A Sermon Delivered on Wednesday evening, September 30h
, 2020, by
Evangelist PAUL ACQUAH, Live on MZ Radio London, UK
For anyone who believes that the Bible is the true word of God, there could be no argument that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is God’s will for every believer. One of the biggest reasons why the body of Christ hasn’t made the greatest impact on our generation today is because of our failure to operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Without a doubt, Jesus and the first apostles used the gifts of the Spirit along with their message, confirming that God was truly the one speaking through them. There are many gifts of the Holy Spirit that come with the baptism of the Holy spirit. Scripturally, however, speaking in tongues is the initial gift to manifest. The purpose of this message is not only to establish the validity of speaking in tongues, but from scripture, some of the little-known benefits that accompany this gift is shared.
Seek God’s gifts with all your heart. God remains the greatest giver of every good and perfect gift
throughout all eternity. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the
Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17). God’s ultimate
and most precious gift to every one of us is His only begotten son – Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life” (John 3:16). Jesus came to give us the gift of everlasting life. Jesus remains the greatest
gift, from whom everyone can receive eternal life.
This scripture shows us who God is and how deeply He loves us. Jesus is truly the Son of God and God the Son, who chose to die for the sin of the world as the Son of Man – so that whosoever believes on Him would not perish but have everlasting life. Praise His holy name. Make up your mind to receive the greatest gift, the Lord and saviour Jesus Christ today, if you have not already done so. And if you have received Christ, you must seek spiritual gifts. Most people don’t know what they have in the spirit and so they go through life anyhow, they embrace lack and inadequacy and they wouldn’t even try to get out of their situation, or circumstance.
Take God at His word. The Bible says we must desire spiritual gifts. We need spiritual gifts to be able to
live successful Christian lives.
Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 2 For he who speaks in a
tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks
mysteries. 3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. 4 He who
speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5
I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification. (1 Cor. 14:1-5) The baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit will revolutionize your life as a Christian.
How will you deal with things without the power of the Holy Spirit? I ask you this question. You need His
power to flow through you, and that will really be happening in your life if you have spiritual gifts. Some
people confuse the gift of tongues and basically disagree. They say that you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit at salvation and that’s all there is. God’s word is the touchstone of truth, it cannot be broken. There are many today who twist Scriptures to agree with their own unsound and weak thinking.
“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him;
nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). By and large, people don’t
believe in the gift of speaking in tongues and any of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They try to say that they
have passed away and those gifts don’t operate today. But that’s not true. That’s not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate experience, and all the gifts in the Bible are still operating today. God’s Word cannot be set aside when it conflicts with people’s unsound thinking, and I pray that God will give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him and the spiritual gifts He gives to mankind. Praise be to His Holy name.
Speaking in tongues is one of the first things that happen when people receive the Baptism of the Holy
Spirit. I can give you many examples in the Bible, but I will urge you to go and study them on your own.
There are many instances in the book of Acts where people who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit
spoke in tongues. (For e.g., Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts 10, Acts 11, & Acts 19). As believers and ministers of
God, we have every right to declare the truth and proclaim that spiritual gifts are still available today as
they were in Biblical times. When you look at the instances in the Bible, it’s amazing to me that people
today fight against this gift of speaking in tongues because the people who wrote the Bible spoke in tongues.
It was prophesied that it will happen and yet there is a resistance against speaking in tongues.
Majority of today’s unbelievers and even some believers in the church are offended when Christians say
they have spiritual gifts and can operate in them. Speaking in tongues is an immediate manifestation that
happens when a person receives that baptism of the Holy Spirit. It’s not the only manifestation though. You will begin to have revelation knowledge when you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit because Jesus said the comforter will come, who is the Holy Spirit and will teach us all things.
The Holy Spirit is sent to teach you and bring things to your remembrance and that will happen to you. I
couldn’t do what I’m doing today in ministry without the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Operating in the gifts
of the Holy Spirit is deeply offensive to all who do not believe. However, for those of us who believe, the
Bible contains some glorious truths that comfort the soul, encourage the heart, and enable us to operate in the miraculous.
One of the first spiritual gifts that you must seek is speaking in tongues. This gift is usually associated with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is a separate experience from salvation. It’s distinct and separate. We are not saying that speaking in tongues is superior to any of the other gifts. Every gift of God is important, and we need to receive them all.
I want to just talk about speaking in tongues in this message, because in the book of Acts, the people spoke in tongues. It was a typical experience when a person received the baptism of the Holy Spirit to speak in tongues and it is an immediate thing which is audible and something that you can do to prove that you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit.
So why is speaking in tongues so important?
Tongues build you up and keep you in a place so that stress, worry, fear, anxiety, and panic attacks will not have any effect on your life. You can be free from addiction and even from physical infirmities. “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church” (1 Cor. 14:4). When you speak in tongues, you edify yourself. “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful” (1 Cor. 14:14). So, my spirit prays when I’m speaking in tongues. The scripture is telling you
which part of you is praying when you pray in tongues.
When you pray in English or your local dialect or your first language, your mind is praying, but when you
pray in tongues your spirit is praying. And verse 4 says that if that happens, you edify yourself. Edify means, building yourself up, constructing or repairing. So, when you pray in tongues you are building, you are constructing, you are building your body and growing spiritually.
This is why it’s so important that we speak in tongues.
“For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful” (1 Cor. 14:14). So, when you pray in tongues, your spirit prays, your bornagain spirit that has the mind of Christ prays. You have an unction from God and you know all things.
When you pray in tongues it’s your spirit praying, and the Bible says you are speaking from the hidden
wisdom of God and you are speaking mysteries. Friend, seek spiritual gifts, and start from the gift of
speaking in tongues.
Why do you have to get understanding regarding the speaking in tongues? It’s because the devil has
deceived many people. Every time you speak in tongues, the devil will say you are just making it up, you
are faking it, stop it, and people get discouraged and stop praying in tongues. They don’t realize that they are stopping to live in victory. They don’t realize that they are stopping to live in good health. They don’t realize that they are stopping their wholeness and wellbeing. My friend, speak in tongues. The apostle Paul said, “I speak in tongues more than all of you”.
We have tremendously powerful gifts available to us through the Holy Spirit, but few people take advantage of them. Instead, we ask God to do what He told us to do. We need to use these gifts to operate in the miraculous. A born-again Christian is supposed to live in the supernatural. “ 21 In the law it is written:
“With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; And yet, for all that, they will not
hear Me,” says the Lord. 22 Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers;
but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe” (1 Cor. 14:21-22). So, from the old
testament, even some of God’s people will not hear Him when it comes to praying in tongues. But 1 Cor.
14:22 says, tongues are for a sign to unbelievers, so it’s very important to pray in tongues.
Isaiah 28:11-12 says,
“For with stammering lips and another tongue
He will speak to this people,
12 To whom He said, “This is the rest with which
You may cause the weary to rest,”
And, “This is the refreshing”;
Yet they would not hear.”
Look at that, you see how people are resisting this gift. Everyone needs rest and refreshing, and this text of scripture says speaking in tongues is the way to get them. But many believers have refused to desire the gift of tongues. Rest and refreshing and yet they will not hear. God is offering you rest and refreshing, a place of rest. In the midst of a world full of stress, worries and anxiety, it’s very easy for our hearts to be
fearful, but God says there is a place of rest and the whole context is referring to speaking in tongues. Thank you, Lord, for these gifts.
And if you have not received Christ as your personal saviour, receive the greatest gift first, the gift of eternal life. You can then seek spiritual gifts. And if you will, you may pray this prayer after me, saying every word from your heart.
Dear Lord, I recognize that I am a sinner and need to be saved.
I understand that Jesus died in my place and suffered the judgment of all of my sins.
I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and He is at the right hand of the father.
Lord Jesus, I surrender my Life to you.
Come and Live in my heart and be my Lord and saviour.
Thank You for saving me.
AMEN!