26.06 The King is Coming - The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Church in Ephesus (Part 3)

In today's episode, Craig and LaDonna finish up their study of the first Church Jesus told John to write to in His words to the seven churches in Asia Minor.  It was the church in Ephesus.  The Smiths continue to help us understand how we, today, can be like the Ephesian church, by continuing to preach and teach sound doctrine all while guarding our local church against the false teachers of today.  When false doctrines, like weeds, try and sprout up in our churches today, they are to be confronted by the leaders of the church and by exercising what is called church discipline on those who bring such teaching in.  Craig goes the extra mile by including some important thoughts about the legalities church discipline needs to operate under, especially in such a litigious environment like we find ourselves in today.  He addresses what the church should do if and when someone goes as far as suing the church in civil court.  Drawing upon his years of leading the Native Ministries of The C&MA, and the training he received while in that role, Craig helps bring out the importance of the church today in covering itself legally should something like that happen today.  It all centers around Christ's affirmation of the leaders in Ephesus for doing the hard work of protecting the church from false teaching.  He commends them strongly for doing so.  But Christ also shares with the folks in Ephesus that there were some things He was not happy with in what He observed in this congregation.  Specifically, was the fact that they had left their first love for Christ.  Thankfully, Christ gave them three things to do to recapture that first love, and Craig takes the time to unpackage those items to you, his listeners, today. Those three things are, Remember, Repent, and Return.  You'll be encouraged by both Craig and LaDonna's teaching on how we can even do that today.  Great words of encouragement to all listeners, once again, right here on today's edition of Indigenous Faith!