Ask Pastor John
John Piper answering tough theological and pastoral questions.
Subscribe
iTunes / Overcast / RSSWebsite
desiringgod.org/ask-pastor-johnEpisodes
Will Heaven Ever Grow Boring?
Audio Player
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?
2025-04-21Link to episode
The Cost of Being a Loner
Audio Player
Those who try to live the Christian life outside of community are missing something crucial. So, how might Christian loners move toward life together?
2025-04-17Link to episode
God Withholds Nothing We Need
Audio Player
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?
2025-04-14Link to episode
How Can I Grow in Humility as I Grow in Knowledge?
Audio Player
If knowledge puffs up, will formal Bible education make us proud? Pastor John points out pride?s craftiness and offers five weapons of humility.
2025-04-10Link to episode
How to Become the Mother of Jesus
Audio Player
What does the Bible say about Mary, Jesus?s mother? What is Mary?s true legacy for Christians today?
2025-04-07Link to episode
Distinguishing Shame from Guilt
Audio Player
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?
2025-04-03Link to episode
What Jordan Peterson Gets Wrong About Happiness
Audio Player
Is the purpose of life to find meaning? Pastor John responds to Jordan Peterson?s claim that happiness cannot be our goal.
2025-03-31Link to episode
Does God Withdraw His Presence from Me?
Audio Player
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?
2025-03-27Link to episode
Seven Promises That Have Kept John Piper
Audio Player
How can our faith turn from nominal to authentic? Pastor John reflects on God?s power to establish and sustain belief through his promises.
2025-03-24Link to episode
Help Me Live a Genuine Life
Audio Player
When God commands a godly life of genuine affections, how do we obey? John Piper draws our attention to the transforming mercies of God.
2025-03-20Link to episode
How Did Jesus Freely Live a Scripted Life?
Audio Player
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?
2025-03-17Link to episode
How Much of Christianity Remains a Secret?
Audio Player
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?
2025-03-13Link to episode
If No One Seeks God, How Is Anyone Saved?
Audio Player
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.
2025-03-10Link to episode
Are Christians Happier Than Non-Christians in This Life?
Audio Player
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.
2025-03-06Link to episode
I Never Felt Like God?s Enemy ? Was I?
Audio Player
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?
2025-03-03Link to episode
Advice for Reading Romans After Decades of Experience
Audio Player
Why does Pastor John believe Romans is the greatest letter ever written? And how would he encourage Christians to benefit from this monumental book?
2025-02-27Link to episode
Should I Use AI to Help Me Write Sermons?
Audio Player
Should pastors and ministry leaders use artificial intelligence as a tool to write their sermons and newsletters? If so, how? If not, why not?
2025-02-24Link to episode
Every Good Sermon Has Application
Audio Player
How much life application should pastors offer in their sermons? Pastor John commends interweaving exposition and application throughout each sermon.
2025-02-20Link to episode
What Makes Someone Spiritually Dirty?
Audio Player
When Jesus taught that impurity comes from within, was he departing from the Old Testament? Pastor John considers purity across the covenants.
2025-02-17Link to episode
Why Does the Bible Say Baptism Saves Us?
Audio Player
If God justifies by faith apart from works, then why do some passages seem to suggest that forgiveness comes through the act of baptism?
2025-02-13Link to episode
Living with Gospel-Sized Ambition
Audio Player
Acts 20:24 has encouraged and challenged Christians throughout the centuries. How, in particular, has it shaped the life and ministry of John Piper?
2025-02-10Link to episode
Why Is Witchcraft Handled So Differently Across Scripture?
Audio Player
In the Old Testament, witchcraft is met with capital punishment ? but not in the New. Why does God handle this sin differently across redemptive history?
2025-02-06Link to episode
Is There Good Magic and Edifying Sorcery?
Audio Player
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.
2025-02-03Link to episode
How Do I Become Happy in God?
Audio Player
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.
2025-01-30Link to episode
If God Pastors Me, Why Do I Need Pastors?
Audio Player
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?
2025-01-27Link to episode
How Do I Apply Bible Stories to My Life?
Audio Player
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.
2025-01-23Link to episode
One Believer Dies, Another Lives: On Reading Providence
Audio Player
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?
2025-01-20Link to episode
The Pleasure That Defeats Pornography
Audio Player
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.
2025-01-16Link to episode
Does God Believe in Atheists?
Audio Player
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.
2025-01-13Link to episode
Is Heaven a Real Place Right Now?
Audio Player
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.
2025-01-09Link to episode
Why Pray for Protection When Suffering Keeps Coming?
Audio Player
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.
2025-01-06Link to episode
The Spiritual Battles in Your Bible Reading
Audio Player
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?
2025-01-02Link to episode
?A Man at Church Thinks We Should Marry ? I Disagree?
Audio Player
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.
2024-12-30Link to episode
Your Bible-Reading Feedback, and How to Help Us in 2025
Audio Player
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
2024-12-28Link to episode
Am I Overusing Bible Commentaries?
Audio Player
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?
2024-12-26Link to episode
Does Christmas Bring Peace or War?
Audio Player
At Christmas, Jesus came to bring God-exalting happiness through peace with God ? and merciful warfare against everything that destroys such happiness.
2024-12-23Link to episode
The God over Geopolitics
Audio Player
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.
2024-12-19Link to episode
How Does God Deliver Me from Pain by Pain?
Audio Player
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?
2024-12-16Link to episode
Every Gift Points Us to Christ
Audio Player
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.
2024-12-12Link to episode
Will I Suffer My Singleness Forever?
Audio Player
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.
2024-12-09Link to episode
On Creepy, Darker Media
Audio Player
Since the Bible calls Christians children of light, should darkness and violence have any place in the stories we create?
2024-12-05Link to episode
On So-Called ?Gender Pronoun Hospitality?
Audio Player
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.
2024-12-02Link to episode
Christian Thankfulness: What It Is (and Isn?t)
Audio Player
What is Christian thankfulness? Pastor John commends the power of a heart filled with gratitude to the Giver of every good gift.
2024-11-28Link to episode
?Help, I?m Struggling to Believe Anything Is True?
Audio Player
When we continually struggle with doubts and unbelief, how can we know what is true? How can we believe that truth even exists?
2024-11-25Link to episode
Will We See God in Eternity?
Audio Player
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?
2024-11-21Link to episode
What?s True and False in Job?
Audio Player
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.
2024-11-18Link to episode
Can a Church Require Tithing?
Audio Player
Should church leaders require Christians to tithe since God commanded tithing in the Old Testament? Pastor John commends a better approach.
2024-11-14Link to episode
Can We Know Truth with Complete Certainty?
Audio Player
Arguments, logic, and careful analysis may give us 99 percent certainty for some doctrine or truth claim. But what about the remaining 1 percent?
2024-11-11Link to episode
Ministry After God Takes a Beloved Wife
Audio Player
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.
2024-11-07Link to episode
I Want God?s Wrath on My Enemy
Audio Player
How can we love our enemies when they treat us horrifically? Pastor John appeals to six biblical realities to help us face unimaginable darkness.
2024-11-04Link to episode