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Tongues for Public Ministry
Not every believer will give a message in tongues in a public setting, but only those who the Holy Spirit will decide to use. Tongues in public ministry isn't to be confused with Tongues as a prayer language for edification which is for every believer. In a public setting, if a message is given in an unknown tongue, an interpretation is to be expected.
However, there are those rare settings in which a message in an unknown tongue may not need to be interpreted as it may be directed towards an individual present who knows that language. The day of Pentecost is a case in point.
Personally I've experienced this to some degree, years ago as we (a good friend of mine and myself) ministered in a remote rural area, praying for people to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, we were amazed to hear a teenage girl of about 15 or 16 praise God is perfect English complete with a Southern twang (an American accent) . After the service we asked her where she went to school and learned to speak English like that and guess what…she’d never been to school her whole life, couldn't read nor write and didn't understand a word she had spoken in tongues, she couldn't speak a word of English, so there…
I've also been in a meeting where a message was given in tongues in a language that no one understood but one person who jumped up in shock and shouted, “that’s ki-Maasai, that message is for me”. We later learned that the message was in the Maasai language and the man who jumped up was the only Maasai in that meeting and that message spoke directly to his situation, He got Born Again following that direct message in tongues. The speaker was not a member of the Maasai tribe, obviously.
Again, these are rare occurrence, as a general rule messages in tongues are to be interpreted to benefit the hearers. If there’s one thing I've learned it’s this – when the rubber meets the road, your theology gets adjusted pretty quickly!
More on the Gift of Interpretation of Tongues...
The Gift of Interpretation of Tongues
This Gift almost always accompanies the Gift of Tongues in public and even in private worship settings. This gift is the supernatural ability originating from the Holy Spirit that enables one to interpret a language they have never learned.Notice one thing: this Gift is NOT Translation BUT Interpretation of Tongues. It is not a word for word translation but an interpretation of what was spoken in tongues. Therefore the interpretation may be a one liner or a few paragraphs.
This gift makes it possible for the church to be edified from a message delivered in an unknown tongue. The Apostle Paul encourages believers who give messages in tongues to pray for this gift as well.
9 So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air. 10 Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. 11 If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker is a foreigner to me. 12 So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.13 For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say – 1 Corinthians 14:9-13 NIV
As members of the Body of Christ, we each have different functions and so when we come together, each one of us functions as we are uniquely graced and gifted to. It is in this context that the phrases “not all speak in tongues” and “not all interpret tongues” fit in. It is incorrect to take this verse to mean that not everyone filled with the Spirit can pray in tongues.
29 Not all are apostles. Not all are prophets. Not all are teachers. Not all do miracles. 30 Not all have gifts of healing. Not all speak in different kinds of languages. Not all interpret those languages. – 1 Corinthians 12:29-30 ERV
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While it is true that in Christ we can do all things, in ministry settings we are to only do what the Holy Spirit gifts us to do. He has the big picture as it were, He is the one in charge, He knows what He is accomplishing in and through each one of us, He is not the author of confusion but of order and peace. So with this context in mind we can certainly understand why everyone is not to speak messages in tongues in a public setting and neither is everyone to be interpreting messages in tongues in a public setting.
TO BE CONTINUED>>>
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