Being Charismatic - Tongues

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to the River Church podcast. [00:00:03] Speaker B: We're all about bringing the life, hope and love of Jesus to everyone around us. For more information, check out our website at. [00:00:10] Speaker A: River-church.uk happened to speak and I went, oh, where's my applause? So maybe. Anyway, so question for you. Have you ever been in a. Like a situation, been somewhere, been something, you know, somewhere where you've been that you felt there's more than just this, like an ocean scene, you know, being by the ocean, or you've been in the hills, or you've been a nighttime seeing all the stars. Or maybe it's a place where you've been and thought, hey, there's something about this. It reveals something, that there's something more than just we can see. Like, people described it as, you know, kind of like a hallowed place or a sacred place or one of those moments. I'm going to quote William Wordsworth, who's a great English poet and it's a bit archaic language, but hold with me through this, but he is a great poet and he trying to express, going back to a place which he loved and trying to express something, that there's something else he said. And I have felt a presence that disturbs me with the joy of elevated thoughts, a sense of sublime, of something far more deeply interfused, whose dwelling is the light of setting suns and the round ocean and the living air and the blue sky and the mind of man. Emotion and a spirit that impels all thinking things, of objects, of all thoughts, that rolls through all things. Bit strange language, but we're trying to grasp on that. There's something more. There's something more to grasp. And I think in our Western society, our Western culture has a bit of hypocrisy, right, because people talk as though this is all there is. You know, we should only believe what we trust, what we can see and feel and touch. And yet people describe about these transcendent experiences, don't they? Things that are like, oh, there's something else as well. And they're kind of like in this dark, you know, people believe in love at first sight or speak as, you know, they're my son, they're who I was destined to meet. And you're like, destined by who? You don't believe in anything. And it's like we've got this, you know, Western society's got this weird thing going on. We know, don't we, that the physical universe isn't all there is. There is a spiritual universe out there. And sometimes I think we just need to be reminded about it more and more, you know, that God is alive, that there is something else out there. We need to be reminded of that. And we've been talking through. Through this little series. Oh, there's a slide. No, that doesn't work. Do you want to do a next slide for me? I'm going to be that man. I've forgotten his name. Who was the next slide, please, Man. Anyway, during COVID we've been going through this series about being charismatic, the spiritual gifts. And I'm going to talk this morning about the spiritual gift of tongues, which you're going to go, ooh, that's a bit interesting. Well, okay, some of you may go, that's a bit interesting. And I think it's a real reminder. I mean, all of the spiritual gifts are reminders that this is not all there is, that God is alive, that God's spirit is at work, that actually the spiritual realm is more alive than we are here. And so I'm going to look at today, look at the Bible and what it says about the gift of tongues. And thankfully, that's quite easy because the Bible only. He's going to give me something. Oh, there's a battery. Great. Because the Bible speaks very infrequently, not very much about the gift of tongues. Actually, it's only in two books, in the book of Acts and the book of 1 Corinthians. So if you've got your Bible, I'm going to read through the start of Acts 2 and then a bit later talking about 1 Corinthians 14. So let's read together Acts 2. Who says, when the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind. And it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now, they were dwelling in Jerusalem. They were dwelling in Jerusalem. Many Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound, the multitude came together. And they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. Now, a very weird, funny passage that we kind of grapple with, but I think in this passage we need to remind him. Reminded. There are a whole load of firsts. First things that happens. Kay, if you'd like to put the slide up, please. First things that happens. The first thing was a mass outpouring of the Holy Spirit. So if we go back, and I can't go through the whole of the Bible, but if we go back and look at the Old Testament, we see the Spirit poured out on individual people, sometimes as little groups of people, but the Spirit comes on them to do a certain task, to be empowered for something here. And here we get Acts. And it's a fulfillment of when Jesus says in Acts 1, he says, you all he's talking to, his disciples will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And Jesus says, you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit, empowered to be my witnesses, to go out to the whole earth. He says, go out to Jerusalem, which is where they are, Judea, the big counties, Samaria, the next one along, and then to the end of the earth. You know, he's not going to list every single country. He's just going to go to the ends of the earth. And Peter gets up after this thing has happened and he interprets what's happened and preaches out in. Interprets it through the. Through the lens of the prophet Joel, who's from the Old Testament. And he says, this is the fulfillment of what Joel had seen in his Spirit in the future. This is a fulfillment of the Old Testament. No longer being poured out on individuals, but poured out on everyone. Young, old, men, women, people of every background. And this is the first. This is the first of those occasions. It's also the first mention of tongues. And this is. This is what I forgot going through this the first mention of tongues, not just in Acts, not in the Gospels, in the whole Bible. And it's funny because we've gone through all of these spiritual gifts and go, they all existed in the Old Testament. They existed in the Gospels. So you get healings, you get miracles, you get prophecy. They always there. But this is the first time when people experience the Holy Spirit empowering them to speak in other languages. Don't you find that weird? By the way, just as a side note, tongues. Why do we call it tongues? Because the word in Greek, glossa, just can be interpreted tongues or languages. It means things depending on context. We still use the phrase mother tongue. Yeah. So literally can mean languages, tongues. We just, we. I suppose the church has got used to using the word tongues and so that's why we call it tongues. But so it's the first mention of this happening in the Bible. It's also the first public ministry of the disciples. Thank you so much. It's great. The first public ministry of the disciples. It says they were all going out. It says they were telling the mighty works of God doesn't say exactly what they were saying, but it seems enough that the people around the Jews who were there interpreted it and said, that's what you're saying. You're talking in these languages. That's my language and your language and your language of the mighty works of God. So it's the first public ministry. So a whole load of firsts in there. But in Acts, as we go through Acts, there's only three more times in the whole of Acts that is recorded as the Holy Spirit falling on a group of people. The first one is in Acts 8. We've got a guy called Philip who's in Samaria, and people are receiving the Gospel. And so Peter and John, big strong guys go to support Peter. Go to Peter, Peter, too many words in there. Peter and John go to support Philip. And it says that they go and pray for the people and they receive the Holy Spirit. We see in Acts 10, Peter goes to meets a guy called Cornelius in a place called Caesarea. And Cornelius is a Roman citizen. He's a Roman centurion, He's a leader in the army. But it's also described as a devout man of God. Don't know how, but anyway, that's how that's described. And Peter shares with him the gospel. They accept the gospel. And then it says that the Holy Spirit falls on them. And they were speaking in tongues and praising God. And then we have the last time, Acts 19, Paul arrives in Ephesus in Greece and he finds people haven't received the Holy Spirit. They're aware of the Gospel, aware of what John the Baptist to preach, but not of the Holy Spirit. And so he prays for them. They receive the gospel, they receive the Holy Spirit falls on them and they speak in tongues and they prophesy. Now, tongues are mentioned in 10 and 19, but not specifically in 8. But I think. And Luke. I think Luke wants us to infer it this. What happens when the Holy Spirit falls on people? They speak in tongues and they prophesy. And this is important why? Because Luke is showing us the fulfillment of Jesus words. Jesus says, the Holy Spirit will fall on you. And you are empowered to go where? Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. And what do we see? The Holy Spirit comes on them at Pentecost in Jerusalem. Then we've got Philip and the Sumerians, So he goes out to Samaria. We've got Acts 10, goes to Caesarea, which funnily enough, is the capital of Judea. And lastly goes out to Ephesus, which frankly, for a Jew in Jerusalem is the ends of the earth. It's the other side of the earth. It's the other extent of the Roman army into Greece. So Luke is showing the Holy Spirit comes on the people, and it comes on more and more people as the church grows, as Jesus, words are being fulfilled. So DA Carson, who's a great Bible scholar, says, the way Luke tells the story Acts provides not a paradigm for the individual Christian experience, but the account of the Gospel's outward movement geographically, racially, as more people invited in, and above all, theologically, people are being welcomed into the house of God. So there we go. That's Acts, and that's the really strange bits of Acts. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 14, if you might turn with me. And Paul actually in 1 Corinthians mentions tongues over 3 chapters, 12, 13, and 14. You'll be glad to know I'm not going to read them all out. We haven't got time to go through them all. But I want to read through the first few verses of 1 to 5 now. I think you're going to have to do it for me. Oh, no. It did. It happened. Can you go back? There we go. That's great. 1 Corinthians 14. Let me read it out. Paul writes, pursue, love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God, for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to the people for their upbuilding, encouragement and consolation, word for comfort. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now, I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets. So that church may be built up. Now, just go back a bit before we talk about this passage. Paul is writing this letter to the Corinthian church, who are in a mess, right? If you read through Corinthians, they've got so much going on and it's a bit of a. It's a bit of a telling off, I think, for the church there, a bit of correction letter. And the main problem with the Corinthian church is they're divided. We start out with Paul telling them that they're going after different leaders, that leaders are vying against one another. People are following different leaders. They're divided in that people are using their money and their status over one another. They're even taking one another to courts over different things. And there's an area here in the middle where Paul addresses them in their gatherings. He talks about communion, he talks about spiritual gifts. And he's saying, you're trying to use these gatherings to get one over one another. You're trying to use it as a political platform to get status and to get support from one another. You're trying to focus on, get leadership from, you know, over one another. And so when we look at this, the focus of the letter isn't spiritual gifts. Paul's not giving us a grand explanation. This is what they are for. He's principally saying, hey, stop using in the wrong way. Use them in the right way. Use them up for the building of the church. But what can we say about tongues in this passage? What can we say? Well, actually, I just was reminded as going through this, not specifically about tongues, but just reminded. The Corinthians church are in a mess. They're doing all these things wrong, but God is blessing them. God is like not just sort of giving them a nice blessing, but he's present in their midst in the time when they're doing things wrong, in the time when they gather. God's spirit is blessing and speaking to them and bringing prophecy and bringing tongues and interpretation and bringing healings and miracles. That's all going on in the midst of their mess. Don't you find that encouraging? I mean, so many people say, oh, I need to get myself sorted before I move into this or do this. I need to sort this out into my life. God doesn't wait till we get ourselves sorted. He comes in the midst of our mess and he blesses us. You are going to be blessed to build someone up, build someone else up to give them encouragement to speak in their life, even though you haven't got everything sorted in yours. That is so encouraging. I love it about this. But what can we say about tongues? Well, firstly, tongues are good. They are good. He says that tongues is speaking to God. Tongues. Through tongues, a person utters mysteries in the Spirit. And when Paul uses this word, mysteries, he often means the mysteries of the gospel, the wonders of the gospel in tongues. We're praying out the mysteries of the gospel in the Spirit. And he says it builds up, it strengthens and encourages. And so when an individual uses tongues, they're speaking to God. They're speaking the wonders of the gospel, and it builds them up Tongues is good. And Paul says that he wants everyone to speak in tongues. I don't think that's a statement of ability. It's not a can statement he's using there. He's using the statement of quality. Tongues is good. So I want everyone to have this good thing. That's the statement he's making. So tongues are good, but they're also a mystery. [00:18:01] Speaker B: Right? [00:18:02] Speaker A: In 1 Corinthians, it takes on this difference, different identity than in Acts. Tongues is a mystery that it can't be understood except at a particular time when there's an interpretation he makes. In chapter 13, he makes this one reference to speaking in the language or in the tongues of men and angels. So we kind of like, is this angelic language? It's a spiritual language of some time. Is it angelic? It's a mystery. Then later, in chapter 14, he says that praying in tongues is praying with our spirit, not with our minds. But he says that we should pray with our spirits. But it doesn't explain how. It doesn't explain what's going on there. It's a mystery. And so as I was going through and looking at this, we've got this thing. Is it Acts or Corinthians? Which one's right? Should we have our hands up? No, which one's right? Do you know, when we look at them and compare them, they're so different. So we got in Acts, it seems that tongues comes as a public praise. Praise out in the public. Whereas in Corinthians, mostly it's for personal prayer. We get in Acts, it seems to be foreign human languages. That's the only times explained. But in Corinthians, we've got unintelligible angelic spiritual languages going on. We've got. In Acts, it seems to be for everyone. Everyone's, you know, that's the thing. The Holy Spirit's coming on everyone. And we see the sign of it as tongues, people speaking in tongues. It seems to be everyone. But Paul will mention that tongues is a gift for certain people, not others. So we're stuck in this middle. What do we do? Well, I'm going to say the Bible doesn't clarify. The Bible doesn't give us a nice neat answer that we want. Please, God, can you explain to me exactly what is going on? No. And, you know, surveying commentators, I've gone through many to hear what people think. There are as many opinions as there are commentators. Right. Lots of people have different explanations and want to, I think, try and help us to understand they can be helpful. To help us understand some of the things within the broader scope of the Bible. But those are things that we hold out there. And I think the thing that we have to accept is God, in his infinite wisdom, felt it right, that he's given us enough to understand. Yeah, he's given us enough to understand the glories. You know, the mysteries will be revealed one day. We have a list of questions. God, will you please tell us all about these things? But he's given us. This is what he's given us. So what can we say about tongues? How can it help us? Have I got another slide? Okay, this isn't working, so you have to go on to the next one. There we go. Tongues is firstly a sign. It's a sign in acts of the outward movement of the church and the Holy Spirit as it incorporates and brings in more people to the church, going through Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the world. This is the tongues is coming on people as a sign in Corinthians. Tongues is a spiritual gift that builds up the individual and the church when it's interpreted. Both are signs. Both are signs to the Holy Spirit that has been sent on us as new covenant people. That's why it's not in the old. It's not old covenant, it's new covenant. And it's a fulfillment of that Old Testament prophecy that says, we are people of Jesus. We are the people that have been washed clean by the blood. We have been redeemed, restored, brought into God's kingdom. We are his people. Not a nation in one place. We are his people. And the sign of that is the Holy Spirit coming on us. That's what it goes through. And it doesn't say it's the only sign. There are signs of healings and miracles as well as tongues, but it's a sign that neither is it a sign that comes on every person individually. It's a sign in the community as more and more people are joined. Having said that, it seems to be a very common sign. It seems to be a very common sign that the Holy Spirit is with us. Second thing, it's a sign, but it's a gift. Do you know? It's a gift in Acts, but when Paul talks about tongues and interpretation, it's a public gift of revelation. So it really actually, when you look back to how Peter explains what's going on, you know, these tongues people speak in different languages. What does Peter say? He brings out prophecy, and he says, my spirit will be upon them and they will prophesy he's interpreting these tongues speaking in different languages, as prophetic, as a revelation of God. And so when we see tongue and interpretation brought as a gift in the church in a public setting, that is sort of under the umbrella, shall we say, of prophecy, of God revealing something. But it's also a gift, a personal gift, a personal something on us that strengthens and encourages us. Lots of Bible scholars can say different ways of how that works. I don't know. But the thing is, Paul still encourages, says, it's good. I want you all to have it. Personally, I pray in tongues probably pretty much as often as I pray. I don't know about you. I find times when I'm praying and I just run out of words and I want to keep praying, so I switch to praying in tongues, and I pray that. And then I think about something else to pray, and then I'm back praying in English and my prayers are going somewhere else. And then I might switch to tongues to pray into tongues and back and forwards. And Paul says that. He says, I will pray with my spirit, but I also pray with my mind also. And I think for me, that's what I do. I pray in tongues all the time. Do you know I can pray in tongues anywhere? Actually, these days it's not weird to see someone just speaking to themselves, walking down the street, right? Because everyone has a little earbud, you know, you don't have to hold a phone to your ear. Do you know? It's still strange. I still find it strange, but everyone has this little earbud, and so they're having these conversations. So to be honest, it's just not strange anymore. So I can just be walking around and praying in tongues. No one needs to know the language, but it's something I can carry with me everywhere. And it's spiritual. It's evidence. Do you know? It's evidence that I am a child of God. Every time I pray in tongues, it's evidence that I am a child of God. I know I'm a child of God because the Holy Spirit is on me, and this is a sign for it. This is evidence of it. I am a child of God. I am in his family, and I can pray that and be reminded of praying that every time. And because it's spiritual, do you know what it just reminds me? God is real. No matter where I am, no matter if I'm on the train or on the bus or working or at hospital or at someone's home or wherever I am, I can mutter some words in tongues. And Be reminded God is real. Like all of this stuff, all of this stuff that we can touch and feel, I mean that's real and that what we take for granted. But God is real. God is real. And I forget that sometimes. I forget that when I worry. I forget that when I'm trying to catch a train or someone's in the queue in front of me or do you know the person's messing my coffee order up or whatever. Do you know what I mean? I forget that. I forget because the immediate is the immediate. But I need to be reminded that a spiritual realm is actually more real and this earth is going to be changed. When the spiritual realm comes down, when the new Jerusalem comes down, when the city of God comes down, this whole place is going to be changed and it's going to be more like that. And I want to grab hold of that. [00:27:38] Speaker B: So [00:27:40] Speaker A: should we all. I do believe that the Bible points to the vast majority of people being able to speak pray in tongues. And by that I mean the regular prayer language. I think that I'm not going to go as far as everyone needs to. I'm not going to say it's the only sign of being have the Holy Spirit on you. I don't think that's what the Bible says. But I think it's a gift given to the vast majority of people in church in gathered settings, as Paul says, there's a separate thing of a gift of a tongue and a gift of an interpretation. Just as the same as we say that everyone can hear from God, but there is a gift of a prophecy. Everyone can pray for healing, but there is a gift of a healing. Do you know, I think that for just at least most people they can pray in tongues. But some in gathered settings are gifted with a tongue and an interpretation under sort of the umbrella thing of interpretation. This is the practical thing. If I've never spoken in tongues, how do I do it? I was just speaking to Karen the other day and she said she's helped people by saying, copy me. I'm going to speak some words in my prayer in my tongue language, whatever that is. That's weird, isn't it? My tongue language. And try copying me and then go away and try and pray more. Pray more. There's lots of different ways you can try and start and that's a sort of practical thing that we should spend more time at a prayer meeting doing it. But yeah, of doing it, but yeah, there's lots of different things. But I think the more you practice, the more you get better at it. So, yeah, I hope that was helpful. I want to do a bit of Q and A if anyone's got any questions, because I've said a lot and then people may have some questions. I mean, hopefully I've just nailed everything that's just, you know, be wonders. But has anyone got any questions about tongues? And then we're going to pray in a moment. Has anyone got any questions? Ada's got a question all the way up there. You're going to have to run, Gary. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yes, please. Yeah. [00:30:10] Speaker B: Thank you. My question is, do you believe that someone who already speaks in tongues, like yourself, is meant to lay hands on someone else who desires to speak in tongues? Or do you believe that they should just ask for it on their own? How do you believe it gets impacted? [00:30:34] Speaker A: That's an interesting question. So Acts shows people who haven't been filled with the Holy Spirit being prayed for and received the Holy Spirit. I think a notion through the New Testament is to pray for people who desire things, be it healing, be it gifting. So I am absolutely happy to pray for someone to receive the gift of tongues. It doesn't actually necessarily mean that I have to have it. You know, I pray for you to get healed of a knee. I've never got healed of a knee. That's fine. I can do that. I'm just here as, you know, a servant of God, asking God that you might receive this. So, yeah, I'm happy to pray for someone to receive, to be able to pray in tongues. Yeah. Eid. Thank you. How do you balance Paul's desire for lots and lots of people to speak in tongues versus his almost discouraging people from doing it in a public arena? If I said that right, yeah, absolutely. At the end of Corinthians, he does say, you know, not speaking in tongues whenever people are gathered. That's actually a public setting. Is that the one that you're referring to? Yeah, that's actually a public setting. So he's expecting people who don't know Jesus, who don't know the gospel, to be in their midst. And what he's really, I think, principally saying is, hey, if you're just babbling in a language that no one can understand, that people who need to receive the gospel can't understand, that's not helpful. So talk in a language that people can understand. That's where prophecy is. Saying prophecy is great because it reveals the secret of our heart. God is going to reveal something through prophecy, and we're going to speak it in a language that People can. Can understand. Now, I'm actually fine with a group of Christians in a small group prayer meeting all together. That's not a public meeting. Group of Christians coming together and praying in tongues together. That's great. But I think the whole thing about making it understandable for people that have not received the gospel already need to be explained. I think that's what he's addressing there. Does that answer your question? Great. [00:33:04] Speaker B: Two questions up here, if that's okay, Ian. [00:33:05] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, go for it. [00:33:09] Speaker B: Mine isn't a question, but I want to just spell out my understanding of speaking in tongues based on what the Bible says. It's a gift. [00:33:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:23] Speaker B: And it's the Holy Spirit that empowers us to do that. Nobody need this. Nobody needs to teach us. We don't need to be a student of any person as to how to speak in tongues. I just wanted to understand that. That's my understanding of it. And so if you desire it in the quietness of your room, you speak with God, the Holy Spirit will overtake you and you will speak in the language that communicates with God rather than with men. So I just thought to say that maybe to be wary that we are not going to be taught by somebody else how to speak in tongues. [00:34:02] Speaker A: That's absolutely correct. You know, I've heard so many people speak in tongues, and they're all so different. I think what I mentioned about Karen is how to actually get you started on vocalizing something that's different to you and that as you sort of practice, God will give you something, you know, a language I've not studied. There's been studies on gifts of tongues. Let's not go there. So, yeah, there was one question. One question here. Yeah. Azuka, [00:34:42] Speaker B: As a Christian, is it okay not to desire to speak in tongues? Like, for me, I've never spoken in tongues and not in a bad way, but I don't desire to speak in tongues. I grew up in a Pentecostal church whereby everybody will be speaking in so many, like, different languages. I don't want to say it's off putting, but it's. Yeah, but is it okay just not to desire that particular gift and to desire other gifts? [00:35:07] Speaker A: 1 Corinthians 14. Thanks, Azuka, for that. That's really helpful because I understand that in some circumstances that spiritual gifts can be really the thing that people are going after and actually take away from following and praising Jesus and can get confusing in there. Paul says earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy, but goes on to talk about tongues. I think desiring the spiritual gifts is what Paul is talking about here. And he does say tongues. He says tongues is useful. I would encourage you to seek it because I think it's good for you. I think it can build you up, you know, is where I go. So I would encourage you to seek it. You may. I understand that not everyone speaks in tongues and you may have prayed for it in past and not happened and may have felt, you know, kind of, you know, disappointed or something or, you know, it's the same as, you know, we pray for healing and pray for prophecy and sometimes it doesn't happen. Do you know, I appreciate that that happens. Yeah. I think Paul is speaking into. Paul is speaking into the whole congregation to earnestly desire these gifts. So I think it's good. I want you to have it, but I'm not forcing you to seek it if it's not something that you think God has given you. Yeah, I'm going to just go. Yeah, just two. Yeah, quickly. Yeah. One for Karen. [00:36:52] Speaker B: Can you clarify about the whole thing of tongues and interpretation? Is the interpretation revelation from God to. To us, or is it praise from us directed to God? Oh, well, [00:37:10] Speaker A: sorry, didn't mean to make [00:37:12] Speaker B: you scratch your head. [00:37:16] Speaker A: It is a spiritual language given to us and our spirit is praying with his spirit. So the interpretation is the interpretation of that which is also a gift from God, a revelation of what's being said. But to disambiguate, is it something that God wants us to hear is the gift of interpretation. God wants to reveal something, if you see what I mean, that may be through our spirit praying rather than him directly. [00:37:49] Speaker B: So [00:37:52] Speaker A: I'm going to try not to explain things that I don't think the Bible explains, if that makes sense. I'm not going to go that far. Yeah. Last question. [00:38:02] Speaker B: Someone in mind for the last one, Ian? [00:38:04] Speaker A: Oh, no, I thought. Sorry, just behind you was. Had your. [00:38:09] Speaker B: It was just a comment, really, Ian, that I understand that it's a sign, but I think we just need to be mindful that there have been occasions where some people put pressure on others that if you don't speak in tongues that you don't have the Holy Spirit. And I think we need to be really mindful of that. That's all I wanted to say. [00:38:25] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, no, it's a great point. And I just want to underline that, you know, we are filled with the Holy Spirit and there are a multitude of gifts. Tongues is a common one. And I just want to say it's common yeah, Gary. Oh, sorry. [00:38:41] Speaker B: I just wanted to clarify. Were you saying earlier that it's always like a language that exists or can be a language that no one's. [00:38:49] Speaker A: Oh, okay. I didn't go there, did I? The thing between, is it foreign human languages or is it spiritual languages? And Acts 2 is the only place where the Bible says it's foreign language, other human languages. So, you know, it doesn't get clarified in the rest of Acts. And it's not in public settings. It's with a group of people or with the church. And in Corinthians, Paul talks about spiritual language. I have heard of testimonies of people speaking in what they thought was tongues and heard it. Someone else say, that's my language. So on this, I'm just not going to put a box on God. I'm not going to tie God down to what he wants to do. And I'm going to say, hey, it could be if someone. If I'm praying my tongues and someone comes up and says, that's my language. I'm just going to be floored because I think it's just babble. But there we go. That's another thing. So, yeah, it could be either. I think it would be great, just with a couple of minutes, if we could all stand and just pray that God would pour out his spiritual gifts on us as a church. And if we could just, you know, Paul says earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. You know, and he does that. And he talks earlier about spiritual, about gifts being healing, miracles, prophecy, tongues, interpretation, even administration. That's a spiritual gift. But let's all just do a burst of prayer together to say, God, would you bless us and bring his spiritual gifts? Let's go.