Ask Pastor John

How can we tell if we’re abusing caffeine (or any food or drink)? Pastor John offers three questions to guide a Christian’s consumption.

If death belongs to the children of God, as the apostle Paul says, then death not only loses its sting, but it turns around and becomes our servant.

On September 22, 1967, V. Raymond Edman collapsed while delivering a chapel message at Wheaton. Pastor John reflects on his college chancellor’s final words.

Some Christians carry an ongoing sense of guilt for sins confessed long ago. What can we do with these stubborn guilt feelings?

If God is sovereign over our suffering, then we can trust him to strengthen us in suffering, sanctify us through suffering, and ultimately save us from suffering.

From eternity, God has been self-sufficiently happy in himself. And because he has no needs of his own, he is gloriously free to meet ours.

If our souls are deeply satisfied in God, what room is there for petitionary prayer? Pastor John reframes the question by clarifying the nature of prayer.

If God is sovereign over salvation, do the non-elect even have a chance to repent? Pastor John addresses Romans 9:22, your most-asked-about Bible verse.

Some biblical truths are essential to believe for salvation — but not all. So, how much error can someone hold and still be saved?

How can parents resist the despair that comes from feeling like failures? Pastor John offers ten words of hope for parents of prodigals.

After ten years and two thousand episodes, Tony Reinke has distilled the best of ‘Ask Pastor John’ in a remarkable new book.

If we obey God outwardly but feel no affection for him inwardly, is our obedience still love? Pastor John takes us to the heart beneath God-pleasing obedience.

How do preachers guard themselves from hypocrisy? Pastor John traces double-faced preaching to its deepest root: the love of human praise.

How did Paul endure such unimaginable sufferings without turning from Christ? Pastor John traces three threads of the apostle’s perseverance.

In Leviticus 21, God forbids men with physical defects from participating as full priests. How do we reconcile this prohibition with Jesus’s approach to the disabled?

How do we enjoy pizza, friendship, or any other good gift without committing idolatry? Not only by enjoying God more than his gifts, but also by enjoying him in them.

How do Paul’s travel plans relate to the Trinitarian depths of God’s love? Pastor John shows how ultimate reality undergirds the love between the saints.

Christians have not only the right but the calling to speak truth to power. But such speech differs greatly from mere political flag-waving.

The wrath of God is gone for those who are in Christ. But does God still sometimes bring physical suffering in response to unconfessed sin?

What factors should Christian students consider when choosing a college or major? Pastor John gives five guidelines for those who don’t want to waste their lives.