Desiring God Messages by John Piper Audio: Recent Episodes
Desiring God
Reformed theology is beautiful because the God of sovereign grace is beautiful. The doctrines are windows — he is the glory.
Apart from union with Christ, we would have no access to God’s promises and no reason to rejoice in affliction. But in Christ, every promise of God is Yes.
How can Christians be freed from selfishness so that, at any cost to ourselves, we love others in a way that makes Christ look great? Answer: joy.
The apostle Paul was no stranger to ministry’s many strains. Yet for all his afflictions, he neither lost heart nor tampered with the truth. How?
No one can be neutral about Jesus Christ. Either he will have our heart and soul, our life and obedience — or hell will.
When God makes a promise, he keeps it. And he keeps it through his purposeful, all-wise, absolute sovereignty — through his providence.
God’s will is not simply that we obey God’s will, but that we obey it in a certain way: with all of our might for all of our life.
You don’t have to be Christian to love the story of the Good Samaritan. But applauding Luke’s parable apart from his Gospel contradicts his purpose.
When the Bible speaks of “truth,” it refers ultimately to God himself. Therefore, truth demands more than just our minds — truth will have our whole hearts, now and forever.
John Piper | God never tests his saints with ill intent. As the Father of lights, his every test aims at the full and lasting happiness of his children.
Why do God’s people wake up as believers day after day until they die? Because the same word that made us goes on keeping us to the end.
Does church leadership seem endlessly complicated? Take heart. Christian leaders guide God’s people from where they are to where God wants them to go, using God’s methods.
God is sovereign, and he has purposed his gospel to spread to the ends of the earth. Those who give themselves to that purpose are invincible, even through suffering.
God will have worshipers from every nation on earth. He will win them, and do so through us. We have only to tell them.
When Christ calls us to the mission field with him, he calls us to deny shallow pleasures, die to ourselves, and enjoy greater and greater delight in him.
Matthew’s Christmas story shows two ways to deal with Jesus: try to get rid of him like Herod, or fall down and worship him like the wise men.
The birth of John the Baptist was great, but the birth of Jesus Christ was infinitely greater. John prepared for salvation, but Jesus purchased it.
Are biblical warnings about false prophets still relevant? Yes, the threat looms as large today as in the first century.
When Jesus asks the Pharisees how David calls the Messiah “Lord,” they refuse to answer. What made that seemingly simple question so incendiary?
God is. No reality is more mind-boggling, more valuable, more life-altering, more electrifying than the absolute being of God.
Romans 8:32 is perhaps the greatest verse in the Bible. No other text quite describes how far God has gone for our salvation and will go for our joy.
God’s word speaks to the mysteries of suffering. We will only bear pain well as we begin to see it like he does.
What excites a Christian most? Our deepest, truest joy does not flow from completed degrees or flourishing ministries, but from the God who saved us.
Christ’s blood bought more than our pardon, precious as it is. His death also purchased the power we need to live a radical Christian life.
John Piper | What makes a college distinctly Christian? Education is not an end in itself, but a means to knowing and loving Christ.
As we age, fears can multiply like wrinkles. But for every concern, we have a blood-bought promise far, far older than our fears.
While on earth, Jesus spoke with unmatched power. Demons obeyed him, and fevers fled at his word. Everything was subject to him — then and now.
When a Christian goes home to be with the Lord, we who remain have the chance to rehearse God’s loving design in every believer’s death.
What is the actual experience of receiving Christ? What happens in the soul? Saving faith sees the Son not only as useful, but precious.
When our hearts run dry, and our good works languish, the Bible bids us: “Consider the end.”
When it comes to missions, reasons abound to stay rather than to go. But for every apparent obstacle, countless promises say, “It will be worth it.”
What do we call an obsessively self-centered person? An egomaniac. Then what should we call God, who demands all our praise? We call him gracious.
When we pray for God to preserve us, we ask that he would be not only our Lord, but our life — not only our God, but our highest and everlasting good.
At the root of all conflict is man’s conflict with God. At Christmas, we celebrate that God took the initiative to establish true peace.
The Puritans took joy seriously because they read the Bible carefully. They saw that delight in God is at the heart of all true obedience.
Before he created the earth, God knew pain would plague this world. And not only knew, but planned. And not only planned — but purposed.
You will not be perfect in this life, but you can be pleasing to God. You can become a real ingredient in the divine happiness.
The individual soul’s affection for God is essential to the corporate, eternal reality of the worshiping church.
When glad in God, we bend low in love for others. We imitate Christ, who not only bowed the knee but hung his body on the tree.
When glad in God, we bend low in love for others. We imitate Christ, who not only bowed the knee but hung his body on the tree.
God promises us his life-sustaining presence, even as he leads us into waterless regions of suffering and loss.
Faith does not shipwreck upon the rocks of history, logic, science, or ethics, but on the mountains of sinful desire.
Humility flourishes in hearts that focus not on being humble, but on gladly exalting Jesus, who is superior to us in every possible way.
There is a kind of unhealthy preaching that fails to make plain the effective connection between the sin-bearing work of Christ and the sin-killing work of the Christian.
Why does the apostle Paul speak so much about himself and his suffering? Because his suffering for the sake of others makes the love of Christ tangible to them.
The sovereign supremacy of Christ both keeps us from error and enables us to persevere through hardships with patience and joyful thankfulness.
Joy in God becomes our stronghold when we are awakened to see and savor him as our greatest joy.
What does Bible reading look like for John Piper? In this message to fathers, he tells personal stories and shares how he has weaved Bible reading into all of life.
John Piper | Prayer says more than the words it speaks. The act of praying vocalizes a profound reality: God himself abides in us, and we abide in him.
John Piper | The first Christmas brought good news. With it came fearless, great joy for all those who confess, “Jesus is Lord.”
John Piper | The church exists for missions — and because of missions. God plans for his people to come from the peoples, a promise he first made to Israel.
John Piper | In 2021, Bethlehem Baptist celebrated 150 years as a church. As part of the celebration service, former pastor John Piper reflects on how a church could endure, and bear fruit, over generations.
God plans to win the world with singing. Here are five connections between our joy-filled worship and the finishing of the Great Commission.
John Piper | The Lamb who was slain will one day receive the reward of his suffering — people will come to him in joyful faith from every tribe, tongue, and nation.
John Piper | One of the most challenging commands in all the Bible is to rejoice when reviled. It’s not just difficult; it is humanly impossible.
John Piper | Christian leaders often carry great burdens. But God never leaves them without the opportunity to know serious joy, even in the hardest trials.
Christ has secured innumerable benefits for his people. But without this central, most foundational achievement, all the rest would collapse.
John Piper | How do joy and sorrow mingle in the Christian life? Does joy come only after sorrow passes, or can it come in the very midst of our griefs?
John Piper | The lines of the Lord’s Prayer tend to pass by our eyes, and through our mouths, in a routine manner. But what might we be missing in our familiarity?
John Piper | Abortion holds out hope that ending the unborn child’s life will spare you misery and hardship. But doing the right thing will never ruin your life.
John Piper | The nature of genuine saving faith isn’t mere mental assent, but receiving all that God is for us in Jesus Christ.
John Piper | Believing in Jesus, according to the Gospel of John, overlaps with love because it involves an act of the soul whereby one receives Jesus as their soul-satisfying bread, thirst-quenching water, and life-giving vine.
John Piper | The central work of pastoral ministry is leading the people of God by feeding them with the word of Christ.
John Piper | Suffering may quiet our singing for a time, but God designed singing to sustain our souls. And one day, we will sing forever with unrestrained joy.
To exposit a text is only one part of preaching and teaching. We must drill down into the words and unearth the reality that holds the text together.
John Piper | Preachers, instead of taking your text and making a beeline to the cross, take the cross and make a beeline to your text.
As we look forward to Christ’s second coming, what matters most is not that we have the timing and details down, but that we hold fast to Jesus as our great hope.
John Piper | What sinners and Satan intend for evil, God always superintends for good. Our all-wise God brings restoration from ruin and deliverance out of danger.
John Piper | True contentment in Christ not only guards against our ever-changing circumstances, but frees us to overflow in costly love to others — even our enemies.
John Piper | Suffering, pain, and trouble never have the last word for the people of God. He is our hope and our joy, and he will bring us all the way home.
John Piper | To take God’s name in vain is about far, far more than avoiding foul language. Our reverence for God’s name cuts to the very core of our worship in all of life.
John Piper | Jesus’s call to deny ourselves isn’t a demand to give up happiness but an invitation to walk with him on the path to deep, lasting joy.
John Piper | True Christian education fills our hearts and minds with a joy so serious and strong that our society loses its power to control where we stand and what we say.
God will not settle for redeeming people from just a few parts of the globe. He will have people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.
Every believer in Jesus Christ has a potent spiritual superpower. With the Spirit’s help, we now can seek the very things of heaven above.
The humblest response to our culture’s tirade against objective truth isn’t to retreat, but to lovingly and kindly contend for what the Bible says.
John Piper | Glory and joy appear all over the Bible, but how they relate is not readily obvious. Listen to John Piper tell the story of how God connected the dots between the two.
Enjoying God, being satisfied in him, is essential in glorifying him as he deserves. God is not as glorified by mere duty as he is by delight.
John Piper | The preacher’s task is not merely to teach or inform, but to rejoice with his people over the wonders of Scripture.
John Piper | Jesus’s resurrection not only guarantees that we too will rise, but that we can taste steadfast, heavenly joy here and now — even in suffering. John Piper preached this sermon at the Sing! Conference in Nashville.
Suffering and injustice infect every inch of our world. But Jesus grants his people the resolve to labor for change that makes an everlasting difference. John Piper preached this message at the Sing! Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland.
John Piper | Sermons are not speeches. Preaching isn’t a lecture. When a pastor speaks God’s words to his gathered people, in the power of the Spirit, miracles happen. John Piper delivered this message at the Sing! conference in Edinburgh, Scotland.
John Piper | In this life, we will not be able to see all God is doing through sickness and pain, but we can trust that he will reveal more of himself to us through every trial and trouble.
The greatness of God’s glory invites a response that moves his people beyond mere words. And so we sing. John Piper preached this sermon at the Sing! Conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
We will never find true worth in what we have or who we are. True, full, lasting satisfaction can only come through all that God is for us in Jesus Christ. After the congregation sang “My Worth Is Not in What I Own,” John Piper presented this gospel message at the Sing! Belfast conference.
Tears, crying, and weeping are all a proper response to the God-ordained sorrow and pain we face. Just because God is sovereign doesn’t mean we ignore our pain.
What makes the heart of a legalist tick? You might be surprised how often, despite appearances, it is simply this: the love of money. John Piper delivered this message at a chapel for Crossway Books.
Christians care about all injustice in our fallen world. But our outrage against wrongdoing will fizzle out unless we root our concern in God himself. We care especially about injustice against God. John Piper preached this message at the 2019 Bethlehem College & Seminary commencement.
Jesus has already paid the price to ransom a global people who live to praise him. And he wants to use you to spread the astoundingly good news. John Piper preached this message at Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis.
The death of Jesus Christ was no mere product of coincidences. God planned every detail to ensure the salvation of his people. John Piper preached this message at The Gospel Coalition 2019 National Conference.
Jesus not only paid for our full acceptance with God, but he also purchased grace for us to embrace obedience. This is the second message John Piper preached at the Bethlehem 2019 Conference for Pastors + Church Leaders in Minneapolis.
Jesus is worthy to be praised with our every thought and deed. But what about our feelings? The Bible’s clearest answer is also the best of news. John Piper preached this message at the Bethlehem 2019 Conference for Pastors + Church Leaders in Minneapolis.
Safety tempts us to stay put. Luxury tries to lure us. Comfort wants to keep us. But God has a bigger, global dream for his people. John Piper preached this message at the G3 2019 conference in Atlanta.
John Piper | One day soon, people from every nation will bring God praise and glory. But they won’t encounter everlasting hope until God’s people go and send.
Piper preached this message on January 4, 2019, at the CROSS Conference in Louisville, where thousands gathered to discern their call to the nations.
Every act of Christian love springs from serious joy in Jesus. When your hope is secure in him, you can give whatever it takes to serve others.
The more gladness we have in our Father, the more we bring glory to his name. Our happiness in him shows off his holiness in us.
Jesus has purchased something infinitely better than anything this world has to offer: the glory of God himself. We have every reason to boast in him.