Sermon ideas

Five series ideas, six single-text prompts, and a five-step method for turning either into your own outline. The preacher remains responsible before God for the text he proclaims. Use an idea to begin your own reading, prayer, and pastoral application. Do not paste another man’s voice into your pulpit.

“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” (2 Timothy 4:2)

How to use these

Read the whole book or psalm aloud before you chase a theme.
Mark repeated words, contrasts, and the main verb of the unit.
Ask what God requires of the hearer, and what Christ has done for the hearer.
Write one sentence that could be the sermon’s burden. If you cannot, keep studying.
Only then gather illustrations, hymns, and pastoral applications.

Series ideas

The Gospel according to Genesis 1–11

Creation, fall, flood, and Babel set the stage for promise. Preach consecutive units. Keep Christ in view as the Last Adam without allegorizing every tree into a cheap trick.

Psalms of lament for a restless age

Teach your people how to pray when God feels far. Pair each psalm with a New Testament reading that shows Christ’s own cries and the Spirit’s help in weakness.

The pastoral epistles for elder training

1–2 Timothy and Titus are not leadership TED Talks. Walk elders and aspiring men through character, doctrine, household, and public ministry requirements.

Isaiah’s Servant songs toward Holy Week

Isaiah 42, 49, 50, and 52–53 prepare Holy Week with a theology of atonement older than your hymnbook. Let the Servant silence and suffering catechize the congregation.

Acts and the ordinary means of grace

Trace preaching, baptism, fellowship, prayers, and the Lord’s Day gatherings of the early church. Resist turning Acts into a fundraising roadmap.

Single-text prompts

Romans 12:1–2. Living sacrifice, renewed minds, and the church’s resistance to the world’s pattern.
Hebrews 10:19–25. Why we gather, how we draw near, and what forsaking the assembly costs.
Ephesians 5:22–33. Household order under Christ the Bridegroom; preach the gospel beneath the commands.
John 21. Restored ministry after failure; love for Christ shown in feeding the flock.
Psalm 23. The Lord’s shepherding in life, death, and enemy presence.
Matthew 28:16–20. Authority, baptism, teaching, and the promise of presence to the end of the age.

Berean, a Bible study app we are building, is where the lexical and commentary work happens.