• The Church and Israel: The Issue. World events have led many to wonder what is the role for Israel. Cornelis Venema writes “In order to orient the discussion of this critical issue, we need to begin with a clear understanding of the major views on this question that are represented today within the church. These views illustrate not only the importance of the question, but the wide diversity of positions.”
• Listener Questions (Live at TGC25) [The Everyday Pastor. In this special episode of The Everyday Pastor podcast, Matt Smethurst and Ligon Duncan answer listener-submitted questions, recorded live at The Gospel Coalition’s 2025 National Conference.

God’s Good Design for Marriage: 5 Doctrinal Dimensions. Robert Yarbrough offers a doxological tribute to marriage, a celebration and commendation of God’s good and glorious design.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:

• More interesting article links
• Favorite Quotes of the Week

• Seven Ways to Break Free From Misplaced Hope. On this episode of the Ask Pastor John podcast, John Piper responds to the question “When I think about going to heaven one day, I get most excited about seeing my parents, grandparents, and possibly pets. I know this is wrong — I should be most excited about seeing Jesus. What do I need to confess, and how do I overcome this?”
• Jesus’ Warnings to the Comfortable. On this episode of the Ask Pastor John, John Piper responds to the question “I was reading through the beatitudes in Luke 6:24–26. They struck me like never before. Verse 24 says, ‘Woe to you who are rich.’ I am rich by all global standards. My wife and I do not live beyond our means or spend frivolously; however, we do have good incomes and savings. Verse 25 says, ‘Woe to you who are full now.’ I have never been truly hungry in my life apart from voluntary fasting. Verse 25 says, ‘Woe to you who laugh now.’ I have a joyful life and try to laugh often. “Can you help put Jesus’s woes into perspective, especially as they seem directed at my life? Can you contrast Luke’s account with Matthew’s, which says, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit,’ ‘hunger and thirst for righteousness,’ etc.? I desire the blessings of Luke 6:20–22, but I’m unsure how to reconcile all of this with my physical life. Matthew seems more focused on my spiritual life.”
• Guard Your Mind from Trash. On this episode of the Ask Pastor John podcast, John Piper responds to the question “In Philippians 4:8, Paul urges us to focus on things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy. But, honestly, it’s hard to keep my mind fixed on these qualities when I’m constantly surrounded by dishonor. The news is filled with corruption, entertainment glorifies immorality, and conversations at work or online often celebrate deceit and impurity. I don’t want to be naïve or disengaged from reality, but I also don’t want my thoughts to be shaped by dishonorable influences. How can I protect my mind without becoming isolated or indifferent to the world around me? What practical steps can help me align my thoughts with Philippians 4:8, even when the world’s noise feels deafening?
• Did God Forgive Me if I Don’t Feel Forgiven? On this episode of the Ask Pastor John podcast, John Piper responds to the question that reads in part “My question is, can I still be forgiven, especially after deliberately rejecting him? Does he see my heart now and offer salvation to someone who once chose to turn their back on him? I know I would never have acted so recklessly if I knew then what I know now, and I’m desperate for assurance that his forgiveness is still available to me.”
• Did We Sin Our Marriage Away? On this episode of the Ask Pastor John podcast, John Piper responds to the question that reads in part “My husband and I are currently separated, and my heart feels utterly broken. We’ve been married for almost ten years, but our relationship has been difficult, marked by his alcoholism, which he is now sober from, and my long battle with chronic illness, which I’ve now been healed from. We both acknowledge our past mistakes, but now my husband believes that maybe we ‘sinned our way into this marriage’ and that it may not have been God’s will for us to be together. Is there any truth to what he’s saying, or does God’s union of husband and wife hold, particularly for Christians, despite our struggles?”
• Surviving the Social Media Flood of Life Advice. On this episode of the Ask Pastor John podcast, John Piper responds to a question that reads in part “As a college student, I’m bombarded with messages about what it means to succeed — landing the right job, climbing the social ladder, achieving goals. But when I read this passage, I wonder: Should I even care about these things? What does it mean to be alive in the world but dead to the world? Does it mean I should ignore my future, my friendships, or even career aspirations? How do I live in the world without getting caught up in its temporary distractions, especially when everything around me urges me to chase after them?”
• Four Tests for False Teaching. On this episode of the Ask Pastor John podcast, John Piper responds to the question “The Bible gives us a lot of warnings about false teachers, but how can I identify if someone I listen to on the Internet is a false teacher? A number of people have been accused of being false teachers. How would I discern this? What should we be looking for?”
• Distorted Doctrine Destroys Lives. On this episode of the Ask Pastor John podcast, John Piper responds to the question that can be summarized as “What is the real danger of having the wrong theology?

• When Tradition Gets in the Way. Why is it so tempting for us to substitute our cultural mores for the gospel norm? On this episode of the Gospelbound podcast, Michael Reeves joins Collin Hansen to discuss how the traditions of men appeal to our pride—and how the church can pursue true unity rooted in the gospel.
• What is Covenant Theology? On this episode of the Ask Ligonier podcast, Sinclair Ferguson states “Simply put, covenant theology is the basic understanding of the whole Bible story and a description of the way in which God relates to His creation and humanity.”
• Is Marriage Eternal? Levi Berntson writes “Few questions stir our hearts like this one: Will I be married to my spouse in heaven?”
• What is Covenant Theology?V. Fesko writes “This article will dive beneath the water’s surface and briefly explore the iceberg mass of covenant theology by first defining what a covenant is and then examining the three major covenants common to historic Reformed theology.”
• Virtue and Vice in Christian Thought: A Conversation with Robbie Griggs and Dan Doriani. Christians throughout history have wrestled with the questions around virtue – what is it? How is Christ’s virtue ethics different from the ethics of other philosophers? On this episode of the Working with Dan Doriani podcast, Clay Smith interviews Dan and Robbie Griggs about their work on the book The Death of the Seven Deadly Sins.
• 15 Ways to Discern False Teaching. Kevin DeYoung asks “What is false teaching and how can we spot it?”

• The Forces of Secularization in the West. On this episode of the Thinking in Public podcast, Albert Mohler visits with Christian Smith, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. It is his most recent book, Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in Americathat is the topic of this episode.
• Nationalism Revisited and Reasserted. On this episode of the Thinking in Public podcast, Albert Mohler visits with Yoram Hazony, the President of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem and Chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation. They discuss the revised and expanded edition of his award-winning book, The Virtue of Nationalism on this episode of the podcast.

---

• Every human being will only ever find one place of rest, one location of final fulfillment. There and there alone will the journey end, the war be over, and our hearts be given the rest they always wanted but never fully had. Paul Tripp
• The deeper our troubles, the louder our thanks to God, who has led us through them all and preserved us until today. Charles Spurgeon
• God will either give us what we ask or give us what we would have asked if we knew everything he knows. Tim Keller
• The grounds of your justification are the perfect works of Jesus Christ. We’re saved by works, but they’re not our own. R.C. Sproul
• We have permission to approach His throne at all times—in midnight’s darkest hour or in noontide’s most burning heat. Exercise your right, believer, and enjoy this privilege. Charles Spurgeon
• Repentance is a characteristic of the whole life, not the action of a single moment. Sinclair Ferguson
• Every worship service we attend is an audience with the King of kings. R.C. Sproul
• Being a disciple of Jesus means orienting our lives toward others, just as Jesus did. It means laboring for the sake of others. This love for others is at the heart of discipling. Mark Dever
• Jesus will always exceed our expectations. He will be more than what we can ask for or even imagine every time. Tim Keller