In a world shaken by headlines of political violence, our fall teaching series turns to the book of Revelation—not as a codebook for predicting the end of the world, but as a vision of Jesus Christ, the Faithful Witness. Revelation was written to embattled churches under Roman rule, calling them to see beyond fear and empire into the deeper reality of God’s kingdom. Today, it offers the same hope and courage for us.

This sermon lays the foundation: Revelation is not about a violent new Jesus, but the same Jesus we meet in the Gospels—the healer, teacher, forgiver, and lover of the marginalized. The exalted Lamb conquers not through domination, but through self-giving love. That truth speaks powerfully in our own context, where authoritarianism and Christian Nationalism distort faith into a weapon. Revelation unmasks those lies and calls us to bear faithful witness.

Together, we’ll explore what it means to follow Jesus in a time of fear and division: to resist violence with peace, exclusion with embrace, and despair with hope. This is not an escape from reality, but a Spirit-enabled vision to see beneath and beyond it. Join us as we discover how the Lamb who was slain is worthy of our allegiance and our lives.