This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right. Let's talk the truth. I can't hide it.
I can hold it. A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you what. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind.
And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Welcome to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to be with you. I had a couple of weeks off dealing with some medical things, and I'm glad to be back.
In the saddle, so to speak.
Well, actually, literally, we've been moving some cattle. Out here in Montana. And it's that time of year when we start doing some summer grazing.
So we've got that going on as well. And I'm glad to be with you. Truth Talk Live 866. thirty four TRUTH if you want to be on the program eight six six three four eight Seventy eight. 84 now.
Sunday We all know Monday is Memorial Day. But do you know what Sunday is? Do you know what this Sunday is? This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. How many of you all Observe that?
or or dial into what that means and What it's about. Pentecost Sunday. What is that?
Well, for many Christians, it's one of those days in the church calendar that we we recognize by name But May not fully understand. We understand Christmas, of course, and Easter. But what about Pentecost? What happened there, and why does it matter? We think of Pentecost, we think of the second chapter of Acts.
Which, by the way, was a great group. Back in the 70s, I don't know that they still perform much, but every now and then you'll see.
some of them, but if you don't know who they are, please look them up. They are wonderful. But the word Pentecost uh comes from a Greek word meaning fiftieth. Enter, like five. And it took place fifty days after Passover.
Long before it became associated with the New Testament church. It was a Jewish feast. It was the feast of weeks.
Now, how many weeks do you think it would be? after Passover. If it's penta cost, How many weeks do you think it would be?
Well, it's Seven. It's seven weeks, forty nine days, and it's the fiftieth day. A festival that's commanded in the Old Testament. And Jews from all over the known world traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate it.
Okay, now why is again this is important.
Well, a lot of people there from all over the world. Right after Jesus ascended.
Okay, we have Ascension Day. We don't often celebrate that. But that happened. And then they were Jesus told them to go wait in the upper room. And then the Holy Spirit fell on them.
And then this is what happened. We kind of know that story. After Christ's death and resurrection and ascension, they gather together. And the Holy Spirit came upon them with the sound of a A mighty rushing wind. I remember that book that came out back in the 70s.
and tongues of fire appeared over them, and they began speaking in language they had never learned, languages the people in Jerusalem could actually understand, because they were coming from all over the world. And this wasn't chaos for chaos' sakes. It was an emotional theater. This was God announcing the gospel. to the nations.
And RC Sproll used to, you hear a lot of his. messages here um on this Show this network. uh in the commercial breaks He used to point out that Pentecost was in many ways a reversal. Of the Tower of Babel. You remember what happened at the Tower of Babel?
The languages were confused because of man's rebellion, but at Pentecost, the gospel was proclaimed across languages because of God's redemption. A lot different. Why does this matter to us today?
Well, it marks the birth of the New Testament church. It marks the public proclamation that Christ reigns, that the Holy Spirit indwells believers. and that the Gospel is not confined to one tribe, one ethnicity, Or one nation. It's the Spirit of God empowering ordinary people to proclaim an extraordinary. Message which comes all the way down to even this network.
this show to day. Just ordinary people. With that in mind I want to pivot to something a friend recently asked me. He called me up. And this guy is a wo wonderful friend.
He's a Not necessarily a new believer, but he's a new growing believer. You know, sometimes people spend their lives. you know, they've been in church, they've been believers, and all of a sudden something clicks. Maybe that happened with you. When they want to start knowing everything about Scripture, happy with me.
I'd grown up in the church, been around all this, and then there was a point in my life where things just clicked. And I said, I got to know more. I got to know more. I got to know more. You ever had that happen to you?
Well you're just you the only way to describe it is you you're just thirsty. You are just thirsty for more, and you've got to learn the things of God. And that's what this guy is right now. He's just, it's really amazing to watch. He called me up and he said, he asked a question.
Um He said, What do you think about speaking in tongues?
Well, I gotta admit I wasn't really thinking about it at all. I wasn't kind of there at the moment. I mean, I've been back and forth with some stuff with a new cancer diagnosis that I've been dealing with. We're going to get it treated. It's going to be.
Okay, and we're going to get through it, and we got a plan. I start treatment on. on um June 4th. But I I I when he called me up I really wasn't thinking about speaking in tongues. What do you think about it?
Before I get too much further in this and what we talked about. Let me ask you, what do you think about it?
Okay, what are your thoughts? When you hear that, when somebody's talking about speaking in tongues and so forth, Do you have an opinion on this? Is this something you have a lot of experience with? Is this something that you do? Is this something that you feel is confined to.
The New Testament church, I mean, the first century church, and the secessionist, I guess is what the word is. Um you know Every Pentecost season, sometimes this conversation comes back around, and some churches really emphasize this heavily. Others avoid the topic entirely.
Some people have Been deeply encouraged by the discussions of spiritual gifts, and others have been wounded or manipulated. Maybe you've had that experience. eight six six thirty four truth eight six six three four eight seventy eight, eighty four, and I will tell you what I told this fellow. I said, well, the First thing. I I said, I what I think about this.
is that Does it identify the body? Does it edify the church? How many of you all have seen this particular thing displayed in ways that It almost seems incoherent. It seems like babbling. It seems like they're just saying things that don't make any sense.
And we never find out anything different than that. And you've seen this a lot in TV, Preacher sometimes, and you see a lot of different. folks that are You know Get out there and praying, or sometimes you've been. I've been around them when they come up and they start praying and they start, you know, kind of jerking, you know, oh, and then they start doing all this kind of stuff. You ever seen that happen?
Does that happen with you? Do you see people that do this? And um and I get to go back to what Paul said. And I do see the phones are lighting up, and we're going to get to that in the next segment here because we're going to hit a break here. But I want to hear from you on this: 866-866666666666 thirty four TRUTH eight six six three four eight seventy eight eighty four.
Were you taught about Pentecost growing up. What do you believe? the role of these spiritual gifts are today. What are the spiritual gifts? How do we keep the focus where Scripture keeps it on Christ Himself?
Sometimes I've noticed that. with folks that it becomes incredibly self centered when they do certain things, and it can be a bit off putting. Maybe you have not had that experience. I have seen that, and I have experienced that many times when I've watched it. I've thought.
Really? And I'll give you a story. It wasn't my finest spiritual moment, but I used to play the piano at a church. in Nashville was a kind of a quasi charismatic church. They they they weren't jumping off the pews or anything, but they were they were pretty much there.
And it seems like every time we had a an emotional song, Somebody in the In the sanctuary, the choir loft was in the back of the church, and somebody in the sanctuary would start blathering forth. in some kind of unknown tongue. And then It was the same lady, and another lady had the same interpretation every time, and it seemed a little bit. Performative. We'll talk about that when we come back.
This is Peter Rosenberg. This is Truth Talk Live. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live.
This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to be with you. If you want to be a part of the program, 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-6. 78.84. We're talking about one of the.
More Controversial topics in the church, which is speaking in tongues. What does that even mean? Is it a private prayer language? Therefore, should remain private? Is it something just to be displayed out in public?
Is it something people just lapse into when they're praying? What are your thoughts on this? And what is the, more importantly, What does scripture teach on this, and how are we to conduct ourselves as we approach Pentecost Sunday, which is this Sunday? And we think about this very important day in the church when the Holy Spirit fell on the apostles and the gospel was proclaimed that day to all these different people with different languages. Kind of a reversal, as Spurl said, of the Tower of Babel in order to proclaim the gospel.
And that was the the purpose of it, to speak in other people's languages. But what has it become today? There's some people say you can't be saved unless you speak in tongues. Do you agree with that? Uh Bucksman.
Dayton, Ohio. Buxman, good afternoon. Welcome to the program. Uh what do you know? Oh, well, well, I want to know the sufferings of Christ, Peter.
I want to live my life accordingly, to where I'm treated just the way Christ was in the first century. But I know that's not what you was asking, brother. But that's how delved in the word I am.
Well, that's what you want to know. What do you know today? Correct. What do I know today? Excellent.
Differentiation according to the topic that you have at hand, sir. Providence. You hit it right. Peter, we got to ask the audience. for the working definition.
to this conversation. Because tongs could be uh meat in a deli. A beef tongue. It could be the apparatus that we use to form our vowels and sentences, our tongue. Or is it a language?
And We have to have a working definition. It's funny that you bring this up, Brother Peter, because I just had a conversation with a woman. Who is Pentecostal? That's her form of denomination. There's one close to where I live.
She and her husband belonged to it, and she said, Buskman, I talk like this, I could talk like this all day long, but I don't. And I said, Why don't you? And she said, because it's just not appropriate. And it got into a conversation of when is it appropriate. And what she was referring to.
Peter, what's this? Iotahonda. I actually do own a Honda. But if you say it fast enough, It sounds like some kind of Uh sound that comes out of people's mouths. on Sunday mornings, in certain churches And only those churches and not other churches who represent the body of Christ on the planet.
So If it is something. That should be happening within the entire body of Christ, all denominations combined. Why is it not happening in the other denominations? That's what I asked this woman. I said, so if you can do this all day long, he says, but you refrain, I want to know why I.
Also, a member of the body of Christ, do not. And so we got into these conversations. And I was able to parse her back to the word of God. That should always be our starting point, our compass, the north point star. Is the word of God.
And when I showed her throughout all scripture. That tongues meant languages. Which are Speeches. English, German, French. Spanish, Latin, Greek, these are all human languages that can be used to transfer information.
From our mouth. and heart to someone Else is Brain and heart to understand what I am trying to communicate for that person to know and/or do. When I say I have a honda. I own a hundred. And then I elaborate on that using the same types of vowels and rolls and tongue moves of mine.
By the way, for the audience. You can understand me. For the audience. Hang on, Bucksman. For the audience.
What Bucks was referring to is an old joke when you and I don't mean it to be Sacrilegious, but there's an old joke that says: if you say she's writing on a Honda, tie my tie, and you say it real fast, you sound like you're speaking in tongues. She's riding on Hana Tamata. That's what that's the old joke Bucksman's referring to. It is. And I've heard that many times.
And people use that as to say, you're just saying gibberish. I'm curious though when she said I could do this all day, but it's not appropriate. And my question would always be, well, why wouldn't it be appropriate? That's what I asked her. And she couldn't respond because she didn't have a biblical answer.
And I always told her, I said, ma'am, I said, you have to speak the Bible to me. I filter everything. That's what refers me back to my opening statement to you, Peter. I want to be Christ.
So I have challenged myself to know the word of God so well that I have the mind of Christ, as Paul said. And when she couldn't come up with a biblical answer, I knew I had the chess game one, Peter. I said So let me get this straight. If I have the Holy Spirit of God in me, it was once in Christ and it got delivered up at the cross in the first century, and then it came back down in Acts 2 and given unto us. Freely on the day of Pentecost, which is what we will celebrate.
I said, how come I'm not? And I want to ask you this, ma'am, I said. Did Jesus rule his tongue like that and say, I want a Honda? I drove a Honda. And if you can show me that in scripture.
Uh, ma'am, then I'll believe that what you guys do in your church on Sundays and only Sundays. And only for that hour and a half that you're in there, because I don't hear you At the restaurant or at Walmart after you leave church on Sunday, doing that.
So why is it contained to only that hour and a half? In that particular building on that particular day of week. And then otherwise, I never know. I've never heard that I want a Honda from you. How did she?
She was she was floored. She couldn't answer, Peter. And that's when she said, well, I can do it all day long.
Well, back. Back up just a hair. Was she crushed? Was she willing to learn? Was she willing to grow?
Or did she just walk away dismayed? No. No, she was not. She was not, and that's when I had to pull the Eve card on her. I said, listen.
You need to read 1 Corinthians 14, Romans 14. You need to read a couple other scriptures. I said, don't be Eve now, because now you're usurping. The teaching of male to female. It's supposed to be man teaching women, not women teaching God.
And we got into those waters, Peter.
So I had to rebuke my sisters. And say, listen, go to God our Father, read this information in the chapters I prescribed to you, and then come back and let's talk again. How did she respond to that? She didn't give me any, it's America, Peter.
Well, I can do whatever I want. It's why people go to different churches when they get offended, sir. Sh I don't you know, we we dropped it. She didn't want to contend anymore. I was correctly wielding the sword and this woman was not.
And that's one thing I would like to say is women I don't think we are built to wield the sword. We are logical. Males are logical. Let's back up. Bucksman, Buxman, hold on.
Take a break. Take a break. Take a break. Don't bring your opinion into it as far as that goes.
Well, that's your opinion. You can. But what does scripture say about women? Because when you say, when you say, I don't think women are built with logic, that's a pretty harsh statement. I said we are more logical.
They got logic, Peter, but they allow the emotional system to get in a little bit more. And we've seen that, if we would be honest, we see that in our own marriages. I hear what you're saying. I hear what you're saying. Thank you.
That's all I'm saying. I would stay in the place of scripture and be very, I would walk softly in the dead, sir. I was very soft. You got to speak firm. You got to speak firm because some women are so bold enough that they will become pastors over men.
Well, I understand but you still walk you walk softly. What means Peter God did? It means that sometimes we wield the scriptures as a sledgehammer. As opposed to the sword. And she was impacted, just like an incisor on a cancer cell on your body.
It's paying for it. I appreciate the comments on there, Bucksman. I really do. Thanks for sharing that. We're going to talk some more about this when we come back.
866-34-TRUTH. This is Peter Rosenberger. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live.
This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to be with you. If you want to be a part of the program, 866-34-TRUTH, 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348. 78, 84. And we're talking about Pentecost Sunday and the coming of the Holy Spirit on the early church.
And more specifically on speaking in tongues. And sometimes these things can become very passionate. And what I want to be always very careful. with my uh the way I approach this with folks is to be respectful to half of the image bearers in this world, which are women. But at the same time, recognize here's what scripture teaches.
And You know, we we can be uh when I said to uh the last caller, I said walk.
softly. Doesn't mean you have to dial back a message or you have to compromise your message. Just walk softly. Because remember, the whole point of this is to bring in submission to Christ, not submission into me. Submission into Christ.
Into the word of God. And so, those are the thoughts I want to have on this.
Now, this particular thing has. cost a lot of people Uh uh a lot of Challenges. And I've known You know, so many different people from different walks of life who have approached this from all kinds of different ways over the years. And I've seen this, and I've seen incredibly. As the last call referenced, I've seen logic-driven women.
who make men, so many other men, look foolish and all over the map, and I've seen vice versa and everything else. And I don't paint with a broad brush on that. I look very carefully at are we conforming to the character of Christ. Are we coming in like a sledgehammer? Are we coming in?
with with humility. Just like he did with us. He condescended to us. Are we willing to do the same? Bruce in Greensboro, North Carolina, Bruce.
Welcome to the program. What do you know? I think in my studies, I learned that speaking in tongues is supposed to be the language that God uses. on Judgment Day to communicate with all the ethnic races. Where did you learn that?
Out of the Bible. Can you source it? I studied with Arnold Murray. I knocked right off. I'm driving right now.
Oh, don't try to source it while you're driving. I'd be curious to know where he gets that. I want to find that out. I've studied with Arnold Murray. I don't know if you understand who he is or not.
He's a language scholar, and he knows every little language, and he's a. He's a preacher of the Grabit, Arkansas Church. And uh he's on twenty four seven. He's an old silver-haired man, but he is one of the smartest individuals I've ever. Study behind.
And so that's your thought is that from what he's telling you, from what you're understanding from his teaching, that the gift of tongues is what Christ is going to use when he returns back and speaks to everybody at the same time, at the same way. Oh, judgment day, yes, so everybody will understand. Will that be the okay? I hear what you're saying. I'm trying to wrap my mind around where I saw that in scripture, but I don't, nothing comes to mind off the top of my head.
I I I think it's more like Can't tell you where I got that from, but he reads out of the Bible word for word. He don't give you a kid, just That's how he teaches. And he uses exhaustive strongest concordance. And what's his name? Arnold Murray.
Arnold Murray. And well, I'll have to check that out. Check him out, man. He's great.
Well, what else did you want to add to that particular conversation? That would be it. That man was pretty much on cube, the last guy, but I mean. He got little parpettes there at the end, but he he had it pretty close, I think. That guy is a preacher at the Shepherd's Chapel.
Church and Grabbit, Arkansas. That's how you look 'em up.
Okay. He teaches he teaches from the Bible, word for word. All right, well I was strong's exhaustive concordance.
Okay. Well, that's I appreciate you sharing that very much, Bruce, and appreciate the Appreciate the call. I think. We're talking about The gift of speaking in tongues. And as you can see, it generates a lot of different thoughts to it.
And it's I go back again to scripture. What is scripture? Teach what is the purpose of this now. This last caller said that this other fellow said that. This is what the purpose is.
Um I I go back to some things that Paul said. And and he said, again, first off, are we 1 Corinthians 13.1. Maybe you know this one. If I speak in tongues in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I'm a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. What do you think that means?
What do you think that speaks to. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love. I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. Do you know people that do that? Do you know people that come across as a noisy gong or clanging cymbal.
Because they're doing it with harshness. Do you do that? I have to examine myself on this thing. and sometimes I think it's best if I just put my hand over my mouth. I think I speak better when I'm at the piano than I do.
When I'm at the microphone, with music, I can safely stay in the right lane with music. But the fruit of the Spirit, not the gifts of the Spirit, but the fruit of the Spirit. is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.
Now One of the things I've heard about the fruit of the Spirit, whereas the gifts of the Spirit are not necessarily manifest in every person, all the gifts. But the fruit of the Spirit is not meant to be, okay, I'm going to focus on this particular fruit. That love, that joy, that peace, that patience, that kindness, that goodness, that faithfulness, that gentleness, that self-control should be evident across the board. It's not like, okay, I'm going to just pick. Deloness.
but I'm not going to have any self-control. That's not what that means. But the gifts of the Spirit come in a little bit differently because not everybody has this. And Paul, you know, he asked that. He asked, you know, does everybody have an apostle?
Is is everybody a teacher? And and you know he he's asking of course a Um a rhetorical question there. You know, are we all this way? Does everybody you know do this? And the answer, of course, Uh when you ask a rhetorical question like that, Paul, the answer is no.
Are all apostles? That's by the way, that's 1 Corinthians 12, 29 through 30. Are all apostles? are all prophets, are all teachers, do all work miracles. Do all possess gifts of healing?
Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
Well, so how should we understand that? And then The purpose of the spiritual gifts According to Paul in 1 Corinthians 12, 7, To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the what? For the common good.
So with the body. For the common good of of what? of the body. And What does he give for the instructions? inside the church service.
If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two. or at most three, and in each turn let someone interpret, but if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.
Well Why do you think Paul said that? I mean, he's under the superintendence of the Holy Spirit, but why do you think he said that? You know, what was driving that particular issue? What does Scripture say that should characterize our worship? For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.
1 Corinthians 14, 33. If you look at Babel. If Sproll is right, and you see Pentecost being the kind of the reverse of Babel. And you look at Babel, what happened? There was an enormous amount of confusion.
But if you look at Pentecost, There's clarity because they're all hearing now the gospel in their own language. It's an extraordinary event. that that happened. I I I remember when, like I said, when I was in the first block, when I was talking about playing at this service. And it was always after we did a certain song A certain type of song, and it was evidently an emotional song or worship song, whatever.
And then this one lady would always... Speak forth and quote unquote tongues. I'm not saying she did, I'm not saying she didn't. I'm just simply saying that's what the the vernacular to call it is. And and then The other lady would always have the interpretation, and it always started off the same way.
She would always have this affected voice that would say, My children, you know, that kind of thing. And I've just looked at this with a lot of skepticism.
Now, I'm going to freely admit what I'm about to tell y'all was not my finest spiritual moment, all right? The gift of sarcasm is not listed on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And even though Elijah did wield sarcasm very well on Mount Carmel. But I looked over at a fellow keyboard player, and we're in the back of the church, up at the choir, off in the back. And I said, well, we must have played that well.
We got a word today.
Well, that was not very helpful. That was not very edifying. And I thought it was being clever, but in the reality I probably should have just Exited and said, Look, I'm not going to participate. If I can't be a part of sincere worship, then I need to exit out of that. And eventually I did.
But I always was left with this impression that there was a lot of affectation going on. A lot of flesh, a lot of things that should have been called down. And I was young, and I didn't know a lot of things. Over the years, I've seen this. And I I've watched This plays out in different ways.
You see the services where somebody's getting real emotional preaching, and then all of a sudden they just start, you know, with all kinds of. And it sounds like the same thing for all of them. And You can think, okay, is this is this really edifying the body? Or is this just kind of an emotional experience here? Is this Focused on self, or is this focused on communicating the gospel to people?
And here's what I've noticed: just my observation. You may have had something different. 866-34-TRUTH, if you have 866. three four eight seventy eight eighty four. When people would come into our hospital room.
In the ICU And We spent a lot of time there, and they would pray. I could always tell in the first couple of minutes. kind of where they stood. biblically. If they knew their Bible, If they were going to come in like a gunslinger and throw a lot of, you know.
Spiritual dust in the air and You know, get all excited and all that kind of stuff, and they would have some kind of word from the Lord and things like that. I could usually tell that in a couple of minutes. And the first visit's pretty easy. You, you can, anybody can get through the first visit to somebody in the ICU. But it's around the tenth visit.
Where you start seeing where theology gets laid bare, what they really believe. And people come in by that time. and they're dealing with the things that see in what we're dealing with. They usually don't speak in any kind of foreign tongue or gibberish or anything else. They usually just cry.
and say, Lord, have mercy. That's a different kind of prayer, isn't it? And I'll tell you about the one that really grabbed me when we come back. 866-34-TRUTH. This is Truth Talk Live.
You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live. This is Peter Rosenberger, 866-34 Truth, 866-348-7884. 1 Corinthians 14, 2 For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God for no one understands him but he who but he utters mysteries in the spirit. 1 Corinthians 14, 28.
But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church, and speak to himself and to God. We're talking about speaking in tongues. A friend of mine called me up and asked me what I thought about it, and Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, so I thought I'd.
Okay. Pose it to you all. As you can see, we get a wide variety of responses here. And then you've got some people that convert, I mean, that conflate the two things. One is speaking in tongues, and the other is a private prayer language.
Are they separate things? Are they separate gifts? And it seems there seems to be You know, the distinction many Christians make is that a prayer language is a private devotion directed to God. Public tongues is spoken In the church gathering, therefore, requiring interpretation for the edification of others. And so That's when the first thing I said to the friend of mine that called me, I said, well You know, is is it edifying the body?
And if there's no one there to interpret, Then I think we're very clear on what Paul said. You keep it private, you keep it quiet. Mike in Dayton, Ohio. Mike. What do you know today?
I'm doing fine. Um Well, I didn't ask you how you're doing. I said, what do you know, Mike? What do you know, Mike? What do I know, y'all?
I'm doing fine, but I know I don't. I know. I don't know a lot about this subject. I was raised a Baptist, raised a Pentecost. I was raised a lot of it.
Um Does it really Does it really I really don't know. If it's the Uh End all of fix all. As a Christian. I really don't believe that. A lot of people think it's required to be saved.
You have to be able to speak in tongues.
Well, I don't believe that. I don't see it. I don't know if there's a scripture that supports that. off my top of my head. Um Uh that's where we need to go to.
I really believe that we need. I love what you're saying about 1 Corinthians. It's all throughout 1 Corinthians tells you. uh what is what tongues is for and what tongues is not for. Um You know, it doesn't really matter to a Christian believer.
If I think it's mostly for a Christian believer to Um Jeez. To edify himself more and getting closer to God more than. edifying others or or unbelievers. I don't think that's supposed to be used in that in that direction.
Well, here's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14, 26. Let all things done for building up Building up, edifying the body. Not just edifying myself. There's plenty of people out there that are building themselves up, but it's building up. How does this if you're in a if you're in a worship service You know, when somebody starts doing all this kind of stuff, but there's no interpretation, what are they accomplishing at that point?
They didn't accomplish anything.
Well, they did accomplish something. They accomplished confusion and dissension. Um, but they didn't accomplish anything positive, you know. I think faithful Christians differ on whether scripture teaches there's a distinct private prayer language. But I think we could all agree from based on what Paul is saying that his central concern was the edification of the church, orderly worship, and the exaltation.
of Christ. Period. Are we exalting Christ? Because we go back to the Westminster Confession of Faith, the shorter catechism, number one. What is the chief end of man?
To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
So, our purpose is not to build up ourselves, it's to glorify God. Does this glorify God? Or is this puffing people up? My father used to have a great quote. He would say: When people focus on all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, they puff up.
When they get bogged down in doctrinal arguments, they dry up. But when they get a balance of both, they grow up. I love that. I know that was a pretty good statement to live by.
Sometimes we get kind of puffed up, or sometimes we get dried up. But God is interested in us growing up. Paul said that we moved from drinking milk to eating meat. And that's the point, I believe, of all this from what Paul is saying here. But anyway, go ahead.
Sorry, Mike. No, no, you're great. Um Uh I really, you know It's you're right. Uh it's about you know Following Christ is humbling yourself. And If you're humbling yourself.
When is it appropriate to speak in tongues? when you're edifying other people, not yourself as much. In in a group setting. Uh oh. getting in into your prayer life I think it might it might give you more Uh more um belief or more In tune with God?
And and and that part of it. Um But I think God God wants us to deny ourselves and and go in his direction. in whatever direction that is. And sometimes I've seen speaking in tongues in my lifetime done the right way. And it's very rarely I've seen it done right.
And when it done right, And then and when it's When it's God doing it. It's unbelievably Humbly. Um And Uh That's just my experience. Um But when it's done wrong, it's unbelievably done. It's just.
disedifying. It's just like Somebody shut them up. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? I hate to say that.
I will tell you, I told you before the break that I would tell you the most effective prayer language moment I've ever seen. It's the most effective one I've ever seen. I've never seen anything like it since. Never seen anything before it, and never seen anything like it since. And You know, I don't know if it's a prayer language that, you know, the difference between Prayer language and speaking in tongues, sometimes the spirit groans.
In words that we can't even groaning, we can't even process what the Spirit is groaning on our behalf. To me, that would seem like a prayer language, that the Spirit. himself uses according to scripture. But I can tell you this Because Many, many years ago. Over thirty years ago, I was standing in the hallway outside.
Post up. And bringing my wife. out of surgery. Four years prior she had given up her right leg, and it had healed up. and now she had to give up her left leg.
And so she is now A brand new double amputee. And I saw the gurney coming out, and I saw all the drain tubes and that kind of stuff, and what remained of. of her left leg and of course I've been used to her being an amputee by that time. And they're taking her to intense care. Uh Post op.
And in the She's still somewhat sedated. I don't know how lucid she was at the moment. But she raised her hands. And on that guerney, and I was there, I watched it happen. There were nurses there that could testify to it, too.
She started singing Praise God from whom all blessings flow And she started singing the doxology. After becoming a double amputee.
Now that's a prayer language you don't hear very often. And I watched that happen. Let me tell you something, that was about as holy a moment as I've ever seen. And it was a sacred moment, and I didn't want to do anything to interrupt it. I didn't need any interpretation.
Nobody else did either. We saw something remarkable that happens when somebody was literally praying in the spirit, and I'm not even s sure she was awake enough. She just did it. And she gave thanks to God. After becoming a double amputee, she praised him.
And I've heard over the years that. Good theology. Always leads. to a doxology. You see this in Paul when he's going along in Scripture writing these things, and all of a sudden he just erupts in these doxology praises.
Because he can't contain it. And I think this is what I look for in anyone, whether it's a Prayer language, and if it's a private prayer language, keep it private. If it's a public edification for the body and you're speaking in tongues and there's no interpretation, well, then you need to submit that to scripture. But I'm always looking for, are you here to glorify God? Is this glorifying God?
and furthering the kingdom. Because if it's just edifying me or it's making me feel better, edifying really is not the right word. If it just makes me feel better, if it's doing something that scratches an itch for me, That I've got it all wrong. And Gracie certainly didn't feel better when she was on that gurney. But she had She was not in tune at all with the fact that her legs were gone.
She was more thinking about praising God. Period. End of discussion, full stop. Right there. And then that's the prayer language.
I aspire to. Not there, he had. Last word, Mike. Yeah, me too. Being obedient to God is where I think is the most is is the most most cr way you can be a Christian.
Well, that's the currency of the kingdom of heaven, is obedience. Yeah, and this is where the Word of God Trumps everything. Good word there, Mike. Thank you for that call. Thank you for that closing word there.
And that is, probably. Truth, talk. Liath. This is Peter Rosenberger. PeterRosenberger.com.
We'll see you next time.
