1. All Scripture is breathed out by God. Preaching through entire books demonstrates that we value every word of God!
2. Biblical ignorance. Sadly, many church goers skip & dip through Scripture and never get a good grasp on the flow of God’s Word.
3. Better at maintaining context. Sometimes hopping around Can result in out of context proof texting.
4. Cover topics that I might have avoided. Whatever is next is next!
5. Can’t be accused of picking a certain passage to go after someone or to further an agenda. (Well you might still get accused anyway! lol)
6. Safeguards against preaching what I want to preach and cherry picking verses to support what I want to say.
7. This how God’s written word was delivered to us. I highly value systematic theology, but nothing beats the power of going straight through a Holy Spirit written letter!
8. It allows people to more easily follow along with one main text for each sermon. People begin to see how things fit together and they can venture to study for themselves as well.
9. It helps show people how to study Scripture. Good preaching is a result of good hermeneutics in part and this should come through to the listeners.
10. It helps me know where I am going each coming Sunday. Cuts down of the Saturday night specials!
11. It’s cost effective when I can buy several resources for one book.
12. It places the emphasis on the passage not the preacher.
After all of that, I should note that I do preach “topical” messages and series as well. This can also be a very effective method of teaching Scripture too. It definitely has its place. And I employ this method of preaching quite often. Here are a few titles of relatively recent sermon series: American Idols, Old School, It’s All About Jesus, At Your Service, Frequently Asked Questions, The Big 10, Red Letter Questions, Heroes OT, Storm Stories, Go Fish, Faith Factor, Christ Encounters, On the Road Again, It Is About the $$$, etc.
There are a few church folks who would prefer if I moved on from the Gospel of John and that’s not surprising. People have preferences for sure, but I’m not planning on finishing with John any time soon. It’s one of only four accounts of the life of Jesus Christ we have to treasure and study. The Lord’s apostle wrote it, The Holy Spirit inspired it, and our Sovereign God has delivered it, so let’s enjoy every word of it!
That’s what I’m talking bout!
3 comments:
I've been preaching thru Hebrews since the first of the year. Ready for 6:7ff this week.
Well im enjoying it week in and week out...You can always tell how much a man studies for his sermon by the Content he brings on Sunday...lets just say ive never been disappointed
Thanks WMD. I appreciate that especailly because i know you are a serious student of Scripture yourself.
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