Ask Pastor John

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?

If there is no forgiveness without shed blood, how could Jesus forgive sins apart from the sacrificial system and prior to his own death?

In an age of hate, Christians testify to God’s grace by praying for all kinds of people: high and low, white and black, Democrat and Republican, friend and enemy.

When God grants us a ministry, does his leading come to us through internal impulses, external affirmation, or some combination of the two?

Does Scripture ever command us to pray for unbelievers, or does it only command us to pray for the evangelists who speak to them?

Prayer is the easiest step of love, and it is also the most powerful. God can do far more for others in response to our prayers than we could ever do on our own.

God is honored when we do our jobs with technical excellence, and he is also honored when we give ourselves to the kinds of excellence that cannot be measured.

How can we require obedience of our children without provoking and discouraging them? Pastor John offers eight pitfalls for fathers.

Throughout Scripture, God warns that he will not hear the prayers of the disobedient. So do answered prayers depend on our holiness?

We will never plumb the depths of sin and grace merely from past experience. Only God’s word can tell us how lost and dead we were, and how found and alive we are.

In the early twentieth century, many Christian leaders lent their approval to the cause of Prohibition. Would Pastor John have done the same if he lived back then?

In Christ, God has chosen us from eternity, and called us in time, so that we would boast no longer in ourselves, but only in him and his great love.

Some teachers influence us so deeply that we find ourselves imitating them without trying. So how can we move past imitation to make biblical truth our own?

Paul says we all were dead apart from Christ, but he also says we died when we were united to Christ. In what sense, then, do dead men die?

Nothing but God can forever satisfy hearts that are made for God. And so, in great mercy, God loves us in a way that makes much of himself.

Christians can disagree over many doctrines and stay friends. But what should we do when a friend rejects a doctrine central to the gospel?

How might Christians process feelings of guilt over the death of a loved one? Pastor John offers counsel to a new widow struggling not to blame herself.

In Christ, God makes more of us than we could ever imagine. And he will go on doing so forever.