One of the parts that I enjoy most in my job is the privilege that I have of preaching. It is an absolute honour and joy to be able to stand before people and open up God’s Word with them. But there is a lot of preparation that goes into a sermon, a lot of studying, reading but most importantly a lot of prayer! I’d like to point out some helpful tools that will help you take a passage from the study to a sermon, from the study to a small group or from the desk to discipleship. These three books are wonderful tools that will help preachers, small group leaders and every Christians get to grips with a book of the Bible and be capable to teach it to others.
Teaching Mark by Robin Sydserff
I had the privilege of sitting under Robin’s ministry for a number of years and training in his church. I’ve listened to him preach through Mark’s Gospel and develop evangelistic material on it. Mark is my go to starter book of the Bible for a 1-1, that is largely because of how much time I’ve spent in it over the years and it all started with Robin’s teaching.
In this book Robin helps you get to grips with the Gospel of Mark by getting you into the text from the get go. The first three introductory chapters are all about how to approach the book, its message, why it’s a great book to preach and some ideas for how to preach or teach the book (in a pulpit, in small groups or in 1-1s).
If you’re looking for a resource that will help you get to grips with Mark’s Gospel and set you up so that you’re able to teach it, this is the one you should get. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and would encourage everyone to buy it who wants to spend anytime in Mark. Buy it here from 10ofThose for just over £8.
Teaching 2 Peter & Jude by Angus MacLeay
Angus MacLeay has written this helpful book on 2 Peter and Jude to help preachers and teachers go from study to sermon. In a world where the church needs to fight for the faith, 2 Peter is often a book that preachers turn to because there seem to be similarities between them, then and us now. Jude can be seen as the more obscure of the two Bible books, many churches use the doxology of Jude to end their services but I don’t recall ever hearing a sermon series on the whole book.
In this book, Angus MacLeay shows how much time he has spent in 2 Peter and Jude as he unpacks them for our benefit. The book is full of really helpful information, probing questions (both of the text and in terms of application) and a pastor tone that will help you teach these books well and feed the flock. If you’re wanting to teach, or even just understand, these two book of the Bible this book is a good place to start. But it here from 10ofThose for just over £6.
Teaching 1 Samuel by Andrew Reid
I was part of a sermon series on 1 Samuel a couple of years ago and man do I wish I had this book back then! Thankfully I was in the middle of preparing a sermon for a different church when this came through the post.
1 Samuel is a long book and there are some difficult bits to preach and it’s a difficult book to split up whilst making sure that your application isn’t repetitive. Andrew Reid’s book is such a helpful book on all of those fronts.
In this book Reid packs in a serious amount of information with practical tools for the preacher, he packs in enough academic work and insights whilst also being pastoral. If you’re looking for a book to help you read, preach or just get to know the book of 1 Samuel, this is the one you need. You can buy it here from 10ofThose for just over £8.
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