Ask Pastor John

How can Christians avoid placing a relationship or hobby over a desire for God? Pastor John calls us to let earthly delights turn us Godward.

Are selfies a sign of the end times? Pastor John looks beyond smartphones and social media to our society’s desire for deep satisfaction.

Can past sins separate us from the love of God? Pastor John offers hope in God’s promised forgiveness for believers wrestling with crippling shame.

At Jesus’s last breath, a crowd of saints rose from their tombs in Jerusalem. Pastor John offers six reasons Matthew’s Gospel includes this event.

What’s the relationship between our good deeds and God’s reward? When he empowers us to obey him, he loves to celebrate the beauty of his grace.

How does God intend for us to deal with tragedy in the news? Pastor John offers six reasons why suffering should drive us to repentance and action.

King Asa worshiped God almost all his days, but he drifted in his old age. So, how should we respond when sin corrupts good men?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

How can we show Christ’s love to a dying, unbelieving loved one? Pastor John shares ten ways believers can embody God’s love.

How should Christians steward pets? Pastor John offers guidance for enjoying animals without treating their companionship like human companionship.

Without Christ-exalting love, spiritual gifts serve as self-promotion — even when they produce powerful results.

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.

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.

Persecution, troubles, heaviness of heart — are these different forms of God’s discipline? Pastor John traces God’s good purposes in different kinds of pain.

How can we discern the main point of not only a single verse, but an entire paragraph, section, or even chapter of the Bible?

God’s faithfulness to God may not sound like good news. But the foundation of our hope rests on God’s zeal to display the worth of his name.

On the first day of a new year, Pastor John commends a yearlong Bible-reading plan and invites listeners to join him from Genesis to Revelation.

Sometimes, perhaps even often, we read Scripture with our eyes, grasp its truth in our minds, yet feel little pleasure in our hearts. What can we do in such moments?

Christmas is a day for marveling. Pastor John shares four earth-shaking, soul-satisfying reasons to glory in the coming of the Son of God.

Jesus is our substitute, the one who became sin so we might be saved. So does his righteousness also cover our joylessness?

God’s sovereign control is complete, not partial. He governs every aspect of nature, every aspect of history, and every aspect of personal life.

Over ninety times, Paul speaks of “the flesh.” So what does this word mean to the apostle? Pastor John forms a definition from two key passages.

We testify to the hope of resurrection when we choose burial over cremation. But if we first donate our body to science, is cremation okay then?

When it comes to food, many of us are in greater danger of judging people where we shouldn’t than of eating what we shouldn’t.

Our satisfaction in God will be in measure, not in fullness, until the day we see him face-to-face.

God promises lasting joy. But what should we do when we feel full on Sunday but empty by Monday?

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell us that Simon of Cyrene helped carry Jesus’s cross. What’s the significance of this story?

At the cross, the triune God was at work, securing our redemption. But what role did the Holy Spirit play in Jesus’s crucifixion?

Fear does not govern the Christian life. But we have a skewed view of the Christian life if we exclude fear.

Many of today’s skeptics ask questions that God himself has already addressed. Sometimes, we just need to hear how God responds to his critics.

“Woe to you who are rich. Woe to you who are full now. Woe to you who laugh.” What do Jesus’s woes mean for middle-class Americans?

God’s sovereignty over all creation is one of the grandest themes in the Bible. Pastor John overviews some of the basics.

Every child is an eternal being, someone who will live forever. So if our children may end up in hell, would we be better off not having kids?

With so many urgent spiritual needs in the world, is it wise to spend years of life in a seminary classroom? If someone is eager for ministry, why wait?

If Jesus is God, why does the Bible say that he “became” superior to angels? Hasn’t he always been superior to angels?

Christians can learn many important facts from non-Christian teachers. But they cannot learn the most important facts — or how to love them.

Chris Watts murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters. A few months into his prison sentence, he said he found God. Can he really be forgiven?

In the Old Testament, the disabled were excluded from the holy place. In the New Testament, Jesus touched and healed the disabled. Why the difference?

God could have chosen all to inherit eternal life, but he didn’t. So why would God choose some and not choose others?

Dozens of countries are experiencing a resurgence of biblical Christianity. Pastor John shares several stories from his recent trip to Brazil and Argentina.

Your smartphone is changing you, whether you realize it or not. Tony Reinke explains the costs of smartphone overuse, and how we can resist.

Making a decision with a coin flip glorifies chance. But making a decision from a renewed mind glorifies God.

“My girlfriend affirms homosexual love — is this a deal-breaker?” Yes. Pastor John gives five reasons why.

When Jesus says, “I never knew you,” he means, “I don’t recognize you as my disciple, as my follower. You are a spiritual stranger to me.”

God may use you to change your spouse. But if you press in to him, no matter how disappointed you are in marriage, he will certainly change you.