Why.

Blessed Life said:

I am asking why some church’s just teach series and not going through a whole book? I am at a church at just picks and chooses what they what want according to want fits their point.

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My buddy at work left his church because they were using “canned” sermon series. Meaning he noticed that the same sermons were on the web at churches associated with his own.

Look for a church which uses an expository preaching. Book by book chapter by chapter drawing the truth out of the text instead of entering the text with an idea or theme.

Sometimes a topical series is fine like at Christmas or the Passion and Resurrection.

A very good expository preacher and theologian is John MacArthur. You can get his sermons on Gty.org or the GTY app. Since the late 70s he has gone book by book so that now in 2019 he can categorize his sermons by topic. See the difference? He did not enter his examination of the Scriptures by topic.

His sermons are available in video (most cases), audio and in transcription.

I guess there are lots of different ways of doing services. On sundays we preach what we hear the Holy Spirit prompting us to preach. Often that can be a response to what people have been talking to us and questioned about during that week, or addressing issues that we know a number of people may be facing. We see Sunday morning like the intermission of a rugby game- come for worship, edification, teaching, and then go out to your mission field. Both series things or in depth bible book study we do in house group decided by the group.

I think there is a place for both. Our church has done topics but we have also gone through a book, chapter by chapter. We are currently going through the book of Judges.
Or does the word series indicate something else?

Blessed Life said:

I am asking why some church’s just teach series and not going through a whole book? I am at a church at just picks and chooses what they what want according to want fits their point.

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The best answer is to ask the pastor and talk to him about it.
If the denomination is saying he Must follow the set serties or use set sermons think about leaving.

I would guess it has something to do with the way the pastor has been trained and who mentored him.

A denomination that prides itself on a verse by verse study of the Scriptures, Sunday after Sunday, is Calvary Chapel.

For myself, I appreciate a church that follows the church calendar and, therefore, celebrates or commemorates Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, etc. in order as the year goes along. This more closely parallels the life of Christ and makes more sense than reading verses that, although in sequence in one of the Gospels, isn't necessarily connected to the events in the life of Christ in the order in which those events occurred. Some things are recorded in one Gospel but not in another one of them, for example.

I say this because a church in which the pastor preaches this way is not one that has no order or logic to its Bible readings or the topics taken up in the sermon, even if may seem that way.

I am going to guess, "Blessed Life," that you think the way that was laid out in the OP because you aren't familiar with the other kind of church.

Blessed Life said:

I am asking why some church’s just teach series and not going through a whole book? I am at a church at just picks and chooses what they what want according to want fits their point.

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Hello Blessed. You answered the question yourself. When you take selected passages out of the bible you can use them to fit your point of view. When you go through the bible chapter by chapter you must face up to what it's saying. God Bless

I would see no problem with churches doing topical series at one service and chapter by chapter sermons at another time, but don't know any churches that do this.

ChristianForCats said:

I would see no problem with churches doing topical series at one service and chapter by chapter sermons at another time, but don't know any churches that do this.

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At our church, our pastor preaches topical sermons on Sunday mornings and book by book on Wednesday night services.

There is a reason for doing it either way. However, there is no way to present to the congregation the great themes and lessons that ought to be taught more often than once a decade or so, if the readings and sermons are tied to a line-by-line approach from one book of the Bible at a time. In addition, that approach does not allow for actually teaching how some message or other is presented in different ways from different Bible books or, for instance, from both the New Testament and the Old Testament.

Take, for instance, the concept of the divinity of Jesus Christ. That's an important doctrine, right? If it should come up here on CF, posters would be marshalling verses from all over the two testaments in order to show how emphatically the Bible teaches that doctrine, how it is conclusive. There are Jesus' own words about himself to be considered, and the miracles he performed, as well as his rising from the dead, all of which and more make the case. All of that is evidence proving that Jesus Christ was God incarnate. But it isn't all from a single place in the Bible.

What is the Calvary Chapel style?

Calvary Chapel goes through the Bible verse by verse.

The reason can vary by church. It can be that the church leadership recognizes areas of spiritual needs or topics that are lacking in understanding for a majority of church members. There could be particular areas of struggles that they want to go through addressing. When they address the whole church, they need to speak and teach about something that is going to benefit most of the members and be suitable to what they are going through, the seasons of life, and can be applied.

In reality, the Bible is so long and complex, that it is impossible to cover the whole book in a short period of time in a way that is adequate. It literally takes a lifetime of study to get it all in, and even then I don't think human can fully understand all their is to understand in it. I don't know how many times I have heard elderly church members who have read the Bible their whole lives, talk about reading the same parts again and again and getting something new out it.

Breaking it down into parts or topics is a way of studying sections or topics in depth without flying by it in a beginning-to-end study.

A good option would be to have a beginning-to-end Bible reading class that is ongoing and can be attended by people who want and need that. A problem some will have with this is, what about people coming in at the middle? What if they don't know or understand what lead up to the part? What if it is a frightening part, and they don't have the knowledge of the good parts that are next, or the foundation of knowing the kindness and compassion of God? Everyone is at a different place. Everyone is going to have some problem with some part - or some type - of Bible teaching.

I personally don't want to read through the whole Bible just for the sake of being able to say I read it all. I want to read the Bible with purpose, to gain understanding. If I'm going through a reading with a plan to get it done, I'm going to miss out on the meaning and forget much of it because my brain can only comprehend and process so much information at a time.

Another thing to keep in consideration is that everyone in the church should have access to a Bible and there are many free and cheap resources for helping to understand the Bible. So, any adult Christian who lives in a developed country has no excuse for not reading and studying from beginning-to-end on their own anyway. That's just basic Christian life.

Blessed Life said:

I am asking why some church’s just teach series and not going through a whole book? I am at a church at just picks and chooses what they what want according to want fits their point.

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There's a time and a place for both inductive study, and thematic.

The strength of inductive is it takes a deep look at a chapter. The weakness of it is that chapter isn't going to say everything the Bible says about every topic that it touches on. As such, people can have an incomplete and unbalanced view of the topic. This of course leaves the door wide open for Satan to exploit when anyone doing the study doesn't already have the complete and balanced view about the topic.

The strength of topical is that it explores the topic across multiple books so that a more complete view of the topic at hand is taught. Fewer loose ends that way. Unfortunately, you don't get all of the richness of the chapters you are hitting due to time constraints.

My church does them both.

Blessed Life said:

I am asking why some church’s just teach series and not going through a whole book? I am at a church at just picks and chooses what they what want according to want fits their point.

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Why not look for a Bible-only fellowship. I found that after wandering with various sects years ago. I would not be satisfied with religious innovations to please people. There are such gatherings worldwide! I can show you where to find them.