In this sermon, we explore how John’s visions of beasts, dragons, and Babylon aren’t predictions of the world’s end, but prophetic unveilings of empire’s true nature—then and now. Revelation exposes the seductive power of political and religious systems that disguise domination as righteousness and violence as peace. Drawing insight from voices like Michael J. Gorman,…
Romans 13 is a famous text that has been used as a proof-text to justify state-sponsored violence for millennia. By reading Romans “backwards” (in light of the conflict between the factions in the house churches of Rome), we can more clearly see Paul’s purpose for writing this passage. Rather than sanctioning state-sponsored violence, Paul was…
The fourth sermon in the “Swimming Lessons” teaching series entitled “The Rise of Babylon,” this message presents an interpretation of the “Tower of Babel” story in Genesis chapter 11 as the genesis of empire and cultural captivity. This message challenges viewers to examine the ways we capitulate or participate in cultural captivity. How many times…
The third message in the “Swimming Lessons” series builds upon the previous two, by continuing to chart the descent of human culture into greater and greater brokenness. In this message, Pastor T. C. shows how human culture disintegrated from the original “Garden Culture” to Cain killing his brother Abel. But, the shattering of shalom isn’t…