Ask Pastor John
John Piper answers tough theological and pastoral questions in this podcast from Desiring God.
Episodes
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Preaching Outrage
Should pastors expose every fresh cultural outrage from the pulpit? Pastor John encourages pastors to condemn sin without being consumed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Fur Babies and Pet Stewardship
How should Christians steward pets? Pastor John offers guidance for enjoying animals without treating their companionship like human companionship.
Wasted Talents
Without Christ-exalting love, spiritual gifts serve as self-promotion — even when they produce powerful results.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Made Lonely by Holiness
How should we respond when friends embrace worldly entertainment? Pastor John offers encouragement for when personal convictions lead to loneliness.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Are Raised Hands in Worship Just Showing Off?
When we lift our hands in worship, are we displaying public faithfulness or public performance? Pastor John gives three ways to test our hearts.
Piper, Did You Miss Something?
How do we rejoice in God without neglecting to rejoice in our salvation? Pastor John clarifies how to rightly rejoice in God and his good gifts.
Maximize Your Daily Bible Reading
How does reading the Bible lead to life transformation? Pastor John offers three suggestions to experience more of the Spirit’s power.
Make a Life Plan for 2026
How do we craft a personal mission statement? Pastor John helps us draw the details of our lives into God’s ultimate purpose.
God Wants Your Resolve
How can we make New Year’s resolutions in a way that honors God? Pastor John explains the mystery of fulfilling resolves in the strength of another.
The Gift Trap
How can we root our joy in Jesus rather than in his gifts? Pastor John gives four strategies for loving God in and above every gift.
What a Fruitful Devotional Feels Like
What does it feel like to meet the living God in the pages of Scripture? Pastor John gives us a glimpse into a profound encounter with God.
Complacency: A Silent Killer
How do we avoid falling into spiritual complacency amid daily routines? Pastor John warns of the danger of viewing God as a nonfactor in everyday life.
When You Get Accused
How should we respond when we face accusations, especially if they seem unwarranted? Pastor John helps us bear all kinds of criticism with gutsy guilt.
Loving Aging Parents Well
How can we love our aging parents through the many challenges of caregiving? Pastor John shares counsel from Scripture and personal experience.
Keeping Sovereign Grace in Gospel Partnerships
Why would a gospel-driven ministry define itself as Reformed? Because Reformed theology guards and glorifies the grace at the heart of the gospel.
Marriage Survival After Betrayal
How can trust regrow in the aftermath of adultery? Pastor John identifies two needed miracles for a marriage to survive and thrive again.
The Apostasy of Impatience
Can a Christian lose patience and not be in sin? Pastor John explains why patience and impatience may be more complicated than we think.
Improving the Body Without Fixating on Image
As we steward the body, our appearance might change for the better. How do we keep our focus on being a whole person, not just an attractive shape?
Why Satan Persists
Satan wouldn’t exist if God didn’t keep him around — so why is he here? Pastor John explains four ways in which God is using Satan for his glory.
What False Teachings Should Make Me Leave a Church?
Differences in belief can feel bigger than they are — but sometimes they are truly big. What separates personal opinion from soul-damaging theology?
The God Who Breaks Us with Kindness
If God refuses to act “for our sake,” does that mean he refuses to do us good? Pastor John resolves a perplexity and holds forth lavish grace from Ezekiel 36.
How One Bible Verse Disarmed a Mob
Does Psalm 82 teach that human beings are gods? Pastor John describes the moment when Jesus quoted the psalm to escape an early death.
Shame Today Is Worth It
How could Jesus, the King of kings and true Son of God, be ashamed at the final judgment? Pastor John digs into Jesus’s argument for following him.
What Is a ‘Fleshly’ Christian?
Are “fleshly” Christians truly Christian? Pastor John traces Paul’s distinctions between natural people, carnal Christians, and spiritual Christians.
Eight Ways to Live Out Your Assurance
How can we learn to rest in the saving work of Jesus Christ? Pastor John offers eight God-given ways to increase our confidence in him.
How Can I Know I’m a Christian?
What is the bottom-line, existential, frightening, glorious question of Romans 8? Pastor John draws out two signs that a professing Christian is secure in Christ.
How I Decide What to Preach
When pastors have the freedom to decide what to preach, how do we make a wise decision in line with the mind of Christ?
Nine Steps to Find a Home Church
When we move to a new place, how do we find a good local church to call home? Pastor John offers nine steps to take in our search.
Does God Punish from His Heart?
What should we do when two texts seem to say opposite things about God and his character? Pastor John digs to the common root of truth.
Was Jesus Tempted by Evil Desires?
James says God cannot be tempted, but Hebrews says Jesus was tempted just like we are. How do these two passages fit together?
Sexual Purity Is an Act of Love
If a man wants to be married but is too young to pursue it, how can he keep his desires in the right place? Pastor John offers five weapons for the fight.
Sorrows Surprised by Happiness
Sorrow and joy are not just sequential emotional states: first sorrow, then joy. Miraculously, we can experience overflowing joy in the midst of deep sorrow.
Work as Worship
How can we delight in the good work we do while keeping our work in its proper place? Pastor John situates daily work within God’s larger purposes.
The Evil That Stuns Heaven
Does human evil really call for infinite punishment? Pastor John confronts the ultimate sin of ignoring God’s infinite value.
Does God Predict History?
Pastor John connects God’s word with his ability to perform that word, grounding our faith in the unstoppable purposes of our loving God.
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