A Series of Events

So this is my first gig preaching EVERY Sunday. Somehow in 15 years of ministry I have gotten out of that responsibility. Oh, believe me! I had responsibilities every week, but preaching to the congregation wasn't necessarily one of them. Now it is. Secretly, I am very excited.
I want to preach in a series format. That is, I really want to build one sermon upon the other. I know they each have to stand alone, because it is a rare saint that can come to church every week ...not to mention the sinners! But I want to go somewhere, create forward momentum, and give people something to look forward to next week.
Like I mentioned last week, I have inherited a service called Compass. I have been praying for this worship service for months now. And I have been asking God to give me a vision for this congregation. I kept imagining the face of the compass...the arrow, the letters N E S W, the other designs. What is the message?
I tried to think of verses that spoke of the directions on the compass, like Isaiah 43:5-7 (Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; I will say to the north, "Give them up," and to the south, "Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth--everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.") or like Psalm 103:11-12 (For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far he fremoves our transgressions from us."). I imagined the inner workings of the compass that always directs the arrow to true north as being a metaphor for God's word in our lives. The letters, N E S W, could they represent more than just the directions on the compass? Rearranged, they are the word NEWS, which is the subject of my preaching...good news, gospel. So could I preach the "good NEWS" in a series that pointed the congregation in a forward direction? Now I had traction!
And...if I begin at W and work my way around clockwise...
W: Where are we going? Set the scene, name the characters, ask the what, when, where questions that locate the story in time and history. God really did this! God really is whom He claims to be!
N: Naming God. Every scripture somehow points us back to God. It is our true North. Even the scriptures that are about the sinfullness of man point back to the holiness of God. So, could I spend one of every 4 weeks simply identifying who God is in the passage?
E: Examining Ourselves. And if every scripture points to the holiness of God, then we become accutely aware of our brokeness. Which human trait is being identified in this passage, and more importantly, do I identify with the brokeness seen here?
S: Staying the Course. How do we begin to align who we are with who God is? How do we get closer to God, grow to be more like Jesus, become transformed?
So, my map is to get from point A to point B by following the W, N, E, S direction. One passage seen 4 ways: what happened, who is God, who are we, how do we become who God is directing us to be? We'll see where it takes us!