#378 Advantage Series# 2, Are Tongues Really Necessary?

#378 Advantage Series# 2, Are Tongues Really Necessary?
By: D. Karl Thomas

(See download links at the bottom of the page for the Sermon, PowerPoint & Group Discussion Questions)

John 16:7, 13 “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. … However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth;…”

PICTURE —- David Goliath … ADVANTAGE

Embrace Holy Spirit: A. He Is God B.He Is A Person C.He Is Our Helper

A. W. Tozer “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
“The idea of the Spirit held by the average church member is so vague as to be nearly non-existent.”

Romans 12:11 (NIV) “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 14:37-39 (ESV) “If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.”

Mark 16:17-18 “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; …they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Cessationism:— is the view that the “miracle gifts” of tongues and healing have ceased—that the end of the apostolic age brought about a cessation of the miracles associated with that age.

1 Corinthians 13:8, 12 “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away … For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.”

The Westminster Confession Of The Faith — Section 1 (Of The Holy Scriptures)
“… those former ways of God’s revealing His will unto His people being now ceased.”

Continuationism:— is the belief that all the spiritual gifts, including healings, tongues, and miracles, are still in operation today, just as they were in the days of the early church. A continuationist believes that the spiritual gifts have “continued” unabated since the Day of Pentecost …

… and that the demonstration of “signs, wonders, and miracles”, as witnessed in the apostolic era, should be a hallmark of today’s church as well.

In 1350, St Vincent Ferrer is reported to have spoken in tongues. While in Genoa, he spoke to a group of men and women of mixed language backgrounds, all of whom were said to have heard him in their own language. The story is as follows:

(Angel of the Judgment: A Life of St. Vincent Ferrer, 1953, p. 137-138).
“In addition to tongues, Vincent healed the blind, deaf, lame, and those who were possessed. He raised some from the dead. His public miracles were in the thousands.”

Tongues Restored To The Church
ON JANUARY 1, 1901, a young woman named Agnes Ozman was baptized in the Holy Spirit at a small Bible school in Topeka, Kansas. Ozman received a startling manifestation of the gift of tongues and became the first Pentecostal of the 20th century.

On the morning of April 19, 1906, readers of the Los Angeles Times were shocked to read the banner headline news of the San Francisco earthquake. At 5:18 a.m. the most powerful earthquake in American history, 8.3 on the Richter scale, had destroyed 514 city blocks in the heart of the city. More than 700 people died from the tremor and the firestorm that followed.

The day before, on April 18, readers of the same paper had seen a curious first-page story of a spiritual earthquake that had hit Los Angeles in a little mission church on Azusa Street the night before. The headlines read: Weird Babble of Tongues>New Sect of Fanatics Is Breaking Loose >Wild Scene Last Night on Azusa Street > Gurgle of Wordless Talk by a Sister.

Charles Carrin “Tongues is the only spiritual gift deliberately designed to attack man’s ego and pride; it exposes insincerity, self-centeredness, falsity, and other negative traits in believers.”

“Because of its unique attack on the human intellect, tongues remains the eternal “watch guard” at the gate. In a very calculated way this gift protects the other gifts from exploitation. The Holy Spirit will not allow us to choose one charisma and reject another.”

A Believers 3-Fold Ministry In Tongues
1. Ministry To God “…speaks to God.” 1 Cor 14:2
2. Ministry To Your Self “…edifieth himself…” 1 Cor 14:4
3. Ministry To Others “…let one interpret.” 1 Cor 14:27

1 Corinthians 14:15 “…I will pray with my spirit [by the Holy Spirit that is within me], but I will also pray [intelligently] with my mind and understanding;…”
We pray to communicate with God. We expect to receive! Praying in the Spirit engages the mind of the Spirit,

Advantages Of Tongue Talking
1. Call Forth Secret Truth
1 Corinthians 14:2 “For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.” When Speaking In Tongues you’re in the Spirit.

Mysteries:– (mystērion) hidden thing, secret, mystery
a) generally mysteries, religious secrets, confided only to the initiated and not to ordinary mortals
b) a hidden or secret thing, not obvious to the understanding
c) a hidden purpose or counsel

Vine Expository Dictionary Mysteries:– that which, being outside the range of unassisted natural apprehension, can be made known only by divine revelation, and is made known … to those only who are illumined by the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 14:18 “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you.”
Is there a purpose to speak in tongues more? How did this affect Paul’s ministry?

1 Corinthians 4:1 “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.”

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,… But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”

2 Peter 3:15-16 “…as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand,…”

2. Keep Commandment Of God
1 Corinthians 14:15 “I will pray with my spirit,…” 1 Corinthians 14:37 “…what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord.” Jude 20 “…pray in the Holy Spirit.”

3. Charge Up Your Faith
Jude 20 “…build yourselves up in your most holy faith…”
1 Corinthians 14:4 “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself;…”

4.Bring Your Tongue Under Subjection
James 3:8 “But the tongue can no man tame…”

5. Engage The Spirit Realm
Ephesians 5:18-19 “…but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,…”

6. Give Glory To God
1 Corinthians 14:17 “For you indeed give thanks well,…”
Acts 2:11 “…speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”

7. Manifestation Of The Spirit’s Embrace
Acts 10:45-46 “…that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues,…”

8. Fulfill The Great Commission In Power
Mark 16:15-17 “Go ye into all the world …they shall speak with new tongues;”
1 Corinthians 14:22 “Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers;…”

9. Helps You Proclaim And Call Into Manifestation The Perfect Will Of God
Romans 8:26-27 “… the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses…. but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

Mark 16:17-18 “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; …they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

378 Advantage Series# 2, Are Tongues Really Necessary?, PowerPoint Slides

378 Advantage Series# 2, Are Tongues Really Necessary, Sermon Notes to print

Week #10 – Group Discusison Questions, click link to print