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Last week, I discussed preaching a year-long series on the entire Bible. If you plan to preach through the Bible in a year, there are several resources which you might find helpful.

Thanks to everyone who joined the discussion on my previous post, “Preaching Through the Bible in a Year.” Some participants raised a concern about this approach being too general or superficial. I appreciate this concern, so let me address it today. I’ll save my list of resources for a future post. Let’s wrestle first with how to keep a year-long series on the entire Bible from being so general or superficial that it becomes ineffective.

Last week, Ben, a student in my preaching class at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, asked me how I would go about preaching through the Bible in a year. He envisions devoting every 5th year of his preaching ministry to taking people through the entire Bible. I have some ideas about this, because I’ve actually been considering such an approach.

You really ought to take a look at Tim Keel's "An Efficient Gospel?" He challenges the reader/preacher with a number of provocative thoughts, including this:

In a modern world, we tend to reduce the complexity and diversity of the Scriptures to simple systems, even when our systems flatten the diversity and integrity of the biblical witness. We reduce our sermons to consumer messages that reduce God to a resource that helps the individual secure a reduced version of the "abundant life" Jesus promised (John 10:10).

How do we contend with the common reductions of the gospel that have come with modernism? In that contention, the over/under factor in championing the gospel's complexity and diversity runs awfully high—you can overwhelm your audience and just as quickly underwhelm them. How have you navigated that tension in your preaching? When was the last time you challenged the gospel presuppositions of your audience, and how did you do it? Any series ideas you'd like to share? Textual ideas? Thematic ideas? Illustrations? Helpful resources?

Previously I’ve shared my conviction that preachers should preach as if their whole neighborhood is present (see July 31, 2007 post). I was delighted to hear Mark Driscoll affirm this conviction during a recent seminar on “Preaching the Mission.”

The end of the semester is still a few months away, but I’m already making plans for a “Back to School” series. I’ve never done anything like this before, but as I was firming up my preaching calendar for the rest of the year, it occurred to me that this approach might work.

Dan Kimball, pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California, has written a short editorial for Leadership journal about preaching on hell. Check it out and swing on back over to the PT Blog to share your thoughts...

We got dumped with a foot of snow in Chicagoland two days ago, so I’m happy to think about summer! But preaching, rather than weather, is what’s on my mind. What are preachers to do when their people are ‘in and out’ the whole summer? Is it possible to preach a sermon series even though half the congregation may have missed last week’s sermon and will probably miss next week’s sermon, too? Let me share how I approach this.

John Piper, author and pastor for preaching and vision at Bethlehem Baptist Church (Minneapolis, Minnesota), preached a sermon at the Passion '07 conference on "Gutsy Guilt," insisting that we mustn't let shame over sexual sin destroy us. The folks at Leadership journal adapted the sermon for an article. To read Piper's powerful article/sermon for free, go ahead and click here.

At $57 billion per year, pornography generates more revenue in America than the combined income generated by pro football, baseball, and basketball (according to xxxchurch.com). This is a call for greater resolve among followers of Christ to shed light on the problem, to stop feeding it, and to be honest about where it will take us. Our sister site, ChristianBibleStudies.com, has put together a special Bible study dealing with the ever-difficult issue of sexual addiction. The study is based on selected Bible passages and three moving, insightful articles from the archives of the Christianity Today Library (including the Leadership article based on Piper's sermon). To see an overview of this special study, please click here.

Two days ago I began a series on the book of Judges. Because Judges seems like such an odd choice for a sermon series, I did some things differently to create an interest factor.

The folks at ChristianityTodayMovies.com have posted a list of the Top Ten Most Redeeming Films of 2007. I think you'll find that it's a pretty eclectic bunch, and there may very well be some fascinating illustrations for you to use as a preacher (with caution, of course).

Two major cultural events will take place in the next few days: the Super Bowl on Sunday and the presidential primary elections in twenty-two states on Tuesday. For many, Super Sunday and Super Tuesday will eclipse the worship of God. As preachers, our responsibility is to let the worship of God inform these events. Will your preaching this weekend address either one or both?