Frank's Bible Blog

The Homeless and the Aged: How Will You Serve in 2014?

Galatians 5:13b “But do not use your freedom to indulge in sinful nature, rather, serve one another in love.”

Last Sunday—the Sunday before Christmas—our family had the privilege of working with our church to serve the homeless of downtown Dallas. In the pre-dawn hours the homeless began to line up on one side of a parking lot, while others mingled around hot coffee on the other side where the weekly outdoor church service and breakfast would be held. The line, I learned, was to get clothes. One shirt and one pair of pants per person. My assignment was to enforce that “one and one” rule. Most people were very respectful of the rule, but then there was one guy who tried to leave with his arms full of clothes. We got him to put a couple things back that clearly would not fit him, but he begged us to let him keep the rest. “Construction workers threw everything I owned over the bridge,” he said. Apparently he had been making his “home” at a nearby construction site. We let him keep the extra clothes.

As the sun rose the church service began. I stood on the side and watched as people began to take their seats on cold metal chairs. One woman caught my attention. As soon as she sat down she started to cry. I slipped into the seat beside her. “Is there something I can pray with you about” I asked. “Yes,” she sobbed. She then began to tell me how child protective services recently took her three children. “All I want to do is tuck them in bed at night” she cried. “I’ve been real good lately. I stopped doing drugs. I don’t know why I lost them” she said. I shared the gospel with her and she told me that she had accepted Christ as Savior several months ago but had stopped going to church because she felt she wasn’t good enough.

Fast forward three days—Christmas Day—and our family found ourselves out early once again, this time to sing Christmas carols at a nursing home during their breakfast hour. We try to do something like this every Christmas that we are in town as one way to model service to our now-teenage children.

That brings us to my quiet time this morning. I read the familiar Galatians 5 passage about the fruit of the Spirit, but what really struck me were the verses leading up to them, particularly verse 13. It seems that many people struggle living by the Spirit because they don’t practice serving others. As I read this verse what came to my mind were the faces of the homeless man who lost his possessions, the woman who lost her children, and the elderly men and women who I talked with in that nursing home. I thanked the Lord for these opportunities to serve them with my family. These service opportunities were different from my normal “ministry” and it helped remind me of the importance of serving others and living by the Spirit, not just at Christmas but all year long.

So what about you? As you think about the upcoming year, how are you planning to serve others in love? You may find that it is much easier to live in the Spirit when you are walking in service to others.

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P.S. Yes, it’s been a long time since I’ve written a Bible blog! 2013 has been a very busy year for me and our ministry, MaxPoint Missions, with trips to East Africa and assisting with work literally all over the world. In case you haven’t kept up, I would encourage you to visit our website at www.maxpoint.org to see what is going on these days and to sign up for our periodical eNewsletter.

Special Christmas Blessing from Bukabwa's Children

Merry Christmas!

As you gather with family and friends to celebrate the birth of our Lord, I have a very special treat to share with you today. It is a video of Christmas coming to the once-forsaken children of Bukabwa, Tanzania. Some of my blogs have featured stories from my work in Bukabwa and other places in Tanzania over the past two years as I have coordinated a partnership between an American church near Dallas, TX and an indigenous Tanzanian denomination. The children of Bukabwa have no toys, no books and most are not able to attend school (too far). But God's love was demonstrated to this village as this Christmas 200 children received children's Bibles and "Hope Packs" filled with toys, candy and hand-written notes from generous Americans. Their parents also received something special--a Bible of their own. So turn up the volume on your computer and check out this video--but grab the Kleenex first!

P.S.--the man in the video on the bicycle is Pastor Samuel, who leads the church that we planted there. His wish was to have a bicycle that he could use to travel across this expansive village to share Christ with its 6,000 residents. Now he has one! For more on my work in Africa, and more Bukabwa videos, please visit my ministry website at www.maxpoint.org.

Merry Christmas!

--Frank Banfill

P.S.S. For those of you getting this post via email, if you do not see the video below you can view it at www.FranksBibleBlog.com.

 

 

Matthew 2-- Worship vs. Worry: A Contrast in Leadership

 

Leaders come in all shapes, sizes, temperaments and styles. And there are good leaders, mediocre leaders and down-right bad leaders. You can probably think of leaders that you know at work, in business or in society that fit one of those categories. Matthew 2 paints a great contrast between two types of leaders, and shows a family caught in the middle. On one hand, you have "wise men from the East." Little is known about these men. We know the general region they were from, we know they were wealthy, and we know they most likely held some kind of leadership or ruling role in their society. Although we don't know much about their background, we do have pretty good insight into the kind of leaders they were. They knew the Scriptures, they desired to worship the Lord, they were willing to make sacrifices to encounter the Lord, and they weren't threatened that a better or more powerful leader than themselves had emerged. Herod, on the other hand, was just the opposite. He worried about losing power. His world centered on himself rather than on God and others. He would do anything to maintain his authority, no matter how much pain and suffering it caused. In the middle is Joseph, Mary and the young child (no longer a baby), Jesus. They had no political power, wealth or leadership positions.  But they had something better--they had God guiding them and helping them navigate the changing political landscape. Today, maybe you relate best to Joseph and his family in that you feel powerless to change the situation around you. I would encourage you to do what they did, and seek God's direction. On the other hand, you may find yourself in a leadership position. In that case, I would encourage you to be like the wise men and not Herod. Don't be self-focussed or feel threatened by others. Rather, try to turn your leadership role into an act of worship by striving to glorify God in your daily dealings.

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Frank Banfill is an author, international speaker, and president of MaxPoint Ministries, whose purpose is to help individuals, churches and ministries reach their full potential.Please share this blog with your family & friends. Not a subscriber? Sign up now at www.FranksBibleBlog.com.

Leaders come in all shapes, sizes, temperaments and styles. And there are good leaders, mediocre leaders and down-right bad leaders. You can probably think of leaders that you know at work, in business or in society that fit one of those categories. Matthew 2 paints a great contrast between two types of leaders, and shows a family caught in the middle. On one hand, you have "wise men from the East." Little is known about these men. We know the general region they were from, we know they were wealthy, and we know they most likely held some kind of leadership or ruling role in their society. Although we don't know much about their background, we do have pretty good insight into the kind of leaders they were. They knew the Scriptures, they desired to worship the Lord, they were willing to make sacrifices to encounter the Lord, and they weren't threatened that a better or more powerful leader than themselves had emerged. Herod, on the other hand, was just the opposite. He worried about losing power. His world centered on himself rather than on God and others. He would do anything to maintain his authority, no matter how much pain and suffering it caused. In the middle is Joseph, Mary and the young child (no longer a baby), Jesus. They had no political power, wealth or leadership positions.  But they had something better--they had God guiding them and helping them navigate the changing political landscape. Today, maybe you relate best to Joseph and his family in that you feel powerless to change the situation around you. I would encourage you to do what they did, and seek God's direction. On the other hand, you may find yourself in a leadership position. In that case, I would encourage you to be like the wise men and not Herod. Don't be self-focussed or feel threatened by others. Rather, try to turn your leadership role into an act of worship by striving to glorify God in your daily dealings.

_________________________

Frank Banfill is an author, international speaker, and president of MaxPoint Ministries, whose purpose is to help individuals, churches and ministries reach their full potential.Please share this blog with your family & friends. Not a subscriber? Sign up now at www.FranksBibleBlog.com.

Luke 2-- Try Being That Parent

 

There are several reality TV shows about large families. They show the daily challenges of parents trying to keep up with a houseful of children. But imagine what it would have been like to have been the earthly parents to the Son of God. Luke 2 gives us an overview of Jesus' first 12 years. Imagine what it would have been like to be Mary or Joseph in that stable the night Jesus was born. You just finish giving birth when a troupe of shepherds show up telling a crazy story about seeing the sky filled with angels (vv13-18). Then you go to the temple to dedicate your child, like every good Jewish parent did at that time. Next thing you know an elderly man whom you have never seen before walks up, takes your child in his arms and says "I'm ready to die now--I have seen the Savior" (vv28-32). If that wasn't strange enough, a widow woman excitedly comes over and starts praising God for your son and telling everyone around about him (vv36-38). Then there is the incident when he was 12 where he is back at the temple, this time confounding the religious leaders with his questions and answers. No, none of us will ever know what it is like to parent the Christ, but we can create a godly environment where our children grow up like Christ increasing "in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men" (v52).

_________________________
Frank Banfill is an author, international speaker, and president of MaxPoint Ministries, whose purpose is to help individuals, churches and ministries reach their full potential. Please forward this blog to your family & friends. Not a subscriber? Sign up now at www.FranksBibleBlog.com.

There are several reality TV shows about large families. They show the daily challenges of parents trying to keep up with a houseful of children. But imagine what it would have been like to have been the earthly parents to the Son of God. Luke 2 gives us an overview of Jesus' first 12 years. Imagine what it would have been like to be Mary or Joseph in that stable the night Jesus was born. You just finish giving birth when a troupe of shepherds show up telling a crazy story about seeing the sky filled with angels (vv13-18). Then you go to the temple to dedicate your child, like every good Jewish parent did at that time. Next thing you know an elderly man whom you have never seen before walks up, takes your child in his arms and says "I'm ready to die now--I have seen the Savior" (vv28-32). If that wasn't strange enough, a widow woman excitedly comes over and starts praising God for your son and telling everyone around about him (vv36-38). Then there is the incident when he was 12 where he is back at the temple, this time confounding the religious leaders with his questions and answers. No, none of us will ever know what it is like to parent the Christ, but we can create a godly environment where our children grow up like Christ increasing "in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men" (v52).

_________________________
Frank Banfill is an author, international speaker, and president of MaxPoint Ministries, whose purpose is to help individuals, churches and ministries reach their full potential. Please forward this blog to your family & friends. Not a subscriber? Sign up now at www.FranksBibleBlog.com.

Matthew 1-- Life Comes at You Fast

There is an insurance company here in the U.S. with an advertising slogan that says "life comes at you fast." It shows unexpected events, some quite funny, happening to people's automobiles. The message is that you need their coverage so that you are ready for whatever might happen. There is a lot of truth in that statement--life at times does come at us in unexpected ways. We think we have it all figured out when something changes. That was the case with Joseph. He's a normal, blue collar guy engaged to this Mary girl and just doing life--like everyone else. Next thing he knew, the unexpected happens--and it was something that he knew he hadn't caused! "What do I do now," Joseph thought as he found himself in the middle of a very embarrassing situation. But as he contemplated his next move, God sent a message. It wasn't exactly the message one would expect--the child was conceived of the Holy Ghost. It was pretty far-fetched, but Joseph did what God said and went forward with the marriage. And we are all glad he did! Yes, life does come at us fast; but if we will learn to listen to God, even when it is a stretch of our faith, we will successfully navigate whatever is thrown at us. Like Joseph, we can discover that being guided by God is better than human logic--and better than anything any insurance company could provide.

_________________________

Frank Banfill is an author, international speaker, and president of MaxPoint Ministries, whose purpose is to help individuals, churches and ministries reach their full potential.Please share this blog with your family & friends. Not a subscriber? Sign up now at www.FranksBibleBlog.com.

_________________________

Frank Banfill is an author, international speaker, and president of MaxPoint Ministries, whose purpose is to help individuals, churches and ministries reach their full potential.Please share this blog with your family & friends. Not a subscriber? Sign up now at www.FranksBibleBlog.com.