In a recent conversation with a group of pastors, we were listening to each other discuss how we determine what we will preach. Here’s a few of the ideas that govern my sermon selection:
1. Annual Planning. In late fall each year, Kelly, the kids and I get away for about a half week. We each take turns watching the kids for half of a day to allow the other to spend some time alone to pray, think, and plan. This is the time that I normally plan out my preaching schedule for the following year. The details of this would comprise another blog post. Suffice it to say that after listing each week of the year, I think through how I plan to preach the major book I am expositing. I then plan out a number of topical messages, and think through calendar items such as vacation, holidays, and major church events that would effect my preaching schedule. Obviously, this annual calendar is interrupted by the unplanned issues like sickness, or events in church and family life that necessitate a change. But it is a helpful tool throughout the year that helps me provide some guidance to the Scriptural diet I provide the flock.
2. Every Genre. I heard from another pastor how he made it his aim to try and preach through each major genre of Scripture each year. I love the idea and have tried to follow it for a few years. So, I will plan a short series or one message here and there through the year from which I will cover an Old Testament narrative, prophetic passage, apocalyptic section, and a poetic section. Since the majority of my major expositions are in the New Testament, I try and find Old Testament sections that parallel my New Testament series. As an example, after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays and after a brief topical series, before resuming my series on Romans, I preached through King Saul’s disobedience in 1 Samuel 15. It was a great illustration of what we were going to be addressing in the next section of Romans, and provided a refreshing change to the didactic nature of the material in Romans.
3. Expository Emphasis. The bulk of my preaching will focus on successive exposition of a major book of the Bible; that is, verse-by-verse, paragraph-by-paragrapah, successively teaching through a particular book in Scripture. I’m not opposed to topical preaching, as long as it is emphasizing the original intention of the passages used. I plan topical sermons throughout the year. I am simply convinced that the meat and potatoes of my preaching should be exposing God’s people to God’s Word in an expository manner. I find successive exposition to be the most healthy way to apply the exhortation of 2 Timothy 4:2.
I’ll finish out these thoughts on Thursday.
Any comments from preachers on how you plan your preaching? Thoughts from sermon listeners as to what is helpful/not helpful in the diet of sermons you hear throughout the year?
