What Are Tongues For?
Chris Holm | SEP 27, 2026
Scripture: Acts 2
Series: Acts
Categories: Spiritual Gifts, Holy Spirit, Prayer
Sermon summary
Sermon Summary:
Most of us know the feeling of being handed something big before we feel ready. The first followers of Jesus knew it too. They waited in Jerusalem as he told them, and on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came on all 120 of them. Ordinary people began declaring the wonderful works of God in languages they had never learned, and a crowd from every corner of the known world heard it in their own tongue.
This week we lingered on that gift of tongues. We saw that it is mostly a way of speaking to God, a prayer language where our spirit reaches him beyond what our minds can put into words. Romans 8 reminds us the Spirit helps us when we don't know what to pray.
We also saw how gently the Spirit works. He never forces anyone, and this gift was never meant to rank believers or prove anything. Paul prayed in tongues often in private and kept his public teaching plain and clear.
So we can ask. If there is more in our hearts than our words can carry, God welcomes that request, in his time and his way.
Scripture references
Acts 2:1-15, 1 Corinthians 12:11, 1 Corinthians 12:31, 1 Corinthians 14:2, 1 Corinthians 14:14, 1 Corinthians 14:18-19, Romans 8:26, Ephesians 4:8, Ephesians 5:18
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