Ask the Pastor with J.D. Greear

In this week’s episode of the Ask Me Anything Podcast, we listen in to a recent sermon where Pastor J.D. answers a question about how we know where the Holy Spirit is leading us. Show Notes: In Romans 15, Paul gives us a great example of what it looks like to be led by the Holy Spirit. As we look at that text, we discover that all of us have a part to play in the kingdom of God. All of us ar...

In this week’s episode of the Ask Me Anything Podcast, Pastor J.D. answers a question from a listener about how important it is that someone’s doctrine be correct, and whether it’s worth confronting friends or family about. Show Notes: We’ve talked before about separating out doctrinal issues by order of importance, but I want to hone in on that to answer this question.  An Austr...

In this week’s episode of the Ask Me Anything Podcast, Pastor J.D. answers the question, “Should I get married or not?” Show Notes: The first consideration for “Should I get married?” is… Do I have the gift? First, realize that most people have a wrong conception of spiritual gifts–they assume that a spiritual gift is some kind of lifelong assignment that God stamps you wit...

In this week’s episode of the Ask Me Anything Podcast, Pastor J.D. talks about whether or not gambling is morally wrong. Show Notes: Gambling can seem harmless. You throw a little bit of money on a sporting event, on a slot machine, or on a lottery ticket… what’s the harm in that? I am going to draw distinction between Las Vegas-type gambling and a $20 office pool. Gambling is at least a $44...

In this week’s episode of the Ask Me Anything Podcast, Pastor J.D. answers a question from a listener named Barbara. She asks what passages and method he uses when he shares the gospel with people. Show Notes: There’s not a set way to share the gospel, and there’s certainly no “magic bullet” formula that’ll work every time. I wish there was! However, there are several helpful tools you can u...

This week, Pastor J.D. answers a question about why biblical church discipline is a necessary—and even a loving—thing to do. Show Notes: Four reasons for church discipline from 1 Corinthians 5:1-13: For the sake of the sinning brother (5:5) The hope, the goal, is always that they wake up from their sin; that the pain of being removed from the blessings of the church wakes them up and brings them b...

In this episode of the Ask Me Anything Podcast, Pastor J.D. talks about whether or not the Bible teaches that men should have long hair. Show Notes: With passages like 1 Cor. 11:14, you can go wrong in one of two ways: You can over-apply it, or you can under-apply it. Here’s another example from 1 Cor. 16:20: “Greet one another with a holy kiss.”  In those days, it was a common w...

In this episode of the Ask Me Anything Podcast, Pastor J.D. talks about the Bible verses that seem to imply you can lose your salvation. Show Notes: There are all kinds of warnings in the Bible about how you  must  continue on in your faith to be saved. And yet, like we talked about last week, the Bible also clearly teaches that once you’re saved, you’re always saved. So how do these s...

In this episode of the Ask Me Anything Podcast, Pastor J.D. answers the question of whether or not you can lose your salvation. Show Notes: At first glance, Hebrews 6 seems to say that not only can you lose your salvation, but once you do, you can never get it back! So what does it mean? This is important: I believe the writer of Hebrews is giving a general, pastoral warning to his congregation ra...

In this episode of the Ask Me Anything Podcast, Pastor J.D. answers the question of how to respond to hypocritical Christians. Show Notes: This question is valid. Jesus said he died to create a new breed of people. But so many aren’t any different than the world. So how do you handle that? First, realize hypocrisy is more about being human than it is a particularly Christian thing. Second, h...

In this week’s episode, Pastor J.D. is joined by special guest Trillia Newbell to talk about whether or not Christians should be colorblind. Trillia just released her new children’s’ book,  The Big Wide Welcome , and is also the author of God’s Very Good Idea . These books teach so many important lessons about how God has created us and the unity he desires us to have. Show...

Show Notes: Divorce is not the unforgivable sin. Look at Jeremiah 3:8 where God says, “For all her adulteries, I gave faithless Israel a certificate of divorce.” God has the audacity to call himself a divorced person. Now, of course, there was no sin on his side of the divorce, and maybe there was on yours. But in the cross and resurrection, Jesus puts away the sin done by you and he overturns the...

Show Notes: The answer to this question comes from the lips of Jesus, the most compassionate person ever to live. Marriage is a covenant you make with your spouse before God. God created it in Genesis 2 as a union where two literally become one, and death is the only thing that can dissolve that covenant (with a couple of death-related exceptions which we’ll talk about). So, is it ever OK to...

Show Notes: This brings us to one of the “big 10” — the 10 Commandments. There are a couple of things to understand starting with the 10 commandments are divided into two sections. The first four deal primarily with our relationship with God. The last five deal with our relationship to each other. Honoring your parents is the “hinge” in the middle, so which group does it be...

Show Notes: We should be as intentional with our families as we are with our jobs. There is a sense that, on one level, I as a parent affect the faith journey of my kids. But on another level, there is a limit to the responsibility parents have for the choices our kids make. God has made them as individuals. A lot of godly parents will have a child who wanders. And it’s not because they did...

If you’ve heard Pastor J.D. preach, you’ve probably heard him talk about Nicolas Cage. So, what’s the deal? Does he really think Nicolas Cage is the greatest actor of all time? Find out in this light-hearted episode!

Show Notes: Who do you feel the closest kinship with? Who do you spend most of your time with? The lesson from Lot’s life is that you have to make up your mind from the beginning: Who do you really want to be? If it’s with the world, go there 100%. If it’s with God, go with him 100%. What do you love? What does that say about what your heart really desires? Are you trying to get...

Show Notes: It depends on what you mean by “demon possessed.” It’s never used in the Greek language that I know of, and it’s not in the Bible. The word in the Bible is “demonized,” which actually broadens it a little bit. So, if you mean, “Can a demon so overtake a Christian so that they have no will left and no ability to choose right from wrong,” t...

Show Notes: A theologian named Michael Byrd breaks down theological truths into three primary categories. First, there are matters essential for salvation. On these matters, we have to have agreement. These include the person of Christ, the way of salvation, etc. These are things absolutely worth dividing over, and I would not partner with someone in ministry in an area like this where we disagree...

Show Notes: When we think “idol,” we oftentimes think of a statue that you bow down to. But there’s more to it than that, and idolatry actually occupies the first two of the ten commandments, so you know it’s important. We often have a “root idol” that controls a lot of the way we live our lives, whether that’s power, control, comfort, or approval. In orde...

Show Notes: Rebecca, today we’ll answer another question from your book,  Is Christmas Unbelievable?  In the book, you answer the common question, “How can you believe in a virgin birth?” A lot of people would say the virgin birth is a supernatural bridge too far. And I guess I can see why people say that, but in reality, if there’s a God who made the entire universe and ev...

Show Notes: Rebecca, in your book  Is Christmas Unbelievable,  you answer some questions about the supernatural parts of Christmas. So much of what we know about Christmas, of course, comes from the gospels. But can we really trust them? A lot of people say the gospels are unbelievable because they’re written decades after the events happened. But first of all, the gospels are not like you o...

Show Notes: First of all, we have to acknowledge that Satan is, indeed real. We have to take him seriously. But some people are guilty of not taking him seriously at all, and some are guilty of blaming every bad thing in life on him. A lot of people don’t know that the phrase “demon possessed” is actually not in the Bible. The phrase “demonized” is, instead. I don&#82...

Show Notes: I think the first thing that stands out is that character really does matter. In 1 Tim. 3, when Paul talks about qualifications for ministry, he doesn’t just list talents—he talks about character, as well. Second, we really do need accountability. Dr. Paul Tripp told me about two things he’s seen that lead to a ministry leader falling. The first one is a lack of peer commun...

Pastor J.D. answers a question about what it really means to be a Christian. Show Notes: Everyone has a different assumption of what it means to be a Christian. In the Western world, a lot of people have the assumption that if you’re not a Jew, not a Muslim, and not an atheist, you must be a Christian.  Some people think it means a certain amount of “religiosity”—a certain amount of church attenda...