Ask Pastor John

“The division of humanity into languages and ethnicities was a judgment from God,” says John Piper. And yet it was also part of his unfolding plan to save the nations.

Evangelicalism’s global growth is mainly Pentecostal, says John Piper. This is cause for celebration, and for concern, because the growth is often entangled by prosperity theology.

In the digital age, needs surround us. So how do we avoiding inactivity paralysis? We return to God, says John Piper, whose shoulders alone can bear the crushing weight of global suffering.

If Christians are born again and have therefore died to sin, why do we need to fight so hard to put sin to death?

Personal suffering should not surprise us (1 Peter 4:12). The Bible not only promises it, it also teaches us how to “squeeze as much Christ-exalting meaning out of our suffering as we can.” John Piper explains.

What drives John Piper? “This is one of the greatest discoveries of my life,” he recent told an audience in Italy, “that God’s purpose to be glorified and my passion to be satisfied are not at odds.”

If you’re married, keep your promise. If you’re divorced and remarried, keep your promise. Don’t break your word a second time.

The greatest stumbling block for children in worship is parents who don’t cherish their own worship. We can’t impart what we don’t possess.

“Until we find our rest in Christ, we will be trying to invent ourselves in ways that will only end in tears.” Rob Smith on the hopes, tensions, and roadblocks of the transgender movement.

“Transgender surgery often contradicts the Hippocratic principle of ‘Do no harm,’” says theologian and ethicist Rob Smith in today’s episode. “You are now perhaps mutilating a perfectly healthy body to try and address a psychological problem.”

“Christians should get as good a grasp on questions about transgender, whether or not we have transgender friends,” says theologian and ethicist Rob Smith. “Because when a person hurts themselves, it hurts others.”

“God has given us distinct body and soul, but they exist in psychosomatic unity,” says theologian and ethicist Rob Smith. “The two are knit together (Psalm 139:13).” So what does this mean in the transgender debate?

“Gender dysphoria ought to evoke our compassion,” says Rob Smith, our guest this week on the podcast. “It is a horrific affliction to bear.” Smith is a theologian and ethicist at Sydney Missionary and Bible College in Australia, and for him, gender dysphoria hits home.

What John Piper prayed at the funeral of Jamison and Kathryne Pals, 29, and their three children, 3-year-old Ezra, 23-month-old Violet, and 2-month-old Calvin.

“Here is the greatest redemptive event in the Old Testament to which subsequent revelation points to again and again and again,” says Don Carson. It’s worth understanding well.

Any given Sunday — thinking biblically about pastor salaries, buildings, and the place of preaching.

If you trust God, renounce self-reliance, and bring him into every life situation, he will make your paths straight.

The same criteria we use to discern which passages don’t belong in the Bible are the same criteria we use to discern which passages do belong.

Pastor John helps a listener who doubts his salvation discern when to seek a wife.

Pastor John advises a married couple who disagree on whether or not to have kids.