Pastor Mathew Sheckles

What is your testimony?

  I grew up involved in church. My parents decided early on to give our family a biblical foundation that I am eternally grateful for. At the age of 8, I experienced the saving grace of knowing Jesus as Lord. Even at a young age I had sin and disobedience in my life. 

   Growing up in the church, I knew that my sin is what separated me from a Holy God. God is Holy, and being Holy, He cannot stand in the presence of sin. My sin needed a solution. Jesus was the solution to my sin problem.

  At a Vacation Bible School I decided to accept God’s forgiveness of my sin thru Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross. My teen years, however, proved to be something altogether different. I started running with the wrong group and found myself doing things that I knew were wrong. I had some wilderness wondering in my teen years.  

   I wasted many opportunities with my peers. God, in loving kindness, with patience beyond human understanding, opened His arms and started making me aware of how I was wasting my life with pleasing self. My life has purpose…my life was meant for more than pleasing self. My life was meant for bringing praise to my Creator.

   God provided some good, Godly people to come along side of me, began to heal me up, and teach me about God’s love and purpose for His people. Those early days of striving to live God’s purpose for my life have progressed into weeks, weeks into years, and years into decades. When I mess up, I confess it quickly and seek the Lord’s forgiveness.  When I get life right, I give praise to the Lord quickly. He is truly the best thing about me. “…Christ in you, the Hope of Glory.” Colossians 1:27

What is your favorite bible verse?

All of God’s word is good…good…good stuff. Asking a preacher to pick one verse is a challenge because all of God’s word is good…good…good stuff. However, there is a verse that hangs on my mirror I read and reflect upon each day when I am in the office. 

1 Corinthians 3:7-9 “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but ONLY GOD, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers, you are God’s field, God’s building.” 

 I count it a great joy to be a farmhand for my Savior.

God’s farmhand,  Pastor Matthew.

What is your vision for the First Baptist Church of Bismarck?

God’s Vision is what I seek. Loving Him and Loving others. I feel that God is guiding His church, FBC Bismarck, to be a loving and caring community of folks who Share life and Build relationship. The Gospel is meant to be shared. It’s only within the gospel that we see a true pathway to life eternal.