John Calvin was dedicated to preaching verse by verse through books of the Bible. Steven J. Lawson in his book The Expository Genius of John Calvin (click to open) wrote that Calvin preached through “Genesis, Deuteronomy, Job, Judges, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, the Major and Minor Prophets, the Gospels, Acts, I and II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, I and II Thessalonians, I and II Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews” (page 33). Calvin was banished for three years (1538-1541) from Geneva by the City Council because he refused to let members living in open sin participate in the Lord’s Supper. When you don’t practice separation of church and state there are problems. When the city began to struggle, the City Council invited Calvin to return. “In September 1541, Calvin reentered his Geneva pulpit three years later and said, “Now in the next verse!” Similarly, Calvin became seriously ill in the first week of October 1558 and did not return to the pulpit until Monday, June 12, 1559—-when he resumed at the very next verse in the book of Isaiah” (page 33). Hence, the advantage of series preaching through books of the Bible.
There are TWO ways to choose a passage
1. You can choose a passage in a series that has many built-in advantages. If you did the spadework of outlining the book ahead of time this makes choosing the passage simple. Start where you left off in the last sermon. Not only is this an advantage to you but to your members who learn God’s Word in the context of the book being preached.
Tony Merida discusses how to get started in series preaching through a book of the Bible: How do you come up with sermon ideas and series? One way is to simply start with a Bible book itself. If this is a new idea for you or the church, start with a smaller book like Philippians (Merida, Tony. Faithful Preaching, B&H Publishing. Kindle Edition, 65)(click to open).
There are, however, also disadvantages of preaching in series.
1) Members may become weary if the series is too long. If the series has died; dismount. Find a good division in the book, stop, and come back later. If you are in Romans 3 and your people are filling in the o's, d's, and p's in the bulletin then close the series on sin at 3:20.
2) Another disadvantage is not enough variety in preaching. This can be remedied by preaching contrasting series or no series at all in the other services. For example, if you are preaching a verse-by-verse series through Romans on Sundays do a topical or thematic series from Proverbs on Wednesdays. There are contrasts between the Old and New Testaments, genres, subjects, and styles of preaching. You can go back and forth with alternating series as just suggested if you only have one main preaching service a week and small groups the rest of the week. I will give some practical tips shortly on How to Plan and Preach a Book Series.
2. The second way to choose a passage is more difficult. Choose a passage, not in a series. You can choose a text according to the needs of the congregation according to the goals of the pastor (Once a year State of the Church sermon), or according to the time of year. I suggest when special times of the year roll around such as Christmas, Easter, and the 4th of July, break away from the series and meet the expectations of your people and address those special times and themes. Merida has a helpful but brief section on selecting passages to preach on pages 65-66). You can preach on themes in a book such as the coming of the Lord referred to in all five chapters in 1 Thessalonians. You can preach on a crisis in your church. Or you can answer church members’ questions. All of these should be according to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Jerry Vines and Jim Shaddix in Power in the Pulpit: How to Prepare and Deliver Expository Sermons (click to open) (both 1999 and 2017 editions) give helpful tips on choosing a passage for either series or non-series preaching (pages 140-144). These authors suggest choosing a passage based on human needs. You can do a series on the Emotions of Believers such as anger, bitterness, depression, loneliness, etc. Vines and Shaddix call series or book preaching “systematic exposition” and what is not series or book preaching, they call “general exposition.”
How To Plan and Preach a Book Series
It is important to start early in your planning. Six months to one year in advance will give you time to start reading through the book and even having your devotions from the book from which you will be eventually preaching. This is a method of Jim Rose (found in Hadden Robinson's Biblical Sermons) (click to open) and I believe Ezra 7:10 gives Biblical justification for this approach. Like Ezra, we study the Word, apply the Word, and then teach the Word to others. Ezra helps us answer the question, Must a Pastor’s Devotions be Separate from his Sermon Preparation? (click to open).
Also, this will give you time to listen to audio, video sermons, and listen to podcasts on the book and listen to some of the great preachers and teachers on your subject. Not only will you gain great content but hopefully some of their preaching skill will rub off.
Augustine, who wrote the first book on homiletics On Christian Doctrine (click to open) taught his students to listen to great preaching and read great sermons to become better preachers: “For men of quick intellect and glowing temperament find it easier to become eloquent by reading and listening to eloquent speakers than by following rules for eloquence” (The Church Fathers. The Complete Ante-Nicene & Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Collection: Catholic Way Publishing. Kindle Edition).
One time in preparation to preach through Nehemiah, I listened to audio sermons by Warren Wiersbe, Adrian Rogers, and John Whitcomb on Nehemiah. I was chomping at the bits when it came time to start the series. A source for sermons that I have recently discovered has been Stephen Davey's sermons found at Wisdom for the Heart (click to open). These sermons are well-researched with great explanations, illustrations, and applications. Stephen Coles' sermons and many others can be found at perceptaustin.org (click to open).
Use a Variety of Commentaries
I like to balance exegetical commentaries with expositional ones and sermonic commentaries. The combination of these commentaries helps the preacher to answer the four rhetorical questions that your listeners are asking while you preach:
Explanation: "What do these verses mean that you just read?" (The exegetical commentary helps with this question).
Argumentation of the explanation: "How do you know that is the meaning?" (The expositional and exegetical commentaries provide cross-references and help answer these questions).
Illustration: "What does that explanation look like?" (The sermonic commentaries will help answer this question and the Application question as discussed below).
Application: "What does all this have to do with my life?"
Before I delve into the heavy exegetical commentaries, I like Donald Sunukjian's suggestion, that the preacher starts with the expositional or synthesis commentary which "will quickly give you the large units of thought and the lines of argument of the text" (Invitation to Biblical Preaching, page 25) (click to open). For a series on Ephesians, I used The Bible Knowledge Commentary and Thomas Constable at Netbible.org for this purpose.
After I get the big picture from BKC, then for the explanation of the text I reach for the exegetical or critical commentary. These are usually the hardbacks that give you "sticker shock." In the series on Ephesians, I used Harold W. Hoehner's Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary. This scholarly work of over 900 pages in my opinion is the standard for Ephesians. Hoehner will give you about 20 pages of exegesis for each paragraph in Ephesians. This volume gives the preacher an explanation of the text. If you sentence diagram and block outline, Hoehner can help. I use other exegetical commentaries as well.
There is a third kind of commentary that the preacher needs according to Sunukjian. In addition to the expositional or synthesis commentary and exegetical commentaries, the preacher needs the sermonic commentary. To balance Hoehner's heavy exegetical work, you can read John MacArthur's sermonic commentary on Ephesians. MacArthur first preached this material to his congregation and therefore he provides application and occasional illustrations which, of course, Hoehner does not. Warren W. Wiersbe’s commentaries also fall into this category. See the post Sources for Studying and Preaching the Gospel of Mark (click to open) for expositional, exegetical, and sermonic commentaries.
The order of the commentaries I have discussed is the order you should follow, according to Sunukjian. Here is Sunukjian's wise advice: "Study thoroughly in the first two categories before you read the third. If you start with sermonic commentaries, you will be tempted to prematurely conclude, 'That'll preach!' without first determining whether the printed sermon accurately reflects the meaning of the biblical author" (page 25).
Other Related Books
When I preached through Ephesians where a doctrine is prominent such as the Church is in Ephesians, I like to read, in addition to good commentaries, related books such as Mark Dever's book on what marks a healthy church, What is a Healthy Church? and The Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, and John S. Hammett's book on ecclesiology, Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches. Dever's and Hammett's books give relevancy to my preaching. Their books help me make current applications to the church in our generation and culture.
Nine Marks of a Healthy Church is a much more in-depth treatment. The first three marks Dever categorizes as essential: Expositional preaching, biblical theology, and biblical understanding of the gospel. The balance of the marks is important but not essential: A biblical understanding of conversion, a biblical understanding of evangelism, a biblical understanding of membership, a biblical understanding of church discipline, biblical discipleship and growth, and biblical church leadership.
For the essential doctrines, Dever says, there must be a complete agreement for a healthy church. On the important doctrines, there does not have to be complete agreement. "Churches without these important marks can be places to pray, to be patient, and to set a good example by your own life." When preaching on "the unity of the faith" in Ephesians 4:13, this insight will become invaluable to my congregation.
When preaching through Mark with the theme Jesus is the Son of God who makes disciples read related books on the deity of Christ and discipleship like The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
These are some practical tips for series preaching through a book of the Bible that has helped me. I welcome any input you have found beneficial in your series preaching through a book.