Posts by Pastor Daniel Sargent

King Jesus Psalm 2 Introduction If your child, or spouse, a family member or loved one had been poisoned and you had the antidote, would you hesitate to give it to them? Would you do anything you could to make sure they took the life-saving cure? In Psalm 2, we see something along those same lines. We see a poisoned people, although the poison is not some physica...

Opposition and Expectant Hope Psalm 5 Introduction At times, the psalms can be frustrating. They are not like New Testament letters for example, where the writer explains situations and gives some details about the problems as well as guidance to address them. Many of the psalms are just short and raw cries of the heart with no context. We are left wondering what is...

The Majesty of God Psalm 8 Introduction Most of us are probably familiar with the Rorschach test. This is a psychological exam, where someone looks at an indistinct image of an inkblot and states what they see or feel. The purpose of the test is to try to analyze how someone thinks, to see if the images elicit any deviant responses that could point to improper think...

Faith in Lament Psalm 10 Introduction More than a third of the psalms are laments. There is an entire book of the Bible, Lamentations, where the author grieves about the suffering he is experiencing in and around him. What is lament, biblically speaking? I like the definition given in a book about this topic, where the author says, "Lament is a prayer in pain that l...

Driving Out Idols Psalm 17 Introduction On August 31st, 1983, Korean Airlines Flight 007 took off from Anchorage, Alaska in route to Seoul, South Korea. In just a few hours it would be shot down by Soviet military jets, causing the deaths of all 269 people on board. This tragedy was caused by many mistakes that can be tracked back to a simple error. It seems that th...

The Lord's Supper 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 https://www.nlbcma.org/sermons/sermon/2022-05-08/foundations-of-the-church-ep-1-the-lords-supper Introduction Have you ever walked into church on Sunday morning and noticed the communion elements up front and thought, "oh man, it's communion Sunday, that means the service is going to go long today!" Anyone else ever think that ...

Baptism Colossians 2:6-15 https://www.nlbcma.org/sermons/sermon/2022-05-22/foundations-of-the-church-ep-2-baptism Introduction Imagine with me for a minute that you had never seen or heard about baptism before. Now imagine you see a baptism service? What would you make of it? Many years ago I was at a church picnic with a different church and there was a pool with a hi...

Membership Ephesians 4:11-16 https://www.nlbcma.org/sermons/sermon/2022-05-29/foundations-of-the-church-ep-3-biblical-church-membership Introduction We can learn a lot from warthogs. Have you ever seen what they do with mongooses? It is called a symbiotic relationship, meaning two creatures live together in a mutually beneficial relationship. A warthog will get covered...

Gathering Hebrews 10:19-25 https://www.nlbcma.org/sermons/sermon/2022-06-05/foundations-of-the-church-ep-4-gathering Introduction We like to think that in our day and age we are very different and much more advanced than generations before us. And in some ways that is true, but people are still people and history always repeats itself. Take for example, when the plague...

Serving 1 Peter 4:8-11 https://subspla.sh/wgw3kdn Introduction Over the past several weeks we have been looking at the foundations of the church. We have discussed communion, baptism, membership and gathering. And now, in conclusion of this mini-series, we come to the capstone of them all, serving. This is tying everything up together and putting all we have learned an...

The Blessed Prosperous Life Psalm 1 Introduction Today we start on a new journey together through one of the most historically important books in Scripture. The psalms have been central to the worship and study of God for thousands of years. They are a collection of 150 psalms, or songs and poems, written over a period of time. Many of them were probably sung and set...

The Heart of GivingPhilippians 4:14-23 https://www.nlbcma.org/sermons/sermon/2022-05-01/the-heart-of-givingIntroduction"What you do with [money], or desire to do with it," writes John Piper, "can make or break your happiness forever." It can make or break your happiness forever. Those are serious words.Money and giving is a difficult subject to talk about, especially from...

Peace for the Anxious Heart...

Palm Sunday 2022...

Good Friday 2022...

Easter Sunday 2022...

On Contentment...

A Community Affair Philippians 4:2-5 Video Link Outline Main Point:Problems and disagreements between individuals in the church involve the whole body, even affecting our joy and testimony before the world. 1. Personal Disagreements, v.2 2. Involving the whole body, v.3 3. What's at stake? a. our joy in the Lord, v.4 b. our testimony before the world, v.5 Tex...

Citizens of Heaven Philippians 3:17-4:1 Video Link Outline Main Point:As citizens of heaven we have a different set of priorities to live by. Therefore, we can't walk as enemies of the cross but as those who glory in Christ our Savior. 1. How do enemies of the cross live? a. minds set on earthly things b. they glory in their shame c. their end is destruction 2. ...

Towards the Prize Philippians 3:12-16 Video Link Outline Main Point:We must never be satisfied with where we are at in our Christian life. Instead we need to continue onward toward the prize that eternally awaits us in Christ. 1. Never Satisfied 2. Continuing Onward a. forgetting what lies behind b. energetically living out our salvation from the inside out 3. To ...

Knowing Christ Philippians 3:1-12 Video Link Audio Link Outline Main Point: In order to thrive in our faith, we need to know Christ's work for us, his work in us, and his heart towards us. 1. Look Out! a. Judaizers b. Why? 2. Knowing Christ a. His work for us: justification b. His work in us: sanctification c. His heart towards us Sermon Text Misunderstandi...

Video Link Outline Main Point: If we truly love God, we will be dedicated to the work of Christ and the fellowship of the saints. 1. Loving God 2. The Work of Christ 3. The Fellowship of the Saints Sermon Text Expressing Our Hearts,Philippians 2:25-30 Introduction It was early April and the near frozen water of the Connecticut River was rapidly speeding downstream...

A Portrait of Godliness: Timothy Philippians 2:19-24 Livestream Link:https://www.nlbcma.org/livestream We are having trouble with the audio only part of the site. But this link above will let you view the video until this Sunday when the new livestream is up. _______________________________________________________________________ Outline Main Point: Timothy's life i...

Ephesians 5:11-16 Outline _____________________ Main Point: We can take no part in the evil darkness of abortion. But instead, we must make the best use of the time to expose the darkness and protect the unborn. 1. Identifying the Darkness, v.11 2. Taking No Part in the Darkness, v. 11 3. Exposing the Darkness, vs. 11-16 a. Educate Ourselves b. Educate Others c. ...

Sermon Audio Link ______________________________________________________________________ Outline The Simple Christian Life Psalm 37:1-11 Main point: Although it is not easy, living in Christ is essentially a simple life. But we must recommit and refocus our hearts in order to rest there. 1. The Simple Christian Life 2. Simplicity of Intention 3. Simplicity of Depen...

The brain is a funny thing. I can remember the most obscure details about things from decades ago, like the name of the bank my parents used when we lived in rural Ohio during my childhood (Key Bank), but on the flipside I will forget a lot of short-term things, like if I ate anything for breakfast or what today's date is. I think it is safe to say most everyone reading th...