Ask Pastor John

All authors are flawed, but what should we do with an author’s work when a public failure discredits them as a sound teacher?

We don’t have to pretend we don’t feel pain from our losses. Grieving with hope means something far greater than moving on from the pain.

God doesn’t mean for us to forget him or minimize him when hurricanes devastate human life. Pastor Piper turns Godward and prays in the path of hurricanes.

Jesus focused a lot on the kingdom of God. But what is the kingdom? And why does the rest of the New Testament hardly mention the theme?

A pastor’s job is not to count how many people come on Sunday, but to make faith-filled, self-denying, fruit-bearing disciples.

Parents will fail hundreds of times as they strive to raise their kids biblically. So how can we find hope in the midst of these many shortcomings?

God never designed marriage to be our ultimate treasure. Here are some signs that we have made our marriage into something God never intended it to be.

God’s love and election work hand and hand. There’s no election that is not loving, and there’s no initiating love that is not electing.

When thinking about TV, music, or movies, don't ask, “What’s wrong with this?” but, instead, “Will it maximize my holiness?”

Wartime lifestyle seeks to glorify God — not to live with the least amount of stuff. It simply admits that life must be different during a battle.

When is it right to please people? When is it wrong to please people? Motive matters.

God has designed marriage to bring about a kind of cherishing that emerges nowhere else. But that doesn’t mean you are uncherishable if your single.

Jesus faced more opposition from the Pharisees than the Romans. Are religious formalists a greater threat to the church today than our secular neighbors?

Students, attending college means stepping out into the front line of the war for your faith. In order to hold fast, arm yourself for battle.

God created sex for marriage. He designed it as beautiful gift and placed it precisely where he knew it should be.

We by nature don’t delight in God but in his gifts. New cars, our job, even our phones all compete for our supreme joy unless God transforms our hearts.

One way to honor our parents is to love them as we love ourselves. If we would hope to be helped in our old age, we should find ways to help our parents.

Members of our churches learn truth not only from the sermons they hear, but also from the songs they sing. Lyrics on Sunday morning matter.

Jesus provides the litmus test for all religions. Any religion that refuses to worship him is a false religion.

Two parents are better than one. But does God require a single parent to marry if he or she doesn’t desire marriage?

Following Jesus brings suffering we could have avoided. But the alternative is losing your soul while only gaining the cheap pleasures of the world.

Was Piper right to say, “You don’t have a chance against the devil unless you know how to read and understand God’s word”?

A catechism can help children interpret the Bible, point them to important Scriptures, and capture the whole counsel of God’s word.

For millions of people, the future reign of God is terrible news. His rule will not be an invitation to eternal joy, but a final verdict: eternal damnation.

Joy will come, even when it feels like the pain will never end. In the meantime, God promises to be near you in ways you can’t feel outside of suffering.

Our aging bodies and nearness to death need not sap the joy that God gives us while we remain on earth. He still has a purpose for us.

When couples temporarily suspend sexual intimacy for the purpose of prayer, they say with their bodies how desperate they are for God to answer.

Those who have had an abortion should own the guilt, but they should not stop there. God has more than enough grace reserved at the cross.

Moms, your walk with God is as essential for the good of your children as the milk you feed them and the diapers you change.

Our deepest, sweetest joy will not come from God making much of us, but from God freeing us to make much of him forever.

Egos do not shrink when we stop dreaming big. With big, small, and even stagnant dreams, we will need to kill our self-promoting instinct.

Sleep shatters our God complex because we have to put down our tools, take off our boots, and remember that God is the decisive worker, always.

Widows and widowers should feel no pressure to rush into a remarriage, but they shouldn’t exclude the possibility either.

The goal of any change in a local church is to shepherd people into a deeper love for God. We must not lose sight of that in our zeal to align with God’s word.

A Christian’s first identity is with the King of the universe, not with any country or nationality or political party or governmental regime.

The Bible calls us to serve God, but we must remember that we can only do that because God first came to serve and help us.

Studying the Bible does not need to be complex. Simple tools can help us glean amazing insights from the word.

A careful study of New Testament prophecy should never lead us to assume that Jesus and the apostles were wrong about the timing of Jesus’s return.

“Think over what I say,” commands the Lord. How can a faithful student of the Bible do this without leaning on commentaries and scholars?

When suffering drones on and on, what can we do to stay steadfast in our call to share in this suffering?

Settle it in your mind and heart whether you believe Christ purchased you. If so, you are utterly dependent on God for life, meaning, and satisfaction.

If you live in the flesh, you will never please God. But those who have the Spirit delight God as they bear fruit. Even the small harvests please him.

God’s people must not consult with mediums — not because there’s no such thing as communication with the dead, but because it is an abomination to do so.

To be united to God is to be united in principle and in love to the people of God. We don’t choose between belonging to God and belonging to his people.

Don’t be paralyzed by feelings of regret. Rather let those very feelings empower you with a sense of greater grace, gratitude, and joy in God’s grace.

As you study the Bible, study larger portions by looking for similarities in the sections that fit together.

Spiritually dead and blind people are willfully dark. It’s what they prefer. Therefore, they can only be rescued by a divine miracle.

John Piper believes nothing is more important for his remaining years than to focus on the authority and the meaning and the heralding of God’s word.

Depression is not simply black and white. There are many degrees of discouragement, and God is able to provide help in them all.

Good commentaries should ask and answer questions that enable people to see things for themselves, and probe into reality, not just verbal relations.