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• The pastor and congregation are ‘stretched’ to preach on and hear about subjects that would not be normally chosen;
• The preacher and hearers are immersed in one book of the Bible for many weeks and months;
• It helps to keep passages in context;
• It teaches people how to read and study their Bibles;
• It provides a balanced diet and prevents pastors from sticking to their ‘hobby horses’;
• The pastor does not need to agonize over his choice of text each week;
• There does not need to be so much introduction and background given each week;
• The overall argument or narrative of the book is better grasped and understood;
• It helps people to see the overall plan of Scripture;
• It encourages people to prepare ahead by reading and thinking about the passage;
• It emphasizes the centrality and authority of Scripture.

Yes, many advantages, but let me now give you some tips on how to avoid the potential downsides:

• Ensure that each sermon is complete in itself, rather than finishing this week what you didn’t finish last week;
• The portion of Scripture for each sermon should not be too few verses, so that the series goes on too long, or too many, so that the preaching becomes shallow and superficial;
• There should be a memorable theme and points for each sermon rather than simply making it a running commentary;
• It may be helpful to read a related passage of Scripture rather than the same portion every week for many weeks;
• Prayerfully consider the need for variation. For example, a series on a Pauline Epistle might be followed by a Gospel or an Old Testament narrative book;
• Break the series from time to time to provide a change. Sometimes it may be wise to take a break for a few weeks or even months before returning to it;
• Be prepared to preach on a text the Lord ‘lays on your heart’ even if it breaks the sermon series. Remain “open” to God’s direction each week.
• Be conscious of your limitations. Few preachers can sustain their congregation’s interest in a long series of consecutive expository sermons, especially if two or more series are going on at the same time;
• Before finally deciding to start a series, read the book through a few times and begin to map out preaching portions. This will also help you to decide if this is the right book and if your own gifts will stretch enough to take it on;
• As starting a series is a major decision that will set the course of the congregation for a while, it may be wise to consult with some carefully chosen elders or mature Christians;
• Try to avoid becoming a mere teacher or lecturer rather than a preacher;
• There is no need for a long recap at the beginning of every sermon.
• Remember to preach evangelistically to the lost before you, rather than just to build up the Christians in the congregation;

I find it to be a difficult thing to preach now without thinking that I must say what the Bible is saying. It is so easy to preach hobby horses or what you know that they will like. I am afraid that has killed our churches. The parents that get in stay in but their children often never really experience that work of grace and are soon gone to the world.

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Reading passages like the one that follows can be very painful for a preacher! Put on your seat belt before beginning the reading. Warning the following content may be hazardous to your current preaching style!

Not only do we need to make the text visible in corporate worship; we need to go swimming in it! The process of exposition plays out in the sermon as the preacher presents, explains, and expounds facts or ideas with commentary and interpretation. This is the very heart of the pastoral sermon. As the pastor engages the listeners with the text of the Bible, he exposes them to the only thing that possesses the ability to change their lives. Picturing the sermon as a body of water, I have often likened this engagement to the activity that goes on in a backyard swimming pool. Let me clarify the implications with regard to the types of biblical authority mentioned earlier.

As I see it, there are basically three ways a pastor can use the text of Scripture in his sermon. Many preachers use the text merely as a diving board in their sermons. They jump off of the text into the sermon, swim around for twenty to forty minutes, and never return to it. They read a passage at the beginning of the message and then never mention it again! Still other preachers treat the text like patio furniture around the pool. They swim around in the sermon but make only casual and periodic visits to the text. Just as the pool furniture is there to augment the pool, these pastors actually are using the text of the Bible to augment their sermons, almost as illustrative or supportive material.

In reality, the text simply does not happen in these sermons. The preacher announces and reads the text, assumes it to be authoritative because it comes from the Bible, and then proceeds to reduce it to a theme. The only time the text is revisited is for the purpose of repetition or for springboarding off of another loose reference. White described the snowball affect:

Now, possessed of the “theme” … the preacher gets down to the serious business of “developing” and “applying” the theme. After all, the theme is short and pithy, implying a lot in a few general words. But the sermon must spell out at length, develop, and explain what’s implied in it. And what does the preacher use for this development? What authority does the sermon invoke in support of its “theme”? Why, every authoritative source the preacher knows and can find—except the lesson on which the sermon is being preached.

The real problem here is a lack of confidence in the sufficiency of the biblical text. The preacher has abandoned his belief that the Scripture passage has anything to offer, nor does he believe it possesses the power to transform lives. Digesting its content into the “theme,” he prostitutes the potent Word of God for the observations, conjectures, and experiences of man.

Many of these kinds of sermons—heard weekly from pulpits and platforms across the globe are based on the indirect, casual, or combined biblical authority we discussed earlier. Many more are even corrupted. And even the best of these is void of the total strength and full authority of Scripture possessed by the biblical sermon. Therefore, these sermons are weaker and less potent than direct biblical sermons.

The expositor, however, uses the text of Scripture as the pool itself. He jumps off into it and goes for a swim. In this message the text is actually the sermon, and the preaching pastor is allowing it to be the main event. He and his listeners are being immersed in the supernatural, life-changing agent of God’s Holy Word. This pastor gives the text a real voice in the sermon. The primary feature of the sermon, then, is a journey into the biblical text where the preacher immerses both himself and his listeners in a rhetorical presentation of a Bible passage. Then and only then does the preacher tap into the full authority and the full potency of the biblical text.

Shaddix, J. (2003). The Passion Driven Sermon : Changing the Way Pastors Preach and Congregations Listen (157–158). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman.

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