Editor’s Note: I feel some level of smug satisfaction that for the first time in a while, I remembered to change the author to Mark Terry and properly credit him for his post!
In my preaching ministry, I’ve mainly preached series of sermons. Of course, I’m not alone in this. Many pastors do, I’m sure. I once asked Mark Dever if he preached sermon series, and he replied, “I only preach sermon series.” It’s clear that the big name preachers do this because their sermon series become published books.
What are the advantages of sermon series? First, the preacher does not experience Saturday night panic—“Oh no! What will I preach tomorrow?” When you preach a series, the next sermon is already determined. Second, preaching a series cuts down on preparation time. In my experience, the study I did for one sermon in the series produced a ripple effect. The study for that sermon spilled over to the next and the next. Third, sermon series demonstrate the connectedness of the Scriptures. The sermons show how the biblical texts connect with each other. Many preachers like to preach through a book of the Bible, and this enables them to address a number of doctrinal and ethical issues in a natural way. Last, a series of sermons helps to build strong disciples.
Here is a list of sermon series that I have preached or heard:
- Great questions in the Bible
- The 7 churches of Revelation
- The 7 “I am” statements in the gospel of John
- The 7 “signs” in the gospel of John
- The 10 Commandments
- The 12 Apostles
- The parables of Jesus
- The miracles of Jesus
- God’s Little Books (the five one-chapter books in the Bible)
- The Southern Baptist Statement of Faith and Message (I picked a Bible text each week from the list of Bible references below the article.)
- The Prodigal Son (When I was in high school our pastor preached a series of three sermons—on the father, on the younger son, and on the elder son.)
- The Sermon on the Mount
- Persons around the cross
- Life of David
- People who met Jesus
So, dear readers, what is your opinion on this? If you are a pastor, do you favor sermon series? If you are a layperson, do you like to hear a series of sermons? If you have preached a series not mentioned above, what was it?
