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Have you ever struggled with
being burned out as a pastor?
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If so, why? And what helped you
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to get out of that season?
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Kevin: Yeah, I've certainly
been burned out
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as a pastor in the past.
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And the cause of it
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and the remedy if you like
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was not trying to be someone else;
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realizing my limitations.
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It's very easy because early on,
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I'd read about other Christians,
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and especially listen to sermons
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saying you must do this as a pastor.
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So I'd be up at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m.
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reading and praying.
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And I'd be a total zombie.
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I just can't do that.
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Now, other people can.
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If someone can, that's great.
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I'm not saying to someone else
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don't to that if it works for them.
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But for me, my mind
doesn't work at that time.
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I find it better to be later in the day;
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well, not later in the day,
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but when I'm up and around, if you like,
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and ready.
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I mean I read Scripture a
lot and think about it.
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But yeah, it would just wipe me out.
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And I'd read also,
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you have people like Spurgeon.
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I once heard he could preach 12 sermons
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a week or something like that.
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Again, it's realizing, I can't do that.
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At the moment, I'm doing
two fresh sermons a week.
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A Wednesday service we have
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and a Sunday.
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I can preach more when
I'm repeating things
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I've taught in the past.
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That's easy enough.
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But as far as coming up with fresh sermons
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and properly studying,
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it used to be three.
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But there's always a compromise there.
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I used to go and do street evangelism
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on a Saturday before finishing
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preparing Saturday evening
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for the next morning.
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I would be mentally wiped out
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after the street evangelism.
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So there's a compromise there.
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It's not wearing Saul's armor;
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realizing what you can and can't do.
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People demanding your time all the time.
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Of course, you want to
be helping and so forth.
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But it's prioritizing things.
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Learning to say no sometimes.
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Because otherwise you can
just get wiped out there.
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And you've got to learn as well
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the things you can't change or deal with,
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to just trust the Lord with them.
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Pray for those problems
and things like that;
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things from the outside.
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When I go to sleep at night,
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the world still revolves perfectly well.
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So, God can handle that on His own.
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So, yeah, and you know even things
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that have helped me:
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making sure I'm eating right.
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Not being obsessed with health,
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but someone can just eat really bad
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and it can affect how tired they are.
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Getting some exercise really helped me.
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It might only be 20 minutes one day
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or 30 minutes or sometimes I might
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get a good bike ride of a couple hours,
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but that's kind of rare (the latter).
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Making sure I get enough sleep.
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Again, I would starve myself
of sleep at one point.
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There are people who can do that,
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but I can't.
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I need an 8 hours.
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Saturday morning to Sunday it might be
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4 hours or 6 hours,
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but I have to have a catch-up.
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Because I used to think it was more holy
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the less sleep you had,
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and things like that.
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Which was a big mistake,
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but I remember listening to John Piper,
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who once said a woman was saying,
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I've cut down my sleep
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and I'm always tired.
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I'm just always exhausted.
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What's God trying to tell me though this?
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And John Piper said, "Go to bed."
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You know, it can be obvious sometimes.
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Again, we've got to realize
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we're not someone else.
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But of course, the other things
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that are essential is to always be
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in the Word and prayer,
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which is very difficult not to be
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if you're a pastor anyway.
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But the other thing I would have -
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a mistake if you like -
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one time, I would be preparing the sermons
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going through various books,
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and also I'd be doing
personal reading as well
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which again, everyone's different.
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But I was told never just read
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what's in your sermons,
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as in your preparation for your reading,
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because - I can't remember
how it was phrased,
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but after awhile I began to see
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it's not right because -
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the point is, you need to be feeding;
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you need to be fed yourself.
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But then I realized that's not right,
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because the idea was, for instance,
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at the moment we're going through
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Matthew's Gospel
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and we're going through Exodus.
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Okay, so, the idea of that statement
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is don't just use my preparation
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in Exodus and Matthew,
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because I need feeding myself.
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But the problem with that statement is
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I should be feeding myself
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through Matthew and Exodus.
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Otherwise, I shouldn't be teaching it
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to anyone else.
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Often, this is what it is.
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As I'm preparing, and of course,
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I'm doing this all week,
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I'm thinking about the Scriptures
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and I'm thinking this is so helpful.
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I can't wait to share
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with the brethren.
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I can't wait because I know
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it's going to help them the same.
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That's how it should be.
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But my point here is
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I was picking up other stuff as well,
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and I can only take so much.
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And that's the way,
I think I heard MacArthur -
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that's the way he reads the Bible,
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mastering one book at a time.
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Well, I'm trying to do
it with two at a time,
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but that's the way that works for me
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at the moment.
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So the big thing was
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we should imitate other men,
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but you got too much in bondage to that?
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And that was what was burning you out,
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wearing Saul's armor;
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having expectations that
just weren't really
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the Lord's will for you personally?
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Kevin: Yeah, as I said, the things
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that didn't work for me,
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I don't want anyone to listen to this
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and think well, I shouldn't do that then.
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It may work for them.
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And if it works for them - great.
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It's a bit like sometimes
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a Christian mother, for instance.
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She'll hear about getting
up at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m.
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to pray and read the Bible.
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And she's trying to do
it with a little toddler
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who is screaming or getting ready,
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and sometimes it can be better to
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just get the children ready to whatever,
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and then sit down with a cup of coffee.
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And have your devotion then.
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Rather than a time when it's impossible.
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Everybody's different.
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There should be a time though.
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But as a pastor, as I said,
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as far as reading the Word,
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it's harder not to do
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because you've just got so
much preparation anyway.