Shartel Church

We kick off this series by focusing on “Becoming fully committed followers of Jesus Christ.” Jesus never said, “Get saved.” He said, “Follow me!” It only takes a moment to make a commitment to Christ, but it takes a lifetime to be fashioned into His image. This message will look at what it takes to keep “becoming” on the journey and how we’re the best image of us when we’re the best image of Chris...

This cliché is used A LOT. The underlying thought is that there is a divine plan to everything that happens, but there isn’t. Many of the things that happen are a result of the hand of man, not the hand of God. There is a huge difference between the belief God WORKS in all things and God CAUSES all things. In this message, we will seek to debunk the “everything happens for a reason” myth and it’s...

Sure, you can. David did. Job did. Moses did. Even Jesus did. Questioning God keeps our relationship with Him real and vibrant. Asking God questions gives Him the green light to provide us with answers. We may not always agree with or like His response, but we can always ask God honest questions.

A lot of times, our feelings and intuitions are spot on, so trusting our hearts is fine. There are many times when desires, fears, or hurts cloud our hearts. In those times, our hearts are not so trustworthy. This message will look at how to test our heart to make sure that what we feel we should do is the right thing to do.

There are two lies in this one! One is the lie that God is the one giving out the burdens. Life does that. The other is that it won’t be more than you can bear. It will be! This message will look at where our struggles come from and how they remind us of how much we need God to get through them.

Sometimes the worst happens. It happens to people who are totally sold out to God. Hebrews 11 tells of wonderful people of faith through whom God did great things. There’s another group of people there who had great faith in God that had horrible things happen to them. Faith may get us through, but it doesn’t always prevent bad things from happening.

God’s grace is great. His desire to see people redeemed is great. But people often don’t want to seek God. They want to do what they do and believe God is fine with that. This message we see that Jesus came to make it CLEAR how people can come to God. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Jesus is all you need. It almost sounds blasphemous to say that it is a cliché, but God created us to need more than Him. He created us to need one another as well. This message will seek to help us understand why God created us to live in community and need more than just Him.

Diligence is a noble character trait that God favors. That’s true. He is also a Helper, Provider, and a Savior who helps those who have no ability to help themselves. God blesses those who are diligent and hardworking, but He is our Rescuer who helps those of us who are stuck as well.

It’s sad how we sometimes teach our boys that to be a man you can’t show emotion, especially sadness or hurt. We do that in our faith journey as well. We sometimes act as though to show grief, sadness, or frustration is a lack of faith, but it’s not. This message will look at what it means to be a “real man” and “real Christian.” Jesus showed emotion; so can we.

Pastor Sarah shares a summary the first day’s lesson of Vacation Bible School. Life isn’t always fair. In fact, most of the time, it is unfair. It doesn’t make a difference if it’s unfair or not because God is Good! Roar! Life is Wild, God is Good!

Paul calls the church in Corinth “saints.” They were far from perfect, but they had Jesus. It is too easy to let negativity creep in and instead define others and ourselves by our sin and failure. This message will seek to deal with our shame and insecurity, help us to find the confidence with who we are in Christ, and help us to be defined by the grace and love of God.

You are a Masterpiece hanging in the Museum of God, but you are not the only one. This message will focus on how we can not only see the value in others but live in such a way that we help them discover the value in themselves, seeing and celebrating the divine uniqueness in God’s creation.

There are all kinds of people and expectations that try to label our value, and it is far too difficult not to hear them all. The world, our friends, our parents, our own expectations, and even the dilemma of comparison are all trying to speak into our lives and dictate our value. This message will help us drown out all those voices and to listen in, to listen in for the truth of God and how we ca...

Sometimes God does things (or doesn’t do things) that we can’t understand. When Jesus got the word that Lazarus was sick, He didn’t rush to his side. He stayed put. He let Lazarus die. He had a plan that His disciples couldn’t possibly understand. God does that a LOT. This message will look at the need we have to trust God when what He does falls outside our understanding. Just because it doesn’t...

Jesus’ declaration, “I am the resurrection and the life,” gives focus to our faith. Our hope is not in an outcome; it is in a person. Jesus wants us to do more than trust what He can do. He wants us to trust Him. Mary and Martha THOUGHT they knew Jesus. Here, in their most trying hour, Jesus invited them to REALLY know Him.

The shortest verse in the Bible is one of the most revealing. “Jesus wept.” Those two words tell us of a God who feels what we feel and who cares deeply about the heartaches of His people. In this message, we’ll look at how God truly hears our prayers because He FEELS our prayers. He “gets” us. He understands.

Everyone thought it was over. Lazarus was dead—four days dead, doornail dead. If he was only sick, then maybe Jesus could do something, not now. But He did! This message will show that Resurrection Day isn’t just about what God did for Jesus but what Jesus can do for US! We’ll discover what Jesus said is true: “All things are possible for him who believes.”

Jonah got mad because God did what God does: He gave grace to the repentant Nineveh. Sadly, it was more important to Jonah to be RIGHT about his prophecy of destruction than for God to spare Nineveh. This message will look at how our desires to be God are really not the desires or attitudes of God at all. When we try to PLAY God, we become hurters rather than healers, judges rather than advocates,...

Jonah came out of the whale and did what God wanted him to do. I don’t think we fully appreciate how rare that is. Many people when given a second chance repeat their earlier mistakes, which is why they keep ending up back in the same place over and over again. This message will look at the preciousness of grace and how we need to treat second chances with sacred regard. If we want to end up somep...

Is there anything worse than “hitting bottom?” Yes. It’s hitting bottom and not LEARNING from it! In this message, we’ll look at how Jonah became broken and repentant. It took the belly of a whale to get him there, but he got there! We’ll challenge our people not to waste those moments when their lives fall apart. Sometimes it’s broken pieces that God is waiting for to make something new!

All of us tend to run from God for a variety of reasons. In spite of whatever that reason may be, God never gives up on us. He chases us with His love, seeking to redeem and restore. This message will explore the various reasons we run from God and explore God’s relentless pursuit of us.

“Forgive them, Father, they don’t know what they are doing.” Wow. Have those words ever come out of YOUR mouth? Of all of the traits of Jesus that we’ll consider, I don’t think that any challenges us more than trying to forgive like Him. Not just overlooking the little stuff, but learning to let go of big wounds and deep hurts. This message will cause us to reach deep into the heart of God to refl...

It’s interesting that Jesus’ disciples never asked Him to teach them how to preach, teach, or heal. They did, however, ask Him to teach them how to pray! What was it about Jesus’ prayer life that they found so desirable? This message will look at how Jesus prayed and the emphasis He put upon it for His life and ours. If prayer changes everything, then maybe we need to learn how to pray!

“When Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion on them.” What do YOU see when you look at the crowds? This message will explore how we can cultivate a heart like Jesus that genuinely cares for the “least of these”as He did. Maybe when we SEE people as Jesus saw them, we’ll LOVE them like Jesus loved them!