August 5 – Gifts of Tongues and Prophecy – 1 Corinthians 14
I Corinthians 14 emphasizes the importance of edifying the church. A great misunderstanding of the scriptures from our Pentecostal friends is that they do not agree with the Bible as to what speaking in tongues really meant. Paul stated in I Corinthians 12:10 that it was a gift of the Holy Spirit to speak in “divers kinds of tongues” or existing human languages. Paul was able to speak a different language without previously studying or learning the language. During this time, many Christians were focused on speaking in tongues, because, as the scripture states, this only edified or glorified the one speaking when the congregation did not understand the language. Our teaching and preaching is not edifying to the church if nobody understands what we are saying. Verse 19 emphasizes the importance of 5 edifying, understandable words over 10,000 words in an unknown tongue. Verse 23 defines many church services without the desired results of verse 25. It is important to take the Bible for what it says and follow scripture, instead of, following feelings, emotions, and self edifying. Let’s have a desire to glorify God and ultimately Please Him!
