Messages by Desiring God

Marshall Segal | How can we make Jesus look good in life and in death? By enjoying him as better than anything life could ever give — and better than anything death could ever take.

David Mathis | Why do so many Christians love the book of Philippians? Among other reasons, because the letter is brief, accessible, memorable, and teeming with joy.

David Mathis | The Father prioritizes the church by choosing her, the Son prioritizes her by purchasing and purifying her, and the Spirit prioritizes her in his power. So, how do we prioritize the church?

Does church leadership seem endlessly complicated? Take heart. Christian leaders guide God’s people from where they are to where God wants them to go, using God’s methods.

David Mathis | How did Jesus know Scripture so well? The same way we can today: through patient, prayerful meditation on the word of God.

God is sovereign, and he has purposed his gospel to spread to the ends of the earth. Those who give themselves to that purpose are invincible, even through suffering.

David Mathis | Jesus had a full and fruitful ministry, but unlike us, he never seemed hurried or frantic. What can we learn by observing his holy habits during his earthly life?

God will have worshipers from every nation on earth. He will win them, and do so through us. We have only to tell them.

David Mathis | What does it look like to walk in a way that is pleasing to God — to live so that God delights in the aroma of our lives?

When Christ calls us to the mission field with him, he calls us to deny shallow pleasures, die to ourselves, and enjoy greater and greater delight in him.

David Mathis | Of the fifteen elder qualifications, “one-woman man” and “not quarrelsome” may be the two most at odds with our promiscuous, petty age.

David Mathis | Scripture says elders should be “able to teach” and “sober-minded” — but why? The two correspond to a pastor’s most important tasks: feeding and leading.

Matthew’s Christmas story shows two ways to deal with Jesus: try to get rid of him like Herod, or fall down and worship him like the wise men.

David Mathis | What does Christ call church leaders to be and do? Like him, they labor heartily and happily, not for selfish gain, but for their people’s joy.

David Mathis | How do you need God’s help this Advent? What need seems most pressing? Press into the message of Christmas, and you’ll find hope and help in time of need.

David Mathis | To read the Bible is to read the very words of God. Do we grasp the significance, the reality-shaking impact, of this seemingly simple truth?

The birth of John the Baptist was great, but the birth of Jesus Christ was infinitely greater. John prepared for salvation, but Jesus purchased it.

David Mathis | Some may not think of David, the shepherd king, as particularly masculine, but Scripture paints him in a far more manly and glorious light.

Are biblical warnings about false prophets still relevant? Yes, the threat looms as large today as in the first century.

David Mathis | Good pastors are not naive: ministry comes with many costs. Even so, Christ has not called us to an impossible, joyless task. The cross proves otherwise.

David Mathis | What is Christian faith? Hebrews 11 not only answers the question but tells us what faith feels like, and how it leads to obedience, and living as exiles in this world.

When Jesus asks the Pharisees how David calls the Messiah “Lord,” they refuse to answer. What made that seemingly simple question so incendiary?

God is. No reality is more mind-boggling, more valuable, more life-altering, more electrifying than the absolute being of God.

What is sovereign, sustaining grace? It is not grace that spares us pain, but grace that orders our pain — and then sustains us through the pain.

David Mathis | From principals to presidents, leadership failures fill the news. We long for someone in power to lead with wisdom and fairness. Praise God, the ideal king has come.

Romans 8:32 is perhaps the greatest verse in the Bible. No other text quite describes how far God has gone for our salvation and will go for our joy.

God’s word speaks to the mysteries of suffering. We will only bear pain well as we begin to see it like he does.

Christ’s blood bought more than our pardon, precious as it is. His death also purchased the power we need to live a radical Christian life.

David Mathis | Why do Christians sing about blood? Because of what happened at the cross, the otherwise morbid topic becomes one of glory, thanks, and praise.

What excites a Christian most? Our deepest, truest joy does not flow from completed degrees or flourishing ministries, but from the God who saved us.

David Mathis | For pastors to be “well thought of by outsiders” certainly isn’t everything, but it made God’s list of requirements. Is it still on ours?

What makes a college distinctly Christian? Education is not an end in itself, but a means to knowing and loving Christ.

David Mathis | Neither biographers nor Broadway can ignore Alexander Hamilton’s late-flowering Christian faith. He, like the prodigal son, finally came home after his journey into the far country.

When a Christian goes home to be with the Lord, we who remain have the chance to rehearse God’s loving design in every believer’s death.

As we age, fears can multiply like wrinkles. But for every concern, we have a blood-bought promise far, far older than our fears.

While on earth, Jesus spoke with unmatched power. Demons obeyed him, and fevers fled at his word. Everything was subject to him — then and now.

David Mathis | Genuine faith welcomes, enjoys, fears, strives after, and rests in God. And in doing so, genuine faith perseveres.

When our hearts run dry, and our good works languish, the Bible bids us: “Consider the end.”

David Mathis | Pastors are first and foremost teachers, but they are not only teachers. They feed the sheep and lead the sheep — and they lead by feeding.

David Mathis | The pastors we all want are men who want to pastor, who want to see God move in them and through them for the joy of others.

David Mathis | When Christ ascended into heaven, an otherworldly ceremony commenced. Here was the long-awaited Son of David, the only man angels ever worshiped.

David Mathis | When speaking of God, we grope for fresh language to name the greatness of God. Might we learn to reach more often for the word “majesty”?

When we pray for God to preserve us, we ask that he would be not only our Lord, but our life — not only our God, but our highest and everlasting good.

David Mathis | “For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ.” How happy might we be if we heeded Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s counsel?

At the root of all conflict is man’s conflict with God. At Christmas, we celebrate that God took the initiative to establish true peace.

David Mathis | “For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ.” How happy might we be if we heeded Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s famous counsel?

David Mathis | Blessed is the leader who meditates on God’s law day and night — not just in public, but all the more in secret.

When it comes to missions, reasons abound to stay rather than to go. But for every apparent obstacle, countless promises say, “It will be worth it.”

What do we call an obsessively self-centered person? An egomaniac. Then what should we call God, who demands all our praise? We call him gracious.

The Puritans took joy seriously because they read the Bible carefully. They saw that delight in God is at the heart of all true obedience.