Ask Pastor John

How can Christians live fearlessly? Replace the fear of man with the fear of God. Fear man — live fearfully. Fear God — live fearlessly.

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.

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?

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.

Men and women may face temptations peculiar to their sex, but we both share a deep, common depravity and a profound need for mercy.

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.

How might we as parents teach our daughters, even at young ages, how to express their femininity without flaunting their body?

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?

“Love your enemies,” Jesus says. But who are our enemies? The answer is broader than we might imagine.

In the wake of great betrayal, how do we respond with love and forgiveness without minimizing the evil of the sin?

Peter tells wives to win their husbands “without a word.” Does that mean a wife should never confront her husband over a pattern of habitual sin?

How can a father governed by anger begin to recover kindness and tenderheartedness? By freshly embracing God the Father’s forgiveness through Christ.

Is heartfelt anger toward God ever righteous, or even morally neutral — or is such anger always sinful?

Does the Bible teach that God has predestined some to disobedience and destruction, just as he has predestined some to salvation?

What are the two greatest questions in the universe? Pastor John explains by looking at 1 Peter 2:11–12.

When do innocent desires of the flesh become threats to the soul? When they cross over from serving God’s will to serving our rebellious self.

The biblical authors often intertwine faith and hope, yet they also distinguish them. So what is the difference between these two gifts of the Spirit?

When the light of Christ shines upon the darkness of our sin, we either run to Christ as the only covering for our shame, or we run further into darkness.

Scripture speaks of the Father judging the world, the Son judging the world, and sometimes even the word of Christ judging the world. So, in the end, who will judge?

The new birth is a sovereign work of the Spirit, but it is a work bound to the word. The Spirit of God works through the word of God to glorify the Son of God.

When we trust God with our money, we not only enjoy freedom from worry, but we magnify the shepherd, Father, and King who provides for us.

What makes Christian love different from non-Christian love? It is rooted in the cross of Christ, sustained by the Holy Spirit, and aimed at the glory of God.

Ecclesiastes tells us not to be “overly righteous,” but Jesus calls us to a righteousness that exceeds even that of the Pharisees. How can we put these two texts together?

You don’t have to commit great sins in order to fall away from Jesus. You just have to neglect your great salvation.

Did Jesus have to die a public, agonizing death, or could he have saved us by living sinlessly and dying in obscurity?

God clearly tests his people, but does he ever tempt them to sin? Pastor John explores the distinction between tests and temptations in James 1.

Hundreds of times, God tells us to “fear not.” So why does he also call us to work out our salvation “with fear and trembling”?

Sober-mindedness keeps us from the silliness that is allergic to serious moments, but it also keeps us from the somberness that doesn’t know how to be joyful.

Peter assures us of an inheritance kept safe in heaven; Jesus calls us to lay up treasures in heaven. Are eternal inheritance and rewards the same?

In an age inundated with entertainment, how do Christians stay awake to the glory of Christ and help others do the same?

Saving faith is the gift of God, who opens blind eyes and raises dead hearts. So what can unbelievers do when they find themselves unable to believe on their own?

Sometimes, busyness and stress are reasons to realign our priorities. Other times, they are invitations to pray that God would empower us to do the seemingly impossible.

God doesn’t give us a blueprint for our futures, but he does give us biblical trajectories by which we can discern his will and follow it with confidence.

How do “spiritual wisdom and understanding” fill us with the knowledge of God’s will for our daily lives? Pastor John explains from Colossians 1:9.

In our sin, we refuse to hear the truth, receive the truth, believe the truth — until God intervenes to give us a deep and abiding love for the truth.

When God puts us in the flames of suffering, he often intends to rescue us from self-sufficient comfort and awaken in us desperate, earnest prayer.

We need pastors who will regularly remind us that our greatest allegiance is not to any political party, ethnicity, or nation, but to King Jesus.

Paul teaches that Jesus will not return until “the man of lawlessness is revealed.” Who is this man of lawlessness?

The Christian pro-life cause goes far deeper than legislation. We aim not only to change laws and behavior, but to change hearts and eternities.

Satan will try to put us to sleep in prayer. And he does so, most commonly, by tricking us into staying up too late the night before.

Is God present in hell, as John seems to say in Revelation 14:10 — or is he absent, as Paul seems to say in 2 Thessalonians 1:9?

Scripture describes the process of sanctification in many different ways. How can we weave the various strands together into one coherent picture?

Because Jesus loved Lazarus, the Gospel of John tells us, he did not come to him right away, but lingered and let him die. How is that love?

When temptation strikes, we need more than a vague sense of God’s goodness — we need specific promises. Pastor John shares his favorite passages for fighting sin.

If God aims to be glorified in this world, why is human history and the daily news filled with so much that dishonors him?

The love of money often lives where others least suspect, like in the hearts of Pharisees, miracle workers, and those who seem most moral.

Paul speaks of wrestling in prayer, and many of us use his phrase. But what might our prayer lives actually feel like if we wrestled like the apostle?

“Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them,” Paul writes. But what can a wife do if she finds herself with a harsh man?

How does God bring us from the grace of new birth to the glory of heaven? Pastor John explains eight essentials for Christian living from 2 Thessalonians 1:11–12.

Jesus tells us to give to those who ask, but Paul warns the church against giving to the lazy. How might we apply these teachings when we meet a panhandler?