You are preaching through a book, perhaps an epistle, and you come toward the end. How will you finish the series? There are several options available, none of which is always the best route to take:
1. Summarize the “end matter” in a sermon. You preach the last obvious preaching section and include a summary of the final verses in the book. So for example, in 2nd Timothy, you might preach 4:6-8, but then summarize the content of verses 9 and following. The strength of this approach is that it avoids dragging out a series unnecessarily. The weakness is that you may miss the richness of those final verses, including verses 16-18.
2. Preach the “end matter” as the final sermon. There are two reasons to always consider this. First because of a conviction that all Scripture is God-breathed and useful. Second because it will stretch you as a preacher to wrestle with how to preach sometimes seemingly miscellaneous verses (although whether any are truly “miscellaneous” is open to debate). If a sermon would truly feel like a stretch, then it is probably better to not pursue this option. However, it would be a shame to miss such passages and verses as Romans 16:17-27; 1Cor.16:22; 2Cor.13:11-14; Gal.6:11-18, etc.
3. Preach a review sermon at the end of the series. Instead of finishing with a small part of a book, take the opportunity to review the whole book in one messages. We would be naïve to assume that listeners pull all the pieces together during a series. Consider preaching the whole thing, making sure to show how those final verses bring the book to a point of closure. Consider creative preaching options for such a sermon, with first-person being an obvious candidate.
