Wednesday Night Worship & Word

praise the lord everyone praise the lord everyone we greet you tonight in the wonderful name of the lord jesus christ what a joy it is to be with you in the house of the lord tonight to study the word of god together thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path and i'm so thankful for that precious word of god that we have to to guide us we have started a study on common questions concerning apostolic doctrine and it's a book i wrote many years ago and the i was contacted a few weeks ago in joplin missouri they have a a um what do they call it a a hall of fame of a pentecostal preacher they've got hall of fame for everything from rock and roll to you name it and but this was started several years ago and some very prominent ministers have been chosen and i am humbled to think that i've been nominated and they've asked me to send them a lot of memorabilia and we've been going through stuff today and it's absolutely amazing when i look back where god has brought us from to where we are right now and there's so many great great things and when we get it all together we're going to eventually have a place upstairs perhaps the elevator and we're we're going to have a a large enough section that we can have a um a archives of the history of the first apostolic church of knoxville and just studying it and looking over the material didn't realize that sister mccool was such an outstanding historian she has some of the greatest things i didn't even realize that that she had but anyway when that time comes we'll share it with with you ran into some things today letters that i received from granny crank you've heard me talk about her and uh i said i'm gonna i'm going to have those letters reproduced and put on the screen in the near future brother derek is going to help me with that and the the letters are dated 51 years ago and granny's written me letters and given me advice and given me scriptures to study and it is such a treasure to me to see her handwriting now she did not wear glasses she quit wearing glasses because she was expecting the lord to give her perfect health and she she wrote better in her 90s than i can write right now but anyway it's been such a a blessing and um i want to share something she sent to me this was dated 1971 and it's she says in her letter to me she says it's one of my favorite poems it's quoted below this is from granny crank 1971. it's from where i sit and she advised me to read this and she applies it to me she put the responsibility upon me and this is the way it goes if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you but make allowance for their doubting too if you can wait and not be tired by waiting or being lied about don't deal in lies or being hated don't give way to hating and yet don't look too good nor talk too wise if you can dream and not make dreams your master if you can think and not make thoughts your aim if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same if you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools or watch the things you gave your life to broken and stoop and build them up with worn out tools if you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue or walk with kings nor lose the common touch if neither foes and our loving friends can hurt you if all men count with you but not too much if you can feel the unforgiving minutes with 60 seconds worth of distance run yours is the earth and everything that's in it and which is more you'll be a man my son granny cranked 51 years ago and she'd had that uh taped to a letter she wrote and she applied that to me and this was her advice to me so thank you granny and i'll be sharing this with the the uh the church and some of her i want i actually want her uh i actually want her her uh handwriting and the letters reproduce and real good quality that you can read them because it was very very dear to me and tonight we're taking up we'll review a little bit and then go on to some other things but we stopped here and uh baptism of the holy ghost baptism of the holy ghost what is meant by the term baptism of the holy ghost answer acts 1 4 and 5 and being assembled together with them jesus commanded them that they should not depart from jerusalem but wait for the promise of the father which saith he you've heard of me for john truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the holy ghost not many days hence let's pray father we thank you for the word of god we thank you for the subject we're dealing with tonight i pray that you will touch our hearts and minds and let the word of god sink deep into our hearts that we'll be a stronger christians that will be more in love with the precious word of god i pray for all the sick folks in the church you know those whose names we try to call every day every night and we ask you o god to touch and heal and uh anoint this service and this message tonight in jesus name we pray amen all right what is meant by the baptism the holy ghost you and i uh rather take this for granted because we have been in a pentecostal church our most much of our life and we we think we really we know what the baptism of the holy ghost is but if you stop and think of the folks that uh that uh wasn't raised in this they uh they may not know what we're talking about the baptism of the holy ghost the holy spirit and uh you'll be asked this question some time another so action now remember who wrote did any of you remember who we told you who wrote the book of acts say it luke what was luke's profession what he was a physician he was a well-educated highly educated man um a doctor and he's writing this and you remember the message i taught on uh many infallible proofs and i quoted luke very very freely and there were some others that were highly educated paul was a highly educated man you remember when he was before felix uh felix absolutely it got under his skin so he just screamed out paul uh much learning has made you mad he just felt like that he was so educated that his education was was making whereas many thought of the the apostles some of them as being ignorant and unlearned men but the bible said they took note of them that they had been with with jesus so i want to reiterate that keep that in in your mind to understand that we're studying from some very learned educated men that wrote these these books and being assembled with them commanded them that they should not depart from jerusalem but wait for the promise of the father which saith he you've heard of me for john truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the holy ghost not many days hence now he he was not condemning the baptism of john but he said that that john baptized you with water i remember uh brother les daniel brought to my attention many years ago about the pharisees condemned themselves not being baptized by john you remember that i never noticed that but uh brother my brother daniel brought that to my attention that even the baptism of john was essential even before the day of water baptism in jesus name for he said the pharisees condemned themselves not being baptized so now then that jesus said john truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the holy ghost not many days hence so we're laying the foundation to understand and now i understand we're not preaching tonight we're teaching and i love i love preaching uh these uh these precious men that can uh that can weave a story mama what a message we heard from pastor whitley uh the the the master of the what the master of the uh them all right uh it had been it had been uh i can't even say the word mired mired mired master of the mired i don't know why that that won't come out when i want to say it master of the mired and what a message that was him and something i got out of that too um when he got through telling us about how the the the uh the master uh man that was making the pottery the potter he crushed all the air bubbles out and the rocks and the clay and it was not the vessel that he started to make but he created another vessel out of it and a little thought hit me about that when he created that second vessel that was not marred if somebody come along and said now yeah what about that crack what about that piece of rock what about that well show it to him it's no longer there the the new piece of clay that we're there is not marred you can't bring up the pass of the old one because he's already beat that out of us and every one of us have a past that god has had to beat out of us and he said he would cast your sins in the depths of the sea and he would remember him against you no more so that's a wonderful thought right there from great great preaching like we heard uh pastor uh nate and and pastor mccool who preached over the weekend now let's go back to our scripture uh and question does not everyone who accept christ have this baptism now you heard me tell about the preacher but it's doctor j barnum again somebody wrote and asked him did he have the holy ghost he said well when i believed on the lord jesus christ i got the whole ball of wax and that that was a little bit of a catchy uh thing to say but the fact of the matter is the real truth is does not everyone except christ have the baptism the above mentioned people who had been instructed to tarry at jerusalem until they were baptized with the holy ghost were christ's own disciples these were devouted followers including mary the mother of jesus now you stop and think about this if the holy ghost is essential and necessary for mary the mother of jesus to receive it must be important that you and i receive it and i'll read that to you acts 1 14 and 15 these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and mary the mother of jesus and with his brethren and in those days peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said the number of the names together were about 120. now you're reading along with you see it on the screen now let's go to acts 8 verse 12-16 and when they believed philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom now keep this uh divided in your mind and and placed in the proper place the bible says rightly dividing the word of truth now keep keep this in mind acts 8 holy ghost was poured out in acts 2. and then uh acts acts 3 we find paul getting converted and he's finally this he was a rabbi in his own right highly educated of the jewish faith and uh he was a great persecutor of the of those who were not jewish in their faith and belief and he thought he was doing the will of god but notice in the eighth chapter of acts but when they believed philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of god now the persecution hit jerusalem so strongly the the the regular people were scattered the bible said they went everywhere preaching but the apostles were there at jerusalem and now then uh get this they were scattered and philip went down to samaria now that that was gentile people and philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of god and the name of jesus christ they were baptized both men and women then simon himself believed also and when he was baptized he continued to philip and wondered beholding the miracles and signs which were done now simon was a sorcerer he he he fooled the people with his sorcery made money with his sorcery and later on in this chapter i don't read i don't quote this in my book but uh when he saw the real thing he wanted the holy ghost and and he offered philip money said i want i want to be able to lay my hands on folks and get the holy ghost and he was sternly rebuked and told him he was in the in the the gall of bitterness and he needed to pray for god to forgive him and and he did he prayed and forgotten he asked philip to pray for him uh because he he he was in the wrong spirit then simon himself believe also and when he was baptized he continued with the philip and wandered beholding the miracles and signs which were done all the things that he had faked the miraculous was the real thing and now he he wanted that too now when the apostles which were at jerusalem heard that samaria had received the word of god they sent unto them peter and john who when they were come down prayed for them that they might receive the holy ghost for as yet he was fallen upon none of them only they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus now keep this in mind now this is this is elementary to many of us this we've heard this so much but the the people that's not been brought up in this and taught this they they don't realize this now they believed in the lord jesus christ and they were baptized but now then when the apostles which jerusalem heard that samaria and the samaritans now they remember not jews when they heard that they'd received that they'd repented and been baptized they sent peter and john down who when they were come down prayed for them that they might receive the holy ghost for as yet he was fallen upon none of them only they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus now notice these important facts but when they believed philip preaching concerning the kingdom of god and the name of jesus christ they were baptized both men and women then simon himself believed also and when he was baptized he continued to philip and wondered beholding the miracles and signs which were done now when the apostles which write jerusalem heard that samaria had received the word of god they sent unto them peter and john who when they were come down prayed for them that they might receive the holy ghost for as yet he was fallen upon none of them only they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus the above verses show clearly that the samaritan converts were believers and were baptized in the name of jesus but had not received the holy ghost we need to be careful before we to quickly judge somebody that may not have all that that that you you think you have or that you do have now they they were believers and have been baptized but they had not yet received the holy ghost and now then uh they're about to get it and and they were baptized in the name of jesus but did not receive the holy ghost until the apostles said jerusalem came down and laid their hands on them also in acts 19 and 2 paul asked the disciples of john listen to this paul asked the disciples of john have you received the holy ghost since you believed now what does that clearly indicate he he clearly indicated that they were believers but he didn't know whether or not they had the holy ghost now uh we we used to really and still do i i we in maybe a different way um when a person repented now years ago we had revivals and and we don't advocate this but uh preachers and others would go back in the audience and find something to find somebody that they thought was under conviction and and and asked them to you know the lord would you would you like to find the lord tonight and lead them to the altar and this is uh probably fallen into a less desirable way of leading people to the lord because everybody don't have the wisdom to go back and talk to somebody uh you you'll embarrass somebody they may never come back you may go back and talk to somebody that that that resents it and you'd be better off to wait and let the holy ghost deal with them but after they repented then every night now when i i repented when i was seven years old and uh and i thought the holy ghost every time i felt like i was doing something horrible uh i said occasionally i would go to sleep that young after testimony and wake up and the service would be and i would cry all the way home because i didn't get to go to the altar and seek the holy ghost because back then we had we believed him the church said i wanted to believe in what's called three different three definite works of grace brother jerry knows about this prophet uh and that is saved sanctified and filled with the holy ghost throughout three different works of grace you repent god forgives you but you want to be sanctified you want to be set apart and and and and felt like that was another work of grace and then saved sanctified and then you kept seeking until you received the holy ghost well uh you the bible said you're sanctified by the holy ghost so we do not preach in in the three definite works of grace repentance and and then uh get sanctified and get told when you get the holy ghost you do get sanctified so does that make any sense do you understand what i'm saying brother gerald understand this well because he was out of a church i think he believed that that believed that way okay when paul asked the disciples of john have you received the holy ghost which you believe thus showing that you could be a believer and not have the holy ghost i'm not advocating to stop because the apostles which were jerusalem they went all the way down to samaria to pray for them to get the holy ghost who may receive the holy ghost acts 2 38-39 repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the mention of sin you shall receive you shall receive the gift of the holy ghost for the promise is who's get who who may receive the holy ghost the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are far off even as many as the lord our god shall call there should be no doubt everyone who accepts christ can have the baptism of the holy ghost and and i i do not stop and i i don't have the answer um i sought the holy ghost four years before i got it my twin brother uh he he paints himself as mischievous in his book double trouble for the devil and uh he he did he did a little bit of that mischievous work on me because he'd get with other boys and they'd try to get me to talk nasty to say bad words say bill said this something and they i wouldn't do it and they would call me a and uh i wasn't a but i'd start cry and run home to mom and get some that might have been indicative that i was a but i would go home because i i was embarrassed with the other boys in the community and that was a kind of sport for them but the night i got the holy ghost from pasacola missouri in 1948 was in the in the month of march and uh chuck gray uh was was praying with me and you've heard me tell this story many times i gave my my well-rehearsed little testimony i want to praise the lord for saving and sanctifying me and i want you to pray for me that god will receive the sweet holy ghost well that night i don't know if this lady was tired of hearing me say that or not but she was an elderly lady that she had long hair because she pulled back real tight and did it up in a biscuit right in the back of her head that was a a common fact a lot of the the modern women dressed that way now in a lot of other ways too but anyway she said yes honey and tonight well that that that just hit me like a an arrow in my heart yes honey in tonight and when they gave the altar call i hit the altar and brother chuck gray was he got the holy ghost the night before now here he was a he was the leader of a country music band called chuck gray in the missouri mountaineers they had a daily uh radio program over kboa and kenneth missouri and um they were they played show dates around over the country schoolhouses and uh wherever they could and a lot of time they'd come by our house after the show dates and they they would whatever we had to eat they would share well he was praying for me when i received the holy ghost and i i well i remember the last thing i remember actually hearing somebody say somebody was like they were leaning over the pulpit said he's got the stammering lips well isaiah said with stammering lips another tongue while i speak to my people well that was scripture he's got the stammering lips that's the last thing i remember because i fell backwards and and i was totally unconscious i don't know for how long but i was i my tongue started going and it's like a radio and they just turned turned the volume down and down and like and the loud noise of praying and worshiping it just it just faded out well when i came to i was on my feet and i think was probably very fitted that night and i was dancing and talking in tongues and i thought i wish my twin brother bob had this and i opened my eyes and just a few feet away he was dancing and talking in tongues now you answer this for me how was it this good little boy mama's little boy that loved the lord so much testified went to the altar and prayed and four years later my twin brother who was mischievous tried to get me to backslide the first time he went to the altar got the holy ghost well all i can think is is his heart was more ready for it maybe it meant you you've got to have a receptive heart sometimes the personality of an individual uh there a lot of people can't get the holy ghost because they are afraid that they're going to be in the flesh and they they they have a uh they're so honest and certain they they don't want they don't want to be a fake they don't want to be unreal and they're afraid that if they really turn loose and start praising god they was telling me to say hello hallelujah praise the lord president i i didn't get my tongue tangled up that i couldn't speak english but i i would say i would praise the lord praise the lord jesus jesus had a little glorious door presentation and i did not get my tongue tangled up but i i i guess i freely got to the place that i was worshiping god with every uh language with every uh vocal word that that i could think of and i wasn't even thinking of and and just i when i got totally committed to god now everybody don't get the holy ghost the same way you get the same holy ghost but there are some folks very quietly some people shout something's wrong some folks ask but don't expect yourself or anybody else to get the holy ghost a certain way bobby got the holy ghost that night the same older girls talked in tongues just like i did and we become partners from that day on uh we had a little red barn out behind our house and we would go outside little homemade ladder up in the up in the loft where we stored hay and we'd we'd get down beside the bale of hay no one told us to we just went up and we'd have ourselves a prayer meeting and we would shout and dance and talk in tongues like we was in a in a camp meeting and one thing we bobby said to me or i said to him i said bill now that we've got the holy ghost we can't lie about being sick when you're a farm boy 11 years old and and you don't feel like getting up at daylight or you go to school or you don't feel like getting up in daylight and go to the cotton field sometimes you'll say daddy i'm sick daddy i don't feel like it my daddy looked at me saying daddy i i i don't feel like going to school he said you don't feel like a son you're feeling in the wrong place get up there and you got to go to school but that that automatically told us that we had a change of life and and that that was different shortly after that brother don my oldest brother you heard you've heard him many times here through the years uh he was asking us how how it was to get the holy ghost how did you get the well pulled old cane bottom chair out and and set it against the wall he said get out on your knees and we'll pray for you and you get the holy ghost right now and we started praying for don that night and and uh don was praying and directly he fell back his face just as red as could be and he started talking in tongues and my dad was a he had to get up and go to work the next day and he got out of bed he heard all the commotion and he came in and looked around the door facing and and just watched don lay there speaking in tongues dad shook his head he said i don't understand it don's always been a good boy i don't understand why i don't understand why he has to go through with that and that their don was in the in the the deepest depth of glory praising god dad was feeling sorry for him i don't i don't he's always been a good boy i don't know why he has to go through something like that well that was the way we got the holy ghost but i'm not prescribing a way for you now the next chapter in my book it's entitled tongues tongues tongues what about tom's question tongues is a subject of great interest to almost every denomination its rise and popularity has given way to greater acceptance and in some cases harsh criticism it's believed by some to be demon inspired and divisive now years ago i was on the radio three times a day and i preached this and i had preachers uh followed me and they really they literally did say that it was demon inspired and and and one one preacher didn't call my name but it said this preacher out of such such if all the mud holes would dry up he wouldn't have anything to preach and said he's a dog-faced liar from hell and the lord i never did retaliate for anything like that but it stirs them up sometimes but now uh way back there there was a movement called the latter rain and uh and then there was the full gospel businessmen's association businessmen started getting the holy ghost and they started they kind of broke out from the churches and they would have meetings in uh hotel rooms and motel rooms and they have little meetings and uh the businessmen started getting the holy ghost speaking in tongues there's a book was written by i believe his name was cheryl and i believe it was entitled they speak with other tongues and he wrote a book about this and he quoted the azusa street revival and he was a well-educated man he had great respect of the uh the businessmen in the business world and this aroused a great deal of interest and the the businessmen started having these meetings and started getting the holy ghost and and different denominations uh all different i mean even the catholic church uh they started getting the holy ghost and speaking in tongues now don't ask me to explain that that's god does his business the way he wants to do it but after that it began to to uh evolve into something uh and some called it a prayer language and let me read my writing that he got a date back when i wrote this book tongues is a subject of great importance to almost all denominations that's rise in popularity has given way to greater acceptance and in some cases harsh criticism it's believed by some to be demon inspired and divisive by others it is believed to be a lovely prayer language which can be exercised at at will i have never i have never understood this and i'm careful not to uh just openly criticize but there's been meetings where they said you talk in tongues and you talk in tongues well i i've never i've never felt like that you pointed to somebody and told them to talk in tongues i've never i've seen seen that happen but i can't say that i i i don't think so it should be if god wants you to prophesy he'll tell you if god wants you to speak in tongues he'll talk to you not under my command now i can say let's rejoice let's stand to our feet let's clap our hands let's praise the lord let's give him our best praise and we can do all of this but again nobody can nobody can point the finger at you and say you speak in tongues or you prophesied and so forth all right tongues to say the least is greatly misunderstood we find prophecy concerning tongues in isaiah 28 11 for with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to his people god chose man's untamable member to use as the instrument by which to manifest his initial sign of his infilling with the holy ghost acts 2 4 gives this account and they were all filled with the holy ghost acts 2 4 gives this account and they were all filled with the holy ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance that's the secret right there it's the spirit that gives utterance not me i don't tell you speak in tongues the spirit will give you the utterance while acts 8 17 records they received the holy ghost without making mention of whether or not they spoke with tongues acts 10 44-46 presents this strong affirmation of individual tongues speaking while peter yet spake these words the holy ghost fell on all them which heard the word 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 for they heard them speak with tongues they heard them speak with tongues and magnify god the term for they heard them speak with tongues certainly indicates that this is the evidence by which they knew they had received the holy ghost acts 19 and 6 says and when paul laid his hands upon them the holy ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied now i think it's important that we understand this that we that would be not confused and be led astray because there are those who have studied at great depths of how to counteract the doctrine of speaking in tongues and they use different and i'll deal with this here in just a minute and you've got to be wise as to some of the things they say because the way they slant the scriptures they can make it sound like tongues is is uh is not important and i'll tell you about that a little later excuse me time out did you take a look at the the stem fair out front if that isn't the most amazing that is your children that's getting educated with the very best education go ahead and give them a hand and and i don't know if they announced did y'all announce tomorrow when they have having that so you'll know when it is so taking time out but i guess in bible study you can do this all right does the bible not warn about tongues i told you i don't want to deal with that does the bible not warn now that you're going to you're going to face this sometime or another the apostle paul writing to the corinthian church in first corinthians 12 and 1 says now concerning spiritual gifts brothers i would not have you ignorant the ignorance of which he speaks has to do with the availability as well as the proper administration of the gifts now um we were at a ball game our our christian schools was playing a denominal church somewhere above oliver springs or somewhere over there and the fellow sat down beside me and he said your church for apostolic said um you folks believe in and speaking in tongues don't you i guess well he said the bible says it's the least of the gifts and i said the bible don't say that oh yes it does i said the bible does don't say that tongues is the least some gifts he said i've heard my preacher quote it many times and he had an electronic bible one of them a little bible that uh put out several years ago and has a concordance and any word you want to look up they could look it up and he sat there that whole ball game he missed the ball game trying to find that scripture that said tongues is the least gift well let me tell you this um if tongues was the least gift i wanted do you is that would that be any indication that that you shouldn't desire it now going back to my book tongues as well as other good gifts of god have been misused and abused the apostle paul in first corinthians chapter 12 very clearly describes the nine spiritual gifts now it's always been called the nine spiritual gifts but i i've never found in the bible where it just simply says nine spiritually if you you you kill them off and you come up with nine but every gift of god is a special gift so but that's commonly there's a common term the nine spiritual gifts in uh chapter 13 paul's discourse on charity has no equal in the annals of literature in chapter 14 he's dealing mainly with the misuse of spiritual gifts verse 19 of first corinthians 14 the most quoted of those opposing tongues says yet quote yet in the church i had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice i might teach others also than ten thousand words in an unknown time well still don't set the least of gifts he said yet in the church i would rather speak five words with my understanding than 10 000 and another tongue now as much as i love the uh the uh spanish language now i just love to hear and we're we're getting to interact uh a lot with the hispanic uh people and and we're interacting with them and i loved i wish i could talk that way i could say that but if i got up here and now pastors preached in many places and and they have an interpreter that interprets what you have to slow down you have to use it a sentence or two at a time and then somebody now you wouldn't want to come out here and listen to me speak in spanish uh every service and you wouldn't know what i was saying so this is what paul is saying i'd rather speak five words with an understanding than 10 000 with a language you couldn't understand that by my voice i might teach others also than 10 000 words in an unknown tongue now keep that term unknown tongue in mind because i'm going to deal with that unknown tongue is a is a trap for a lot of folks if one reads verse 18 in which paul says i thank my god now listen to this if you read verse 18 which paul says i thank my god i speak with tongues more than you all did you hear that paul said i the same man that said i'd rather speak five words with an understanding than ten thousand an unknown tongue said i thank my god i speak with tongues more than ye all it's easy to understand he's not speaking against tongues as a matter of fact in verse 39 he gives this admonition brethren covet to prophesy and forbid not to speak with tongues you hear that now you uh you might ought to be writing these scriptures down or i buy my book and we're going to have more printed right away and have plenty to go around with we still have some brother blevins i had a bunch printed and we're going to make them more readily available to you at a very very nominal field we're not settled to try to make any money on what whatever it costs to have them printed of course wherefore brother covered to prophesy and forbid not now see you need to remember this because uh you know you're not going around picking arguments with folks you used to we did a lot more than we do now we i think we've learned better but uh you need to be able the bible said to give an answer for the hope that's within you and study to show thyself prove it unto god or work with the united not to be ashamed so you and i need to be versed in what we believe because you you are going to run into somebody that's uh pretty well studied in uh another doctrine that's actually a false doctrine and you need to be able to give an answer for that hope that's within you in chapter 14 verse 31 paul is teaching the people to prophesy one at a time dealing with divine discernment in verse 30 he says if anything be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his peace paul has no more condemnation or is no more condemning tongues than it was condemning prophecy charity or any other gift he was simply putting every gift in perspective now uh many of you folks do not remember these days and maybe never was in it but years ago uh every service we had testimony meeting and we'd say brother uh brother jones come on he's gonna lead testimony meeting and he would get up and give his testimonies anybody want to give a testimony and a lot of times you'd be a law come on somebody sorry don't somebody want to say something sometimes you have to beg them to testify and then sometimes uh they would start popping up and testify uh and sometimes that be two or three on the floor testifying at the same time and you you couldn't understand what any of them were saying but they was they was blasting away with with what what they said and what they wanted to testify about and then with the the the lack of teaching sometimes they would use that to get at somebody else you know they would they actually they'd get out of the out of the spirit and uh so you understand what used to be how the lord's brought us and we we we no longer let just open up the service for anybody want to talk talk because that's out of order because you never know what somebody's going to say and i've heard them get up and get give a testimony actually getting at somebody else in the congregation because the devil uses every method he won't he can come up with to cause division god is not the author of confusion so you're getting a little education about some things that you maybe don't need education on but you can just say thank god that we're not doing some things the way the way we used to all right um where are we now the next negative or less important prophecy verse 5 is used to substantiate the contention let us allow the holy spirit the liberty of self-analysis i would that you all speak with tongues but rather than to prophesy please note the colon punctuation indicating do not stop reading this is an incomplete sentence so let us continue quote for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues now if we stop right there that sounds like tongues is of little importance but now let's read it again and listen to me there's a there's a punctuation please note the colon i would that you all spray with tongues but rather that you prophesied colon please note the colon punctuation indicating do not stop reading this is an incomplete sentence so let us continue quote for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues except he interpret tongues minus interpretation equals less than prophecy tongues plus interpretation equals the same as prophecy this verse presents a problem for those who contend the tongues were only to enable the early church to preach in foreign languages as a missionary mode if someone must interpret it it is not being understood by those to whom it is being interpreted now don't let that fly by you now that statement because there are some that contend that the only reason the early church the new testament church spoke in tongues was to preach to people of other languages you could go to russia you could go to bolivia you could go to mexico wherever and you could speak their language and that was the holy ghost speaking no notice the problem for those who contend that tongues were only to enable the early church to preach in foreign languages as a missionary mode if something must be interpreted it's not being understood by those to whom it is being interpreted do you get the point uh it said uh if you speak in tongues let one interpret well if you're speaking in english somebody don't have to interpret that to me there are two distinct types of tongues in the bible one is the evidential tongues which is spoken when one receives the baptism of the holy ghost that is evidence of the of the holy ghost i quote and it's my personal opinion that god chose the tongue the un manageable member of the body and you said you a a large ship is guided about with a small helm an animal is going with bits but the tongue no man can tame the bible said uh he that uh uh seems to be religious and brother not his tongue the bible said he deceives himself in his religion his name so the tongue was used as an evidence that that person had been filled with the holy ghost and now then the holy ghost has taken control of the untamable memory this tongue may be a language foreign to the person speaking but could be understood by other natives to the dialect such was the case on the day of pentecost when men of every nation heard the 120 jews speak in the native language of every person present this phenomenal manifestation has led many to believe that this experience was for the purpose of evangelizing foreign countries however the bible does not record any such use of this gift of this purple for this purpose to my knowledge the bible does not show that anywhere that it was used just to preach to another country of another dialect the next type of tongues the bible teaches is a tongue of edification no man understands this tongue all right listen no man understands this time first corinthians 14 and 2 says howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries this tongue is spoken openly in a church service if this tongue is spoken openly in a church service it must be interpreted if there is no interpreter after such a message is given the person is instructed to keep silent and to speak to himself and to god this means not to dominate a service with uninterpreted messages this seems to have been a problem in the corinthian church people were postulating an exalted position on the strength of being able to speak in an unintelligible language the apostle paul condemned this attitude and gave strict guidelines requiring coherency and all public speaking this is why he put more value on five understandable words than ten thousand words uninterpreted paul concludes the matter thusly wherefore quote wherefore brethren covet to prophesy and forbid not to speak with tongues let all things perform that all things be done decently and in order first corinthians 14 39 through 40. let's see where are we we're 8 41. we'll stop right there next time we'll be taking up the godhead would you stand your feet with us please be sure and take a stroll through and take a look at the display and then i'll be here tomorrow evening for the service the children have worked so diligently and it's it's absolutely amazing to see what they put together father we thank you tonight for this service we thank you for the precious word of god i pray lord that you will let our minds be opened may we understand clearly not for the purpose of argument but for the purpose of of understanding and knowing the the great truth the simple questions concerning this great apostolic doctrine may we be able to present it in a lovely christian attitude and and and show our love by teaching the truth of the word of god dismiss us from this place but not from the presence of the lord in the name of jesus we pray amen and amen shake hands and be friendly you're dismissed and jesus get a lot of the hand clap before you close all right