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Pastor Tyler Lynde opened the Pastors Choice series by stepping into one of the most misunderstood, mocked, feared, and sometimes overhyped subjects in charismatic Christianity: speaking in tongues. Rather than treating it as a spiritual spectacle or a doctrinal battleground, Tyler asked the church to slow down and let Scripture set the terms. His anchor was 1 Corinthians 14:1–18, where Paul gives a remarkably steady framework for understanding tongues in the life of the believer and the gathered church. Paul does not dismiss the gift, but neither does he allow it to become a badge of superiority. He places it under the rule of love, the priority of edification, and the wisdom of intelligibility when the church is gathered.

Tyler defined speaking in tongues as the God-given ability to speak in a language unknown to the one speaking it, for the purpose of blessing God, blessing others, and building oneself up. That definition matters because it keeps the gift rooted in God’s initiative rather than human performance. Tongues is not something manufactured through emotion, pressure, or imitation. It is not a religious party trick. It is a gift from the Father, given by the Spirit, and meant to function in a way that glorifies God and strengthens his people. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul says that the one who speaks in a tongue “speaks not to men but to God,” and that “no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit.” Tyler emphasized that this makes tongues primarily a form of prayer. It is speech directed Godward, even when the speaker’s mind does not comprehend the words being spoken.

That distinction between the personal and public use of tongues shaped much of Tyler’s teaching. In a personal prayer context, tongues builds up the believer. Paul says plainly, “The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself.” In a public gathering, however, tongues must be interpreted so that the church can be built up. Without interpretation, the congregation cannot understand, cannot agree with an “Amen,” and cannot receive encouragement from what has been spoken. Tyler was careful to honor both dimensions. He did not reduce tongues to a private prayer language only, because Scripture also speaks of tongues with interpretation as a gift for the gathered church. But he focused especially on the personal use of tongues as a way of maintaining communion with God, praying beyond the limits of the mind, and receiving spiritual strengthening.

The most personal and pastoral part of Tyler’s message came through his own story. About twenty-five years ago, after a series of deeply painful circumstances in his life and extended family, he experienced what he described as a complete nervous breakdown. He could not think clearly. He could not drive. He could not play with his children. He could barely carry on a conversation with his wife. Reading Scripture became difficult because his mind could not process the words on the page. In that season, praying in tongues became one of the ways God held him together when he felt like he was coming apart. Because the language did not originate in his analytical mind, he was able to continue communing with God even when his mind felt exhausted and unfruitful. For Tyler, this gift was not merely a theological topic. It became a lifeline.

That testimony reframes tongues in a deeply pastoral way. Many people approach the subject with suspicion because they have seen unhealthy expressions, manipulative environments, or spiritual pride attached to it. Others may have been taught that tongues is strange, dangerous, or unnecessary. But Tyler presented it as a gracious provision from God for human weakness. There are seasons when anxiety, crisis, grief, or exhaustion makes ordinary prayer feel almost impossible. There are moments when a person does not know what to say, does not know how to pray, or cannot gather thoughts into coherent language. In those moments, the Spirit helps. Tyler connected this to Romans 8:26–27, where Paul says that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness,” because “we do not know what to pray for as we ought.” While Christians may differ on how directly that passage relates to tongues, Tyler used it to highlight the larger biblical truth that the Holy Spirit intercedes according to the will of God when human weakness reaches its limits.

Tyler also placed tongues within the Bible’s larger story of language. In Eden, Adam and Eve enjoyed unhindered communion with God and with one another. Language was a gift for relationship, worship, and fellowship. But after sin entered the world, human pride eventually gathered at Babel, where people tried to make a name for themselves and build a tower reaching into the heavens. In Genesis 11, God confused their languages and scattered them across the earth. Language, once a symbol of communion, became a marker of division. Yet at Pentecost in Acts 2, God moved in the opposite direction. The Spirit filled the followers of Jesus, they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, and people from many nations heard the mighty works of God proclaimed in their own languages. Tyler described Pentecost as a kind of reversal of Babel, a sign that God was gathering a multiethnic people through the gospel.

That biblical sweep gives tongues a larger meaning than private experience alone. God is sovereign over language. He created it, confused it, redeemed it, and will one day bring people from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue into unified praise before his throne. Tyler noted that in heaven, tongues will cease because the partial will give way to the perfect. He addressed the view that 1 Corinthians 13:8–10 teaches the gifts ended when the canon of Scripture was completed, but he argued that this interpretation pulls the passage out of context. Tyler and the church leadership understand “when the perfect comes” to refer not to the closing of the biblical canon but to the fullness that comes with Christ’s return and the consummation of all things. Until then, spiritual gifts remain gifts for the church’s life, witness, worship, and strengthening.

At the same time, Tyler was clear about what Scripture does not teach. Speaking in tongues is not proof that someone is saved. It is not proof that someone is filled with the Spirit in a way that others are not. It is not a sign that someone is more spiritual than another believer. Paul’s great measure of spiritual maturity is not tongues but love. First Corinthians 13 sits right between Paul’s teaching on spiritual gifts in chapters 12 and 14 for a reason. Without love, even the most impressive spiritual manifestations become noise. Tyler warned against creating first-tier and second-tier Christians based on whether someone speaks in tongues. The Spirit distributes gifts as he wills, and the body of Christ needs the full diversity of those gifts. Those who speak in tongues must never look down on those who do not, and those who do not speak in tongues should still rejoice that God uses others in that way.

He also pushed back against the idea that tongues is inherently weird. People can be weird, of course, but that should not be blamed on the Holy Spirit. Paul discusses tongues in normal, orderly, intelligible categories. He does not describe people losing control, entering a trance, becoming irrational, or being overwhelmed by an irresistible force. In fact, Paul’s instructions assume that the person speaking can start and stop. The gift operates under self-control because the Holy Spirit does not humiliate or override God’s children. Tongues may involve emotion, joy, peace, or a heightened sense of God’s presence, but emotional experience is not the same thing as disorder. The purpose of the gift is to bless God, bless others when interpreted, and build up the believer.

Tyler gave practical examples of how tongues can function as prayer, intercession, praise, and even spiritual warfare. He told a story about being called into a frightening medical situation where a friend was bleeding heavily after surgery. Overwhelmed and unsure how to pray, he began praying in tongues. The woman later told him that when he began praying that way, an overwhelming peace came over her and she knew she was going to be okay. Tyler did not present the story as a formula or spectacle, but as an example of the Holy Spirit helping in a moment when human words felt insufficient. He also spoke of singing in the Spirit as a form of praise, echoing Paul’s words: “I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.” For Tyler, the biblical balance is not spirit without mind or mind without spirit, but both together.

For those who desire the gift of tongues, Tyler’s counsel was gentle and free of pressure. There is no need to be afraid. Jesus taught that the Father gives good gifts to his children and will not give a snake when they ask for a fish or a scorpion when they ask for an egg. There is no need to fear that asking God for the Holy Spirit will open someone to something evil. There is also no need to fear losing control. The Spirit’s work is holy, safe, and good. Tyler urged people not to “put their brain on ice,” because speaking in tongues is not opposed to biblical doctrine, theological depth, or love for Scripture. Spiritual experience must be tested and shaped by the Word of God, not the other way around.

He also rejected gimmicks. People do not need to “prime the pump” with repeated syllables, forced sounds, or emotional manipulation. The Spirit gives utterance. At the same time, there is a step of faith involved. A person opens their mouth, trusts God, and allows the words to come, even if they seem simple or unfamiliar at first. Tyler encouraged perseverance in prayer, especially for those who have asked before and not yet received. Ask, seek, and knock. Continue to desire the gifts of God without shame. And if God does not give this particular gift, celebrate and use the gifts he has given. The goal is never ego or status, but love, worship, and the building up of the church.

In the end, Tyler’s message in the Pastors Choice series was not an argument for spiritual elitism but an invitation into Spirit-dependent prayer. Tongues, rightly understood, is not a replacement for Scripture, clear thinking, intelligible worship, or love. It is one gift among many, given by a generous Father for the strengthening of his people. It reminds believers that prayer is not limited to the capacity of the human mind, that God understands what we cannot articulate, and that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. When practiced with humility, sound doctrine, self-control, and love, speaking in tongues becomes not a source of division or fear, but another way the people of God bless him, receive strength, and prepare for the day when every tongue will join in perfect praise.