Second Feature

Parents ask this question on a daily basis. “Should I microwave some TV dinners or make a salad? Or maybe I’ll boil some spaghetti and open a can of sauce. Oh forget all that . . . the traffic is terrible, I think I will just get some Taco Bell take out.”

The decision about what to serve for dinner every night table is significant. Your menu choices affect the long-term development of every member of your family. Healthy choices help families thrive. Menu plans littered with take-out burgers, Kraft dinners and Pizza Hut will result in long-term problems.

Pastors make similar decisions for their church families on a weekly basis. Every week, every pastor wonders, “What’s for dinner?” What spiritual food will I serve up to my congregation this week? The decision about what to preach is not incidental. Your choice impacts the spiritual health and development of the people you lead.

How do you decide what to preach? What criteria guide your decision? Even if you are committed to preaching Scripture, the question remains. What portion of the Bible will you preach this week, month and year? What parts will you not preach? Why?

Many preachers regularly decide to preach topically; to bring Scripture to bear on a subject that a biblical author never specifically addressed. Topical sermons on ‘how to date’ or ‘how to handle stress’ can be helpful and biblical. Topical sermons are not necessarily second rate sermons. In my 25 years of pastoring, however, I have chosen not to feed my congregations a steady diet of topical preaching. My practice has been to preach through the books of the Bible. I have chosen to preach the ideas that the biblical writers have placed within the natural units of the Scripture they were inspired to write. Why?