Transcription
[Applause] Thank you. You may be seated. Thank you so much. Thank these singers for helping us settle our hearts and minds after a busy day. I'm sure for many of you. And as I always say, if I do a Wednesday night, some of you have not eaten and you came straight from work, and I want to respect that. And so, I want to get right to our lesson this evening.
I'm having some throat issues. I preach on Sundays and get really damp, and then I walk outside and, uh, whatever air is out there doesn't help me much. So, I'm gonna probably hold back a little bit tonight, save this worn-out old preacher's voice. We are going to take the next few weeks and talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. How many of you have never been before, never been to this church before? Maybe. Hey, nice to have you tonight. And y'all see some others. We're really happy to have you. This is kind of a specialized study. Uh, you are sitting in what we call a Pentecostal Church, and for lots of people, that carries a stigma and they don't want to be a part of it. And some of that is justified, because anytime the charismatic slash Pentecostal movement or churches are mentioned, they, they show clips of crazy people doing crazy things, which are really unbiblical. People who are extra emotional and don't know how to control those emotions, and that's what they depict as Pentecostals. And they call it unbiblical. It's even been referred to as satanic. So, I want to begin by telling you, the object of our whole life is not to speak in tongues. It is to know Jesus. And I don't want anybody here to become obsessed with an experience, trying to get an experience. I want you to understand that the Holy Spirit was sent to reveal Jesus, to empower you to know Jesus better, and to tell Jesus to the world better. Jesus said, "When the Holy Spirit comes, he will guide you into all truth." Then he says, "You will be endued with power from on high." And that is for evangelism. But there is another part of that, that teaching of Jesus, that sometimes falls through the cracks. People far too often refer to speaking in tongues as the gift of tongues, and while that is one of the gifts, that is not what Paul is discussing in First Corinthians chapter 14. And with God's help, and, and I'll be really honest with you, I've spent this entire day praying. I mean, that, since six o'clock this morning, praying about this lesson tonight and studying, because I don't want the good Lord to ever think that, that I think I can do it without his help. And you can have a head full of knowledge and a lifetime of experience preaching these things, but I don't ever want to rely on knowledge accumulated or experienced. I want this to be a fresh word from the Risen Jesus, who we call the Holy Ghost baptizer. And I want to be very methodical in all of this. So, I began by telling you, I want Jesus. I'm not looking for signs, miracles, and wonders in my life. I want the Son of the Living God. I want to know him in the power of his resurrection. Yes, I'm quoting Paul, "in the likeness of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death." So, as we studied, I'm sure there will be lots of questions, and I would like to open it up to the floor, to the floor after a while. I've been warned against that a number of times before. We will begin tonight in Acts chapter 2. Next weeks, we will go back to the Gospels. We will even go back to the Old Testament to see what the prophets foretold of this power that would come down from heaven. So, when we get to Acts chapter 2, you've been there many times, you've read it many times, you've heard it explained many times, but I, as a student of scripture, cannot understand for the life of me why some very intelligent theologians cannot see what I see. I'm thinking, "Did I miss something somewhere?" Because they're teaching something that I don't see at all. Uh, for example, "when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." That means the 120, the apostles, family members, the mother of Jesus, his brothers and sisters, and others. They were there because Jesus said, "Go and tarry, wait in the city of Jerusalem." And it was just across the creek there, if you were, pardon my expression, just across the valley. Go back to the city and wait until you be "soaked with power from on high." And we know from the study of the feasts that 10 days passed from the time Jesus ascended until the Holy Spirit came. So, they waited 10 days. And I've said it many times, 10 days is a long time to wait, would you agree with me? You have, you have bathroom visits, and there's food to be eaten, and their children to be cared for, lots of things. But the overall activity was waiting. And "when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all one accord in one place." And "suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting." Then "there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire." Cloven, Old King James says, "split tongues like fire," and "it sat upon each of them." And "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit." It does not say they were all saved. It says they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, let's, let's just take a little, a little turn to the left here. When we get to Acts 19, where Paul comes to some disciples of John, what was the question he asked them? "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" He did not ask them, "Are you saved?" They were already saved. They believed the message of John, and John's baptism, that Christ was coming. He came. Paul said, "He's already come and gone." So, he wasn't asking them, "Are you saved?" He said, "When you got saved, did you receive the Holy Spirit?" He is showing that there is a difference, that something else happens. "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." Now, here's where we have to stop and explain some things. Tongues. It doesn't say languages, because those terms are going to be interchangeable. There are 120 people in an upper room, and this miraculous sound from heaven, and these cloven tongues like a fire sitting on each of them, and they all began to speak with tongues. Who was there? 120 people. Were they preaching? No, they were praising. That's the whole point of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. See, when you get saved, you get the Spirit. You can't get saved unless the Holy Spirit comes in, amen. You understand what I'm saying? Salvation is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and his shed blood, and the Holy Spirit comes into you. You become a new creation. You become a dwelling place of God Almighty. But we are finding in scripture that there is another occasion when the Holy Spirit does a totally different work. And so, "they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." Meaning, as I've said many times, lots of cessationists. You know what a cessationist is? These are people who believe the tongues have ceased. Not just tongues gifts, they believe the gifts stopped when the apostles died. Get ready to disprove that right now. So, the cessationists have come up with all kinds of excuses or reasons to believe that the gifts have ceased. And, and so, they, they tell us that the tongues that came were for the express purpose of preaching the gospel to people who didn't understand their language. That is, that's just bizarre to me. Because number one, there were no sinners in the upper room, just believers, followers of Jesus. There wasn't one single unbeliever in the upper room. Then, if they started speaking in tongues, to whom were they speaking? They were speaking to God in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit that saved them began to rise up out of them, and that Spirit began to praise the Father and the Son, the Son who has ascended and the Father who sits on the throne. So, the Godhead is having a conversation through those people. I can't stress this enough, because it all seems to hinge right here. These people were not preaching the gospel. They were praising God. There is a difference between preaching and praising. Preaching goes out, praising goes up. We don't praise men, and we don't preach to God. I want to say it again. I see a lot of heads nodding, but I want him to sink in. Preaching goes out. It's the word of God, the anointed word of God, going out to the lost to bring them to Christ. It's the anointed word of God going out to the body of Christ to edify, to build up, to teach, to exhort. But praise always goes up. Always. And so, here are 120 people experiencing this marvelous thing from heaven, and they begin to praise God in a language they do not know. Let's go on down. "And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven." Did you get those words? Jews from every nation under heaven. "When this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused." Isn't that amazing? What sound is he talking about? He wasn't talking about the rushing mighty wind. When they heard the sound, in fact, the word "sound" comes from the Greek word *phone*, phonetic, voice, sound, or speech. When people began to hear them speaking in tongues, they came together and they were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Now, suddenly, God does a miracle of hearing. See, we think that God can only let people speak in languages, but God can have people hear in different languages. I've heard about this on the mission field for, for many years. "Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, 'Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?'" What they were saying is, "Aren't these rednecks?" That's right. That's what they were saying. Galileans were considered the lower class people. Don't you see, especially if you're a Sadducee or a Pharisee, a religious aristocrat in Jerusalem, and you look out and see a Galilean and you go, "There goes a redneck." "Or not all these who speak Galileans? How is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, and, and the whole list, Cretans, and Arabians. We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God." What is it about speaking in tongues? It's about speaking the wonderful works of God. I grew up in Pentecost, and I can tell you, I've seen it all. And if I were to tell you some of the things I've seen, you would go, "Does that happen in church?" Yes, sir, it did happen in church, and it's still happening in church. And there were people when I was growing up who actually would get up and preach in tongues and then interpret it and lay everybody pretty low, call them all kinds of names, sinners, and individuals on their way to a devil's hell. And that's what messed us kids up, you know, that scared us. You have to get over it, though. I mean, you can't live with that. You just got to get over it and realize those things happen. But the tongues speak of the wonderful works of God. They don't condemn people. They tell of the goodness of heaven. That's what that is. And that's what they were hearing. Those unbelievers were hearing the wonderful works of God. So, "they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, 'Whatever could this mean?'" "The others mocking said, 'They're full of new wine.'" What made them mock? Anyway, the fact that they were speaking in languages they did not know. But Peter's standing up with the eleven, eleven, raised his voice and said to them, "And then that's where the preaching starts." You see, and Peter preached to all the people in one language. He spoke to them in Aramaic. That was the common language of the day. He wasn't speaking in an unknown tongue. He wasn't even speaking in a foreign language. He was speaking in their common coin, a Greek slash Aramaic language. And he began to preach, "These are not drunk as you suppose, this is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel." See, this was a prophecy. "It shall come to pass in the last days." Can I tell you something? You might want to mark this down. We've been in the last days for 2,000 years. Oh, you good with that? Ever since Jesus came and died and rose again, we've been in the last days. "So it shall come to pass in the last day," he says, "God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. On my men servants and maidservants, I will pour out my Spirit in those days." So, you, you have just a taste there of what happened on the day of Pentecost. And so, the question has to be asked tonight, if gifts ceased, when did they cease? And can you show me in scripture where it says they ceased? That's all I care about, scripture. Now, we have liberal theologians and, uh, many Baptists and Presbyterians and people of the Reformed persuasion that will tell you that indeed they have ceased. But they are listening to professors who told them that. Here's my, um, here's what I believe. If you took someone and they were lost in sin and led them to Jesus Christ, and they knew nothing about the Bible, you gave them a Bible and put them on an island for three months and said, "Read it." Do you think they'd come back and say, "That's beautiful. I'm saved. But man, I wish the gifts were still in operation today"? No. They would read it and say, "That's for me. That's for me." There's nowhere in there where it says they will cease. Of course, people go to First Corinthians 13, right? The love chapter. "Whether there be tongues, they shall cease." When? It didn't say when the apostles died, they'll cease. But how about when we get to heaven and don't need them anymore? It also says knowledge will pass away. Knowledge hasn't passed away, has it? No. It's, it's a matter of what you want people to believe. If you are afraid of the supernatural, or if you're just uneasy with the spiritual, it's very easy to make this book, uh, a manual rather than a living scripture. It's very easy to make it wooden and say, "This is what happened, and it's, it's never going to be the way it was when Peter was on the earth and when the apostles were on the earth. Things have changed. Now that we have the word, we don't need the baptism of the Holy Spirit," they say. "This takes the place of speaking in tongues and the gifts of the Spirit," they say. But none of them can show me where in the scripture it has ceased. Are you with me? Okay. I'd have thought I might get a little pushback there, but I, I didn't. For example, if the gifts have ceased, why don't you go with me to Romans chapter 12? Romans 12. You did bring your Bible, didn't you? All right. Romans 12, verse number four. "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. Diversities of activities, but it's the same God who works all in all." Where did, where did I tell you to turn? I'm sorry, I'm in the wrong chapter then. Just, just imagine for a moment how I feel right now. Just try to imagine how I feel. Here we go. Beginning with, uh, verse number six. "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. Or ministry, let us use it in our ministry." These are gifts, folks. "He who teaches, in teaching. He who exhorts, in exhorting. He who gives, with liberality. He who leads, with diligence. He who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." Those are gifts. If gifts ceased, then none of this is happening. So, then we'll go back to the chapter I thought I was supposed to be in, 12. And it mentions those gifts again. Uh, "four to one is given the word of wisdom, to another word of knowledge, to another faith, to another gifts of healings" (plural) "by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues." So, here's where you have the rub. You can't just say the gifts have ceased. You, you're wiping out all church ministry, prophecy, giving, healing, miracles, blessing, encouragement. But I got one even better than that to show you. If you'll go to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Look at verse number eight. Got it? I'm going to start with verse 7. "But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, he says, 'When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave what gifts to men?'" Here are some more gifts that Jesus gave to us. Watch this one now. "He ascended. What does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? And He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things." What this, and He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Did you know that Ephesians says that I am a gift to you? Did you know that Paul declared the apostles were a gift from God to the church? Prophets were a gift of God to the church. Pastors, evangelists, teachers. As, and I hesitate to say that sometimes people take it as arrogance, but God says, "I want to give my body something very special, my church. I want to give them leaders, foundational leaders, growing leaders, teaching leaders, shepherding leaders." That's my gift to the church. All that being said, out of Romans 12 and First Corinthians 12 and Ephesians chapter 4, there is no ground whatsoever to say that the gifts have ceased. They are very much in operation now. Have they been abused? You betcha. Do people go overboard? Absolutely. Do people revel in the supernatural? Of course. Do people pick out special gifts and say, "I want that one"? Yes. And the Bible says, "You don't get to pick your gifts. It is the Holy Spirit that divides them as He desires." Stay with me now. So, lots of people love to go to very charismatic churches because of the animation and the activity and the noise and, and the. There are those who say they have the gift of healing. There's no such thing. It's "gifts of healings." I've been to healing crusades. This man is a healer. If, if it's happened, I've been there. When I was little, I was a scrawny kind of little guy, and you know, about died with asthma and all that. My parents drug me around everywhere, every tent revival, every church, every miracle worker. I've had more olive oil poured on my head. I had one guy just bathe me in olive oil and said, "You're healed in the name of Jesus." Well, I wasn't. I still have it. So, there are those, and we went through a period in this country where there were certain evangelists that had healing ministries. Remember Oral Roberts? And we've had a few in our own denomination. Uh, that's all gone now, you know. Oral ended up his ministry saying he was going to merge the healing streams, medicine and healing would be how he would cure cancer in this country. It's all gone. It's over. The building, you know, it's full of wind. The point is, Jesus did not give gifts to the church for us to go after gifts. He gives them so that we can know Him, serve Him better. They make us hungrier and thirstier for Jesus. They build up the body. They complete the body of Christ. So, now that we've all decided, I hope at least thought or considered, that gifts really may still be in operation today, I'm going to take you to where it gets controversial. Do we have time? Sure. I want you to go now to First Corinthians chapter 14. This is where it gets a little controversial. That's the word I'll use. I would like for someone, maybe you're here and you don't believe what I'm teaching. All your life, you've been in this camp. You've always been taught this. John MacArthur is your hero. Actually, I like John MacArthur. I think he is solid and sound on everything except he's, he hates Pentecostals. And again, he talks about the wild, crazy stuff that goes on sometimes. I wish I could get to him and say, "I'm one. Do I look crazy to you? Come to one of our services. Do we act like fools? Is it out of control?" But you're not gonna, it's not going to happen. But I, I just want to ask somebody, what are you going to do with First Corinthians 14? What are you going to do with him? Because now we've gone from a gift to a blessing. There is the gift of tongues, and not everybody has that gift. There is the gift of interpretation, and it's in tandem with the gift of tongues, but not everybody has that gift or those gifts. But everybody can have the blessing that Jesus promised when he said, "Behold, I send you the promise of my Father." And that's where we come to First Corinthians chapter 14, where we're not talking about a gift, we're talking about a blessing that's available to everybody. So, let's read it. You want to? Or did I shock anybody yet? Okay. And then there's the argument before I get into that. I heard this, "That's the only time in Paul's writings, and all of his writings, that he mentioned speaking in tongues." As if that kind of nullifies it. Why would that nullify? A side note, there's only one mention of communion in all of Paul's writings, and it's in First Corinthians. So, if you're going to throw out First Corinthians 14 because it's tongues and you're uncomfortable with it, I guess you better go ahead and cut out First Corinthians 11 and forget about communion and the Lord's Supper too. I just want, all I'm asking for some is from, for some explanation. What do I do with chapter 14? Do I ignore it? Do I say, "Well, that was for then"? Well, then, then you're saying communion was for them. Well, that was for that particular church. Oh, but before this is over, you're going to see that the blessing of praying in the Spirit is in every other New Testament book in one form or another. Jude, Ephesians, oh, it's there. Ladies and gentlemen, so let's begin. It's 7:45 exactly. Paul said, "Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts." You see that? Desire spiritual gifts. Hunger for spiritual gifts. Why? Because they came from Jesus. It's an offer from Jesus. "Especially that you may prophesy." Preach. That's what I do. I preach. "Especially." But why is that a special? "For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God." What are you going to say about that? He did not say it was wrong. He did not say stop it. He said, "He who speaks in a tongue." He's explaining what's happening when one prays in a tongue, speaks in a tongue. "He who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God." You are talking to God. "For no one understands him." However, "in the Spirit, he speaks mysteries." Spiritual secrets from in here to up there. I preached on it the other week, "Deep calling unto deep." Was anybody here from that? Yeah. I am talking to God. I don't know what I'm saying. The Spirit Himself makes intercession for the saints. Verse 3, "But he who prophesies, preaches, speaks edification, exhortation, and comfort to men." I'm not talking to God now. I'm talking to humans. Verse 4, "He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, builds himself up, strengthens himself. But he who prophesies edifies the church, builds up the church." He has not yet said, "Don't do it. It's wrong. It ceased." He is saying, "When you speak in a tongue, you are building yourself up, strengthening yourself." I had a pastor in this town several years ago have this conversation with me. He said, "But isn't that kind of selfish to build yourself up yourself?" You, you. I said, "It's no more selfish than eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, because it keeps me alive and it strengthens me. Is eating selfish?" Well, there you go. And so, I won that little argument because he was hungry and we were having lunch. So, let's just make sure we understand it. "He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself." You need to know this. I don't know if everybody is a member at this church. I don't know if you're considering it. I don't know if this will be a deal breaker for you. I never walk to this pulpit, never, without having spent a great deal of time alone in my prayer room, praying in the Spirit. Now, if that freaks you out, that's just the way it is. I am afraid to walk to this pulpit without burying my face in this book and my face in the corner of that room and letting the Holy Spirit pray through me. Its strength, its knowledge, and strength together. And I think you need to know that the leadership of this church, all believe that without that, we cannot lead this church. And I think you ought to know, again, if you're considering joining or just even coming back next week, we are a Spirit-filled church. I am not ashamed of it. I only wish that you could experience this and see what a dramatic new dimension would come into your life. Oh, when the Spirit is free to operate and pray. Oh, we'll get to it in a month, in a minute, even sing in the Holy Spirit. So, praying in tongues builds me up. Preaching builds you up. Then he said, "I wish you all spoke with tongues." What are you going to do with that? "I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied, for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edifying." He's saying, "When we come together like this, the most important thing is for you to be strengthened." Do you have that? I know I'm stammering a lot tonight. He is saying, "When you come together, nothing trumps the word of God being preached so that the body of Christ can be built up." Verse number six, "But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, or knowledge, by prophesying, or teaching?" In other words, when we communicate in, in the body of Christ, it needs to be with knowledge and revelation, teaching, not some silly, uh, some foolishness, gibberish. I saw somebody showed it to me again where Kenneth Copeland, who was a false prophet and a lying prophet, is, and he's leading people to hell. And if you follow him, you better not, because he will send you to hell. You believe I said that? I can't stand those people. They are destroying lives. And I know people personally, they destroyed. And my family went through a horrible trauma one time because some of them got caught up in the whole Word of Faith movement. It's a doctrine of devils. Now that I've said that, they showed me this clip of him and another guy on the stage talking to each other in tongues, and then they started, it looked like they were telling jokes, because one would tell, say this, you know, gibberish and never to go, and then he'd tell another joke. And if that's not of hell, I don't know what is. And here's what's disturbed the congregation was going, "Wow, oh, oh, what super spiritual guys these are." No, what lying false prophets they are. And the world is full of gullible Christians. They'll follow every wind of doctrine because they don't know the scripture. Did you hear what I just said? People get tangled up and confused because they don't know the scriptures themselves. They get tangled up and confused because they're looking for some super spiritual, miracle-working something or another going on. I can tell you how we start having five services here again. Want me to tell you? Well, then I'll tell you after church. Nobody else wants to know. [Applause] You want me to tell you? Okay. I can get with these musicians and we can craft us a service, and I can come up here with glassy eyes and I can call people out, start knocking them down in the name of Jesus, and then people start laying on the floor and writhing around and speaking in tongues, and somebody would say, "I just got healed! I just got healed!" And it would only be a matter of weeks before we'd have to have five services in this place. Tracy truth, because that's what people want. But it ain't going to happen here. If I just stand there and whisper the word of God, that's what we're going to get here. But I'm not into this fantastic, emotional, super spiritual stuff that lasts as long as the feelings do, and then when it's all over, you're right back where you were, in the same big, stinking mess you were in. And, uh, the only thing that matters is that we walk in the truth, walk in the word of the Living God. When you listen to your favorite preacher, if you've got one out there somewhere, just mark him. Check everything he preaches. How much scripture is he using? I hear a lot of preaching today where, especially these young guys in their jeans and their, you know, they got bald heads, they got tattoos, and they got all that stuff, and they're talking this valley language talk, you know what I mean? And all that stuff. I forgot what I was about to say. Really, I did. So, let's just go on. Can anybody tell me what I was saying? Scripture. Oh, yes. And eight times out of ten, they'll talk about a movie they just saw and the spiritual application you can get from the movie. You know, that's what's going on today. Yeah, we just went to see this movie, and I could see Jesus in this movie, and let me just give you some principles that we saw on this movie. The Apostle Paul would have a fit. He told Timothy, "Preach the word." All the time. Preach nothing but the word of God. So, let's go on, because time is about to run out. Uh, what verse was I in? Even verse six. "If I come to you speaking with tongues, why shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, knowledge, prophecy, teaching?" Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is played or played? You know what he's saying? He's saying, "If people don't know what's being said, they can't be edified." "For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?" So likewise, you, unless you utter by the tongue words either understandable, how will it be known what is spoken? For you'll be speaking into the air. In other words, the Corinthians got all, they got really caught up with this, and everybody was going around speaking in tongues, and all the gifts were operating, and it got fleshy. Paul said, "You, what are you doing? You're supposed to be speaking the truth in an understandable way so that people can be built up." If people come in and watch you do this, they'll think you've lost your mind. They'll say, "You are mad." That's what happens when you come down to verse 13. "Therefore, let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret." In other words, don't just speak in tongues. Tell of the goodness of God. Tell somebody why you are ecstatic. "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful." He's not saying that's wrong. These guys will say, "Yeah, it's mindless religion." No, it's not mindless. It's spiritual. "If I pray in a tongue, my, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful." What is the conclusion then? Here it is, right here. Ready? Paul said, "What's the bottom line? I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the understanding." I'll pray with the Spirit when I need to be built up, but when I'm standing in front of you, I will pray with understanding so you can know what I'm saying and you can say "Amen" to what I'm saying. Does this make sense to anybody? Second half of the verse, "I will sing with the Spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding." Now, folks, there's nothing wrong. We've had it in this church at times. We'd gather around these altars, and the sweet Spirit of God would begin to move, and I've heard people singing in the Spirit. They weren't disrupting the service. They weren't even drawing attention to themselves. They were singing to Christ. They weren't confusing people. They were just singing to the Lord. What's wrong is when somebody starts drawing attention to himself. Now, it's going to be brought up, so I might as well go ahead. I can't. It's 7:59. Okay, since we have some visitors, I'm going to say this. People have asked me over the years, "Why don't we see the gifts operating in church?" Which ones? You talking about? Which ones you're talking about? Giving encouragement, edifying, teaching, preaching? No. We want the gifts where somebody yells out a tongue and then somebody stands up and says, "For..." Yeah. I say unto them, "My little children, why don't you let that happen?" Because it's not biblical. Let me tell you why it's not biblical. Because I'm preaching the word. When the word is being preached, the gifts don't interrupt the holy word of God. When the word is being preached and taught, there is no need for anybody to stand up and, yeah. [Music] If you do, I'm going to have you have a seat because now you're drawing attention to yourself. And there's only one person that ought to get attention when we come in this building, and his name is Jesus. It's not Lorraine. I can tell you that. It's Jesus. So, if you're wondering when the Spirit's going to start moving here, brother, Spirit's been moving here. I got here 46, in a few weeks, 46 years and a few weeks ago. He's been moving ever since. We prayed all night. You've heard this testimony. My father and I, father-in-law and I, prayed all night. Prayer meetings all week long. Prayer meeting. We had church prayer meetings, and God moved, and God's been saving ever since. And God's let this church go all over this planet in missions work. You wouldn't believe the men we've got. Over 120 ministries around the world now, because there's a revival going on at Central. It's not just the noise we make and the excitement we feel when we come together. It's the hand of God that's reaching across the country and around the world. That really, that, that's what matters. Ladies and gentlemen, I said I wasn't going to get wound up, and I did. So, let me finish with this one verse right here, verse 18. "I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all." Now, think about what Paul is saying. He went to a fanatic church. They were just running around speaking in tongues, and he said, "Hey, stop that. Be sensible. You know how to use this gift. You know how to enjoy this blessing. Now, act like you got some sense, because we're glorifying Jesus, not just having a good time." Then he said, "By the way, I speak in tongues more than all y'all." And they said, "You do?" He said, "Oh, yeah. Yet in the church, I would rather speak five words with my understanding that I may teach others also, than 10,000 words in a tongue." It's beautiful teaching, isn't it? Beautiful word of God. We'll finish it next week. We don't have time for questions, so let's stand. I probably answered them all anyway. I was really going to be scholarly at the beginning, but I ended up being me. Precious Lord Jesus, Lord of Glory, soon coming King, we praise You. We love You. We long for You. I ask You now, Lord, to let Your rich and sweet word become real to us. I pray, Lord, that You will make us hungry for scripture. Turn the television off, turn everything else off, and let Your word feed us and enlighten us. Thank You, Jesus, for dying. Thank You, Jesus, for rising, for ascending. Thank You for the promise that You're coming back. And I thank You till You do, we have the precious power of the Holy Spirit and the blessing that You will pray through us when we don't know how to pray. Be with these precious people until we meet again. In Jesus name, everybody said, "Amen." Thank you for coming. See you next time.