Mark Shutts Ministries

04/17/2026

I have had to deal with a variety of very unpleasant people throughout my 42 years of ministry. One of the most unpleasant, (if not THE most unpleasant), being the narcissist. If you ever want God to teach you patience and wisdom, you will find one of His greatest training grounds for such by simply asking Him to send a narcissist into your life. Allow me to share with you the wisdoms and truths that I have learned regarding narcissists throughout the past 42 years.

First, all reality and truth are their enemy. Literally everything that a narcissist does is about power, control, and avoiding accountability. They stir up chaos and conflicts. Narcissists try to destroy your life with lies because theirs can be destroyed with the truth, and so they are always rewriting reality to suit their narrative. And you will also find that absolutely no one throws a bigger tantrum than a narcissist who is losing control over their victim(s) because, again, the narcissist thrives on control and domination. It is their fuel. And you will also discover the hallmark of a narcissist is that they never, EVER, apologize because they see themselves as being absolutely flawless.

It took me a while to learn but learn I did. I grew tired of the emotional games of certain individuals, their guilt tripping, and the endless walking on eggshells. The drama of a narcissist does not work on me. Now I can see right through a narcissist. I quickly recognize their game, and I simply refuse to play or engage in their drama. Wisdom has taught me to not engage in conversation with them because I simply will not argue about what I know is true, and my boundaries are not up for discussion. Narcissists do not want friends. They want "puppets." And you can never fix a narcissist. You can only choose to not play their game. Never allow a narcissist to intimidate you. Never allow a narcissist to control your feelings and emotions. The moment you see what they are doing just say, "I'm done" and then turn the situation, (and them), over to God, and earnestly pray for them.

In Christ Jesus,
Mark Shutts

04/16/2026

“MY FRIEND, BILL”

His name was Bill and he was a Christian man. He wore a T-shirt with holes in it, dirty jeans and no shoes. He had lost his job a year and a half ago and had been homeless for about six months. His T-shirt (with holes in it, dirty jeans and no shoes) had now become his daily attire. There was a church across the street from the park bench where he slept every night, but he had never gone to the church because its members were all always very well- dressed.

Well, one Sunday Bill decided to visit that church. He walked in wearing his jeans, T-shirt, unkempt hair, and no shoes and started walking down the center aisle looking for a place to sit. The church was packed. The members all began to look a bit uncomfortable, but no one said anything. As Bill walked down the aisle, he got closer and closer to the pulpit, and when he realized that there were no seats available, he just sat down on the carpet.

Well by now, (as you can imagine), the church members were all getting pretty uptight. You could feel the tension in the air. It was then that it happened. From the back of the church a deacon slowly began making his way toward Bill. The deacon was a gentleman in his eighties. He had silver-gray hair and was wearing a three-piece suit and a pocket watch. He was very “dapper” I guess you could say. Very dignified. He walked with a cane and as he slowly made his way toward Bill all the church members were whispering things among themselves. One lady whispered to the person beside her, “You can’t blame the deacon for what he is about to do.” It took quite a long time for the old deacon to get all the way down the aisle. Everyone’s eyes were focused on him. The church was utterly silent. The minister couldn’t begin preaching until the deacon was finished doing what he had to do. When he finally reached the front, the entire congregation watched as the old deacon, with great difficulty, lowered himself and sat down on the carpet next to Bill so that he wouldn’t be alone. When the minister gained control of himself, he said, “What I am about to preach, none of you will ever remember. But what you have just seen, none of you will ever forget.

As a preacher myself, I would rejoice in seeing every pew packed with folks like Bill. But most Christians “gasp” when seeing a stranger in church whose “attire” is not up to “their” standards. And while they are busy judging and looking at the outside, God is looking only on the inside. The Bible says “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). We spend a great deal of time making sure we look good on the outside, but what are we doing to make certain that God likes what He sees on the inside? So often what is on the outside does not match with what is on the inside. It is better for a man to go to Heaven in rags than to go to hell in a three-thousand-dollar Armani suit.

In Jesus Name,
Mark Shutts

04/16/2026

For me to say to you tonight that living the Christian life is not an easy road would be for me to make a gross understatement. Yet I can say to you with the same assurance that the plan of salvation has been simply and freely given, and in that same manner of simplicity it is freely received. But oh how man insists on muddying the waters of salvation, and he does so by shackling himself with chains that God has either taken away (removed) or chains that never existed in the first place. These chains are called “legalisms” and just like the deadly viper they are deadly poison to a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ.

Let it be clearly understood that the Bible is incredibly clear on its stand AGAINST legalism. So much so in fact that even Jesus Christ Himself was outraged by it. How do we know this? We know because an astounding eight times Jesus cast woes upon the Scribes and Pharisees for their legalisms, calling them hypocrites, blind guides, and fools because they had instituted a seemingly endless list of foolish “laws” or “legalisms,” and Jesus strongly condemned them to the fullest degree. Why? He condemned them because He knew that to rely on things such as ceremonies and the keeping of feast days and ordinances served only to lead a person into a false and spiritually deadly trust in and dependence on those things as being part and parcel to ones salvation, and as Christ Himself boldly demonstrated (both in word and action) nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, It was precisely these types of foolish “legalisms” that Christ abolished and “made of none effect” by His Atoning Death upon the Cross. "For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect" (Romans 4:14). Legalism denies the Power of the Gospel.

The Bible very resolutely confronts those who insist on following legalisms and the keeping of feast days and it does so by asking this question: "If you died with Christ from the ways of the world, then why are you relying on and trusting in something other than Christ and the Cross for your Salvation and making yourself subject to ordinances?" (Colossians 2:20.) What this says, quite simply, is that there is no salvation in rules or in regulations or in the keeping of feast days! For anyone to believe otherwise is for that person to believe that we can make our own way to Heaven by our own efforts. This is precisely the same type of thinking that condemned the original Babylon. It was also this same type of foolish legalism that corrupted the faith of the Galatians. Twice Paul said to the Galatians with great fervency that ANYONE, even an angel from Heaven, who proclaimed any other form of Gospel than that which Paul had preached (salvation through grace and the Cross alone) "let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8&9). In other words, if we preach any other Gospel than that which is clearly revealed in the New Testament, we place ourselves squarely under the curse of God.

Paul also emphasized (on no less than three occasions) that absolutely no one is justified by observing the law (and no, he was not speaking of the ten commandments). The death of Christ put a permanent end to the Old Testament Feast Days and ritual sacrifices which had all been merely “a shadow of things to come.” The sacrificial death of Christ forever put an end to those things. His Atoning Death effectively and forever removed the stifling rules that no man, no matter how hard he tried, could ever live up to. (Hebrews 10: 1-14). Scripture even goes so far as to openly declare these feast days (ordinances) as “blotted out” and ”nailed to the cross" because those things were contrary to (against) the finished work of Christ upon the Cross (Colossians 2:14). In other words, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ rendered the Old Testament feast days and legalisms completely obsolete. The gospel of grace by faith is the one (and the only) true Gospel.

At its core legalism is in fact, “idolatry.” It is idolatry because it takes away our faith and cancels out what Jesus has done for us on the Cross. It makes faith void and it proclaims that Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross was somehow “ineffective.” Therefore it remains that legalism is idolatry pure and simple. Genuine holiness is a matter of the heart, not of legalisms or of feast days. The Word of God states with great simplicity, “If ye be led of the Spirit YE ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW!” God’s Word could not be more clear on the matter (Galatians 5:18).

What it all boils down to my friends is this; it is one or the other, it cannot both. It is either salvation by grace, or salvation by law. And since God has shown that man is incapable of obtaining righteousness through law, legalism, and feast days (which do absolutely nothing to connect man with God on a personal level) it is thus triumphantly proclaimed in Scripture that “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law” because “no man is justified by the law in the sight of God.” (Galatians 3:13, Acts 13:39, Romans 3:28, Galatians 2:16, Galatians 3:11). Scripture even goes so far as to reiterate itself on the matter in very strong terms by stating that Christ is become of no effect unto them who insist on feast days, ordinances, and legalisms as being necessary to salvation. Such individuals, the Bible declares, are “fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4). It can be stated no clearer than this.

The ultimate price that Christ paid upon the Cross was more than sufficient to forever pay for all our sin. It is simply a matter of going to that Cross in true repentance and, by faith, receiving Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior. That alone is what brings about salvation and reconciliation with God. Our salvation depends completely on, and is based solely upon, the Cross and the Atoning Blood of Christ, and nothing else.

God bless you,
Mark Shutts

04/15/2026

04/14/2026

The Bible tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith, and yet, for some of us, trusting God can sometimes be difficult. No, the path may not always be smooth, but then Jesus never promised that it would be. In fact, He pretty much guarantees that there will be some rough patches and difficult times along the way, and that’s where our faith comes in to play. That’s where trust says “I will not be moved.” "Trust in the Lord with all your heart" declares the Bible (Proverbs 3:5).

As Christians we serve and live for God not because He will “remove” the problems in life but because He will be with us and provide us the strength to endure them. I think that from time to time you and I need a little stormy weather in our life to remind us that we are not really in charge of anything at all. We need a little stormy weather to keep us ever mindful that only by relying completely upon God will we find the unfailing peace, hope and security that every human heart longs for. We may not always understand God, we may not always understand His ways, but we must ALWAYS trust Him.....Completely!

God bless you,
Mark Shutts

04/13/2026

Let’s be honest, we classify people. We classify them by the families that they come from. We classify them by the clothes they wear, by where they live, by their education, and by how well off they are. And by doing so what we are saying is that some people are our type and others are not. But think for just a moment of the people who Christ especially invited to be His friends: there were Peter, Andrew, James and John - mere fish merchants. There were Zacchaeus and Matthew - very unpopular tax collectors. There was Mary Magdalene - a pr******te. There was Saul of Tarsus - a vehement persecutor of the Church. There were others as well, and the people simply couldn’t understand it. It was a scandal. The Pharisees asked “Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?” And Jesus answered, “they that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick….For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9: 12-13).

What about you tonight? Are you guilty of classifying people by their clothes or their education or how rich or poor they are? God sees all people in only one way. He sees us as sinners in need of a Savior, and His greatest desire is that all would come to Him in repentance through His Son Jesus Christ.

I recall a certain man who lived in a very tiny house in a small town. He held no position of prominence; he wore no medals of honor. But when people would hear him pray, and as they saw the way that he treated others (whether they were rich or poor, highly educated or not, or whether they wore fancy suits and dresses or a ragged old pair of jeans ad no shoes), something happened to those peoples hearts. It took him an unusually long time just to walk through the small town because so many people stopped him to talk and have him pray with them. The day that he died, every single store in town closed their doors. The florists all quickly sold out of every plant that they had as a huge bank of flowers lined the funeral parlor and all the way out into the street. What kind of funeral will you have? How many people will say “he/she was a blessing to me. He/she helped me when I needed help. He/she told me about Jesus and the Power of His Saving Blood." Remember Jesus’ Words, “In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, you have done it unto Me” (Matthew 25:40). Remember Christ’s example - and do likewise.

God bless you,
Mark Shutts

04/13/2026

QUESTION:

Dear Mr. Shutts, why do some Christians not go to church? Don’t they realize or even care that they will go to hell for not going to church?”

ANSWER:

The Bible says, “Forsake not the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:25). However, in the assembling of ourselves together the Bible nowhere necessitates that such must be done within the confines of a physical “church building.” The Bible states that “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). This can be in someone’s home, in the park etc. The true Church is not a building with doors that we walk through on Sunday. Church “buildings” are typically in use one or two days a week. On all the other days there is usually not a single soul inside it. The true “Church” however is a living breathing entity, and it operates 24/7. No. The church is not a “building” but rather a “body” of people (those who have repented and accepted Jesus Christ into their heart as Lord and Savior), all with the same “head,” which is the Lord Jesus Christ. “And He [the Lord Jesus Christ] is the head of the body, the church…” (Colossians 1:18). It matters not the “location” of our assembling. What matters is the heart. The Bible tells us that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will make it to Heaven (Matthew 7:21). This tells us that there will be countless who never missed a week of “going to church” but they will not make it to Heaven because they did not ever truly open their heart to Jesus Christ. As well, there will be those who never in their life stepped foot inside a church building but they will go to Heaven because they took that all-important step of repenting, asking forgiveness, asking Christ into their heart, allowing His Precious Atoning Blood to wash them, cleanse them, and make them whole, giving Him complete control over all areas of their life. It is the heart that makes the difference. Do not misunderstand me, going to church is without question a good thing to do. But also understand this - if Christ is not actively living within a person's heart, then "going to church" does nothing.

God bless you,
Mark Shutts