The Original Christmas Gift
John 3:16

We receive a gift from someone else because they want to show us they love and care about us. A gift is not something we can earn or deserve, but something we receive.

Many people think Christmas gift-giving started when the Magi brought gifts to the Christ child, but the original Christmas gift came earlier. It was Christ Himself.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16 KJV)

According to the Bible, the real Christmas is a vivid demonstration of God's love. The gift of God's Son is a unique act of love. "The gift of God is eternal life through J...

How to Keep Moving Forward
Hebrews 2:9

If you tell me where you are looking, I will tell you where you are going. So many are holding on to the past. When we glory about the past, we shrink from the present and become scared of the future.

What then? Are we to abandon in despair our hopes for a better future? There is more to see than the sad sights around us. "But we see Jesus" (Heb 2:9 KJV)

'We see Jesus' with high expectations. When others see problems, despair, hopelessness, and fear, we see Jesus. Doubt sees the darkest night, faith sees the brightest day. The hope of the future is sure because we see Jesus.

The book of Hebrews shows us the absolute supremacy and sufficiency and superiority...

Faith Conquers Fear

By Pastor Mike Sanders

It’s an old story, but its truth transcends time. A little four-year-old girl became frightened late one night during a thunderstorm. After one particularly loud clap of thunder, she jumped up from her bed, ran down the hall, and burst into her parent's room. Jumping right in the middle of the bed, she sought out her parent's arms for comfort and reassurance. "Don't worry, honey," her father said, trying to calm her fears. "The Lord will protect you."

The little girl snuggled closer to her father and said, "I know that Daddy, but right now, I need someone with skin on!"[1] Fear can be a hindrance to a proper perspective.

God wants you to have pe...

Even former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman is looking for purpose and real success. On the night of that first Super Bowl victory, he delayed attending a party with his teammates, instead ordering beer from room service and sitting alone in his hotel room for a couple of hours. “I kept thinking back to the time when I was a teenager how I thought that all my problems in my life would be solved the moment I turned sixteen and was able to get a car,” he recalls. “Well, here I was at the top of professional football, and I found myself thinking, ‘Now What? Now What?”

“Why would you feel that way?” A reporter Skip Hollandsworth asked. For seve...

by Pastor Mike Sanders

Jeremiah 20:9 KJV Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

God has given us an assignment from heaven! God has called us to get out of our comfort zone. We are called to tell the world. Anything short of telling every person about Christ is failure. We cannot save the world only Jesus can, nor can we force everyone to receive Christ, but we can tell as many people as God brings into our path.

Matthew 28:18-20 KJV And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye t...

Luke 1:26–38

By: Pastor Mike Sanders

A little girl once opened a big box under the Christmas tree to find a giant doll when set upright, towered over her. Her parents noticed a few minutes later that thetoyhad fallen to the side, but the little girl was having a ball playing in the oversized box. We’re apt to do the same at Christmas, discarding the baby but having a great time with the wrappings.[1]This Christmas season, I’d like to turn us toward that baby.

When Christ was born, He was named Jesus. The name of Jesus is a name above every name. It was a simple name because He identified with simple people.

“Jesus” is the Greek form of the Hebrew “Joshua,&rdqu...

Breaking the Barrier to Faith

By: Pastor Mike Sanders

Are you facing a situation that demands an immediate decision, but you are unsure about what direction to take? Perhaps there has been a sudden change in your life, and you are wondering what to do next.

One thing remains right in your life; God has a plan for your life. If you trust Him, He will make a way for you through even the darkest of times.

Many barriers exist in our lives that keep us from having faith in God when we don’t understand our circumstances. These barriers are the same barriers that Moses faced when God called out to Moses on the backside of the desert. What are these barriers that limit our faith to trust God in th...

In our culture, have we lost our sense of the value of life? We abort the young and euthanize the old. The degraded view of human life has led to the approval of abortion and euthanasia. Humans are no longer viewed as an asset but as an inconvenience.

A proper understanding begins with a proper definition. According to the Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, euthanasia is defined as “the act or practice of painlessly putting to death persons suffering from an incurable and distressing disease. E...