This sermon delves into the topic of speaking in tongues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It emphasizes the importance of desiring spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy, and the need for understanding and interpreting tongues for edification in the church. The speaker shares personal experiences and biblical insights on the manifestation of speaking in tongues, praying in the Spirit, and worshiping in the Spirit, highlighting the balance between these gifts and the significance of building up the church through proper use of spiritual gifts.

I want to just read a few verses to you and do unusual on Tuesday, just a little teaching here on this subject and clear up some questions that people might have in their minds, people that are new to the Lord, people that have come from different backgrounds of churches. And we drop all of that, we drop every bit of background and we just go to the Word of God and we see what the Word of God has to say. Now, we know that when the day of Pentecost came in Acts 2 and the church was born, it says that these believers who were obviously followers of Jesus, Peter, James, John, so on, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. They all, when the Spirit came upon them at the beginning of the second chapter back, sound of a mighty rushing wind from heaven, place was shaken where they were and they were all filled with the Spirit and they all began to speak in tongues, in languages that they didn't know, in syllables that they had no understanding of and the Greek wording there is that they were, bless you, that they were giving an ecstatic utterance. They were in an ecstasy and that's why when the people gathered together and heard them and saw their ecstasy, the fact that they were lifted out of themselves in some wonderful way, they said, these men are drunk. They were acting a little drunk, they looked drunk. Peter said, these men are not drunk as you suppose, but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And the only reason that the languages they spoke were understood is because of the feast of Pentecost. People from all over that part of the world had come, many, many different languages represented and they heard Galileans, fishermen, tax collectors speaking in languages that they knew they couldn't know and praising God in their home language. So it would be like if somebody came here from Greece or somebody came here from Nigeria and one of the tongues of Nigeria was spoken by myself or Karen in an ecstasy and I was praising God in a Nigerian tongue, that person would say, what in the world? He's no Nigerian. That boy is Polish. He doesn't know. He doesn't know anything about Nigeria. So that's what happened then. Now in the 10th chapter of the book of Acts, when Peter went to Cornelius' house to bring the gospel for the first time to the Gentiles, while Peter was preaching a message in Cornelius' house and Cornelius' relatives and servants were all there, the Holy Spirit fell on everyone who was listening to the word, just like I'm talking now. The Holy Spirit just came with nobody orchestrating anything and they were also with the Holy Spirit. And how did Peter know that and the men that were with him? Because they too began to speak in these languages that they didn't know in this ecstasy in these tongues. In the 19th chapter of the book of Acts, Paul goes into Ephesus and he meets some believers and he says, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? And they had been instructed, it seems like, and led to the Lord by Apollos, but they didn't know any of the baptism except John's baptism. And Paul said, John's baptism, John the Baptist, that's a baptism of repentance, of turning from sin and turning to God, which is what repentance means, two turnings, turning from sin, turning to God. But Jesus talked about a baptism of the Holy Spirit, so he baptized them because they were Christians. He baptized them properly in the name of the Lord and when they came out of the water, he laid hands on them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And again, they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them this strange ecstatic ability. Now, in the early church, there's no question that speaking in tongues and other gifts of the Holy Spirit were present. And the subject of speaking in tongues, which I want to just address tonight and keep it in its proper perspective because it's my conviction that in some churches, too much is made of speaking in tongues. And in other circles, speaking of tongues is not only diminished and negated, but it's denied, which is a very dangerous thing because there's no scripture verse in the Bible that clearly says, take out, by the way, whole paragraphs and chapters of the Bible and they're not meant for you when you read it two thousand years later. There's no verse to do, no verse in the Bible that says part of the New Testament will be taken away. Now, part of the Old Testament, we know, is done away with, like the food prohibitions of eating pork and certain shellfish and other things and wearing garments of mixed fabrics and a lot of things like that. They're done away with and Jesus proclaimed them all clean that those foods in the New Covenant. But there's no part of the New Testament where there's a verse in the New Testament that says, oh, by the way, what I'm writing to you now is only good for about one hundred or two hundred years. No one in the world would. There's no verse that clearly says that. And we have to be careful not only did not answer scriptures, but what's the other warning not to take away? Because there's a curse. Cursed is anyone who takes away or adds. That's one of the last thoughts in the book of Revelation, right? Cursed is anyone who takes away or adds so that the subject of speaking in tongues, which we'll see what it is, is in some places becomes everything, which it's not everything in the New Testament. It has a certain place in the New Testament, but in some churches, which accent Pentecostal distinct distinctive as they call them. They have made it everything, and it's just a byword, and it's it's it's it's abused in other places. Even though it's in the Bible, you can abuse things in the Bible. On the other side, there are people who say that is not for today that cannot happen. In fact, some well-known Bible teachers on the radio say that anyone who speaks in tongues is really demon-possessed, which is rather dangerous talk, I would say, especially when you don't know what you're talking about. So so let's just let's just read a couple verses and define what we're talking about. I gave you a little brief background, but this is unusual for Tuesday, but let's see where the Lord will take us with this. Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. Indeed, no one understands him. He utters mysteries with his spirit or possibly by the spirit. Capital S. It's hard to know from the Greek if it's he utters mysteries with his own human spirit or by the spirit. So the Amplified Bible has something like this. He utters mysteries by his spirit, motivated and activated by the Holy Spirit. But everyone who prophesies speaks in the language of the people, but under inspiration speaks to men and women for their strengthening, their encouragement and their comfort. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. Indeed, no one understands him. He utters mysteries with his spirit. You know, it's a wonder anybody believes in speaking in tongues, the real genuine article. I saw a video, I think that folks have been some of the other pastors thought of some charismatic teachers, well-known charismatic teachers who are on television, whatnot around the country. And we saw a video of two of them in front of about a couple thousand people who were laughing hilariously. And they, they pretended, I'll say that with no fear of being judged. They pretended to be speaking in tongues to each other, and they told jokes to one another in tongues on the video that I saw. Pastor Hammond, did you see that video? You're bear with us. Take the books there if you saw that. Am I exaggerating? No. They told jokes, and then the other one would laugh and speak back in tongues. Well, not only is that stupid, not only is that blasphemous, it violates scripture. The person who speaks in an unknown tongue does not speak to another person, they speak to God. OK, so the first thing we learn here is Paul is talking. I don't want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts. I want you to eagerly desire, and the word gift is not in the Greek. There's just one word which we could translate spiritual. The translators, the King James and others have put the word in gifts. I don't want you to be ignorant about these things that the Holy Spirit can put in a person's life, life, which helps them in their walk with God and helps them to be a blessing and helps them in their own building up themselves in the faith. I don't want you to be ignorant about them. In fact, I want you to eagerly desire spiritual gifts, pursue love. That's the most important thing, because without love, you can have all the gifts and you're nothing. You're just a zero. But I want you to eagerly desire these spirituals, and he contrasts two of them, and he says that one is for self-edification, basically, and the other one is for building up the church. What's building up the church? Well, prophecies speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through words of encouragement, instruction, teaching, that builds up the church. And he said, as good as speaking in tongues is, I want you more to pray that God will give you the ability to speak in English, in our case, so that you can build up people in their walk with God, because if you speak in tongues to them, they won't understand one thing, because you're speaking to God. You're speaking a mystery, and you're speaking with your spirit to God. So his contrast here is that the person who prophesies is superior and is greater than the person who merely speaks in tongues. Why? Because while tongues is valid and builds you up, it doesn't bless other people, and God is so interested in building up other people that he says, yes, speak in tongues, but pray that you could say something in English. In fact, Paul says later, I would rather say five words in the language of the people, I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue. So to have a lot of tongues speaking in a meeting does not make it a spiritual meeting, because nobody understands what's going on. In fact, Paul says in another place, if everybody speaks in tongues and a stranger comes in, what will they say? Loco. Loco. You know what loco means? Will they not say, listen, so if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues and some who don't understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you're out of your mind? So the first thing we learn here is that speaking in tongues is not as important as prophesying. Why? Because when you prophesy, you speak to other people's blessing, and God wants to make us a blessing. So then what part does speaking in tongues have? Why was it you almost, in every case, it's either implied or it's obvious in the New Testament where people were filled with the Holy Spirit in a New Testament way, they spoke in tongues. They went into this ecstasy, which by the way, isn't that kind of humiliating? Isn't that one of the reasons because we're so proud and uptight? We don't want to let go, and who would want anybody to come in and say those people are drunk? We would today say, now that can't be of God. They thought we were drunk. Well, it happened and God did it. They thought they were drunk. So we learn that communion with God is what speaking in tongues is about. It's about uttering mysteries with your spirit, but it takes the gifting of the Holy Spirit to be able to do that. Karen cannot do that unless God the Holy Spirit helps her to be able to pray that way and commune that way, just like God the Holy Spirit can help somebody to prophesy, and that means much more than just standing and sharing what's on your heart. That's not prophecy. Now we learn next, listen, he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself or herself. You know in the New Testament when it uses the male pronoun, we could apply the female, too, because he's writing to the church. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. So now we learn another thing. I would like every one of you to speak in tongues. Speaking in tongues must be a pretty good blessing if Paul would say, I want every one of you to speak in tongues. Why? Because he who speaks in a tongue and learns to pray by the help of the Holy Spirit in the spirit edifies themselves, builds themselves, that word means builds themselves up, makes themselves stronger in God. So he says, I want every one of you to speak and be able to pray and build yourself up in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues unless he interprets so that the church may be edified. So now we learn something else about tongues. Sometimes a message in tongues interrupts the meeting and is proper because someone has the interpretation of that tongue in the language of the people, and now the church will be blessed. And the rule, if you hold this microphone and you're called to be a leader like Pastor Torres and the rest of us are, the rule is any manifestation, anybody carrying on in any way that draws attention to them, I have to try to make the judgment, is this blessing the church? Not is it blessing them. If you want to just bless yourself, go home and get blessed. But in a public meeting, anything that's going to stop the meeting and draw attention has to bless everyone. How many followers say amen? So people carrying on and saying, well, our sister got a blessing. The Holy Ghost is on her. If it doesn't bless the church, it's out of order because everything must be done to edification. So when I was growing up, think of the things, the terrible things I saw done in the name of the Holy Spirit that did not bless anyone, that confused people. Five sinners didn't get baptized and saved in a whole year. Why? Because if they walked in the church, they thought everybody was crazy. But the church defended that and said, well, those are just those old sinners, but praise God, we're having church. Well, if the Holy Spirit is really moving, you just don't have church. Sinners get saved. Come on, how many say amen? Sinners get saved. In other words, there's a difference between Pentecostal culture and Pentecostal power. White Pentecostal church culture, black Pentecostal church, West Indian church, Pentecostal culture is as old as 40, 50, 60, 70 years. But Jesus said, you'll know a tree by its fruit. So no matter what the manifestation or noise level is, if people don't get saved and the people don't get built up, it's not the Holy Spirit working the way God wants it to work because Paul says, let everything be done to edification. So now we learn that the person who does pray in the spirit, who goes into this ecstasy and prays with his spirit, motivated and activated and aroused by the Holy Spirit, that person, even though their mind does not understand what's happening, they are being built up and getting stronger in God, even as they're praying and worshiping in the spirit, in tongues. You say, well, brother, I don't believe that. I grew up well how you grew up, how I grew up. You might have seen errors on one side. I saw errors on another side. But listen to what the word of God says. For this reason, anyone who speaks in a tongue in a meeting should pray that he may interpret what he says. For this reason, anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says. In other words, if you're going to draw attention to yourself by speaking in another language, you better pray that you interpret what you said. Otherwise, how will the church be blessed? How will anybody be built up? How will anybody know what's happening? You'll say, oh, the Holy Ghost will show them. No, that's not found in the Bible. Has to be interpreted. That's the first way that God ever used me in the gift of the Holy Spirit. I was in college, and I started to seek after God, and I started to have these ambivalent feelings about my whole, what I was doing and what I thought my life was about, which was playing basketball and captaining a basketball team. It began to seem so stupid and shallow to me at times, and I would be in a church right here in Brooklyn when I was home for the weekends. I was sitting in services, and then suddenly for, I think, a whole summer, like the entire June, July, August, very regularly I would be sitting in the third or fourth row of the service, and the Holy Spirit would begin to arouse my spirit. So I thought that my heart would beat out of my chest, and at a certain pause I would speak in an unknown tongue, and someone else in the auditorium would have the translation, interpretation of what I said. I remember the first time it happened to me, I thought I would die. My heart was pounding, my hands were sweating, because I knew this was God. I could never work myself up into such a thing, and why would I want to? And then to interrupt a speaker who I respected? That's impossible to do. I would never do that. And someone would interpret the content of what I was saying, and that is according to the Scripture. One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. Another gift is the interpretation of the tongues. And why is the interpretation important? Because otherwise the church won't be blessed. God wants you to come here and not see nonsense going on. God wants you to come here and be built up and edified and blessed. How many say amen? Let's put our hands together and thank God for His concern for us. So, so, no matter what you've seen or heard or what Mother Williams did in the church where you were growing up, or Mother whoever, and I had Mother Brown in the church I grew up in, and whatever. Whatever you saw, you don't go by what you saw. You go by the Bible. Because one of the saddest things is there are many churches that speak the most in tongues and believe in this, and believe that God can heal, and they don't affect their community two cents. But they cover it up by saying, well, those dead old sinners, but we're having church. We're on fire for God. I was in, I've been in services where they would have Jericho marches at the end of the service. Anyone ever been in a Jericho march? Oh yeah, we all join hands together. Pastor Ware, you ever been in a Jericho march? Helen, were you ever in a Jericho march? Pastor Johnson, I knew you've been in a Jericho march. And we would march around the church, and I was young, and that would embarrass me. What was I marching for? Evelyn, you were in Jericho marches? And some people then in certain churches would be twitching and jerking and shaking, supposedly on the Holy Spirit, distracting everything, doing things you would never dream of Jesus doing, or Paul doing, never would say in the Bible. Some people would just be flipping and flopping back and forth. Sometimes people would get carried away and run. I've been in services right, Pastor Victor, right, where women would actually be doing inappropriate things with their body and their clothes becoming disheveled. It was a shame. And throw themselves in such a way on the floor that women would come with the coats real quick and the blankets. Did you have blankets in your church? Oh yeah, we had a lot of blankets. In one of the churches I grew up in, there was a massages to people at the altar. That's the truth, is God is my witness. I never liked her to even get near me. All kinds of things under the Spirit. But now listen, now listen, let's hear it from the Word of God. Listen. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. Brothers, if you would pray, let it breathe on me. But if I pray, if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What does that tell us? That there's more to Jim's symbol than just his mind and his understanding. Right now I am talking, I am totally in control of what I'm saying, and I understand what I'm saying, and I hope you understand what I'm saying. But when you pray in a tongue, in the Holy Ghost, aroused by the Holy Spirit, God bypasses your mind. So for people who worship their intellect and never want to be out of, quote, control in that sense, this is a real stumbling block. But this is what the Bible says. The man or woman who prays with the tongue, prays with their spirit, but their mind is untruthful, does not know what they're praying. But they're praying aroused and led by the Holy Spirit, and it's going to build them up. For he who prays in an unknown tongue builds himself up. And unless the Holy Spirit would give you an interpretation, you would not even know, you would not even know what you were praying. Paul says, because this is mostly for home, although in a prayer meeting it would be proper at certain times, Paul says, I speak in tongues more than all of you, and the construction of the Greek is, I speak in tongues more than all of you put together, not than more than any one of you. If you added up all that you speak in tongues, I speak in tongues more than all of you put together. But in a meeting, I'd rather speak five words than 10,000 words just jabbering where nobody knows what you're saying. So do you see how this subject of tongues has been abused on both sides? Some people make it everything, and it isn't everything, but it is very precious. Some people have made it nothing and have even denied that that part of the scripture applies or that God can heal. But how many know Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever? He's never changed. So that means, Paul goes on to say this, so what will I do? He says, at times, I will pray with my spirit aroused by the Holy Ghost, even though my mind doesn't know how I'm praying. Other times, I will pray with my understanding. I will pray this way, Father, we love you, and we praise you, and Father, we want more of you in our lives, and we want you to bless the Brooklyn Tabernacle, and we want you to make our lives more fruitful. See, I understand everything I'm saying. Paul says, I will pray that way sometimes, but I will also pray sometimes by my spirit. Remember what Jesus said, the Father seeks those who will worship him. See, God is a spirit, so the deepest communication you can have with God is not your mouth or your mind, your spirit. Paul goes on to say, and I will sing with the understanding, I will sing like Karen, I will sing, I won't sing as good as her, but I will sing with my understanding. I will know the words, and I will sing, he's worthy, God's worthy, but Paul says, I will also sing in the spirit. What does that mean? I will let God, the Holy Spirit, give me words and melodies that I will sing praises to him, and you might say, what are you singing? I don't know, but it's good because the Holy Spirit is giving me the song. I'm not getting any amens here. What am I doing here tonight? Are you sleeping or what? Am I preaching the Word of God or what? This is the Word of God. So that means there's a yielding to this. There's a yielding to this. If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and controlled by the Holy Spirit, if you want to pray, how would you like to pray and in five minutes be building yourself up, even though you don't even know what you're saying, but you know it's aroused by the Holy Spirit, and then when you're praying, you will be able to pray in such a way that you will feel your faith growing because you know the Holy Spirit is always leading you in the will of God. When the Holy Spirit causes you to pray, even though you're understanding, well, what's good is it if my understanding, listen, God understands it. It's not whether you understand it, it's whether God understands it. Oh yes. Well, listen, you say, Pastor Symbol, are you sure this is real? Are you sure this is real? I had the same doubts you did. I grew up with more because I saw Sister Kelly massaging people and all these things going on. So I had a lot of walls up because I'm kind of a guy, I'm from Missouri, you got to show me. You know, I saw so much of that. I said, God, I have a fear of God since I was little. I'm not going to do anything unless it's done. I'd rather die than fake one thing. My mother has that beautiful quality in her. My mother would never fake anything. In fact, there was a woman pushing people over in the church when I was growing up and I think I told you that she would push people over. They would act like they got a shot, but I knew she was pushing because she would put her foot behind their legs and she would push them like that. When I was watching this, I was about 13 or 14. I said to my friend, this is the truth. I said, you know what? She's got a little buzzer. You notice? She always has a handkerchief in her hand. I think there's a wire connected to it. I thought she's running a game on us. She's got a little buzzer. So when she hits you, you feel like that. Well, I saw my mother go up and, you know, some people are easily auto suggestions. So they kind of go over, you know, but I go to those churches and I never make sense of that. They have to have someone catch you. Why? Because if the person falls, they say we have to have catchers. Did you know there's a ministry in certain churches? Men do nothing but catch people who fall. You don't find that much in the New Testament, but God can knock people down. He knocked me down one time, knocked me down and out for a number of minutes. But, uh, anyway, this lady was praying for people and my mother got on the line and I saw her push my mother and my mother's. My mother is the sweetest lady in the whole world. And my mother would never fake anything. So my mother just stood there and the lady pressed more. And then I saw her push my mother into my mother's back, couldn't take it. And she pushed my mother down. By the way, you don't need catchers. If God knocks you down, because God would never knock you down where you have to get eight stitches in your head. How many know God doesn't do that? Come on, let's put our hands together. Amen. Amen. But that becomes a form like how much light candles we push people in certain places, they push people over or blow them over and they fall and they make like, that's a big thing. But like a preacher once said, it doesn't matter how you fall. It's how straight you walk. When you get up, that's a sign of the Holy Spirit. So I went to be prayed for. I got on the line when I saw what she did to my mother. I got so mad and I was, I was very mean. I was very, I was not a nice young man. My mother will tell you that she had gray hair by the time she was 35 because of me. And I got on the line and I got to the front and she was all in this spooky kind of thing. And I'm looking for the buzzer, but I didn't see it. So she laid hands on me and I dug my feet in the carpet, you know, come on, let's get this thing on right now. Come on. And I was braced and she pushed once and then she said, Oh, and she pushed again. And then she started past the bird. I mean, really depressed me back. And my back break. And it was me against her. And I was in shape. I was playing ball. She couldn't get me over. So she stepped back. She said, I just turned an evil spirit of stubbornness in this sport. Evil spirit, my foot. You know what? It wasn't a year later that in a prayer meeting, a man of God prayed for me. And the truth is, I saw my mother get prayed for that night. And my mother went down like a ton of bricks and he just hardly even prayed for it. It was the strangest meeting. It looked like, it looked like someone had come in with a shotgun or a machine gun and just leveled people. There were people laying all over the place. And my heart started to beat because I thought if my mother went down, that's got to be God, because my mother's not going to fake anything. I hate faking. You know what happens if you fake anything, you're insulting the Holy Spirit. He doesn't need our help. He doesn't need anybody to yell in someone's ear, what to say or anything like that. I got on that line and that guy just looked at me and he put his hands on me. And all the next thing I know was 15 minutes later, I was on my back with my voice, my hands up praising God. So God can do that. God can do anything. What we don't want to do is make a form of it. But the thing that is repetitious in the New Testament is speaking in tongues, praying in the Holy Spirit, worshiping in the Spirit, worshiping by your spirit and not just your understanding. And God says, I want you to desire earnestly these things that the Holy Spirit can help you do. There's an anointing that comes from the Holy Spirit that will help you to pray. And you know what? We know not how we ought to pray, but the Holy Spirit helps us with groans too deep to be uttered. Am I right, Pastor Victor? Sometimes the Holy Spirit will just give you a deep groan. And in that deep groan, you are saying more than if you talk with your mouth for five minutes. Because when the Holy Spirit moves you, He's producing faith. He's leading you into the will of God. You don't have to worry how you're praying. How many times in my life have I been discouraged and all alone in my house or driving in a car, feeling overwhelmed, especially when I was new in the ministry. And God taught me the value of praying in the Holy Spirit. I have to say, for some years I didn't take advantage of that. But I want to be able to say to all of you, I speak in tongues more than all of you put together. I don't think I do, because a lot of you are really out there in God. But I want to be able to pray in the Holy Ghost. I want to be... How many want to learn how to pray by God's grace? Come on, wave your hand at me. Wave your hand at me and witness to God. I want to pray in the Holy Spirit. You know, that was the time at an altar service that I saw God's hand on Pastor Johnson a lot of years ago when he just, I think when I just first met him. We were worshiping and waiting on God. And I heard someone singing and worshiping God in an unknown tongue. It was the most beautiful thing I ever heard. And I looked and here was this handsome, strong brother worshiping God. Well, listen, I close with this. You say, Pastor Semble, I don't know, I don't know whether to believe you or not, because I'm not used to that. And that, you know, that scares me. I don't get it. Listen, it's not about you getting it. It's about does God say it? Amen? Well, listen, about two weeks into this summer that God began to deal with me about these things, I was sitting as the Lord is my holy witness. May he judge me and strike me. If I'm exaggerating this, I was sitting in an aisle in a pew. I'm sorry, you're blocked over here by the pulpit, but I want to sit down and reenact it. And I was sitting here as the meeting was going on. I just was worshiping God. And suddenly the Holy Spirit came upon me, started to arouse my spirit. But I had that feeling that this is for something for the congregation. Someone has the interpretation. At first, I could never interpret. All I could do, like a child was at times give a message in tongues. So I'm battling with it and saying, Oh God, is this you? Is this you? No one. I never moved. I never got agitated. I never cried. I never made a sound. It was all inside of me. Okay. And I said, God, I'm not sure if this is you. God, I will. Oh, God, is it? This is, uh, and by the way, before I just finished the story, I want you to know that when you, when the Holy Spirit is on you, you have total control. You can quench it. You can stop it. Anyone says I'm out of control. Don't stop me. You see someone get out of control. They're like this. And you say, hold this steady sister. I can't. It's the Holy Spirit. I can't know. That's not, that's not, that's not God. Listen, listen, listen. If anyone speaks in a tongue two or at the most three should speak one at a time and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter in the church with that gift, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself. And God, God is not the author of confusion. You can't have messages in language. Nobody knows. And then no one's edified. And then you have another message and no one knows what that means. That's that might be what you saw or I saw growing up, but it's not against it's against the Bible. So here I'm sitting and saying, God, if this is you help me, show me, God, I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to make the mistake. I don't want to do anything. That's not real. It's just emotion. No, no, this can't be just a moment. It's not emotion. These are not going to be emotional about, Oh, but God, I don't want to make a mistake. Please give me a sign. If this is you, because this is also new to me, God, I don't want to fail God. That's the truth. That's the way I pray. A man was sitting right over here, ministers preaching and got up and went three seats over. Give that utterance in tongues right now. God wants you to give it right now and sat back down. How do you think I felt? God saw the struggle of a young man. He saw my sincerity, saw how weak I was and sent somebody from three seats away to say something that would be totally impossible to know. Nobody could know it, but God knows all things. Isn't he wonderful? Let's put our hands up in the air. Come on, let's put our hands up in the air. Come on, put your hands up in the air, put your hands up in the air and begin to praise him. Hallelujah. Praise them in English, praise them in the spirit. Hallelujah. Come on right now. Nobody's talking. We're all going to just praise and worship the Lord. We bless you, Lord. We magnify you, God. We want everything you have for us as a church, oh Lord. We want everything you have for Evelyn and the ladies Lord and the ushers and the men's chorus Lord and the choir Lord and for Karen Lord and to the musicians Lord. We want to be filled with the Holy Ghost Lord. We want to pray in the spirit. We want to sing in the spirit Lord. We want to worship with our spirit Lord. We magnify you Lord. We praise you Lord. We bless you Lord. Oh how we magnify you. Thank you Lord. We bless you Lord, we praise you Lord, we praise you Lord, we praise you Lord. Come on, pastors and your wives. Stand on the steps here and face the people. Pastor Victor, would you come please with Carmen? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Just come up on the steps, one or two steps, that's all. Hallelujah. We magnify your name, Lord. We magnify your name, Lord. We magnify your name, Lord. Holy Spirit, you're welcome here. Come, Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit, and breathe upon your people and fill us, Lord, with that which we need to prophesy and to pray and to worship and to interpret, Lord. The word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, the gift of faith, the gift of miracles, discerning of spirits, the gifts of healing, we worship you, Lord. We worship you, Lord. We worship you, Lord. We worship you. Gloria, gloria tu nombre, Señor. We worship you, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Every eye closed. Don't anyone move now. The meeting's not over, but we're going to stop and do something different now. Very important. Don't anyone move. If you're here tonight and say, Pastor Sembela, while you were talking, I am so hungry to be used by the Holy Ghost. I earnestly desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit in my life. I want to be filled with the Spirit. I want to be able to pray in the Spirit, sing in the Spirit. I want to do it with the understanding too, but I want those gifts that God has for me. And if I can pray in a way that edifies myself and I can speak directly to God, even in mysteries, I want to be able to do that as God helps me. Oh, I want God to help me. Evelyn, come up here and help us too. You get up out of your seat and come here quickly if you would like us to pray for you. I don't care if you're upstairs, downstairs, I don't care. Two of you come. We'll pounce on two of you or we'll pray for a thousand of you. But you show God your hunger and your desire to be used by Him. Hallelujah. Come, stand up real close so we can lay hands on you. We magnify your name. But when you come here, don't be looking down and depressed. Lift up your hands and use your voice to begin to praise God. Come on. He inhabits the praises of His people. Lift up the piano and the organ, please. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. If you came forward, put your hand on the person in front of you so the blessing can come all the way back to where you are. We worship you, Lord. We worship you, Lord. Let that fire burn, Lord. Hallelujah. Give us the ability to pray in the Holy Spirit and to sing in the Holy Spirit, Lord. Give us the gift of prophecy and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Baptize your people, Lord, so people might come in here and see God is alive. God is alive. God is real. We bless your name, Lord. We bless your name. Do it for your name's sake, for your church's sake, Lord. Everybody, open up your mouth and praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord and let the Holy Spirit take control. Tell God, give me that divine drunkenness, Lord, of being filled with the Holy Spirit. We bless your name. We bless your name. We bless your name. We bless your name. Open your spirit. Open your heart to God. Don't play with your mind. Pray with your heart. Open your heart to God. We praise you, Lord. We praise you, Lord. We bless your name. We bless your name. We bless your name. We bless your name. We bless your name. Look up to God and rejoice. Don't look down. Rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord. And again, I say rejoice. Hallelujah. Thank him for his mercy. Thank him for saving you. Hallelujah. The spirit's not going to flow if you're doubting or depressed. Rejoice in the Lord. Hallelujah. We bless you, Lord. We bless you, Lord. We bless you, Lord. Spirit of joy, we bless you. We bless you and we praise you, Spirit of God. We love you. We love you. We praise you. We magnify you, Lord. We love you, Lord. We love you, Lord. We love you, Lord. We love you. We love you, Lord. We love you, Lord. All the musicians, just lift up your hands to God. Stop playing. All the musicians, lift up your hands to God. Everybody, lift up your hands to God. Every singer, everybody in the building, every usher. We worship you, Lord. We praise you, Lord. Giver of the Holy Ghost, one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit, we worship you, Jesus. Worship Jesus, everyone. He's the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. We worship you, Jesus. Oh, Jesus, we love you. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, we love you so much, Jesus. We praise you. We worship you, Lord. We praise you, Lord. We worship you, Lord. We worship you, Lord. Jesus, we praise. Jesus, we praise. Jesus, we praise. Jesus, we praise. Jesus, we praise. We love you, Lord. We love you, Lord. We love you, Lord. We love you, Lord. We love you, Lord. We bless your name. We love you, Lord. We worship the Lord. Let him have his way in your life, hallelujah. Give him your heart tonight, oh Lord. We bless you. We bless you, Lord. We give you our hearts. We give you our tongues, oh Lord. We yield to you, oh Lord. We worship you. That's it, lift your voice. We worship you, Lord. Miracles so great like you, Lord. Lift her up, oh my head. Lift her up, oh my head. Lift her up, oh my head. We love you, Lord. We love you, Lord. Fill my cup, oh Lord. I lift it up, oh Lord.