Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. Anyone who 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 revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction? Even in the case of lifeless 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 are saying? You will 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 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 are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer, say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are 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 ten thousand words in a tongue.
Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. In the Law it is written:
“With other tongues
    and through the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
    but even then they will not listen to me,
says the Lord.”
Tongues, then, are a 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, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, as the secrets of their 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 speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is 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 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 a prophet 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 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.

• 1 Corinthians 14:1-40

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

1 Corinthians 14:1-5 ‘love superior to spiritual gifts’: “Since love is critical and eternal, Paul exhorts them to pursue love. Love is superior to spiritual gifts and enables one to understand and utilize spiritual gifts rightly. Though he wanted them to desire spiritual gifts (14:1), exercising them was not for the purpose of self-exaltation because that would be contrary to love.
“Apparently, the Corinthians were using the gift of tongues to show off; thus, Paul confronts them. He prefers that they prophesy because the one who does so brings a clear word from God to everyone, edifying and encouraging the gathered body of believers (14:1, 3). But the one who speaks in a tongue speaks only to God. Unless someone is able to interpret the tongue, no one understands, and the church is not built up (14:2, 5). Since the person who speaks in tongues only edifies himself, while the person who prophesies edifies the church, prophecy is clearly the greater gift of the two (14:4-5). Paul wishes they all spoke in tongues (14:5) so that someone was always available to interpret. But, of course, as he already said, God doesn’t give the gift of tongues to everyone (see 12:30).
“It’s important to understand what Paul means regarding the gift of speaking ‘in a tongue.’ Though some interpret this to mean ‘a heavenly language,’ the New Testament evidence favors the meaning ‘human language.’ Note the key passage in Acts 2:4-11 when the apostles had been ‘filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues’ (2:4). The context makes clear that these ‘tongues’ (2:4, 11) were actually various native languages (2:6, 8) spoken by those who had come to Jerusalem for Pentecost.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 14:1 ‘to prophesy’: “The verb to prophesy (Gk. prophēteuō, lit. ‘to speak forth’) is found more than 25 times in the NT. Paul used it 11 times, all in 1 Corinthians. To prophesy is to speak a divine message as directed by the Spirit of God. The message may be ethical, that is, to comfort, exhort, teach (1Co 14:3), revelatory or revealing supernatural knowledge of a particular situation (Mt 26:68) or it may point to the future or foretell (Mt 15:7). Prophecy is Spirit-inspired speech from God to his creation (1Co 14:2–3). All prophetic messages were to be ‘tested’ for their prophetic character (1Co 14:29; 1Th 5:19–21) and for their agreement with the teachings of Scripture (Dt 13:1–5; Mt 7:15; 24:11; 2Pe 2:1).”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 14:2 ‘he who speaks in a tongue’: ”This is singular (… cf. vv. 4, 13, 14, 19, 27), indicating that it refers to the false gibberish of the counterfeit pagan ecstatic speech. The singular is used because gibberish can’t be plural; there are not various kinds of non-language. There are, however, various languages; hence when speaking of the true gift of language, Paul uses the plural to make the distinction (vv. 6, 8, 22, 23, 29). The only exception is in vv. 13, 27, 28 … where it refers to a single person speaking a single genuine language. does not speak to men but to God. This is better translated ‘to a god.’ The Gr. text has no definite article (see similar translation in Acts 17:23, ‘an unknown god’). Their gibberish was worship of pagan deities. The Bible records no incident of any believer ever speaking to God in any other than normal human language. no one understands him; … in the spirit he speaks mysteries. The carnal Corinthians using the counterfeit ecstatic speech of paganism were not interested in being understood, but in making a dramatic display. The spirit by which they spoke was not the Holy Spirit, but their own human spirit or some demon; and the mysteries they declared were the type associated with the pagan mystery religions, which was espoused to be the depths that only the initiated few were privileged to know and understand. Those mysteries were totally unlike the ones mentioned in Scripture (e.g., Matt. 13:11; Eph. 3:9), which are divine revelations of truths previously hidden (see … 12:7; Eph. 3:4–6).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 14:3 ‘prophesies’: “In dramatic contrast to the bedlam of counterfeit tongues was the gift of genuine prophecy or preaching of the truth (see note on 12:10). It produced the building up in truth, the encouragement to obedience, and the comfort in trouble that God desired for His church. Spiritual gifts are always for the benefit of others, never self.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 14:4 ‘a tongue’: “Again (as in v. 2), Paul uses the singular to refer to the pagan counterfeit gibberish and sarcastically (cf. v. 16, 4:6-10 for other sarcasm) marks its selfishness as some kind of self-edification. This illicit building up of self comes from pride-induced emotion which only produces more pride. edifies the church. See … 12:7.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 14:5 ‘arrogance and misunderstanding’: “The Corinthians had a tendency to exaggerate the importance of the gift of speaking in tongues. This gift, they reasoned, constituted the highest and greatest form of spirituality. Paul disagreed. He compared the gift of tongues with that of prophecy. He pointed out that the benefit of tongues was limited by the ability of the congregation to understand what was said. Prophecy, on the other hand, was intelligible; thus, it was ‘greater’ because it served the whole body: In order to be ‘great’ in the kingdom, one must become the servant of all (Mk 10:43). Since the Corinthians were intent on seeking the greatest gifts, Paul argued that they should seek those that served the whole body rather than those that merely benefited themselves.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 14:6-12 ‘understand what is said during worship’: “In these verses, Paul emphasizes how important it is that all believers understand what is spoken when they gather together. Even if the apostle Paul himself came to a meeting speaking in tongues, the church could not benefit if he communicated something that no one could understand (14:6). After all, if someone plays a musical instrument-a flute or harp or bugle-without playing clear notes, the result will be incoherent noise (14:7-8). In the same way, an uninterpreted tongue is unintelligible to anyone who hears it (14:9). It’s nothing but hot air. Without an understanding of the meaning of the words spoken, members of the church will be like foreigners to one another (14:10-11). Unintelligible and uninterpreted praying and singing are for private, not public, use. Shared understanding is necessary for communication to be meaningful. Thus, Paul wants their zeal for spiritual gifts to be matched by an equal zeal for building up the church (14:12) so that the Spirit could do his work among them.
“How do you view the spiritual gift that you have received from the Holy Spirit? Is it a tool for winning attention, admiration, and praise from others? Or do you consider your gift to be an opportunity to glorify God and lovingly build up your brothers and sisters in Christ? It could be that you need to reread 13:1-7. In any case, don’t misunderstand the purpose of spiritual gifts, and don’t forget the chief element of exercising them: love.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 14:13-17 ‘interpreting tongues’: “In light of Paul’s concerns, he urges those who do have the gift of a tongue to pray for the gift to interpret (14:13). For to pray in a language without understanding is unfruitful (14:14). Prayer and praise must be accompanied by understanding if anyone is to hear and say; Amen (14:15-16). How can you affirm what someone has spoken if it’s unintelligible gibberish to you?”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 14:18-19 ‘speak to edify others’: “Though Paul himself spoke in tongues more than all the Corinthians, he didn’t consider it a badge of honor to be flaunted (14:18). He preferred to utter five comprehensible words that edified others, than ten thousand incoherent words that benefited no one (14:19). May God grant that our convictions be the same as Paul’s.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 14:20 ‘be rid of superstition’: “The apostles also labored hard to free the young church from the power of magic, that is, from belief in the spiritual significance of material objects. Circumcision, new moons, foods, they said, had no power to make a man either good or bad. Words, Paul insisted, had no value as mere religious sounds. They must express meanings or they could have no significance for speaker or hearer. This idea Paul developed fully in the fourteenth chapter of his first Corinthian epistle. It is too bad we cannot remember it.
“Our Heavenly Father gave us the beautiful, diversified creation as a kind of birthday present; all is to be received thankfully and nothing is to be despised. But always we must keep in mind that it is living personality that gives meaning to the world. Material objects neither hate nor love; they are neither good nor evil. We need not fear them and we should not attribute to them qualities they do not possess.
“Our responsibility is to God and our fellowship is with Him. With magic or superstition in any form the Christian should simply have nothing to do.”

• A. W. Tozer, Of God and Men

1 Corinthians 13:20 ‘do not be experienced in wickedness’: “The only case in which its beneficial to be childish and immature is with regard to evil: we do not want to be experienced in wickedness. Otherwise, we want to be adult and mature in our thinking. Excitement about exercising exotic spiritual gifts that no one can understand is immature. A more mature stance is to exercise gifts for the good of others.”

• Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 14:23 ‘Therefore if … all speak with tongues’: “As Paul explains in more detail later (vv. 27, 28), even for unbelievers, even when the gift of tongues was exercised in its proper time in history, when it was dominant and uncontrolled in the church, bedlam ensued and the gospel was disgraced and discredited. out of your mind. The Gr. word means to be in an uncontrolled frenzy. When the real gift was used in Acts 2, there was no madness, and everyone understood in his own language (v. 11). In Corinth, there was charismatic chaos.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 14:26 ‘worship activities are to build up the church’: “Everyone had opportunity to participate in the corporate ministry of the church in NT times. During worship, various members offered hymns, instruction, tongues, revelations and interpretations. Paul encouraged this practice, but stressed that all aspects of corporate worship were to build up the church. To ‘build up’ (Gk. oikodome, lit. ‘house building’) was used figuratively as growing, improving or maturing. Paul was concerned that spiritual gifts not be exercised in the interest of self-development or self-display, but rather according to the law of love that served and built others up.”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 14:34-35 ‘Ask at home, not at church’: “Although specific conditions varied from one part of the ancient Mediterranean to another, the Roman world valued the quietness and subordination of wives. Some writers even longed for earlier days when Roman matrons had been even more quiet and submissive. Paul appears to be respecting the culture of his time when he says, ‘Let your women keep silent in the churches’ (1 Cor. 14:34).
“The specific sort of quietness Paul intends is debated. It is doubtful that he calls for absolute silence of women in church, because he permitted prayer and prophecy under appropriate conditions (1 Cor. 11:4, 5). Suggestions as to what Paul was prohibiting women from doing include teaching Scripture or judging prophecy (14:29). But the only clue in his letter points to the asking of questions (14:35). Possibly Paul exhorted the women to ask their questions privately rather than publicly.
“In ancient lecture settings, including Jewish teachers who expounded Torah, the Law, hearers learned more by asking questions than by simply listening. Yet, as Plutarch wrote in On Lectures, it was considered rude for the unlearned to ask questions because their questioning slowed everyone else down. Women were on the whole far less educated than men (although exceptions existed) and prone to ask less educated questions. An additional problem for a place like Corinth may have been the cultural impropriety of women asking questions in what was normally a male-dominated lecture setting.
“What is striking in view of 1st-century culture is not Paul’s limitation of the Corinthian women but his concern for their learning. Only rarely did ancient writers exhort husbands to take an interest in their wives’ education (Greek men were on average more than a decade older than their wives). When writers did suggest instructing wives, they sometimes added words like, ‘For if left to themselves, women produce only base passion and folly.’ Paul’s concern that husbands take an interest in their wives’ learning was among the more progressive voices of his day.”

• Timothy B. Cargal, et al., The Chronological Study Bible

1 Corinthians 14:34-35 ‘Paul encouraged women to participate, but to refrain speaking during the evaluation of prophecy’: “Paul recognized that women were praying and prophesying in public worship and did not condemn them for doing so (1Co 11:5). Yet here he commanded that women ‘remain silent in the churches’ (1Co 14:34). One way of resolving what some consider a discrepancy is by considering the particular type of speech that Paul disallowed. In this passage, he was probably discussing the gift of prophecy, and more specifically, the evaluation or judgment of prophecy (1Co 14:29–39). Paul allowed women to participate in worship and, indeed, expected that they would do so (v. 26), but here he may have been forbidding them from giving spoken criticisms of the prophecies that were made because he was concerned that the principle of headship be evidenced in the public assembly of believers. Women’s silence during the evaluation of prophecy was one of the ways in which this was to be accomplished. Another way to understand this command for women to be silent is in relationship to Paul’s command to the believers to do all things ‘in a fitting and orderly way’ (v. 40). God ‘is not a God of disorder’ (v. 33). The women could have been displaying some kind of disorderly conduct (v. 35). Others suggest, since the subject of major discussion in chapter 14 is tongues, that the prohibition to women is to refrain from ecstatic utterance. Clearly this cannot mean that women are forbidden altogether to speak in the assembly (1Co 11:5).”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Patty Comber, Pauline Epistles contributor)

1 Corinthians 14:39 ‘do not forbit … tongues’: “Legitimate languages were limited in purpose and in duration, but as long as it was still active in the early church, it was not to be hindered. But prophecy was the most desirable gift to be exercised because of its ability to edify, exhort, and comfort with the truth (v. 3).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Corinthians 14 ‘Summary’: ”Another problem that has historically caused much confusion in the church: the misuse of one of the gifts-the gift of tongues.  The false use of tongues is as much of a problem in today’s society as it was when Paul addressed it in this chapter. To correct these abuses, Paul attempts to focus this section on the importance of the gift of prophecy. It is always amazing to me how many people read this chapter and completely miss the apostle’s point.
“The purpose of the chapter is to encourage those with the gift of prophecy to exercise it. But you hardly ever hear anything about that today. These days, we hear a lot about tongues but very little about prophecy. Paul was trying to play down the gift of tongues and play up the gift of prophecy. The gift of prophecy is simply the ability to explain and expound the Scriptures, to speak comfort, edification, and encouragement from the Scriptures.“

My Thoughts

At least one scholarly quote speaks of missing the point if we delve into the minutia of this chapter.  I think one of the scholarly quotes from 1 Corinthians 13 went down that rabbit hole.  Paul was saying that in the End Times, prophecy, tongues, and knowledge will fall away and be no more, but Love remains.  The scholarly quote said those three spiritual gifts were no longer necessary today.  Other than a visible unmistaken sign of the Holy Spirits presence, was speaking in tongues ever necessary?  And Paul’s point, at least one of them, is that tongues can be faked.  Before we get to that, what about prophecy and knowledge?  The scholar was thinking that there are so many scholars today that we can sit at the feet of one of them and learn rather than relying on the Holy Spirit to give us that gift.  And since the end of Revelation has a warning about no more prophecies and changes in what the Bible says, then prophecy goes out the window.

But I once told a pastor that there was going to be a major layoff at the plant where I worked within a few years, two-three years tops.  The pastor went to the executives of the plant who also worked there and they said I was a liar.  I did not lie. The words just came out of my mouth.  I was called a lot worse names than liar, but I got a new job a year later.  And the plant of 25,000 employees dropped to 11,000 employees a year after that.

Those kinds of things happen.  Revelations like adding a book to the Bible?  No.  Revelation as to the exact date of the rapture?  Absolutely not since Jesus said He did not know, only the Father.

But referring to knowledge, if we trust a Bible scholar and he goes off track, we go off track with the scholar if we are not given knowledge by reading the Bible ourselves and understanding what the Bible is saying.  When we have that gift from the Holy Spirit, we can tell the scholar that his interpretations are wrong, otherwise, we have no measuring stick and we become stuck with the viewpoint of the scholar.

So, prophecy (at least from the standpoint of interpretation of Scripture) and knowledge (understanding at least in part what we read in the Bible) will be necessary until Christ Jesus returns.  So, why not speaking in tongues?  This chapter says to not get rid of tongues, but prophecy is more important.  And any gift of the Holy Spirit should be used to edify, to teach, to guide.

What the Corinthians were doing was turning the speaking of tongues into a sideshow.  Indeed, a sideshow in that it detracted from the teaching of the Word.  If no one interprets the tongue, then the moment is wasted.  There is no teaching from what was said.  In fact, it is nothing but gibberish that distracts people from learning and getting closer to God.

Prophecy can provide knowledge and comfort.

The concept of having someone interpret the speaking of tongues is important.  The people need to learn while in worship.

But were the Corinthians that were showing off really speaking in tongues?  Pride has been the undermining problem since the first chapter in this letter.  My wife and I were in a Sunday school class decades ago.  Our denomination believes the prophecy, at a revelation level, is no more.  They have no one speaking in tongues.  Our Sunday school teacher said this, and my wife asked him in German about speaking in tongues.  He blinked a couple of times.  She repeated her question in Dutch (Hollanse), Spanish, and in a broken Indonesian dialect.  Note: She spoke fluently in an Indonesian dialect at six years old, but the present Indonesian language was just being developed when they left Indonesia, pieced together from all the tribal dialects.  So, my wife was rusty at best.

The Sunday school teacher finally responded, “That’s not what I’m talking about, and you know it!”  There were “oohs” and “ahhs” around the room, and someone mentioned that my wife had hit a nerve.

But could that be what the Corinthians were doing?  They were traders with any nation that had boats.  False god worship was rampant in the area, and people of all nations around the Mediterranean had dealings, in one language or another.  So, if you knew an African language, you might be the only one in the church who knew the language, and you could look very impressive by babbling things that no one else knew the meaning of.  When this has come up in class before, people have asked if pig-Latin would count.

But you can see how fake tongues is nothing but a disruption and no one learns anything.  But it puffs you up.

But even if you are the teacher and you speak in tongues.  And there is an interpreter.  There is a barrier between the teacher and those that need to learn.  I have worked with interpreters on three continents, and at the best of times, with a great interpreter, things get lost.  I relied on asking questions and repetition to drive home the key points.

Paul ends this argument with tongues are for the unbelievers – they see the work of the Holy Spirit in person – but believers do not learn and the church is not built stronger as a result.  But prophecy is for the believers because the unbelievers will simply dismiss it while the believers will apply the prophecy to their lives.

But while Paul is talking about speaking in tongues being a disruption, he brings up other things that disrupt the worship of God.

Paul says to not forbid speaking in tongues, but there must be interpretation.  Paul gives instruction for prophecies.  Two or three with that gift should speak and if someone else has a revelation, the speaker must yield to the new speaker.  Verse 33 is key.  God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

Then, the next two verses are volatile topics in today’s world.  Women are to keep their mouth shut.  On the surface, many people skip those two verses.  But what was happening in the church at Corinth?  The men stood in one location.  The women stood in another.  Someone said something.  The wife asked the husband what that meant.  The husband replied that he had no idea for it had not been interpreted yet.  And the speaker asked if he could continue.

Paul was encouraging women to learn.  These women at the time had limited or no formal education.  But do not disrupt the worship service in doing so.

There was one family who sat behind my wife and I and the woman never shut her mouth throughout the sermon.  They sat behind us for several years, and we moved around the sanctuary a few times.  Her husband might explain things briefly, but it was constant.  For those years, I never heard what she was saying, but I never heard the pastor’s sermon either.  Everything became jumbled together.  We could rid ourselves of the gender labels and have the man ask his wife questions constantly throughout the sermon, and you get the same result.

Paul was not setting a life-long gender rule.  He was addressing how the church was laid out with men and women separated and the side conversations were more disruptive than if families were sitting together.  And the information he received was that these side conversations were initiated by the woman.

Paul challenges people who think they have the gift of prophecy to challenge what Paul has said in this chapter.

But the bottom line is that worship should be in an orderly fashion.  Peaceful, intended on building up the church, church growth, spiritual growth, and edification.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

1 Corinthians 14:1-25 Gifts of Prophecy and Tongues 1. Things that were flashy, exciting, and powerful attracted the Corinthians (they knew the ‘love of power’ more than the ‘power of love’). In what ways do you see that tendency in yourself? Your church? (Example: ‘That beautiful singer is more important than I am.’)
“2. In the context of your spiritual gifts, what is one way you want to ‘follow the way of love’ this week?
“3. Whether or not your church practices the gifts of tongues and prophecy, what principles for church life do you find here that need to be exercised more fully in your church?
“4. What has been your experience with the gift of tongues? What has been its value? Its limits?
1 Corinthians 14:16-40 Orderly Worship 1. Although Paul did not want the Corinthian worship services to be like the frenzied services at the pagan temples, what positive qualities about public worship could you and your church learn from their extremism?
“2. What was the most helpful aspect of the last worship service you attended?
“3. What is one new way the public worship in your church could help newcomers feel the peace of God rather than feeling strange and out of place?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

First Corinthians 14 has two sets of questions.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.