Coach's Clipboard
Issue #485
December 11, 2017
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Dear Friends,

Thank you for your encouragement and support.  We pray you will be blessed daily through the Word. Please freely share this email with others.  

Catch Don!

  

 

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Contact
Bible Teaching Resources
Donald Anderson
PO Box 6611
Tyler, TX 75711-6611
903-939-1201 (office)
1.877.326.7729 (toll free)
903.939.1204 (fax)
 
             
 

 
                   
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The Gift
Scripture

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
James 1:17 (NASB)

It will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them.
Isaiah 19:20 (NASB)

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.  
John 1:14 (NASB)

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.  2 Corinthians 8:9 (NASB)

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The Gift

 

On December 19, 1972, we received the papers stating Don Anderson Ministries was an official non-profit organization duly registered by the State of Texas.

 

Financial contributions started coming in, allowing us to draw our first salary.  Christmas that year was pretty sparse gift-wise, but all the family was home and we had a happy Christmas.  This just proves an abundance of gifts does not necessarily make for a merry Christmas.  Almost every Christmas, Don and I talked about that time.  The uncertainty of the future and how to start a new ministry weighed on our minds.  We had our doubts, but also had faith that God was leading us.  Most of the people reading this article know the "rest of the story."  We moved into an apartment complex in Tyler called the Casa Grande.  We unkindly called  it the "Casa Ghetto."  About a year later we bought the house we lived in for almost 30 years.  God provided for all our needs, not all our wants - thank goodness!  Any failures along the way were caused by our immaturity and disobedience.  God, in His grace, has always remained faithful.

 

That Christmas 45 years ago started a journey that has been a blessing to us and many people who have benefited from the teaching of the word of God.

 

Christmas is a time when our hearts and minds are drawn to remember another journey.  This journey started in Nazareth with Bethlehem as the destination.  Mary and Joseph finally found a place to stay in the city.  Their lodgings were not on anyone's preferred list of nice accommodations.  With no other choice they spread their cloaks on the clean straw and tried to get some rest.  Mary probably thought at first the pain she felt was from the long donkey ride.  When the pain became more intense, she realized the birth of her child was imminent.  Some time later the cries of a baby resounded throughout the stable.  The 33-year journey of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had begun on earth.  "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" Luke 2:11 (KJV)


 
This gift from God is the greatest gift that could ever come to us as humans on this earth.  Let's remember, reflect, and praise our Father God for giving us the most dear and treasured gift He had - His Son.  He is the one who has the power to deliver us from evil and to take away our sins.

 

"Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow"  Psalm 51:7 (NLT)

 

"Thank God for His Son - a gift too wonderful for words!"

2 Corinthians 9:15 (NLT) 

 
   Q uotes
YOUR CHRISTMAS PRAYER
 
Dear God, thank you for sending your Son,
Jesus, so I could get to know you.  Thank you
for loving me.  Thank you for being with me
all my life even when I didn't know it.  I realize
I need a savior to set me free from sin,
from myself, and from all the habits, hurts,
and hang-ups that mess up my life.  I ask you
to forgive me for my sins.  I want to repent and
live the way you created me to live.  Be the
Lord of my life, and save me by your grace.
Save me from my sins, and save me for your
purpose.  I want to learn to love you, trust you,
and become what you made me to be.  Thank
you for creating me and choosing me to be
part of your family.  Right now, by faith, I
accept the Christmas gift of your Son.  Fill me
with your peace and assurance so I can be a
peacemaker, and help me share this message of
peace with others.  In your name I pray, amen.
pp. 121-2
The Purpose of Christmas by Rick Warren

He was God, this baby! It was easy to tell that, for so the angels sang that night. But He was also fully human. The infant wept. He snuggled against Mary's breast and drank of the life that mothers ever hold for their little ones. This was the grandest warmth of Jesus entering our world: the infinite God whimpering for milk in a shepherd's cave.
Most of Bethlehem didn't know God was in town. Some people there may still not know it or at least not think much of it. Sometimes God comes so quietly, you have to listen closely to know He's even there.
p. 12/16
The Christ of Christmas by Calvin Miller

There an aged man of God named Simeon noticed them.  In his comments to Mary, he said specifically, "This child .. . . will be the greatest   
 
joy to many" (Luke 2:34, italics added).
            At times, it is hard to see cause for joy in our life.  When circumstances have conspired to wear us down, to drain our patience, to dash our hopes and dreams, we feel within us the very opposite of joy.  We are frustrated, depressed, and even sometimes resentful.
            Only the long perspective, the divine perspective, can bring back the joy to our heart.  Only when we remind ourselves that "God is for us" (Romans 8:31), never against us, can we rise above our immediate feelings.  The fact that we celebrate Christmas as a season of "joy to the world" is because we now have the big picture.  We see what God was up to all along.  Out of confusion and distress he has brought salvation and hope.
p. 164
To Fly Again by Gracia Burnham
poinsettias.jpg Prayer Requests
       & Praises


1. Praise:  Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15 (NASB)

2. Pray: You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at His birth.  
Luke 1:14 (NASB)
 
3. Pray: If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!  Matthew 7:11 (NIV)

4. Praise:  For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  John 3:16 (NASB)

5. Pray: Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.  
2 Corinthians 1:21, 22 (NASB)

6. Pray: But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh...If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit  Galatians 5:16, 25 (NASB)
  
7. Praise: For God's leading of the BTR Board of Directors.
 
8. Pray: Continue to pray for the completion of the Preservation Project.

Prayer: Lord, my mind turns to 1 Timothy 3:16: "And by common confession great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, beheld by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory."

At this time of the year, it is renewing to pause and think about the love of our Father and the indescribable GIFT He gave us.

O Come, All Ye Faithful

O come all ye faithful, Joyful and triumphant, 
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him, Born the King of angels.

O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him,
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
Blessings,
 
Pearl Anderson

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)