Rising Lion： Facing War News with Worship, Not Fear

In one paragraph

On Father's Day 2025, Brian used Israel's Operation Rising Lion against Iran as a doorway into Revelation chapter five, asking what faithful response looks like when headlines and scripture start echoing each other. The answer he kept returning to was worship, not as a feeling or a Sunday routine, but as the defining mark of the church in the generation of Jesus' return. The congregation worked...

Read together

1. Numbers 23:24 Balaam's Spirit-inspired words over Israel about rising up like a lioness and majestic lion, cited as the inspiration behind Israel's Operation Rising Lion
2. Revelation 1:12-18 John's vision of the glorified Jesus with white hair, eyes like flame, voice like ocean waves, and a two-edged sword, used to show a deeper revelation of Jesus that results in worship
3. Revelation 5 The whole chapter read aloud, showing the Lamb taking the scroll, the breaking of the seals, and the worship of thousands and millions of angels and living beings around the throne
4. Revelation 6:16-17 Kings and rulers hiding from the face of the one on the throne and the wrath of the Lamb, used to show a fuller picture of Jesus than the Sunday school version
5. Revelation 12:10-11 Followers of Jesus overcoming the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and their testimony, not loving their lives so much as to fear death, used in the section on worship in persecution
6. Revelation 15:2-4 Those victorious over the beast standing on a sea of glass holding harps, singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb, used to close the section on worship in persecution

What was said

• Read Revelation chapter five slowly this week and let yourself sit with the questions it raises rather than rushing past the unfamiliar parts.
• Put on worship music, or no music at all, and let a song from your own heart come out to the Lord.
• Pick one passage that feels like a no-go zone, whether Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, or Revelation, and spend a few minutes with it, asking the Holy Spirit to guide you into it.
• When confusion or fear rises up around what you see in the news, take a breath and ask the Lord where to focus rather than letting anxiety take over.
• Come to the all-community worship night at Gateway Church in Rafter J this Wednesday at 6:30 pm.

Talk about it

1. Brian talked about how many people in Israel missed Jesus at his first coming because their expectations of what the Messiah would look like got in the way. Where do you think our own expectations about Jesus and his return might be shaping what we are willing to see or accept?
2. Brian said he believes there will be millions of people who attend church and think they have allegiance to Jesus who will reject him at his return. What do you think he meant by that, and does it sit comfortably or uncomfortably with you?
3. The passage in Revelation 5 shows worship breaking out in heaven at the moment the first seal is opened, which Brian connected to the revealing of the antichrist. What does it mean to you personally to worship God in the middle of something frightening or chaotic rather than after it has passed?
4. Brian described the judgments of God as designed to remove obstacles and barriers that hinder love, rather than as punishment for its own sake. How does that framing change the way you think about the harder things happening in the world right now?
5. Brian said the church in the generation of the Lord's return will be marked by worship, and that the time to build that muscle memory is now. What is one practical habit, small or large, that you think would help you develop that kind of worship before it is tested?