Tom Messer - Trinity Baptist Church

This sermon explores the book of Lamentations, focusing on how believers can maintain hope during seasons of profound suffering and disappointment. The message centers on Lamentations 3:19-27, emphasizing that God's mercies are new every morning and His faithfulness never fails. Pastor Tom Messer addresses the inevitable reality that all Christians will face times when their world falls apart, when they feel abandoned by God, and when their circumstances challenge their understanding of God's character. The core theological truth presented is that hope is not restored when circumstances change, but when we remember the unchanging character and unfailing mercy of God. Pastor Tom teaches that suffering is part of being human and that these difficult seasons are designed to develop character and deepen faith. Two practical applications are emphasized: Preaching the Gospel to Yourself Daily and Bringing Your Disappointments Directly to God Through Honest Prayer and Lament.

This sermon addresses the common struggle of seeking transformation through self-improvement and resolutions, particularly at the start of a new year. Pastor Tom Messer emphasizes that real change doesn't come from behavior modification or trying harder, but from living out our identity as new creations in Jesus Christ. Drawing from Colossians 3, the message explains that Christianity is not about moral restraint or doing better, but about experiencing radical transformation through a personal relationship with Jesus. Pastor Tom Messer challenges believers to put to death the old life shaped by idolatry (money, sex, and power) and put on the new life by setting their affections on Christ. True change occurs when we stop loving good things more than we love Jesus, and when the gospel defines our worth rather than our accomplishments or possessions. The transformation happens not by emptying our hearts of wrong desires, but by replacing them with a greater love for Christ.

This sermon from Pastor Seth Fisher explores Acts 12 and the miraculous deliverance of Peter from prison, contrasted with the martyrdom of James. This message emphasizes that God is fully capable of miraculous intervention, yet wise enough to work beyond our preferred outcomes, it challenges believers to engage in "ektenos" prayer—intense, full-bodied, dependent prayer—while trusting God's sovereignty even when answers don't align with our expectations. The central truth is that no earthly power can stop God's kingdom, and He advances His mission through the faithful prayers of His people. The message calls the church to passionate prayer and obedient participation in God's unstoppable work.

At the heart of Christmas lies a profound truth that transforms everything: God's gift of salvation is not about becoming a better version of ourselves, but about receiving entirely new life. Pastor Tom Messer draws from Titus chapter 3, we discover that salvation is an 'epiphany'—a divine light-bulb moment when the reality of Jesus breaks through our foggy understanding. This isn't about religious works or moral achievements; it's about regeneration, being born again from the inside out. Like snow covering a winter landscape that hides the latent potential of spring beneath it, our lives may appear dormant or dead, but God's saving power brings forth new desires, new affections, and new directions. The gift of justification heals our past by removing our guilty record and replacing it with Christ's perfect righteousness, while the promise of eternal life secures our future, freeing us from the control of present circumstances. We don't earn this gift—we simply receive it. Christmas invites us to that epiphany moment where we stop trying to fix ourselves and instead allow Jesus to completely remake us into new creations.

This Christmas sermon explores the profound theological truth of Christ's incarnation through Philippians 2:1-11, emphasizing that Jesus descended from divine glory to become a servant and die on the cross. Pastor Tom Messer challenges the modern self-help mentality that seeks fulfillment through relationships, possessions, and achievements, arguing instead that true joy and meaning come only through surrendering to God's will and embracing Christ's mindset of humility. The sermon traces three movements: incarnation (humility requires surrender), crucifixion (humility prepares us for suffering), and exaltation (humility results in glory), demonstrating that the pathway to true fulfillment is downward surrender rather than upward striving.

The Christmas story is far more than a sentimental tale of shepherds and mangers, it's the shocking account of the King of the universe slipping behind enemy lines to rescue us. John 1:14 captures this miracle in just five words: 'And the Word was made flesh.' Pastor Tommy Carr takes us deep into what the incarnation truly means: God drawing near, revealing His glory, and transforming our lives. For centuries, God's glory remained hidden behind a veil, so overwhelming that Moses could only catch a glimpse of God's back as He passed by. But at Christmas, everything changed. The God who was unapproachable became approachable. The glory that once overwhelmed us now invites us. Jesus didn't just visit our world, He tabernacled among us, setting up His tent, making Himself at home in our broken reality. This is a God who wrote Himself into the story He created, facing our limitations, bearing our sorrows, and becoming the meeting place between heaven and earth. We discover that Christmas is God descending so we can ascend, God coming down so we can rise. When we truly grasp this, our celebrations take on new meaning. We're not just commemorating a birth; we're encountering the living God who invaded our darkness to bring us into His light.

This missions-focused panel emphasizes that God has written Himself into humanity's story through Christ, and now the church is called to help others discover this truth. Using C.S. Lewis's illustration of Macbeth and Shakespeare, Pastor Tom Messer explains that we could never know God unless He revealed Himself to us—which He did through the incarnation. The sermon features testimonies from multiple missionaries, including Ed Gibson (53 years in missions), Jeff and Deanne Duvall (Ecuador), and Mackenzie Beamer (heading to Scotland), highlighting Trinity's rich missions heritage. The central message is that missions isn't optional—it's the heartbeat of the church's purpose. Every believer is called to participate through praying, giving, sending, and going. The church celebrates strategic partnerships in Togo (working toward 190,000 disciples by 2030), Guatemala, Guyana, and other nations, emphasizing that the strength of a church isn't measured by attendance but by how many people it sends out to advance the gospel.

What if the question we're asking isn't the one God wants to answer? In Acts 1:6-11, we find the disciples asking Jesus when He will restore the kingdom—essentially, when will everything be fixed? But Jesus redirects them entirely. Instead of revealing His timeline, He reveals their mission: to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. This passage isn't about waiting passively for Jesus to return; it's about living actively on mission until He does. We discover four powerful truths here: the heart of missions is bearing witness to what we know about Jesus—simply telling others that He died, rose again, and offers forgiveness. The scope of missions is comprehensive—here where we live, near in surrounding communities, and far to the ends of the earth. The power for missions comes through the Holy Spirit, creating an explosive spiritual dynamic where what we know intellectually collides with what we experience personally, transforming us from the inside out. And the motivation for missions is the return of Christ and the conviction that Jesus deserves to receive the reward of His suffering. This isn't just about professional missionaries; it's about every believer recognizing that we're either on the saved list or the lost list, and those who are saved have one primary responsibility: to witness to those who are lost. The challenge before us is simple yet profound: can we say 'Here am I, send me' and sign our blank page over to God?

In a world that feels increasingly broken and dark, we're reminded of our profound calling to be salt and light. Drawing from Jesus' declaration in Matthew 5, this message confronts us with a powerful truth: we are not merely suggested to influence the world—we ARE the salt of the earth and the light of the world. This isn't optional Christianity; it's our very identity. The sermon challenges two common errors we make: either retreating into isolation from a culture that makes us uncomfortable, or assimilating so completely that we become indistinguishable from the world around us. Instead, Jesus calls us to a third way—to live distinctively, visibly, intentionally, and courageously. The imagery is striking: salt that loses its flavor is useless, and a lamp hidden under a basket serves no purpose. We're confronted with sobering statistics about loneliness, mental health crises, and the decline of faith in America—a mirror shattered by sin, greed, and despair. Yet in this darkness, we're called not to despair but to action. This message from Pastor Tommy Carr beautifully illustrates how individual broken pieces of glass, when brought together and illuminated by Christ's light, create something breathtakingly beautiful—a disco ball effect where light scatters in every direction, touching the darkness wherever we go. This is the collective power of the church: alone we flicker small, but together we become a shining city on a hill that cannot be hidden.

This powerful message from Pastor Tom Messer takes us deep into Philippians 4, where we discover that radical generosity isn't just about money—it's a spiritual mirror reflecting the authenticity of our faith. The Apostle Paul teaches us that true generosity flows from contentment, not circumstances, and that we can thrive in any season of life through Christ's strength. What's particularly striking is the concept of our heavenly investment account: every generous act adds treasure that neither moth nor rust can corrupt. We learn that giving isn't a transactional relationship with the church, but an act of worship to God—a sweet-smelling sacrifice that magnifies His glory. The message challenges us to move along a journey from nothing to something, something to significant, and significant to sacrificial giving. Most profoundly, we're reminded that Jesus impoverished Himself so that we, the spiritually poorest people, might become eternally rich. When we grasp that God didn't spare His own Son but freely gave Him up for us, how can we hold back from being radically generous? This isn't about what the church wants from us—it's about what God wants for us: the freedom, joy, and contentment that comes from living with open hands.