Jim Folk's Blog

Several of our home fellowships are beginning the study Twisting the Truth. It's about how Satan's lies infiltrate our culture. One such lie is that "the family" should be defined as any unit of persons who wish to be married, instead of the biblical definition of marriage as one man and one woman. I saw an example of how this lie of redefining the family was recently broadcast on the show "House" on Fox network.

Many of us make resolutions, but in scripture there is only one New Year's resolution that God asks of us. In fact, it is a resolution we must make daily and especially every time we face difficulty. Listen to Paul's words in Philippians 3:12-14, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

For several years, now, we have driven our minivan with the windshield washing fluid indicator light on. I’ve checked the level many times, and it is almost always near full. I’ve concluded that it must be a bad sensor and it is not worth worrying about or bothering to fix. (I don’t find that little yellow light annoying, I’ve just come to expect it.) Our emotions are like sensors on that dashboard display. They are indicators of how we feel. When we are hurt we feel angry; when we are disappointed we feel sad; and when we reach a goal, we feel satisfied. When we respond properly to our emotions, we grow in maturity. If we overreact to our emotions—out of proportion to what they represent—then we suffer anxiety, worry, and resentment.

In Matthew 4:1-11, we have the account of Jesus' temptation from Satan in the wilderness. Satan comes to Jesus twice and tempts him to test God's power, asking him essentially "If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread." and then, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself off the temple and let the angels rescue you." In the third temptation, Satan moves to a different tactic- not questioning Jesus' power, but his heart. Satan took him to a very high place and showed him all the kingdoms of the world saying, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Notice that the false promise was given first. Satan wanted Jesus to turn his heart away from God. Satan's promise was a worldly kingdom- one of temporary riches, influence, status, and power.

Last week in the sermon I gave evidence for the reliability of the Bible, focusing mainly on manuscript evidence for the New Testament. Both in the date between the events and when the manuscripts are dated, and in the number of manuscripts we have, the Bible is the most well documented ancient text when compared with other ancient texts from sources our society would deem as historical. Even skeptical and atheist scholars admit this fact.

Another way the Bible is often confirmed as reliable is through archaeology. Here are three finds that confirm evidence for the Bible as both historical and truthful:

It always intruiges me when people in education debate the value of curving grades. I recently read a story of a school that proposed giving nothing lower than a 40 percent, to allow students--who would have failed with a few consecutive zeros-- a fighting chance to pass the semester!

As a former high school teacher I used to curve grades a lot- one year I curved an Algebra II exam about 30 points because no one had time to finish the test! I must admit I felt sorry for the students.

This week, four people from our local fellowship in Ocala will be traveling to San Estanislao, Paraguay for a short term mission with E3 Partners ministry. We will be assisting local churches in discipleship and evangelism, in order to plant a new church.

So why is it important for Americans to travel all the way to a foreign country and share the gospel in person? Aside from simply being obedient to the Lord's command to go into all the world (Matthew 28:19-20), a couple of ideas come to mind...

I think it was Mark Twain who said, "When I was 14 I thought my dad was the dumbest man around. When I turned 21 I realized how much he had learned in 7 years."

Well, What I wish I had known entering college! Here are 3 books that I think every Christian teenager should read upon entering any university:

1. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. This is one of my personal favorites. It lays out very simply and yet profoundly the intellectual defense behind a Christian worldview. Lewis is a master at taking complex philosophical concepts and using everyday analogies to illustrate the coherence of the Christian view versus the absurdity of an atheistic worldview. My advice- read this book many times!

Our president recently reversed the ban on embryonic stem cell research, saying in effect, that we should not be forced to choose between science and ideology. But is this really a helpful or logical distinction? Are scientists collecting stem cells somehow exempt from ideological assumptions and opinions?

I love reading Bible stoiries to my kids. We have three or four Children's Bibles to choose from. Often the kids ask to read the same stories over and over. One favorite is Jonah- maybe it's something about the ocean and the big fish.

Well, one night we are reading and we come to the end of Jonah's story and the Children's Bible concludes with, "And Jonah went and preached to Nineveh. The Ninevites repented. And God was pleased that Jonah obeyed."

What? God was pleased that Jonah obeyed? This is simplistic moralism! This is a complete misrepresentation of the end of Jonah! In the end, Jonah did obey God and preach to the Ninevites, and they repented. Jonah basically tells God, "I told you so".