Ask Pastor John

A love for excellence can easily grow into a hypercritical spirit. How can we resist the tendency to focus mostly on the failures of others?

John Piper’s ministry has been marked by rigorous attention to God’s word paired with deep delight in God’s word — a double emphasis captured in Psalm 119:97.

The story of Elijah on Mount Carmel shows that God rules over fire and rain, bulls and rocks — and even over every human heart.

If we allow anger to come quickly and stay long, it will eventually consume love, consume gratitude, consume mercy, and consume true perceptions of reality.

God has reasons for everything he does — and an ultimate purpose driving it all. Personal mission statements help us align all of life with that great purpose.

Gratitude is a duty — we ought to thank God for the grace he has given. But genuine Christian gratitude is far more than mere duty.

Jesus healed people with deep, lifelong disabilities. So should we pray that he would heal loved ones with disabilities like Down syndrome or cerebral palsy?

When we don’t understand God and his ways, we can still rest here: God is always totally sovereign, and God is always infinitely good.

Jesus never lied, stole, coveted, grumbled, lusted, or sinned in any other way. And that means Jesus alone knows the full force of temptation.

When suffering overshadows the life of a family, how can parents help their children embrace God’s all-good, all-wise, all-governing providence?

Are God’s callings for men and women merely functional and practical, or do they flow from something deeper in his design?

We live in the day of salvation, the day of patience, the day of tolerance. But when Jesus returns, that day will end forever.

Despite the warnings, cigarette smoking and other forms of nicotine use persist. How concerned should parents be about whether their teens smoke, chew, or vape?

Pleasure in God is not complete unless it overflows in praise to God. And praise to God is not sincere unless it overflows from pleasure in God.

Joy in God was never meant to be a solitary pursuit. Joy sends us out to serve — and serving fills us up with joy.

Few of us feel as attractive as we would like, and some of us feel downright ugly. Why does God allow such unattractiveness in a world that prizes physical beauty?

Fifteen states have now legalized the recreational use of marijuana. What message might God be sending to the church in an age of legal pot?

The boldest people in the world are those who can look into the face of God, in all of his holiness and power, and know that he is for them in Christ.

Whether Old Testament or New Testament, stories fill the pages of Scripture. How can we begin to discover God’s meaning in the Bible’s narratives?

Life’s pressures have a way of exposing hidden sins and introducing new temptations. So how do we know if pressure is making us more holy or more sinful?

Many wish they could have seen Jesus in person as he walked on the earth. But to have the four Gospels is even better than being there.

Until we begin to grasp the infinite worth of God, and the horrific evil of sin, much of the Bible will make no sense — including a book like Job.

Psalm 91 offers spectacular promises for the one who “dwells in the shelter of the Most High.” What does dwelling in the shelter of God mean for us today?

Countless pastors carry out their ministries faithfully — and some abuse their position and cause many to stumble. What does God have to say to hypocritical pastors?

God made marriage to picture the relationship of Christ and his church. Does it follow that a marriage between an unbelieving man and woman is illegitimate?