The ‘Ask Pastor John’ Guide Is Right here

Audio Transcript

In January of 2013, we launched just a little podcast into the world. We known as it Ask Pastor John. We slapped a jingle on the entrance finish and hit publish on a short lived podcast meant to final us fifteen months or so to fill a brief want we had right here at Needing God. And Pastor John, right here we’re, two thousand episodes later.

I can’t even bear in mind these days.

I do know. It looks like a distant reminiscence. And I believe I used to name you up in your telephone. You used a landline telephone for these early years. Do you keep in mind that?

Yep. Down in Tennessee.

Two thousand episodes later, we’re now into our twelfth 12 months. And in the present day we glance again. We glance again at what God has carried out previously years of APJ. And we glance ahead, with prayers for the long run and prayers for what God would possibly do in a new APJ ebook. That ebook releases in the present day. Extra on that in a second. As we begin off, Pastor John, inform us how this podcast suits inside your ministry legacy. How do you consider it now, twelve years in?

Bible-Saturated Legacy

My dad and mom constructed into me from the time I might learn — that’s about six years outdated, after we moved into the home I’m enthusiastic about — a ardour for legacy. And I didn’t know that on the time. I didn’t know what legacy was, however that’s what it was, as a result of hanging on the wall in our kitchen — and it hangs behind me proper now the place I’m standing in my examine — was this motto: “Just one life, ’twill quickly be handed. Solely what’s carried out for Christ will final.” That’s legacy discuss.

So I consider, Tony, that you simply and I’ve produced Ask Pastor John for Christ. “Solely what’s carried out for Christ will final.” And we didn’t do it for ourselves. We did it for Christ. We’re doing it for Christ. Your ebook shall be, I consider, a part of the success of the second half of the motto: “What’s carried out for Christ will final.”

“Virtually each episode is a cautious expression of about an hour and a half of examine and thought and prayer.”

You realize properly, Tony, that I’ve my favourite hyphenated phrases: God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated. And I believe that’s what Ask Pastor John is; that’s the legacy: God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated counsel for people who find themselves in want. And I might underline Bible-saturated, as a result of many podcasts are gratifying conversations that folks have on-line. That’s not what we’ve carried out for ten years. Virtually each episode is a cautious expression — well-prepared and a whole lot of thought gone into it — of about an hour and a half of examine and thought and prayer, saturated with the Bible.

So I believe, Tony, our legacy shall be this: “They had been God-centered; they had been Christ-exalting; they had been Bible guys — with an odd twist known as Christian Hedonism as a result of they believed that God is most glorified in us after we are most glad in him.” I believe that’s the best way I might specific the legacy.

Distilling the Archive

Amen. Might it’s! That has actually been our prayer from the very begin of this podcast. And if you would like the total backstory of the place it got here from and the way it’s tied to the distinctive ways in which Pastor John is presented to reply questions, I inform that backstory within the introduction to my model new ebook, simply talked about. It’s titled Ask Pastor John: 750 Bible Solutions to Life’s Most Vital Questions. That new ebook launches in the present day. It’s the purpose of this particular episode to announce the brand new ebook, Ask Pastor John: 750 Bible Solutions to Life’s Most Vital Questions.

Individuals listening to about it for the primary time ask me, “What’s it, Tony? Why did you write a ebook a few podcast, particularly when the entire archive is transcribed; it’s on-line; it’s only a Google search away for anybody who needs it?”

Actually the genesis of this new ebook got here years in the past when mates of ours, ministry companions (donors), would e mail me, asking about some urgent query that has come up of their life, their household, their church — asking me for one APJ episode that might reply a dilemma. And I believe the archive is intimidating for lots of people. I believe we’re as much as about 250 hours of content material now. And that grows by the week. That’s a whole lot of content material to sift via.

So, what I might do is I might take the query from the donor, dive into the archive, and all the time discover a number of episodes on a subject, and reply with an e mail that was mainly a digest of all these episodes that I discovered — and even simply components of an episode that I discovered — that I believed might assist reply a given problem from totally different angles, explaining why every episode I discovered was uniquely useful in answering the query.

And over time, these little digests simply appeared to show helpful. As they did, I collected them into one doc on my pc, and in some unspecified time in the future I spotted I might do that with the broader archive. So, I put aside two years of my book-research-and-writing time. I recognized our hottest episodes from our first decade. That was the straightforward half. The sort of podcast actually affords us a suggestions loop like no different — the viewers asks the questions, after which the viewers responds to the episodes we file. It’s very straightforward to see what matters most resonate with our viewers.

So, I remoted our 28 hottest matters, and mainly simply created 28 enormous digests of 750 episodes, in a single complete information, to assist discover the episodes that you simply want while you want them. It was an enormous mission. There have been instances early on once I questioned if this was a good suggestion or not.

Guide for Each Residence

However now it’s carried out. And I’ve excessive hopes that this ebook will show helpful. Sinclair Ferguson, in his type endorsement, likened it to Richard Baxter’s traditional, huge ebook, A Christian Listing. It’s an incredible comparability for these of you within the Reformed world who know what that massive ebook is like. After which Dr. Ferguson known as the APJ ebook “a type of uncommon modern books that may be described as ‘must be in each Christian residence.’” My jaw dropped once I learn that. I imply, that’s an incredible endorsement of the ebook, however even of your deep labors on this podcast too, Pastor John, every episode being that cautious expression of about an hour and a half of your examine and thought and prayer, saturated with the Bible. That’s an enormous funding. A ringing endorsement of your labors.

After which Kevin DeYoung, one other good friend of ours, mentioned, “I can’t think about any Christian who wouldn’t be helped by and fascinated by the lots of of matters lined on this wonderful useful resource.” Once more, that highlights the worth of getting a printed information you may simply thumb via and browse. It’s a novel means, I believe, to understand such a long-running podcast like APJ.

So, if these type phrases are correct — and I’ve excessive hopes that this ebook goes to serve listeners to assist them profit from the archive within the years forward — I can’t wait to see what the Lord does with this. Pastor John, as you think about what this new ebook will provide the podcast within the close to future and within the distant future, what would you add to this dialog?

Trembling and Rejoicing

When individuals say good issues about our educating, we might simply overlook what makes us tremble on this mission — particularly, James 3:1: “Not a lot of it is best to change into academics . . . for you realize that we who educate shall be judged [that means judged by God] with larger strictness.” Wow. However you and I concerned on this fixed educating ministry take coronary heart from God’s phrase to Isaiah: “That is the one to whom I’ll look [declares the Lord]: he who’s humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my phrase” (Isaiah 66:2). So, we consider God will look to us — he’ll smile upon us due to Jesus and since we don’t play quick and free along with his phrase. We tremble on the very privilege of figuring out his phrase and talking his phrase.

Instructing is what we do. It’s our calling. It’s a harmful work. It’s a trembling work. However oh, what a contented work! It’s a contented work as a result of we get to spend untold hours immersed in God’s phrase for the sake of God’s individuals. And Jesus mentioned, “This stuff I’ve spoken to you . . . that your pleasure could also be full” (John 15:11). After which he advised us to go share what we’ve heard and added, “It’s extra blessed [more happy] to offer than to obtain” (Acts 20:35). So, it’s been a contented work.

Tony, you may bear your personal witness to the thrill of going through, amazingly, two thousand episodes of APJ, and choosing and distilling them right into a usable handbook of Christian counsel. However I need to bear witness to the enjoyment of watching that occur. It actually has been astonishing to observe. For ten years, I’ve watched you consider questions by the hundreds, file solutions, edit recordings, file or host a podcast, and schedule the episodes.

Now, that’s one supply of pleasure (and it’s huge and stable), simply watching these competencies that God has given you set into motion for his glory. However the talent that our readers are going to see on this ebook — this synthesizing talent — is of one other order. Weaving lots of of thousand-word solutions into topical, coherent, readable chapters has impressed — nonetheless conjures up — my glad admiration and thankfulness to God.

So thanks, Tony, for the funding of ten years of your life on the podcast and two years of your life on the ebook. It has been a valuable partnership. Clearly you and I each consider within the worth of the written phrase and the spoken phrase. You’ve jogged my memory of that time and again — in regards to the peculiar nature of this audible dialog that we now have. We’ve seen lives captivated for Christ via each writing and talking. We pray for that to proceed to occur via each.

You and I each love to put in writing. We’re writers. We get our ideas out on paper with pleasure. It’s in our God-designed bones. However neither you nor I’ll give up the dwelling voice, as a result of the dwelling voice carries the affections of the guts extra successfully than the written phrase. And we consider that new Christ-exalting affections of the guts are the purpose of this ministry, the purpose of books, the purpose of talking, the purpose of Needing God. I consider it’s the purpose of the Bible — new Christ-exalting affections.

So, Ask Pastor John — the ebook and the podcast — goal to impart new affections. That’s what we need to occur. We goal at a miracle. We hope that you simply, our listeners, will hear and browse our hearts. There’s a glad melody there in our hearts — a God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated, glad melody — and we hope that you simply hear it, and that it turns into the melody of your life.

Two Prayers for Listeners and Readers

Nicely put! Thanks, Pastor John. I respect that. We would like the dwelling voice captured on this podcast to bless individuals world wide for years and a long time to return. To that finish we now have two prayers with this ebook.

First, we pray this ebook helps you who’re listening to us proper now. We would like you to raised navigate our over 2 hundred hours of audio, to seek out episodes you want while you want them, and the episodes your mates want after they want them. I believe we will help you higher serve others if we will help you discover your means across the archive higher. That’s prayer one.

“The ebook and the podcast goal to impart new affections. That’s what we need to occur. We goal at a miracle.”

Prayer two is for future listeners to this podcast, those that aren’t listening proper now. They’ll’t hear me proper now; they’re not listening to me; they haven’t even began listening. Think about an viewers of people that have by no means listened to APJ that can come on-line and take heed to our content material in future years and a long time. Thousands and thousands of individuals proper now — that’s not an overstatement — don’t know that this podcast exists: individuals in our church buildings, individuals in our neighborhoods, individuals at work, individuals wrestling with struggling, individuals asking a very powerful questions in life. And I would like them to see rapidly the bottom we’ve lined within the first ten years of the podcast in order that they’ll profit from the archive instantly.

So, these are our two prayers. And I put them within the introduction to my new ebook once I wrote this: “As we construct this podcast right into a single content material library, our first decade lays the groundwork for all the things else to return. For present listeners, the ebook rehearses key highlights from the previous. For future listeners, the ebook is an on-ramp to summarize the bottom we’ve already lined. The ebook will instantly serve hundreds of present listeners who discovered their means from the podcast to the ebook.” That’s you in the event you’re listening, listening to in regards to the ebook for the primary time; you’re transferring from the podcast to the ebook.

“However maybe, if the Lord is gracious, the present will reverse in due time, and hundreds of readers will discover their means from this new ebook to the podcast. That’s our prayer. As you reward this ebook to not-yet-listeners, you’re serving to us fulfill this dream in reply to that prayer. Consider this ebook as a podcast promo product of paper and ink which you could bodily hand to others” (xxviii).

That thought thrills me. I can’t wait handy out copies of this ebook to introduce new listeners to the podcast, to share with others this glad melody — this God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated, glad melody of what this podcast is. What a pleasure! What an honor to have the ability to do this.

Okay, so the place are you able to get copies? To launch this new, huge, pink Ask Pastor John ebook, we’re once more partnering with our mates at Westminster Books. Assist a beautiful Christian bookstore, and get discounted copies of Ask Pastor John: 750 Bible Solutions to Life’s Most Vital Questions proper now at wtsbooks.com.

I’ve been honored to be your podcast host for over a decade from behind a microphone. And now to be your podcast host in a brand new ebook format is a brand new pleasure for me. Whether or not by microphone or by ebook, I’m your host, Tony Reinke. See you subsequent time.