calendar – SERMON|GEEK

Preach Through The Bible In One Year

June doesn’t seem like the right month to be thinking about preaching through the Bible in one year. However, my assumption (sadly, I’m likely wrong on this) is that most pastors plan ahead. I would hope that most have already figured out their summer preaching schedule, and many have planned their fall and even their advent preaching calendar.

If you need help putting together a preaching calendar, here are 4 Simple Steps to Create a Preaching Calendar.

Perhaps 2020 is the year you will preach through the entire Bible. You could even do some neat play on the 20/20 them by naming the series “Perspective” or “Perfect Visions” or something more clever than I can create.

Below are three lists which can help you think about preaching the entire Bible in one year.

LIST ONE: Choose the 52 Key Chapters in the Bible

Genesis 2
Genesis 3
Genesis 12
Exodus 12
Exodus 20
1 Samuel 16
2 Samuel 2
Psalm 19
Psalm 119
Psalm 150
Proverbs 6
Ecclesiastes 12
Isaiah 52
2 Chronicles 36
John 1
Matthew 1
Luke 2
Luke 4
Matthew 5
Matthew 6
Matthew 7
Mark 2
John 11
John 13
John 15
Luke 23
Acts 1
Acts 2
Acts 9
Acts 11
Acts 15
Romans 1
Romans 6
Romans 12
1 Corinthians 1
1 Corinthians 12
Galatians 5
Ephesians 4
Philippians 2
Colossians 1
Colossians 3
Hebrews 8
Hebrews 11
James 1
James 2
1 Peter 2
1 John 1
Revelation 4
Revelation 12
Revelation 20
Revelation 21
Revelation 22

LIST TWO: Choose 12 Themes And Preach One Of Them Each Month

Beginnings / The Prologue
Patriarchs
The Law of Moses
Judges
The Monarchy
Captivity
Poets and Prophets
Parables of Jesus
People who Met with Jesus
Jesus’ Last Night
From Jerusalem to the End of the World
The End of the World

LIST THREE: Choose 12 Books And Preach One Of Them Each Month

Genesis
Exodus
Ruth
Samuel
Kings
Ezra
Mark
Acts
1 Corinthians
1 John
2 Timothy
Revelation

There are other options as well. Many people wiser and more experienced than myself have probably created their own lists which would be worth a look. Have you ever done this? I’d love to hear how you planned it out.

Who Gets To Set The Pastor’s Agenda?

I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified.

Have you ever had one of those days when your mind just raced from one thing to another, and you slowly drowned in the different (and likely difficult) issues consuming your life? Maybe you’ve experienced sleeplessness when your mind becomes full of the day’s cares.

What do you think Jesus would say to you if you told him about your stress and your anxiety? What would he tell you to do?

Living a life centered on Jesus means I choose to invite Him into my stress.

Especially on the days I’m overwhelmed, I must find the time and make the effort to shift my focus from my own issues and toward His agenda for my life.

Whichever “important” things have grabbed my attention, they pale in comparison to what Jesus says is important. If I can share his focus, I’ll find my life far less stressful and far more purposeful.

Read and Contemplate 1 Corinthians 2:1-5.

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Paul was addressing a church full of people who had their own agendas and were unable to get along. His solution for their dysfunction was to focus on Christ.

There are days when my life resembles that church. I feel pulled in so many different directions by that I can’t even get along with myself. I’m dysfunctional. I need to focus on Christ.

When I live by my own agenda, I reveal that I find my own wisdom sufficient to get through the day. Paul said true faith is resting in the power of God rather than the wisdom of men.

It is scary to center your life around Jesus’ agenda. It feels like the really important things might not get done. But if I pursue Christ’s agenda and rest in

God’s power, I can be certain that whatever does not get done, was not really important.

Today: Before you get too busy, ask yourself what Jesus would want you to do with your day. Center yourself on that goal, and let God take care of the rest.

4 Simple Steps To Create A Preaching Calendar

File under: “What do pastors do with their time?”

Assembling An Annual Preaching Calendar.

Assumption One: The Holy Spirit is active in my life and work in ways I can’t understand or identify.

Assumption Two: If my whole life is bathed in prayer, then my work will be bathed in prayer, as will this process.

Assumption Three: When striving to be faithful and obedient, I must first do everything I know to be right, and then what I believe to be wise, and finally what appears to be expedient. A preaching calendar is an expedient way to be wise about doing what is right.

Assumption Four: This type of thing, like virtually all ministry is not done alone. I think of myself as a clarifier more than a creator. I seek to hear many voices before beginning, and seek much refinement before ending.

Assumption Five: All this is flexible.

Step One: Ask four important questions

How do we understand discipleship? Can we identify clear discipleship elements we should address?
Who are we? How do we teach our people (from the Bible) about their identity as the church?
Where are we as a body? What truths do our people need?
Where am I? What is God saying to me right now? Why shouldn’t I share it?

At the end of step one, I should have a long brainstormed list of potential topics, book studies, theological issues, virtues, etc. which may be developed into preaching series.

Step Two: Identify key dates in the calendar around which teaching series may be built:

Easter
Mother’s Day/Father’s Day
National Holidays (if you must)
Thanksgiving
Christmas
Labor Day (this signals the end of the summer, which in many places means people come back to church the next week. It’s a big mistake to start a series right before or on Labor Day.)

At the end of step two, I may have tentatively plugged some of the brainstormed series into the calendar. While I may yet move them, I now have an idea of what other series may be helpful to effectively disciple the people of our church for the coming year.

Step Three: Consider means by which you can create a balanced year of teaching

As a general rule, I like to do Old Testament studies in the fall because they naturally lead up to Christmas. I like to do the Gospels after the new year because they lead into Easter. The rest of the year is a good time to look at the epistles, poetry, etc.

Step Four: Find the best places for the “Special Days” which need to be included

In many churches, the “special days” are things like baptism, communion, missions reports, etc. Baptism and communion particularly are days we try to set aside to really focus on the celebration. Sometimes these days fall naturally into a series we are doing, and sometimes they need to be placed as a stand-alone between series.

Conclusion:

Obviously, there’s more to it, but this is just a rough outline, and all this is just the opening activity. The next step is really where the hard work starts as I break down each series, determining the key teaching points and biblical truths which will form the main ideas for each week’s sermon. But that’s another post for another time.