Ask Pastor John

On August 22, 2015, Christians and others gathered around the country to protest Planned Parenthood and government funding for the organization. Listen to Pastor Piper’s prayer from the gathering in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Satan is real. He has massive influence all over the world, and he never tires of wreaking havoc wherever he is able.

The Bible never promises that the children of believers will grow up and still follow Jesus. But that doesn’t mean parents are helpless in shepherding their littles ones to the Lord.

How do you stay humble when God blesses you? How do we guard against pride when others notice that blessing too?

The Bible uses types to teach us about the single stream of redemptive history that culminates in Christ. But are types really any different than analogies?

Our sin can overwhelm us, leaving us depressed and feeling stripped of value. How do we face our sin honestly without falling into hopelessness?

A pastor can’t be an expert on every news trend, but he can help shape a biblical worldview in his people so they can wrestle with the issues on their own.

The Bible prescribes different roles for men and women, but are those roles just for the home and the church?

If telling someone to be happy doesn’t make them happy, then why does the Bible constantly command us to feel a certain way?

The five points tease out the differences between Calvinists and Arminians, but how can parents teach them to their kids simply and clearly?

The Bible presents a pattern for six-day labor. Whether we follow that same pattern today depends on what we mean by sabbath and how we define our work.

Every person experiences disordered desires. The only hope we have to align ourselves with God’s desires is to pursue God in his word through prayer, all in the context of a community of saints.

The identity Christ gives to us guards us from devastation when painful breakups happen. We are secure in Jesus no matter what.

We can all benefit from practical examples of applying Scripture, but what really drives us toward change is a fresh sight of God’s glory and our place in his world.

The New Testament clearly teaches that Christ should be preeminent in all things. So then why does Desiring God’s slogan not even name him?

Why does a naked man show up at Jesus’s arrest, and then flee the scene completely naked? Pastor John offers some hermeneutical principles for interpreting seemingly strange texts like this one.

The call to “pay it forward” may promote kindness and goodwill, but is it Christian?

Doubt can hijack our time in the word, turning our Bible reading into a battle, not a delight. Where can we turn when this discouragement bombards us?

God doesn’t just call his people to avoid sin. He wants us to run our race for righteousness by throwing off anything that holds us back from reaching him.

The most beautiful love is God’s love, which paid the highest price — the life of the Son — to give undeserving enemies the greatest happiness.

When it comes to yoga or anything else, don’t simply ask, “What’s wrong with this?” Ask the much fuller question, “Will this make me more Christlike?”

When we enter into the covenant of marriage, we inevitably bring baggage with us. But God gives grace for us to learn and grow and flourish together.

In a pluralistic, postmodern culture, the concept of sin can prove difficult to understand. Where should we begin in helping others understand this essential tenet of the faith?

“Temple” is a theme that runs throughout the entirety of the Scriptures. How do we trace it, and how does this thread help us understand the whole Bible?

Biblical theology isn’t just theology derived from the Bible, but is a discipline that helps us understand the unique contribution of each part of Scripture to the unified whole.

We no longer have to bear the burden of our guilt. God offers the verdict of no condemnation to all who are in Christ.

Every marriage has struggles, but how open should we be in sharing those problems with others close to us?

Does love demand that we agree to call our transgender friends by their preferred gender title?

What we speak with our mouths ought to reflect the purity we strive for with our bodies and the love for God and neighbor we want to exude with our whole being.

Under God, none of our suffering is ever meaningless. Whatever comes our way, yet shall we hope in him.

When the opportunity comes to testify to Christ’s goodness, we don’t always need a rhetorically sound presentation. We need to overflow from faith-filled communion with our Lord and Savior.

Checking our phones first thing in the morning won’t prepare us for the day ahead. Our routine should set our eyes on, and strengthen us in, God alone.

Every morning we wake up with a craving — a craving our phone is eager to satisfy. But this temporary snack cannot feed us like the bread of life.

In the gospel, we receive forgiveness and salvation, but also so much more. The end point of the good news is pure joy in the presence of God forever.

Rigorous study of the Bible doesn’t have to be cold and detached. Rather, intense intellectual work can fuel worship for God and love for others.

Mealtimes should offer a time for families to enjoy one another’s company. But what if phones get in the way?

Christians refrain from keeping the Old Testament law code not because we ignore Scripture, but because Jesus Christ fulfills the whole law.

If we come to Christ simply to receive his gifts, then we have actually missed the greatest gift God can bestow: himself.

Pray is not only a means for us to commune with our Creator, but is God’s appointed means by which his kingdom will come and have victory.

The cross is the ground of all that God does in redemptive history, which means that the cross should be the basis for all that we preach and teach in our churches.

When tragedy strikes, Christians have need to know how to respond. So how does the Bible guide us to think, feel, and act in the face of calamity?

How will the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize so-called “same-sex marriage” impact Christians and our churches? Scholar and Theologian D.A. Carson weighs in just after the ruling was announced.

In the trenches of day-to-day parenting, we need to remember the big picture — namely, that we have the unique opportunity, under God, to shape a form a human soul.

Money may allow us to buy stuff, but it can never buy contentment. If we try to use money to purchase our happiness, it will fail us every time.

The Lord takes away not so that we experience loss, but so that we know the fullness of hope and joy only Jesus Christ offers.

God’s grace is sufficient for our every weakness — even the subtle weakness of taking pride in our own “strength.”

Sex isn’t a topic the church should be embarrassed about. In fact, our God-given sexuality offers us an opportunity to display fundamental truths about God and his world.

When sex becomes all about “my pleasure,” it corrupts a pleasure that God intended to be shared and enjoyed in close, intimate relationship.

God has set boundaries for sex not because he wants to deny us some hidden pleasure, but because he wants us to experience the best joy possible.

What happens when a postmodern perspective on good and evil collides with a breathtaking tragedy like the holocaust?