Hello, David Diger Hernandez here. Welcome to Spirit Church. Today I'm going to cover a topic that I've covered before. It's called the language of the Holy Spirit or speaking in tongues. And I want to cover this topic again because I feel it's a very important topic, especially for nowadays, when there seems to be somewhat of a spiritual vacuum that's been created in the church world. Now, I'm not saying that to sound critical. I'm not saying that to be obnoxious and pinpoint this again and again. But I really do sense in my spirit that there is a hunger for the deeper things of God, especially in the rising generation, in my generation, in the new generation of believers who've recently committed their hearts to Christ in the past few years. And we want something fresh from heaven. We want something that God has for our generation. We want him to move with miracles, signs, wonders, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, salvation to sweep across the land. We want a move of God. But I believe that one of the key aspects of a move of God is prayer. And I believe that one of the key gifts of prayer is speaking in tongues. You know, in the world, you look at the various organizations and systems that have their own lingo. And that lingo is presented in a way that expedites communication and allows for people to communicate ideas much quicker than they would have if they didn't have a lingo. For example, please have their lingo. Medical personnel has lingo. The military has lingo. And even television production has its own lingo. There are certain key words and phrases that you have to know that would help to get the production to go faster. Did you know that between you and the Holy Spirit, between you and God, there is a language that is powerful, that is potent, that expedites the communication, that allows for the Holy Spirit to pray for you through you from your very own mouth? What is the gift of speaking in tongues? Is the gift of speaking in tongues for every believer? What if any restrictions that Paul the apostle placed on the gift, what does the Bible really say about speaking in tongues? I'm hoping today that we can remove premeditated ideas, presuppositions, that we just come to the Scripture and we say, Lord, we're open, our hearts are ready, our minds are open to anything that you have for us. And we want to hear what the Scripture says concerning this gift. So the first thing I want to talk to you about is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 through 16. And often you'll hear the verse gets read aloud and it's read with somewhat of a mysterious tone to it. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him. And they stop there and oftentimes this verse gets referenced as something that's alluding to a later life or later eternity or the heavenly realm that when we die we're going to enter this place. We're going to enter heaven where there are things that no eye has seen or no ear has heard. But in the very next verse, verse 10 the Scripture says, But it was to us that God revealed these things by His Spirit for His Spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets. In verse 11, 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 11 the Scripture says, No one can know a person's thoughts except that person's own spirit. And no one can know God's thoughts except God's own spirit. Verse 12, and we have received God's spirit, parentheses not the world spirit, so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. Verse 13, when we tell you these things we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead we speak words given to us by the Spirit using the Spirit's words to explain spiritual truths. Verse 14, but people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it. For only those who are spiritual can understand what the spirit means. Verse 15, those who are spiritual can evaluate all things but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. Verse 16, for who can know the Lord's thoughts? Who knows enough to teach Him? You see there's an ancient teaching, even the early church taught this and the early church understood this, that man is not his body, man is not his mind, man is not his soul, man is his spirit. And this age old teaching can be summarized in this phrase, I am a spirit who has a soul that lives in a body.  So man is trifled, body, soul, spirit.   In other words, there is no spirit in hell.  You were like a radio with a broken antenna, the waves of God were all throughout the land but you were too broken to be able to receive any signals that he might send.  My spirit communicates with God's spirit and I was born again, as Jesus said, if you want to enter the kingdom of heaven you must be born again of the spirit. So my spirit comes back to life, I can communicate with God and who I truly am lives again. That's why the scripture says that I was dead in my sin or I was dead in my trespasses. I had no life in me, I was a dead man walking.  People who aren't saved live life from the outside in. Their outer circumstances influence their inner reality, their inner feelings, their inner knowing, their inner thoughts. But as a believer my inner reality dictates how I respond to my outer circumstances. In other words, I may be in a storm but a storm can never be in me because I live in an inner place in a heavenly realm spirit to spirit communicating with God and whether you're aware of it or not, as you go about your day there's a celestial conversation taking place in the heavenly realm spirit to spirit, your spirit, God's Holy Spirit. That's what 1 Corinthians chapter 2 is talking about.  Who can know you as well as your own spirit except for God. So we in fellowship with God fellowship spirit to spirit communicating deep things, deep truths and we know one another and that is how God reveals himself. We understand these things the scripture says because we have the mind of Christ. Being spiritual really is all about how you relate to the Holy Spirit. So I am a spirit who has a soul that lives in a body. The scripture says that I may be pressed but I can never really be crushed. I may be struck down but I'm never really destroyed. You can persecute me but I'm never abandoned. He's talking about what they can do to the body, what they can do to the emotions but even though they can crush the body or press on the body they can never really crush the spirit. Even though they can strike you down in body they can never really destroy your spirit and even though you may be persecuted here upon the earth you're never abandoned because deep inside that fellowship continues despite what happens around you and as believers we know that we have this connection with God we have this connection in the spirit to where God is constantly in fellowship with us the Holy Spirit he's not looking to rent an apartment or he's not looking to check into a hotel he's looking for permanent residence in you he's looking to abide with you remain with you sustain that fellowship between you and him that's what he wants to do so there were some questions I had about the Holy Spirit and many people have about the Holy Spirit when is he received? because it can seem confusing to say especially when I use terminology such as the baptism of the Holy Spirit which comes concurrently with the gift of speaking in tongues so when I say oh the believer needs the baptism of the Holy Spirit some people say wait a minute I already have the Holy Spirit they get real defensive about their spirituality sometimes believers can be very defensive about this a lot of insecurity that goes into it and because of our insecurity we often miss out on the more that God wants to give us so some people will say well God wants you to be a servant of his and serve him in the ministry we say no I'm not a servant I'm a son or we say well God wants to give you more of his power I already have all the power in heaven but really it's semantics and we have to stop being so defensive with our spirituality I'm not saying that's you but many people are like that and the truth is that when I say that someone needs to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit they need to receive the evidence of speaking in tongues their first thought of their first defense is always going to be well I already have the Holy Spirit I've already received him I'm already spiritual and it's not that we're trying to challenge anyone's spirituality it's just that God has more in fact the scripture says in Romans chapter 8 we're going to answer this question here when is the Holy Spirit received? Romans chapter 8 is interesting because it really goes against a lot of the modern thinking so Romans chapter 8 verse number 9 and a lot of the way the modern world thinks is we're all children of God we're all equal in God's eyes and that's really not the biblical truth Romans chapter 8 verse 9 says but you are not controlled by your sinful nature you are controlled by the spirit if that's a contingency if you have the spirit of God living in you and remember and this is just by the way a disinterested common if you will in parentheses and remember that those who do not have the spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all I want you to think about the heaviness of that go down now skip ahead a few verses to verse 14 we're going to read verse 14 through 16 of Romans chapter 8 the scripture says for all who are led by the spirit of God are children of God so if you have not received the spirit that makes you fearful slaves or you have not received the spirit that makes you fearful slaves instead you received God's spirit when he adopted you as his own children now we call him not then we can't call him father before then but now because we have the Holy Spirit now we call him Abba father for his spirit joins with our spirit there's that inner fellowship again to affirm that we are his children we are his heirs in fact the scripture says together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory but if we are to share his glory we must also share his suffering now this scripture parallels the scripture in 1 Corinthians when it talks about that inner fellowship inner spirit to spirit communication and the truth is that if you're a spiritual person those who are not spiritual are not going to understand you your confidence comes off as them as arrogance so as a believer I look at the word I read it every day and I say I believe this I have confidence in it and you go out you have that confidence in your God and people look at you as arrogant you go out with certainty you have the most pressing questions with certainty and people get offended by that when we try to preach the truth of hell or sin or judgment or wrath though that is not the primary focus of the gospel when we do preach that as an essential truth a core portion of our faith a part of the foundation of the gospel message so when Jesus saves what does he say from he saves from sin and hell when you preach that aspect of it you're judged as being bigoted or closed-minded or being hateful or judgmental you name it you'll slap a label on you that's what they do with the spiritual Jesus could not be handled by those who were offended by him in fact that's why they killed him Jesus was so spiritual that people were just offended by him and they killed him he claimed to be God and those who are led by the spirit the children of God were spiritual we cannot always be understood Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13 to 14 also tells us a similar truth that has to do with we are only children of God if we have the Holy Spirit so this was interesting to me and I'll tell you why because in Luke chapter 11 and again we're still on the question of when is the Holy Spirit received Luke chapter 11 verse number 13 says this and this almost seems to create what is called the catch 22 or something like of a paradox here so Luke chapter 11 verse 13 this is what amazed me here this is the words of Jesus he's talking about how God can give good gifts in comparison to us he says you being evil human beings you know how to give good gifts to your children yet you don't trust God to give you good gifts he is going to give you the Holy Spirit if you ask him but he says this to them he says so if you sinful people there he is being meek and mild and comforting so if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him and I thought wait a minute Lord only those who have the Holy Spirit I consider your children and only your children can ask you for the Holy Spirit to me it seemed like a catch 22 so I have to be a child of God in order to ask my father for something but then if I have the Holy Spirit that's the only time I can ask God for anything seems to be a catch 22 until I realize that the baptism of the Holy Spirit that Jesus is referring to that many of the letters of Paul were referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit as referenced in Acts chapter 2 is a second experience to salvation so at salvation I receive the Holy Spirit in my spirit remember body soul spirit I receive him into the deeper parts of who I am I receive him inwardly and baptism I release him at salvation I receive him at baptism I release him from the soul to the body from the spirit to the soul to the body from the spirit to the soul to the body I receive him in my spirit at salvation because he brings me to life and at baptism the flood waters overflow Jesus said out of your belly or out of your innermost parts shall flow rivers of living water so that spirit to spirit communication comes out like a flood from my spirit to my soul to my body and it floods over my mind my will my emotions my intellect my personality my actions my demeanor the way I talk the way I look at things where I go it affects everything from the inside out so this is a second experience in John chapter 20 verse 22 we see that Jesus breathes on his disciples and he says receive the Holy Spirit Jesus breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit yet these are the very same people that in Acts chapter 2 had to go and wait why don't you think about that Jesus says here's the Holy Spirit and he breathes the Holy Spirit on them and then in Acts chapter 2 it's that very same group of people that is waiting for the Holy Spirit to come now wait a minute why would they need to wait for the Holy Spirit to come if Jesus already breathed the Holy Spirit on them again in Acts chapter 9 let's go to Acts chapter 9 and Luke also wrote Acts so Acts chapter 9 is a perfect transition over here from where we read that in chapter 11 Acts chapter 9 verse 1 this is concerning Saul who turned into Paul the apostle meanwhile Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord's followers so he went to the high priest he requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers in the way he found there he wanted to bring them both men and women back to Jerusalem in chains as he was approaching Damascus on the mission a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me who are you Lord? Saul asked I love that Saul didn't know who he was but Jesus had such an authority on his demeanor that even though Saul didn't know who he was he knew enough to call him Lord he says who are you Lord and the voice replied I am Jesus the one you are persecuting now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do the men with Saul stood speechless for they heard the sound of someone's voice but Saul no one Saul picked himself up off the ground but when he opened his eyes he was blind so his companions led him by hand to Damascus so here is Saul he's on his way to murder Christians and the Lord stopped some dead in his tracks now he's breathing threats against the Lord he's persecuting the church at that point Saul is not a child of God he did not have the Holy Spirit had he had the Holy Spirit he would not be persecuting the followers in this way because if anyone has the Holy Spirit they call Jesus Lord so Paul or Saul could not have been a child of God then he could not have had the Holy Spirit then in the next verse we see now there was a believer now this man Ananias the believer referenced here in this verse was a child of God calls him a believer now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias the Lord spoke to him in a vision calling Ananias the Lord said go over to Straight Street to the house of Judas when you get there ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul he is praying to me right now so Ananias goes over and go down to verse 17 this is the main point I want to make here verse 17 so Ananias went and found Saul he laid his hands on him now listen very carefully what he says he laid his hands on him Saul wait a minute Saul could not have been Ananias's brother unless he was God's child and Saul could not have been God's child unless he had the Holy Spirit Saul repented Saul got right Saul was saved and he received the Holy Spirit because you can't have the Holy Spirit and be saved the Holy Spirit is present at the very moment of salvation they cannot be separated otherwise you can't become a child of God we've already established that when I went down Saul he laid his hands on him and said brother Saul the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road has sent me to you so that you might regain your sight and watch this and be filled with the Holy Spirit now wait a minute Saul already had the Holy Spirit if he was a believer if he was Ananias's brother but this that he received was something secondary Jesus breathed on the disciples and waited for a second experience with the Holy Spirit Saul made himself right with God he became a child of God and Ananias calls him brother and then says receive the Holy Spirit there is yet another example of this in Acts chapter 8 verse 14 through 17 this one's a little more straightforward Acts chapter 8 verse 14 through 17 says when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God's messages they sent Peter and John there as soon as they arrived they prayed for these new believers remember they were added to the number they're counted as one of them new believers to receive the Holy Spirit and verse 16 says the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus so there was a baptism unto repentance that produced salvation and then there was a baptism with fire that the Holy Spirit came Acts chapter 19 verse 1 through 5 gives us another instance where believers had to receive the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit a second time Acts chapter 19 verse 1 says when Apollo was in Corinth Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus on the coast where he found several believers verse number 2 did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? he asked them no they replied and then he says in verse 3 he asked them then what baptism did you experience? verse 4 and they replied end of verse 3 beginning of verse 4 and they replied the baptism of John Paul said John's baptism here it is called for repentance from sin but John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later meaning Jesus as soon as they heard this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Paul laid his hands on them the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied this is a second experience so what is that baptism? as I reference in John chapter 7 verse 38 the baptism is not when you receive the Holy Spirit but when you release the Holy Spirit so how do I know this is of God well you can reference back to Luke chapter 11 Jesus said look and I want to be very sensitive to some of you who are watching because many of you have seen some very bizarre disorderly, unorganized and really ugly displays that were done in the name of Jesus there have been many strange actions that people have taken and they've claimed that it was the Holy Spirit telling them to act in that certain way now I do acknowledge that the Holy Spirit does often call us to do radical things and the Holy Spirit does, he has spoken of prophets in time past to do very strange displays and you know Jesus spit in the mud and put it in a blind man's eyes it's radical and it's not exactly reserved but the Holy Spirit is a gentleman the Holy Spirit is classy the Holy Spirit is reserved the Holy Spirit is gentle and I want to talk to you you may be watching this and you want all that God has for you but you've become reserved you become shy you become turned off to the idea of the baptism of the Holy Spirit of speaking in tongues because of the displays that you've seen you've seen many people do strange things or maybe people abuse it maybe you were pressured into speaking in tongues I mean I can go through the list but for whatever reason you have mental barriers and emotional reserves I want to tell you something if you ask God for bread he's not going to give you a stone if you ask God to receive the Holy Spirit you're not going to receive anything else some people are so afraid of receiving this they're afraid of well it might not be of God well it might be demonic well it might be this, that or the other but when we approach God with trust it's not that I trust in my ability to discern everything it's that I trust that when I pray in the name of Jesus that he's not going to give me anything bad he's the good Father and from him all goodness flows from him comes the Holy Spirit and if you ask for the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus you say Father God I want your Holy Spirit, I want all that you have for me he's not going to give you a stone he's not going to give you something demonic he's not going to give you something that's ancient or of other religions God is going to give you the Holy Spirit if only you come and ask him in faith and you ask him in the name of Jesus he won't send nothing else so what is this gift? what is speaking in tongues? I talked to you about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and how the baptism of the Holy Spirit is when that flood goes from the inside the spirit outwardly to the soul and to the body but the gift of speaking in tongues is the speech that is manifested from the baptism of the Holy Spirit it's when that overflow reaches your mouth and so speaking in tongues really the Holy Spirit prays for us check this out, Romans 8 verse 26 says this and the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness for example we don't know what God wants us to pray for but the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words now this isn't necessarily directly referencing the gift of speaking in tongues but it is touching on that reality of that inner fellowship spirit to spirit that you have with the Holy Spirit so that when he prays for me he does so in a way that's in my spirit that cannot be expressed in words but in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 14 the scripture says this this is beautiful for if I pray in tongues my spirit is praying but I don't understand what I am saying you see when you pray in tongues the Holy Spirit is praying for you through you you often hear of many people who travel miles or fly in planes when I do services often I'll have people who come in wheelchairs coming from the hospital I've had people coming flying for one night just to be there from out of state even out of the country and the fly just to be in the service for two hours is not because I'm preaching trust me my preaching is not good enough to draw people to come in from another country but they come because the presence of the Holy Spirit is there and he is able to do so much yet I hear of these people who fly in the fly in of the services the fly in the conferences and they'll go from conference to conference to conference they think that Jesus wants them to live like homeless drifters it's not what God wants and they go everywhere and they just kind of do different things they switch churches every other weekend and they're kind of free flowing no structure really and it's not really all bad to want people to lay hands on even I've gone to services to specifically have specific men and women of God lay hands on me but isn't it amazing that we'll go through that extra length that we'll look for the prophet to lay hands on so we'll look for the minister to lay hands on so look for the one who has the gift of healing to lay hands on us yet when the Holy Spirit wants to pray for us we ignore it when you reject the gift of speaking in tongues you're saying Holy Spirit I don't want you to pray for me through me that's really what you're saying because this is the gift through which he communicates it's like this at least because it's written in English was written with 26 letters 26 letters gives us over a thousand pages 66 books and many many many concepts and ideas and words and stories even as I'm talking now if you were to transcribe what I'm saying here on this broadcast it'd be only 26 letters that were needed to transcribe what I'm saying but those 26 letters when you give them to the author those 26 letters and he can rearrange them to write whatever he wants he can write a story, a novel, a book that's what it's like when you pray in tongues you're giving the Holy Spirit syllables and sounds with which he can work when you pray in your own language you're attaching your own meaning to those words that you speak when you speak in English or Spanish or whatever language that you speak you're speaking by your understanding by your intention and every word that comes out of your mouth when you speak with human reasoning you're attaching your own meaning to each word but when you pray in tongues you're allowing that sound that syllable to be void of meaning and by faith saying Holy Spirit you attach your meaning to each and every word as I speak it and the Holy Spirit takes up the task of attaching heavenly meaning on our earthly syllables this is what he does this is the work of the Holy Spirit but he's not going to force you the Holy Spirit is not going to come down grab your tongue and start moving around a lot of people have misconceptions about this gift they think that they're going to lift their hands and suddenly they're going to lose control no the Holy Spirit doesn't make you lose control the Holy Spirit doesn't make you senseless or silly the Holy Spirit makes you sharp so the gift of speaking in tongues works in tandem it works with our obedience so the difficult God will do the impossible if we will do the challenging God will do the supernatural and for some of you it's a challenge and let's just be honest to go on speaking I forgot how to pronounce it it's to go on speaking with that sort of dialect or something that sounds so foreign or even to some silly but remember the Holy Spirit is misunderstood remember those who are spiritual are misunderstood that to speak in this way would kill my pride it would not be fruitful for my understanding but I'm able to speak in tongues because it's the language of surrender it's the language of faith it's the language of trust I trust with childlike faith that when I make those syllables and sounds that the Holy Spirit is going to come along and he's going to empower my action of faith and add meaning to those so that the prayers that happen spirit to spirit can manifest in my everyday life and all around me the power of the Holy Spirit his intention his meaning into your everyday life when you begin to pray in tongues it adds a power it adds an edge to your life it strengthens every spiritual gift it ripens every spiritual fruit it causes you to become more potent in the power of the Holy Spirit it causes the name of Jesus to be on your tongue more often when you pray in tongues you're building up your spirit you're allowing the Holy Spirit to take over that meaning and attach his own intentions to your prayers but you have to surrender anything that is supernatural begins as a command starts as a command becomes in action and miraculously becomes supernatural God tells us to speak in tongues you open your mouth you pray in tongues and the Holy Spirit supernaturally adds his own meaning again you're not going to feel some sensation that forces you and then you suddenly lose control you're in control the whole time that doesn't sound biblical Paul the Apostle wrote an entire chapter in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 that we're going to review in a moment 1 Corinthians chapter 14 Paul the Apostle writes an entire teaching on how we are to steward the gift of speaking in tongues why would Paul the Apostle spend a whole chapter in 1 Corinthians on telling us how to manage the gift if the gift couldn't be managed why would he write a whole chapter telling us how to control the gift if the gift couldn't be controlled the prophet is subject to the prophet and tongues is a prophetic expression because it's God speaking through man so that prophetic gift is under your control under your subjection under your will and you have to open your mouth and begin to speak it out you have to open your mouth and begin to give the Holy Spirit control of the meaning but you give them syllables and sounds with which you can work so the Holy Spirit is not going to force you you have to step out in faith it's kind of like an engine when you push your foot on the gas pedal you're not turning every little thing in that engine you're not putting all that power you couldn't go 65 miles an hour if you tried on your own but when you touch your foot on that gas you're just putting your intention and the engine takes over from there that's what it's like speaking in tongues when you open your mouth when you begin to speak words that have no meaning by will you start that engine and you put your foot on that gas and the Holy Spirit takes it from there that's the power it's something that communicates spirit to spirit you have to speak in tongues if you want the most out of your spiritual life that's just a fact there's no getting around that now there are three expressions of the gift of speaking in tongues and I'm going to tell them to you here real quickly number one the personal tongue number two there's the proof tongue and number three there's the prophetic tongue now in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 1-4 the scripture details the personal tongue listen to this let love be your highest goal but you should also desire the special abilities the spirit gives especially the ability to prophesy for if you have the ability to speak in tongues you will be talking only to God since people won't be able to understand you you will be speaking by the power of the spirit but it will all be mysterious verse 3 but one who prophesies strengthens others encourages them and comforts them a person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church now the word of prophecy he's talking about here is not your typical word of prophecy I'm going to show you what word of prophecy he's talking about he's talking about the prophetic tongue here but there's several things here number one Paul the apostle is contrasting the gift of speaking in tongues with the gift of prophecy now he is saying that the gift of prophecy is better for the benefit of everybody in a public setting but that in no way means that the gift of speaking in tongues is in and of itself bad Paul the apostle and 1 Corinthians he's not downing the gift he's not criticizing those who use the gift and he's not speaking negatively of the gift in any sense he's merely contrasting the gift of speaking in tongues with the gift of prophecy and he's saying the gift of prophecy in a public setting is much better obviously because there's other people there but then he says a couple things that are key in verse 2 he talks about that nobody understands what this guy is saying who's speaking in tongues it's all mysterious so this does away with the idea that speaking in tongues is an earthly dialect often many have tried to say that the speaking in tongues in chapter 16 that Jesus is talking about these signs shall follow them that believe they shall speak in new tongues some people have even tried to translate they shall speak in new languages because they say oh well he wasn't talking about this Pentecostal thing which by the way speaking in tongues is not a Pentecostal thing I'm using that merely for reference but some people say oh Jesus was only talking about the Pentecostal thing or Paul was only talking about this Pentecostal thing but really it was a language they were referring to and it's an earthly dialect that people can understand and it's a way of supernatural evangelism but in verse 2 we see that nobody understands it so how can it be an earthly dialect if nobody understands it because it's not just an earthly dialect speaking in tongues is this somewhat gibberish sounding lingo again the language of surrender, the language of faith it takes childlike faith to speak it because you have to drop your pride and your ego and trust that the Holy Spirit is attaching meaning to the other end that's why it takes so much faith so this cannot be attributed to earthly dialect but the scripture does say speaking in tongues, this is verse 4 is strengthened personally you grow spiritually personally through speaking in tongues that's number one, the personal tongue number two, the proof tongue Acts chapter 2 verse 6 says this now when this was noise to broad the multitude came together and were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language now here's where the confusion is this is why people think it's the language and heard them speaking in tongues I want you to think about that here's the picture of what happens the disciples are all there in Acts chapter 2 they're gathered together waiting for the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit falls the gift of speaking in tongues comes on them they all receive it, they begin speaking in other tongues and the crowd begins to gather around because they heard the Holy Spirit fall they heard it like a mighty rushing wind the scripture says and these people begin to gather and they start to marvel they look at all these people speaking in tongues that's the language now wait a minute each person in the crowd heard the group of believers collectively in their own language they didn't hear it wasn't that the believers couple of them were speaking Hebrew couple of them were speaking Aramaic couple of them were speaking Greek that's not what happened what happened was all the believers were speaking this this thing that sounds gibberish to us and those around them collectively otherwise how could they have heard a language at all if all of them were speaking over each other they couldn't have so each one hears them speaking in their own language and they could not have been speaking in more than one language at once because each one heard them so each man heard the entire group the scripture says each one heard them collectively speaking in their own language so I if I was an onlooker and I speak English I would hear the whole group speaking English somebody else there who speaks Spanish because each one heard them speaking in his own language so this is what's called the proof tongue because the scripture says so you see speaking in tongues is a sign not for believers but for unbelievers that's 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 22 and this proof tongue is when somebody hears you speaking in their own language when you don't know it so sometimes the gift of tongues when it's the proof tongue as you're speaking this they can super naturally and that is a powerful gift but one other point I want to make here in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 22 there are those who say that you shouldn't speak in tongues publicly or in front of unbelievers and I've always thought that was so silly I mean because the scripture says here so you see that speaking in tongues is a sign not for believers but for unbelievers now let me ask you a question how is a sign supposed to be a sign to unbelievers if you're not supposed to speak in tongues so that's just nonsense it's silly and we're going to go over Paul's regulations in just a moment but first I'm going to touch on this third and final tongue the prophetic tongue now the prophetic tongue is the one that Paul puts the most restrictions on because the prophetic tongue is when the believers are gathered collectively in a church service one person stands up begins speaking in tongues everyone goes silent he gathers the collective attention of those gathered in the group the group looks at him the guy speaks in tongues then he sits down and someone else stands up and gives the interpretation of the tongue that was spoken that is the prophetic tongue it's found in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 26 to 28 says this how is it then brethren this is Paul the apostle speaking now when you come together every one of you has a psalm has a doctrine has a tongue has a revelation has an interpretation he says let all things be done untoedifying now that's very key right there his goal for this letter is to make sure that at a collective service where the believers are gathered together in one accord that everyone is edified that's his primary concern he says it right off the top here now verse 27 he says if a man if any man speak in an unknown tongue let it go by two or by most three and only if that one interprets so he's saying when you're going to do this if someone's going to stand up and start speaking in tongues and gather the collective attention of believers make sure that that person is interpreted by someone with the gift of interpretation verse 28 he says this but if there be no interpreter let him keep silent in the church let him speak to himself and to God so that's the prophetic tongue now I want to talk about these restrictions a lot of people talk about this idea that because he's saying he's putting restrictions on the prophetic tongue that affects my personal tongue notice the three options he gives us here Paul the apostle says but if there is no interpreter he gives us three options let him keep silent in the church and let him speak to himself and to God so he has three options if he's not being interpreted be quiet speak to God or speak to yourself wait a minute first Corinthians chapter 14 verse 2 and 4 says that when I pray in tongues I'm not speaking to man I'm speaking to God no man understands me so I'm edifying myself I'm speaking to myself and I'm speaking to God that's that inner fellowship so he's not saying no one should ever speak in tongues in any church service when you're gathered or he's talking about gathering the collective attention of believers to prophesy to them make sure you have an interpreter and don't keep disrupting only do this because I want to make sure everyone is edified so this I think is very strong scriptural support to say that you can pray in tongues in church you can pray in tongues during worship you can pray in tongues during the prayer don't interrupt the service don't be disorderly make sure everyone is edified and if you do gather the collective attention of believers make sure to have an interpreter because you're not talking to God you're talking to yourself and that's where the personal tongue comes into play so his main point let all things be done decently in order that's what he wraps it up by saying now Paul's restrictions again let's look at this he's regulating it he's not discouraging it 1st Corinthians chapter 14 verse 18 Paul the apostle says I think God that I speak in tongues more than any of you 1st Corinthians chapter 14 verse 39 says therefore my brothers and sisters forbid not to prophesy or covet to prophesy and forbid not to speak with tongues that's a command he's telling us to do it and he even said I speak in tongues more than any of you now as to how he knew that I think there was some outward effect of the gift to speak in tongues there has to be so he has to be able to judge by saying I speak in tongues more than you all he has to be able to tell that there's something that he can do more than they can do so in other words it shows it's evident when you're praying in tongues there's more to your spiritual there's more power in your life Paul the apostle was able to look around at the result of everyone's life and say yeah I pray in more tongues than all of you sometimes you can tell some people go to the gym more than others it shows same thing with speaking in tongues Paul looked around and said I pray in tongues more than all of you he knew this and it was a fact it's written in Scripture so he's not discouraging it he's regulating it is it wrong for everyone to collectively speak in tongues if it's not disrupting the church service well let's take a look at the Bible here 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 26 to 28 again we see but if there's no interpreter let him keep silent in the church let him speak to himself and to God but in Acts chapter 2 verse 4 it says all of them if this was a live church service I'd say say all of them all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them he didn't stop and go guys guys guys I know God's moving we're all speaking in tongues but we got to do this in order he didn't do that well some would say well that's because it was in Acts chapter 2 they just receded well wait a minute Acts chapter 19 verse 6 says when Paul placed his hands on them the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied they all did doesn't record him saying wait a minute wait a minute didn't you guys it wasn't disorderly it's only disorderly when you're disrupting the church service now who is it for as I've spoken to you before earlier in this message and this is my last point who's the gift of tongues for is the gift of speaking tongues for every believer really look I know there's been a lot of I'm just being real with you I know there's been a lot of negative things that surrounded Pentecostalism I'm a charismatic Pentecostal I'm not ashamed to say that but speaking in tongues is not a Pentecostal thing the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not a Pentecostal thing the Holy Spirit is not exclusive to Pentecostals he's not prejudiced against other denominations he doesn't hold any loyalty toward one group in particular the Holy Spirit is for all who believe and I know there have been bizarre examples and really I and myself in my own ministry have been working to really combat personas if you watch my TV program for example as of right now what my TV program is you'll never see me asking for money on the TV program that's one because I've seen it abuse so much I want to just for now until we get to know my heart I'm not going to really do that you'll see it on the YouTube videos but that's about it and the second thing is I really believe that the Holy Spirit is classy his primary goal is he wants to convince you that you're a son of God your daughter of God isn't that most the battle just for your identity wondering who you are to who do I belong am I really God's am I really saved that's what the Holy Spirit does that's his primary function is to convince you to persuade you to remind you of the things that Jesus has said and to cause you to become to become firm in who you are and he pleads with you he cries of a father he makes it known that you're a child of God for which primary purpose but that doesn't mean that if we reject to get the speaking tongue just because it's not his primary focus that we're not offending him we're not hurting him my question to you and I ask this sincerely why would you want to receive anything less than all for which Christ died to give you why would you say no to a gift of God because of what others have done others have acted out in I'm not trying to make you feel guilty I'm trying to wake you up look the Bible teaches this and this can change your life and you may have said well nothing's happened I've I've tried to receive the gift well then I referenced you back to what I said earlier about you got to open your mouth you got to make the syllables and sounds and trust that the Holy Spirit is attaching and really once you get going it's kind of like driving a car again every turn I made was very purposeful I was very focused on every turn every signal I was very thoughtful and intentional about every detail of my driving now it's kind of just become a part of my nature same thing for speaking tongue at first it's very intentional and then it becomes a flower but you got to turn the key you got to light the ignition you got to open your mouth you got to surrender first you got to have faith that he's going to attach his meaning to you when you begin speaking and not the other way around so what does Paul mean when he writes the following 1 Corinthians 12 verse 30 have all the gifts of healing do all speak with tongues do all interpret and he's asking a rhetorical question he obviously means no but again remember there are the different aspects of tongues he's talking about the public expression I believe remember he's talking about interpretation right along with the gift of tongues and that leads me to believe because he addressed it right in 13 and 14 that he's talking about the public gift of tongues or the prophetic gift of tongues not everyone is meant to do that in a church service just like not everyone is to have a healing ministry not everyone is to find that primary focus there's the office and there's the gift I believe so for example all gifts are for every believer all believers are to evangelize but not every believer is an evangelist all believers are to speak for God when he puts it on their heart to do so but not everyone is called to be a prophet as recorded in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 all of us are called to encourage one another and to some degree build disciples but not all of us are called to be pastors all of us need to understand the word all of us need to be able to teach this word and give an answer for the hope that is within us but not all of us are called to be a teacher in the same sense all of us are called to speak in tongues but not all have the specific prophetic gift of tongues that Paul is talking about Mark chapter 16 verse 17 to 18 says in each sign shall follow them that believe in my name they shall cast out devils and they shall speak with new tongues and finally I think the final note here and I won't read it all but in Acts chapter 2 we see that Peter gets up and tells the people remember the people had gathered because the noise what was noise to brought as the King James so politically puts it the people had all gathered everyone speaking in tongues each one heard them collectively in his own language speaking in tongues and Peter gets up and he tells them that what they're seeing and hearing is two things or what the gift of the promise of the father is is two things he says this number one it's for all who have been called that's Acts chapter 2 verse 39 and just as you see and hear today Acts chapter 2 verse 33 so who was the promise of the father for all who have been called what does Peter describe as the promise well he describes it as what the people saw and heard and what did the people see and hear when people saw the fire of the Holy Spirit the people heard believers speaking in tongues the promises for all who are far off both what you now see and hear the gift of tongues is for every believer God wants to give you a gift today will you let me pray with you and let's believe that God is going to give you this gift of speaking in tongues right now right here right now but you got to open your mouth prepare your heart because God's going to do this for you right now so there's someone watching me you've been asking this for a while and you wondered God is it am I doing something wrong you felt guilty because you couldn't receive it but the reality is you have to open your own mouth you have to make the sounds and the Holy Spirit you'll feel his unction come on that and if you ask him and it doesn't manifest right away that's okay because he's given it to you because the word of God says he gave it to you so even if you don't feel anything even if nothing happens don't walk away discouraged walk away knowing you've received it already that's the reality despite what you feel despite what you experience you got to believe the word of God so Father in Jesus name I pray for that one watching right now I was ready to receive the gift Father I pray that all mental barriers all emotional reservations would be removed we thank you Father for this gift of the Holy Spirit we thank you Father that you are now filling them to overflowing some of you are going to be able to fill the presence of God right now it's flowing although I could feel the power of God on me right now it's flowing it's coming out of my hands right through that lens and right through whatever screen that you're watching this on Lord I thank you that your Holy Spirit is now moving that the fire of God is passing through and now present the presence of God is on you right now that's the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit open your mouth begin to speak in tongues Father like that tongue on fire in Jesus name I'm going to say the word fire in a moment when I say the word fire it's going to hit you and you're going to fill it on you when you do open your mouth you have to make the sounds and the Holy Spirit will fill them Father right now the fire of God filled them to overflowing we thank you Father we bless your name for it in Jesus name well that's it for the lesson here on this week for Spirit Church now I know it's a little bit longer than usual but when I when I talk about speaking tongues I want to cover it in detail now if you've been blessed by this ministry you follow me on instagram or facebook or twitter or youtube whatever and maybe you watch us on television however you're receiving from this ministry you know it's people like you that help to fund all of this there are people here that work full time for the ministry I'm a full time evangelist and we have television production cost and so on you see it all come out on ministry you know what we're about the ministry does more than just television we do internet broadcasting we do events all over the world we do Christian publications and we disciple and mentor believers to take the power of God I travel all over the world to different churches we have a radio broadcast we have audio itunes podcast we have blogs that I put out every week and write we're just putting out the gospel for believers and unbelievers alike content content content traveling all over the world making a difference hosting events I want you to be my partner look I need your help I need your support I need someone who's going to stand when we say brother David I believe in what you're doing I believe in the gospel message I know your ministry I receive from your ministry now I want to be a part of it I want you to go online www.davidhernandezministries.com click on the donate tab donate a one time gift or become a monthly supporter if you become a monthly supporter I would so appreciate that that's what helps make the ministry continue in what we're doing podcast and whatnot but also if you want to call in you can<PHONE_NUMBER> that's for prayer that's for donations<PHONE_NUMBER><PHONE_NUMBER> so go online do that today do me that favor go online today help support us let us know you're standing with us now if you become a partner this time around make sure to ask for my book Carriers of the Glory we just got a shipment in now every shipment that we get in sells out within 30 days we've set aside some for those of you who want to become partners with the ministry 30 dollars a month you sign up today as a 30 dollar month partner make sure you write in there on the special note or when you call let them know that I said you can get the book Carriers of Glory I will sign it to you personally as a thank you for becoming a partner that's a book on becoming a friend of the Holy Spirit well thank you until next time remember nothing is impossible with God I'll see you next time God bless you


foot number just allows us to exercise discretion. And if somebody were to propose a 30,000 square foot project with no parking, then we presumably wouldn't exercise our discretion in that case. Well, I mean, not only is it discretionary, but we can only exercise the discretion in the circumstances in which there's no on-site parking available. We make the determination that there's adequate off-site parking available. So we don't have unlimited discretion. We still have to meet those requirements. Yeah. Any other questions or comments before I open this up for public comment? Okay. So any member of the public who wishes to speak on this topic, please use the raise hand function in the participant section. And I'll call on you in the order that hands are raised for two. I see no members of the public wishing to speak. James, did you have any further questions for the board? It sounds like Gene will be reaching out to you with some with a proposed change to some of the article language. And you've certainly heard from the board that there are a number of us who would be in favor of removing the 6,500 square footage reference. Which makes it very easy to rewrite those two. I'm a fan. Let's do it. Fantastic. Thank you so much for bringing this in front of us. Thank you. All right. So we will now move to article 37, which is the zoning by law amendment for a multi-family zoning for MBTA communities. And I will turn this over to Jenny. But before I do so, I'll just remind everyone that this was discussed by the board. And we had previously identified that this was an article that we did not have an intent to continue to support moving forward at this time. But I'll turn it over to Jenny. Yeah. I'm not sure that I have much more to say than what you just stated. So I don't want to repeat you, but I will say that the memo we provided also explained that, you know, I think if there had been at least some guidance from the state that we could maybe at least assess or understand or anything, we might be in a different place right now. But even, you know, we don't have that. We don't have any other information to go on. So I would continue to encourage the board to, you know, vote no action, essentially, to take this out of the loop of town meeting. And anybody's, frankly, any concerns that people are having about it or just to put it to the side for now. And we'll come back to it when we have information from the state and guidance to work with in the future and with the community in a process to then bring it forward to a future town meeting. That would be my recommendation at this point. Great. Thank you, Jenny. And I'll just run through the board for any questions or comments, Jean. I agree with Jenny's recommendation. Great. Kim? Yes, Xavier. Yes, no further comment. Lisa? No further comments. Great. So I will open this up for any questions or comments. Please use the raise hand function in the participant section of Zoom. Seeing none, we will end public comment on that particular article. And that brings us to the end of tonight's warrant article reviews. So I would like to see if there is a motion to continue the open public hearing to the next scheduled date, which is Monday, April 5th. Second. Roll call vote. Any discussion? All right. So I'll go through the roll call vote. Kim? Yes. David? Yes. Dean? Yes. Melissa? Yes. And I mean yes as well. So we will continue this public hearing to April 5th. Thank you, everyone. Okay. The next item on our agenda is docket 2150, which is the continued public hearing for 49 to 51 Grove Street. Do we have the applicants with us this evening? We do. We have the architect and we have the director of the Department of Public Works. Fantastic. Is there someone who would like to speak to the revisions on the supplemental material that was submitted for the continued hearing? Good evening. My name is Jeff Alberti from Western and Samson, and I'm happy to speak on behalf of the DPW on this project and walk you through the comments that were brought up at the last meeting and our responses. And also with me is David Steves, who's our architect on the project. And I respect for your time. I know you guys have already had a long evening. I'll try to quickly go through the comments and the responses and then open it up to questions so we can get right to that if that works. Perfect. Thank you so much. And thank you for bearing with us the late evening. Appreciate it. Oh no, no worries at all. I got a lot of work done waiting, so thank you. So this is, as you said, a continued hearing from the last meeting. And at the last meeting we identified five comments. I just wanted to briefly outline them, describe. I know you've read it, so I'll just quickly go through our response and happy to answer any questions. The first comment had to do with the bicycle rack that we were proposing. We had indicated a wave bicycle rack at the last meeting and based on the meeting it was suggested that we take a closer look at the Arlington Bicycle Parking guidelines. Specifically, it started on page 12 where we started to see the information that we needed to address. We made a modification for a hoop inverted U type bike rack, which is properly spaced, provides two points of contact for the bicycle and allows the bikes to be securely locked. So that change has been made and we've provided a sketch SKC-1 in our packet that shows that inverted U bike rack. Comment two was the Arlington Redevelopment Board requested that one of the parking spaces along Grove Street be changed to a handicapped parking spot. So we met with our civil site team and worked through the ADA accessibility requirements and determined that in order to properly locate that spot we would need a five foot width aisle adjacent to the parking spot that would have to be on the same plane. So down at the street level and when we looked at trying to lay that space out, that would leave us with less than two feet of a side two foot sidewalk, which was not sufficient. We reviewed the potential shifting of the overall building and how it lays out on the site, but due to operational impacts we were unable to make any changes. So therefore that potential for an accessible spot in front of the building would not work, but as we showed in the earlier plan we do have one that's immediately as you enter the site. Comment number three was a request to look at the location of the interior bicycle parking. We've provided a plan in our documents and we can certainly go to it if there's more questions that show the location of that bicycle rack. It's located immediately adjacent to an exterior door. It's separate from the main access point where we're going to have potentially a lot of pedestrians entering and exiting the building. So it provides a nice secure access for anyone that does come to the site with the bike. They can store that indoors and they have direct access from that corridor to the locker shower toilet facilities. That was comment number three. Comment number four had to do with just providing some additional information on the signage. We've provided the details for the monument sign, building sign and canopy sign, indicating along with the details the requirements that are being met showing that we meet the zoning bylaws with regard to the signage. And then comment number five, I don't want to oversimplify this and certainly David Steves can talk more about this, but we did provide, we took a closer look at the request of the redevelopment board, took a closer look at the massing to see if we could use features that could potentially create some vertical bays along the facade. And we're able to come up with a series of studies looking at the use of different panel profiles and different colors to help introduce vertical elements to mitigate the horizontal linear quality of the front elevation and to emulate some of those sequences of building bays. And we provided those elevations within our documents and we can certainly get into those in more details if you have questions. So again, understanding you've had a long evening, I'll open it back up to you for questions and we can address any of the details. Great, thank you very much. I appreciate your attendance to all of the questions. I will start with Ken. Jenny, can you go to, there's like, I don't know, five elevations they submitted of the e-building. Yep, right there. Which one are you proposing? So go ahead, Dave. While we started with what was presented to the board at the last meeting, which is our starting point, which shows the terracotta tile, rain screen wall panel in the comments were that it was a strong horizontal element and it would be behoove us to look at possibly breaking up the horizontal nature with some vertical elements to more emulate the existing historical buildings on the site. I understood that correctly. So that's where we started and then so we just essentially walked through a series of studies of how we arrived to the final slide of the elevation. So we started adding some accent panels where we had some accent tile between all of the window bays and that was just too busy, didn't have a very regular rhythm or sequence. So if you could go to the next slide please, yes, thank you right there. Perfect. So we looked at removing every other bay or every other horizontal to try to get a regular larger bay spacing and kind of keeping with the overall proportion to the length and height that the bays kind of would work in that massing to try to capture the window elements because the windows are not regular like the historical buildings. So we tried to make the bays regular to emulate that while the windows could kind of float within these bay type elements. And then so we looked at it even further. You could go to the next slide please. Great, thank you. We added again just to continue the consistent vertical elements. We added them to the end bays adjacent to the two-story glass elements on the corners and we added some horizontal banding to try to define these very clear delineated bay segments in the patterning of the facade. Should we go to the next slide? And this shows how we reduced the ends as kind of a detail that we the ends were wider and heavier on the overall building massing. So we reduced the end bay elements of the accent tile to be consistent with the vertical elements in the middle body of the building. Try to make them again more consistent and regular. You could go to the next slide please. And here then we wanted to continue not just in the terracotta field but also bring that down into the faceted storefront wall by articulating some of the spandrel glass would have an accent color that would continue that vertical characteristic of defining those bays so it would stand really from the ground plane through the entire facade. And this is the final proposed elevation and we're showing some examples you can see in the lower left hand corner of the standard flat tire tile and then the accent pilaster tile. Those are actually the same color but you get some differentiation by the profile and having it as a different profile. And so we're looking at this type of execution and articulation on the facade. And here it shows it that we would continue it around the side elevations for this front two-story admin volume of the building. So it would continue just at that two-story admin portion. Consistently from the front facade to the side elevations. So sorry for so many we wanted to kind of show our process a little bit how we try to articulate the material that we're using the rain screen wall system for the facade and how it can be articulated to emulate the the big characteristics of the historic buildings. Well I appreciate your efforts in this. I think this is a lot better than what you had before. Can I make a few small suggestions and take it as I'll let you take it as you want. I would probably emphasize the entry a little bit more. So if you look at the entry right now you have a complete vertical pilaster on the right hand side. Yep I would mimic that on the left hand side and the bandage you have going across the entry I would stop it at the new pilaster on the left hand side. So it gives a little more emphasis on the entry because otherwise it looks the entry doesn't look as well emphasized and then I may even raise the parapet on the roof just that area between the two between the two pilasters just so it signifies this entry to the building similar to the building the job next door has the same kind of characteristics of the verticalities and emphasizing the entry you know using different materials and different proportions but it's still the same kind of attitude. Okay that's I'll see what the other people said other board members say but everything else looks fine to me. Great thank you Ken I'll go to Gene next. I'm going to differ to people with a better eye for aesthetic building detail than I have to discuss this piece of it. I had a couple other questions one which hadn't come up last time I asked about solar and you said the roofs were going to be solar ready but you might actually be ready to put solar on them can you just give me an update on where that is in the process? No change from last time that currently the scope of the project is focused on just being solar ready so providing the structure for the capacity of future solar panels as well as the place inside for them to locate equipment as well as having penetrations pre-installed for roof tightness so that's generally where the project stands at this point. And how much of the roof will be available for solar is it the entire? The entire rear portion the the the front portion is not but the entire rear portion it's it's got to be David maybe you can help me out with the overall square footage somewhere in the 30,000 square foot range. Is it more than half? Over 25,000 square feet. Is it more than half the square footage of the roof? Oh yeah yes. Okay thanks. The really only other comment I had was about the parking spaces in front. I was the person I think who raised the issue to ask if you if it could be handicapped accessible and I did read your explanation and heard you say it wasn't. I had said that if it wasn't handicapped accessible because it didn't meet the zoning bylaw requirements I'd have a hard time approving it and I just was thinking with all of the parking you have around the side how really necessary is it for you to have those three parking spaces in front? One of the primary drivers for it was safety trying to allow folks that are coming to the site to conduct quick business with the building department and DPW administration to be able to pull off the street and quickly conduct business and then exit without having to enter into the yard area. So from an operational perspective we thought that would be very important and also there are a lot of people that drop off students that happen to walk over to the high school on this road and this would help to keep them from entering the site for drop-off. So we do think. Like a drop-off thing and not an actual parking? Yeah I thought that's obviously an option we could definitely look at. I know that the parking is you know we were at our minimum for parking so that's certainly something that we could take a look at. I'll hear what my colleagues have to say but I'd be much more comfortable with it as a drop-off rather than a parking space because technically you know as has been pointed out it's inconsistent with the parking requirements because it's located within the front yard of the building. So I'll hear what my colleagues have to say about that. Thank you. If I might if I might add I just there is parking along the street in certain areas here we were just trying to pull that off to make it a little bit easier for that to happen. Understood I think the problem was by making it easier you also ran into the Zoning By-law. Yeah. Let's see David. So I think I don't feel strongly one way or the other about about the parking. I could go either way on it. I had hoped that there could be a handicap accessible space there but I understand the analysis for why that that won't work. I just want to say I appreciate the changes to the bike parking and having seen the diagram now of how the flow would work for people entering the building with their bikes and then going deeper into the building. I think that that's workable so I have no further comments on that and I will defer to my colleagues on the aesthetics of the front facade. Great thanks David. So I'll also add that I have no specific issue with the parking in in front of the the building as it is but you know I'll ask Ken to weigh in on that as well. I just have two questions about the changes to the facade. Jenny if you could go to what is sheet seven of eight the one with the imagery the precedent imagery and my questions are the first first of all just to confirm your intent is that the the two different profiles would be the same color correct? That is our intent. They don't have to be but we by talking to the rep that is the most economical but the most common one of the most common advantages of using this material by keeping it the same dimension. That was your intent as well. And then my other question is I see in the precedent image where they typically change the profile they also change the plane so you know there is an area that is you know there's a small shadow line in that as well is that your intent here as well where you have the vertical elements that that also sits proud of the of the facade for the other profile? That is something that we were looking at and considering but that was not our intent our intent was really to try to you know keep it as simple as we could not add additional costs to the to the project we did look into that and talk to the manufacturer on what's involved with creating that that recess and we decided that it really is not going to give us the the bang for the buck it's not going to really give us a lot more of the articulation that we're looking for with with that small change so our intent is to keep it all in the same plane and modify the the profile to give us the accent and the bay patterning. Sure. The shadow line does add quite a bit but I also understand the the cost implications if it's possible I'd love to see it if not it's certainly not the end of the world but I appreciate you taking a look at that and I think just from the imagery on the on the right you can certainly see where there is that that shadow line there there is a little bit more depth to the board articulation but I'm I'm satisfied too with also some of the the feedback that that kin gave you as well kin were those items that you wanted them just to study but that would not hold up any approval this evening what are what are your thoughts on the the specific feedback that you gave on the facade. Well I would like them to emphasize entry a lot more but if but I was gonna if the rest of the board says now you're being too picky I would say I would you know say okay but I would like to push for that I don't think it's gonna add that much more cost than just changing the way the material looks you know just having that one pylaster there and deleting that one window is that window gonna interfere with space inside. No that's a larger window directly over so the entry you're looking at it in just a flat elevation but it it does project from the facade it has a an entrance canopy so the entry itself the vestibule projects and then there's also a canopy on top of that correct so it does punctuate and it does have signage over the canopy and that was very similar you're voicing the concerns that we've had as well that we tried to express in the design by identifying the entry that larger window is directly over that main entrance vestibule but it goes in you can see it's spandrel glass it's a typical window but it has spandrel glass elements again to kind of make that a larger and more punctuated at the entry end of the building. Yes you lose me a little bit there because it's not quite centered it feels like it's a mistake I'm sorry yeah no I I don't that's okay yeah I see what you're saying we can if you made it centered by a couple inches that's all or I'll photo some I mean that's all make it good or bad you know you know what I'm saying yes I do yeah so I don't question I would yeah I would like to have it because this is a public building that's going to be there for a while it represents Arlington you know and you know I would like to have it you know at least at the entry spend a little more money there and a little more detailing there to make it look nicer you know would it be okay for us to to if we got approval tonight to then just have submit supplemental information to the board for your information and just to keep you apprised of the development of the design yes I would be fine with that just because the fact that you guys been so responsive to all the other comments that I have no problem with that and you know okay I feel similarly and as far as the drop-off loop I can go either way I'll just make a pitch that I think we should have a drop-off and not parking because you know if you look at the bylaw it says they can't have parking in the front yard which is what it is which the staff identified to us in the initial um memorandum and I'd be more sympathetic to it if it was something where it was absolutely necessary for the facility but it sounds like it's not and having it as a drop-off area would solve some of the issues that Mr. Radamaker mentioned so a drop-off area in me is a nice compromise I'll be okay with that Eugene okay any other I'm going to open this up for public comment unless there are any other questions or or comments and then we can talk to any of the final special conditions afterwards okay so I will now open this up for public comment any member of the public wishing to speak on this docket member please use the raise hand function in the participant section seeing none we will now close public comment um so let's see we have a couple of of items to to note for our visions but I don't know that these not certainly need to be um special conditions but Jenny correct because they're they're really just items that need to be revised and ensure that they are are are followed through but they're not necessarily special conditions yeah usually we would just handle these as administrative review by the department and I will deem whether or not they would need to come back to the board based upon what I'm reviewing the scale or scope you know if it's well beyond what you've suggested or I think it triggers additional review so the the first then is the the change of the the parallel parking in front of the building to be a drop-off zone just making notes as I go and then the second is to further study the the the entrance per Kinlo's comments earlier with the first one are you talking about help that while it is related to this building that technically is in the town right of way is that is that accurate Mike um I you know if I'm not sure if the property line is shown on there I thought it was within the right of way um Jeff or David let me see if I get my plan in front of me Erin has her hand up on the plan in the original submission it looks like it's kind of half and half it the parking space is straddle the property line yeah and I don't have that plan like available at this exact minute but it's it's what you have up here on this it's just basically this right but I mean is this so but what what you're talking about I think has some public right of way implication and is beyond the I mean it's certainly something that we could include as a special condition that we would like them to consider that and work with essentially the police department and probably the select board as well as their own engineering division on uh the siting of those um of this uh requirement you know for additional parking out front but I don't think that we can go much further than that well thank you then we couldn't have approved this parking either is that what you're saying it couldn't have been approved as parking no I had I've been kind of confused by that comment um but no because I think it's straddling both the public right of way and yes to some extent a little bit within their property line but I was assuming was all in their property line so sorry and and please David or Jeff or Erin uh if there's something I'm missing here let me know but I believe that it's a little bit of both that's correct yeah okay so then I don't think that that could be you know beyond what I've explained I don't think you could go much further than that but but we can't allow it as parking either no okay no so that just needs to be eliminated the recess okay I mean they could work on it kind of similar to when we were talking you know we've had other cases where we talk about parking that's sort of related to the project but we can't make it a requirement that we would like them to explore it or go through a process with the select board or transportation you know or you know other committees essentially to have an additional review but we can't go much further than that great so let's um include that as as the special condition then to review the desired recessed parking area with the appropriate town committees except that since part of it's in their front yard I think that over that part we can say it doesn't meet the requirements of the zoning code but I'd be okay with it as a drop-off area if it weren't in the front yard as Jenny I would agree with Jenny we don't have any say over at all except for the the mention of parents dropping students off at that location I don't understand why a drop-off area even makes sense there at this facility well that's one of the major reasons I know it's a very tight street and if anybody parks there you know you're it's two-way traffic it's very tight we we work very hard to keep to make it so that because there is a significant high school drop-off population here and we were trying to make it so they wouldn't have to come through a you know an active DPW site to do that there's also very quick turnaround drop-off of building permits there for the inspectional services so we saw it as a benefit too for contractors to be able to come to the site and do their business during the day my suggestion would be that we handle this by just talking about what's happening at the curb line anything about parking though it feels unrelated to the conditions of the permit I mean of course that could be the purpose for adjusting the curb line but I don't know that we have control over whether or not they can put a you know they cannot we we don't have control over putting a sign out that says this is drop-off only this is limited period of time those sorts of details we're getting a little bit beyond ourselves here so the condition would be to work with the appropriate town committees for the proposed curb line recess period the end and leave it at that great any objections to that proposed language okay any other any other special conditions or items for further review with the planning department staff that any of the board members would like to discuss I just I don't it's not special conditions or things for the applicants but just I think we need to make two or three findings and that I didn't see one was that we're okay in the driveway being 30 feet wide because of DW equipment and fire department equipment and then there are a couple others that Jenny had also identified in her initial memo that just should be findings by us in a special permit Jenny do you have a list of those or do you need us to enumerate those no it's from um he uh Jean is referencing the original memo and he's just added one additional one which I think makes sense okay great uh so is there a uh motion to all right let me get back to my agenda so I can get the number here there a uh motion to approve docket 2150 um with the special it's just it's as amended by docket 2618 thank you I didn't say the whole thing I appreciate that as amended by docket 2618 with the special conditions as previously stated to work with the appropriate town committee for proposed curb line recess second second great I will take a roll call vote and um Rachel do you include the entry uh comments right yes so that um that was uh specifically to be worked through together with the planning department but that would not be um a special condition okay agree Jenny agree great any other uh discussion or uh comment before we move to a vote great and I'll just note that Melissa was not a member of the board when this was open so she will not be voting to see things uh so we'll take a roll call vote Ken yes David yes Queen yes and I am a yes as well so congratulations thank you thank you very much thank you for your time for all your comments thank you very much thank you I'll go build it I know that's the easy part thank you all right uh so uh we will now move to agenda item number three which is uh meeting minutes and first the meeting minutes of January 4th 2021 and I'll run through roll call to see if anyone has any uh additions or corrections starting with kin nope David uh yes uh bottom of page four there's a sentence that's in the middle of the paragraph there mr Watson says he feels that the 12-week period to prepare zoning articles is not enough time and to have it um it doesn't that sentence doesn't make great sense uh I think it should say to prepare zoning articles is not enough time uh maybe a special comma especially citizen proposals and it has not been an optimal process I think that's maybe that maybe makes more sense sorry I um especially especially for citizen proposals okay thank you comma and it has not been an optimal process yeah so it's already there oh I see that is long okay anything else David no that was it on that one okay I have a few on page one the paragraph starts with the chair closed um it's there's one sentence that says miss rate suggested that the board followed a signed by little recommendations there should be another sentence after that that says mr benson agreed before mr lau moved you're on the right thing mr benson agreed thank you on the next page page two the next to last paragraph the one that starts with mr Watson asked um the next to last sentence it said where it says the financial payback it should say will be good not the financial payback good down down down down down financial payback will be good you see where I am that's it okay on the next page um the first paragraph the next to last sentence mr benson said that it should say if miss Thornton then the last paragraph on that page there's a where it says the town's 100 year old old you don't need the old with the old and um where it has same paragraph so go back regarding zoning getting mr revelak addressed miss last question he's already going getting in the way the word in needs to be added and there needs to be a period after the word home there to end the sentence okay and um on the next page the paragraph that starts with joanne pressed in after the word from you don't you should no no after the word from delete the word is third line the paragraph right above that philip tedesco it should say agrees on taking not and taking should be on taking a more critical look one pair of one sentence up and down the the last paragraph on that the same one we made the change for david at the bottom um let me move that around um there's a word let me find it now that says comfortable and should be comfortably on the last page the that paragraph they're on the third line from the bottom the word can needs to be after the word petitioners and not before the word can take petitioners great that's it thank you uh is there a motion to approve the minutes as amended don't move there a second all right uh we'll take a roll call vote kin yes david yes me yes i'm a yes as well minutes are approved for the january fourth 2021 meeting we'll now move to the january 25th 2021 meeting and uh we'll start with kin for any corrections or changes on page one it says uh mr. l said he also takes the exception to mr. larady's remarks mr. l said all meetings have been held uh in the open i i think i don't think the word open is is correct there we should say uh help what's a good word there jean i thought it was fine oh really i mean you could just say have been open meetings that's even better yeah i i think held in this in the i thought it held in the open like you know outside of something like in a park somewhere yes okay that's it top of page four on the sentence that says mr. watson asked mr. Fleming if he would like to present something big to spark discussion or something carefully tailored that will be more easily passed can we just say it will more easily pass sure that works too it's less passive okay thank you jean okay on the first page the one about the fourth or fifth paragraph down the one that starts mr. Benson there we go mr. Benson said that ex parte communications may be improper communications two words may be but but not all ex parte communications by the board are improper okay then down on the next sentence oh if that the next the last line it should be if there were extenuating circumstances next the last line from the bottom of the page oh okay if there were extenuating circumstances on the next page it said it's about halfway down it says um mr. Benson asked why you know that's not the one where is it mr. Benson asked if the parcel change it should say not say next to the dpw changes but needed for the dpw permit no you went too far um i'm sorry i'm on page two uh oh it's near the top but yeah it's over here to the dpw okay no and it's just where it says mr. Benson asked if the parcel change the word after change shouldn't be next it should be needed for the dpw changes okay and then um well the other one we can just it's too much and that's too much and here's one i didn't understand on the third page i didn't understand the sentence at all where it says mr. Benson said the small locks as mr.  Benson said the small locks mr. Revellak mentioned the pro overlay district are an advantage and would be a challenge to craft a bylaw amendment for a bylaw amendment okay that's what i think i said okay wait you have to put it after the word for what's that for it oh sorry yeah okay and then the paragraph down with the chair introduced there's a part where it says mr. Benson said he likes the idea of extending some of the adjustments to the business district but he has a problem with going to zero parking minimums you should say for residential projects and then a few lines down there's a word that should be maximum but it's maximus in here you are using latin which is not a lot in the 20 is it maximus or maximums parking maximums but not maximus you see where i see maximums it's up about to to go to the left margin go down there's word parking and after oh i see it yes that's it okay any other two all right we did it the maximum that you altered for gene for maximus it should be maximum isn't m's yeah m's yeah got it okay all right uh is there a motion to approve the january 25th 2021 meeting minutes as amended oh second all right kin yes david yes he yes i'm a yes as well all right uh so now we will move to open forum i think james is still with us if anyone would like to uh speak james go ahead you have three minutes please state your name and address sorry trying to figure out all the technical difficulties yeah i know surprise me i'm still here i had a question about oh sorry uh james flowing 58 oxford street i had a question about something i was reading on the um the website for the arb it's um the the six there are six there are six ways that a zoning change can be initiated and the first one in the list is called land owner petition and it says that one or more property owners can petition for a zoning change that affects their property i was looking at chapter 40a of the of mass general laws and it says that if you're an individual who owns land that could be affected by property or that um uh a zoning change that you have the right to propose an amendment what got me thinking is it possible say i became a home owner and i'm in r2 for example can i propose an amendment that says i want my property to become an r3 just unilaterally i'm going to turn that question over to jenny we we have had this come up before so you you could technically you could technically do that um it's happened more in relationship to property that properties that might straddle districts you know so there's like an you know you're a single family in a two-family zone but maybe you'd prefer to be an r1 or vice versa um so i i think it usually is that sort of uh petition um i haven't personally seen this in the time that i've been in arlington i don't know if there's a strong history or record of people coming forward to petition for a change like this um you know it's something that we would consider there's a process that you would go through to consider a zoning map change that's another kind of consideration um but it is possible yes okay so you know hypothetically speaking what are the what would the criteria be for to to decide whether it would get approved or not um like like say it's like i mean i'm in a c of r2 and it's a it's a i mean it would be it would be this lone dot of r3 in that c of r2 is that would that sort of just be shot down on site i mean it's hard it would be hard to evaluate this sort of in a speculative manner without looking at a couple of maybe proposals or ideas um which you know we can talk about um i would be glad to schedule a time to talk with you about any ideas you might be having or things that you might be considering that's actually the best way for anybody to start these conversations is to is to talk with our department and potentially others about um these proposals that's usually where we prefer anybody starts um but it's hard it would be hard to you know judge what would be appropriate and which criteria we might apply i mean you're simply allowed to come forward with such a change and then it would be evaluated based upon its uh you know whether or not it is a is a relevance i would i would say would be the first one uh potential impacts to neighbors to the um you know the district that it's currently in um and any other considerations that we might need to take up uh when evaluating such a change you know it's we wouldn't want to create spot zones that's the other thing you know and sort of the example that you just provided sounds it sounds a little bit like spot zoning so i think we'd want to also look at um you know what what is the exact reasoning for creating a district change gotcha okay that makes sense thank you great thanks james uh any other public comments all right we'll close it uh so david i believe you had something that you wanted to share with the board yes well we've lost most of our audience but uh this is my public notice that i've decided to resign from the arb effective april 16th uh so that gives us a little bit of extra time if we have any lingering town meeting related business after uh april 8th um but uh it's been an interesting and productive four and a half years but it's time for me to step away well we thank you very much david for all of the hard work and um impact that you've had on the board i'll certainly really miss you yeah me too me too and you know among the millions and zillions of bad things with the pandemic is you're the third person leaving we haven't had a goodbye party for or anything like that you know because uh you're only going to have erin probably you too right you know when you go it's it's you know so yeah miss you on the board david yes working with you david i don't believe it's been four years wow it's time's flying by yeah now it's it's it's been it's been great and a and a wonderful learning experience for me uh not without its challenges however but uh i'm sure i'll i'll see you around town i'm i'm like some of the other board members who left i'm not leaving town i'm glad to hear that all right um any other uh any other announcements or any other uh items before we take a motion to adjourn okay do we have a motion to adjourn so motion second all right uh we'll take a roll call vote to close the meeting kin yes david yes zine yes i am a yes as well thank you all for sticking in this evening thank you good night everyone thank you good night good night bye bye