How do you prepare for a new sermon series? I prepare to preach a new sermon series usually with a healthy mixture of excitement and panic. But how do you, or we as a church, prepare for a new sermon series? As we start Romans, I would like to recommend you familiarize yourself with the whole book over the next few months. I know it’s the beginning of January, and many of you will be starting your own new Bible reading plans and devotional habits. But if you can manage it, you would be well-served to spend some time with the book of Romans as we begin to dive into it. Read it through multiple times. That way, you will begin to get a feel for the flow of the book, the themes, practical issues, structure, and overall purpose of the book. If you can, I would even recommend trying to read it once or twice in one sitting. It takes about 45-60 minutes to read all the way through. Most of us are busy, but most of us all spend time on things less profitable than Scripture’s longest epistle. In fact, you could even listen to it on an audio Bible (see plug below). My practice will be to listen to the book daily while I exercise. You could listen to it while driving, doing the dishes, folding laundry, or some other necessary but menial task! And if you have kids at home, read the next section of Romans with them each week, in preparation for the service. That way, they will be familiar with the text going into Sunday, and will better internalize it. Lastly, I would recommend picking up one of the Romans ESV journals that will be available on the resource table. As you read on your own and worship on Sunday, you can use those to journal your way through the book. However we take in the book of Romans, I’m excited to get started, and pray you will work with me to get the most out of it.