Introduction:
    There are basically three types of beliefs regarding tongues. Some say:
1. Tongues have passed away, and any manifestation of them today is heresy and is of the devil.
2. Tongues is valid, but not everybody is given that gift.
3. Tongues is for all who will believe and yield their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. They are the initial evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
    Many of you want all that God has for you, and you sincerely believe that speaking in other tongues is for some but not for all. This is largely based on 1 Cor. 12.28-31, esp vs. 30: "do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?".
    If you are truly hungry and thirsty for all that God has for you, consider the following references on the subject, then we will look at the above scripture.

1. Isa. 28.11,12. "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear" This is referring to tongues, as quoted by Paul in 1 Cor. 14.21. Tongues is a means of spiritual rest and refreshing. Interestingly enough, in the same prophecy we see that it was prophesied that there would be some who would not (who would choose not to) receive this means of rest and refreshing that God had provided.
2. Mk. 16.17. Jesus taught that believers would speak with new tongues.
3. Ac. 2.4. All were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues on the day of Pentecost. Peter said this is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel 2.28-32.
4. Ac. 10.44. The Holy Ghost fell on all that heard the Word in Cornelius' household. How did Peter, and the Jews with him, know they received the Spirit? Because they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God just as the 120 had received the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues on the day of Pentecost.
5. Ac. 19.6,7. The elders spoke with tongues and prophesied at Ephesus when the Holy Spirit came on them through the prayer and hands of Paul.
6. Ac. 8.15-18;  Ac. 9.17;  Ac.18.8. These are three instances that do not specifically say the people spoke in tongues. It can be inferred that the Samaritans spoke in tongues like everybody else because Simon "saw" something when they received the Spirit. We know Paul spoke in tongues (1 Cor. 14.18). We know the Corinthians spoke in tongues (1 Cor. 14). The Corinthians were enriched in all the utterance gifts and came behind in no gift. Paul praised God for the operation of the gifts in the Corinthians (1 Cor. 1.4-8).
7. 1 Cor. 11.1. Paul said for us to follow him as he followed Christ. He spoke with tongues "more than ye all". He taught that we should pray without ceasing (1 Thes. 5.17). He said "I will pray with the spirit...I will sing with the spirit" (1 Cor. 14.15). So if we are going to follow Paul as he follows Christ, we will be choosing to pray and sing with the spirit. (We will be choosing to use our tongues language).
8. 1 Cor. 14.1. We are told to "desire spiritual gifts", making love supreme in our lives, as we operate in these gifts. The Amplified Bible says, "Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire [this] love--make it your aim, your great quest; and earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual endowments". Love and the gifts should go together.
9. 1 Cor. 14.4. Tongues is a means of personal edification (building up of and encouraging oneself), while prophecy and tongues with interpretation is a means of corporate edification (building up of and encouraging the Body of Christ, the Church).
10. Eph. 6.18. We are told to be praying always with all [kinds of] prayer and supplication in [the power of] the Spirit. Tongues is one kind of prayer.
11. Jude 20,21. Praying in the Spirit is a means to build yourself up on your most holy faith and to keep yourself in [the flow of] the love of God. This corresponds with 1 Cor. 14.4 and Rom. 5.5.
12. Ac. 10.34. When Peter went to Cornelius, the first thing he had to realize was that God was no respecter of persons. God's salvation, and all the gifts that come along with that salvation, is free to all, with no respect of persons. This was a pivotal revelation that opened up the power of God to all (although Jesus had taught this years earlier in the Great Commission of Matt. 28.18-20).
13. Matt. 9.27-31. Jesus asked two blind men, "Believe ye that I am able to do this?" They said yes, and He touched them saying, "According to your faith be it unto you." This applies to healing and all good things that God wants to give you, such as tongues. As you are built up through the Spirit, you can build up others through the Spirit.
14. Lk. 11.13;  Jas. 1.17. God is consistent to give good and perfect gifts to His children if they will but ask Him with the faith that yields to Him.
15. Matt. 21.22. "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" [except He won't give tongues to some]. Did it say that? No. God wants to give His children all good things that will benefit them.
16. Mk. 9.23. "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." If there was no other scripture, this one should do it for those who desire all the good things that God has for them.

    Now, we will look at 1 Cor. 12. 28-31.
    Paul starts his discourse on the spiritual gifts in 1 Cor. 12. 1. He does not want us to be ignorant of spiritual gifts. He explains that there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of ministries and operations, but it is the same Lord God who works in all. This gives the overall picture, then he addresses what God does in each person.
    "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." Regardless of what gifts, ministries, and operations we are involved in, the Spirit will manifest Himself in every man for the good of all. Then he lists nine ways the Spirit will manifest through every man as the Spirit wills (12.7,11).
    Notice "manifestation" is singular. The One Holy Spirit who is in every believer will manifest Himself in at least nine different ways for the profit or good of all as those believers yield to the Spirit. These different ways will operate as the Spirit wills.
    Notice in this manifestation of the Spirit that different kinds of tongues and interpretation of tongues go together (12.10). Notice then in verse 30, that again tongues and interpretation go together.
    Here, Paul is talking about how the manifestation of the Spirit in each person is for the profit or good of all, for the corporate Body, the Church.
    Notice in verse 18 that God sets members in the Body as it pleases Him. Now notice in verse 28 that God sets some in the Church, then he lists what God sets in the Church. Tongues and interpretation is one of those things that God sets in the Church, just like He sets apostles, prophets, etc. Are all set in the Church as apostles? No. Are all set in the church as prophets? No. Are all set in the Church as one who gives out tongues for interpretation? No. Are all set in the Church as one who interprets tongues? No.
    Then Paul instructs believers to desire the best gifts.
    He interjects the importance of love in the use of all giftings, ministries, operations, administrations, and in the manifestation of the Spirit (Chapter 13).
    After that he again instructs believers to desire spiritual gifts, and he explains how the personal prayer language of tongues is for personal benefit, whereas tongues and interpretation and prophesy is for the benefit of the whole Church (Chapter 14). Paul desires that all believers have and use this personal prayer language for self edification (14.5), but for the benefit of the Church as a whole, prophesy is more valuable, unless there is interpretation to the tongues.
    A believer is to pray for interpretation of a tongue spoken to the Church, so the whole Body can benefit from the utterance (14. 12,13).
    A believer can freely pray, prophesy, and sing with the spirit, just as one can freely pray and sing with the understanding. But just as disorderly prayer and singing with the understanding would cause confusion, so does disorderly prayer, prophesying, and singing with the spirit cause confusion (14.14-33).
    Finally, he sums it all up by again encouraging the believers to move in the spiritual gifts, telling them to covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.

Conclusion:
    God has made available a personal means of rest and refreshing to every believer, with no respect of persons, through the power of the Holy Spirit (Isa. 28. 11,12). It is a supernatural communion with God that magnifies the person of Jesus Christ in your spirit man.
    By faith, any believer can enter into this "rest" and "refreshing" through receiving the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. It is a matter of you yielding your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ by faith in His name, regardless of any objections that come to mind. The only reason why you would not receive this, is that you choose not to receive and act upon God's Word from the heart: "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear"
(Isa. 28. 11,12). "They would not hear"--it's a matter of the will.
    There are three kinds of tongues.
    One is for utterance to the Church, which edifies the Church when there is interpretation. This is the same as prophecy, which builds up, encourages, and comforts. God sets those in the Body who move in these giftings. These operate as the Spirit wills.
    Another type of tongue is for personal prayer and worship. This tongue can be used at one's own will for personal edification--"I will pray with the spirit...I will sing with the spirit" (1 Cor. 14.15).
    Believers are exhorted by the Word three times, to desire spiritual gifts. The Word would not encourage us to desire these gifts, if God did not want to give them to us. God will not force them on you. He makes them available for you to receive by faith. He will fill or baptize you with His Holy Spirit by your asking Him in faith, and as you step out in faith, giving breath to speak, He will give you supernatural utterance .
    The third type of tongue was manifested on the day of Pentecost. Actually, this was the first manifestation of tongues. It was languages spoken or understood in the various languages of the people gathered at Jerusalem from many different parts of the know world. This tongue was given to speak the gospel in the languages of other nations. We need to believe for and expect this type of tongue to manifest as we take the gospel to the nations.
    This is something you receive and act on with a child-like faith. You just do it, based solely on what the Word of God says, regardless of all pride, fears, reasonings, and religious doctrines, and regardless of your own past experiences or the experiences of others.
    Not all people will be saved, but God has made it available to all. Not all will receive God's supernatural weapons of warfare through the gifts of the Spirit, but God has made them available to all. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues is simply the first step into the realm of the supernatural power of God to make us more effective witnesses of Jesus through faith in His Name.
    We don't receive because for whatever reason, we simply choose not to receive. We entertain some pride, fear, reasoning, or religious doctrine, or we look at our own past experience, or we look at somebody else's fault, hypocrisy, or their bad experience, and so refuse to yield our all to Him.
    Many people look at those who God has used or is using who do not move in the gifts of the Spirit, and excuse themselves based on these people's lives. How much more could God use these vessels if they did obey the Word in this area! Peter, who was baptized with the Spirit spoke with tongues and moved in the realm of the supernatural gifts of the Spirit, spoke healing into one man, and the Bible says two whole towns turned to the Lord (Ac. 9.32-25). That's effective evangelism! And this is the purpose of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues--to be more effective witnesses of Jesus Christ. We all need to be moving in all God has for us for the most effectiveness in our lives and ministries.
    Let us look to Jesus alone, and to the Word of God alone, to determine God's will for our lives and ministries. Otherwise, we limit God.
    Yes, tongues, prophecy, and the full manifestation of the Spirit is available to all who will yield their lives unreservedly to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
    This is the rest and the refreshing that is available to all those who will believe that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.