1So, always love other people. That is most important. And ask God’s spirit to give you special powers too. Ask him for the power to tell special messages from God. This is more important than the power to talk in a special language.
2If somebody talks in a special language they are only talking to God, not talking to people. Nobody can understand them. The Holy Spirit is getting them to talk about secret things, but nobody can understand what they are saying.
3But if somebody tells messages from God, they are talking to other people, and helping them to understand things better and get strong. Those messages from God help people, and make them happy, even if they have trouble.
4You see, a person that talks in a special language helps only himself. But a person that tells messages from God helps all the people in the church to get strong.
5I’m happy for you all to talk in special languages, but I’m more happy if you all tell people messages from God. The person that can tell God’s messages is greater than the person that talks in special languages. But if that person talking in a special language tells everyone what those words mean, then it is all right. He will help the church get strong.
6My friends, if I come and talk to you in a special language that you don’t understand, that will not help you. But if God shows me something and I tell you about it, that will help you. Or if he lets me know something new and I tell you about it, that will help you too. Or if he gives me a message for you and I come and tell you, or if I teach you something, that will help you too.
7Think about things that make sounds, like guitars. If we don’t play them the right way, nobody will think it is proper music.
8And think about soldiers. Their leader gets one man to blow a trumpet to tell the other soldiers what to do, but if he doesn’t blow it properly, they will not know what to do.
9Well, it is like that for you. You have to talk clearly and say words that people can understand. If they can’t understand your words, you will be talking to nobody.
10You know, there are a lot of different languages in this world, and all of them make sense to the people that know those languages.
11But if somebody talks to me in a language that I don’t know, I will not understand him. I will be like a stranger to him, and he will be like a stranger to me.
12And it is the same for you too. I know you really want God’s spirit to give you special powers, so ask God to give you the powers that will help the people in the church be strong.
13So, in your meetings, if anyone talks in a special language, he has to ask God to show him what those words mean so he can tell everybody the message.
14You see, it is like this. If I pray in a special language, I’m not using my mind. I’m not thinking about my words while I pray. Only my spirit is praying.
15So what will I do? Sometimes I will pray with my spirit and sometimes I will pray with my mind. And sometimes I will sing with my spirit and sometimes I will sing with my mind.
16You see, if you only thank God with your spirit, in a special language, other people in the meeting can’t understand what you are saying, so they can’t agree with you and say “That’s right.”
17You might be thanking God, but your words don’t help anyone else.
18I thank God that I talk in special languages more than any of you.
19But if I talk in a church meeting, I want to tell people more about God, and I want them to understand my words. So, I reckon, if I say 5 words that they can understand, that is better than if I say 10,000 words in a special language that they can’t understand.
20My friends, don’t be like little kids in the way you think. You know, little kids don’t know much about anything. They don’t understand really bad things. So whenever you think about bad things, be like little kids. But whenever you think about anything else, be grown up people. Think properly and understand things properly.
21You know, God told one of his men to write this in his book, “God will get people from other tribes to talk to this mob. They will talk to them in strange languages. But even if God gets strangers to talk to this mob, they will not listen to him.” That is what God said.
22It is like this. If you talk in special languages, God will use that talk, but not the way you think. He will use it to show you that it is useless to do that when you are all together in a church meeting. Suppose a stranger comes into that meeting, a man that doesn’t know very much and doesn’t believe in God. He will hear you all talking in those strange languages and he will say, “You mob are all mad.” But if you tell God’s special messages, God will use that to show you that it is right to do that in your church meetings. Suppose a stranger comes into the meeting and hears you are telling messages from God, he will listen to what you say and he will understand it. Then he will know that he is not a friend of God, and he has to turn around and stop doing wrong.
25Those messages from God will show him every secret thing that he thinks about, and he will get down on the ground and show respect to God. And he will say, “It’s true, God is really here with you mob.”
26So, my friends, this is the way to have proper church meetings. Whenever you church people meet together, each one of you can have something to help the others. One of you might have a song that all of you can sing to God. Another one might have something that he can teach you. Somebody else might want to tell you about something that God has shown to him. Another person might talk in a special language, and then somebody else can tell everybody what those words in that special language mean. Do all these things to help each other in the church to be strong Christians.
27Only 2 or 3 people can talk aloud in special languages, and they have to take turns. Only one person can talk at a time, and then, each time, somebody has to tell everybody what those words in that special language mean.
28But if there is nobody there that can do that, then nobody can talk aloud in special languages. They have to be quiet. They can’t talk aloud in a special language, but they can talk to themselves and to God.
29And if the Holy Spirit has given some of you the power to tell messages from God, well, 2 or 3 of you can tell those messages, and the others have to think carefully about each message and check them, to make sure each message is really from God.
30And if one person is telling a message and while he is talking somebody else gets a message from God, that first person has to stop talking, so that the next one can tell his new message from God.
31Each of you can tell a message from God, but you have to wait for each other so that only one person talks at a time. Then everyone will learn something, and you will all feel strong for God.
32You see, if you have power from the Holy Spirit to tell God’s messages, you can control your own spirit, and you will wait for the right time to talk.
33God does not want people to be mixed up and messy. No, he wants them to be settled and quiet, and to respect each other. And now I’ll talk to you about another matter. This is the way it is with God’s people in all the other churches.
34The women have to be quiet in the church meetings. They have to do what the leaders say. That’s the law we follow.
35If a woman wants to ask about something, she can wait and ask her husband at home. If women talk aloud in a church meeting, they shame the church.
36Maybe you think I’m wrong, but remember this, you don’t know everything in God’s word. It didn’t start with you, and you are not the only people that ever heard it.
37Somebody might reckon that the Holy Spirit gave him the power to tell God’s messages, and that he listens to the Holy Spirit all the time. All right, but he has to understand that this letter I’m writing comes from our leader himself, and his people have to do what he says.
38So if that person will not take any notice of this letter, then you mob can’t believe his messages. Don’t take any notice of anything he says.
39So, my friends, this is what I’m telling you about your meetings. Be ready and happy to tell messages from God, and don’t stop people from talking in special languages.
40Do everything properly. Do everything the right way.
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