I’ve always found it slightly ironic that we evangelicals who quickly decry the kind of preaching which jumps around from text to text as being a bit mystical (“the word the Lord gave me”) freely choose books through which to preach. Given that any individual book has a dominant theme, we are still, therefore, selecting themes on which to preach at some level. The only way around this, it seems to me, is to begin at Genesis and keep going!
No, I’m quite OK with giving the pastor-teacher (together perhaps with other church leaders) the prayerful and thoughtful duty of selecting a book to preach. I happen to think the value of consecutive expository preaching is not that is completely eliminates the whim of the preacher, but that it mitigates it. But how to choose which one? Here are some things to bear in mind.
1. What kinds of genre have you been preaching recently? Good to give a range.
2. What testament have you been in? We believe the whole Bible to be inspired as Christian Scripture.
3. What gospel have you recently preached? There are four for a reason and they are worth returning to regularly.
4. What particular issues are pressing in church? Are these addressed by a prophet or an epistle?
5. What are kids doing in Sunday School? Can you tie in?
6. Have you covered key themes? Churches turnover very rapidly; we need to ensure as much as possible that people with us for a while have not simply had three years of Jeremiah?
7. What speed have you been going? Try speeding up or slowing down? For example, a series on the Lord’s prayer is a good way to slow things up.
8. What have you been challenged by in your personal devotions recently? This kind of series is going to be fresher than something you have picked off the shelf?
9. What do your other leaders say? They can have good insights into what the church needs.
10. What can you cope with? Some parts of Scripture are harder than others. The over-ambitious preacher makes trouble for himself.
There are others, of course. But these will get you started.