Ask Pastor John
John Piper answering tough theological and pastoral questions.
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desiringgod.org/ask-pastor-johnEpisodes
When Your Pastor Feels Distant
How can the pastor of a growing church care for each member? Pastor John encourages shepherds to care tenderly for the flock and depend on God?s mercy.
2026-07-06Link to episode
Breaking Prayer Ruts
How can we shift our prayers from rote repetition to an awareness of God?s larger purposes? Pastor John models praying Scripture back to God.
2026-07-02Link to episode
Obedience Will Never Ruin Your Life
How can Christians act in obedience when they face a life-changing cost? Grace can sustain us through the painful consequences of following God.
2026-06-29Link to episode
Why God?s Protection Still Hurts
How can we reconcile the pain we feel in this fallen world with God?s promise to keep us from all evil? Pastor John applies Psalm 121 to this life.
2026-06-25Link to episode
Sovereignty and My Murdered Friend
Even great evil serves God?s eternal purposes ? yet God also gives us precious promises to comfort us in the midst of our pain and grief.
2026-06-22Link to episode
How to Save a Marriage
To redeem relationships, we need humility ? but how do we get that kind of sacrificial heart? Looking to Christ and his cross strips away entitlement.
2026-06-18Link to episode
Zeal For God Gone Wrong
How can Christians tell the difference between true and false zeal for God?s name? Pastor John examines Jehu?s tragic history in 2 Kings.
2026-06-15Link to episode
Preaching Outrage
Should pastors expose every fresh cultural outrage from the pulpit? Pastor John encourages pastors to condemn sin without being consumed.
2026-06-11Link to episode
Defeating Daily Anxiety
When we face day-to-day pressure and stress, Jesus?s teaching steadies our hearts and minds. Pastor John offers eight truths to fight anxiety.
2026-06-08Link to episode
The God Who Gives You Worth
Is God?s pursuit of his glory and man?s pursuit of our joy a selfish transaction? Pastor John insists on keeping our joy in God connected to God himself.
2026-06-04Link to episode
Kill Your Ego, Find Your Joy
Every recognition and reward we receive is a gift of God?s steadfast love, poured out so that we might magnify the glory of his undeserved grace.
2026-06-01Link to episode
The Secret Superpower of Silence
How does Jesus?s silence before his accusers teach us how to suffer? Pastor John offers encouragement for Christians facing unjust treatment.
2026-05-28Link to episode
The Freedom That Kills Regret
True freedom means our desires align with God?s; we want what he wants. Pastor John answers three questions from Galatians about Christian liberty.
2026-05-25Link to episode
The God Over Dice
What do we mean when we say God is sovereign? Pastor John traces God?s sovereignty throughout the Bible and draws out two big, soul-steadying truths.
2026-05-21Link to episode
Don?t Wait for the Pain to Stop
We don?t need to wait for painful seasons to end before we feel joy again. By God?s grace, we can hold sorrow and joy in the very same heart.
2026-05-18Link to episode
Why Your Mind Cannot Die
If consciousness is part of the soul, what are the implications when the brain degrades and dies? Pastor John speaks to consciousness in both life and death.
2026-05-14Link to episode
When Obedience Is Evil
How should Christians respond when an authority asks them to sin? Pastor John encourages believers to respect earthly institutions without compromising God?s word.
2026-05-11Link to episode
Delighting in a Holy God
God?s children are set apart as saints, given the privilege of sharing in Christ?s moral beauty. Pastor John explains how God?s holiness draws us to him.
2026-05-07Link to episode
Suffering for Joy
Christianity isn?t a fix for all suffering in this life ? but it does offer unshakable joy in trials and immediate relief from the deepest of pains.
2026-05-04Link to episode
Ten Seconds After You Die
Do the souls of believers ?sleep? in the grave after death, or do they go to be with the Lord? Pastor John explains the logic of the resurrection.
2026-04-30Link to episode
Don?t Let Her Die Before You Say This
How can we show Christ?s love to a dying, unbelieving loved one? Pastor John shares ten ways believers can embody God?s love.
2026-04-27Link to episode
Fur Babies and Pet Stewardship
How should Christians steward pets? Pastor John offers guidance for enjoying animals without treating their companionship like human companionship.
2026-04-23Link to episode
Wasted Talents
Without Christ-exalting love, spiritual gifts serve as self-promotion ? even when they produce powerful results.
2026-04-20Link to episode
Where AI Fails
How important are emotions in the Christian life? Pastor John looks to AI and suffering to clarify the essence of what makes us unique as human beings.
2026-04-16Link to episode
Long Sorrows Set the Stage
In Scripture, long periods of suffering and pain serve as a backdrop for God?s great kindness. Pastor John offers three reasons for long sorrows.
2026-04-13Link to episode
The Bondage of Singleness
What does true freedom look like in the Christian life? Pastor John describes the apostle Paul?s burden for both single and married believers.
2026-04-09Link to episode
Sex Is Worship
If sex outside of marriage doesn?t hurt anyone, why does Scripture call it sin? Pastor John unfolds the spiritual significance of sex from 1 Corinthians 6.
2026-04-06Link to episode
The Wrong Kind of Cross-Centered
Should every sermon make a beeline to the cross? Pastor John traces the pattern of the New Testament from the death of Christ to the holiness of Christians.
2026-04-02Link to episode
Will You Be Happy in a Million Years?
Eternity with God can sound too good to be true ? even impossible. Will heaven really never end? And if not, will we still be happy after a million years?
2026-03-30Link to episode
Made Lonely by Holiness
How should we respond when friends embrace worldly entertainment? Pastor John offers encouragement for when personal convictions lead to loneliness.
2026-03-26Link to episode
Dying to Live
How do we present ourselves to God ?as a living sacrifice?? Pastor John applies Romans 12:1?2 to believers? daily lives.
2026-03-23Link to episode
Stop Waiting for a Sign
Should all believers assume they are called to missions? Pastor John provides seven factors to direct a desire for ministry at home or abroad.
2026-03-19Link to episode
Your Only Roadblock to Heaven
God?s sovereign grace is strong enough to overcome all human sin and rebellion ? changing belief in Jesus from ?will not? to ?want to.?
2026-03-16Link to episode
Everything Happens for a Reason
Does the Bible teach that everything happens for a reason? Pastor John offers grounding from Romans 8 for God?s purpose in our suffering.
2026-03-12Link to episode
Your Main Calling in the End Times
When Christians encounter signs of the end times, how should we respond? Pastor John outlines a biblical approach to waiting well for Jesus?s return.
2026-03-09Link to episode
Five Escapes from Dry Devotions
How can believers push past surface-level Bible reading to the reality behind the words? Pastor John offers five practices to enliven dry devotions.
2026-03-05Link to episode
Why Smart People Reject God
Why do people reject God when creation proclaims his presence? Pastor John explains how truth becomes suppressed, both internally and externally.
2026-03-02Link to episode
Hope for Screwups
How can those who have wandered far from God come back home to him? Pastor John offers hope in the face of deep failure.
2026-02-26Link to episode
Marks of a Godly Boss
How do Jesus?s teaching and example shape our leadership? Pastor John examines the traits of a godly leader in the home, church, or workplace.
2026-02-23Link to episode
Waiting Is the Hardest Part
What is God doing while we wait in a painful place? Pastor John shows how God uses waiting to produce a new security, a new song, and a new significance.
2026-02-19Link to episode
The Gospel of Gorgeous
How can we find peace when struggling to see the goodness of our individual design? Pastor John illustrates God?s love and wisdom in his creation.
2026-02-16Link to episode
Regretting the Day I Was Born
When does faithful lament become sinful complaint? Pastor John offers five statements on lament to help us cry out to God in great pain.
2026-02-12Link to episode
Aging with Joy
How do we cling to Christ when faced with the unknowns of aging? Pastor John encourages older Christians in the battle against bitterness and fear.
2026-02-09Link to episode
The Hardest Heart God Can Save
By nature, we are selfish and God-ignoring and God-belittling. But no matter how hard a heart may be, the sovereign God can still save.
2026-02-05Link to episode
Life Guidance for Sinners
Indwelling sin still pervades those who are in Christ. But God?s mercy is more than enough to meet, match, and master any guilt we bring to him.
2026-02-02Link to episode
Learning to Delegate
How might pastors approach the many administrative needs of a congregation? Pastor John draws four helpful guidelines from Jethro?s counsel to Moses.
2026-01-29Link to episode
Is Sex as Dangerous as Christians Make It Seem?
Why do Christians make such a big deal about sex? Pastor John shows what godly sexuality says about the God who made us and the Christ who redeemed us.
2026-01-26Link to episode
Why Is Christianity the Best Religion?
Why is Christianity the best religion? Pastor John offers four reasons, including the hope of the gospel and the uniqueness of the God-man.
2026-01-22Link to episode
Why Mental Clarity Arrives at Night
How does God?s word guide our heart?s instruction in the night? Pastor John explains the ways God uses nighttime counsel to teach and lead us.
2026-01-19Link to episode
Three Metrics for Your Fitness
When does stewardship of the body cross over into self-glorification? Pastor John helps us test our motivations with three questions.
2026-01-15Link to episode