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Tony Reinke

Tony Reinke serves as Senior Teacher for Desiring God, host of the Ask Pastor John podcast, and author of Ask Pastor John: 750 Bible Answers to Life’s Most Important Questions (2024). He and his wife live in Phoenix.

Speaking the Truth In Love

For much of my Christian life I have had a one-sided view of “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). I assumed that the verse meant only that when hard news or rebuke needed to be brought, it should be…

We Become What We Worship

Greg Beale titled his landmark book We Become What We Worship. His thesis is simple: “What people revere, they resemble, either for ruin or for restoration.” He traces the theme throughout Scripture to show that we are worshippers, and…

The Beauty of Holiness and the Miracle of Sanctification

Puritan Thomas Watson says it well. “After the fall, the affections were misplaced on wrong objects; in sanctification, they are turned into a sweet order and harmony, the grief placed on sin, the love on God, the joy on heaven.”*…

Fear, Anxiety, and Growing in Sanctification

Ed Welch is a biblical counselor and the author of several books including Running Scared: Fear, Worry & the God of Rest. He serves on the faculty of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) in Philadelphia, where we…

The Highest Holiness

"The highest holiness for you is to be like Christ," said Charles Spurgeon. Exactly. If you want a perfect model of human holiness, look to Christ. Kevin DeYoung explains this point in his new book The Hole in Our Holiness:…

Learning About Sanctification From Fyodor Dostoyevsky

David Powlison is a biblical counselor, and he is also an avid reader of the 19th-century Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Those two facts are not disconnected, as we discovered in our recent trip to Philadelphia and CCEF…

Defending the Unborn Through Art

Over 50 million unborn lives have been snuffed out through the dark work of abortion since 1973. That’s 3,000 children each day in the United States alone. To bring this stat closer to home (or into your home), as many…

Hope That Purifies

Our heavenly Father encourages his children to put off sin by delivering strong warnings in Scripture (Hebrews 6:4–8; 10:26–31). But he also motivates us to put on holiness by drawing from our assurances, like in 1 John 3:2a–3: we know…

Sweet or Sour Holiness?

In his new book Gospel Deeps, Jared Wilson writes, “If holiness makes you a sourpuss, you’re doing it wrong.” (Wouldn’t that make a nice slogan on a changeable letter church billboard?) Wilson’s line is pointed and poignant. But why…

The Most Neglected Theme in Sanctification

What's the most neglected theme related to personal sanctification? Kevin DeYoung says it's our union with Christ. In our recent discussion over his new book, The Hole In Our Holiness: Filling the Gap Between Gospel Passion and the Pursuit of…

20 Quotes from Eyes Wide Open

The following quotes are taken from Steve DeWitt's outstanding book, Eyes Wide Open: Enjoying God in Everything (Credo House, 2012). “Created beauty eclipses God’s beauty in the desire factory of man’s heart. It is a case of mistaken identity. Every…

The Bedrock Under Christian Hedonism

What foundational biblical texts provide the bedrock for Christian hedonism, the idea that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him? This was a question asked of Pastor John in a discussion recorded back…

Charity and Its Fruits: An Interview with Kyle Strobel About Love and Jonathan Edwards

Authors on the Line

In this inaugural episode, we put Jonathan Edwards scholar Kyle Strobel on the line. He recently edited a new version of Edwards’s classic work Charity and Its Fruits: Living in the Light of God's Love (Crossway, 2012). Our conversation focuses…

What’s My Church For?

In 2004 John Piper wrote the following in his article, “How God and Christians Treasure Christ”: The central experience of the universe and the Christian life — namely, treasuring Christ — is sustained in churches. God has ordained…

God Created Food and Sex for Believers

Sexual pleasure is too earthy. Enjoying delicious food is too unspiritual. That’s a two-point outline for a demonic sermon that has no place in any church — so Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 4:1–5. In fact, in a paradoxical…

Why Oprah and Brad Pitt Deserted God (And Why You Shouldn’t)

God created the world for his own praise. And that thought is why Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt, and the early C.S. Lewis all walked out on God. They all stumbled over God’s self-promotion. So, what is the solution to this…

Every Morning There’s War in the Piper Household

Jesus is the most valuable treasure in the world, John Piper reminds us in the following sermon excerpt from his recent sermon. “The fight of faith is the fight for joy,” he says. “I wake up every morning and…

Why God Is Not Vain to Seek Praise

In his recent sermon on Christian Hedonism, Pastor John recounts the day he first discovered C.S. Lewis’s answer to the dilemma of why God, in demanding that he be praised, “was not like an old vain woman seeking compliments.”…

Delighting in the Trinity: An Interview with Michael Reeves

Authors on the Line

In this second episode of the Authors on the Line podcast I talk with author, theologian, and historian Michael Reeves about his new book Delighting in the Trinity (IVP, 2012). We discuss the nature of God in three persons, why…

Tiger Mom, Brave Mom, or Desperate Mom?

Any woman who willingly delivers her baby in a harsh and dilapidated hospital in Djibouti is a brave mom. That was Rachel Pieh Jones’s experience on the fourth anniversary of 9/11 when she delivered her daughter. Rachel wrote about her…

Ripping the Heart Out of Sunday Worship

Why do we attend church on Sundays? Fundamentally, we come to church starved for God. Coming with our need, we seek God in our worship and in hearing the word faithfully preached. We arrive at church with a God-sized…

Homosexuality and the Modern Church

In modern cultures like America, every Christian is faced with the problem of homosexuality. Churches are pulled into the tension, too, because “there is no demilitarized zone in the homosexual debate.” Shrugging isn’t an option. The implications are all around…

The Church in a Homosexual Culture: An Interview with Robert Gagnon

Authors on the Line

Dr. Robert Gagnon is a professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and a man who has for many years bravely addressed homosexuality from a biblical and theological perspective. In 2002 he published a 500-page book The Bible and…

Same-Sex Temptations in the Church: An Interview with Robert Gagnon

Authors on the Line

Dr. Robert Gagnon is a professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and a man who has for many years bravely addressed homosexuality from a biblical and theological perspective. In 2002 he published a 500-page book The Bible and…

Disability and the Sovereign Goodness of God

Disability and the Sovereign Goodness of God

Disabilities break into life in various forms: as the product of genetic misalignments in the womb, as the result of tragic and regrettable accidents, as the byproducts of infectious disease, and from the degenerative effects of old age. They affect…

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