Ask Pastor John

Persecution, troubles, heaviness of heart — are these different forms of God’s discipline? Pastor John traces God’s good purposes in different kinds of pain.

Published: 24 April 2025

We know the new heavens and new earth will be a place of perfect, endless joy. But will we really never get bored, even after millions of years?

Transcribed - Published: 21 April 2025

Those who try to live the Christian life outside of community are missing something crucial. So, how might Christian loners move toward life together?

Published: 17 April 2025

If God has already promised not to withhold anything good from us, then does asking him for more imply that yesterday’s good wasn’t good enough?

Transcribed - Published: 14 April 2025

If knowledge puffs up, will formal Bible education make us proud? Pastor John points out pride’s craftiness and offers five weapons of humility.

Transcribed - Published: 10 April 2025

What does the Bible say about Mary, Jesus’s mother? What is Mary’s true legacy for Christians today?

Transcribed - Published: 7 April 2025

What is the difference between guilt and shame? And when do true feelings of guilt or shame become false feelings that reject God’s grace?

Transcribed - Published: 3 April 2025

Is the purpose of life to find meaning? Pastor John responds to Jordan Peterson’s claim that happiness cannot be our goal.

Transcribed - Published: 31 March 2025

God promises never to leave us nor forsake us, but sometimes the Bible says he withdraws his presence from us. How can those both be true?

Transcribed - Published: 27 March 2025

How can our faith turn from nominal to authentic? Pastor John reflects on God’s power to establish and sustain belief through his promises.

Transcribed - Published: 24 March 2025

When God commands a godly life of genuine affections, how do we obey? John Piper draws our attention to the transforming mercies of God.

Transcribed - Published: 20 March 2025

As Jesus headed toward the cross, he knew he was fulfilling the script that was written for him. So, how did he authentically choose a death already decided?

Transcribed - Published: 17 March 2025

How much of the Christian faith has already been revealed to us now, and how much of it remains a secret that we won’t understand until we get to heaven?

Transcribed - Published: 13 March 2025

If sinners cannot seek God, how does anyone receive salvation? Pastor John shows that God must give his power and grace precisely because we cannot seek him on our own.

Transcribed - Published: 10 March 2025

Why are Christians most to be pitied if there’s no resurrection? Don’t we still experience more joy than non-Christians? Pastor John gives four responses.

Transcribed - Published: 6 March 2025

If we have no memory of hating or opposing God before he saved us, then how should we understand the Bible’s claim that we were his enemy?

Transcribed - Published: 3 March 2025

Why does Pastor John believe Romans is the greatest letter ever written? And how would he encourage Christians to benefit from this monumental book?

Transcribed - Published: 27 February 2025

Should pastors and ministry leaders use artificial intelligence as a tool to write their sermons and newsletters? If so, how? If not, why not?

Published: 24 February 2025

How much life application should pastors offer in their sermons? Pastor John commends interweaving exposition and application throughout each sermon.

Transcribed - Published: 20 February 2025

When Jesus taught that impurity comes from within, was he departing from the Old Testament? Pastor John considers purity across the covenants.

Transcribed - Published: 17 February 2025

If God justifies by faith apart from works, then why do some passages seem to suggest that forgiveness comes through the act of baptism?

Transcribed - Published: 13 February 2025

Acts 20:24 has encouraged and challenged Christians throughout the centuries. How, in particular, has it shaped the life and ministry of John Piper?

Published: 10 February 2025

In the Old Testament, witchcraft is met with capital punishment — but now in the New. Why does God handle this sin differently across redemptive history?

Transcribed - Published: 6 February 2025

Do the signs and wonders in Scripture justify using righteous magic in fiction? Pastor John helps us discern the kinds of stories that serve our sight of Reality.

Transcribed - Published: 3 February 2025

Sometimes, the story of another Christian’s joy in God serves to kindle our own. Pastor John takes us to a remarkable moment in the life of Hudson Taylor.

Transcribed - Published: 30 January 2025

God could have designed the world so that all the help we need comes from him directly. Instead, he often ministers to us indirectly through other people. Why?

Transcribed - Published: 27 January 2025

How can we begin to grasp the meaning of biblical narratives and their application to life? Pastor John offers an example from the story of Joseph.

Transcribed - Published: 23 January 2025

In Acts 12, God allows Herod to kill James, but he thwarts the king’s plan to kill Peter. What might this chapter teach us about God’s providence?

Transcribed - Published: 20 January 2025

How does a promise about the future help us fight for purity today? Pastor John unpacks the power of the greatest pleasure purchased at the greatest price.

Published: 16 January 2025

People for millennia have said, in one way or another, “There is no God.” Pastor John describes five ways we suppress the knowledge of God’s existence.

Transcribed - Published: 13 January 2025

Is heaven a physical place that exists right now? As Pastor John answers, he encourages us to focus mainly on the relational, not the spatial, aspect of heaven.

Transcribed - Published: 9 January 2025

Even when our prayers for protection feel pointless, they are not. God is our good and sovereign Father, and it is never pointless to ask him for what we need.

Transcribed - Published: 6 January 2025

As we begin a new year of Bible reading, what obstacles can we expect to meet along the way — and what benefits will keep us reading day by day?

Transcribed - Published: 2 January 2025

If someone is convinced that he knows God’s will for us, yet we disagree, what can we do? Pastor John offers five ways forward.

Transcribed - Published: 30 December 2024

Hear John Piper’s invitation to partner with us. A $10 monthly gift enables us to reach 70 more people with God-centered resources. https://dsr.gd/3AYGuj2

Transcribed - Published: 28 December 2024

God gives the church teachers, including Bible commentators, to help us understand his word. But how can we tell if we’re relying on commentaries too much?

Transcribed - Published: 26 December 2024

At Christmas, Jesus came to bring God-exalting happiness through peace with God — and merciful warfare against everything that destroys such happiness.

Transcribed - Published: 23 December 2024

In his infinite wisdom, righteousness, and power, God designs even the deeds of evil kings for the good of his people and the glory of his name.

Transcribed - Published: 19 December 2024

Sometimes God delivers us from affliction through affliction. But what kinds of affliction does he use — and how can we know when he does so?

Transcribed - Published: 16 December 2024

How can we know that we love God more than his gifts, especially during the Christmas season? Pastor John unlocks the answer with two keys.

Transcribed - Published: 12 December 2024

Single Christians may be tempted to despair over missing the experience of marital love. But God himself will see to it that our joy is eternally full in Christ.

Transcribed - Published: 9 December 2024

Since the Bible calls Christians children of light, should darkness and violence have any place in the stories we create?

Transcribed - Published: 5 December 2024

Should Christians show so-called “gender pronoun hospitality”? Pastor John shares practical ways to speak the truth in love with those confused about their sexuality.

Transcribed - Published: 2 December 2024

What is Christian thankfulness? Pastor John commends the power of a heart filled with gratitude to the Giver of every good gift.

Transcribed - Published: 28 November 2024

When we continually struggle with doubts and unbelief, how can we know what is true? How can we believe that truth even exists?

Transcribed - Published: 25 November 2024

Will we be able to see God when we get to heaven? If so, how does that fit with Scripture passages that say no one can see God?

Transcribed - Published: 21 November 2024

How do we discern what’s true and what’s false in Job? Pastor John provides a grid for the entire book to help us interpret it accurately.

Transcribed - Published: 18 November 2024

Should church leaders require Christians to tithe since God commanded tithing in the Old Testament? Pastor John commends a better approach.

Transcribed - Published: 14 November 2024

Arguments, logic, and careful analysis may give us 99 percent certainty for some doctrine or truth claim. But what about the remaining 1 percent?

Transcribed - Published: 11 November 2024

Why did God take the life of Ezekiel’s wife and then command Ezekiel not to mourn? Pastor John considers the perplexing yet merciful ways of God.

Transcribed - Published: 7 November 2024