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TeacherAide Common Unity SESSION 5
ILLUSTRATING THE POINT
Translation Mutation Remember Robin Williams in that hilarious movie, "Mom Forever?" What? Don't remember that one? Well, that's what they call it in Italy, anyway. We know it better as Mrs. Doubtfire. Some American-made movies and TV shows end up with very different names by the time they reach foreign turf. Often, something gets lost in the translation. For instance, Baywatch is known as "The Lifeguards of Malibu" in Germany. Meanwhile, Growing Pains is "Our Loud Home" in Germany and "Parents Wear Blue Jeans" in Italy. (Hip, huh?) Try to figure out what American shows or movies these foreign titles represent: 1) Life, Love, Cows (France) 2) Field of Wonders (Russia) 3) Sensation of Living (Spain) 4) Stone Age Family (Japan) 5) Mama, I Missed the Plane (Italy) Answers: 1) City Slickers, 2) Wheel of Fortune, 3) Beverly Hills 90210, 4) The Flintstones, 5) Home Alone. "Strange World," Campus Life, Vol. 54, no. 2.
The God of Enthusiasm God dwells in a state of perpetual enthusiasm. He is delighted with all that is good and lovingly concerned about all that is wrong. He pursues His labors always in a fullness of holy zeal. No wonder the Spirit came at Pentecost as a sound of a rushing mighty wind and sat in tongues of fire on every forehead. ... Whatever else happened at Pentecost, one thing that cannot be missed by the most casual observer was the sudden up surging of moral enthusiasm. Those first disciples burned with a steady, inward fire. They were enthusiastic to the point of complete abandon. A. W. Tozer in Of God and Men. Christianity Today, Vol. 37, no. 14.
THE MORE YOU KNOW
It is interesting in this account of Pentecost of Acts 2 that speaking in tongues have been understood to be what took place. First let’s understand why this event took place. Jesus in Acts 1 had told his followers to stay in Jerusalem to “receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you”. But why you might ask? So that these followers would “be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The coming of the Holy Spirit in this manner was to glorify Jesus Christ. Jesus had spoken of this event in John 16 where the Holy Spirit purpose is described and in verse 14 states, “He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.”
The second part of this passage to understand is exactly what took place. Notice in Acts 2: 3-4 that everyone assembled there received the Holy Spirit. It was not selective in its distribution and was not being prayed and sought after by these followers. Verse 4 says that they began to speak with other “tongues” or glossais in the original Greek. Staying within the context of the passage, verses 6 and 8 describe the product of this tongue being “their own language”. This word “language” really means their own dialect. The Holy Spirit miraculously spoken through these believers and all who were there in Jerusalem heard the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ in their own language. This event must be differentiated from the glossais of 1 Corinthians 14 where the “unknown tongue” was designated by a singular personal pronoun. The Apostle Paul stated this “unknown tongue” that was given by one person should be interpreted by another person.
THOUGHT I HEARD YOU SAY
“The Christian church was born not in a clever sermon but in a prayer meeting.” Jim Cymbala
“There are various kinds of drunkenness. Holy Scripture speaks of those who ‘are drunken, but not with wine.’ There is the drunkenness of pride, of anger, and of vengeance; and there is another kind altogether, of zeal and fervor. It was with this latter that the apostles were filled when they received the Holy Spirit.” Francois Fenelon
“If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.” A.W. Tozer
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