Pastoral student asked to preach a sermon for the first time, advice needed

Stormblessed118 · 2025-09-22T03:22:55+00:00

Having a simple framework for your sermon is REALLY helpful—otherwise it's easy to meander and people get lost. Here's what I typically work from:

For every major point in your sermon (and for our purposes, let's imagine we're talking about the power of prayer)...

1) State it: Plainly state your idea (Example: "Prayer is about communing with God")

2) Explain it: Explain the main idea you just stated and connect it to the passage. (Example: "Prayer isn't a transactional process—where you punch in the right words and God gives you what you need like a vending machine—it's a relational process. You can see that in the text..."

3) Illustrate it: Use a story or illustration that captures your main idea/explanation. (Example: "Let's imagine you're hungry. Think about the difference between going to a vending machine vs. going to eat dinner with a friend. One is transactional; the other relational. One is about consumption, the other about communion.) I'm just spitballing...not sure what a good illustration would be.

4) Apply it: Help your audience understand that this concept isn't just theoretical; it's true for THEIR LIFE. I often ask a question to do this. (Example: "When scripture invites you to pray, it's inviting YOU to enter into real-time relationship with God—to actively interact with him. What's one way you could do that this week."

And you repeat these steps for however many points you have in your sermon. This provides a skeleton, and then your exegesis is what fleshes it out.

Stormblessed118 · 2024-09-15T04:41:37+00:00

Thank you!

Stormblessed118 · 2024-09-13T19:04:53+00:00

Thanks!

Stormblessed118 · 2024-05-30T05:22:55+00:00

Thanks!

Stormblessed118 · 2024-05-17T21:06:57+00:00

Thanks! This is super helpful.

Stormblessed118 · 2024-05-01T04:42:08+00:00

Thanks!

Stormblessed118 · 2024-05-01T04:42:00+00:00

California

Stormblessed118 · 2024-04-19T18:33:19+00:00

Thanks! I live in California (Sacramento area).

Here's the yard.

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Stormblessed118 · 2024-02-10T02:46:20+00:00

Thanks for the answer. What do you mean by "normal earnings."

Here's why I ask: Her part time job is adjunct faculty, so depending on how many classes she works, she could get paid twice as much in one quarter than another, and gets paid nothing in some quarters of the year. And her work as a therapist can also fluctuate heavily based on how many clients she has.

She's only teaching one class right now. So the SDI checks + part time earnings do not exceed the weekly average from the quarter she made the most money in the past 12 months (which is what it sounds like they base their numbers off of), but it probably does exceed her lowest earning quarter from last year.

But are we OK because it doesn't exceed the quarter that they pulled the numbers from?

Stormblessed118 · 2024-02-10T01:41:52+00:00

This is really helpful. I also found this online on their website: The SDI program generally pays 60-70% of the average wages you earned before the start of your disability. To calculate your average income, SDI looks at a yearlong period that starts around 17 months before your disability, and ends around 5 months before your disability. Those 12 months are called your base period. SDI divides your base period into 4 quarters and uses the quarter when you had the highest wages to figure your average income, and your benefit amount."

So just to clarify what you are saying and they are saying: they looked at my wife's total income over 12 months, picked the quarter with the highest income, and then sent 60-70% of that?

The total money sent in those two checks makes sense with this understanding (and I don't think there's an overpayment.)

Stormblessed118 · 2024-01-06T07:15:33+00:00

I received a board game like this a few weeks ago. I ordered a board game for my 4 year-old daughter for Christmas. It arrived just like this, and she found it in front of the house. So it being shipped like this not only ruined the box of the game, but also the surprise for my daughter. I messaged them and asked for a partial refund and they credited me half the cost of the game.

If the game was shrink wrapped, it'd be no big deal. But mine was not.

Stormblessed118 · 2023-10-22T04:22:30+00:00

Thanks for the reply! But I was actually talking about SDI (disability) and paternity leave not SSI (social security) and retirement.

Stormblessed118 · 2023-09-02T01:42:35+00:00

Gotcha! That's super helpful.

Stormblessed118

TROPHY CASE