stood up and started singing out loud when
the pastor is preaching, that also might be considered, out of order.
All things should be done to edify, or bless or to save the lost. Never should
we use any of God’s gifts to exalt ourselves and appear to be more spiritual
than someone or better than someone else. A true gift of the spirit is done in
humility and thanksgiving that God would use us in such a holy way. In saying
all these things remember that Paul warns us not to forbid the speaking in
tongues and we are also warned not to despise prophecy. In other words, we don’t
have to be mean spirited if someone makes a mistake. Remember it is a gift of
God. We are a Pentecostal church and that is what Pentecostals do. They speak in
tongues when they pray.
Remember also the gifts are perfect but we are not. A person who is filled with
the Holy Ghost is not going to be perfect all the time. They have flaws. They
also do not walk in the Spirit at all times although that should be our goal. We
still have the power to choose to yield to the flesh rather than the spirit.
Why did God use tongues? For one thing it is supernatural and a sign that God is
present with us. How would we know we have received the Holy Spirit if there was
not some sign. Not everyone may speak in tongues all the time, some more than
others. Some may prophecy. Prophecy is speaking in a tongue one can understand
but speaking by the spirit. Usually we think of prophecy is the giving forth of
a message but that message is not preceded by tongues. It is similar to tongues
and interpretation but a prophecy is a message without the tongues being spoken
first. Preaching may be prophesying but not all preaching is prophesying.
Usually prophecy are short messages rather than longer ones but there have been
those that prophesy long messages.
We usually love to hear anointed preaching but sometimes we can be fooled into
thinking a lot of emotional hype is anointing. A quiet preacher can be just an
anointed as an emotional one. I’ve heard emotional preachers who have a great
message and then I’ve heard emotional preachers whose messages are empty.
Politicians sometimes speak with fervor and stir up the crowds so we have got to
be careful not to think anointing is emotion. Here is the reason? Some of us
behave differently in different situations. All the emotion is and I’m not
against emotional preachers because they get our attention at least, but all
that may be is their reaction to the presence of the Holy Spirit. A quiet person
can be just as anointed and full of the Holy Spirit and speak softly. He just
reacts to the Holy Spirit in a different way.
I believe sincerely that God wants His message of salvation to be preached to
all different types of people. Some people will not hear a loud emotional
preacher and will be offended, not hearing the message. Others will go to sleep
with a quiet preacher and will response to the loud, emotional one. So we see
our loving God trying to reach all of us because it is not His will that any one
of us should perish.
I use to only listen to the loud hyped up preachers until I decided to listen to
what they said rather than watch their actions. Some of the ones we may think is
boring just may be saying something we need to hear. Listen to the message. When
we sing a hymn preferring to hear music more upbeat with drums and loud rhythm,
stop and listen to the words of the hymns. They have a message. We like to be
stirred up, made to feel good and rejoice and all that is good but are we
listening to the message? Is the word of God being hidden in our hearts so that
we will not sin against Him?
We need the word and then we need the spirit of God to quicken that word and
apply it to our hearts.
There is a false and there is a real. We must not allow rumors of false
manifestations’ to cause us to shy away from the real thing. The gifts of the
spirit are real, tongues are real. It is okay to speak in tongues. It is not
strange or weird; it is a gift of God.
Yes, we do need to learn when and when not to speak in tongues, pray and testify
while in public assemblies but if someone makes a mistake and does it wrong, it
doesn’t mean that they are not of God. Remember tongues are a gift of God. By
love, let us serve one another and have compassion.
So did the gifts of the spirit die out when the apostles died? Only to those who
let them die out. God doesn’t give us anything we do not want.
Tongues are a sign. They are a sign that God is with us, the Holy Spirit is
present. They are a sign to unbelievers that something different is occurring
than the normal. I believe they are a sign that the gospel is for all nations
and not just the Jews who was the first ones to receive the gospel. Tongues I
believe are a sign that we need to control the tongue and use it for God’s
glory, to speak the gospel, to edify the believers and worship God. The tongue
is the hardest thing to control so perhaps that is why God chose to use tongues
as a sign of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Maybe it is God’s way of saying
that from now on we use our tongues for Him and not for evil. That’s just my
thoughts here there on this, though, I’m not saying it is God’s reason for using
tongues.
So one may ask, do you have to speak in tongues to be saved? No, of course not.
Some teach that not all speak in tongues and that sometimes there are other
signs of receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost. If someone tells me that are
full of the Holy Spirit and have never spoken with tongues, I am not going to
tell them they do not have the Holy Spirit but I believe someone full of the
Holy Ghost will eventually speak in tongues at one time or another. I personally
believe it is a sign of the indwelling spirit but it is something I will not
argue over. I do question our attitude though if we say, “Do I have to speak in
tongues?” Our attitude should be, “Do I get to speak in tongues?” Remember it is
a gift of God.
This also is not a onetime event. We need to keep seeking to be filled with the
spirit all the time. The apostles were filled with the spirit many times. We
read that the place was shaken when they gathered together to pray. Some say
there was only one Pentecost, one mighty rushing wind and limit it to that day?
I say, how do we know that? I’ve been in services and felt the rushing of wind
before. I have not seen tongues of fire but I have seen tiny specks of light at
times. There have been people that claim to have seen the fire. Let’s not limit
God to an event that happened 2000 years ago. Why would he give something and
then take it away? The gifts and calling of God is without repentance. That
means He doesn’t change His mind which is what repent means. Repent means to
change one’s mind. Rom 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without
repentance.
I will conclude with the words of Peter:
Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are
afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
And the words of Jesus:
John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried,
saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly
shall flow rivers of living water.
Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask him?
Lets earnestly seek the gifts of God in order to more effectively serve Him and
walk in love.
Dorna J Chambers