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00:00:02 good morning brothers and sisters um today's uh scripture reading is taken from the book of First Corinthians it will be the whole 40 verses of chapter 14 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse1 follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit especially prophecy for anyone who speaks in the tongue does not speak to people but to God indeed no one understands them they are true Mysteries by the spirit but the one who prophesies speaks to people for the strengthening encouraging and comfort anyone who
00:00:42 speaks in a tongue edifies themselves but the one who prophesies edifies the church I would like every one of you to speak in tongues but I would rather have you prophesy the one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues unless someone interprets so that the church may be edified now brothers and sisters if I come to you and speak in tongues what good will I be to you unless I bring you some Revelations or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction even in the case of lifeless
00:01:19 things that make sounds such as the pipe or harp how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes again if the trumpet does not sound a clear call who will get ready for battle so it is with you unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue how will anyone know what you're saying you will be you would just be speaking into the air undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world yet none of them is without meaning if then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is
00:02:00 saying I am a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker is a foreigner to me so it is with you since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit try to excel in those that build up the church for this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say for if I pray in a tongue my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful so what shall I do I will pray with my spirit but I will also pray with my understanding I will sing with my spirit but I will also sing with my understanding otherwise when you're
00:02:42 praising God in the spirit how can someone else who is in who is now put in the position of an Inquirer say Amen to your Thanksgiving since they do not know what you're saying you are giving thanks well enough but no one else is edified I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you but in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than 10,000 words in the tongue brothers and sisters stop thinking like children in regard to evil be infants but in your thinking be
00:03:23 adults in the Lord it is written with other tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to his people but even then they will not listen to me says the Lord tongues then are ass sign not for believers but for unbelievers prophecy however is not for unbelievers but for believers so if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues and inquirers or unbelievers come in will they not say that you are out of your mind but if an unbeliever or an Inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying
00:04:08 they're convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all as the secrets of the hearts are laid bare so they will fall down and worship God exclaiming God is really among you What then shall we say brothers and sisters when you come together each of you has a hymn or a word of instruction a revelation a tongue or an interpretation everything must be done so that the church may be built up if anyone speak in a tongue two or at the most three should speak one at a time and someone must interpret if there is
00:04:52 no interpreter the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God two or three prophets should speak and the others should weigh carefully what is said and if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down the first Speaker should stop for you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged the spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets for God is not a god of disorder but of peace as in all the congregations of the Lord's people women should remain silent in the
00:05:38 churches they are not allowed to speak but must be in submission as the law says if they want to inquire about something they should ask their own husbands at home for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church or did the word of God originate with you or are you the only people it has reached if anyone thinks they are profit or otherwise gifted by the spirit let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command but if anyone ignores this they will themselves be ignored therefore my
00:06:18 brothers and sisters be eager to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues but everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way this is the word of the Lord thank you Clementine thanks Jerome well good morning everybody welcome back to the house of the Lord uh just to keep you up to speed next week uh pastor Raymond will be preaching on The Parables of the lost sheep uh after that our brother Brandon wall and what has Faith got to do with work and then we have uh brother Arnold Lim back with
00:07:02 us on the uh 6th of October lessons on how Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman taken from John chapter 4 let's start with a word of prayer father Lord we ask that you open up our hearts this morning for very difficult journey through chapter 14 uh show us what you would want to practice in our own worship meeting here every week uh grant us Clarity to see your truth we ask for Jesus sake amen right so uh we come this is actually the last sermon on our Series in one Corinthians which we journeyed
00:07:42 through the whole year chapter 15 has come a little bit before 14 because of scheduling issues but this is the last one and I guess this is the most controversial one um you will find that as evangelicals we all agree on basically Jesus Christ Christ died for our sin the cross on which he died saves us it is by Grace we are sinners those are all the central tenants of Orthodoxy and then there are this uh disagreements for which we give each other latitude we don't you know kick each other out of church simply because
00:08:20 we have a difference of opinion so therefore here we come to an area where there there are defined differences of opinion so uh you basically listen to what Paul has to say and and um decide for yourself now differences of opinion came about in this issue of spiritual gifts uh chapter 12 concerning spiritual gifts I don't want you to be uninformed the nature of spiritual gifts chapter 12 effect of spiritual gifts in the body spiritual gifts and love and today how do you bring all that together and apply in a worship meeting all right
00:08:59 so do all speak in tongues do all interpret earnestly desire higher gifts I'll show you more excellent way and excellent way actually is 1 Corinthians 13 which is the love which underg gurs the practice of spiritual gifts we're not practicing spiritual gifts in order to look good you know you practice it because you use that gift because you love each other the goal of corporate worship how the spiritual gifts apply now we've got two types of churches in this country one driven mainly largely by emotion you go to worship you jump
00:09:38 around and you you leave it and you oh I had a great time that's the goal emotions another one you come to church and you wonder oh waiting for the sermon maybe there's a theological Pearl I could take home I can discuss with my group on Tuesday and we have a big discussion then we'll bang each other on the head I can't I get ready I get my notes out you know I've I've been to some Churches and I used to do this too you had you actually print out this sermon outline you know and everybody gets a copy of that uh I don't think
00:10:12 either of these are correct and I think the two need to merge into the center and I must admit I'm more on the information side and the many of you come from the other side but the fact is the truth is somewhere in between and I think it takes me about 30 years to learn this stupid fact on my own life uh pursue love and and how do you pursue love well desire the spiritual gift especially that you may prophesy there's a context to this now what is the goal of worship the goal of worship is to realize the presence of God what why do
00:10:48 you keep here on Sunday well we see chapter 14:25 says when you actually come into a worship session and there are non-christians and non-Christian is sitting right out there and if you have a prophet here and he will be saying something and and what happens is that the secrets of his heart are disclosed perhaps he's someone who's always been striving in business Never Satisfied always trying to get a position Higher and Higher and Higher and he's dissatisfied and then when he comes to the service a prophet speaks out
00:11:30 they said brother I know 20 years ago you were left Stranded by your partner he left you took the money you faced bankruptcy and that's struck a cord that you could never trust anybody and and this is something that he hidden he's never told anybody he's built a whole Persona to cover that painful episode in his life and that prophet revealed that to him and said my nobody knows how come he knows and then God becomes real when God becomes real is no longer an abstraction you know information like
00:12:13 lecture become real because he's been there all my life even when I went through the bankruptcy he was actually there and then he falls on his feet on his knees and he worships God the word there is you will worship God God so what is the goal of worship the goal of worship is actually to realize the presence of God it's not information information has a purpose it's not emotion emotion has a purpose the purpose is that you like the non-Christian will have the reality of God so transcend abstraction that you
00:12:50 will just fall and say my God you are real so worship is a response to who God is and who God is is conveyed To Us by Revelation whether it's by teaching sharing music it involves emotion it involves cognitive elements but the problem here with the Corinthian Church is like they had a new toy and the new toy is speaking in tongues because think speaking in tongues is the most visible way to show just like the ecstatic uh Greek prophets uh who just speak in in in tongues of something super spiritual is a sign of
00:13:30 God's presence sign of God's person's spirituality and you got signs and wonders and I was reading to do research on this particular topic uh I will be taking references from the power of praying in tongues by Bishop Edward A Smith from California I think he's died recently he's a bishop of the uh of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in Los Angeles and uh he writes members of these churches are not better than other Christians so he's very humble they just get along better in life because they
00:13:59 tap into to his power and rely on his help by the way of the Holy Spirit if you want to reach the highest level of worshiping God you need to be praying to him in other tongues this is real I mean they write books on this and so therefore let's examine what Paul has to say Paul actually says the opposite do not use the gift of tongues in corporate worship unless there's interpretation there are seven reasons see we can worship God and lose our neighbor that is the problem biblical worship finds God will also
00:14:32 find our neighbor first thing for one who speaks in tongues speaks not to men but to God for no one understands him but he utters mysteries in the spirit on the other hand the one who prophesies speaks to people for their up building encouragement and consolation that's the difference all right because when you speak in tongue you speak to God so Edward Smith says you need to pray in tongues if you really want to ensure you are speaking only to God which is a bit uh uh uh thing because if you speak in
00:15:04 English you don't speak to God is it if we can worship God in song by singing in our native language but if you want to reach the highest level of worshiping God you need to begin praying to him in tongues here again it's an extrapolation there's nowhere in the Bible that says if you speak in tongue is the highest level all right uh the one who speaks in tongue builds himself up but the one who prophesies builds up the church now I want you all to speak in tongues but even more to prophesy the one who
00:15:33 prophesies greater than the one who speaks in tongues unless someone interprets so that the church may be built up so the bottom line if Edward Smith says if we don't take the time to pray in tongues we might live our entire Christian lives without strengthening our spirit that's not necessarily true isn't it speaking tongue is a way of strengthening your spirit it's a way not the way then what happens when you speak in tongues verse 13 therefore one who speaks in tongues should pray he may interpret if I pray in the tongue my
00:16:04 spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful what am I to do I will pray with my spirit but I also pray with my mind I will also sing praise with my spirit I also sing with my mind so there are two elements the gift of tongues is a real gift it's a fact all right but Spirit any serious Bible student who doesn't take time to pray in tongues but dares to teach God's word often takes the word words slant of the scriptures so that applies to me right so in order to preach and teach you really must pray in
00:16:37 tongues no way in the Bible says that okay uh because 1 Corinthians 14 say my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful if your mind unfruitful how to teach is it's a direct contradiction Ephesians chapter 3 now to him was able to do far more abundantly than all we can ask and think according to the power at work with us he writes unless you pray in other tongues the Holy Spirit cannot work for you wow uh I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me the ability to do things are being by being
00:17:09 spiritually strengthened by speaking in tongues so so I what I'm trying to do is that people take Bible verses and they take it completely out of context and that is my disputation with charismatics just read the plain reading the word the word is very clear now Brothers if I come to you speaking in tongues How Will I benefit you unless I bring you some Revelation knowledge or prophecy in teaching the whole thing is to bring you something that's intelligible so you come here in this worship session and if I speak to you in
00:17:43 Mandarin well some of you understand uh but most of you won't what's the point in illustration even lifeless instruments such as the fluid or har do not give distinct notes how will anyone know what is played if a bugle gives an indistinct sound who will get ready for battle so unless you play the proper sound instead attacking you Retreat it's it's useless so inarticulate Expressions do not commun uh constitute a communicate act so with yourself if your tongue you utter speech to which is not intelligible how will anyone know what's
00:18:18 being said you will be speaking in the air it means wasting time all right so which one benefits Paul is trying to tell you tongues unintelligible you used to don't even understand but it does build up your spirit but in the context of a corporate worship uh he rather you build up the church because worship is about each other now if you speak in tongues you will alienate people in the church if there are doubtless many different languages in the world none is without meaning but if I do not know the
00:18:50 meaning of the language I will be a foreigner to the speaker and a speaker a foreigner to me so if you actually speak in tongues and you wander to the worship meeting you're wondering what they're speaking am I in Malaysia or is it Afghanistan you you feel not at home anymore so it will alienate people um conclusion so with yourselves since you eager for the manifestation of spirit the people here want to feel God to understand and experience his presence right strive what do you want to do strive to build up the church the one
00:19:27 who speaks in tongues should pray that he may interpret so that's the bottom line nobody is saying that you don't speak tongues but when you come in church pray that you may interpret all right otherwise if you give thanks with your spirit how can anybody in position of Outsider say Amen to your Thanksgiving and when he does not know what you're saying so you could be saying something bad against him and you're saying amen you know uh so so that's very practical for you may be giving thanks well enough but the other person is not
00:19:58 being built up so which means when you're in this worship session here together and you're singing or you're worshiping do you know that what you do matters if everyone is standing out and worshiping God and singing and you're playing with your handphone and muttering under your breath what does the other guy feel when he's looking at you wow your God is so great is in your handphone you that mean so the whole point of coming to worship is that when you worship you upbuild the other chap otherwise stay at home and do
00:20:38 Zoom right if you don't want to build other people stay home and do Zoom kakai the whole idea is to come in worship and actually pay attention to worship Him and if your neighbor sees wow that's Israel key big Tycoon all right that's this fellow small D doesn't matter who you are and you are all standing together and you're worshiping God it that means god is real isn't it God is here right so that that is the important thing it will build each other up now Paul's testimony I thank God that I speak in tongu more than all of you so
00:21:20 he's not sour grapes like me okay he speaks in tongue more than all of you I cannot speak anything right okay uh nevertheless in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue I feel a lot better isn't it I can instruct okay here here the issue PA Paul himself their insistence on using tongue is a sign of immaturity but speak in tongu what I worship my entire family is charismatic anyway my brother my sister my mother I'm the black sheep all right but but when I actually
00:21:56 share with them said no no they still want to speaking Tong because it you know edifies himself but Paul says not not me you know Brothers do not be children immatured be infants in evil but in your thinking be mature they're being immatured because they insist on using tongues in the worship well but brother but I Brothers this is chapter three could not address you as spiritual people but your people of Flesh as infants in Christ how are they infants in Christ for while there ver uh verse three for while there is jealousy and
00:22:30 strife among you are you not of the Flesh and behaving in a human way so what they're trying to do is they use the tongues in order to affirm themselves like the gorilla on the left side it's all about me here my sound you know rather than building somebody else up sign of immaturity it's a sign of judgment in the law it's written by people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to these people and even then they will not listen to me says the Lord thus the signs are signed not for believers but
00:23:08 for unbelievers while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers now be very careful the words are a little bit tricky here what he's doing is alluding to the prophet Isaiah Isaiah 28 and Isaiah is prophesying of a time where the Assyrians will come and take the northern kingdom uh attack Israel and in 28 he says for people with strange lips and a foreign tongue the Lord will speak to these people so when the Israelites wake up one day hey hello they're not speaking Hebrew anymore
00:23:45 they're speaking this funny language it's Assyrian and that's to teach them that God is judging them I was reading this book by uh Singapore Story by Lee Kuan Yu he tells over a Time in 1940s where he uh Singapore was taken over by the Japanese and he describes the strange beings in his house unshaven uncamp speaking ugly aggressive language sorry to Morita they filled me with fear and I slept fitfully and they left after three days of Hell suddenly you wake up one day fellas not speaking in Chinese
00:24:26 anymore they all speaking some funny language is actually Japanese and that's a sign of judgment for for him actually in fact he U the memory of the Japanese language is not a pleasant one it evokes all sorts of negative emotions uh his grandfather Lee Hong loved the British and he thought that they were the best in the world the most powerful Army everything British was great for him he spoke perfect English that's why his grandson goes to Cambridge and pass but for him the Japanese language was a sign of
00:25:05 his misplaced Faith his faith in the British crumbled just as the fall of Singapore was there and every time you speak Japanese to him it's a indictment on his misplaced Faith he was wrong same thing so it the the the the speaking in tongues is a sign of judgment all right for the People Israel in that time so Paul using it as an example all right and the adverse effects on non-believers if nonbeliever comes into your church they come together all speak in tongues and Outsiders and Believers enter will
00:25:40 not not will they not say you're out of your mind you see I mean but if all prophesy an unbeliever enters and he's convicted by all he will he is called to account by all the secrets of his heart are disclosed so falling his face he will worship God and declare God is really among you so therefore it's weird if you were actually the uninitiated not a Christian you go into a Christian worship session and they're all speaking all sorts of languages they would be freaked out as it were so it has adverse
00:26:10 effect on non-believers so these are the seven reasons that we should not be using it in corporate worship without interpretation so next thing that Paul talks about is order in corporate worship so what then Brothers when you come together each one has a hymn a lesson a revelation a tongue interpretation let all things be done for building up if anyone speaks in a tongue let there be only two or three at most and then each one in turn let someone interpret but if there's no one to interpret Let each of them keep
00:26:43 silent in church and speak to himself and to God all right everything must be done in order and and this is because of the phenomenon of aesthetic speech okay in Pagan religions they'll break out in tongues they break up in all sorts of funny prophecies and and everybody got to keep quiet because he takes the podium it's as if like God is speaking through him so so but so you imagine in church if everybody prophesy everybody jumping up and down and saying things and they may even be contradicting each
00:27:13 other so Paul wants order now when we enter this topic of Prophecy we lot we delayed discussing this until the last because it is a very very controversial topic New Testament prophecy among Evangelical circles has various interpretations okay I don't profess to know it all perfectly but this is what we've come to so far now New Testament prophecy could be interpreted as prophetic or pastoral preaching like what we do here it could be gospel preaching okay it could be prophecy of lesser Authority it's not
00:27:51 like the Old Testament prophecy is a new testament which is less authoritative or there are some sensationalist among our mids it says a all ceased so that's why there's no real prophecy now this is David Hill who is basically very influential among conservative circles with a view which I've held for a long time is not only for prophecy is not only foretelling but it's also forthtelling a prophet is a spirit endowed person whose preaching contains admonition Comfort the call for repentance and a promise and and Who
00:28:23 counsels as a pastor and blames and Praises so basically it's the average preacher or pastor you know which most conservative churches accept uh even if you go to Bible College and BTS they will teach you this uh but the problem is David Hill based his interpretation on the fact that of Paul's saying that when you actually prophesy you up build you encouraged you console but teaching does the same thing preaching does the same thing prophecy does the same thing so just because they all three function
00:28:54 in the same way does it mean that they all three are the same there's a difference teaching is always grounded on inspired text of scripture that's what I'm doing here it's based on scripture prophecy is a human report of a divine revelation there's a difference you see I mean uh yeah prophecy and an unbeliever from outside enters he's convicted by all he is called to account by all the secrets of his hearts are disclosed prophecy is person specific you stand up and say I know in 1997 you swindled $1 million from CMB
00:29:34 bank that's person specific isn't it that's a fact and you've been hiding it now you everybody knows you see I mean number two Timothy I charge this charge I entrust to you Timothy my child in accordance to the prophecies previously made about you that by them you will wage good Warfare so there the direct prophecy about Timothy himself Timothy you will be God God's Steward right uh do not neglect the gift you have which was given to you by prophecy when the Council of Elders laid their hands on you right so basically
00:30:08 coun Elders laid hands and they actually got the gift of uh of the ministry now it's situation specific you go to prayer meeting in Antioch Church while they were praying at chap 13 verse2 while they worshiping the Lord and fasting the holy spirit said set up part from me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them then after fasting and prayer they laid their hands on them and then send them off so suddenly you go to prayer meeting the Holy Spirit speaks through a prophet and then
00:30:40 suddenly one of you got to go to Sabah or Philippines all right and this is a longterm mission trip not shortterm all right so it's situation specific and they set with prophecy is a separate gift are all Apostles are all prophets are all teachers do all work miracles so it is a separation so but prophecy needs evaluation you cannot simply the lot of reasons why this church and many conservative churches don't practice this is because we fear the ramifications of wrong prophecy let two or three prophets speak let the others
00:31:18 weigh what they said if a revelation is made to one and to one another sitting there let the first be silent all right so imagine you have a meeting here then somebody stands up and tells us ah First Baptist Church yesterday I had a dream and the Lord told me to tell you Christ is coming on Tuesday just before the holiday ends oh you're Panic you know is that from the Lord thankfully in that situation you can go to scripture Matthew says but concerning a day and hour no one knows not even the angels nor the Son of God
00:31:54 the father and you only the father and you knows I mean uh so I think in that situation gives you an example that we need to evaluate all prophecy the one who is really written uh quite a bit about this and quite quite well known in Evangelical circles is Wayne gudum We if you in Bible College will study his Systematic Theology he wrote about the gift of Prophecy um and what he's saying that uh he he was in the church somewhere in Illinois and they had decided to um buy a piece of property to build another
00:32:29 church because they were growing and all the uh pastors and the elders and all had prayed about it and they had agreed this is where God is leading us and they had a prayer meeting again and during this prayer meeting some people sharing and someone stood up with a piece of paper and he testified he says that you are such evil people I rebuke you you are presumptious to buy this land you should not go for it and what happens with someone stand up up like that you know and so Wayne gudam looked at his
00:33:01 wife and she looked at other people all the elders looked at other people what what what do we say this Wayne gudum himself and they concluded on on on what everybody else felt that this was not from God and they were right there's no no sign from Heaven to tell you whether this is right or not God depends on other leaders in the church and other people to actually discern it's a bit dangerous isn't it uh but this all everything that you prophesy is under the authority of the Apostles if anyone thinks he is a
00:33:36 prophet or spiritual he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command from the Lord if anyone does not recognize this he is not recognized which means all new testament prophecy must come under the authority of scripture who writes scripture Paul Paul writ scripture do you know that Paul has never said when I prophesy you evaluate my prophecy nobody ever said to Paul that I evaluate your I think you're wrong none okay so that's important Ephesians 2 19-20 so you're no longer strangers and
00:34:11 Aliens you are fellow citizens with Saints and members of the household of God but built on the foundation of Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ being the corner this the architect of the church and when gam actually States that's is his thesis I think the most well accepted so far are that the New Testament Apostles and Old Testament counterparts which are the prophets are the foundation of the church you can have New Testament prophecy you know talk about buy the land here and there I don't care but you cannot go past the
00:34:44 foundation Foundation you don't you don't recreate Foundation there's no prophecy in New Testament that can re configure the foundation of church the foundation of church is built on Old Testament prophecy as well as Apostolic tradition all right the witness of the Apostles that's number one uh but Wayne gudum actually says Those Who exercise the gift of Prophecy in the New Testament spoke something less than the very words of God when the Old Testament Prophet speaks he says T say the Lord and it is T say the Lord in the New
00:35:18 Testament his thesis is that they've got less Authority you need to vet it and it's also under the authority of the word of God so that's what his main thesis is in this particular book so what he's saying is that yes we have new testament prophecy but there are Prophecies of less Authority and you actually have to check it in your church okay so uh this is uh Anthony Ton's definition the gift of the Holy Spirit which combines pastoral insight into the needs of persons communities and situations with the ability to address
00:35:50 challenge Comfort judgment consolation for the building up of the church it could be spontaneous or you could be in a sermon where you actually think thinking about it and praying about it ah here's an example of a Malaysian Prophet if you want you visit him in moah his name is Dr J Jonathan David is in the website Malayan currency will not go on a free fall it will slowly recover okay all the financial people here get your books out H right uh and he actually writes uh 2012 to 2019 is the era of the fat cow you know
00:36:27 fat cow is a good high currency which I didn't think was true we must manage and multiply Master Financial intelligence so that you're ready to seize God opportunities that will be relayed to us then 2019 to 24 is the lean cow So today we're in the lean cow the the currency not so good but I think the currency recently went up you know then you've got the bleeding cow 2028 real ring it really in the toilet and then you've got the dead cow the dead cow right ah what can I say this is actually you know it's on the
00:37:09 website I'm not choosing it just to I'm just saying you got to be careful isn't it and then he say the power of greed and covetousness and deceit will be broken we must break they always use spiritual language you know to to to cover this Insanity uh and who is he you read about him founder and senior pastor I always senior pastor one of all Nations uh Sanctuary formerly Full Gospel Center oh dear MOA a governing Kingdom Church he's also presiding Apostle who is Apostle of the international strategic Alliance of
00:37:43 apostolic churches he's also founding director and CEO of Destiny height ceran Bard a consultancy and training company specializing empowering equipping leaders for the 21st century so you all want to apply go to uh moah and set up I mean do you think he's a prophet very obviously he got vested interest isn't it I mean you don't need to be that clever to work it out there are a lot of these people around uh but the problem is we in a conservative churches Paul tells you do not quench the spirit do not despise prophecies but
00:38:20 test everything whole fast is what is good okay I tell you that so that you don't despise it but you beware there a lot of false prophets for example Paula White stood next to Donald Trump blade handam said this one is the next president of America and he lost the election although he will never you know admit it and this time now she did not say anything in the Old Testament if you had a wrong prophecy we actually crucify you or we Stone you to death right but strangely uh when you come to the New
00:38:53 Testament you got wrong prophecy nobody actually Stones you to death which actually which actually supports Wayne Gram's idea that actually they are less authoritative I mean that's a good good argument isn't it all right so you got this agabus but it's controversial whether it was right or not anyway but I think as a church we should not discount it because Paul says not to discount it is is that if you have a burning prophecy about us buying land in pong uh please come forward to us uh there are
00:39:26 Elders in this church and Pastors in this church or which we can uh just share with us and we feel this is what God is trying to tell us then we will actually share it and usually this is done in the context of a prayer meeting rather than a big meeting like this so we don't want to go against scripture we don't want to despise prophecy and we are open to the Holy Spirit uh but we will test everything and hold fast to what is good all right so the next thing is a very controversial problem with the
00:39:53 with the women of which I'm going to get in trouble now we apparently have a contradiction on one hand Paul says uh if every woman who prays or prophesies with a head and cover dishonors which means he allows women to pray and to prophesy it's okay and in chapter 14 as the Church of the Saints the women should keep silent in church they're not permitted to speak they should be in submission as the law also says if there anything they desire to learn let them ask their husbands at home for it's shameful for woman to
00:40:26 speak in church hello what's happening on one hand he tells them to stand up and pray as long as you wear a veil on the other hand he ask them to shut up right what's wrong with this guy and it's within the space of how many chapters there are various Concepts ideas on this one is that it's a interpolation which mean there have several manuscripts which get scripture translated transposed from uh the generations down and the various texts and some of the texts put this particular verse at the bottom behind
00:40:59 the paragraph which means if that has happened then they suggest that this may be an interpolation which somebody edited it okay that's a possibility but a lot of conservative Evangelical Scholars don't accept this some people think it's a CL Corinthians slogam all right which means he's just putting it up to bash it down again there's not very much evidence against for this most likely this is a Prohibition against disruptive speech because you're you're listening in on a situation which Paul is trying to address and you don't know
00:41:31 what happened beforehand all right we get some idea when he says let them ask their husbands at home so we're talking about the wives you know not not single women H single women never disruptive all right uh they're not permitted to speak uh but but in submission because single women are not submission to to any man here right okay if there anything let them ask their husbands at home shameful for woman to speak in church and and and oh my my thing goes wrong actually supposed to the bracket is supposed to go on to
00:42:07 speak the Greek word is interrogate or cross-examine which means the prophets are all standing up husband standing up you know yidian was a prophet he'd be standing up and saying you know God wants us to buy this land in pong right and his wife was there raish how do you know pong why not Damar Heights ah then then he would be embarrassed right then then there will be a big fight that those are pro leant and pro pro you know typical Baptist Church so I think not very edifying in church to have such things correct all right so
00:42:46 that because of the word uh interrogate all right and the same word is used of uh the high priest in Mark chapter 14 the high priest stood up and in and and asked it didn't ask he interrogated Jesus have you no answer to make what is it that why is it that this man testify against you you think you think I say that I say nicely no it's interrogate so the possibility is as Anthony tlon uh uh summarizes in our view in summary the wives are told not to judge or question publicly any prophecies emanating from
00:43:21 their own husbands okay other husband maybe can huh such action might bring shame upon the marriage rather if they have questions they should raise them at home right so I think that would be the most reasonable interpretation of this particular passage and I think if you go to most Bible colleges you know uh uh they will actually go onto this particular view right so finally I'm writing to you as a command from the Lord if anybody does not recognize this is not recognized so my brothers earnestly desire to prophesy but do not
00:43:57 forbid speaking in tongues but all things should be done decently and in order so how do you apply this the Cornerstone of corporate worship is upbuilding so that we are all aware of the transforming presence of God when you come to worship here today and come together with all your fellow brothers and sisters we want together to feel to understand that God is here with us we got churches like the Catholic Church they use Latin for Mass right and the reason why they use Latin for mass is not only because
00:44:38 she's because the church is unchangeable she's Catholic Universal and has to address all people at all time so if you're going to address all people all time you must use Latin which means very funny you know how do you address Latin for a guy in who only speaks Tagalog or mandrin so that's because of church tradition worship is understanding in church I rather speak five words in my mind in order to instruct than 10,000 words in a particular tongue so the whole Cornerstone of worship is intelligibility Calvin says the
00:45:14 preaching and singing are be done so that they accessible to even the unlearned so which means whatever it is you must go to go to the lowest denominator in any worship meeting so is understandable to them and we actually had a problem with that when we actually the children join us for worship and children join us for worship somewhow you want to sing him then you still sing Jesus loves me this I know let all the kids know right or probably know more than that nowadays all right but you got to go to the
00:45:48 lowest denominator rather than to focus on culture and that's the problem William Tindale was the one who brought the the English translation of the Bible to the English people so that the average guy who he wanted the farmer who plows even to understand God's word all right it was a time many years about 400 years ago when this young fellow complained to his father that you know the the hymns are too far behind the time the Tyson tune tune is no good uh meaningless words sounds familiar right 400 years ago then his father said to
00:46:24 him hey you're so clever you go Brite your own this is a young young boy you know you know what he did he did his name is Isaac Watts When I Survey the Wondrous Cross Joy to the World we still sing it 400 years later on right but it's it revolutionized the worship because people understood it you see we have this idea that certain languages are very holy right the Holiness is in your mind intelligibility the words don't matter all right so when we actually worship songs you need to be contemporary but you keep the rich
00:47:05 theological uh uh concepts of your old hymns or rejuvenate them in I'm very proud of the worship team they try to rejuvenate the old hymns with the rich theology with modern tune so that the person can understand some people still stick to the kgv kgv will read and the Lord he it is that do go before thee he will be with thee he will not fail thee neither will forsake thee fear not neither be dismayed William me loves this one he will not change I only managed to switch him to bit to the new King James
00:47:45 version I mean why do they want that because d da sounds more holy right so are you standing in front or are you actually up building you need to speak a language in the vernacular that other people are blessed not the one that you like you personally like King James version right so in your quiet time you do D or you just do whatever you want to do right but in public in public be strong and courageous do not be afraid or terrified because of them for the Lord your God goes with you he will never leave you or forsake you choose
00:48:21 the most intelligible Bible verse and if this is a different because you all quite sist died so we use NIV other congregation we will use today's English version or even the message but the message has a lot of interpretation there all right but whatever it is beauty versus intelligibility intelligibility always wins there's some controversy I think Jerome was get in in a email that uh the Filipino will come and people want to come here and share a song with you guys in Tagalog the problem is Tagalog you
00:48:57 think I understand how can I say Amen if you sing Tagalog so when you actually have the Malay song up there I'm very happy today that the Malay is then covered by English because there are english- speaking people here who don't understand Bahasa Malaysia so that's exactly how we should do it we should be inclusive all right now worship second thing we learned from this chapter is participative all right you've got to have people say something and you've got to agree agree all right so what you say
00:49:29 and do matter so that the other person is being up built so when you come together you've got him a lesson Revelation a tongue interpretation all things you bring together but done for upbuilding which means we have testimonies we've got solo singing we've got all sorts of things that we come together because each one has a different perspective of God right and it's orderly you are speaking a tongue two or three at the most all right when you come up here our FBC standard 10 minutes no more I got one chap here took
00:50:11 10 minutes to half an hour we almost had to switch off the mic but if you take more than 10 minutes we we will switch off the mic because it's not done orderly Paul says it must be done orderly so although a lot of people perseverate why because they think God is leading I don't think God is leading you when we say 10 minutes 10 minutes it's it it's important for you to be disciplined that's why Paul says let two or three at the most don't you think there are more than three people with the Revelation there could be more right
00:50:41 why is he cutting them off because there is order and order is Godly okay so Jonathan Edwards let me end says God is glorified not only by his glory is being seen but by being rejoiced in so when we come to worship it's not oh Sunday I got to come again I got to pay my respects to God a lot of people have that idea in fact I got one chap many years ago I you know uh you know he telling me Oh you're going to church on Sunday can you take my Tiding for me uh uh that's good enough it represents me that's not how it is when you come
00:51:28 it's not out of guilt it's not out of discipline or compulsion or obligation it's come you come so that you can actually enjoy and rejoice in who God Is So when it's like a bonfire Piper describes worship as Joy awe celebration all those emotions but the emotions are not for the emotions sake you know it's like the fire is not a it's not doesn't burn by itself the fire is because of all the pieces of logs that you put in and each one of you whether it's a testimony sharing guitar playing you bring a log
00:52:17 and you throw it on the fire and the fire burns brighter another person brings a song I I remember Kimberly sings solo is very well so she she takes a log and she throws it here and it burns even brighter and every single one comes and brings a log and it burns brighter and and worship is participative imagine what a worship session is like in this church we were deteriorating to is where the worship team is too good and all the attention is on and it becomes what Taylor Swift concert this is stor
00:52:58 with close oh that one sorry I mean that's what modern worship has deteriorated too it's participative which means you sing loud you sing loud you sing loud but Out Of Tune never mind but we sing together and when we stand up and sing together in a rousing mo means you are worshipping you're not attending a stor Swift concert and each one brings a revelation of God so that our view of God is great you're wondering when you when with you're with God's people you feel inspired you feel lifted up you feel
00:53:37 like you're in heaven well it's supposed to be like in heaven but if you come to worship and you feel like you're in Hell there's something wrong here they are supposed to lead you into the presence of God a sense of awe Holiness and you really enjoy the worship you know what why because you're enjoying God you're not enjoying the music there's a difference between the music and God and they are supposed to lead you to enjoy God and you discover from testimonies and song how beautiful God is I mean like that Malay song very
00:54:13 touching for me all right so each one comes with a different perspective and it one brings a revelation religious people find God useful Christians find God beautiful if you leave this service today and the scripture makes sense the worship is inspiring and you find God beautiful that's when you are transformed that's transformation comes from your heart if you really see that God is beautiful you will be transformed so you measure your worship on Monday morning when the power and presence of God that you have felt here is so
00:54:57 powerful it's not out of guilt or obligation maybe you come out of guilt and obligation that's fact I've done this very often if I don't come I feel bad that's a Catholic in me brought up from young but maybe you come from that but when you are immersed in the music and you see your colleagues and your brothers and sisters worship then and you hear the message and you hear the testimonies and you feel transformed because of what the Lord has told you then your life will change on Monday and that's what we expect of all the First
00:55:27 Baptist people so let's have our team here lead us together we all stand and please each of you have a log throw it into the fire [Music] God from whom all blessings flow Praise Him All Creatures he Praise Him above the Heavenly Host praise Father Son and Holy Ghost let Earth Heavenly ssim the power and might of his great name let us exalt on praise God the holy trity [Music] praise God praise God praise God who saved my soul praise God praise God praise God from whom all [Music] blessings praise God
00:57:27 the king of Throne [Music] transcend his crown and kingom never end now when true out eternity how praise the one who di for me [Music] praise God praise God praise God who Sav my soul praise God praise God praise God from all blessings sing praise God praise God praise God praise God God who save my soul praise God praise God praise God for whom more blessings praise God from whom more blessings praise God from whom all blessings Lord [Music] wow that's a lot better praise God hallelujah now to him who is able to do
00:59:06 far more abundantly than all we can ask or think according to the power and work within us hear that within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever and God's people said amen all right thank you
