Ask Pastor John

The goals of parenting are not all that complicated, but it takes diligent, intentional work to not just manage children, but to shepherd them.

Why keep reading the Bible if you just can’t get it? Because it’s worth it. Pastor John shares six ways to help you better treasure truth as you read.

When can busy moms find time to read their Bibles amid endless daily demands? Pastor John gives husbands six exhortations to help their wives.

Demons know God and seethe with lust. Christians know God and sever the root of lust. What’s the difference?

The word of God is meant to satisfy and create hunger — and the Sunday sermon is not enough to satisfy it.

In anxiety, anger, and anguish, in success, evangelism, and daily routines at work, the Bible speaks to all aspects of real life.

Pastor John shares five passages in Scripture to explain why Christians belong in accountable, local church communities.

Jesus has paid for the sins of believers once for all, but in this life, Christians still sin. What then is the role of confession and repentance in the Christian life?

Do you see lust as more deadly, more disastrous, than nuclear war? The Bible has a few reasons why you should.

For now, buying products from Apple, Subaru, and Target is not linked so tightly to endorsing sin that we should boycott them.

Pastor John offers counsel to pastors who find themselves discouraged on Monday mornings. What should pastors do when facing the blues?

Pastor John shares six reasons why expensive Bibles like the Bibliotheca Bible will not become the norm despite their elegance.

In this special episode, Pastor John addresses how complementarian Christians can respond to recent events surround former NFL player Ray Rice.

Pastor John explains the freedoms, restrictions, and joys of a pastor emeritus covenant — one that he wrote.

Lust takes a good gift from God and strips it of regard for God's holiness and honor toward his image-bearers.

Pastor John tackles a tough question that is theological and political at once. What is the proper response to the present situation in Israel?

What can white evangelicals learn from the events in Ferguson, Missouri? Pastor John offers three lessons.

How do salvation, faith, and the Bible related to each other? Pastor John explains how the Bible awakens saving faith.

How does the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body? Through the word of God, which we must wield, recite, and trust.

How does the Christian’s daily life at work or home become worship? We must become what we already are in Christ.

A wartime lifestyle for wealthy Christians could demand that they give their resources away. But it may sometimes call for strategic investment.

Even simple, inexpensive pleasures can be nonessential luxuries. How can believers discern which luxuries are worth spending money on?

Learn how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit should shape our prayer life.

Christians can rest in the goodness and wisdom of God and the freeness of his grace in gifting his people. God is a good gift-giver.

The cross displays this profound paradox: God scripted and ordained the murder of his Son — without once sinning.

What should we do when unmarried non-Christian friends or family members are spending the night at our house and want to share a bed?

The praise of others lulls Christians into disbelief of their great, eternal reward. So how can Christians slay the dragon of praise-seeking?

Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly commands his people to pray more. But is there ever a time to stop praying for something?

A wife is not responsible for her husband’s sin. But she is responsible for how she responds to his sin.

Pastor John describes three stages to Christian obedience: knowledge of God’s word, meditation on God’s word, and the abundance of our hearts that flow from both.

The jealousy of God is both loving and righteous. For idolaters, it is also dangerous.

Journaling clarifies thoughts, stewards Spirit-given insight, and reminds believers of God’s daily faithfulness.

Satan works everyday to dishonor God and to destroy his image. So why does God allow him to live? Pastor John shares his thoughts.

We can know the gospel is true because the God who authored it wants us to know, and gives the gift of eyes to see, believe, keep seeing, and keep believing.

The question of cremation or burial is not an ultimate one, but an important one. Pastor John explains why he counsels toward burial, not cremation.

Online dating can be a good gift if it unites two believers able to discern the other’s genuine allegiance to Jesus.

Pastor John commends the well-placed comma to writers along with this encouragement: good grammar invites writers to love their readers.

Jesus is the joy that we seek. Go to him when you feel empty, weary, or broken down, and he will supply you with rest and refreshment.

Does our joy in God drive our obedience to his will, or does obeying God produce our joy?

In protecting doctrinal purity, Christians must be careful not to lose sight of the beauty of what they are protecting.

Is oral sex prohibited in the Bible, and is it unkind?

Does God play favorites? Pastor John explains how God is only good and only wise in his decisions to choose some and not others.

Does it muddy the water to say that saving faith must include joy in God? Or does it bring an extra note of clarity?

When everything in a marriage feels broken, what do you do? Pastor John offers hope for overwhelmed spouses.

The misuse of sex is only a symptom of a far graver disease. Sexual sin arises when we lose our joy in God and go looking for it elsewhere.

Bible study resources abound. So which tools do you need as you delve into personal Bible study?

Our meal choice has not always been a moral issue, but Burger King and other restaurants are starting to make it one.

God made us for joy in him, so he knows that by maximizing himself — not us — he achieves our greatest joy.

Are you wasting your life? Pastor John answers by reminding us why we exist — to know and love God.

Is it possible to backslide so long and so deeply that there is no return? Pastor John answers “yes” but offers hope for Christians who repent.