Speaking in Tongues and Evangelism

I have already shown how the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a gift given so that we can be empowered to witness to the lost. For those who missed that post...

For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.                                                                                          -Acts 1:5

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
                          
                                                                                                  -Acts 1:8

If you read my last post on the Spirit's Baptism you will also remember that Speaking in Tongues is the initial physical evidence of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. In the book of Acts, whenever people were filled with the Spirit, they spoke in tongues, but why? Why did God choose something so strange as speaking in tongues to be the initial sign of the Spirit's baptism?

Before I answer that, I should point out that there are three different types of "tongues" recorded in the New Testament. The first kind of tongue we find in Acts 2:4

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

                                                                                               -Acts 2:4

Now in this instance, if you keep on reading, they crowd that had gathered understood what these 120 Christians were saying as they were speaking in tongues. This might be the weirdest kind of tongues. The Greeks heard the believers speaking in Greek, the Arabs heard them speaking in Arabic, the Jews heard them speaking Hebrew, and so on and so forth. Each person in the crowd heard what was being said in their own native tongue.

There are reports of this happening today. I have heard of people from different countries coming to a Charismatic service and heard people speaking in tongues, only to find out that they people were speaking the foreigners native language and didn't know it! So this first kind of tongue is man ward.

The second kind of tongue is what many Pentecostals call prayer language. This is when a Spirit-Filled believer prays in tongues in their private devotional time. The Bible says that when we pray in this kind of tongue, we speak "mysteries" unto God. That we are personally build up and edified through this kind of prayer life.

For he who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.
                                                                                                -1st Corinthians 14:2

The one who speaks in tongues builds up himself.....

                                                                                               -1st Corinthians 14:4a

So the second kind of tongue is God ward. The third kind of tongue is the gift of tongues accompanied with the gift of interpretation. This is a form of prophecy. It is when someone gives a public proclamation of tongues in a service, and another or that same person gives and interpretation so everyone can understand and be edified.

Therefore one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret.

                                                                                            -1st Corinthians 14:13

So now we see the three kinds of tongues. Two of them are man ward, one is God ward. But what does all this have to do with evangelism? The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is given to empower us for evangelism, so why do we need tongues to evangelize? Jesus told us not to worry about what to say because we would be given the right words at the right time. That it would not be us speaking but the Holy Spirit speaking through us. (Luke 12:12,13)

So when we speak in tongues, it is a sign that we are willing to submit our mouths to God in order to be used by Him. As I have said before, God does not want us to share the Gospel by our own might or power, but by His Spirit. He does not want us to win the lost through reason, arguing, strategies, training, etc. He wants us to win the lost through a demonstration of the Spirit's power. We are to evangelize in the power of the Holy Spirit.

When you speak in tongues, that means you are a place in your walk with God, that you will let the Holy Spirit use you and speak through you. So when you do encounter the lost, the idea of God given you the words to say by the power of the Spirit, will not be so new and foreign to you. That is why it is the initial evidence of the Spirit's Baptism. It is a sign! It is a sign that the Spirit Baptized individual speaks not of the own accord, but by the power of the Spirit of God!