DA Carson on Spiritual Gifts

The Gospel Coalition has now posted some of the sermons that were the basis of DA Carson's book, Showing the Spirit. If you have any questions about the gifts of the Spirit, this is one of the first books I would recommend to you. For a good overview of the book, listen to these sermons.

1. The Unity of the Body and the Diversity of Gifts (1 Cor. 12)
2. The Most Excellent Way: When Does Perfection Come? (1 Cor. 13)
3. Prophecy and Tongues: Pursuing What Is Best (1 Cor. 14:1-15)
4. Order and Authority: Restraining Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor. 14:26-40)
5. Unleashed Power and the Constraints of Discipline: Toward a Theology of Spiritual Gifts
6. Praying for Power (Eph. 3:14-21)

Or, if you want more, just read it.

What's the Purpose of the Parables?

Recently, D.A. Carson preached a message entitled, "The Purpose of the Parables" from Matthew 13:10-17, 34-35. Andy Naselli has published some of the notes from the message.

Thanks to: Andy Naselli

The Existence of God, Suffering & Evil, and Hell

These are 3 excellent videos of D.A. Carson answering some of the most popular (and hard) questions of the Christian faith. Here are the 3 questions he answers:

1. How do I know God exists?
2. How can God allow suffering and evil in the world?
3. How can God be loving and yet send people to Hell?

How do I know God exists? from A Passion for Life on Vimeo.

How can God allow suffering and evil in the world? from A Passion for Life on Vimeo.

How can God be loving yet send people to hell? from A Passion for Life on Vimeo.

TGC Conference: Don Carson

The last talk of the Gospel Coalition Conference was given by Don (or better known as D. A.) Carson. Here is a man who is not only one of the most well-respected theologians in the world, but also one of the most pastoral scholars you will ever meet. My own experience with Dr. Carson has been nothing short of that. So please meet Dr. Don Carson.

Don Carson is a research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL. He is by far one of the most influential biblical scholars of his day. Therefore, if you see anything with his name on it, read it, listen to it, and absorb it. While I would highly recommend you read anything by Dr. Carson, a few books worth reading immediately are How Long, O Lord?, Showing the Spirit, and The Gagging of God.

Dr. Carson's talk was entitled That By All Means I Might Win Some from 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. The main point of his talk was to discuss the contextualization of the gospel. His conclusion is this. As long as we are not flexing on the gospel message, we, as Christians, are free to flex in other areas (e.g. not eating meat when preaching to the Jews). Out of everything that I heard in this message, the one thing that I will not forget is this: "Do not jeopardize the exclusive sufficiency of Jesus!" Here are the audio and video of his talk.