Ask Pastor John

Does Numbers 5:22 suggest that women guilty of adultery were punished with miscarriage? And if so, how does this passage speak to the pro-life position?

If we don’t have a plan for when, where, and how we will read the Bible, our devotions will probably fall before the demands of the day.

Every pastor receives criticism. But at what point might criticism become so serious or sustained that a pastor should consider stepping down?

Everyone passes through seasons of despondency — seasons when the soul is troubled and hope feels thin. But when does despondency become sin?

How can we push the truth of the Bible from our heads to our hearts, so that our times of daily Bible reading become times of daily worship?

Given the pain of this world, the joy of salvation, and the glory of God, what kind of tone should a pastor seek to set on Sunday morning?

Some people find intermittent fasting helpful for losing weight. But is fasting for merely physical purposes a sacrilegious use of a spiritual gift?

The psalmists show that darkness and discouragement are part of the normal Christian life. And they also show a crucial strategy for finding the light again.

Pastor John, like the rest of us, has his likes and dislikes. From movies and soft drinks to breakfasts and songs, here are twelve of his favorite things.

If a hospital asks a Christian nurse to participate in a “gender-reassignment” surgery, should she agree — or should she take her nursing skills elsewhere?

Strong Christians read the Bible, memorize the Bible, meditate on the Bible, and live on the Bible. They make intentional plans for the word to be their daily bread.

A desire to do good can easily become a desire to look good. So how do we put away our hunger to be praised by other people?

The best gift anyone can receive at Christmas is deliverance from our two greatest enemies: sin and Satan.

A good musical worship experience involves head and heart, truth and affections. It will lead people to know their God and to embrace him with joy.

“Though he slay me, I will hope in him.” Why has Pastor John barely mentioned these remarkable words of Job throughout his decades of preaching and teaching?

Does God save the lost through visions today — or does someone need to hear the gospel to be saved?

Pastor John discusses personal and ministry highlights from 2022, including podcasts, books, global outreach, and a new goal for ‘Look at the Book.’

How can we find freedom from living for the opinions of people? Pray for and pursue a big vision of God. Find a firm identity in Christ. Look to your eternal reward.

Casting your cares onto God begins with believing that he really is the infinitely powerful, all-wise, always-good God he reveals himself to be.

Satan may oppress you, attack you, and rage against you. But if you are in Christ, he holds no power to finally destroy you.

How can leaders prevent the pressures of running an organization from squeezing out opportunities for face-to-face work and ministry?

Scripture is clear that Satan is not ultimately sovereign — God is. But under that sovereignty, in what ways can Satan still harm God’s people?

Outside of Christ, the fear of death is a slave master that holds everyone in bondage — even those who seem unaware of their chains.

Our churches grow in wisdom and maturity when the young honor the old, the old listen to the young, and all clothe themselves with humility.

Suffering may be the price of Christian love, but it is not the aim of Christian love. Our aim is to do as much good as we can on the lowly path of service.

How can we aim to be done with anxiety and enjoy peace in any circumstance? By bringing every circumstance to God in prayer.

If God saves his people through faith alone apart from works, why does Peter say that baptism now saves us?

In 1 Peter 3:19, we read that Christ “went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey.” What might Peter mean?

There is no distress that puts you beyond the good news that God brings — not even the distress caused by your own sin.

Thirty years after ‘Let the Nations Be Glad!’ was published, Pastor John reflects on the book’s beginnings and its lasting legacy.

Paul and Peter charge Christians to use our spiritual gifts for the good of the church. But what if we don’t seem to have any spiritual gifts?

If God has given helpful skills to both believers and unbelievers, what makes the difference between a merely natural ability and a spiritual gift?

How can Christians live so that, at bottom, we can say with Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me”?

Christ bids his people both to wisely get and freely give, and he supplies us with the grace we need to discern when to do what with our talents.

The death of Christ was no accident. He came to be crucified, that he might hang the sins and sufferings of those he loves with him there.

Christian love labors to overlook the sins of others, just as Christ went to the cross to forgive us, not to shame us.

Real differences exist between real Christians. But where we lack unity of conviction, we can share unity of humble, sacrificial disposition.

We ready ourselves to suffer well when we look our life dead in the eye and say with Paul, “I count it all as loss compared to Christ.”

When Christ died, so did our sin-loving selves. Now, God sends suffering to weed out the sin that lingers and stunts our joy in Christ.

Preachers are emissaries of God’s revealed truth. So how should we talk about parts of the text we don’t understand?

Christian ministry is relationally painful. Friends in the ministry can leave and never return, as even the apostle Paul experienced near the end of his life.

Jesus, Paul, Peter, and the author of Hebrews all describe people who begin well in the Christian life before eventually making shipwreck of their faith.

No one likes to receive criticism, even when it’s well-intended. How can we learn to control our emotional responses and remain grounded in the love of Christ?

We all face crises, and without grace, we find our world collapsing in the midst of them. But there is strong and stable hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Scripture calls us to do everything for the glory of God. Does that mean no action we take is morally neutral?

What will the relationship between husband and wife be like in the age to come? Pastor John explains how the best parts of marriage point ahead to eternal joy.

How can Christians always pray and not lose heart? In part, by remembering the generous heart of God and his delight to hear his people.

How can a wife go on praying for her unbelieving husband after years, or even decades, of no evident change?

How can we see the glory of Christ? Renounce the praise of man. Devote yourself to Scripture. Turn to Christ through his word. Keep praying for sight.

Why is the fear of man such a big problem? Because those who fear men cast their vote against the trustworthiness of God.