The Spiritual Effect of Preaching Through Entire Bible Books

I have just begun a series in the letter of Colossians. Something by which I'm struck is how preaching through an entire book touches different aspects of people's lives than topics. I'm not opposed to topical messages. What I dislike is how preachers rummage through the Bible, grab a verse that seems to say what they want it to say, then preach it with little regard to its context. This is a widespread habit among preachers, and it's a very bad habit. However, a topical message where the preacher takes a verse, interprets it correctly first, then applies it to a need of the moment, is a good thing, and can be a tremendous blessing to people. Preaching through whole books does something else for the listeners. When you preach through a whole book, you call on the listener to set aside their questions, and pay attention to something that defines a whole different set of issues. If done right, book-preaching can break the listener out of the mind-set of the immediate. Topical messages usually seek to answer questions that the listener brings to the meeting. But presenting a book, or a psalm, in its entirety, calls the listener to think about what the book is about. You are brought into it, in its world, rather than itty-bitty parts of it coming to you in your world. This dimension of spiritual learning is advanced by whole-book preaching. Sometimes our greatest need is not to have our questions answered, but to ask better questions.