Messages by Desiring God

David Mathis | Christ is priest, king, warrior, and the fulfillment of hope-filled prophecy. Psalm 110 reveals four unique majesties of Jesus for the comfort of the church.

David Mathis | The world’s diversions at college may distract and entice. But when we pursue lasting pleasure in God, every semester counts for eternity.

Marshall Segal | How do we respond when the curse encroaches on our lives? In Psalm 108, David guides us to groan, praise, ask, trust, and tread.

God often uses risks to bring life to others and to end long-standing fruitlessness in our lives. What would it look like to step out for the sake of Christ?

Marshall Segal | God’s presence makes heaven worth wanting. Because of his salvation, Christians not only rest in him and trust in him but sing to him.

David Mathis | The hostile army ignored God as long as they could, but when he looked down at them, they panicked. Then his people’s newfound fear of him erupted in song and dance.

For the writer to the Hebrews, understanding Melchizedek means understanding Jesus. But how can an ancient king help us know the true King of glory?

David Mathis | Why is the writer of Hebrews so enthralled with an often weak and wavering church? He sees her calling, her splendor, and her majestic Savior.

Marshall Segal | Why do we gather to sing week after week, and why should we sing even more? God has saved his people, and all of creation joins in exulting in him.

When the church sets aside every boast and embraces God’s ancient plan of grace, she sings with all her heart for God’s glory alone.

Love moved Jesus to let Lazarus die. Why? Jesus wanted Lazarus, his family, and the watching crowd to taste his all-satisfying glory.

David Mathis | What happens when believers meet together? Christians both give and receive grace from the God who gathers them in true fellowship.

Jesus claimed that Moses wrote about him long before he ever walked the earth as man. If that’s true, how could anyone miss Jesus in the words of Moses?

When David wrote a song about becoming king, he ascribed all his victories to the God who gave them. How do we join David in such God-besotted praise?

David Mathis | How is meditation different from simply reading the Bible? Slowing down and sinking deep into God’s word aids our joy and draws us closer to him.

There once was a man who gave up everything important so he could cling to things that fade. If we want to follow Jesus, we cannot be like that man.

Paul doesn’t just want Christians to know the truths of the Bible — he wants us to set our minds on them. But what does that mean, and how do we do it?

Scott Hubbard | To his friends, George Müller embodied Psalm 23 even under the towering burdens of orphan ministry. What kind of communion with God made such peace possible?

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.

God fulfills his purpose for the church by his work in the church: He magnifies his grace by beautifying his people.

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?

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?

David Mathis | The church depends on Jesus Christ for its existence, authority, and ultimate joy. But how does the God-man’s nature direct the church’s health?

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?

David Mathis | To lead the church faithfully, we need supernatural, sober-minded wisdom. God meets us in his word, by his Spirit, through prayer, with a team.

Jesus endured for the joy set before him. Moses obeyed, expecting the Messiah. The early church suffered for a better reward. This is faith.

Scott Hubbard | Self-awareness can be good, but it can also go too far. Our thoughts of self often grow quieter when we look to God and follow where he leads.

David Mathis | Exercise may seem like a distraction from a life of serving others, but God can use our movement to deepen our joy and broaden our love.

Marshall Segal | When the Bible talks about setting an example, does it mean only super-Christians? No, even the humblest high-school mentor can make the right mark.

David Mathis | Pursuing a holy ambition means seeking maturity in Christ more than we seek influence in the world. An enduring example takes hidden work.

When God ordains sufferings for the good of his people, he also sustains them and cares for them with all the strength of his love.

Because God’s purposeful sovereignty reaches absolutely everywhere, his gospel can satisfy, his mission will succeed, and his people can never be lost.

Jesus’s glorified body, his purpose for believers, his astonishing power, and the glory of the new creation all insist that the resurrection must happen.

Marshall Segal | Jesus’s sheep are happy to be his, and Jesus will never leave them behind. But why would anyone reject this patient, kind, and powerful Savior?

There has never been, nor will there ever be, a greater reality than the God we see when we look at Jesus Christ. His very supremacy is our deepest hope.

David Mathis | How can we sing in the valley of sorrow? In Christ, joy and grief can coexist — and grief now prepares for us far greater joy in the end.

What is the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and how does it relate to making music to God in a church gathering? God opens our eyes so we can sing to him.

Marshall Segal | Where will we find true blessedness? Sexual sin tempts us to find it in fleeting, false pleasures — but God’s promises hold out a better, surer joy.

David Mathis | Where do we find more of God’s grace to increase our joy in Christ? God has created patterns for us to follow in reading, prayer, and fellowship.

David Mathis | When Jesus came to Bethlehem, and later to Jerusalem, he was not the king we expected. He was far, far better.

Joy in Jesus is an invitation and a privilege. Is it also a duty? John Piper lays out six reasons joy in God is essential to the Christian life.

When we believe in Jesus, we receive him as living water, bread of life, and all-satisfying treasure. Saving faith is the awakening of joy in Christ.

David walked with God through disasters, diseases, attacks, and his own sins. What pattern of life did he follow to depend on God through it all?

How do Christians respond to God’s fatherly indignation against our sin? The prophet Micah teaches us: Respond with brokenhearted boldness, with contrite courage.

David Mathis | God invites us to quench our thirst by hearing his voice, having his ear, and belonging to his body. So, come stand under the waterfall of his grace.

Cowardice, consumption, and comfort often stand between us and God’s global work. What can set us free to be world Christians?

David Mathis | Does seeking joy in God ruin our love for others? Jesus meant what he said: Remembering God’s radical reward frees us to serve those in need.

David Mathis | As the Son of God, Jesus pursued his joy and God’s glory in an unrepeatable way — but as man, he stands forth as an example for our own pursuit of joy.

David Mathis | Christian, your joy in God shows the kind of God he is: awesome and glorious, happy and holy, beautiful and delightful beyond measure. So, come, eat, drink, and rejoice.

What are the doctrines of grace? Before we wade into the depths of these doctrines, we need to know something of the greatness of God.

David Mathis | Those who cherish God’s majesty become a certain kind of people: a commending, called, candid, conquering, and soon-to-be crowned church.

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.”

In Jesus Christ, we find a Treasure more precious than everything we have in life and everything we lose in death.

How does the chief end of man — to glorify God by enjoying him forever — shape our approach to classical Christian education?

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.

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.

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.

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?

David Mathis | How might regular exercise serve not just our bodies but our souls, and so make us more ready to honor God by doing good to others?

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.

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 set his saving love on his people before the foundation of the world? So that we might praise the glory of his sovereign grace.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Though fraught with challenges and temptations to lose heart, preaching the word of God is a glorious privilege. John Piper gives ten reasons why.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

We were made to see and savor, with everlasting satisfaction, the soul-staggering glory of Christ. Only then will our lusts lose their power.

When we see the glory of God in his word, we know for sure and we rejoice forever. Glory persuades and pleases, gives certainty and satisfaction.

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.

Brothers, if we are going to do good — lasting good — to our churches, then we must preach and lead and counsel and serve in the strength that God supplies.

David Mathis | In this fallen world, expect suffering and sorrows. But also know that, in Christ, they are limited, designed, and rewarded by a kind and gracious God.

David Mathis | As pastors, our first priority each day is not to serve God, help his people, or engage in other ministry, but to get our soul happy in God.

David Mathis | Do you want God to look good in your life? Then heed his invitation to find your deepest hunger, deepest thirst, and deepest longings satisfied in him.

In a world of many authorities, we magnify the supreme lordship of Christ by the way we submit to the fading structures of this age.

Andrew Fuller shows us that getting Christian experience biblically right and getting the gospel biblically right are essential for the power and perseverance and fruitfulness of world missions.

Paul’s Christian life was one of countless dangers, continual sorrows, and constant joy. How is that kind of life possible?

David Mathis | God not only speaks to us — he bends his ear to hear us talk. Through the work of Christ and the help of the Spirit, we have the ear of God.

Marshall Segal | When our souls grow dull to spiritual reality, the character of God is our confidence. He has restored us before; he will revive us again.

By God’s design, truth serves emotion. Thinking serves feeling. The lyrics of our best songs serve the Godward longings of our hearts.

David Mathis | What do soldiers, farmers, athletes, and Christians have in common? We endure, through discomfort, to get the reward.

David Mathis | God invites us not only to trust him, fear him, and obey him, but to enjoy him. For as we do, our happiness is full in him, and his glory is great in us.

Faithful parents and teachers speak to kids on their level, but they also aim to create new concepts, new structures of thought, new ways of viewing reality.

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.