HOME MEETINGS
Chapter 4
THE WAY TO PRACTICE THE
HOME MEETINGS
WEEK 3 – MONDAY
Bible Reading: 1 Cor. 12:1-11; 14:26-33
Read and pray: “What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.” (1 Cor. 14:26)
THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SPIRIT
Now from verse 3 we go to verse 7 of 1 Corinthians 12: “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all.” In what way is the manifestation of the Spirit given? “For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom…” (v. 8).
The main manifestation of the Spirit is in the word of wisdom and not in miracles, nor in healings, nor in speaking in tongues. The first manifestation is the word of wisdom, then “and to another… the word of knowledge.”
The first manifestation is the word of wisdom and the second is the word of knowledge. This should impress us, that in our home meetings we should be full of words of wisdom and of knowledge.
In the meetings the word of wisdom is at the top and the word of knowledge is not as high. Wisdom is related mainly to our spirit, and knowledge is related to our mind. Wisdom proceeds from our spirit, where the Holy Spirit dwells. Knowledge proceeds from the mind, where our thought is. But do not despise the word of knowledge. These are the two most important manifestations of the Spirit in Christian meetings.
Verse 9 says: “to another faith in the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings in the one Spirit.” The faith here is the kind of faith that can remove mountains. Verse 10 continues: “to another workings of miracles.” These are works of power. Three things are mentioned: faith to remove mountains, the healing of sicknesses, and the workings of miracles.
Then it says: “to another prophecy.” To prophesy is also to speak. The word of wisdom is for speaking, the word of knowledge is for speaking, and prophecy is for speaking. Then it says: “to another discerning of spirits.” This is to discern which spirit is of God and which is not of God. Then it says: “to another various kinds of tongues.” We know that all tongues are for speaking.
And it continues: “and to another the interpretation of tongues.” The interpretation of tongues is also for speaking. These are nine points of the manifestation of the Spirit. Five are for speaking: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, prophecy, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. All these five are for speaking. Then there is faith to overcome some obstacles, healings of sicknesses, the workings of miracles, and the discerning of spirits.
In 1 Corinthians 14:26 it says: “What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation…” A psalm is not only for singing. Ephesians 5 tells us to speak to one another with psalms and hymns. Psalms are not only for singing but also for speaking.
Teachings, without doubt, are for speaking, and revelation is a kind of speaking. Verse 26 continues: “a tongue, and an interpretation.” All these are for speaking. A psalm is for speaking and singing. A teaching is for speaking. A revelation is for speaking. A tongue is for speaking. An interpretation of a tongue is for speaking.
All these five points related to Christian meetings are for speaking. We must study with great care the word in the divine revelation of the Lord.
In chapter twelve, when Paul speaks of the manifestation of the Spirit, he speaks of nine points. Of the nine, four are miraculous things: faith, healing, miracles, and the discerning of spirits. Five are for speaking: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, prophecy, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues.
Then when he speaks of the meetings in chapter fourteen, he does not refer to healings or miracles. In a shift, everything he speaks concerns speaking. You must psalm. This means you must speak or sing. You need to vocalize.
Then you need to teach by speaking. You need to give a revelation by speaking. You need to speak a tongue and interpret it by speaking. Everything is through speaking.
Then, what must we speak? Concerning all these kinds of speaking. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:1: “Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.”
The word prophesy both in Hebrew and in Greek, both in the Old and in the New Testament, means three things. First, to prophesy is to speak for God, to tell people something of God. Second, it is to speak forth God, to speak something concerning God. Third, it is to predict, to foretell something that will happen.
The third meaning is a matter of prediction. Many Christians understand that the word prophesy means only to predict or prognosticate. But if we read 1 Corinthians 14, we will understand that the word prophesy in this chapter does not refer mainly to prognosticating, but to speaking Christ and speaking for Christ.
To prophesy in this chapter is simply to speak things concerning God and to speak for God, or we can say, to speak things concerning Christ and to speak for Christ. Then verse 3 continues saying: “But he who prophesies speaks to men for building up, exhortation, and consolation.”
This, without doubt, is not prediction, but a kind of speaking in the word of wisdom or the word of knowledge to build up, encourage, comfort, and console others.
Verse 4 says: “…but he who prophesies builds up the church.” To speak Christ and to speak for Christ builds up the church. Verses 23 to 26 say: “If, therefore, the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak in tongues, and uninstructed or unbelieving people enter, will they not say that you are mad? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or uninstructed person enters, he is convicted by all, he is judged by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so, falling on his face, he will worship God, declaring that God is truly among you. What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, and an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.”
Each one has something. You have a psalm. I have a teaching. He has a revelation. Another has a tongue. And the fifth has an interpretation. This is mutuality. A basketball team has five players. If one player holds the ball only for himself and never passes it, that is not mutuality but individuality. The principle is the same for the meetings.
We must practice mutuality. If during a meeting only one person speaks the whole time, everyone will leave with the impression that the meeting was poor. But if all speak mutually, the meeting will be greatly enriched.
The word tongue in verse 26 means a real language that can be interpreted. A tongue is a dialect that has a certain meaning that can be translated. In Acts 2:6 we can see that speaking in tongues was speaking a dialect. All the hearers were amazed at hearing another language: “How is it that we hear, each in our own language, the great things of God?” (Acts 2:11).
Chapters twelve and fourteen of 1 Corinthians are also portions in the New Testament that mention speaking in tongues. In this portion Paul says that if someone speaks in tongues in the meeting there must also be interpretation: “If anyone speaks in a tongue, let it be two, or at most three, and each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him be silent in the church and speak to himself and to God.”
These verses show that any tongue spoken in a meeting must be a distinct dialect. Once I was invited to speak to a Pentecostal group. I stayed with them for many days.
While I was there, I observed an act of speaking in tongues and its interpretation; however, the interpretations were longer than the speaking in tongues. Even the pastor acknowledged it was not genuine.
Then I observed a person repeating the same speaking in tongues on three occasions, yet each interpretation was different. This kind of speaking in tongues is completely false.
When we speak of tongues, we refer to genuine languages; not just any sound produced by the tongue, but syllables that are meaningful and that can constitute a language. This is a genuine language. This is what the Bible reveals.
In 1 Corinthians 12, nine distinct things of the Spirit are mentioned. The first is the word of wisdom and the second is the word of knowledge, but the last two are speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues.
In 1 Corinthians 14:26, there are five things related to the meetings: first a psalm for speaking and singing, then a teaching for speaking, then a revelation for speaking.
These are the first three. Then the last two are a tongue and an interpretation. In Paul’s writings, tongues and their interpretations are at the end of all the lists, but current practice makes the end the head.
In the Pentecostal movement, they make tongues not only the head but almost everything. The most important thing in the Christian meeting is not speaking in tongues; it is the speaking of the word of wisdom, the speaking of the word of knowledge, the speaking of the teaching, and the speaking of a revelation that can reveal something, that can instruct people, and that can build up the saints and the church.
🌿 Enjoy more:
Hymn: Fullness of the Spirit – “The Baptism”
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