Messages by Desiring God
Religion & Spirituality
About
Messages from the Teaching Team at Desiring God.
Episodes
- Make War on Sin with Exercise
David Mathis | How can exercise equip us for the daily fight against sin? Training the body for our joy, mind, and will frees us to pursue every good work.
- The Glory of God in His Glorious Church
John Piper | God fulfills his purpose for the church by his work in the church: He magnifies his grace by beautifying his people.
- Hear His Voice in the Thunder
David Mathis | God’s voice thunders through the forests and the pages of Scripture, calling heaven to rejoice and setting his people at peace. Do you tremble at the force of his word?
- Radiance, Power, and Purification: The Superiority of Jesus Christ
John Piper | Sharing God’s nature and upholding creation by his word, the heir of all things suffered in our place to purify us from sin. Who is like Jesus Christ?
- Plead for the Insight You Need: Word + Spirit in Pastoral Study
John Piper | For the preaching pastor, each sermon demands a fresh hunt for insight in service of a hungry people. How do we find that life-giving truth?
- Navigate the Impossible: Word + Spirit in Pastoral Wisdom
David Mathis explains that faithful church leadership requires supernatural, sober-minded wisdom. This wisdom is obtained through God's word, his Spirit, prayer, and collaboration with a team.
- True Faith Tastes Future Joy
This episode discusses the nature of faith, using examples of Jesus, Moses, and the early church to illustrate how faith is sustained by the expectation of future joy, even amidst suffering.
- Lead with Your Life: How to Influence in Your Twenties
Marshall Segal explores the biblical concept of setting an example, clarifying that this call extends beyond exceptionally religious individuals to include ordinary mentors, such as a high-school mentor, who can positively influence others.
- The Power of Hoping in God’s Meticulous Providence
John Piper explains that because God’s sovereignty is purposeful and reaches everywhere, his gospel is assured of success and his people are eternally secure.
- This Body Must Be Raised: Four Reasons for Your Resurrection
John Piper explains four reasons why the resurrection of believers is necessary: Jesus’s glorified body, his purpose for them, his power, and the glory of the new creation.
- Why You Do Not Believe
This episode discusses reasons for rejecting Jesus Christ, despite his attributes of patience, kindness, and power. It touches on the idea that Jesus's sheep are content with him and will not be abandoned.
- The Supremacy of Christ Our Hope
John Piper reflects on the supreme reality of God as seen in Jesus Christ. He asserts that the supremacy of Christ serves as humanity's deepest source of hope.
- Is God Dishonored When We Grieve?
David Mathis addresses whether God is dishonored by human grief, explaining that in Christ, joy and sorrow can coexist. Grief, in this view, serves to prepare believers for future, greater joy.
- Sing in the Fullness of the Spirit: A Live Lab on Ephesians 5:15–20
This episode, featuring John Piper, explores the concept of the Holy Spirit's fullness and its relationship to corporate worship, specifically congregational singing.
- Word, Prayer, and People: Three Habits for Enjoying Jesus
David Mathis outlines three habits for experiencing more of God's grace and joy in Christ: reading his word, prayer, and fellowship.
- What King Would Come Like This? The Surprising Advent of Jesus
In "What King Would Come Like This?" David Mathis explores Jesus' arrival, contrasting the expected image of a king with Jesus' actual advent, suggesting Jesus was unexpectedly different but ultimately superior.
- Is Joy in Jesus a Christian Obligation?
John Piper explores the concept of joy in Jesus, addressing whether it is an invitation, a privilege, or a Christian obligation. He presents six arguments for the essential nature of joy in God within the Christian life.
- Saving Faith as the Awakening of Joy in Jesus
John Piper describes saving faith as awakening joy in Jesus, likening belief in him to receiving living water, bread of life, and all-satisfying treasure.
- What to Do When Your Spirits Sink
John Piper explores the life of David, detailing how he navigated disasters, diseases, attacks, and personal sins by depending on God. The episode outlines the pattern David followed to maintain this reliance.
- Our All-Nations Charge: What It Means to Be a World Christian
John Piper identifies cowardice, consumption, and comfort as obstacles to God's global mission. He explores what is needed to become a world Christian and engage in this work.
- Our Pursuit: Joy Overflowing in Love
David Mathis explores the relationship between seeking joy in God and loving others. He suggests that remembering God's reward empowers individuals to serve those in need.
- Jesus’s Pursuit: His Father’s Glory (and His) Through Joy
David Mathis explores Jesus's unique pursuit of his joy and God's glory as the Son of God. As a man, Jesus's example guides our own pursuit of joy.
- God’s Pursuit: His Glory in Our Joy
David Mathis states that a Christian’s joy in God demonstrates God’s awesome and glorious, happy and holy, beautiful and delightful nature. He invites listeners to experience and rejoice in God.
- The Greatness of God in the Doctrines of Grace: TULIP Session 1
John Piper introduces the doctrines of grace, stating that a foundational understanding of God's greatness is necessary before exploring these theological concepts.
- The People of His Majesty: Five Marks of a Marveling Church
David Mathis outlines five marks of a church that cherishes God's majesty: commending, called, candid, conquering, and soon-to-be crowned.
- How to Pray When Trouble Comes
Marshall Segal | How do mature Christians pray when trouble comes? David teaches us from Psalm 86: “Meet my need.” “Glorify your name.” “Teach me your way.” “Gladden my heart.”
- The Only Life Worth Living: A Live Lab on Christian Hedonism
John Piper | In Jesus Christ, we find a Treasure more precious than everything we have in life and everything we lose in death.
- Lay Your Buckets Down: Finding Life with the Woman at the Well
Marshall Segal | No sin is too great, no place is too far, and no wall is too high to keep us from receiving the living water of Jesus — if only we’ll come to him.
- Creation Sings Through Human Lips
Tony Reinke | No star or ocean, insect or tree, bird or cloud has a voice to speak God’s praise. But when we rejoice in God, we take creation’s worship and put it into words.
- God’s Mission Triumphs Through Prayerful Suffering
John Piper | As Jesus bleeds in Gethsemane and then submits to arrest, we see that the mission of God triumphs through prayerful suffering, not the self-defending sword.
- Will Christ Be Humiliated on the Last Day? To the Class of 2025
John Piper | When Jesus returns in glory, he will stand ashamed of those who were ashamed of him here. But what will it really mean for Jesus to be ashamed?
- Habits of Love: The Graces of Sharing Our Joy
David Mathis | Our “habits of grace” prime us for witnessing, giving, and serving — and God uses even these outward expressions to give us even more grace.
- FEAST: Five Prayers for Daily Bible Reading
Marshall Segal | When our Bible meditation feels more like a job than a joy, these five short prayers can take us beyond discipline into delight.
- Why Did God Choose You? The Goal and Ground of His Election
John Piper | Why did God set his saving love on his people before the foundation of the world? So that we might praise the glory of his sovereign grace.
- The Unusually Human Joy of Jesus
David Mathis | Did Jesus endure the cross for his joy or despite it? The answer takes us to the heart of Jesus’s unusually human joy, and ours.
- Providence: The Purposeful Sovereignty of God
John Piper | It’s one thing to know God is sovereign; it’s another to know just how far his sovereignty extends and the purposes for which he wields it.
- Do You Love Jesus? A Grand Finale of His Greatness
David Mathis | At the end of his Gospel, John gives us a grand finale of the mercy, wisdom, greatness, and never-ending glory of Jesus Christ.
- How Doubting Thomas Finds Faith
John Piper | The story of Jesus and Thomas assures us that Jesus really rose bodily, that his patience surpasses our indwelling sin, and that we need not see to believe.
- Be Still and Know: A Crisis-Ready Vision of God
David Mathis | Where do we turn when the ground beneath our feet seems to buckle and shift? Psalm 46 offers a vision of God to keep us through any crisis.
- Where Does Radical Love Come From?
John Piper | How can we be set free from selfishness so that, at any earthly cost to ourselves, we will love other people in a way that makes Christ look great?
- Authentic Preaching in the Age of AI
Tony Reinke | In the age of artificial intelligence, do we still need preachers? Answering that question well takes us to the heart of God-glorifying preaching.
- Turning Sadness at Losing Money to Gladness at Gaining Jesus
John Piper | A camel cannot pass through the eye of a needle, nor can we turn our own hearts from loving money to loving Jesus. But what is impossible with man is possible with God.
- Take Care How You Hear a Sermon
John Piper | There is a way to see truth without seeing it — to hear without hearing. For all who listen to sermons, the words of Jesus stand: Take care how you hear.
- The Privilege of Preaching
John Piper | Though fraught with challenges and temptations to lose heart, preaching the word of God is a glorious privilege. John Piper gives ten reasons why.
- The Power of Preaching
John Piper | God has chosen to bind the fullness of his supernatural effectiveness to the human ministry of the word. So, how might we preach in ways that release his power?
- Big-God Preaching for God-Hungry People
David Mathis | Pastor, all your hearers are hungry for the living God, even if they don’t know it or can’t name it. And only big-God preaching will enduringly satisfy them.
- The Glory of Big-God Preaching
John Piper | When preachers herald the glory of God from the heart, the pride of man dies, all of life becomes meaningful, and we rejoice like never before.
- Foundations for the Future of Your Church
John Piper | A church endures in faithfulness only as its leaders and members rejoice in the glory of God, savor the word of God, and treasure the Son of God.
- We Will Go Out with Joy: Christian Fellowship as a Means of Grace
David Mathis | Fellowship is not a nice addition to personal Christianity but a vital means of grace. Through fellowship, we help each other hold fast till heaven.
- What the World Needs from Your Church
John Piper | Chipper churches leave no lasting impression on the world. The greatest gift we have to give is indomitable joy in Jesus in the midst of suffering and sorrow.