Over the last two weeks on the Ask Pastor John podcast we talked a lot about social media, about goals for Twitter and fasting from Facebook. Pastor John also addressed creativity in communication, and the meaning and importance of Easter. We talked about the value of Bible commentaries written by women, a practical suggestion for battling lust, and how our works exceed the works of Jesus.

What follows is a list of episodes, along with quotes pulled from each recording. Click on the titles to listen.

How Jesus’s Glory Drives Creative Communication (Episode 54):

Jesus really is striking. Jesus really is amazing. Jesus really is worthy of the most wonderful — or the most surprising — …

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The New Testament is full of commands for us to obey. Full of them. The Sermon on the Mount is no exception. Something like sixty-six commands sound from Jesus’s mouth as he calls us as his people to live a life in step with the gospel.

The Beatitudes, Jesus’s introduction to the Sermon on the Mount, are a different story. There you’ll not find a single imperative. Not one.

• Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
• Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
• Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive m…

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Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. (Hebrews 12:1)

Jesus has called you to run a race. It’s a faith race. It’s long-distance and multi-terrain.

And you’ve been trying to run but you’re wondering why it’s so hard. Why do you get winded so quickly? Why are others running at a faster pace? What’s wrong?

Could it be that you’re not taking this race seriously enough? You can tell by how much extra weight you’re trying to run with.

An endurance race is hard enough when you’re running light. But it’s far harder, and often impossible,…

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From big reminders taped on the wall of a college dorm, to a big book by a 96-year-old theologian, to an interview with two big-league ball players, the latest episode from Behind the Blog pulls back the curtain on the recent happenings at desiringGod.org.

Among other exciting things, we talk about John Piper’s recent transition to the full-time staff and preview the speaker lineup for our conference this fall on C.S. Lewis.

Thanks for reading and listening. We value your feedback. If you have any questions, ideas, or suggestions, you can send them to us at blog@desiringgod.org.

Stream or download the 19-minute audio podcast.
[You can also subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.]

Mentioned …

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When we take the gospel seriously we not only correctly understand the nature of sexual immorality, we must become proactive in taking corporate responsibility for the sexual maturity and sexual problems within our local church.

A well-known church received a stern letter in the spring of A.D. 54 when they failed grievously in this understanding and responsibility. As you know, that same letter sent to the Corinthians is written to us.

Imagine opening your email to find this message from a highly respected church leader: “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality in your church, and a kind of sexual sin that’s not practiced among unbelievers, a man is cohabitating with hi…

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The other morning I woke up while my children were still sleeping and began to pray. I started thinking about my identity. What am I? Who am I? As I settled into my prayer time I began to rejoice at the thought that I am a mother. It is part of who I am. To my children it is my name: Mom.

The modern mom doesn’t always like to be identified as a mother. We are “liberated.” We have names and identities of much greater significance. Even the Christian mommy would prefer to keep her mom identity in check. “I am a Christian first and foremost,” we might say. This is so true and so good. We are first and foremost identified as united to Christ. He has redeemed us and therefore our identities are …

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And behold, I saw a white horse. Its rider’s name was Success, and Envy followed him.

Envy is a movement killer. And if you ask me, it is probably the fundamental danger facing the modest movement called Young, Restless Reformed (YRR) in the years ahead. Envy is a movement-killing sin precisely because it combines such deadly opposites. Envy is a gaping maw, a roaring lion seeking to devour, the relentless ache of the shriveled heart. At the same time, envy is a chameleon, masquerading as the smooth flattery of imitation one minute and righteous indignation at injustice the next.

God Multiplies a Movement

If you listen to the Old, Settled Reformed talk, they’ll tell you that 30 years ago,…

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The first signs of spring are here in Minneapolis. The sun is shining, the snow is melting, and Old Man Winter is packing his bags.

As we enter a new season, we thought we would pause and take a look back at the 25 videos you played the most in the first quarter of 2013.

We pray that these videos would encourage and bless you rain or shine, warm or cold. We’ll embed the top three and link to the others.

1. What Is Speaking in Tongues?

2. Lecrae Raps the Gospel in One Minute

3. The Story of Ian & Larissa

4. Lecrae Explains True Manhood

5. Sorrowful Yet Always Rejoicing

6. What Is Prophecy in the New Covenant? (John Piper)

7. Have You Exorcized a Demon? (John Piper)

8.…

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I’ve been thinking about how much I love finishing things. I get great pleasure in finishing — a poem, a sermon, a book, or cutting the grass, or fixing the dripping faucet, or selling our car. It’s hard for me to walk away from something half done.

But, of course, anything that takes longer than a day, you have to walk away from unfinished. You have to sleep. So it helps me to chop things up into finishable pieces — a stanza, a section, a chapter, the mower prepared, the parts purchased, the ad placed. But still there is no pleasure quite like the pleasure of finishing.

But the pleasure of finishing some things is mingled with pain. It certainly was for Jesus. “It is finished” was probabl…

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Good pastors come and go, but the Great Pastor will never leave, forsake, or transition.

Pastors of all stripes, at their worst and best, are but under-shepherds of “the chief Shepherd” (1 Peter 5:4). Jesus is “the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25). He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), “the great shepherd of the sheep” (Hebrews 13:20).

In his final sermon as a pastor at Bethlehem Baptist, John Piper commended the Great Shepherd to his people of 33 years. He rehearsed from Hebrews 13:20–21 six pillar truths about God that have been hallmarks of his ministry at Bethlehem. God is the absolutely existing, reconciling, covenant-keeping, shepherding, san…

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