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The Case for an Exegetical Sermon Series

An interview with Hershael York.

Hershael York

Bio

Preaching Today: We know you're a huge fan of expository sermons, but let's begin with a nod towards the topical sermon series. What percentage of your sermon series are topical? What are two of your favorite topical series?

Hershael York: I don't preach a topical series often, and when I do, they are still textual and expository. I confess that sometimes I need to preach something from the Bible's metanarrative and let my church see threads of connection and commonality that intersect across books and testaments. I probably do one topical series for every two book studies. Topical series are always shorter, normally six to twelve weeks, and my book series can go for a year, so it probably is only about 10 percent of the time. I recently completed a series called "A Man Like Us" about the life of Elijah, using James' statement about the prophet as the entry point to then walk through the different narratives about Elijah's life. Elijah did great things ...