In the book of Acts and the Epistles it
shows us that tongues is an inspired
utterance in a language unknown to
the speaker.
Dr Ken Chant
Acts 1:6-8 - MSG
When they were together for the last time
they asked, “Master, are you going to
restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this
the time?”
He told them, “You don’t get to know the
time. Timing is the Father’s business. What
you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the
Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to
be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over
Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the
world.”
Our Constitution
II. Principles and Objects
A.Declaration of Faith
(6) The Holy Spirit - He is a divine person as
expressed in point (2) (part of the Godhead),
and that by his agency alone people can be
brought to salvation through Christ as expressed
in point (4) (through Jesus), and safety guided
into the will of God.
(7) The Baptism in the Holy Spirit - This is an
experience discrete from both salvation and
baptism in water, and that the ordinary sign of
the Holy Spirit baptism in “glossolalia”.
Glossolalia is: comes from two Greek words, glossa,
which means ‘tongue’ and laleo, which means, ‘I speak’.
Dr Ken Chant defines it further like this:
Glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, is a result of the
miraculous work of the Holy Spirit, enabling a person to
speak in a language he or she has not learned and of which
he or she has no natural knowledge.
(The Holy Spirit pg 75)
The New Testament indicates four general uses of
speaking in tongues:
1. As the evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit
2. As a means of personal edification i.e.: private use
3. As a means of addressing the church supernaturally
(in conjunction with the gift of interpretation of
tongues - 1 Cor 12) i.e.: public use
4. As a sign to the unbeliever i.e.: public use
The gospels tells us about the PROMISES
of the baptism.
The epistles tell us about LIVING the life.
The book of Acts tells us about the actual
EXPERIENCE of receiving the Holy Spirit.
Example One:
Acts 2:1-41 - NIV
Example One:
Acts 2:1-4 - NIV
When the day of Pentecost came, they
were all together in one place. Suddenly
a sound like the blowing of a violent wind
came from heaven and filled the whole
house where they were sitting. They saw
what seemed to be tongues of fire that
separated and came to rest on each of
them. All of them were filled with the Holy
Spirit and began to speak in other
tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Example One:
Matthew 3:11-12 - NIV
“I baptize you with water for
repentance. But after me comes one
who is more powerful than I, whose
sandals I am not worthy to carry. He
will baptize you with the Holy Spirit
and fire. His winnowing fork is in his
hand, and he will clear his threshing
floor, gathering his wheat into the barn
and burning up the chaff with
unquenchable fire.”
Example One:
Matthew 3:11-12 - MSG
“I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning
your old life in for a kingdom life. The real
action comes next: The main character in
this drama—compared to him I’m a mere
stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life
within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit
within you, changing you from the inside
out. He’s going to clean house—make a
clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place
everything true in its proper place before
God; everything false he’ll put out with the
trash to be burned.”
Example One:
Acts 2:4 - NIV
All of them were filled with the
Holy Spirit and began to speak in
other tongues as the Spirit
enabled them.
Example One:
Acts 2:14-21 - NIV
Peter Addresses the Crowd
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his
voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and
all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain
this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These
people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only
nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken
by the prophet Joel:
“‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Example One:
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious
day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Example Two:
Acts 10:23-48 - NIV
Example Two:
Acts 11:15 - NIV
“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit
came on them as he had come on us
at the beginning.
Example Three:
Acts 19:1-6 - NIV
Example Three:
Acts 19:1-6 - NIV
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road
through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There
he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you
receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that
there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what
baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they
replied.
Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of
repentance. He told the people to believe in the one
coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this,
they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy
Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues
and prophesied.
Example Four:
Acts 8:17-19 - MSG
Then the apostles laid their hands on them
and they did receive the Holy Spirit.
When Simon saw that the apostles by
merely laying on hands conferred the
Spirit, he pulled out his money, excited,
and said, “Sell me your secret! Show me
how you did that! How much do you want?
Name your price!”
Example Five:
Acts 9:17-19 - MSG
So Ananias went and found the house,
placed his hands on blind Saul, and said,
“Brother Saul, the Master sent me, the
same Jesus you saw on your way here.
He sent me so you could see again and be
filled with the Holy Spirit.” No sooner were
the words out of his mouth than something
like scales fell from Saul’s eyes—he could
see again! He got to his feet, was
baptized, and sat down with them to a
hearty meal.
Example Five:
1 Cor 14:18 - NIV
I thank God that I speak in tongues
more than all of you.
YOUR PRAISING GOD
Acts 2:12 - NIV
—we hear them telling in our own
tongues the mighty works of God”
YOUR SPEAKING TO GOD
1 Cor 14:2 - NIV
For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak
to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands
them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.
YOUR SPIRIT IS PRAYING
TO GOD
1 Cor 14:14 - NIV
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my
mind is unfruitful.
John 7:38-39 - NIV
Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said,
rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who
believed in him were later to receive. Up to that
time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus
had not yet been glorified.
YOUR EDIFYING YOURSELF
1 Cor 14:4 - NIV
Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies
themselves
Romans 8:26-27 - NIV
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in
our weakness. We do not know what
we ought to pray for, but the Spirit
himself intercedes for us through
wordless groans. And he who searches
our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit,
because the Spirit intercedes for God’s
people in accordance with the will of
God.