Realities of Ministry

The apostle Paul, in his meeting with the Ephesian elders, gave timeless advice and alerts to the Church and its leaders. He forewarned them that being faithful would at times require taking a firm stand and going to battle for the Gospel truth. Church leaders, as God's representatives, have serious accountability to know, understand, teach, and defend the Word of God.

Leaders are also given the responsibility to protect the church body from false teaching and false teachers. The apostle Paul sounds the warning that those false teachers will not only be heard outside the church, but will also infiltrate the ranks of believers and begin to promote their heresies' from within. Often those teachings will contain a subtle mixture of truth with the error making it sound reasonable and appealing but potentially misleading the unwary.

The warning speaks to the centrality, essential, and tremendous importance of the Word of God to the people of God and their need to know it as God meant it when He said it.