Tom graced us with his teaching this past Sunday, as we continued in our trek through Revelation.  If you want to get the full gist of what he said, you need to ask Tom to make you a copy of the recording.  Since we didn’t record it, that might be a problem . . . so, I’m going to go ahead and give a few points that stuck out to me.

1) “I know your afflictions and your poverty – yet you are rich!” – later on in the church letters, one of the churches is told the exact opposite of this – you think you’re rich, but you don’t realize that you’re wretched, poor, blind, and naked!  It hit me that outside appearances matter so very little – our riches come from being connected with Christ, and our poverty comes from not being connected with Christ.

2) “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer.” - Christ said this to the church.  Two things struck me: one, the coming suffering is a certainty.  Don’t wonder if it’s going to happen, just prepare for it.  Two, we shouldn’t be afraid.  I realized that I’m a very fearful person, and that reflects on my lack of faith in the promises of Christ Himself found in Romans 8:35-39.  Go ahead.  Read it.

3) “Be faithful, even to the point of death . . .” - Wow.  Those first two words are what really grabbed me.  Tom asked us the question, “what are you willing to die for?”, and it’s converse, “what aren’t you willing to die for?”  They’re good questions, if you let them do their work.

Tom then jumped into a time of discussion, asking us how our church today, in America, should be preparing for suffering.  What form is it taking?  What form will it take?  What areas are we really needing to be faithful in?

So, to that end, I open it up to you.  Let’s continue this discussion.  How do you see the words “be faithful” applying to us at Kossuth Street Baptist Church?