Eight Years of APJ, and What’s Ahead

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | Today we wrap up year number eight

00:00:06.300 | on the Ask Pastor John podcast, which is amazing.

00:00:09.160 | The time has passed by so quickly.

00:00:12.080 | The run of this podcast recently dawned on me

00:00:14.760 | when I read an email that we got from a young man

00:00:18.000 | who said that he started listening to the podcast

00:00:20.240 | shortly after he was converted,

00:00:21.800 | and now he's entering seminary and still listening.

00:00:25.160 | It's amazing, I had to stop and compute that for a moment,

00:00:27.840 | the kind of duration of someone converted

00:00:30.320 | and then entering seminary.

00:00:31.800 | So we've been doing this a while.

00:00:33.600 | Here we are finishing up year number eight,

00:00:35.840 | and as we do, I wanted to give you just a little glance

00:00:38.400 | at the numbers of where the podcast is at right now.

00:00:41.240 | And over those eight years,

00:00:42.360 | we have released 1,600 episodes in the podcast,

00:00:46.400 | starting back on John Piper's birthday on January 11th, 2013.

00:00:50.880 | That was episode number one.

00:00:52.600 | And then with all of the special and unnumbered episodes,

00:00:56.180 | and then obviously the ones that are numbered,

00:00:58.160 | that's a tally of 1,600 episodes to date.

00:01:03.160 | Incredible.

00:01:04.200 | And on those episodes,

00:01:05.800 | when you look at Pastor John's episodes,

00:01:07.800 | the ones where he's the one I'm talking with,

00:01:10.320 | no guest episodes, Pastor John transcripts alone

00:01:13.380 | represent 1.7 million words of content.

00:01:18.380 | Just to put that into perspective,

00:01:20.320 | imagine the entire Lord of the Rings series,

00:01:23.640 | read them once and then read them a second time,

00:01:27.100 | and then read them a third time.

00:01:28.640 | That's the equivalent of the word count

00:01:30.820 | of John Piper's episodes on APJ.

00:01:32.960 | Oh, and you'd also have to read "The Hobbit"

00:01:34.660 | three times as well.

00:01:36.120 | 1.7 million words.

00:01:38.680 | It's an incredible amount of content.

00:01:40.500 | But of course, this podcast is meant

00:01:42.260 | to be heard with the ears.

00:01:43.880 | And if you tally up all the plays on all those episodes,

00:01:46.440 | APJ episodes have been listened to 180 million times.

00:01:53.380 | That's an average of over 112,000 plays per episode.

00:01:58.380 | That's so encouraging.

00:02:02.560 | And not only do the episodes get listened to

00:02:04.840 | as we release them,

00:02:06.400 | but people regularly access those episodes

00:02:08.200 | like an archive of on-demand pastoral answers, really,

00:02:12.080 | when needs and questions arise in your life.

00:02:16.280 | So I can't tell you how gratifying it is

00:02:18.000 | to invest my life on a project

00:02:19.360 | that has such a long-term use

00:02:21.920 | and a value to so many.

00:02:24.120 | So thanks for reading,

00:02:25.240 | thanks for listening,

00:02:26.260 | and thanks for watching.

00:02:27.320 | Yes, watching.

00:02:28.200 | As I study the numbers,

00:02:30.360 | what strikes me is the growth we've seen in YouTube.

00:02:33.840 | Yes, YouTube.

00:02:34.880 | As many of you know,

00:02:35.720 | for the past few years now,

00:02:37.040 | we've released each APJ episode as a video in YouTube.

00:02:40.740 | In 2019, those episodes accounted for 6.7 million plays.

00:02:45.400 | Just shy of 7 million plays.

00:02:47.460 | That number has doubled this year.

00:02:49.920 | In 2020, we saw 13.2 million plays,

00:02:54.440 | just in YouTube.

00:02:55.660 | And it continues to be a growing platform for our podcast.

00:02:58.320 | It'll be interesting to see what the Lord has in store

00:03:01.000 | in 2021 for APJ on YouTube.

00:03:04.080 | And if that's you,

00:03:04.920 | if you're listening to or watching this episode right now,

00:03:07.240 | thank you for investing so much of your attention

00:03:09.140 | into our DG YouTube channel.

00:03:11.320 | It's super encouraging.

00:03:13.160 | Well, there's so much to be encouraged about

00:03:14.960 | as we close out the year.

00:03:16.120 | And recently, Pastor John visited the DG offices

00:03:18.880 | in Minneapolis in order to ponder the meaning of 2020

00:03:22.360 | and to talk about why we released

00:03:24.040 | so many teaching resources.

00:03:26.320 | And I wanted to play for you what he said.

00:03:28.160 | Here's Pastor John.

00:03:29.340 | - It may seem strange to you

00:03:32.800 | as I ponder the meaning of 2020

00:03:37.320 | and look back over pandemic

00:03:41.080 | and political intrigue and tension

00:03:45.920 | and all kinds of outrage and division inside

00:03:50.440 | and outside the church and natural disasters.

00:03:54.840 | As I look back over this extraordinary year,

00:03:59.840 | I find myself reacting perhaps differently than others

00:04:04.840 | because I feel like I've been living in another world,

00:04:08.800 | namely the world of Ephesians,

00:04:13.360 | a reality with election

00:04:15.920 | before the foundation of the world unto holiness,

00:04:19.260 | the reality of predestination unto sonship

00:04:23.160 | through Jesus Christ to the praise of the glory of God,

00:04:27.800 | the reality of redemption by the blood of the Son of God

00:04:31.480 | for the forgiveness of our trespasses,

00:04:34.560 | the reality of sovereign God reaching into my dead heart

00:04:38.360 | and giving me life,

00:04:40.200 | the reality of sealing with the Holy Spirit,

00:04:43.520 | the reality that Paul describes in chapter two

00:04:46.200 | about being separated from the Messiah

00:04:49.160 | and cut off from the commonwealth of Israel

00:04:51.840 | and strangers to the covenants of promise

00:04:54.700 | and without hope in the world.

00:04:57.840 | And I step back and say,

00:04:59.520 | that's another world besides the 2020

00:05:03.160 | that people are talking about.

00:05:07.040 | So what hit me,

00:05:08.960 | I was reading Hebrews the other day.

00:05:11.400 | You come to chapter five and it says,

00:05:13.120 | "By this time you ought to be teachers."

00:05:17.120 | Look, everybody, all Christians,

00:05:19.280 | "By this time you ought to be teachers."

00:05:21.320 | And I felt like nobody knows the world of Ephesians

00:05:24.760 | in the world, in the church,

00:05:26.840 | who knows what it means to be elect and predestined

00:05:30.960 | and redeemed and sealed and born again

00:05:34.240 | and participants in the promises of Israel

00:05:37.200 | and part of the commonwealth of the people of God

00:05:39.760 | who even functions in those categories.

00:05:43.120 | And it hit me, what we need is a tidal wave of teachers.

00:05:48.120 | I mean, as Paul looked out

00:05:51.560 | on an empire of ignorance about Christianity,

00:05:56.560 | do you remember what he did in Ephesians?

00:06:01.840 | When he got to Ephesus,

00:06:03.800 | it says he preached in the synagogue for three months

00:06:07.920 | arguing about these things

00:06:09.120 | because they didn't know anything about them.

00:06:10.720 | And they kicked him out.

00:06:12.280 | And you know what he did next?

00:06:14.360 | He holed up for two years.

00:06:17.600 | And it says, every day,

00:06:20.480 | every day for two years, he teaches.

00:06:24.240 | And the result, all Asia heard the word of the Lord.

00:06:27.880 | So I find myself here at the end of 2020,

00:06:31.360 | looking out over a sea of ignorance.

00:06:35.040 | And I think of the election and I think of the pandemic

00:06:39.440 | and I think of the natural disasters.

00:06:41.880 | Those are bubbles popping on a sea of ignorance.

00:06:46.880 | And everything in me says,

00:06:48.880 | I wanna be a part of a spirit anointed movement

00:06:53.520 | of teaching in this world.

00:06:54.840 | I wanna fill Jerusalem with my teaching.

00:06:57.080 | I wanna fill America, fill the nations with teaching

00:07:00.160 | because there's no other way people could make

00:07:02.600 | any informed thoughts, inclinations, decisions,

00:07:07.120 | loves about the truth if they don't know what it is.

00:07:11.320 | And so here I am, the offices of desiring God say,

00:07:15.720 | I am so glad that's what we do.

00:07:19.480 | We exist to bring people to glorify God

00:07:23.080 | by making them satisfied more in God than anything

00:07:26.960 | by teaching and teaching and teaching

00:07:29.120 | about his truth and worth and beauty,

00:07:31.640 | all based on the Bible.

00:07:33.640 | Many of you know all about that.

00:07:35.360 | Others of you are brand new to us.

00:07:37.720 | We exist because of your partnership.

00:07:40.240 | If you're a veteran and you love what we do,

00:07:43.360 | if you're brand new and that just rings true to you,

00:07:46.800 | my invitation here at the end of the year

00:07:49.080 | is simply join us as a financial partner.

00:07:52.960 | Whether you give a little or you give a lot,

00:07:55.320 | whether you give once or you give monthly,

00:07:58.280 | whatever you do, if that rings true,

00:08:01.480 | I invite you to join us.

00:08:03.480 | And as we close the year, just take heart,

00:08:07.120 | take heart because God has said,

00:08:09.600 | I am God and there is no other.

00:08:11.480 | I am God and there's none like me.

00:08:14.680 | Declaring the end from the beginning

00:08:16.680 | and from ancient times, things not yet done,

00:08:19.560 | saying my counsel will stand

00:08:22.920 | and I will accomplish all my purpose.

00:08:25.080 | He's gonna do it.

00:08:26.640 | The world just needs to know.

00:08:27.800 | They need teaching.

00:08:29.880 | - Exactly, the world needs a lot more teaching

00:08:32.360 | and that's one reason why we are up to 1600 APJ episodes

00:08:36.560 | to date and counting, Lord willing with many more to come

00:08:40.200 | and 180 million episode plays all time.

00:08:45.200 | As you might imagine, this podcast is not free to make

00:08:47.480 | and distribute and promote around the world.

00:08:49.320 | It only happens through the joyful investment

00:08:51.680 | of our ministry partners and that can be you.

00:08:54.200 | As we near the end of year eight,

00:08:56.120 | you can support us for the first time

00:08:58.240 | or you can extend your support to us

00:09:00.240 | at desiringgod.org/donate.

00:09:02.960 | That's desiringgod.org/donate.

00:09:06.560 | And speaking of God's truth and worth and beauty,

00:09:09.200 | all based on the Bible, on Friday we launch a new year

00:09:12.000 | and that means many of us reset our Bible reading plans.

00:09:15.560 | Pastor John has a Bible reading plan he likes

00:09:17.840 | and I'll tell you which one it is on Friday.

00:09:19.680 | And I'll ask Pastor John, how can we prepare

00:09:21.600 | for the sustained discipline and energy it will take

00:09:24.800 | to read the entire Bible through the year ahead?

00:09:28.000 | He's back in the studio with me on Friday for that.

00:09:30.240 | Let's do this again.

00:09:31.760 | Let's do this another eight years, another 1600 episodes,

00:09:34.480 | another 180 million plays, why not?

00:09:36.560 | Lord willing, we can in a second tidal wave of teaching

00:09:40.640 | with you alongside us.

00:09:42.080 | So would you please pray for us

00:09:43.240 | as our labors enter the new year?

00:09:45.840 | Pray for Pastor John and myself.

00:09:47.560 | We would really appreciate your prayers,

00:09:49.440 | not only financial support,

00:09:50.680 | but your prayer support is really important to us.

00:09:53.640 | And with that, year number eight comes to an end.

00:09:57.800 | On Friday we launch year number nine.

00:10:00.120 | I'm Tony Reinke, we'll see you in 2021.

00:10:02.880 | (upbeat music)

00:10:05.480 | (upbeat music)

00:10:08.080 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Eight Years of APJ, and What’s Ahead

Chapters