This week we released episodes 24–28 in the Ask Pastor John podcast. In one of those new episodes we asked John Piper a question about personal Bible reading: must we come away from our Bible reading with a life application principle every time?
His answer was a resolute no.
Here’s part of what he said to explain why:
A godly life is lived out of a heart astonished at grace. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. We go to the Bible to be astonished. We go to the Bible to be amazed at God, and amazed at Christ, and amazed at the cross, and amazed at grace, and amazed at the gospel. And when we are stunned and amazed and humbled we walk out of our study or out of our chair, wherever we are having devotions, and there’s a spirit and a flavor about us that makes us a better person at the kitchen table and when we go to work.
You can listen to his entire answer in Ask Pastor John episode 26 here.
In episode 27 we asked him about how he handled his own spiritually dry seasons in the ministry, and there he talked more about the goal of his devotional reading of Scripture. “I want to see Jesus. I need Jesus,” he said. “I don’t need merely propositions, I need an encounter with the living Christ, and I believe that comes through the Word.”
In episode 28 we asked him a related question for pastors: Should a joyless pastor preach joy in God?
Earlier in the week we asked him to define godly leadership (episode 25) and he fielded a reader’s question about how to begin writing poetry (episode 24).
Current List of Episodes
In total, we have released 28episodes, all listed here:
- Should a Joyless Pastor Preach Joy in God? (Episode 28)
- Fighting for Joy in Pastoral Ministry (Episode 27)
- Must Bible Reading Always End with Application? (Episode 26)
- What Is Leadership? (Episode 25)
- Writing Poetry: Where Do I Start? (Episode 24)
- What Is Definite Atonement, and Why Does It Matter? (Episode 23)
- Priorities for Youth Pastors (Episode 22)
- What Does Christian Hedonism Offer the Depressed? (Episode 21)
- Joy in God: To Be Waited for or Pursued? (Episode 20)
- Does God Ever Withdraw His Presence from His Children? (Episode 19)
- Fighting Porn Addiction with Grudem’s Systematic Theology (Episode 18)
- We Are Makers — Lessons on Vocation from Dorothy Sayers (Episode 17)
- Interpreting the Miracles of Jesus (Episode 16)
- Why False Doctrine Can Make You Happy (Episode 15)
- Why John Piper Recycles (Episode 14)
- The Essential Warfare for Holiness (Episode 13)
- Exercising the Body (For the Sake of the Soul) (Episode 12)
- What Is the Difference Between Right Risk and Wrong Risk? (Episode 11)
- Safety Is A Myth (Episode 10)
- Arrests and Imprisonments In Opposing Abortion (Episode 9)
- Leadership Lessons from Martin Luther King (Episode 8)
- Takeaways from Passion 2013 (Episode 7)
- What’s It Like Preaching to 60,000 People? (Episode 6)
- Why Adam Matters for Global Missions (Episode 5)
- Was Adam For Real, and Does It Matter? (Episode 4)
- How Important Is a Christian Writer's Influence? (Episode 3)
- Who Was George Herbert? (Episode 2)
- Reflections from John Piper on His 67th Birthday (Episode 1)
Tuning In
The Ask Pastor John daily podcast is a series of 3–8 minute conversations released on weekdays at 11am (EST) via the DG Facebook and Twitter feeds. We're currently hosting all the recordings on SoundCloud, a website that makes it easy to listen to several of the podcasts in one sitting. They’re also beginning to be archived on the DG website.
Soon the podcast will be syndicated in iTunes, and we have plans to make these recordings more accessible to listeners on a daily basis.
We want to hear from you. To submit a question to Pastor John please include your first name, hometown, and your question in an email to AskPastorJohn AT desiringGod DOT org.
Thanks for listening to the podcasts, and thanks for already submitting a bunch of excellent questions over the past several weeks. We appreciate your engagement and interest.