The Value of Tongues

This is tape number 9011, Bob Mumford speaking on the subject, The Value of Tongues. As I was awakened this morning, waiting upon the Lord, the Lord began to talk to me about teaching on the place and the value of speaking in tongues. And as I said to the folks yesterday, this is the real issue.

You can say I believe in anything. You can say I believe in the rapture, I believe, I believe, I believe everything. The only thing you don't want to say is what? I speak in tongues.

Now, you forgive me if I kid a little bit because this has really amazed me over the years as I've watched. The issue, really, the issue is do you speak in tongues or don't you speak in tongues? Many, many, many of our friends believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit and they believe in all the gifts of the Spirit and they say this, that speaking in tongues is all right at the right time and the right place. Of course, that never is.

You know, there is never right time, right place, but it's right for them, whatever that is. And so I'm amazed as I've watched over the years, watched this thing. Now, when I said to one of my Baptist friends, I said, how come you folks always talk about tongues? I said, because that's the only thing you ever ask us about.

The issue, the question, the situation is always this. Now, I would like to make a categoric statement to begin with today that this or misuse and abuse is no reason for disuse. I have been and have experienced some of the most blatant, the most disgusting, the most revolting situations in places where people speak in tongues.

This often causes and desires for us to throw the whole thing out the window. But if we can today establish in your heart from the Word of God some issues and some value, many of the friends with whom I deal, they said, well, what good is speaking in tongues? Now, I have an Episcopalian grandmother and her and I have tangled on several occasions in love, of course. We taught that yesterday, didn't we? But she really gets it.

Now, I said, now, grandmother, let's just wait one minute. I want to ask you a question. I want to ask you a question.

She said, all right, what is it? I said, is it in the Bible? Yes. Now, this is the first issue we have to settle. Is it in the Bible? Now, as much as you like it or don't like it or whether you wish it wasn't there or not, it still is there.

And it says they all began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave utterance. Now, I did not choose tongues. I didn't choose that.

If I was God, I would have chosen a ball of fire or, you know, something more dramatic. I would have chosen something. And I thought, well, any evidence that the power of the Holy Spirit has come into a man's life, I would choose something entirely different.

But God chose tongues. And everybody said? Now, this is the issue, you see. Because when you say, you can say, I believe in everything.

I believe in the scriptures. I believe in everything. And as soon as you start to say something about tongues, some people's hair goes right up on the back of their neck.

Others get all excited. Some afraid the devil's going to get them. And on a multitude, multitude of various reasons.

Now, today or this afternoon, if we can, I would like to teach for a little while on the value and the place of speaking in tongues. And then we will, Lord willing, open it to a time of discussion and a time of questions, if we can do that. Now, I'd like to read some scripture from 1 Corinthians chapter 14.

We'd like to read, we'd like to read 1 Corinthians chapter 14, 1 through 5. And then we'll read a few verses toward the end of the chapter. Follow after agape, or love. Follow after love.

That's what we were teaching yesterday. And, and, just as anyone talks about following love, we said yesterday, it's the most frustrating thing to love people and not be able to help them. But not only do we love people, but God has given us nine tools, nine ministries of the Holy Spirit.

So not only can we love people, but we can help them because God has given us the tools. And these tools are spiritual gifts. And you notice the gifts is in italics or should be in your Bible.

And so there's reasons for that. But here, follow after love and desire the spiritual. But rather that ye may prophesy.

Oh, isn't that interesting? For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth him, howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, exhortation, and comfort.

He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself. But he that prophesieth edifieth the church. But, or I would, notice this, verse 5, I would that ye all speak with tongues.

But rather that ye prophesieth. For greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying. Now we want to skip over some of these.

I wish we could read them, but let's read verse 18. I thank my God that I speak with tongues more than you all. I think Paul must have been from Georgia, don't you? And he said, I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all.

But here we go. Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. Now over to the last verse 39 and 40.

Verse 38 perhaps we should read. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. Wherefore brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.

That's just in case anybody misinterpreted anything Paul was teaching, he summed it up with these words. Forbid not to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order.

Now let me begin at verse 40 and work backwards. May I? People always put the emphasis on decently in order, but I'd like to put the emphasis like this. Let all things be done.

You see, most people put the emphasis on decently in order, but Paul said, please let's get it done, even if it's decently in order or whatever, let's get it done. Let all things be done. Decently and in order now is a relative term, and of course we must interpret that relative term from the scriptures.

Now I do not have time today, I wish we did, to go back into all of the doctrinal implications of speaking in tongues. But I'd like to say just a few words from the Tower of Babel, if I may. Now the word Babel or Babble, however you pronounce it, the word Babble means we have a babbling idiot.

And this word comes from a word which means confusion. And in Genesis chapter 11, they were all in one accord, the Bible says, and they were all in unity, and they were all unified with one purpose, against God. They had one unified purpose, and that was against God.

And so God chose, the strangest thing, but God chose to come and smite men in the realm of communication so that they could not communicate one with another. And suddenly one saying to the other, pass the bricks in Spanish. And one was saying in some African dialects, and suddenly the whole thing is scattered, and they were disappointed, disillusioned, and the whole thing came to naught.

And for thousands of years this thing existed, and God said, there's only one reason, there's only one basis, that I'll ever let men come together again. God, I can't go into all this, maybe sometime will, but I'll just say this, God has seen to it that all men go their own way. All we like sheep have gone astray, this is what the Bible says.

And God sees to it that he keeps men separated, and even the atheists can't agree with each other, is that right? The politicians can't agree with each other, the great society can't agree with each other, nobody can agree with each other. And so God has chosen the means of communication to keep men apart. Now, in the day that he began to build his own kingdom, he chose something that amazed me.

Because he chose the means of communication to begin to produce a unity in the church that can be produced no other way. Now, I'd like to say this, again a categoric statement, I don't make too many of them, but I want just to lay these as premises. I would like to suggest to you today, that a man who knows, one, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and knows how to speak in other tongues, and uses that experience scripturally and according to New Testament pattern, something will happen inside of him that will produce spiritual unity in the church and in the body of Christ.

Now, I've looked for a long time for one of Paul's secrets. You know, every young theology student, seminary student, always looks for Paul's secrets. You know, we always go back through the book of Acts, and we thumb through these things, we want to find Paul's secrets.

Because if we can find Paul's secrets, and we can know how he did it, then we can do it too. And so we go back through there, and we look and look, and it really interests me. But one day I think I found a little bit of one of Paul's secrets.

I think I found it in the New Testament, and it says this, I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all. Now I'm saying to you, and I hope to substantiate it this afternoon, that this is one of the key secrets of the ministry of the Apostle Paul. So brother Mumford, what a statement.

Well, let's see if we can substantiate that, and see if we can find out some things of the value of speaking in tongues. Now, let's begin by saying this, do you think God knew what he was doing? Do you? Now if we think he knew what he was doing, he chose tongues in Acts chapter 2, he chose tongues, and again in 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14, this whole chapters are given, and in other instances. Now the lady that translated the Amplified New Testament, I forget her name, I wish I could remember, the Lachman Foundation, however, she translated tongues, tongues, tongues, till she got down to verse 18, where it says, I thank God that I speak with tongues more than you all, and she just couldn't bring herself to translate that same word there again, so she said, I thank God that I speak with languages more than you all.

What does that show you folks? Shows you a prejudice, and a twisting, and an inability to actually admit what the scriptures actually teach. And here I brought with me my Greek text, just in case anybody wants to know what these words are in the original, but here's what he says, I thank God that I speak with tongues more than you all. Now, over in chapter 14 and verse 5, will you underline these words for me, if you will, as we begin to understand this.

Here we have in chapter 14 and verse 4, I would, you finish it for me, will you, that you all spoke with tongues. Now, I didn't write that, I'm not the one who tries to go around selling people on speaking in tongues, but if we can see what the Bible teaches concerning speaking in tongues, we may be able to elicit from this. So, three things now I want to establish in your mind.

One, verse 5, I would that you all spoke with tongues. Paul says this, I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all. And thirdly, forbid not, verse whatever it is, last verse in the chapter, verse 39, forbid not to speak with tongues.

So here's three instances, lest anybody misinterpret what is happening in Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 14. Now, back in the garden, we have an instance where sin entered into the human race. And it says, when God spoke to Adam, he said these words, if you eat of that fruit, ye shall surely, what? Die.

This is the word. Now, people always talk about the fall of man. But this sort of bothers me a little bit, because the fall of man gives us some idea that he fell from something, and surely he did fall.

But more than falling from anything, he died. He literally died. His spirit inside of him died.

Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1, he said, and you have he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. And he goes all through the scriptures speaking about the death that came. So death passed upon all men, Romans chapter 5. And so many, many scriptures teach us about death.

Now, David Duplessy tells about a neurosurgeon, a man whom he was dealing with, who was fighting speaking in tongues. He said, I believe the Bible, I believe in healing, I believe in everything. He said, do you really have to speak in tongues? And I kid the Baptist a little bit.

I said, can you get baptized in water without getting wet? I said, if you can get baptized in water without getting wet, then you can get baptized in the Holy Ghost without speaking in tongues. I mean, that's how I feel about it. I know others take issue with me, but this is what we are hoping, if we can, to share with you a little bit.

But so man died, and so he's in this, this oral surgeon's in his office, and a little girl about, oh, I don't know, something two, three years old, and she had never spoken. There was a string on her tongue, and she had never actually spoken, and she always was tongue-tied, and she's always trying to say things. And finally, the mother discovered that there was this string on her tongue, took her to this surgeon, and the surgeon said, oh, mother, it's a simple operation.

All we do is clip this string on her tongue, and the little girl will be able to speak. So he gets her in the office, sprays the Novocaine on the palate there, and he clips this string, and the little girl begins to talk. And the Lord said to the surgeon, that's what I'm trying to do to you.

Now he said, listen, when we were dead in trespasses and sins, God breathed upon us, and we were regenerated by the Holy Ghost. And I said, hallelujah, new life in Christ Jesus. I have been born again by the Holy Spirit, and we rejoice in this new life, and it is new life.

And was it, brother, who was it saying, was it this morning or last night, I never knew the flowers could smell so good. I never knew the beauty, and this was the same thing that happened in my own life. I was suddenly a new creature in Christ Jesus.

I was alive, I was vibrant. But you know, somehow I heard somebody speak in tongues. I didn't know what it was, but I knew it was God.

That's the only thing I knew. So as he clipped this little girl's tongue, she began to speak, and God said, that's what I want to do for you. You have been breathed upon by the Holy Spirit, but your spirit has never learned to pray.

Your spirit, your inner spirit, has never really learned how to pray. And this oral surgeon skews himself from the ladies that were there, went back into his back room, and he got down on his knees. He said, dear Lord Jesus, if this is what you want to do to me, if you want to teach my spirit how to pray, then I'm a candidate.

And so God down there opened his heart, the Lord filled him with the Holy Ghost, and his spirit began to pray. All right? Now, you see, when a man is born again, now Charles Wesley said it this way, Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise. He felt that how many of you have gone into your prayer closet, wished you could say something to God, and came out frustrated.

You don't know how to say it, you don't know what to say, you don't know how to even express yourself to God, except that God give you a language in the spirit that you could pray. Now, here is what we're reading now, in verse 14. Will you look over there with me for a moment? And this is what we're suggesting today.

For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing in the spirit, or with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.

And so, here we have a situation that is described for us in the word of God, that after a man has been born of the Holy Spirit, God comes upon him in the baptism of the Holy Spirit to give him a new language, a new ability to learn how for his spirit to pray. His human spirit to learn how his spirit can commune with God's spirit, that we might receive something that is described for us in verse 4. Will you look at that with me, please? Here's what we want to suggest to you, in verse 4. 1 Corinthians 14, 4. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue does what? Now, many expositors have suggested that that is selfish. They said, oh, Brother Mumford, when you pray in tongues, you're just trying to build yourself up.

I said, what's wrong with that? See, anybody here that doesn't need to be built up? Anybody here that's already arrived? You get up here and I'll sit down there. Anybody here that's already arrived? I kid you, you forgive me for picking on the Baptists, but you know, we have among our fundamental churches what we call the package deal. You get it all in one package with a ribbon around it.

And I said, if you got it all, where is it all? You know, get it all in one package. I said, wonderful. But you see, here's where he's talking about building yourself up.

He that speaks in another tongue builds himself up. Now, if I ever saw anything that was needed in the Christian church, it's the personal upbuilding of the individual members of the body of Christ. I meet them all the time.

I met a man one time, I said, how are you doing? He said, fine, under the circumstances. I said, what are you doing under there? God never expected us to be under the circumstances. Never.

When the circumstances was on top of Jesus Christ, he never was under the circumstances. The Bible teaches us one victorious, triumphant, dynamic Christian life. Now, the Apostle had something that drove him.

I used to say, God, what is it that that man had that would permit him to be stoned and rise up again and go back into the same town? The Lord said, I'll tell you what he had. He understood praying in tongues. He not only preached it, but he practiced it.

He said, I thank God that I pray in tongues, speak in tongues more than you all, because when you're praying in tongues, your whole spirit is up built and you're full of vitality. People say, oh, Brother Mumford, I'd like, oh, you've got such a wonderful spirit. I said, how do you know where I got it? Speaking in tongues for two hours, come to the meeting.

Just praying, praying, praying in the spirit, praying in the spirit. Let that thing run. Let God's life.

Now, here's what we're getting a little ahead of myself, but that's all right. I went out in the yard one day, and some of you have heard me share this, and you forgive me if I repeat, because you can't help but just make these things real and live in the Christian's life. But I went out in the yard one day to get a drink of water.

And there was a hose laying in the yard, a big, long hose. It was a brand new hose, in fact. We had just purchased it that summer.

And so I turned this hose on, and I went to get a drink out of it. And I started to drink out of this hose, and I almost died. It was, it had laid out there in the hot summer in that old plastic hose.

And I turned this on to get a drink, and it came into my mouth. And that, that polyethylene taste, you know, oh, I thought, whew, you know. And I just about gagged, and I choked, and I turned this spigot on.

I let this thing run, let it run, let it run. And the Lord said to me, Mumford, do you see an illustration? And I said, no, sir, I don't see anything. I'm a good disciple, you know.

We never catch on until the third lesson. But I said, no, I don't see anything. The Lord said, you know, that's what you do to people.

I said, what do you mean, Lord? He said, you know, when you get up in a meeting, for the first half an hour, you give them old Mumford water. See, personality and, you know, all the human, all the human. You just, you just let on, run, run.

How many of you have heard your preacher say, oh, I'm just getting warmed up? He should have got warmed up at home. You see? And he said, now listen, Mumford, if you learn to let your hose run before you get to church, when you get there, it will be fresh, clear, living water. How many of you have been fed with personalities? Let me see your hand.

Come on, come on, let's fess up to it. Fed with human personalities, all that. Oh, I said, God, I'm so sick of that stuff.

God, don't let me feed people with human things. The Lord said, well, then there's only one way that you really can remain built up in your own spirit, where you let your hose run. Just let your hose run.

And you know something? I'm learning, brother. I'm learning that there's plenty of it. Who said that this morning? He said, I learned that these guys had enough to share with everybody and have some left over, you know.

People think if they pray in tongues, they're going to run out after a while. But, oh, the opposite is the truth, you see. And so you turn this hose on, and you let it run, and you let it run, and you let it run.

First thing you know, there's clear cold. For Jesus said, John chapter 7, verse 39, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Now, most of you have been in Pentecostal churches where it was rivers of muddy water, where it was rivers of human water, where it was rivers of taken up collections, and you saw all of the error, and you saw all of the mistakes, and you saw all the things.

You said, if that's what it is, I don't want it. Oh, see, that's not what it is. That's only because they haven't learned to let their hose run.

And they've never come to that which is real, and that which is live and fresh, cool, clear springs of living water flowing out. Now, as a pastor and as a Christian worker, I've been into some bitter situations. I've come home frustrated and sick.

I've come home with fears and resentments, and I've come home with all kinds of feelings in my heart against people and against things. I travel 250 miles and preach for four hours, and they give you a $7.50 offering, and I come home like, you know, and I go, God, how can these things be? And you know something? The Lord said, now listen, Mumford, I have given you a gift. I travel 250 miles and preach for four hours, and they give you a $7.50 offering, and I come home like, you know, and I go, God, how can these things be? And you know something? The Lord said, now listen, Mumford, I have given you a gift whereby you can keep your spirit clean, keep your spirit free.

I am suggesting to you today that the power of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and learning how to scripturally speak in tongues, I come home, and I sit down in my chair, and my wife knows this, I sit down in my chair hurt, wounded, sick, or whatever's the matter, I sit down in my chair, and I begin to pray in tongues. And I say, oh, and I just pray out in tongues a few minutes, and you know something? There is the lavage. There is the washing and the cleansing and the washing of the Lord.

All that's washed out. And I said, hallelujah, I love them again, Lord. I love people, and I love your church.

You know, I found out what's wrong with the church. People. That's the only thing wrong with the church.

It's just people. If it wasn't for people, the church would be wonderful. But I've had, I preached love yesterday.

And you say, well, Brother Mumford, how do you love them? I'll tell you how you love them. You love them by this. He that speaks in an unknown tongue doesn't speak to men, howbeit in the Spirit he speaketh mystery.

He that prays in an unknown tongue is building himself up. Brother, I come out of that prayer closet, I said, hallelujah, let's get on with the job. Well, he says, where did you get that? I said, I just got that in the prayer closet.

Now, if you ever read 2 Corinthians 5, and Paul says, I was in perils deep, and I was in perils in the city, 39 times received stripes, and he went on to say, perils of false brethren. I thought, Paul, how did you take all of that? He said, well, I'll tell you where my secret is. And when Paul was out there hanging on that piece of boat, and the whole boat had sunk, and all he had was one piece of timber, and he's out there singing, singing in the Spirit, praying in tongues, floating, I said, how long were you waiting for Jesus to float Him to shore? That's right.

Praying in tongues. And Paul and Silas, that's why we wanted to sing this one about Paul and Silas. It was good for who? Paul and Silas.

Paul said, I thank my God that I pray in tongues more than you all. I pray with my understanding, I pray with my Spirit. I sing with my understanding, I sing with the Spirit.

For it is my Spirit that needs to be built up, and it's that which needs to be flushed and cleansed. Now, I am suggesting to you, you say, well, Brother Mulberry, I know Pentecostals that are bitter and mean and resentful and they gossip. I said, I do too.

Hundreds of them. Just because you see people who are saved and are not walking in it, doesn't mean there's anything wrong with salvation. Isn't that right? We don't judge salvation because somebody's still all messed up trying to find their way.

Do you know, folks, and let me say this in all honesty and true, most Pentecostals have never had the teaching you're getting today. Most Pentecostals don't know why they've been baptized in the Holy Ghost. I've met hundreds of Pentecostals.

In fact, in many Pentecostal churches today, you're forbidden to speak in tongues. How many of you know that's true? Let me see your hand. Okay, here we are.

The mouth of truth. Many Pentecostal churches, you're forbidden to speak in tongues today because there's a total misunderstanding, total misapplication. They said it's no good anyhow.

Never did anything for anybody. Wait a minute. The person who knows a scriptural, solid Bible experience in speaking in tongues will himself be built up, and I'm saying to you today that no person can let his hose run, can begin to pray and worship and let the Holy Spirit flow through his life and maintain and harbor resentments and fears and all the things that go.

Where do you get power for witnessing? People think it's going to come in one big, you know, pow! Now I'm bold as a lion. Oh, no you're not. Do you know where you get daily power for witnessing? As you pray in the Spirit.

As you pray in the Spirit. I was in the shower the other day praying in tongues, praying up a storm. My wife comes by the door and she says, don't forget to pray for me.

I pray in the door whenever I'm alone. Now, you see, many of us have confused the issue. And in many Pentecostal churches or even charismatic prayer groups, they pray five words at home and 10,000 in the church.

That's right. Many people have got it all mixed up. They don't pray in tongues until they come to a meeting.

Then they all want to stand around and pray in tongues and try to impress everybody how spiritual they are. But you know, the funny part is, if you pray in tongues at home and you come to church and you say five words. In Washington, that young man was standing there at the door and the man says to him, Bob, this man isn't saved.

Now, I turned around and looked at him. Now, I've been praying in the Spirit for hours. I pray every chance I get, anywhere I am, I pray in the Spirit.

Now, I turned around and I looked that boy right in the eyeballs and I said, Son, don't you know Jesus loves you? And my Lord, he started to weep and the joy of the Lord filled his soul. You know, those five words were loaded. They were loaded.

They were clothed upon with the Holy Ghost. Do you know why they were clothed upon? Because I know how to pray in the Spirit at home or wherever I'm at church. I know how to pray in an unknown tongue to build myself up.

Now, is that selfish? No. Now, we want to carry this thing on a little bit. There are two uses of tongues and we can't get into all the doctrinal implications, but some people have had trouble with this verse over in chapter 12 and verse 30.

Many people have this problem. They come to me many, many times. I've answered this question in chapter 12 and verse 30.

It says this, Have all the gifts of healing? The obvious answer is no. Do all speak with tongues? What's the answer? No. Oh, Brother Mumford, you're contradicting yourself.

Now, wait a minute. Are all apostles? No, no, no. This is what Paul is talking about, the gift of tongues as it's set in the church.

You see? Now, everyone does not have the gift of tongues for giving tongues and interpretation in the church, but the personal, private use of tongues is what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 14. You see, I would that you all spoke with tongues. This is the thing that is involved here because he that speaks in tongues doesn't speak to men, but he speaks to God.

His spirit has had the string of its tongue cut loose and that spirit then is able to pray and worship and speak to God and find expression under God. Presently, there's a young man that I've been riding to seminary with, and he's a young Baptist boy, precious young man, and so he's giving me certain arguments, you know, we're talking back and forth, and one day we were in this little restaurant where we go and I looked across at him and I said, Listen, mister, you know your prayer life isn't what it should be. The boy with tears filled his eyes and he started to weep.

He said, I know it. You know how I know that? Because until your spirit can pray, your prayer life is only half involved, you see, and when you really do it, you see, now prayer to me is a joy. It's no burden.

It used to be a burden. I used to almost, well, it's prayer time again. You know, it's time to go to prayer again.

And I said, Oh, man, you know, go off to prayer. But you see, now the prayer life has turned to a life of prayer where it's a constant outflowing of the Holy Spirit. Paul said, Pray without.

I don't know how you could do that except your spirit learns how to pray. Now I'm talking to people, praying in tongues while I'm talking to them, sitting on the platform, smiling, everybody thinks that I'm in the meeting and I'm three miles, 300,000 miles away having my own camp meeting, Jesus and me praying in the Spirit. Because I know I've learned a little bit of what it means to pray in the Spirit, pray without ceasing.

Jude 24, Beloved, building yourselves up. How? How? In the most holy faith, how? Praying in the Spirit, you see. Now, of course, the only way you can interpret that is to come back to 1 Corinthians 14.

Now I want to show you, if I may, we said something about the public and the personal use of tongues, and we don't want to get into the doctrinal dissertation here, but we just want you to know that this is how it works. Now, in chapter 14 and verse 5, may I show you something here, if we may, and this is from the Greek. I brought my Greek text.

How many men are here today who know a little Greek? Could I see your hands? Here's one, two, three, four, five, six, at least six men. I just want the folk to know that I'm not pulling a Mumfordism on you. But in chapter 14 and verse 5, there's an interesting little thing in the Greek, and it's never translated, at least never to my knowledge, is it translated correctly.

Now, let's read verse 5. I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that. Do you see that? Rather that. In the Greek, that's a hymna clause.

And I'm speaking now to the more astute. The hymna clause means this. It means, translated accurately, it means this.

I would that you all spoke with tongues, in order that you might prophesy. Brother Mumford, how do you learn to prophesy? How do you learn to prophesy? By speaking in tongues. That's exactly right.

This is the interesting thing. You see, I would... Now, don't you think we ought to grow in this thing? Some of my friends said, Oh, Brother Mumford, tongues is the least of the gifts. I said, wonderful.

I'll take the least until I get the best. I'll take anything God's given out until I find out something better, won't you? He said, that's the least of the gifts. I said, wonderful.

What have you got? You see, we have the strangest ways of getting around these things, you know. But they said, oh, that's the least of the gifts. That was only given until the word of God was brought.

I thought, oh, come on. Let's don't get into aversions and try to get out from under the things. Now, here's what he's saying.

I would that you all speak with tongues in order that you might what? How many of you here have given what we call a message in tongues? Can I see your hand today, please? Oh, wonderful. About 20, 25 percent, maybe a little better of our group, have given messages in tongues. How many of you know it takes more faith to prophesy than it does to speak with tongues? Come on.

That's exactly right. Now, you see, when you're speaking in tongues, nobody can understand you. And so you're safe.

Veterans in tongues is the elementary. It's the getting on place. Oh, Brother Mumford, that's child's play.

Well, you've got to be a child. I never saw anybody yet get born and grow up in five minutes, did you? So you've got to get on somewhere. You've got to get on.

Now, anyone who has ever prophesied will know how scary it is to hear your own voice beginning to prophesy when you've never heard it before. As I was telling you yesterday, I was in this little meeting. It wasn't a little meeting.

It was about 250 people there. And I'd just come home from the Navy. And, Brother, I had been coveting the gifts.

When I mean coveting, I fasted for so long that I was so skinny, when I got in the shower, I had to keep moving to get wet. I was fasting and praying and seeking, and my legs about this big. I'd come to church so weak I could hardly get there.

I wanted the gifts. I wanted God to use me. Oh, I wanted it so bad.

So one day, the Spirit of the Lord's moving in the meeting, and suddenly I heard myself begin to prophesy these words, Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and it scared me almost to death. My heart began to pound, come clear up in my throat, and I said, Who is that? It must be you. I heard your voice.

You know, I heard myself prophesy. It almost scared the life out of me. Do you know something? It takes more faith to prophesy than it does to speak with tongues.

He said, Well, Brother Mumford, how is it that I want to learn how to prophesy? I'll tell you how you learn to prophesy. One, you begin by speaking in tongues. You pray in tongues.

You let your little hose run until out of your hose is coming fresh, clear, living water, and it's flowing freely, and you're not afraid to speak in tongues in front of your wife. How many of you know there's people who pray in tongues in a meeting, and they go home, and they don't pray at all? I've met people who prayed in tongues 30 years ago and never prayed again. I said, Brother Mumford, God doesn't want me to pray in tongues.

I said, You've been listening to the wrong voices. Because praying in tongues is what keeps you built up in the faith continually. And whenever you meet anybody who comes bouncing in, they're full of life and vim and vigor, you can say, That man prays in tongues.

I guarantee you, usually, not always, but almost all the time, you can say, I bet that man is praying in tongues. Because there is some life that is outflowing, alright? Begin to pray in tongues. Pray in the language of the Spirit.

You are building yourself up. Now, when you know this liberty in praying in tongues, it's the easiest thing in all the world to begin to prophesy. There's a lady here.

I wonder, did you ever prophesy before today when you prophesied? This lady here. Have you prophesied before? Amen. But she had a word of prophecy.

We're all standing there sharing together. And she wanted to prophesy and there was difficulty. So she stands there praying in tongues, praying in tongues.

What was she doing? Building herself up till she could give utterance. How many of you ever heard a prophecy like this? People think it's tongues and interpretation, but it isn't. They're speaking tongues and then prophesy, then speak in some more tongues and then prophesy.

What are they doing in between? Building themselves up. They got little crutches, you know, to help them learn how to move out into the realm of prophecy. And this is perfectly valid.

This is the way it's supposed to be. We have little, we have little, what do you call those things that have four wheels on them and you put the kid in it and he learns how to walk in it. A little walker, you know.

That's right. And brother, more kids get in trouble with those things than anything. They can go anywhere in a house, break up everything, can't they? Before they all learn, old enough to know what not to touch.

But I watch people now learning to prophesy, learning to pray out, learning to give a word of knowledge. Now, speaking in tongues is the getting on place to know the love of God outflowing. Then you say, Brother Mumford, how can I know God's love flowing out from me? First thing you have to do is wash out all of the human love.

Listen, I wanted to be a doctor with all my heart. I wanted to be a doctor. For the first few years of ministry, I tried to heal people with human compassion.

If human compassion could heal anybody, there wouldn't have been anybody sick because I used to strain and grunt and moan and cry and I'm trying to bring something forth that was strictly human. I said, God, what's the matter here? The Lord said, That's all, Mumford, I can't put up with that. That's all hose water.

That's all. We can't put up with it. Let your hose run.

So I begin to learn how to pray. So I've stood over people the last few years. I've stood over there praying in tongues for a few minutes.

Hallelujah. Pray in tongues. Wait for a few minutes.

Let all that is human settle down. Let that which is God begin to move forth. Suddenly, word of prophecy, divine healing, gifts, ministries, operations of the Holy Spirit are all available because he that speaks in an unknown tongue builds himself up.

Amen. Now, you see, these things are relatively simple and yet most, and I guarantee of most people, do not know why they speak in tongues. It's the gift, the language of the Spirit.

All right? I would that you all speak with tongues, but in order that you might prophesy. For greater is he that prophesied. Now, is he contrasting two things or is he teaching progress? Teaching progress.

That's exactly what he's doing. Now, he said, it's no good for you to sit home and speak in tongues for twenty-five years. How many of you know there are people who have sat home for twenty-five years.

They spoke in tongues and it hasn't done them any good. That's true. I meet them all the time.

They just sit home and I say, well, Brother Mumford, you should have been here in 1929. Oh, brother, we had this experience way back when. I said, Brother Mumford, what's it done for you? How many of you have heard this accusation? You Pentecostals and your power.

If you've got power, where is it? I'd swallow it. I said, well, it's, well, you'll have to wait until I get prayed up. I said, Brother Mumford, this lady's dying with a heart attack.

Could you pray for her? I said, well, you'll have to wait until I go home and fast three meals. Oh, no. Prayed up, outflowing, constantly build up in my spirit that the Lord might make demands, might make an outflow.

Anytime, anywhere, there's an outflowing of the Holy Spirit. But we must learn to grow in the Spirit. We begin by speaking in tongues.

We begin by, we learn, then we move into the realm of prophecy. Then we move into the words of wisdom and knowledge. Now, we cannot tear these gifts apart because many words of knowledge come through prophecy and they're all intermingled.

And maybe we'll get a chance sometime to teach on the interrelation of the gifts of the Spirit. But they're all in there, intertwined, interdependent, one upon the other, that they function in this realm, outworking because of they are all dependent on our getting the freedom, the initial freedom, to pray out and learn to pray forth in other tongues. Now, I'd like to say a couple words about singing in the Spirit.

Now, one of the things that I have found over the years, as far as getting people to move into this realm, very, very simply, is singing in the Spirit. Singing in the Spirit is one of the most, the most easiest and the most uncomplicated ways of learning how to give utterance, to learn how to prophesy, to learn how to move into the other realms and ministries of the Holy Spirit, singing in the Spirit. Now, you have heard a little bit here in this meeting.

You've heard some people. Perhaps you've been next to someone. We had the reporter come to our church from the Wilmington paper.

I didn't know she was in the meeting. I wish I had of known, but it's best that I didn't know she was there. Because one of the boys that was ministering, Bob Bartlett from Teen Challenge was doing the ministering, and he said, he was reading an article, and he said, all newspaper reporters are unregenerate.

And here she's sitting out in the back. I didn't know who she was. But in the paper she said this.

She said, the headlines across the paper was, Hear the faithful speak with tongues. Well, that's really an advertisement, I'll tell you. Everybody read about this in Wilmington.

And the first paragraph read like this. On Saturday evening, a young minister from Teen Challenge got all of the people at the Wilmington Gospel Temple worked up to the speaking in tongues stage. And I started to laugh.

How many of you know you have to get worked up to speak in tongues? Do you have to get worked up to speak in tongues? I speak in tongues anytime, anywhere. I go fishing with Costa Deer, some of you know him. And he's the only guy that can catch trout and speak in tongues at the same time.

I pray in tongues everywhere. I pray and worship the Lord everywhere, anywhere that I am. I've learned how to worship and walk in the Spirit, continually, wherever we might be.

But singing in the Spirit is one of the easiest and one of the most gentle ways of learning how to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. I've seen many people just get their little boat floating. Just get their little boat floating.

By the time when there was singing in the Spirit, beginning to worship and pray in tongues, I'd say, alright, now let's all begin to sing and worship in the Spirit. You need to be taught how to worship in the Spirit. And if you will, just get your little boat floating.

You remember when Jesus said, launch out into the deep? And they said, no sir, Lord, we're staying right here by the shore because if this boat sinks we want to be right here. And many people refuse to move out in this dimension because if this isn't God, they want to be close to the shore. How many of you know why the Lord said to the man, pick up your bed and walk? Because if he didn't get healed, he could get back in it.

Right? Isn't that right, you see? And this is why, we want to stay real close to the shore so that if this thing doesn't work, we can get back in. We can get back in our bed. We can get back in our church.

We can get back in wherever. We don't want to get out here too far. Now, Paul said this, singing to yourselves in songs and hymns and spiritual songs.

And he said, I pray in the Spirit and I sing in the Spirit. I pray with my understanding. I pray with my spirit.

Now, one of the great joys in the Christian walk is learning how to sing in the Spirit. I would today that we could just have a time of laying on of hands or somehow that God would direct us here in the closing of this service that maybe we could teach you a little bit of what it means to learn how to sing out in the Spirit. Singing in tongues.

Singing to the Lord in songs and hymns and spiritual songs. There is nothing, I don't think, that will liberate an old, cold, dried-up, dead spirit any faster than learning how to sing in the Spirit. Learning how to sing and worship the Lord in other tongues.

I've heard, when I was in Bible school, Bible college, we had a pageant one time. The Holy Spirit was moving in the meeting and there came tongues in interpretation that said, lift up your heads, all you gates, and the King of Glory shall come in. And one young lady got up, walked back, opened the back doors and walked in with the power and the presence of the Lord.

And it seemed like she was walking right in with the Lord Jesus right on her arm and the glory of God filled her. And suddenly, the girls, about eight or ten, maybe twelve of the girls, began to sing in the Spirit in unison. I never heard anything like it in my life.

They all began to sing in tongues, the same tongues, the same tune, at the same time. And I was thrilled. And like, who was it said, something crawling under my skin, the hair up on the back of my neck.

And I said, whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! I love this! And then, several of the men began to interpret one after another. And the Lord put on for us a whole pageant of the suffering, crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ through tongues and interpretation. Here the whole thing was laid out for us in the Holy Spirit.

Never be the same again. Never be the same again. Why? Because of learning how to sing and worship in the Spirit.

For other tapes and a complete list of books by Bob Mumford, write Life Changers, Post Office Box 22341, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, ZIP Code 33315.