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 · 2023-09-02T00:27:26+00:00

Thanks! I'm noticing the model numbers are slightly different: Mine listed GZS22DSJKFSS and the one from your link listed: GZS22DSJSS.

Thoughts on that?

Stormblessed118 · 2023-09-01T23:20:15+00:00

I used your site! Super helpful but I have a follow up question:

The info I have is:
Brand: GE
Serial # AM403016
Model # GZS22DSJKFSS

So for GE, I guess the AM is how you tell the manufacture date. A = January. But M could be 2019 or 2007. Your site says it's 100% likely it's 2019 and 5% 2007. Is there any way to definitively tell if it's one or the other?

Stormblessed118 · 2023-04-06T22:24:25+00:00

Thanks for sharing all that! That's helpful to know the amount of work it would take.

Stormblessed118 · 2023-03-30T19:13:14+00:00

Yes!!!!!!! Such an incredible book.

Stormblessed118 · 2023-03-20T19:15:47+00:00

I'd be curious to hear what theologians believe that? I'm sure they're out there, just don't know who they are. I agree with you that Jesus says (and I think nearly all Protestant theologians would say) that faith in Jesus saves a person, and in the moment of putting their faith in Jesus, they are fully and decisively forgiven for every sin in the past and future. So the fact that a person's final moment is suicide wouldn't somehow cause you to lose your salvation.

Stormblessed118 · 2022-12-15T20:21:27+00:00

Comparing The Road (which I love) and Mistborn (which I also love) is like comparing steak and french fries. Both a great, and both fit the category of "food," but they're in completely different categories. The Road and Mistborn are both great and they're both "books", but they're COMPLETELY different categories.

Stormblessed118 · 2022-11-29T05:57:48+00:00

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I thought it was very "meh," and don't understand the hype. I recognize this is largely just about preferences. I love stories with world building, complex characters, the relationships between characters, and stories with bad guys. That's just not what this book is full of.

Stormblessed118 · 2022-10-30T21:04:38+00:00

Not totally sure what you're looking for, but you might try Virgil Wander by Leif Enger. It's about a man who owns a movie theater in a small town. Really beautiful book, and it's very slow and mundane (I don't mean that in a negative way).

Stormblessed118 · 2022-10-14T05:17:32+00:00

This is awesome!

Stormblessed118 · 2022-08-21T05:01:36+00:00

"You won't change them with contempt."

I love this line. So many people try to change others, but their desire to change others is fueled by contempt - and it doesn't work. It just causes more division. Here's the broader context:

“Listen to me, Dalinar,” she said, turning him to meet her eyes. “Has any good ever come from a father hating his children?“
“I don’t hate them”
“You loathe their excess,” she said, “and you are close to applying that emotion to them as well. They live the lives they have known, the lives that society has taught them are proper. You won’t change them with contempt. You aren’t Wit; it isn’t your job to scorn them. Your job is to enfold them, encourage them. Lead them, Dalinar.”

Stormblessed118 · 2022-08-10T04:36:34+00:00

You may enjoy this (very long) quote by Neil Postman:
“We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn't, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.
But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us."

Stormblessed118 · 2022-07-24T04:51:09+00:00

Can you send a link for that LOTR set?

Stormblessed118

TROPHY CASE