Teaching Kids Tongues

Hey, this is Michael. I know a lot of you end up with opportunities to teach children in your churches and whether you're family integrated or not. In fact, I'm family integrated and I go to a family integrated type event called the Bible Bee and that's where I'm teaching right now to children 7 to 10 years old. and I wanted to encourage you with this recording that you can teach 7 to 10 year old kids solid doctrine in a way that's understandable for them possibly even fun at times and be faithful to the word of God and maybe even have teaching that would be good enough for adults to learn from and at least be edified by as well So I present to you my teaching at the Bible Bee that I did last week, June 15, that was in regards in particular to Acts chapter 2.

Okay, so how many people are here? Seven? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Six, seven, or eight? Seven. Seven?

Nine, ten. 11, 12, 13, 14. Okay, so what was the, let's do a little bit of review of your lessons from this week. What was your discovery journal teaching you this week? A lot of things. Yeah, well what's something you remember from it?

Down here. Let's do one at a time. Raise your hand. Tiara? Tiara? I was just wondering about the cities and stuff and how many people were there when the disciples were coming after the day of Pentecost.

Oh. And how many people were gathered in one place. Oh, so like in the picture where it had the picture. So what was Pentecost? Does anybody know what Pentecost was? Jack?

It's okay if you're guessing you're wrong or something too. Can it be us? You might guess and be right. It might be... It's when they all... Well, I'm going to do a call in on people so that...

Do you want to try? No. No? Okay. Darren, you raise your hand next. When they had fire on their heads and they spoke in foreign tongues and everyone heard it in their own language.

That is correct. was the day that the disciples were praying and they had the tongues of fire over their head, right? And they spoke about God and they spoke in the language of the people. Why was that so neat? Did you want to tell me something other than my question? That's fine. Michael, you're supposed to be with Miss Teresa, sweetheart.

You're supposed to be with Miss Teresa. She's probably wondering where you went. Will you take them? Do you mind? Almost the same amount of people got baptized. A lot.

I think it was like 3,000 people got baptized. That's right. That's right. And so why was it... I have a question, though. Why was it so interesting that the disciples were speaking about God in languages that the other people could understand.

Diara? Because, first of all, they didn't know the languages, and then all of a sudden they couldn't speak it. So let's talk about the first thing you said. So you're saying that they were talking, and the language that they were saying, they didn't even know? Because it says that they're talking to them. Yeah, let's review that real quick so we can see it.

Yeah, there's a spider. Yep, I put him there so that that would happen at this very moment in my teaching. I didn't want you guys to think I had total control of the class or anything. All right, you ready? Ready? So, at the beginning of Acts chapter 2, if you want to talk about the spider, maybe you should do it in your mind and not out loud.

And then it won't be like you're interrupting. Okay. But remember what it said in here. It said, And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. and at this sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered and just like Diyara said why don't you just pay attention to this and don't worry about his straw in his mouth because each one was hearing them speak in his own language and so these people were all speaking different languages but then they showed up and they heard their own language that pretty neat Have you ever done that Just spontaneously spoken a different language and people understood you See, he spoke in a different language, but nobody understood him, right?

So it didn't help anybody, right? It was good, though. It was quick. So they were amazed and astonished. and what did they say? They said, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. So what is significant is that God, it says, gave them utterance.

So God gifted these people, Clark, he gifted them with the ability to speak in a language that they didn't even know why. Was it so they could feel prideful? No. Because that's pretty cool, right? No. I already know you know it, so I'm going to skip you, but I want you to know I know you know.

So we'll go with him next. Edison, right? There was a question. Okay, we'll go with Darren. Because the gospel could be spread. So the gospel could be spread, right?

So that people would hear about God. So what was the problem before this? Diara? People couldn't understand them when they were telling the gospel because they only knew one number. So if Peter and James and John and Jesus and John the Baptist and all these guys that we've read about it, they talked about Jesus and they talked about the saving gospel. Are you saying there was a lot of people around the world who would not have even understood them?

Yep. What would have happened to those people if they died? They would go to hell. They would go to hell, right? And so, when did all that start? Does anybody know?

Wait. Why do we live in a world that has all these different languages where some people couldn't hear about God, Jack? A power babble. That's right. So turn to Genesis 10 in your Bibles. I know, that was a joke.

That's just to get your attention. Or in Genesis 11. Listen, let me remind you of this, because this is actually really neat, what happened at Pentecost. And I'm going to warn you, a lot of people in our day and age want to actually totally distort the meaning of Pentecost. And so it's actually really important that you understand it well, so that when you talk to people, you'll be able to not be deceived.

So in the Tower of Babel, it says the whole earth had one language and the same words. Okay, so that's how things were after the flood. Everybody could understand each other. And if somebody wanted to teach somebody else about God, everyone would understand them, right? It says, as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

And they said to one another, come let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly and they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar and they said come let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves so they were full of pride right they didn't say let us build a tower for god or make a name for god or make god's name famous right they said let us make a name for ourselves and then they the lord came down to see the city and the tower with which the children of man had built and he said behold they're one people and they have all one language and this is only the beginning of what they will do and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them and so the lord sees what they're going to do right now did he already know Yeah, he already knows everything, doesn't he? Yeah. But sometimes in the Bible it says stuff like, and the Lord came down and looked at what they were doing.

It's just the way that God talks to us sometimes so that we can understand things. But then the Lord says, Come, let us go down and there confuse their language so that they may not understand one another's speech. So what happened there? Do you remember, Jace? Do you remember that story? What happened?

What did the Lord do to the way they talked? They all talked in one language, and then he did what? Yeah, so all of a sudden, one guy was speaking Spanish, we'll say, and another guy French, and another guy Japanese, right? Another guy Java, right? Probably weren't speaking in programming languages, but... I think it's amazing that he confused the languages, but you have all these beautiful things that were created, all these different languages.

Yeah. And that's one of the neat things about God, is even when God does something that's called a curse, we can see his creativity. So that's a curse. Do you know what a curse is? Edison, do you know what a curse is? Like a curse that you may not do this.

Okay that like a command Unless you do something else Yeah that right How about you D What a curse A curse is so if you do something bad against the Lord then he sends something bad upon you So he punishes you for it. And usually, like in the plagues of Egypt, they curse them with the plagues. Yeah. And then it's a famine. So a curse is really when we turn our back on God, generally speaking, and God gives us some consequences to teach us, right?

And to give us punishment. Christians don't get punishment, but God's curses are punishments towards humanity. So how was this a curse? God changing the languages. Like, we think it's neat that there's lots of languages. It's fun to learn them and stuff.

But how is it a curse, Jack? Because they couldn't understand the South, so they couldn't build their tower. They couldn't build their tower, but also what else couldn't happen, Leora? What could they not do when they had different languages now? They couldn't build their tower. That's right.

What's something else that some people wouldn't be able to do, though? I know you know. I'll ask Edison. Go ahead. Speak to each other. speak to each other, so some people had to stop being friends with people. What else, Darren?

If they lived together, they couldn't communicate with each other, so they had to be separate. Yeah, they had to move apart. And then when God came and He gave Moses the Ten Commandments, and Moses wrote the beginning of the Bible, what happened? Were there people that couldn't read it? Yeah. Diara?

Yeah, there definitely was. Yeah, so all of a sudden, you had lots and lots of people all around the world that had no access at all to God, right? And for how many years did that happen, you think? Forever and ever and ever. Well, I don't know if it was forever and ever, because we wouldn't be standing here smiling, that's for sure. Hundreds or even thousands of years, there were people who didn't have any of God's Word.

Did you know that there's people today who speak languages and don't have any of the Bible in their own language? Did you know that? What's that? Well, there's still a lot, though. So we can say, thank God there's not too many that there used to be. But there's still a lot of people who have never had a person sit down and figure out how to give them the Bible in God's Word.

Or God's Word in their language, right? So how come we don't just show up at all these places and speak in tongues to them? One at a time. One at a time. Let me call on somebody. So go ahead, Clark.

Why don't we just show up on these islands where they don't have the Bible in their language and speak in tongues to them? God's making us power? We can't just show up and do it whenever we want? Can't we just show up and do it anytime we want? No. Darren, are you saying that God's the one who grants the ability to speak in tongues and God only?

That's right. So, what's really neat I want you to think about with the tongues part is here's Peter, and he's getting ready to preach the sermon to them, and 3,000 people get saved. Who told me that? Edison? And they all got baptized, right? Because that's what you do after you get saved.

You get baptized because God told us to, and that's called obedience. But when God did this, I think God was telling us something more than just, hey, tongues are really cool. Because what did I tell you happened at the Tower of Babel? God put a what? What's the curse? Yeah, He put a curse.

And now, what was God doing with that curse? Liara? He was restoring the ability to speak to everyone without confusion. Yes, and just this little moment, right? He was making it so that the curse was not quite as active. So what you have is a curse on people, and people couldn't hear the gospel, right, Liara? and then all of a sudden, because of God's love for all peoples, not just Jewish people, God was making it known that he was going to make the words of God available to all people.

But so what happens now that we don't have tongues anymore? What should we do? Any ideas? Darren's turn. You can learn other languages. And do what?

And go and preach the gospel to them. Yes, so it's our responsibility to either learn... Look at me everybody, this is really important here. Because each one of you is supposed to one day bow your knee to Jesus Christ in submission okay And if you done that then great If you haven done it yet I hope you will But what I want you to know is that Christians need to learn languages and give other people the Bible and the Gospel, right?

Or you should support somebody else who does it. So maybe you're not the person that's going to learn languages. But you should pay money so somebody else can learn them. You should send somebody to school. You should help them be a missionary somewhere, okay? So we all have to play a part in helping people hear the gospel in their language.

Does that make sense? Okay, so tell me one thing you remember from the teaching today. I'm just going to go around to each person, okay? So I'm going to do you last because you've got to remember the most then. Jack, what's one thing you remember from tonight? More other people. that want to go out to preach to other people that don't have the Bible in their language.

Yeah, we should support them, help them, right? Or you should become one of them, one or the other, right? Jace, what's something you remember we talked about tonight? Don't say daddy long legs. I know we talked about a daddy long legs. I wouldn't say that.

I wouldn't say that, by the way. Do you remember Tongues of Fire? We talked about Tongues of Fire, remember? Yeah. That's a neat visual. That's something I'd remember if I was seven, I think.

What are you, seven? Yeah. All right. Edison, what's something you remember? Um, that, uh, that, uh, most of the language, Most of the language got created from the Tower of Babel. That's right.

What's something you remember, Clark? Um, tongue, um, them speaking in tongues. Yeah, they were speaking in tongues. And what does that mean, that they were speaking in tongues? That means that they were speaking different languages. Different languages that they didn't previously know, right?

And they still didn't know him. They were just speaking to him. Leora, what's something you remember? The fire on their head. The fire, yeah, on their head, and then that's when it started. Darren, what do you remember from tonight?

When they spoke to him, they broke power and had a name, made a name for themselves. Yeah, they wanted to make a name for themselves, right? Not for God. Diara, what's something you remember? that even if God put the curse, he still has a plan to do the first glory. That's right. I don't even remember saying that, but that's a really good point.

Yep, when God put that curse, he had a plan for his glory. What's the worst curse that ever happened in this world? Yeah, we'll see. Darren? No, that's not the one I'm looking at. Edison?

The flood. The flood? No. Clark? Tiara? No, the worst curse that ever happened, Jack.

The one in Egypt? No. Tiara? Tiara? That Jesus Christ was cursed by God. That's the worst curse that ever happened.

But what's the best thing that ever happened in this world? Diara? That Jesus Christ died for us and rose from the grave. So the worst thing that ever happened was also the best thing that ever happened for our sake, right? It's kind of confusing. It is.

But God's ways are higher than our ways. And that's why what we learn to do is believe what he says. And then we study it and try to understand it more later. But it's important that we believe him sometimes even when we're not sure we get it. Okay, so I want to play a little game. Let me pray first, and then I want to play a game.

And not everybody has to play if you don't want to, but I hope you will. So, Father in Heaven, I pray for us tonight that you would help us to continue to have a good spirit. I thank you for these kids and their attentiveness and for the studies they're doing at home. And I pray that your word would dwell in them richly and that each one of them would grow up to be men and women of God who support the proclamation of your gospel one way or another, each with varying gifts according to the faith that you'll assign to them but we pray we'd all play a part in your great commission and in watching you reverse your curse that one day you will completely wipe away in Christ's name I pray, Amen okay so this is what thank you for listening to Be A Berean with your host Michael Coughlin I am a writer at thingsabove.us and I also have a personal website, michaelcoghlan.net.

You can contact me by emailing me, michael at thingsabove.us. I hope that you have been encouraged to search the scriptures.