The 4 Temptations That Take Down Pastors

Chuck Swindoll lays out four temptations he says every person in ministry faces — and he's boiled them down to four words that all start with the same letter, "because they hiss like a snake." Sloth: the slow drift into laziness, where you get better at golf than at shepherding people. Silver: the pull of money, illustrated by Chuck's own practice of refusing payment for funerals, even tearing up a $300 check from the grieving daughter of his own mentor. Self: the temptation to build yourself up and take credit — echoed in a story about Martin Luther just before he delivered his defense at the Diet of Worms. A friend asked him, "Brother Martin, aren't you afraid?" Luther said no — but admitted he feared one thing more than the Pope and all his cardinals: "that great pope, self." And finally, lust — which Chuck calls the strongest of the four, sharing the strict personal boundaries he's kept for decades to guard against it, and the story of an 85-year-old missionary who, when asked when he finally overcame sexual temptation, answered simply: "it hasn't happened yet.” This is a candid, unflinching conversation between Chuck Swindoll and Greg Laurie about the real pressures of ministry — and the discipline it takes to guard against the things that quietly take pastors down. Timestamps: 0:00 – Loneliness in ministry 0:57 – Temptation #1 1:23 – Temptation #2 2:45 – Refusing money, even from a mentor's family 3:17 – Temptation #3 3:43 – Martin Luther: "that great pope, self” 4:28 – Temptation #4 5:53 – The Tioga story 6:49 – The personal boundaries Chuck keeps 7:50 – "It hasn't happened yet" — an 85-year-old's honest answer #ChuckSwindoll #GregLaurie #Ministry #ChristianLeadership #Faith 🌐 Sign up for Pastor Chuck's daily devotional and explore our various resources at https://www.insight.org ❔ Have questions about following Jesus or about the Bible? We'd love to help you. Please visit https://www.insight.org/connect/faqs/... 📲 Take Pastor Chuck's resources with you on our Insight for Living app! Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/IFLappleapp Google Play: https://bit.ly/IFLPlay 🎧 Listen to Pastor Chuck Swindoll on . . . YouTube Music:    • Insight for Living Daily Podcast   Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/IFLapple Spotify: https://bit.ly/IFLspotify TuneIn: https://bit.ly/IFLTuneIn PodBean: https://bit.ly/IFLpodbean Podbay: https://bit.ly/IFLpodbay 📻 You can also find the radio stations that are airing our Insight for Living broadcast at the bottom of this page: https://insight.org/broadcasts/statio... 📱 Pastor Chuck Swindoll's social media: Facebook: https://bit.ly/SwindollFB Instagram:   / chuckrswindoll   Twitter/X:   / chuckswindoll   📱 Insight for Living, the Swindoll's international Bible-teaching ministry, social media: Facebook:   / insightforlivingministries   Instagram:   / insightforlivingministries   Twitter/X:   / ifl_usa   🤝 Insight for Living operates only on generous gifts and donations. We would be honored to have your support in providing this practical and accurate Bible teaching to those around the world. If you feel led to partner with us, you can visit https://give.insight.org/ or you can watch this video to learn more:    • 1 in 3 People Will Never ...   Copyright © 2025 Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. (CRS, Inc.) All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.