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Thoughts on scheduling my life as a pastor for May 11, 2017

I have 82 tasks that I repeat. Some I repeat every day, many I repeat every week, some I repeat monthly and a couple I repeat annually. This is because the duties of a pastor run in cycles. The most important cycle is the weekly cycle with weekly Bible studies and the Sunday worship. Most of what I do is to prepare for these Bible studies and Sunday Worship. The work I do as a pastor may be repetitive, but the content of those tasks is always different. For example, I prepare a sermon every week, and as I preach through books of the Bible, I know what is coming months ahead. So the mechanics of writing a sermon is basically the same every week with praying through the passage, checking various trust resources for textual difficulties and insights, but since every passage is different, God speaks to me and works through me differently every week. Therefore I do not preach the same sermon every week, as you can come and see. Likewise for the Bible studies. We are currently going through the book of Psalms in one study and the Book of hebrews in another. This is the same as sermon preparation because God deals with me and teaches me something different every week. So my week has the same steps but very different content each week.

In addition to teaching at my own church I attend two other church’s Bible studies: One on Monday night and another on Tuesday morning. I do this to remain teachable. Sitting under the tutelage os other men of God keeps me humble and prevents me from getting in a rut. The Monday night study is going through Hebrews and the Tuesday study is going through Revelation.

My final step in all my preparation is to check my work. I remember in High School math class, the teacher always told us to check our work. Go over it again and again to make sure it is right. As a pastor, I check my work against historical theology. God’s word was completed by 70AD, assembled into codex form and duplicated as much as possible very early. People who loved God and who loved his word began to read and comment and interpret the Scriptures, giving commentaries and applications and clarifications. Year after year, decade after decade, Millennia after Millennia the true and accurate treatments of Scripture have lasted and stood the test of time. So today, using tools like Logos Bible Software, I can read and compare what great teachers of the faith have said. If I am saying the same thing as them, then my work has passed and I can preach and teach it. If I have come up with something new and exciting, something no one has ever said before, then I am a heretic and I need to start over. People who take the Bible literally and seriously have been delivering the same message for 2,000 years. Nothing new, just Christ crucified.

#Thoughts on being a pastor#

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