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Ask Pastor John

Bible Studies

John Piper answers tough theological and pastoral questions.

Every believer has questions they are not sure where to take. Questions about God. The Bible. Suffering. Joy. Daily choices that shape a life of faith. Ask Pastor John is a place for honest questions and careful answers. In each episode, John Piper responds to real questions from real people, using Scripture to bring clarity, depth, and hope. These conversations are thoughtful but clear. Deep, but not confusing. They help you think carefully about what you believe and why it matters in everyday life. This podcast is for anyone who wants to grow in wisdom, love God with their mind, and learn how the truth of the Bible speaks into real struggles and real decisions. Come with your questions. Leave with truth that steadies your faith.

Released on 11/11/2025
Published by Desiring God
Episodes
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Sex Is Worship
If sex outside of marriage doesn’t hurt anyone, why does Scripture call it sin? Pastor John unfolds the spiritual significance of sex from 1 Corinthians 6.
4/6/2026. 12min
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The Wrong Kind of Cross-Centered
Should every sermon make a beeline to the cross? Pastor John traces the pattern of the New Testament from the death of Christ to the holiness of Christians.
4/2/2026. 13min
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Will You Be Happy in a Million Years?
Eternity with God can sound too good to be true — even impossible. Will heaven really never end? And if not, will we still be happy after a million years?
3/30/2026. 15min
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Made Lonely by Holiness
How should we respond when friends embrace worldly entertainment? Pastor John offers encouragement for when personal convictions lead to loneliness.
3/26/2026. 11min
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Dying to Live
How do we present ourselves to God “as a living sacrifice”? Pastor John applies Romans 12:1–2 to believers’ daily lives.
3/23/2026. 13min
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Stop Waiting for a Sign
Should all believers assume they are called to missions? Pastor John provides seven factors to direct a desire for ministry at home or abroad.
3/19/2026. 13min
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Your Only Roadblock to Heaven
God’s sovereign grace is strong enough to overcome all human sin and rebellion — changing belief in Jesus from “will not” to “want to.”
3/16/2026. 11min
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Everything Happens for a Reason
Does the Bible teach that everything happens for a reason? Pastor John offers grounding from Romans 8 for God’s purpose in our suffering.
3/12/2026. 14min
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Your Main Calling in the End Times
When Christians encounter signs of the end times, how should we respond? Pastor John outlines a biblical approach to waiting well for Jesus’s return.
3/9/2026. 12min
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Five Escapes from Dry Devotions
How can believers push past surface-level Bible reading to the reality behind the words? Pastor John offers five practices to enliven dry devotions.
3/5/2026. 12min
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Why Smart People Reject God
Why do people reject God when creation proclaims his presence? Pastor John explains how truth becomes suppressed, both internally and externally.
3/2/2026. 13min
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Hope for Screwups
How can those who have wandered far from God come back home to him? Pastor John offers hope in the face of deep failure.
2/26/2026. 11min
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Marks of a Godly Boss
How do Jesus’s teaching and example shape our leadership? Pastor John examines the traits of a godly leader in the home, church, or workplace.
2/23/2026. 11min
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Waiting Is the Hardest Part
What is God doing while we wait in a painful place? Pastor John shows how God uses waiting to produce a new security, a new song, and a new significance.
2/19/2026. 12min
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The Gospel of Gorgeous
How can we find peace when struggling to see the goodness of our individual design? Pastor John illustrates God’s love and wisdom in his creation.
2/16/2026. 12min
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Regretting the Day I Was Born
When does faithful lament become sinful complaint? Pastor John offers five statements on lament to help us cry out to God in great pain.
2/12/2026. 12min
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Aging with Joy
How do we cling to Christ when faced with the unknowns of aging? Pastor John encourages older Christians in the battle against bitterness and fear.
2/9/2026. 11min
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The Hardest Heart God Can Save
By nature, we are selfish and God-ignoring and God-belittling. But no matter how hard a heart may be, the sovereign God can still save.
2/5/2026. 14min
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Life Guidance for Sinners
Indwelling sin still pervades those who are in Christ. But God’s mercy is more than enough to meet, match, and master any guilt we bring to him.
2/2/2026. 11min
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Learning to Delegate
How might pastors approach the many administrative needs of a congregation? Pastor John draws four helpful guidelines from Jethro’s counsel to Moses.
1/29/2026. 10min
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Is Sex as Dangerous as Christians Make It Seem?
Why do Christians make such a big deal about sex? Pastor John shows what godly sexuality says about the God who made us and the Christ who redeemed us.
1/26/2026. 13min
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Why Is Christianity the Best Religion?
Why is Christianity the best religion? Pastor John offers four reasons, including the hope of the gospel and the uniqueness of the God-man.
1/22/2026. 11min
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Why Mental Clarity Arrives at Night
How does God’s word guide our heart’s instruction in the night? Pastor John explains the ways God uses nighttime counsel to teach and lead us.
1/19/2026. 13min
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Three Metrics for Your Fitness
When does stewardship of the body cross over into self-glorification? Pastor John helps us test our motivations with three questions.
1/15/2026. 13min
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Are Raised Hands in Worship Just Showing Off?
When we lift our hands in worship, are we displaying public faithfulness or public performance? Pastor John gives three ways to test our hearts.
1/12/2026. 11min
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Piper, Did You Miss Something?
How do we rejoice in God without neglecting to rejoice in our salvation? Pastor John clarifies how to rightly rejoice in God and his good gifts.
1/8/2026. 12min
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Maximize Your Daily Bible Reading
How does reading the Bible lead to life transformation? Pastor John offers three suggestions to experience more of the Spirit’s power.
1/5/2026. 15min
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Make a Life Plan for 2026
How do we craft a personal mission statement? Pastor John helps us draw the details of our lives into God’s ultimate purpose.
1/1/2026. 16min
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God Wants Your Resolve
How can we make New Year’s resolutions in a way that honors God? Pastor John explains the mystery of fulfilling resolves in the strength of another.
12/29/2025. 10min
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The Gift Trap
How can we root our joy in Jesus rather than in his gifts? Pastor John gives four strategies for loving God in and above every gift.
12/25/2025. 11min
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What a Fruitful Devotional Feels Like
What does it feel like to meet the living God in the pages of Scripture? Pastor John gives us a glimpse into a profound encounter with God.
12/22/2025. 15min
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John Piper: Would You Help Expand Free Access?
Listen Now
12/22/2025. 5min
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Complacency: A Silent Killer
How do we avoid falling into spiritual complacency amid daily routines? Pastor John warns of the danger of viewing God as a nonfactor in everyday life.
12/18/2025. 16min
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When You Get Accused
How should we respond when we face accusations, especially if they seem unwarranted? Pastor John helps us bear all kinds of criticism with gutsy guilt.
12/15/2025. 15min
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Loving Aging Parents Well
How can we love our aging parents through the many challenges of caregiving? Pastor John shares counsel from Scripture and personal experience.
12/11/2025. 13min
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Keeping Sovereign Grace in Gospel Partnerships
Why would a gospel-driven ministry define itself as Reformed? Because Reformed theology guards and glorifies the grace at the heart of the gospel.
12/8/2025. 13min
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Marriage Survival After Betrayal
How can trust regrow in the aftermath of adultery? Pastor John identifies two needed miracles for a marriage to survive and thrive again.
12/4/2025. 14min
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The Apostasy of Impatience
Can a Christian lose patience and not be in sin? Pastor John explains why patience and impatience may be more complicated than we think.
12/1/2025. 12min
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Improving the Body Without Fixating on Image
As we steward the body, our appearance might change for the better. How do we keep our focus on being a whole person, not just an attractive shape?
11/27/2025. 12min
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Why Satan Persists
Satan wouldn’t exist if God didn’t keep him around — so why is he here? Pastor John explains four ways in which God is using Satan for his glory.
11/24/2025. 14min
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What False Teachings Should Make Me Leave a Church?
Differences in belief can feel bigger than they are — but sometimes they are truly big. What separates personal opinion from soul-damaging theology?
11/20/2025. 13min
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The God Who Breaks Us with Kindness
If God refuses to act “for our sake,” does that mean he refuses to do us good? Pastor John resolves a perplexity and holds forth lavish grace from Ezekiel 36.
11/17/2025. 14min
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How One Bible Verse Disarmed a Mob
Does Psalm 82 teach that human beings are gods? Pastor John describes the moment when Jesus quoted the psalm to escape an early death.
11/13/2025. 9min
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Shame Today Is Worth It
How could Jesus, the King of kings and true Son of God, be ashamed at the final judgment? Pastor John digs into Jesus’s argument for following him.
11/10/2025. 12min
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What Is a ‘Fleshly’ Christian?
Are “fleshly” Christians truly Christian? Pastor John traces Paul’s distinctions between natural people, carnal Christians, and spiritual Christians.
11/6/2025. 13min
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Eight Ways to Live Out Your Assurance
How can we learn to rest in the saving work of Jesus Christ? Pastor John offers eight God-given ways to increase our confidence in him.
11/3/2025. 14min
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How Can I Know I’m a Christian?
What is the bottom-line, existential, frightening, glorious question of Romans 8? Pastor John draws out two signs that a professing Christian is secure in Christ.
10/30/2025. 12min
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How I Decide What to Preach
When pastors have the freedom to decide what to preach, how do we make a wise decision in line with the mind of Christ?
10/27/2025. 14min
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Nine Steps to Find a Home Church
When we move to a new place, how do we find a good local church to call home? Pastor John offers nine steps to take in our search.
10/23/2025. 11min
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Does God Punish from His Heart?
What should we do when two texts seem to say opposite things about God and his character? Pastor John digs to the common root of truth.
10/20/2025. 11min
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Was Jesus Tempted by Evil Desires?
James says God cannot be tempted, but Hebrews says Jesus was tempted just like we are. How do these two passages fit together?
10/16/2025. 11min
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Sexual Purity Is an Act of Love
If a man wants to be married but is too young to pursue it, how can he keep his desires in the right place? Pastor John offers five weapons for the fight.
10/13/2025. 11min
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Sorrows Surprised by Happiness
Sorrow and joy are not just sequential emotional states: first sorrow, then joy. Miraculously, we can experience overflowing joy in the midst of deep sorrow.
10/9/2025. 12min
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Work as Worship
How can we delight in the good work we do while keeping our work in its proper place? Pastor John situates daily work within God’s larger purposes.
10/6/2025. 13min
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The Evil That Stuns Heaven
Does human evil really call for infinite punishment? Pastor John confronts the ultimate sin of ignoring God’s infinite value.
10/2/2025. 12min
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Does God Predict History?
Pastor John connects God’s word with his ability to perform that word, grounding our faith in the unstoppable purposes of our loving God.
9/29/2025. 12min
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Can Delight in God Become Self-Serving?
In Isaiah 58, does God condemn his people for having too much delight in his ways? Pastor John distinguishes hypocritical pleasure from true, generous joy in God.
9/25/2025. 11min
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A Better Hope for the Childless
God promised a home to faithful eunuchs in the Old Testament, but what about childless believers today? Pastor John sees three enduring blessings.
9/22/2025. 13min
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If God Knows Our Hearts, Why Does He Test Us?
In the Bible, God sometimes tests his people to see how they will respond. Why does he do this if he already knows every heart?
9/18/2025. 10min
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Does Mysticism Make Us Closer to God?
Should Christians seek mystical experiences as a way to grow closer to God? Pastor John looks at how Paul responded to his own visions.
9/15/2025. 13min
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Spiritual Dangers of Recreational Marijuana
When a society normalizes sin, how should the church respond? Pastor John calls for spiritual integrity that doesn’t depend on society’s opinion.
9/11/2025. 13min
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Should We Rejoice When God Destroys Our Enemies?
God destroys many enemies in the Bible, and he promises to destroy many more in hell. As his people, should we celebrate our enemies’ downfall?
9/8/2025. 13min
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Waging War Against Drift
Sometimes, when the Bible describes indifference to God, it sounds like us. How can we resist our tendency to drift away from him?
9/4/2025. 12min
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Why Do Citations in the Bible Seem Sloppy?
How might we understand the apparently casual way some biblical writers quote earlier parts of Scripture? Pastor John explores how Hebrews handles God’s word.
9/1/2025. 10min
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Glorifying God in 1,000 Decisions a Day
With so many decisions for us to make every day, why doesn’t God tell us exactly what to do in each situation?
8/28/2025. 12min
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How Much Church Can I Miss to Serve?
Serving children in Jesus’s name is beautiful and God-pleasing. Gathering for worship is crucial and soul-preserving. So, how much corporate worship should we miss to serve?
8/25/2025. 11min
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The High Price of Watching Nudity
In a day when sexualized content seems to be everywhere, including in many shows and movies, Pastor John gives twelve reasons to never watch nudity.
8/21/2025. 13min
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We Can’t Endure on Our Own
What might Simon of Cyrene teach us about supporting one another in trials? Pastor John digs into the perseverance of the saints and the church’s crucial role.
8/18/2025. 10min
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How Can I Correct Others Gently?
How can we rebuke without compromising love and show gentleness without diminishing truth? Pastor John gives counsel for speaking with emotional wholeness.
8/14/2025. 12min
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How Attractive Women Abuse Their Beauty
What does a ring-wearing pig have to do with physical beauty? Pastor John describes God’s purposes for beauty and how we so often misuse it.
8/11/2025. 11min
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Silent Women, Speaking Women
Does the Bible say women should never teach anything anywhere? Pastor John traces and applies Paul’s argument from the created order.
8/7/2025. 11min
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Was My Pre-Faith Suffering Discipline or Justice?
To understand the two sides of pre-Christian suffering, Pastor John analyzes the two identities we had before we became believers.
8/4/2025. 11min
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Living Pure in a Corrupting Screen Age
What happens when Christians saturate themselves with worldly entertainment? Pastor John calls us to offer a resolute no for the sake of a better, sweeter yes.
7/31/2025. 12min
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Why Do You Focus on God’s Role in Our Suffering?
Why would anyone say that God causes suffering when Satan is so clearly at work? Pastor John leads us through the shocking sovereignty of God.
7/28/2025. 12min
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Loving God in Life’s Biggest Disappointments
How do we live with unfulfilled desires, especially when we thought God had promised them to us? Pastor John meditates on mature sorrow and persevering joy.
7/24/2025. 12min
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Coming to Christ for All the Wrong Reasons
What are some common but wrong reasons for coming to Christ? Pastor John warns against coming to Jesus to get something other than Jesus.
7/21/2025. 12min
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Does God Condemn Nations Today?
Jesus laid woes on cities and even an entire generation. Does God still render corporate judgments today — and if so, what happens to believers in these groups?
7/17/2025. 13min
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Who Is Blocking My Life — Satan or Jesus?
When we feel stuck, is God redirecting us, or are spiritual forces trying to derail us? Pastor John delves into the mysteries of providence.
7/14/2025. 13min
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Four Tests for False Teaching
The Internet is full of different teachers and various doctrines. So, how do we discern false teachers from true, and good doctrine from bad?
7/10/2025. 12min
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Distorted Doctrine Destroys Lives
As long as we sincerely love God, does it really matter if we have wrong doctrine? Pastor John shows what’s at stake in our knowledge of God and his ways.
7/7/2025. 11min
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Surviving the Social Media Flood of Life Advice
When we feel the pressure of worldly expectations, what should really matter to us? Pastor John defines true success in a world of conflicting advice.
7/3/2025. 13min
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Did We Sin Our Marriage Away?
If a couple sins their way into marriage, should they split up and start over? Pastor John calls a weary husband and wife back to their lifelong covenant.
6/30/2025. 12min
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Did God Forgive Me If I Don’t Feel Forgiven?
How can we be sure that God truly forgives us, especially when our past sins feel unforgivable? Pastor John ministers hope to the unassured.
6/26/2025. 15min
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Guard Your Mind from Trash
In a corrupted and corrupting world, how can we protect our minds without becoming isolated or indifferent to the world around us?
6/23/2025. 14min
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Jesus’s Warnings to the Comfortable
When Jesus calls down woes on the rich, full, and laughing, does he have any qualifications in mind? Pastor John uncovers a clue in the context.
6/19/2025. 12min
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Seven Ways to Break Free from Misplaced Hope
What if we feel more excited to see family than to see Jesus in heaven? Pastor John offers seven practical suggestions for pursuing deeper love for Christ.
6/16/2025. 13min
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Are My Struggles Personal or Demonic?
If we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, why does it so often feel like we do? Pastor John explores the demonic designs in human opposition.
6/12/2025. 13min
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Is It Wrong to Get a Little Drunk Sometimes?
If we want to get close to God, then we won’t ask how close we can get to sin. We’ll ask how we can enjoy more of the Holy Spirit’s fullness.
6/9/2025. 12min
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Trusting God After Losing Everything
Anxiety can overwhelm us, especially in times of deep loss. How do we fight our fears of the future when so much has already gone wrong?
6/5/2025. 13min
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When Your Best Years Are Behind You
Life gets harder as we age. We can’t do the same ministries forever. How do we cling to joy in God amid the loss and uncertainty?
6/2/2025. 14min
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The Glorious Riches Awaiting You
When Paul talks about the riches of God’s inheritance, is God the one inheriting, or are we? Pastor John offers four clues from the context.
5/29/2025. 10min
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Restoring a Repentant Adulterer
How do churches decide when repentance is real, discipline is done, and someone removed from membership is ready to be restored?
5/26/2025. 10min
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Drawing Close to a Daughter Drifting from God
How can faithful parents maintain a meaningful relationship with a wayward child? Pastor John helps moms and dads walk wisely through the pain.
5/22/2025. 14min
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Why Didn’t Christ Come Sooner?
If the world was already fallen with Adam and utterly corrupt at the flood, why did God wait thousands of years before sending Jesus?
5/19/2025. 15min
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Seven Anchors That Hold When Tragedy Hits
How do we face death and broken relationships, especially when they pile on at the same time? Pastor John helps us find wisdom, love, and strength in deep loss.
5/15/2025. 12min
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Wimpy Theology Makes Vulnerable Women
How can women navigate a corrupt and confusing world? Pastor John offers biblical strategies for confidence, strength, and freedom.
5/12/2025. 14min
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God Will Heal Me Completely — But When?
In a world where Christians deal with chronic pain and awful sickness, how can we understand and apply the promise that “God heals all your diseases”?
5/8/2025. 8min
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Common Myths About Eternal Rewards
Can we lose eternal rewards by becoming incapacitated or less fruitful as we age? Or can our sin cancel out rewards we would have received?
5/5/2025. 15min
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The Most Extraordinary Experience in This World
Knowing God is the most extraordinary experience in the world. But how do we come to know him authentically, deeply, personally?
5/1/2025. 14min
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‘No One Ever Hated His Own Body’ — Really?
Did Paul know about self-harm and poor body image? If he did, how could he still say that “no one ever hated his own flesh”?
4/28/2025. 12min
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Every Pinch of Pain Has Purpose
Persecution, troubles, heaviness of heart — are these different forms of God’s discipline? Pastor John traces God’s good purposes in different kinds of pain.
4/24/2025. 12min
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Will Heaven Ever Grow Boring?
We know the new heavens and new earth will be a place of perfect, endless joy. But will we really never get bored, even after millions of years?
4/21/2025. 15min
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The Cost of Being a Loner
Those who try to live the Christian life outside of community are missing something crucial. So, how might Christian loners move toward life together?
4/17/2025. 7min
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God Withholds Nothing We Need
If God has already promised not to withhold anything good from us, then does asking him for more imply that yesterday’s good wasn’t good enough?
4/14/2025. 12min
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How Can I Grow in Humility as I Grow in Knowledge?
If knowledge puffs up, will formal Bible education make us proud? Pastor John points out pride’s craftiness and offers five weapons of humility.
4/10/2025. 11min
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How to Become the Mother of Jesus
What does the Bible say about Mary, Jesus’s mother? What is Mary’s true legacy for Christians today?
4/7/2025. 12min
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Distinguishing Shame from Guilt
What is the difference between guilt and shame? And when do true feelings of guilt or shame become false feelings that reject God’s grace?
4/3/2025. 12min
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What Jordan Peterson Gets Wrong About Happiness
Is the purpose of life to find meaning? Pastor John responds to Jordan Peterson’s claim that happiness cannot be our goal.
3/31/2025. 11min
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Does God Withdraw His Presence from Me?
God promises never to leave us nor forsake us, but sometimes the Bible says he withdraws his presence from us. How can those both be true?
3/27/2025. 10min
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Seven Promises That Have Kept John Piper
How can our faith turn from nominal to authentic? Pastor John reflects on God’s power to establish and sustain belief through his promises.
3/24/2025. 12min
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Help Me Live a Genuine Life
When God commands a godly life of genuine affections, how do we obey? John Piper draws our attention to the transforming mercies of God.
3/20/2025. 13min
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How Did Jesus Freely Live a Scripted Life?
As Jesus headed toward the cross, he knew he was fulfilling the script that was written for him. So, how did he authentically choose a death already decided?
3/17/2025. 11min
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How Much of Christianity Remains a Secret?
How much of the Christian faith has already been revealed to us now, and how much of it remains a secret that we won’t understand until we get to heaven?
3/13/2025. 14min
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If No One Seeks God, How Is Anyone Saved?
If sinners cannot seek God, how does anyone receive salvation? Pastor John shows that God must give his power and grace precisely because we cannot seek him on our own.
3/10/2025. 13min
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Are Christians Happier Than Non-Christians in This Life?
Why are Christians most to be pitied if there’s no resurrection? Don’t we still experience more joy than non-Christians? Pastor John gives four responses.
3/6/2025. 11min
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I Never Felt Like God’s Enemy — Was I?
If we have no memory of hating or opposing God before he saved us, then how should we understand the Bible’s claim that we were his enemy?
3/3/2025. 14min
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Advice for Reading Romans After Decades of Experience
Why does Pastor John believe Romans is the greatest letter ever written? And how would he encourage Christians to benefit from this monumental book?
2/27/2025. 12min
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Should I Use AI to Help Me Write Sermons?
Should pastors and ministry leaders use artificial intelligence as a tool to write their sermons and newsletters? If so, how? If not, why not?
2/24/2025. 14min
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Every Good Sermon Has Application
How much life application should pastors offer in their sermons? Pastor John commends interweaving exposition and application throughout each sermon.
2/20/2025. 14min
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What Makes Someone Spiritually Dirty?
When Jesus taught that impurity comes from within, was he departing from the Old Testament? Pastor John considers purity across the covenants.
2/17/2025. 11min
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Why Does the Bible Say Baptism Saves Us?
If God justifies by faith apart from works, then why do some passages seem to suggest that forgiveness comes through the act of baptism?
2/13/2025. 15min
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Living with Gospel-Sized Ambition
Acts 20:24 has encouraged and challenged Christians throughout the centuries. How, in particular, has it shaped the life and ministry of John Piper?
2/10/2025. 11min
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Why Is Witchcraft Handled So Differently Across Scripture?
In the Old Testament, witchcraft is met with capital punishment — but not in the New. Why does God handle this sin differently across redemptive history?
2/6/2025. 12min
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Is There Good Magic and Edifying Sorcery?
Do the signs and wonders in Scripture justify using righteous magic in fiction? Pastor John helps us discern the kinds of stories that serve our sight of Reality.
2/3/2025. 14min
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How Do I Become Happy in God?
Sometimes, the story of another Christian’s joy in God serves to kindle our own. Pastor John takes us to a remarkable moment in the life of Hudson Taylor.
1/30/2025. 13min
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If God Pastors Me, Why Do I Need Pastors?
God could have designed the world so that all the help we need comes from him directly. Instead, he often ministers to us indirectly through other people. Why?
1/27/2025. 12min
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How Do I Apply Bible Stories to My Life?
How can we begin to grasp the meaning of biblical narratives and their application to life? Pastor John offers an example from the story of Joseph.
1/23/2025. 17min
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One Believer Dies, Another Lives: On Reading Providence
In Acts 12, God allows Herod to kill James, but he thwarts the king’s plan to kill Peter. What might this chapter teach us about God’s providence?
1/20/2025. 10min
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The Pleasure That Defeats Pornography
How does a promise about the future help us fight for purity today? Pastor John unpacks the power of the greatest pleasure purchased at the greatest price.
1/16/2025. 12min
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Does God Believe in Atheists?
People for millennia have said, in one way or another, “There is no God.” Pastor John describes five ways we suppress the knowledge of God’s existence.
1/13/2025. 12min
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Is Heaven a Real Place Right Now?
Is heaven a physical place that exists right now? As Pastor John answers, he encourages us to focus mainly on the relational, not the spatial, aspect of heaven.
1/9/2025. 16min
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Why Pray for Protection When Suffering Keeps Coming?
Even when our prayers for protection feel pointless, they are not. God is our good and sovereign Father, and it is never pointless to ask him for what we need.
1/6/2025. 13min
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The Spiritual Battles in Your Bible Reading
As we begin a new year of Bible reading, what obstacles can we expect to meet along the way — and what benefits will keep us reading day by day?
1/2/2025. 13min
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‘A Man at Church Thinks We Should Marry — I Disagree’
If someone is convinced that he knows God’s will for us, yet we disagree, what can we do? Pastor John offers five ways forward.
12/30/2024. 8min
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Your Bible-Reading Feedback, and How to Help Us in 2025
Hear John Piper’s invitation to partner with us. A $10 monthly gift enables us to reach 70 more people with God-centered resources. https://dsr.gd/3AYGuj2
12/28/2024. 9min
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Am I Overusing Bible Commentaries?
God gives the church teachers, including Bible commentators, to help us understand his word. But how can we tell if we’re relying on commentaries too much?
12/26/2024. 12min
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Does Christmas Bring Peace or War?
At Christmas, Jesus came to bring God-exalting happiness through peace with God — and merciful warfare against everything that destroys such happiness.
12/23/2024. 11min
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The God over Geopolitics
In his infinite wisdom, righteousness, and power, God designs even the deeds of evil kings for the good of his people and the glory of his name.
12/19/2024. 12min
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How Does God Deliver Me from Pain by Pain?
Sometimes God delivers us from affliction through affliction. But what kinds of affliction does he use — and how can we know when he does so?
12/16/2024. 11min
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Every Gift Points Us to Christ
How can we know that we love God more than his gifts, especially during the Christmas season? Pastor John unlocks the answer with two keys.
12/12/2024. 10min
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Will I Suffer My Singleness Forever?
Single Christians may be tempted to despair over missing the experience of marital love. But God himself will see to it that our joy is eternally full in Christ.
12/9/2024. 13min
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On Creepy, Darker Media
Since the Bible calls Christians children of light, should darkness and violence have any place in the stories we create?
12/5/2024. 12min
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On So-Called ‘Gender Pronoun Hospitality’
Should Christians show so-called “gender pronoun hospitality”? Pastor John shares practical ways to speak the truth in love with those confused about their sexuality.
12/2/2024. 10min
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Christian Thankfulness: What It Is (and Isn’t)
What is Christian thankfulness? Pastor John commends the power of a heart filled with gratitude to the Giver of every good gift.
11/28/2024. 12min
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‘Help, I’m Struggling to Believe Anything Is True’
When we continually struggle with doubts and unbelief, how can we know what is true? How can we believe that truth even exists?
11/25/2024. 11min
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Will We See God in Eternity?
Will we be able to see God when we get to heaven? If so, how does that fit with Scripture passages that say no one can see God?
11/21/2024. 8min
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What’s True and False in Job?
How do we discern what’s true and what’s false in Job? Pastor John provides a grid for the entire book to help us interpret it accurately.
11/18/2024. 12min
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Can a Church Require Tithing?
Should church leaders require Christians to tithe since God commanded tithing in the Old Testament? Pastor John commends a better approach.
11/14/2024. 9min
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Can We Know Truth with Complete Certainty?
Arguments, logic, and careful analysis may give us 99 percent certainty for some doctrine or truth claim. But what about the remaining 1 percent?
11/11/2024. 13min
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Ministry After God Takes a Beloved Wife
Why did God take the life of Ezekiel’s wife and then command Ezekiel not to mourn? Pastor John considers the perplexing yet merciful ways of God.
11/7/2024. 12min
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I Want God’s Wrath on My Enemy
How can we love our enemies when they treat us horrifically? Pastor John appeals to six biblical realities to help us face unimaginable darkness.
11/4/2024. 10min
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How Not to Respond to Suffering
“Curse God and die.” Why does the author of Job relate the apparent despair of Job’s wife? What purpose does she play in the message of the book?
10/31/2024. 12min
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Perfectionism Makes Me Indecisive — What Can I Do?
How can perfectionists make decisions without getting paralyzed by fear? Pastor John shares seven encouragements for those who feel stuck.
10/28/2024. 10min
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When Are Good Grades Good Enough?
How much should we sacrifice in order to do excellent work? Pastor John encourages perfectionists to find wisdom from a strong, spiritually mature community.
10/24/2024. 11min
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What Future Judgment Will Christians Face?
If Christians are no longer under wrath, why does Paul say that we will stand before God’s judgment seat? Pastor John clarifies the Christian’s future judgment.
10/21/2024. 13min
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How Much Money Do I Need to Retire?
How much money should we set aside for retirement? Pastor John commends three biblical principles to apply in our various contexts.
10/17/2024. 14min
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How God Guards You
Does God ultimately sustain our faith, or do we? Pastor John unfolds 1 Peter 1:4–5 to show how God guards us to the end.
10/14/2024. 14min
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Does Free Will Exist?
Do humans have free will — and if so, what is it? Pastor John considers the depravity of the human heart and the sovereign grace that saves us.
10/10/2024. 12min
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Do Christian Hedonists Deny Self-Denial?
Does God’s command to deny ourselves contradict Christian Hedonism? Pastor John clarifies the God-centered, pleasure-seeking aim of all Christian self-denial.
10/7/2024. 12min
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Joy’s Triumph over Spiritual Sloth
How does zeal for God relate to joy in God? With help from Jonathan Edwards, Pastor John traces the crucial connection in four steps.
10/3/2024. 13min
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Overcoming Spiritual Laziness
How do we overcome half-hearted spiritual laziness? Pastor John appeals to the apostle Paul and Jonathan Edwards to commend a life totally devoted to Christ.
9/30/2024. 11min
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Rome’s Seven Deadly Errors
The Roman Catholic Church teaches numerous unbiblical doctrines. So, can devout Catholics be genuinely saved?
9/26/2024. 10min
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Celebrate the Reformation with Us This October
Luther didn’t stand alone 500 years ago. Nor does he stand alone today. We’ve created a 31-day journey to introduce you to the many heroes of the Reformation. Join us at desiringGod.org/stand.
9/25/2024. 3min
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The Busy Soul Learning to Wait for God
How can active, impatient doers learn to wait on God? Pastor John describes spiritual waiting — and shows how we can answer such a question for ourselves.
9/23/2024. 12min
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American Church, Is Your Christ Too Cheap?
Why do so many American Christians bear the marks of worldliness? Too often in our churches, Christ is too cheap, heaven is too distant, and earth is too big.
9/19/2024. 13min
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DG’s Slogan, Coined 36 Years Ago Today
“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” How did John Piper craft this memorable motto? Tony Reinke tells the story.
9/19/2024. 9min
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Why Do I Exist?
Why do you exist? Why does anything exist? Pastor John shows from Isaiah 43:1–7 that God created his people to glorify him by enjoying him.
9/16/2024. 12min
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Will God Forgive My Worst Sin?
Will God forgive my very worst sin? Pastor John shares seven powerful encouragements for those paralyzed with guilt.
9/12/2024. 13min
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The Pitfalls of Being a Thinker
Thinking is indispensable — but thinking is also dangerous. How can we use our minds to glorify God rather than puffing up ourselves?
9/9/2024. 12min
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On Hoarding
How can we help those struggling with hoarding? Pastor John shares five underlying factors and five practical suggestions for those who seem stuck.
9/5/2024. 15min
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How to Find the Meaning of a Bible Verse
How do we make sense of Bible passages that we don’t understand? Pastor John demonstrates how to patiently interpret Scripture with Scripture.
9/2/2024. 11min
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What Is ‘White-Hot Worship’?
Though our response to God often feels frustratingly inadequate, he is worthy of all our heart, soul, and mind. He is worthy of “white-hot worship.”
8/29/2024. 11min
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Did My Negligence Kill My Baby?
What comfort does God give to those who feel responsible for tragic loss? Pastor John offers eight words of hope to a brokenhearted mom.
8/26/2024. 13min
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Defining Success in My 9-to-5 Job
What does it mean to “work heartily, as for the Lord” in our 9-to-5 jobs? Pastor John considers five qualities of faithful work from Paul’s words in Colossians 3.
8/22/2024. 10min
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Your Holy Deeds Are Not Filthy Rags
In Christ, the righteous deeds you do by faith are emphatically not “filthy rags.” Pastor John corrects a common and profound misunderstanding.
8/19/2024. 11min
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Are Motorcycles for Fools?
If God is sovereign over life and death, does it matter what risks we take? Pastor John considers the place of precautions beneath God’s providence.
8/15/2024. 11min
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Should We Ever Speak Directly to the Devil?
Scripture gives us a category for addressing the devil, but our normal way of defeating him is by trusting the promises of God and killing our own sin.
8/12/2024. 11min
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Seven Encouragements for Parents of Prodigals
How can we not lose heart over children who wander from Christ? Pastor John opens the parable of the prodigal son to offer encouragement after encouragement.
8/8/2024. 10min
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Can We Pray for God to Teach Someone a Lesson?
Can Christians ask God to teach the unrepentant hard lessons? Pastor John helps us pray against others’ sins without presuming to be God.
8/5/2024. 10min
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Should My Construction Company Help Build a Casino?
Should a Christian construction worker help to build a casino — or any other building that facilitates sin? Pastor John offers principles for the Christian conscience.
8/1/2024. 10min
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When Love Wanes, the Marriage Covenant Remains
Staying married is not first about staying in love. It’s about keeping a covenant that reflects Jesus’s own faithfulness to his bride, the church.
7/29/2024. 11min
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Can a Single Pastor Date in His Church?
Where should an unmarried pastor look for a wife? Pastor John encourages single men in ministry to take practical steps while trusting God’s providence.
7/25/2024. 12min
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What Makes a True Friend?
What makes for a true friend, according to God’s word? Pastor John sketches the nature and importance of friendship across the Scriptures.
7/22/2024. 12min
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God Is Eager to Work for You
God looks throughout the earth, eager to work for those whose hearts are whole toward him. Pastor John unfolds glory from a favorite verse.
7/18/2024. 13min
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Will God Judge People for Being Born Muslim?
Will God condemn someone for being born into another religion? Pastor John responds to a former Muslim deeply worried about her loved ones.
7/15/2024. 11min
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On Repetitive Worship Songs
“For his steadfast love endures forever” appears 26 times in Psalm 136. What might we learn from this psalm about the right kind of repetition in worship?
7/11/2024. 11min
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Let the Bible Smash Your Bad Theology
If you want more of your thoughts to become captive to Christ, open the Bible and pray, “Anything in my thinking that needs to be destroyed, destroy it.”
7/8/2024. 9min
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The Good Grace of Being American
American citizens enjoy lavish blessings of common grace. Pastor John calls us to give thanks without giving away our far deeper allegiance to God’s special grace.
7/4/2024. 12min
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Is My Joy Commanded or Spontaneous?
If joy in God is a gift from God, why does he also command us to rejoice? Pastor John takes us into a paradox that lies at the heart of the God-glorifying life.
7/1/2024. 11min
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The Next Generation of Missionaries
The local church’s task of sending and sustaining long-term missionaries rests on several deep biblical assumptions. Pastor John shares five.
6/27/2024. 10min
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How Your Heart Governs Your Mind
At the root of our sin is not a mind ignorant of God’s ways, but a darkened love, a hardened heart, and a will bent away from God’s ways.
6/24/2024. 11min
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Resurrection Power for Our Pain
In this fallen age, resurrection power does not keep us from pain. Instead, it brings life to others as we keep loving Jesus in our pain.
6/20/2024. 11min
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The Emotional Roller Coaster of Bible Reading
Bible reading can bring comfort, but Bible reading can also bring fear. How can we rightly embrace both the comfort of God’s promises and the fear of his warnings?
6/17/2024. 12min
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Taste Test Your Way to God’s Will
Paul says that the renewed mind discerns God’s good will “by testing.” What does that testing look like in the thousands of everyday decisions we make?
6/13/2024. 9min
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God’s Purpose in Our Boredom
Our boredom in this world is meant to point us to another world — a world where the infinitely interesting God will banish boredom forever.
6/10/2024. 12min
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How Can I Convince Comfortable People to Embrace Christ?
No matter how comfortable our friends and neighbors may seem, they are headed for hell unless they repent. So, what words might break through their comfort?
6/6/2024. 12min
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Satan, the ‘Prince of the Air’ — What Does That Mean?
Why does Paul call Satan “the prince of the power of the air”? Pastor John explores the extent of Satan’s authority and Christ’s decisive victory.
6/3/2024. 13min
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If I’m Not Elect, How Am I Guilty for Not Believing?
If God has not chosen to save me, then why would he condemn me for not believing? Pastor John explains the kind of inability that does not remove responsibility.
5/30/2024. 11min
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What Shia LaBeouf Gets Wrong About Joy
Is Shia LaBeouf right to say that Jesus experienced “maximum joy” as he died? Pastor John considers the joy set before Christ and the horrors of the cross.
5/27/2024. 13min
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Killing Lust with the Cross of Christ
“Cross,” “nails,” “spear,” and “thorns” are words that evoke images in our minds — images with tremendous power to dispel lustful thoughts.
5/23/2024. 10min
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Ten Questions for Readers of Erotica
How should Christians think about sexually explicit material on the page rather than the screen? Pastor John offers ten questions for readers of erotica.
5/20/2024. 10min
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Warning Our Children of Rebellion
Parents have the God-given duty to warn their children not to rebel against Christ, and some of the most powerful warnings come from stories of failed rebellions.
5/16/2024. 11min
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Mom’s Role in Raising Boys
How can a mom raise boys to become strong and godly men? Pastor John offers counsel for training up the next generation.
5/13/2024. 12min
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The Prayer You Don’t Want Answered
Sometimes, God responds to our sinful requests with a merciful no. But other times, he gives what we ask, brings misery with it, and then amazingly works good through it.
5/9/2024. 11min
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How Can I Grow in Expressing Affection?
How can Christians grow in expressing their deepest affections for God and others? Pastor John offers eight pieces of counsel for those who struggle to speak.
5/6/2024. 12min
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Why Does God Allow Satan to Block the Gospel?
God could destroy Satan at any moment. So, why has God allowed Satan to blind the minds of unbelievers from seeing the glory of Christ?
5/2/2024. 13min
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Are Parents to Blame for Prodigals?
Does Proverbs 22:6 promise that children raised by godly parents will become Christians? Pastor John explains the proverb and points parents to their ultimate hope.
4/29/2024. 14min
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How to Write a Good Sentence
What makes a good sentence? Good sentences are true, clear, authentic, thoughtful, creative, well-timed, clean, loving, and glorifying to God.
4/25/2024. 14min
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A Daily Morning Exercise
How can we walk through this world of sin, suffering, and futility with strength and joy? Psalm 90:14 holds the key.
4/22/2024. 10min
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Am I Confident or Arrogant?
In a society steeped in self-worth and self-esteem, how can Christians aim for significance in a way that glorifies Christ?
4/18/2024. 11min
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Should the Church ‘Bless’ Same-Sex Relationships?
Should churches be willing to somehow “bless” same-sex relationships? Pastor John responds to Pope Francis’s concerning proposal.
4/15/2024. 12min
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How Can I Glorify God as I Pray for Myself?
God does everything he does for his glory, including answering our prayers. So, how can we align all our requests with this big, overarching purpose?
4/11/2024. 11min
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Am I Abusing Caffeine?
How can we tell if we’re abusing caffeine (or any food or drink)? Pastor John offers three questions to guide a Christian’s consumption.
4/8/2024. 12min
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‘Death Is Yours’ — What Does Paul Mean?
If death belongs to the children of God, as the apostle Paul says, then death not only loses its sting, but it turns around and becomes our servant.
4/4/2024. 12min
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The Man Who Died in the Pulpit
On September 22, 1967, V. Raymond Edman collapsed while delivering a chapel message at Wheaton. Pastor John reflects on his college chancellor’s final words.
4/1/2024. 13min
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How Do I Forget My Sinful Past?
Some Christians carry an ongoing sense of guilt for sins confessed long ago. What can we do with these stubborn guilt feelings?
3/28/2024. 13min
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God Delivers from the Suffering He Ordains
If God is sovereign over our suffering, then we can trust him to strengthen us in suffering, sanctify us through suffering, and ultimately save us from suffering.
3/25/2024. 11min
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The Gift of God’s God-Centeredness
From eternity, God has been self-sufficiently happy in himself. And because he has no needs of his own, he is gloriously free to meet ours.
3/21/2024. 11min
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Should Confidence in Sovereignty Make Me Prayerless?
If our souls are deeply satisfied in God, what room is there for petitionary prayer? Pastor John reframes the question by clarifying the nature of prayer.
3/18/2024. 10min
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Your Most-Asked-About Bible Verse
If God is sovereign over salvation, do the non-elect even have a chance to repent? Pastor John addresses Romans 9:22, your most-asked-about Bible verse.
3/14/2024. 14min
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How Much Error Can I Believe and Still Be Saved?
Some biblical truths are essential to believe for salvation — but not all. So, how much error can someone hold and still be saved?
3/11/2024. 12min
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Is My Child Transgender Because of Me?
How can parents resist the despair that comes from feeling like failures? Pastor John offers ten words of hope for parents of prodigals.
3/7/2024. 13min
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The ‘Ask Pastor John’ Book Is Here
After ten years and two thousand episodes, Tony Reinke has distilled the best of ‘Ask Pastor John’ in a remarkable new book.
3/5/2024. 15min
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Is Obedience Without Affection Still Love?
If we obey God outwardly but feel no affection for him inwardly, is our obedience still love? Pastor John takes us to the heart beneath God-pleasing obedience.
3/4/2024. 11min
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How Preachers Grow Graceless
How do preachers guard themselves from hypocrisy? Pastor John traces double-faced preaching to its deepest root: the love of human praise.
2/29/2024. 14min
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Your Suffering Is Not Meaningless
How did Paul endure such unimaginable sufferings without turning from Christ? Pastor John traces three threads of the apostle’s perseverance.
2/26/2024. 14min
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Why Did God Stigmatize the Disabled?
In Leviticus 21, God forbids men with physical defects from participating as full priests. How do we reconcile this prohibition with Jesus’s approach to the disabled?
2/22/2024. 12min
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Enjoying God in His Gifts
How do we enjoy pizza, friendship, or any other good gift without committing idolatry? Not only by enjoying God more than his gifts, but also by enjoying him in them.
2/19/2024. 15min
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What’s the Essence of Love?
How do Paul’s travel plans relate to the Trinitarian depths of God’s love? Pastor John shows how ultimate reality undergirds the love between the saints.
2/15/2024. 13min
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Political Flag-Waving Isn’t Enough
Christians have not only the right but the calling to speak truth to power. But such speech differs greatly from mere political flag-waving.
2/12/2024. 12min
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Does Hidden Sin Bring Physical Suffering?
The wrath of God is gone for those who are in Christ. But does God still sometimes bring physical suffering in response to unconfessed sin?
2/8/2024. 14min
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How Should I Choose a College Major?
What factors should Christian students consider when choosing a college or major? Pastor John gives five guidelines for those who don’t want to waste their lives.
2/5/2024. 13min
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Do I Have a Hard Heart?
How can we know if our heart is hard toward God? Pastor John diagnoses hardness of heart, and gives a remedy for remaining soft to God’s Spirit.
2/1/2024. 11min
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Was Jesus Confused by the Cross?
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Do these haunting words from Jesus suggest he was confused by the horrors of the cross?
1/29/2024. 11min
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What Would World War III Mean for Missions?
We live in a time of mounting global tensions, of wars and rumors of wars. What hope do we have for the future of missions should conflict continue to build?
1/25/2024. 14min
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Strategies for Building a Reverent Church
In a day starving for transcendence, how might church leaders arrange every element of the Sunday gathering to promote joyful Godward reverence?
1/22/2024. 17min
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Leading a Church out of Casual Culture
How might churches move away from casual culture toward heartfelt, happy reverence on Sunday morning? Pastor John shares five steps for preachers.
1/18/2024. 14min
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On Coffee-Sipping in the Sanctuary
Is it wrong to drink coffee during corporate worship? Pastor John moves beyond mugs to the heart of the issue.
1/15/2024. 13min
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Should Christians Make Bucket Lists?
From college grads to retirees, many people love to keep bucket lists. Should Christians? Pastor John puts rest and recreation within a biblical mindset.
1/11/2024. 11min
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How Do I Find the Main Point of a Psalm?
How can we discern the main point of not only a single verse, but an entire paragraph, section, or even chapter of the Bible?
1/8/2024. 11min
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The Good News of God’s Faithfulness to God
God’s faithfulness to God may not sound like good news. But the foundation of our hope rests on God’s zeal to display the worth of his name.
1/4/2024. 13min
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Read the Bible with Us in 2024
On the first day of a new year, Pastor John commends a yearlong Bible-reading plan and invites listeners to join him from Genesis to Revelation.
1/1/2024. 13min
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My Bible Reading Feels Flat — What Can I Do?
Sometimes, perhaps even often, we read Scripture with our eyes, grasp its truth in our minds, yet feel little pleasure in our hearts. What can we do in such moments?
12/28/2023. 18min
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Four Reasons Christmas Is Special
Christmas is a day for marveling. Pastor John shares four earth-shaking, soul-satisfying reasons to glory in the coming of the Son of God.
12/25/2023. 11min
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Looking Back at 2023, Looking Ahead to 2024
As a new year nears, Pastor John marvels at God’s grace from 2023 and shares exciting plans for the months ahead.
12/21/2023. 13min
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Make the Bible Part of Your Everyday in 2024
What makes regular Bible intake not only helpful for the Christian life, but crucial? Pastor John gives ten reasons to make the Bible part of your everyday.
12/18/2023. 15min
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Feast on the Bible’s Grammar
The word “therefore” appears almost five hundred times in the New Testament. And every one of them is a doorway to life and love.
12/14/2023. 17min
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How John Piper Marks Up His Books
Pastor John never reads a book — even novels — without a pencil in hand. What does he do with it, and why won’t he use a pen?
12/11/2023. 18min
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Make Your Life Count: Twelve Rules for Teens
How can teens make their lives count? From dating wisely to failing well, Pastor John offers twelve rules for teenage followers of Christ.
12/7/2023. 19min
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Go to the Ant
We know God inspired the Bible, but we sometimes forget that he also spoke creation into existence. How might we begin to learn from both of God’s books?
12/4/2023. 12min
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How to Study the Bible on a Topic
How can normal Christians learn to study the Bible on a topic? Pastor John models his own approach as he prepares answers for ‘Ask Pastor John.’
11/30/2023. 10min
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Learning for Those Who Don’t Love Learning
The apostle Peter calls Christians to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. But how might we grow in knowledge if we don’t enjoy the process of learning?
11/27/2023. 14min
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How Thanksgiving Shapes Your Life Story
At the heart of our unbelief lies not only our refusal to glorify God, but our refusal to thank him. Apart from grace, we take the gifts and ignore the Giver.
11/23/2023. 14min
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How Does Learning Deepen Joy?
What role should emotions play in Christian education? If we take our cue from Scripture, appropriate feelings will be central, not peripheral, to all our learning.
11/20/2023. 15min
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Learning in a World Blind to God
God communicates through not just his word, but also his world. Christian learning presses deeply into the Bible, but the stars have something to say as well.
11/16/2023. 14min
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How to Lead Teens Deeper into Their Bibles
How can youth leaders lead teens deeper into their Bibles? By teaching with an eye on language, a heart for reality, and a knack for question-asking.
11/13/2023. 16min
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How Can I Return to Normal Life After Tragedy?
Seasons of affliction, however painful or even deadening they may feel, do not last forever. God will restore the souls he has saved.
11/9/2023. 14min
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Hoping in God When Our Heroes Die
Godly pastors and leaders are a tremendous gift to Christ’s church. So, how do we keep hoping in God when our spiritual heroes die?
11/6/2023. 13min
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How Can I Kill My Selfishness?
If you want to kill your selfishness, focus on more than your selfishness. Fill your soul to overflowing with Christ.
11/2/2023. 13min
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What Do We Celebrate on Reformation Day?
Over five hundred years after Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses, what do we celebrate on Reformation Day? Pastor John traces five of the Reformation’s greatest recoveries.
10/30/2023. 11min
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Is My Painting Hobby a Wartime Waste?
When do our hobbies glorify God, and when do they become a wartime waste? Pastor John offers three guiding questions to ask of any hobby.
10/26/2023. 14min
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Should We Consult with Dead Ancestors?
What do the Scriptures say about communicating with dead ancestors? Pastor John explains four truths about God and the sufficiency of his revelation.
10/23/2023. 11min
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Can Pro-Life Advocates Lie to Save Lives?
With so much at stake in the fight against abortion, can pro-life advocates use doctrinal falsehoods to persuade parents to keep their babies?
10/19/2023. 11min
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John Piper on ChatGPT
Intelligence without affection is barren, mechanical — even artificial. Pastor John reflects on his ministry in the light of developing AI technologies.
10/16/2023. 14min
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Is It Sinful to Be Unhappy?
Given Paul’s command to “rejoice always,” do we sin when we lack joy? Pastor John offers a simple answer with three crucial qualifications.
10/12/2023. 11min
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Is Joy a Choice or a Feeling?
Genuine joy in God is far deeper than a choice we make. Even so, our actions can help or hinder the spontaneous experience of joy.
10/9/2023. 12min
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What Old Testament Promises Are for Me?
Can new-covenant Christians claim old-covenant promises? As long as we keep some key distinctions in mind, we not only can, but should.
10/5/2023. 11min
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Evidence for the Cross and Resurrection
God has not left us without evidence for the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. But evidence alone will never open the eyes of the blind.
10/2/2023. 13min
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Does God Love Us Simply for His Glory?
God-centered theology can raise all kinds of questions about God’s love for us. Pastor John asks and answers nine of them.
9/28/2023. 12min
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If Sin’s Penalty Is Eternal, Why Isn’t Jesus Still Suffering?
If the penalty for sin is eternal punishment, how could Jesus’s finite sufferings pay the price of our redemption?
9/25/2023. 11min
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Six Reasons Jesus Left Earth After Easter
Why did Jesus leave earth after his resurrection? Pastor John gives six reasons for Jesus’s ascension to the Father’s right hand.
9/21/2023. 10min
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Even If Our Faith Is False, Aren’t Christians Happier People?
If Christ has not been raised, Paul says, then Christians are “of all people most to be pitied.” But why should we be pitied when we live with such joy?
9/18/2023. 11min
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What Does Piper Mean by ‘Satisfied’?
“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” What does Pastor John mean when he talks about “satisfaction in God”?
9/14/2023. 14min
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Christ, Our Sabbath Rest at Work
Christ is our rest on Monday as well as Sunday. But how do we experience the peaceful rest of Jesus in the midst of our labors?
9/11/2023. 12min
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How Can I Become a Humbler Calvinist?
The doctrines of grace are designed to destroy human boasting. So, what can we do if we find our theology becoming a platform for pride?
9/7/2023. 11min
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Will We Work in Eternity?
At least six biblical pointers give us reason to expect some kind of work in the age to come. But whatever eternity holds, it will be a future beyond disappointment.
9/4/2023. 13min
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Ten Authors for Your Soul
Rich doctrine makes the heart sing. So, where might Christians start if they want to read time-tested, soul-deepening books?
8/31/2023. 11min
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Why John Piper Reads Books
With so many demands on our time, why should we carve out precious minutes for books? Pastor John gives seven reasons he loves to read.
8/28/2023. 9min
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I Don’t Feel God’s Love — What Can I Do?
When life is hard and heaven seems silent, how can God’s people still feel his love? Pastor John offers six reminders for those in spiritual darkness.
8/24/2023. 10min
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Ten Reasons You Need Unconditional Election
How important is unconditional election for the Christian life? Pastor John offers ten reasons why Christians need this crucial doctrine.
8/21/2023. 11min
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Ten Criticisms of John Piper’s Preaching
Anyone who preaches for long will find his preaching criticized — sometimes unfairly, but often wisely. Pastor John shares ten criticisms that have shaped him.
8/17/2023. 13min
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Do Christians Really Suffer in America?
If Jesus and his apostles promised that faithful Christians would suffer, how can comfortable disciples make sense of their experience?
8/14/2023. 12min
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How Can I Explain Christian Joy to Unbelievers?
The Bible rings with the language of pleasure and joy in God. But how can we explain that pleasure and joy in ways non-Christian loved ones may understand?
8/10/2023. 12min
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Why Does God Choose the Foolish?
World evangelization would spread more quickly, it may seem, if God had chosen the wise and powerful. So, why did he choose the foolish and weak instead?
8/7/2023. 11min
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Resisting the Inner Skeptic in Our Bible Reading
When doubts disrupt our Bible reading, how can we resist the inner skeptic? Pastor John offers six ways to fight for faith in daily devotions.
8/3/2023. 11min
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Can I Still Have Joy in Seasons of Doubt?
Seasons of doubt may afflict our minds and shake our hearts, but they need not take our joy. Beneath the waves of doubt, joy’s deep waters can still remain calm.
7/31/2023. 11min
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How Does God’s Joy Become My Joy?
The New Testament seems to connect the person of the Holy Spirit with the joy we experience as believers. But how do the two relate to each other?
7/27/2023. 12min
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Fifty Years of Theological Battles
If you want to prepare for the unknown controversies of tomorrow, know your Bible deeply, thoroughly, confidently, joyfully.
7/24/2023. 13min
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What Does It Mean to Be Spiritual?
Some Christians identify spirituality with gifts like speaking in tongues and healing. Does that view match the Bible’s own description of truly spiritual people?
7/20/2023. 14min
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How Are We Being Saved Right Now?
If we are in Christ, then God has saved us from our sins in the past, and he will save us from his wrath in the future. But in what sense is he saving us right now?
7/17/2023. 13min
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How Can I Encourage Without Flattering?
How can we celebrate the good we see without succumbing to flattery? Pastor John traces a key distinction between godly and ungodly praise.
7/13/2023. 11min
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What Do We Give to God?
God is self-existent and self-sufficient, far beyond any need or lack. So, what can we give to God when we gather for corporate worship?
7/10/2023. 13min
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What Does It Mean to Serve God?
The command to “serve the Lord” appears all through Scripture — but Scripture also assures us that God has no needs. So, how do we serve an all-sufficient God?
7/6/2023. 15min
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Learning to Forgive Family
For some, forgiving family from the heart may be one of the hardest steps of obedience. Pastor John offers five ways forward when forgiveness feels impossible.
7/3/2023. 15min
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On Sibling Rivalries
Sibling rivalries have fractured families since Cain and Abel. So, how does God work redemptively between siblings, and how might parents do their part to promote peace?
6/29/2023. 13min
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Manhood and Womanhood in Parachurch Ministry
Increasingly, parachurch ministries are allowing women to occupy positions of spiritual authority once reserved for men. Do they have biblical warrant to do so?
6/26/2023. 13min
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What Will We Remember in the New Creation?
In Isaiah, God promises that “the former things shall not be remembered” in the new creation. Will we really have no memory of this age in the age to come?
6/22/2023. 14min
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Better Than Scrolling Your Phone in the Morning
Why do so many of us reach instinctively for our phones in the morning? Pastor John identifies six temptations and points to a better way to begin our day.
6/19/2023. 15min
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Dangers in Exposing Cultural Sins
How can a preacher faithfully call out a culture’s sins while still sounding the dominant note of amazement at the glories of God in Christ?
6/15/2023. 12min
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The Sick Love of Controversy
How can we recognize what Paul calls “an unhealthy craving for controversy” in ourselves and others? Pastor John identifies six traits of a controversy-loving spirit.
6/12/2023. 15min
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How Much Should Pastors Make?
“The laborer deserves his wages” — including those who labor in preaching and teaching. But how might a church decide what a pastor’s wages should be?
6/8/2023. 12min
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Can Single Men Pastor?
In Paul’s elder qualifications, he seems to assume that pastors will be married. So how should churches assess the qualification of a single man who wants to pastor?
6/5/2023. 11min
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Why Do We Pray for Our President?
Why does Paul call Christians to pray for kings and other political rulers — and what specifically might we ask God to do in them and through them?
6/1/2023. 10min
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Hope for the Fragile and Fragmented
In a world filled with wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes and famines, a right understanding of the end times can bring stability to anxious minds.
5/29/2023. 13min
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The Joy of Jesus’s Return
When Jesus returns, he will magnify the radiance of his glory by multiplying our own joy in that glory. We will happily marvel, and he will forever shine.
5/26/2023. 13min
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Why God Wills Suffering for the Children He Loves
If we’re going to rejoice in even the worst circumstances, then we need clear and strong reasons for why God wills suffering for the children he loves.
5/24/2023. 15min
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Upcoming Changes to APJ
Tony Reinke shares two upcoming changes to ‘Ask Pastor John’ in light of a brand-new John Piper sermon podcast called ‘Light + Truth.’
5/23/2023. 3min
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Go to Work, Go to Church — Christ Is Coming Back!
Throughout the New Testament, Jesus and the apostles draw some profound connections between the glorious second coming and our ordinary everyday lives.
5/22/2023. 14min
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Popular Blunders About Christ’s Return
Discussions of the second coming often spiral into speculation — or misconception. Pastor John explains five mistaken beliefs about Christ’s return.
5/19/2023. 13min
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Death Can Only Make Me Better: Remembering Tim Keller (1950–2023)
On May 19, 2023, Tim Keller entered the reward of his Master. In this special episode of Ask Pastor John, Tony Reinke shares a sermon clip from Dr. Keller on the joy of God in the face of cancer.
5/19/2023. 16min
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Five Ways to Find Wisdom
In the midst of a busy life, how can we find the time to read great Christian books? We might begin by setting aside just fifteen minutes a day.
5/17/2023. 10min
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Nicotine, Amphetamines, and Holy Concentration
God does not give us a list of foods and drinks we can and cannot consume. Instead, he gives us his words and his Spirit to shape how we see all of life.
5/15/2023. 15min
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A Beautiful Savior for the Unattractive
If we are going to find lasting satisfaction in the beauty of Christ, despite the pain of rejection, four massive changes need to happen in our hearts.
5/12/2023. 13min
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The Hardest Act in Parenting Teens
Headship calls a man to put away his anger and initiate reconciliation — no matter how much of the fault lies with his wife or with his children.
5/10/2023. 10min
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The Path from Orthodoxy to Demon Theology
The movement from orthodoxy to demon theology happens sometimes slowly and sometimes suddenly — but always because love for Christ has grown cold.
5/8/2023. 11min
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‘Nothing Is to Be Rejected’ — Including Pot?
“Nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,” Paul says. So can Christians enjoy pot if they thank God for it?
5/5/2023. 12min
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What Makes You Happiest?
What is the deepest source of your joy — what God gives to you, or who God is for you?
5/3/2023. 5min
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Can I Be Saved If I Never Evangelize?
Will a professing Christian go to hell if he never shares the gospel? Pastor John gets to the heart and offers practical suggestions for growing in evangelism.
5/1/2023. 14min
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Should Men Still Pray with Lifted Hands?
Paul desired that “in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands.” Should men in the church today still lift their hands when they pray?
4/28/2023. 11min
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Our Joyful Duty
At the core of Christian Hedonism is the glorious reality that the duty God requires of us is the path to our greatest joy.
4/26/2023. 10min
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Caring for Families with Cross-Dressing Children
Should parents allow children to cross-dress? Pastor John explains why this cuts across the grain of God-created reality and how to offer counsel to Christian parents.
4/24/2023. 11min
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Should the World Like Us or Hate Us?
Jesus promised that his followers would be “hated by all,” but Paul said pastors must be “well thought of by outsiders.” So should the world like us or hate us?
4/21/2023. 13min
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Why Did Jesus Use Spit and Mud to Heal?
Jesus could have healed the man born blind with a simple command; instead, he used spit and mud. Why?
4/19/2023. 7min
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Does My Sexual Past Disqualify Me from Pastoring?
If a man has a history of fornication, is he disqualified from the office of pastor — or can he still be considered “the husband of one wife”?
4/17/2023. 15min
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Overcoming Fear
If God has really given us “a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control,” then why do we still struggle with fear and anxiety?
4/14/2023. 14min
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The Gospel’s War Against Our Fears and Insecurities
In the face of every fear and insecurity, the gospel says, “In Christ, God is for you — always and forever, with all of his heart and soul. So what can man do to you?”
4/12/2023. 15min
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Should We Despise the Vile — or Love Them?
In Psalm 15, David tells us to despise the vile; in Matthew 5, Jesus tells us to love them. How can we do both?
4/10/2023. 13min
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If God Desires All to Be Saved, Why Aren’t They?
God “desires all people to be saved,” Paul tells us — but clearly not all people are saved. Does this mean God cannot do what he wants to do?
4/7/2023. 15min
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Christ’s Plan for the Globe — and You
Christ’s global purpose to ransom people from every tribe and tongue can be summed up in his words, “I have other sheep. I must bring them also.”
4/5/2023. 12min
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Is Work a Blessing or a Curse?
God gave work as a blessing in the beginning, but we live now on the other side of the fall. So is our work today a blessing or a curse?
4/3/2023. 14min
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Best Commentaries on the Whole Bible
Alongside his personal study of Scripture, what whole-Bible commentaries has Pastor John found most helpful over the years?
3/31/2023. 14min
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How Do I Find My Identity?
If you want to settle the question of personal identity, don’t ask “Who am I?” Ask, “Whose am I?”
3/29/2023. 10min
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Can Satan Put Thoughts into Our Heads?
We know the devil can tempt us and attack us and try to deceive us, but can he put thoughts into our heads?
3/27/2023. 14min
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Does God Read Every Thought?
At every moment, God knows the thoughts and intentions of every human heart. Pastor John explores six vast implications of this foundational truth.
3/24/2023. 14min
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John Piper’s Conversion Story
The book of Romans interprets life — and it also transforms life. Pastor John shares how Romans has shaped him, from conversion to the pastorate.
3/22/2023. 13min
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How to Glorify God in Business Success
How can a Christian business leader speak about his success in a way that makes God, not him, look great?
3/20/2023. 13min
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Is Venting the Same as Complaining?
Is there really a difference between complaining about our problems and venting about them — or are we just kidding ourselves?
3/17/2023. 14min
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Christian Hedonism in Two Minutes
What is the simplest, shortest definition of Christian Hedonism? Pastor John explains in two minutes why pursuing joy in God is essential to the Christian life.
3/15/2023. 2min
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How Does Childbirth Save Women?
Women, Paul says, “will be saved through childbearing.” How does childbirth save women — and what about women who never have children of their own?
3/13/2023. 13min
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I’m Stuck in Sexual Sin — Should I Excommunicate Myself?
Those who play the victim to their sexual lusts act like slaves, like dogs eating their vomit, like washed pigs rolling in mud. But in Christ, they don’t have to stay that way.
3/10/2023. 13min
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1 Percent of a Book Can Change Your Life
Even if you remember only one sentence of a book, that one sentence can create an immeasurable moment, a flash of insight that shapes you forever.
3/8/2023. 19min
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Is ‘De-Gendering’ a Sin?
What might Scripture say to a woman who desperately wants to become a man? Pastor John offers six reasons why attempting to “de-gender” is a tragic act of sin.
3/6/2023. 12min
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Are Christians Obligated to Vote?
Are Christians who have the opportunity to vote obligated to do so — or can we abstain from the whole process for righteous reasons?
3/3/2023. 15min
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Why Christians Don’t Need Holy Shrines
Seven times in the book of Hebrews, the author captures the heart of Christianity in a simple, wonderful command: draw near.
3/1/2023. 12min
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Do Angels Carry Our Prayers to God?
No angel, no saint, and not even Mary herself can improve the access to God we already have through Christ and his finished work.
2/27/2023. 13min
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Was Paul Really the World’s Worst Sinner?
In 1 Timothy 1:15, the apostle Paul claims to have been “the foremost” of sinners. Is Paul speaking in hyperbole here, or was he really the world’s worst sinner?
2/24/2023. 11min
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Overcoming Fear and Passivity in Evangelism
How can we become bolder in evangelism? Pastor John shares a story of his stumbling attempts to love a neighbor, and God’s patient persistence through it all.
2/22/2023. 17min
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Was God at Work in My Pre-Conversion Life?
When we look with eyes of faith on our pre-conversion life, we find abundant reason to thank God for his mercy, and abundant reason to give others hope.
2/20/2023. 11min
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How Could God Be Jealous?
The jealousy of God shows his zeal for his own worth — and it also shows his zeal for our deepest joy.
2/17/2023. 15min
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The God-Centeredness of God Unlocks the Gospel
The biblical mindset puts God and his glory, not man and his desires, at the center of the universe. And grasping this blazing center unlocks the greatness of the gospel.
2/15/2023. 12min
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I Shipwrecked My Faith — Am I Doomed?
Is there any hope for the recovery of a shipwrecked faith? Pastor John offers four reasons shipwreck need not be final.
2/13/2023. 15min
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Sinners or Saints — How Should We Speak of Christians?
Should we speak of Christians as saints or sinners? Pastor John explores why Paul addresses Christians as saints dozens of times — and as sinners almost never.
2/10/2023. 13min
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Why We Share the Gospel
What drove the apostle Paul to win people to Christ? He longed to taste the joy of the gospel not only in his own heart, but in the hearts of countless others.
2/8/2023. 13min
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Preaching the Gospel of the Happy God
Sound preaching comes from those who live in the presence of God-centered glory and long to echo his infinite worth.
2/6/2023. 16min
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Can I Really Trust My Interpretation of the Bible?
“The law is good, if one uses it lawfully,” Paul says. But how can we tell if we are using the law in the way that God intends?
2/3/2023. 11min
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How to Keep Your Eyes on Christ
How can we guard against drifting in the Christian life? By looking and looking and looking at Jesus.
2/1/2023. 12min
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How Can I Have a Good Conscience?
You do not need to walk in sinless perfection in order to have a good conscience. You just need to walk in the light.
1/30/2023. 15min
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Did Paul Oppose Fiction?
The apostle Paul strongly warned Timothy and Titus against the “myths” of his day. What might he have to say about the fictional stories in our own day?
1/27/2023. 16min
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Turn Down the Noise and Listen to Jesus
If we’re going to listen to Jesus and not drift away from him, we likely will need to turn down the noises that capture so much of our attention.
1/25/2023. 11min
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Where Do You Draw Lines for Ministry Partnerships?
Where should pastors and other Christians draw lines for ministry partnerships? Pastor John shares the degree of unity he has pursued in six ministry settings.
1/23/2023. 16min
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Were Abortions Induced on Old Testament Adulteresses?
Does Numbers 5:22 suggest that women guilty of adultery were punished with miscarriage? And if so, how does this passage speak to the pro-life position?
1/20/2023. 11min
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Fight for Delight by Planning Your Devotions
If we don’t have a plan for when, where, and how we will read the Bible, our devotions will probably fall before the demands of the day.
1/18/2023. 5min
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Eight Counsels for Those Thinking of Quitting
Every pastor receives criticism. But at what point might criticism become so serious or sustained that a pastor should consider stepping down?
1/16/2023. 13min
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When Does Despondency Become Sin?
Everyone passes through seasons of despondency — seasons when the soul is troubled and hope feels thin. But when does despondency become sin?
1/13/2023. 10min
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How Do I Push Truth from My Head to My Heart?
How can we push the truth of the Bible from our heads to our hearts, so that our times of daily Bible reading become times of daily worship?
1/11/2023. 11min
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Getting the Tone Right on Sunday Morning
Given the pain of this world, the joy of salvation, and the glory of God, what kind of tone should a pastor seek to set on Sunday morning?
1/9/2023. 11min
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Is Intermittent Fasting Sacrilegious?
Some people find intermittent fasting helpful for losing weight. But is fasting for merely physical purposes a sacrilegious use of a spiritual gift?
1/6/2023. 10min
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The Bible’s Main Road Out of Discouragement
The psalmists show that darkness and discouragement are part of the normal Christian life. And they also show a crucial strategy for finding the light again.
1/4/2023. 10min
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John Piper’s Favorite Things
Pastor John, like the rest of us, has his likes and dislikes. From movies and soft drinks to breakfasts and songs, here are twelve of his favorite things.
1/2/2023. 13min
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Can I Be a Nurse for a ‘Gender-Reassignment’ Surgery?
If a hospital asks a Christian nurse to participate in a “gender-reassignment” surgery, should she agree — or should she take her nursing skills elsewhere?
12/30/2022. 14min
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Beat a Path to the Word in 2023
Strong Christians read the Bible, memorize the Bible, meditate on the Bible, and live on the Bible. They make intentional plans for the word to be their daily bread.
12/28/2022. 14min
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How Do I Put Away My Desire for Praise?
A desire to do good can easily become a desire to look good. So how do we put away our hunger to be praised by other people?
12/26/2022. 16min
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The Christmas We Needed
The best gift anyone can receive at Christmas is deliverance from our two greatest enemies: sin and Satan.
12/23/2022. 11min
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What Makes for a Good Musical Worship Experience?
A good musical worship experience involves head and heart, truth and affections. It will lead people to know their God and to embrace him with joy.
12/21/2022. 15min
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‘Though He Slay Me’ — Why the Silence on This Verse?
“Though he slay me, I will hope in him.” Why has Pastor John barely mentioned these remarkable words of Job throughout his decades of preaching and teaching?
12/19/2022. 18min
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Does God Still Save the Lost Through Visions?
Does God save the lost through visions today — or does someone need to hear the gospel to be saved?
12/16/2022. 14min
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John Piper’s 2022 Year-in-Review
Pastor John discusses personal and ministry highlights from 2022, including podcasts, books, global outreach, and a new goal for ‘Look at the Book.’
12/14/2022. 19min
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Good and Bad People-Pleasing
How can we find freedom from living for the opinions of people? Pray for and pursue a big vision of God. Find a firm identity in Christ. Look to your eternal reward.
12/12/2022. 12min
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How Can I Cast My Cares on God?
Casting your cares onto God begins with believing that he really is the infinitely powerful, all-wise, always-good God he reveals himself to be.
12/9/2022. 14min
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Satan Cannot Scare You into Hell
Satan may oppress you, attack you, and rage against you. But if you are in Christ, he holds no power to finally destroy you.
12/7/2022. 9min
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Build Structures to Serve Your Calling
How can leaders prevent the pressures of running an organization from squeezing out opportunities for face-to-face work and ministry?
12/5/2022. 12min
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How Can Satan Harm Christians?
Scripture is clear that Satan is not ultimately sovereign — God is. But under that sovereignty, in what ways can Satan still harm God’s people?
12/2/2022. 12min
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Amusing Ourselves from Death
Outside of Christ, the fear of death is a slave master that holds everyone in bondage — even those who seem unaware of their chains.
11/30/2022. 10min
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Give Young Christians a Chance to Lead
Our churches grow in wisdom and maturity when the young honor the old, the old listen to the young, and all clothe themselves with humility.
11/28/2022. 13min
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Should We Seek to Suffer?
Suffering may be the price of Christian love, but it is not the aim of Christian love. Our aim is to do as much good as we can on the lowly path of service.
11/25/2022. 10min
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Pray Your Way into Thanksgiving
How can we aim to be done with anxiety and enjoy peace in any circumstance? By bringing every circumstance to God in prayer.
11/23/2022. 11min
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How Does Baptism Save Us?
If God saves his people through faith alone apart from works, why does Peter say that baptism now saves us?
11/21/2022. 12min
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Do Unbelievers Get a Second Chance After Death?
In 1 Peter 3:19, we read that Christ “went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey.” What might Peter mean?
11/18/2022. 12min
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How Do I Pray from the Misery of My Sin?
There is no distress that puts you beyond the good news that God brings — not even the distress caused by your own sin.
11/16/2022. 13min
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Let the Nations Be Glad! — Thirty Years Later
Thirty years after ‘Let the Nations Be Glad!’ was published, Pastor John reflects on the book’s beginnings and its lasting legacy.
11/14/2022. 8min
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What If I Don’t Have a Spiritual Gift?
Paul and Peter charge Christians to use our spiritual gifts for the good of the church. But what if we don’t seem to have any spiritual gifts?
11/11/2022. 12min
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What Makes My Gift a Spiritual Gift?
If God has given helpful skills to both believers and unbelievers, what makes the difference between a merely natural ability and a spiritual gift?
11/9/2022. 10min
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What Makes My Life Christian?
How can Christians live so that, at bottom, we can say with Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me”?
11/7/2022. 15min
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Should I Charge Other Christians for My Expertise?
Christ bids his people both to wisely get and freely give, and he supplies us with the grace we need to discern when to do what with our talents.
11/4/2022. 12min
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Christ’s Death Was No Accident
The death of Christ was no accident. He came to be crucified, that he might hang the sins and sufferings of those he loves with him there.
11/2/2022. 10min
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How Does Love Cover a Multitude of Sins?
Christian love labors to overlook the sins of others, just as Christ went to the cross to forgive us, not to shame us.
10/31/2022. 13min
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Christian Unity in Three Steps
Real differences exist between real Christians. But where we lack unity of conviction, we can share unity of humble, sacrificial disposition.
10/28/2022. 15min
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Step One in Preparing to Suffer
We ready ourselves to suffer well when we look our life dead in the eye and say with Paul, “I count it all as loss compared to Christ.”
10/26/2022. 11min
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Is Suffering a Paradox for Christian Hedonists?
When Christ died, so did our sin-loving selves. Now, God sends suffering to weed out the sin that lingers and stunts our joy in Christ.
10/24/2022. 12min
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How Much Speculation Should We Bring into Sermons?
Preachers are emissaries of God’s revealed truth. So how should we talk about parts of the text we don’t understand?
10/21/2022. 10min
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The Relational Pain of Ministry
Christian ministry is relationally painful. Friends in the ministry can leave and never return, as even the apostle Paul experienced near the end of his life.
10/19/2022. 10min
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How Do People Shipwreck Their Faith?
Jesus, Paul, Peter, and the author of Hebrews all describe people who begin well in the Christian life before eventually making shipwreck of their faith.
10/17/2022. 9min
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How Can I Learn to Receive Criticism?
No one likes to receive criticism, even when it’s well-intended. How can we learn to control our emotional responses and remain grounded in the love of Christ?
10/14/2022. 14min
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Becoming Unshakable in a World of Pain
We all face crises, and without grace, we find our world collapsing in the midst of them. But there is strong and stable hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
10/12/2022. 13min
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Is Any Part of Life Morally Neutral?
Scripture calls us to do everything for the glory of God. Does that mean no action we take is morally neutral?
10/10/2022. 11min
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Will My Spouse Be My Best Friend in Heaven?
What will the relationship between husband and wife be like in the age to come? Pastor John explains how the best parts of marriage point ahead to eternal joy.
10/7/2022. 13min
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How Do I Persist in Prayer?
How can Christians always pray and not lose heart? In part, by remembering the generous heart of God and his delight to hear his people.
10/5/2022. 12min
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How Do I Pray for My Husband’s Salvation?
How can a wife go on praying for her unbelieving husband after years, or even decades, of no evident change?
10/3/2022. 13min
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How Do I See the Glory of Christ?
How can we see the glory of Christ? Renounce the praise of man. Devote yourself to Scripture. Turn to Christ through his word. Keep praying for sight.
9/30/2022. 12min
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What’s the Real Problem with Fearing Man?
Why is the fear of man such a big problem? Because those who fear men cast their vote against the trustworthiness of God.
9/28/2022. 10min
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How to Live Fearlessly
How can Christians live fearlessly? Replace the fear of man with the fear of God. Fear man — live fearfully. Fear God — live fearlessly.
9/26/2022. 12min
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I Want to Be Baptized — My Husband Opposes It
Godly submission does not require that a woman do everything her husband says. Before she is a wife who submits to her husband, she is a Christian who submits to Christ.
9/23/2022. 11min
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Am I Called to Ministry? Five Tests
How do we know if we are able to bear the heavy calling of being the aroma of life to some and the aroma of death to others?
9/21/2022. 9min
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What Should We Think of Flashy Pastors?
Pastors who flaunt their riches will not draw anyone to the hope of the gospel. They will draw men and women to the hope of luxury.
9/19/2022. 12min
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Who’s More Sinful: Men or Women?
Men and women may face temptations peculiar to their sex, but we both share a deep, common depravity and a profound need for mercy.
9/16/2022. 13min
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The Godly Woman’s Charm
Hope in God clothes a woman with a beauty that will never fade, never perish, and never cease to be precious in God’s sight.
9/14/2022. 8min
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How Much Jewelry Is Too Much Jewelry?
How might we as parents teach our daughters, even at young ages, how to express their femininity without flaunting their body?
9/12/2022. 13min
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Does God Call Us to Submit to Everyone?
God calls church members to submit to their pastors, wives to their husbands, employees to their bosses. But is there also a sense in which God calls us to submit to everyone?
9/9/2022. 12min
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Who Are My Enemies?
“Love your enemies,” Jesus says. But who are our enemies? The answer is broader than we might imagine.
9/7/2022. 8min