I’m reading through the Old Testament right now and just started reading Mark Dever’s overview sermons on the book after I finish it. I started reading Dever after I finished Deuteronomy and I just finished Joshua. I started to think about how I would preach overview sermons since I’m planning on doing them on the Pentateuch after the James series at CrossView Church.
(1) Mark Dever’s sermons are thematic (at least the ones I’ve read or heard). There are many strengths to this approach. But it’s not the only way to preach an overview sermon.
(2) One can trace the argument of the book and use that as the means to their main point and supporting points in the sermon. This is a more exegetical approach, which becomes really difficult when you’re doing whole books. Discourse analysis, and discoures markers that the book turns on as well as finding the discourse peak would be extremely helpful.
(3) The themes that Dever highlights and structures logically should be included at their points in the flow of the argument that the author lays out in his book.
(4) I think I’ll preach on the whole Old Testament this way before I go deeper into the books. Learning biblical theology and studying OT introduction and NT introduction books will be helpful. I’m also planning on teaching an OT survey class at church starting at the end of this summer season.
(5) So far I’ve preached James, Titus, and Job in a single sermon.
