John Piper clarifies how we are to minister with conviction and compassion.

When God gives new birth, he does so through us speaking his word, the gospel.

Especially on Sundays, preaching is paramount in a pastor’s life. When we prepare to preach, we remember that our words should fall “as gentle rain upon the tender grass” and “like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces.” Such…

There is a knowing of love that surpasses ordinary knowledge. All thoughtful and true lovers know this. Being loved isn't identical to knowing that one is being loved. This is not spooky. It is in fact gloriously ordinary. Just as…

John Piper explains the significance of Jesus' favorite self-designation.

On this 40th anniversary of his death, I thank God for the life and cause of Martin Luther King, Jr. It was not the first day that he had met God. Twelve years earlier there was another meeting He put…

Can a pastor preach on joy when he is feeling little of it Yes. He is preaching what the word says and will say it whether he feels it or not. Yes. He will be praying that in the very…

John Piper offers counsel on how to help others endure suffering.

Outside the Bible I have never read anything more devastating to the impenetrable permutations of pride than the section in Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections titled, “Sign #6, Gracious affections are attended with evangelical humiliation.” It ends with one…

The inconsistencies of liberal and conservative compassion do not define the nature of good and evil That there are liberals who talk compassion for the weak and oppressed, but support the butchery of the weakest persons (the unborn even to…

John Piper contemplates how working out can be spiritually significant.

If God is magnified in our showing that he is valuable by treasuring him above all things — if that’s what the unwasted life is — then something has to happen to us, because we don’t do that by nature.

The unwasted life is a life lived for the purpose of displaying the worth of Jesus Christ for others to see and cherish.

(John Piper finishes his list of 20 ways to not waste your life that he began in part 1 of this message.) 5) Don't waste your compassion The inconsistencies of liberal and conservative compassion do not define the nature…

Why Regional Conferences? Why does Desiring God host regional conferences? We seek to mimic the apostle John: That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed…

John Piper offers biblical direction for discerning when violence is an appropriate way to respond to evil.

A tiny book has been feeding my soul recently, The Loveliness of Christ: Extracts from the Letters of Samuel Rutherford. Writers like Paul and Bunyan and Rutherford, who wrote much from the midst of suffering seem to have a…

The worst discipline that the church is authorized to render toward its worst offender is excommunication And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. (Matthew 18:17) …

John Piper considers what (and how) we can learn from non-Christian art.

Does God have designs for deceptive signs and wonders? Does he have purposes for heresies?

The great challenge of the preacher is to follow Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:5, “What we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.” But there are more ways to preach…

John Piper explains why election should make sinners hopeful, not doubtful.