As Craig Smith concludes his message titled Even So, Come, Lord Jesus, he explains why he believes in the literal interpretation of the Scriptures regarding the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  Pastor Smith concludes that Christ's coming is in several parts, starting with the rapture of the Church where the dead in Christ are resurrected and caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, accompanied by those of us who are alive and remain on that great day.  This rapture (catching away) of the Church will usher in a seven year period on earth of what the Bible describes as Great Tribulation, culminating with the final and most deadly battles, the Battle of Armageddon.  Then Jesus returns to earth with all His followers to set up a millennial reign (1,000 years), where Satan is bound and sin is nowhere to be found on earth.  It will be a reign of power and glory as Jesus Christ rules the earth.  At the end of the millennium, Satan will be loosed for a small season for one last attempt to deceive and destroy those living at the time.  He will be once and for all defeated and cast into the Lake of Fire, followed by what the Bible describes in Revelation 20 as the final Great White Throne Judgement.  Finally, there will be a new heaven and a new earth where we will live eternally with the One who died for our sins.  Sound to crazy to be true?  Please don't turn away from His free gift of salvation which ensures for each of us a place in His eternal home!  Paradise awaits!  Even so, Come, Lord Jesus!

As Craig and LaDonna Smith continue to complete a biblical foundation for a strong Indigenous Faith, they draw us into one of the most exciting parts of Christian faith - the soon return of Jesus Christ in what the Bible refers to as His Second Coming!  2,000 years ago the world saw the Creator of heaven and earth take on human flesh as He dwelt among the people He created.  Some forty days after His death, burial, and resurrection form the dead, He ascended back to heaven, leaving us with the promise that He would come again!  Since then the church has been anticipating Christ's second coming.  So, when will that be?  What are the signs that point to His return?  What will He do when He returns?  Pastor Smith unpackages for us what God's Word says while providing some historical perspective on how different parts of the Body of Christ have interpreted the abundance of end-time prophecy.  As Craig notes, about one third of Scripture is prophetic in nature, so we know it's an important issue from God's perspective.  Pastor Smith helps us sort out all the differing views and leaves us with a clear reason why he believes in the pre-millennial, pre-tribulation rapture of the Church position.  Is the teaching of God's Word on end time issues to be taken literally, or  figuratively as some believe?  Pastor Smith helps us know what to believe, and why, in this timely two-part series titled, Even So, Come, Lord Jesus!

The Smiths continue to layout key foundational truths to help build a strong Indigenous Faith for followers of Jesus Christ in this final episode of their two-part series titled, Christ my Healer, Christ my Health.   In today's episode, Craig continues to preach on what happens when we pray for Divine healing only to have the symptoms remain and the pain stay the same.  Where is God when He chooses not to bring us the healing we so desire?  Has He forgotten or abandoned us, or, not even listened at all?  Taken from the authority of the Word of God and the deeper place the Lord has taken Pastor Smith in his own School of Suffering, Craig clearly explains that God will always answer our prayers for healing by offering us either Divine healing, or something even more powerful, Divine health!  Either answer is a dynamic manifestation of God's heart for the sufferer and for those who suffer alongside.  It brings to mind what Dr. A.B. Simpson so simply stated over a century ago regarding our need and God's response.  He said, In the heart of man, a cry.  In the heart of God, supply! 

Craig and LaDonna Smith continue to lay foundational teaching for Indigenous followers of Jesus Christ in this two part series on the doctrine of Divine Healing.  In this message preached at their home church in Cass Lake, Minnesota, Craig takes us further into this key doctrinal distinctive by introducing not only the concept of Divine Healing, but Divine Health as well.  Going once again to the pages of Scripture, Craig sheds light on some biblical truth that often goes unnoticed.  God continues to offer His children the miraculous touch of His divine hand on bodies that are broken and battered.  But what about those who long for that Divine touch but do not receive it?  Does that mean God isn't listening, or He's uninterested in our personal pain?  By the time you finish listening to this two-part series, you'll have a greater understanding about the work of God in the life of the sufferer.  Whether through a divine touch in our body or a divine presence that never leaves the sufferer alone, the Lord manifests Himself through divine healing and divine health.  And Craig Smith should know all about this reality, after undergoing over forty surgical procedures and great physical malady for over a decade now.  He speaks with the authority of experience and has something vitally important to say to the sufferer.  Please listen with an open heart and be blessed by the truths of Christ my Healer, Christ my Health! 

In this final episode on the infilling of the Holy Spirit, Craig and LaDonna explain the process of how being filled with the Spirit of God happens.  They define it as being both a crisis and progressive work of the Holy Spirit on a daily basis as He fills and leads His own.    Drawing from their own personal experiences that led them to the Spirit-filled life, Craig and LaDonna share practical steps of obedience that is needed on our part, and a more than willing heart of God on His part to give us this much needed power for daily living.  

Clearly, this is one of the most important doctrines of biblical faith that if overlooked or missed, will result in trouble winning the battles that we are designed to overcome.  We must remember, Jesus said in John 17 that, I sanctify myself that they too may be truly sanctified.  When we look at the life of Christ, He shows us not only how to be filled with the Spirit of God, but what powerful results that infilling will have as we live long and productive lives for Christ.  That's the only way to live out a strong and healthy Indigenous Faith in the context of our cultures, communities, and challenges.  Let's never forget Paul's admonition to the Ephesians in chapter 5:18, Be filled with the Spirit!

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is one of the more controversial doctrines in the Christian faith that has divided the church over centuries.  More conservative parts of the Body of Christ affirm that to being baptized into the Body of Christ at your spiritual birth.  Our Pentecostal friends believe it to be a second work of the Spirit, and evidenced by the gift of speaking in tongues.  So, which viewpoint is right? 

In this episode, Craig and LaDonna tackle this important doctrinal issue with their continued look into the life of Christ as He welcomed the powerful work of the Holy Spirit while walking along planet earth.  2,000 years ago the Creator of heaven and earth came down to live a sinless, spotless life and die on a cruel cross to pay the once for all sacrifice for the sins of the world. But how He demonstrated what it was to be filled with the Holy Spirit is biblical teaching that Craig and LaDonna believe both sides of the issue can find important common ground.  Yes, Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit in His humanity because He knew you and I needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit!  So what was the evidence of Jesus' own infilling?  You'll just have to listen to the remaining episodes Craig and LaDonna present on being filled with the Holy Spirit.  After all, that's heaven's answer for power for a victorious Indigenous Faith!

In this second episode of the Smith's four part series on the Infilling of the Holy Spirit, Craig and LaDonna continue to lay the biblical foundation for finding power for daily living out our Indigenous Faith.  Spiritual issues are known and understood by Indigenous people before ever coming to Christ.  But the spirituality that the Smiths are presenting is based on the universal, absolute truth of the Scriptures.  It admonishes followers of Christ to not be drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).  So, what are the steps to being filled with the Spirit?  The Smiths look at Jesus Christ, Himself, for answers.  Though He was God, for thirty-three and one-third years He lived on planet earth with the rest of us.  He modeled the infilling through what the Bible describes as three key encounters Jesus had with the Holy Spirit.  In today's episode, the Smiths explore the first encounter, which is the same encounter needed for the rest of us to live a Spirit-filled life.  Stay with Craig and LaDonna in the weeks to come as they uncover for us this extremely important step we all need.  Apart from it, it's impossible to live a victorious Christian life.  It's something we can't live without!

As the Smiths continue to move Indigenous listeners through the fundamentals of Indigenous Faith, they turn their attention in this new four part series to the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit.  This truth, which has become of the more controversial doctrines of Christian faith, can be easily understood when you focus your attention on Christ, Himself. In this important series, Craig and LaDonna do just that as they unpack how Jesus taught and modeled what it is and what you can do when you are filled with the Holy Spirit.  What was the evidence that Christ was Spirit-filled?  A more important question is, if He was God, why did He even need to be filled with the Holy Spirit?  In a clear opening of God's Word, the Smiths show how Jesus was born, filled, and resurrected from the dead by the Spirit of God.  Remember, Jesus never calls us to do anything that He, Himself, hasn't already done, including living our lives in the power of God's Holy Spirit, and overcoming any trouble or trials that the enemy of our soul tries to use to bring us down.  Open your heart and soul to the truths of God's Holy Word in this new and crucial series they are calling, The Infilling of the Holy Spirit.

In this second part of of this important teaching on Believer's Baptism, Craig Smith continues to give the biblical rationale for new followers of Christ to be baptized, regardless of whether it had been done previously as an infant, child, or even adult.  Baptism is not salvation, faith in Christ alone is what is needed to be saved.  But once saved, we are called to walk in biblical obedience to Christ, starting with being baptized.  Christ is our example.  He never calls us to do anything He, Himself hasn't already done!  You can read about Christ's water baptism in Matthew 3:13-17.

If you'd like to take this first step in obedience to Christ, reach out to the local pastor, missionary, or leader of a Bible believing, Bible teaching church in your area.  They may ask you to go through their own Bible study teaching on baptism as a requirement, but it will be well worth it.  Remember, as Matthew 3:17 reminds us as Jesus was coming out of the waters of his baptism,  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  If it pleased God the Father to see His Son being baptized,  don't you think it will also please the Father to see you and I follow Christ's example in first step obedience?!

In this, the first of a two-part series on the importance of baptism as the first step for new believers, Craig takes us to the New Testament book of Hebrews to explain what believer's baptism is about.  Not only does he unpackaged this important passage, but explains an important process that helps believers understand what difficult passages are trying to say to us.  It's so important to learn this process.  As 2 Timothy 2:15 says,  Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

Craig shares the importance of knowing what God's original intent was when He moved upon the human scribes to write what eventually became for us the authoritative Word of God that we now hold in our hands today.  In today's study, he helps us understand that the Book of Hebrews was specifically directed to the Jewish people and clarifies what the writer meant by, moving away from the basic doctrines of the faith, including repentance and baptism, along with three other items.  It doesn't sound right to move away from these things, which Pastor Smith affirms is incredibly true!  So, what does this passage teach?  In understanding what these Scriptures were actually saying to the Jewish believer when Hebrews was written helps us in our own personal walk in Him today as we sort out our own Indigenous Faith in the context of our Indigenous cultures. 

Baptism is an important first step for us all!  In this series, Craig clarifies the way New Testament Christians are to be baptized.  Have you been baptized, dear friend?  If not, then please consider these important first steps in following Jesus Christ.  We pray this series will help you as you begin to walk in obedience to the One who has given you eternal life!  Enjoy the teaching!