What we talk a lot about joy in God in this podcast, we love talking about joy in God.

It's the very core at the very heart of what we do at Desiring God.

So it raises the question, how closely connected is the full experience of our joy in God

to the charisma, the gifts of the spirit outlined by Paul in the epistles of the New Testament?

Like in First Corinthians 14, for example, where he talks about the gifts of tongues and

of prophecy.

It's a question from a listener named Matthew.

Dear Pastor John, thank you for the podcast.

I appreciate Tony's continued invitation for listeners to send in questions that get

to the very foundations of what this podcast represents.

Amen.

Keep them coming.

So here's mine.

How essential is continuationist theology for experiencing the fullest expression of

Christian hedonism?

In other words, if I am a cessationist, will my joy be incomplete?

Let's begin with three definitions, so that we know what we're talking about.

First, I assume that when Matthew asks about continuationist theology, he's referring

to the view that the spiritual gifts mentioned in First Corinthians 12 to 14 are still available

and operative in some measure today.

Second, I assume he means by cessationism, the view that the extraordinary supernaturally

gifts like speaking in tongues, prophecy, healing, discerning of spirits and so on are

...