Our pastor's on an eight week sabbatical, and I'll be preaching the last three Sundays. (I also preached the first week, and our church planting intern is currently in the midst of a four-week series.)

Obviously, lots of thought and prayer will have to go into determining what God would have for me to preach to his people, but since this is my first time preaching consecutive Sundays, I'd love some suggestions on what'd be good for a three-week series.

Just to get my brain turning. Thanks!

__________________
Rae W. | Elder @ Grace Central Presbyterian Church | Columbus, OH
Online presence: blog | twitter | facebook

Hmmm...what comes to mind with the number 3 in scripture.

__________________
Michael P Doyle
Waukesha WI
Member of http://www.cornerstone-pca.com/
Attending http://www.lampseminary.org/

Two spring to mind:

A) Pick three types of Christ and connect them to him as the antetype

B) Christ our Prophet; our Priest; our King

__________________
Todd K. Pedlar
member, First Congregational Church, (CCCC) Cresco, IA
http://inprincipiodeus.solideogloria.com
http://puritanwisdom.blogspot.com

"As God did not at first choose you because you were high, He will not now forsake you because you are low."
John Flavel in Keeping the Heart



Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

...or a little more challenging, but I would be tempted - 3 messages on Joel's prophecy

1, 2, and 3 John.

The Synoptic Gospels on _______ (insert some event/doctrine here).

The Three Sacraments.
.
.
.
.
.
.
(ok, that last one was a joke)

__________________
Seth Stark
Member, Communion Presbyterian Church (ARP), Irvine, CA
Biola University, Graduate Student, M.A. - Science and Religion
Seth's Blog

Sermon one: Admit you are a sinner.
Sermon two: Believe in Jesus Christ
Sermon three: Confess your sin.

Couldn't resist.

__________________
We shall not adjust our Bible to the age; but before we have done with it, by God's grace, we shall adjust the age to the Bible. - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Lawrence Underwood, Jr.
Pastor - Providence Family Fellowship / Mobile, Alabama
1644/46 LBC
My Blog - Imprimis

Tutus 1,2,3.

Admittedly it will be a brief survey. maybe just Titus 2: men, women, slaves.

__________________
Curt Lovelace
Pastor, Covenant Baptist Church (CBA)
Acton, Maine
Director, Lifework Forum
Sermons at SermonAudio.com/CBCActon
Blogging at Coffee with Curt

Actually, that joke brought to mind a legitimate possibility (the regular means of grace - Word, prayer, and sacraments).

This is the frontrunner in my mind right now. Thanks.

1. The Covenant of Works (With Adam, Broken by Adam and His Posterity)
2. The Covenant of Redemption (Between Christ and the Father, For the Sake of the Elect)
3. The Covenant of Grace (Between God and His People, and Accomplished by the Merit of Christ as Made out in the Covenant of Redemption)

Just first thoughts. Maybe difficult to do in 3 sermons.

__________________
Josh Hicks, Chloë's Dad
Christ Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church, RPCGA
Facebook - The Calvinist Vent
Board Rules - Signature Rules - Suggestion Box

It is God that multiplies our sorrows.... God, as a righteous Judge, does it, which ought to silence us under all our sorrows; as many as they are, we have deserved them all, and more: nay, God, as a tender Father, does it for our necessary correction, that we may be humbled for sin, and weaned from the world by all our sorrows; and the good we get by them, with the comfort we have under them, will abundantly balance our sorrows, how greatly soever they are multiplied. - Matthew Henry

Psalm 89 falls nicely into 3 divisions, and has a strong message of encouragement for God's saints in difficult times, because of the firmness of God's covenant.

__________________
Ruben
Moderator
F.P.C.I.
Indiana

Vanities and disguises have covered us, and thereby we are naked; licenciousness hath inflam'd us, and thereby we are frozen; voluptuousness hath fed us, and thereby we are sterved, the fancies and traditions of men have taught and instructed us, and thereby we are ignorant.
John Donne

Board Rules - Signature Requirements - Suggestions?

Calvinistas Conversando
Teología en Mexico
The Howling Wilderness

Um, I think you meant Posterity in #1.

I was going to suggest this very thing, but thought I'd already gotten my two cents in (and you're right... I think this might be tough to fit into 3 sermons, but I think it would be doable)

I was also going to say the three offices of Christ- priest, prophet, king. This could be very edifying.

You could also do the three enemies of the Christian: World, Flesh, Devil.

How about the character of the Godhead, with specific emphases on each person of the Trinity.

Or, you could do the "Cost of Discipleship" with Christ's three imperatives: 1. Deny Yourself 2. Take Up Your Cross 3. Follow Him.

__________________
Pastor Nathan Eshelman, Los Angeles, CA
Reformed Presbyterian Church
PRESBYTERIAN THOUGHTS
Los Angeles Reformed Presbyterian Church
RPCLA Sermons Online
Puritan Reformed Seminary

It is the easiest thing just to pick a book of the bible with 3 chapters or a subject that neatly divides into three. But I think before deciding on a 3 week series you need to consider first of all what the church needs to hear. Do they need to be encouraged? Challenged? Rebuked? Are they complacent? Are they growing? Are they spiritually mature or weak? Where are they just now? Where do you want to bring them? What have the previous sermons been about? Can you build upon them?

I am not saying that our congregations determine thje subject we speak on, but in order to direct them we need to know where they are and what direction they are looking in.

Having recently read Alliene's Alarm, my co-elder and I decided to have a 3 week series on conversion: 1. The need of conversion 2. The nature of conversion and 3. The fruit of conversion

Of all the series I have been involved with, this was one that really thrilled me. Simple, back to basics, encouraging and challenging and on a subject either misunderstood or assumed by many in our day.

__________________
Stuart
Elder, Lambeg Baptist, Northern Ireland, UK

In Him the fulness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form and in Him you are complete (Col 2.9-10)

The Christian is a person who makes it easy for others to believe in God. (RM M'Cheyne)

You've been given several options for topical sermons.

I think you should find a section of Scripture - namely one you've been studying on your own (ahem) - and divide that up into three sermons.

Or, if that isn't feasible for one reason or another, why not preach a short book of the Bible - Jude can be handled in 3 weeks (well, I did it in 4, but I am convinced that you could do it in 3), and there are several others that can be handled in just a few weeks.

But I'd most strongly suggest that you preach the passages God has been using in your own life most recently.

Stick away from theological hobby-horse topics.

__________________
Ben
Chaplain, US Army
Ft. Riley, KS
TE Ohio Valley Presbytery, PCA

Rae's in the PCA, not the Episcopal church...

Laugh. out. LOUD!

__________________
Andrew Thornquist My Photo Album
Calvinistic Baptist
Ukiah, California
To follow Christ was the best decision God made for me!

Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

__________________
Adam B., Wine Country, California, PCA

"I fear not to hold with Junius, de Politia Mosis cap. 6, that he who was punishable by death under that Judicial law, is punishable by death still; and he who was not punished by death then, is not to be punished by death now."

Nobody picked the obvious: Faith, Hope, and Love--the greatest of these is Love. We just had a great sermon series on this by one of our visiting ministers. I highly enjoyed it, but I realized that I have hardly ever heard a sermon series on these important facets of the Christian Faith.

__________________
Steven J. Carr (Sven)
http://beholdingthebeauty.blogspot.com/
Eagan, MN
PCA
"Weak is the effort of my heart / And cold my warmest thought / But when I see thee as thou art / I'll praise thee as I ought."--John Newton
Trophy Wife/Arm Candy: Crystal Ann Children: Steven Jr. and Hannah Grace

har!

This might sound cliché but whatever you preach, preach something that is Christ centered and gospel centered what Christ did for us. Make sure you have a proper distinction between the law and the gospel and that the gospel IS gospel and not law.
Do a short series from 1 Cor 15:1-4. & Acts 13:32-41
1. (Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried) you can emphasize substitution and propitiation.
2. (that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures) You can preach on Justification (Christ being raised for our Justification. Romans 4:25) and Imputation along with Christ Active obedience.
3. Then preach Paul’s first sermon in Acts to show that this “gospel” (that you see in 1st Cor 15:1-4) has always been taught by Paul so you can tie up the unity of Pauls thought in the epistles.



?Adam B as in Adam Brink?? yeah it's J from P-Town... Got Idears on how to talk to Ed S.

__________________
Jason Rivera
Member
Covenant OPC Berkeley, CA
Romans 4:5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Oops.I meant Totos.

I'm in Ohio, not Kansas.

How about Romans 8 with a focus on the "Golden Chain of Salvation"

1) Calling
2) Justification
3) Glorification

and how they all mesh together!

__________________
Brian
Grace Bible Church;E.Bridgewater
East Bridgewater MA
http://www.gracebiblehome.org

How about the 3 temptations of Christ in Matt/Luke 4?

__________________
Tim Phillips
Pastor, Midlane Park Presbyterian Church (ARP)
Louisville, KY
Husband of Scottish Lass
My Blog: Gairney Bridge
My Facebook/My Avatar

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

"Wherever the gospel is preached, it is as if God Himself came into the midst of us." ~ John Calvin

Rae - I like the Prophet, Priest, King ... I'd be tempted to preach on David & Mephibosheth - there are pretty much three vignettes to go with.

__________________
Jonathan Hays
Lynnwood, WA
Pastor - Ascension Presbyterian Church
Member of Pacific Northwest Presbytery (PCA)