Calvary Bible Church, Neligh, NE

Mother's Day is the hardest sermon in the year for me to prepare. It is my one chance to give a shot in the arm for mom's everywhere that they get can get through another year. It is my one shot to urge them specifically to be godly. It is my one change to put my foot in my mouth and alienate over 50%…

I am grateful for the opportunity to attend the Small Town Pastor's conference in Morton, IL. Every time I attend, I came away refreshed and exhausted. This was our 9th conference. And because of that, while the content was great, the best part was the community. Being with fellow men in the rural ministry…

He is risen! The celebration of Easter is a great time. Life has a few monumental times, where one goes through it and your life completely changes. Marriage. The birth of a child. Death of a parent, a spouse, a child. There a few times where life completely changes and you are never the same again.…

Social Media is a weird thing. For those of you who are not familiar with Social media, be grateful. For those of you who live on social media, I'm sorry. Maggie and I have begun removing ourselves from social media platforms, because we just can't stomach it anymore. There is an interesting term used…

Two questions plagued the Jews when Jesus had his earthly ministry: Who is this man and who did he come for? Of course, these are the same questions that people wrestle with today. The Jews thought that Jesus was just a good teacher, if that. Perhaps he was just a misguided carpenter from Nazareth that…

Robert Frost wrote an amazing poem in 1916: the Road Not Taken. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps…

It's one of the most famous concepts in the Bible. Though it's fame is getting less and less as generation Z and Alpha are not being raised in a moral society. Most people have heard of the 10 commandments, though they may not be able to say one of the 10 commandments. Most people have heard of the cross,…

When I was about 7, my folks gave me a woodworking kit. I loved this. I made my mom a wooden planter, I made my sister a bench for her dolls, and I made myself a treasure box that had an actual lock on it. And for the next 11 years, I put my most prized possessions into this box, and I hid this box far…

People spend a significant portion of time thinking about others. Different psychologists created studies on this, finding out that 50% of the time we are thinking about someone else. Sometimes we are thinking about what that person thinks about us. Some of us are more concerned about this than others.…

A verse that keeps coming back to me throughout my life is 1 Sam 16:7 . Samuel has come to Jesse's house to anoint the new king of Israel. Samuel thinks that Jesse's older sons would make perfect kings. But God told Samuel: But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for…

Back when I was with CFA, I was in charge of hiring and firing for my shift. Thankfully, I only had to fire one person. Unfortunately, I really think I fired the wrong person. But, that's another story. The person I should have fired quit soon after. I was able to hire some amazing workers, and shape…

We talked about politics a little bit last week. So, might as well talk about it this week as well. Right? It's amazing how we can start seeing how strong people are in their faith, in their desire to follow Jesus in a holy life, by how they interact with people around an election, around a new inauguration.…

This is no secret. I really enjoy politics. Election season is like ice cream for me. So much fun. Seeing the candidates, analyzing why they campaign the way that they do, why they go where they go, what they say, what they don't say. It's so much fun. The art of presenting an idea. Other's might term…

We know the story. We could borrow the phrase from Beauty and the Beast: Tale as old as time. Eve is standing in the Garden, looking at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the serpent speaks to her. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said…

Have you ever been through an experience and felt incredibly alone? Wishing that someone would be there with you? It's the little kid reaching up and grabbing his dad's hand, and his dad squeezes it, saying “It's okay, I'm here.” And all of a sudden, the situation isn't as bad as it seemed. Then adulthood…

I do a lot of traveling. It's in my DNA. Growing up, after breakfast, my mom would look at us and say: Do you want to go visit your great-grandma today? Who happened to live 6 hours away. My mom would call my dad and say that we were driving to St. Paul. We'd drive up, spend the night, and come back…

Do you ever walk through the grocery store and just look at people. Not in a creepy way. But, people-watch. It's fascinating. Until you realize that only about 25% of the people you see in the grocery store have placed there faith in Jesus Christ. And that people-watching becomes really sad. There are…

The Sample family has a lot of traditions around Christmas. Most fall under the heading of waiting. We would wake up Christmas morning and we couldn't open our stockings until all the kids were awake. Which required some waiting. Because some of the us kids liked to sleep in. Then, once the parents woke…

How many of you, in order to truly enjoy a book or a movie, you need to know the end of it? I will try not to hold a grudge against ya'll. Some people try to tell me what is going to happen, and I don't want to know. I take that back. There are somethings that I do want to know before hand. Like, the…

There's an Andy Griffith episode. Barney once to invest and so he tries to jump into the record making company. An agent for a record company comes into town to make a record of North Carolina blue grass music. Barney keeps floating the term diversify, so that he wants to put his money in many different…

Technically, I should probably have preached this sermon last week, but I had to finish up the previous passage. It's now a week and a half since the election. Half of the nation is happy. The other half is not. When I was preparing this sermon, I had no idea what the result would be. I just knew that…

Solomon is discussing wisdom and folly in this passage. We gave the first part of this sermon two weeks ago, and basically covered the main point of the whole thing. We find our joy not in our circumstances and how we can manipulate them, but in the God who loves us. Solomon continues discussing wisdom…

Tuesday is election day. I'm not going to stand up here and tell you who to vote for. But, if you want my opinion, I've got strong opinions that I'll tell you about if you ask. Especially for the election for school board in the Neligh-Oakdale district. But, I'm not going there right now. Election day…

Solomon was a prolific author. If he lived today, he would be on the New York Times best seller list, multiple times. People would be lining up to read his next book. His songs would be on the top of the charts, just because of the amount of things he wrote. He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs…

The first funeral I remember was for my mother's mom. I was five years old. My grandfather chartered a bus so that we that the family could ride together from Illinois to the funeral and burial in Minnesota. I knew that she had died, but I didn't fully know what it meant until a few years later, when…

Have you ever read quotes of people's last words? It's fascinating. Some are funny. Actress Joan Crawford yelled at her housekeeper who was praying as Crawford died. She said: Don't you dare ask God to help me!” When Wilson Mizner was on his deathbed, a priest said, “I'm sure you want to talk to me.”…

The biggest problem that people bring up about the existence of God is what is called the problem of evil. Why do bad happen to good people? If God were truly good, he wouldn't allow bad things to happen to good people. Well, we could take that apart in so many ways. In chapter 4, Solomon pointed to…

Solomon has been discussing all the things in life which are meaningless. Which is pretty much everything. Through the discussion, he begs his readers to turn to God to find satisfaction, peace, joy. But, to turn to God, we need to know him. Jesus himself said, while praying to the Father: Now this is…

It is said that good news doesn't sell. Only bad news does. Which is why if you turn on the tv or pick up a newspaper, most of the news you will see, a great majority is bad news, about injustice, oppression, turmoil. It's amazing what happens when you follow the money. But, that's not the whole story.…

Have you ever met someone famous? I remember the first time that I got to meet a president. Well, technically, I didn't meet him, but I got really close to him! George W. Bush came to a rally about 45 miles from where we lived. So, we pack up our lunches and got to the rally location several hours before…

Can you imagine having everything that you could ever want at your fingertips? Growing up, I distinctly remember wishing that I could have things, and then my older siblings would remind me that I was not supposed to be jealous. One Christmas, I was probably around 7 or 8 years old. My oldest sister,…

Have you ever been depressed? Like don't want to get up out of bed depressed? I have. I remember laying in bed wondering why I should get up. What use are my tasks for the day. What use is what I have been dedicating myself to for the past several years. Those situations are not easy. And there are many…

Congratulations! You have almost survived this series on Song of Solomon. Maggie can tell you that I really enjoyed studying this book. My faith has grown through it and my understanding of God's love for me. I can totally agree with Jonathan Edwards: “The whole book of Canticles [i.e., Song of Solomon]…

Well, next week is our last week in Song of Solomon! I have really enjoyed studying this book and pray that it has come alive for you. But, we have two chapters left and two more chances to make Brook squirm and blush. We have seen the whole relationship of the beloved and King Solomon. We first saw…