More food for thought on the issue of topical preaching.  As I wrote in part 1, it is possible to preach a sermon that is both expository and topical.  Yet generally speaking I urge people to stay in one text.  Why?

There is always more in one passage than you can preach in one sermon.  While it is possible to get the main idea and preach it effectively, that does not mean that you exhaust a passage by doing so.  By staying in one text for the whole message you give yourself a better opportunity to dig deeper in that passage.  We tend to assume people understand something when we should explain it further.  We tend to assume people apply principles when we should apply more explicitly.  Preach in such a way that people see the value of spending some time in a passage, rather than finding a superficial nugget and rushing on to another. 

Most wild safaris in the backseat of a concordance are unhelpful.  It is easy to open a concordance and find several other passages that have at least one word in common with the passage you’re preaching.  It’s common for new preachers to fill time in this way (you can’t be criticized for being unbiblical if the message is full of Bible verses!)  I’ve heard messages where we’ve been taken on a wild Scriptural safari, bouncing along uncomfortable roads to disconnected texts, catching a brief glimpse of something and then revving the engine for another ride.  More often than not these glimpses at other verses add nothing to the message or to our understanding of our “target passage.”  There are occasions when citing or reading other verses is helpful (see future post), but evaluate carefully before stealing this time and energy from your specific text.

It is stretching, refreshing and helpful for you and your listeners to soak in a specific passage rather than skimming over the surface of the old familiar favorites.  Preach your text!