Steve Hunter Bible Study

DIY How to avoid Pastor burnout Are you worried about pastor burnout? Here are 10 ways to avoid pastor burnout: 1) manage time well and take breaks 2) schedule physical activity 3) schedule reading time 4) schedule vacation, family, marriage time 5) gain perspective and happy experiences 6) pace for endurance, not a sprint 7) get things done early, don't procrastinate 8) recharge daily in the Word, meditation, and prayer    9) look back on each day with thankfulness 10) look ahead with great anticipation Pastors, just like anyone else, can experience burnout if they are not living a balanced life .  The Christian walk itself requires a balance of spiritual, physical, and mental well-being.  Even our spiritual disciplines must be in balance.  If any area of our life is out of balance, we suffer.  If the intellectual aspect of our life takes all of our time, our spiritual life and physical health degrade.  We feel sluggish and are not fu...

   Leadership and discipleship may run very parallel tracks as both leadership and discipleship involve disciplines, training, time-management, strategic planning, work ethic, passion, conviction, and will require mentorship for maturation yet they are different.       In considering leadership, you can observe that there are many leaders, both religious and secular, in our culture and our world.  Leaders can be found in both realms.  You can be both a disciple and a leader, but not all leaders are disciples.  Leadership requires the acquisition of essential skills used for leading others in both the church and the world, but what each leads people to is distinctively different.  For the secular man, leadership is structurally vital for the acquisition of money, property, power, influence, and other self-indulgent means.  Far too many of God's ministers in the age of the megachurch bring these same secular leadership goals i...

Doing the hard thing...lovingly confronting sin. Like a house, our soul is only as stable as its foundation. A strong foundation will hold a house steady during stormy weather, but one built on the weak, faulty ground will shift, crack, and eventually fall under the pressure of high winds and rain. Likewise, our lives stand or crumble depending on our soul’s foundation. - Value of a Soul movie To truly love biblically, we must express more than kindness with our love. I would never suggest that it is kind to allow a person to sit in the path of a charging lion or speeding car. I would sound the alarm no matter how much it angered or started them so that I may keep them from harm. In the end, they should be thankful for the warning, but I know that I have done the right thing. That is what matters. Real love allows us to be the unpopular at times as we correct, rebuke, and instruct in righteousness through the Word that it may restore or build-up those we love to right ...

Pastor as the shepherd.  Do Pastors sometimes lose focus? "Preaching is fundamentally a part of the care of souls, and the care of souls involves a thorough understanding of the congregation." - Haddon Robinson, Biblical Preaching So preaching is not just delivering a motivational or entertaining speech, teaching a book, or administration of a church. It is the responsibility of the pastor to shepherd the flock. It is to intercede in the care for the people as ambassadors of God. Programs, church operations, etc should not be pr oduced for the primary purpose of creating event attendance, entertainment, and tithe. This type of ministry would encourage narcissistic self-indulgence, spiritual complacency, and institutional dependence. Instead, pastors should design meaningful ministry that nurses the wounded, heals the sick, strengthen the believer, builds the body, and reaches out with a message of hope through equipped disciples in Jesus Christ. In doing so, we must keep...

Why was Lot called righteous?  That's a really good question that takes a bit of thought... In Genesis, we read that Lot is Abraham's older brother's son.  Although Lot is a close relative of the Biblical patriarch Abraham, we read that he is riddled with flaws.  Lot, like many of us today, judges by sight and thinks of himself before others (Genesis 13:8-12).  He first chooses to live outside of the city of Sodom then later to live inside its walls.  He is drawn by commerce and gains great influence in this city.  Later he becomes drunk and commits incest with both his daughters.  Lot seems anything but righteous.  So why was Lot rescued twice, first by Abraham (Genesis 14) and later by angels sent by God to escape the judgment and destruction of Sodom? There must be more to Lot than what appears on the surface... From the evident protection of Abraham and God, there must be more going on in the heart of this man than his outward actions sh...

Matthew 6:25-34 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you-you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that...

     Welcome to the family of God where all believers are referred affectionately by family titles. We are all seen as “children“ or “little children“.  John 1:12-13 states, “ But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”  Believers are referred to as “children of God” or “sons of God” over 30 times in the Bible between Genesis chapter 6 and 1 John chapter 5. So, we can clearly see evidence that scripture considers all Christians as God’s children. If we are “children of God” then we must also be “sons and daughters of God” which are synonymous. Galatians  3:26  states, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” If “sons and daughters of God”, then also heirs of the Father. These familial titles express a close and intimate vertical relationship. In being referr...