Joe Rigney | Desiring God

Most people in the world have no experience of lasting joy in their lives. We’re on a mission to change that. All of our resources exist to guide you toward everlasting joy in Jesus Christ.

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Joe Rigney

Joe Rigney is assistant professor of theology and literature at Bethlehem College & Seminary and author of The Things of Earth: Treasuring God by Enjoying His Gifts. He is a pastor at Cities Church.

Ask God to Forgive You, Not Excuse You: Five Lessons from C.S. Lewis

Ask God to Forgive You, Not Excuse You

Five Lessons from C.S. Lewis

When we confess to God as we are, we find that we become our true selves — stable, strong, full of life and joy, and conformed to the image of Christ.

Joy in This World Panel Discussion: Piper, Storms, Rigney, & Borman

Joy in This World Panel Discussion

Piper, Storms, Rigney & Borgman

Man’s chief end is not only to glorify God, but also to enjoy him forever. This panel of pastor-theologians discusses this joy-filled life of man.

The Excuses We Make for Sin

The Excuses We Make for Sin

Satan is happy when you ignore your sin — and even happier when you believe your sin is someone else’s fault.

Seven Ways to Pray on Election Day

Seven Ways to Pray on Election Day

Judgment always begins with the household of God. Heartfelt repentance for our own sins is where we must start.

The Gift of God’s Judgment

The Gift of God’s Judgment

Our Election Crisis and Opportunity

The election of either candidate may be evidence of God’s judgment. But what if the fact that we’re faced with this horrible choice is already our call to repentance?

Panel Discussion

The Future of Christian Hedonism

The Future of Christian Hedonism

Panel Discussion

The Indulge seminar was a part of the 2016 Preview Days of Bethlehem College & Seminary in downtown Minneapolis. Students are equipped for joyful lives of high-impact, helping other people be eternally happy, by learning and sharing that God is…

Christian Hedonics

Christian Hedonics

C.S. Lewis on the Heavenly Good of Earthly Joys

God has orchestrated a symphony of pleasures for his creation, and the more we hear, the more he’s glorified. We should all be students of God’s delights.

Your Sorrow Will Turn to Joy

Your Sorrow Will Turn to Joy

Morning & Evening Meditations for Holy Week

A team of eleven pastors and scholars walk us through Holy Week with short meditations for each morning and evening from Palm Sunday to the triumph of Easter.

Panel Discussion

Panel Discussion

Panel Discussion

Bethlehem 2016 Conference for Pastors and Church Leaders

Access more audio and video from the Bethlehem 2016 Conference for Pastors and Church Leaders.

What Has Jerusalem to Do With America? Lessons from the Book of Acts (Part 2)

What Has Jerusalem to Do With America? Lessons from the Book of Acts (Part 2)

Bethlehem 2016 Conference for Pastors and Church Leaders

Access more audio and video from the Bethlehem 2016 Conference for Pastors and Church Leaders.

What Has Jerusalem to Do With America? Lessons from the Book of Acts (Part 1)

What Has Jerusalem to Do With America? Lessons from the Book of Acts (Part 1)

Bethlehem 2016 Conference for Pastors and Church Leaders

Access more audio and video from the Bethlehem 2016 Conference for Pastors and Church Leaders.

Think It Not Strange

Think It Not Strange

Navigating Trials in the New America

A diverse team of contributors joins together to help Christians prepare for the trials, opposition, and even persecution that may lie ahead.

The Shadrach Option

The Shadrach Option

Shadrach and his friends, along with the early Christians, recognized the idolatrous claim for what it was, and they refused to go along. They defied. They said, “No.” And here’s the clincher: They did so because they were seeking the good of the city.

Good

The Joy of Christian Manhood and Womanhood

Christian complementarity is the conviction that God created men and woman as his image-bearers — equal in dignity, but distinct in roles. Contrary to popular opinion, these distinctive roles of men and women are not the cultural fads of…

Designed for Joy

Designed for Joy

How the Gospel Impacts Men and Women, Identity and Practice

God created men and women in his image — equal in value and complementary in roles, which are integral to God’s good design for humanity.

When to Baptize Our Believing Children

When to Baptize Our Believing Children

Baptized members, in a congregational church, must be able to stand in the assembly of saints on their own two feet. Which has implications for when we baptize our believing children.

Jesus Poured Out His Joy for You

Jesus Poured Out His Joy for You

The Eternal Pleasure of Pentecost

In your presence is fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11 Have you ever stopped to consider that the reason Psalm 16:11 is true for you is because it was first true for Jesus?…

The Cravings Beneath Your Conflict

The Cravings Beneath Your Conflict

Mimetic desire means wanting something because someone else wants it first. When the object that we both desire can be shared between us, it produces friendship and camaraderie. When only one of us can possess the object, it inevitably produces envy, rivalry, and conflict.

He Descended into Hell?

He Descended into Hell?

Where was Jesus after Good Friday? Becoming like us in every way, Jesus’s spirit went to Hades — not to suffer but to open the way to heaven.

Envy and Rivalry in Ministry

Envy and Rivalry in Ministry

The Great Danger Facing the Young, Restless, and Reformed

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 Young, Restless, and Reformed movement in…

Conference Message

The Delight of Disciple-Making: Being the Smile of God in Your Home and Your Church

Workshop for Pastors – 2015 Conference for Pastors

This message is from the Desiring God 2015 Conference for Pastors, in partnership with Bethlehem College & Seminary. Eleven other sessions are also available. I’m a college professor. More importantly, I’m the kind of college professor who loves to…

Killjoys

The Seven Deadly Sins

Our hearts were designed to enjoy a full and forever happiness, not the pitiful, temporary pleasures for which we’re too prone to settle.

Christmas and the Things of Earth

This is what the Incarnation is all about: God restoring to us the ability to see him, to hear him, to know him, to enjoy him everywhere.

What’s in a Name?

What’s in a Name?

The Scriptures are a gold mine of life and wisdom. But acquiring this gold requires labor and effort. We must look and look and look again until we see what’s there. We must pay attention to those little connecting words that link one statement to the next.

To Name the World

To Name the World

We don’t think about the mysterious power of speech enough. But words matter. The world was established by the word of the living God, by the God who is himself the Word. This same God has created us in his image and given us the awesome and wondrous gift of speech.