“I Desire Mercy, not Sacrifice”–At Matthew’s House and New Wine for New Wineskins

June 23, 2023

Text: Matthew 9:9-17 Jesus uses Hosea 6:6 to critique the criticism of some who objected to his eating with “tax collectors and sinners.” The point? Jesus pursues mercy for the sake of healing, and this is at the heart of kingdom living. It is pouring new wine into wineskins.


Christ the King

November 23, 2021

[Homily delivered at the All Saints Church of Christ on November 21, 2021 by William “Caleb” Rogers, a student at Lipscomb University and frequent preacher at All Saints Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee. The lectionary texts for the day were Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; Psalm 93; Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37.] Today is the Feast of […]


The Real Political Struggle

March 14, 2016

To which polis do you belong? I’m not asking in which geographical cities do we live, nor am I asking which nation-state do we inhabit? I am asking which polis shapes our identity, drives life, and defines our telos (the end toward which we live life)? Which polis gives our lives meaning and purpose? Paul […]


Unto Us A Child is Born: Hope in the Darkness (Isaiah 9:1-7)

November 28, 2015

[Listen or watch the sermon on Isaiah 9 here.] Isaiah spoke into a world analogous to our own, one soaked in darkness. When  night descended upon Judah, people saw only “distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish” (Isaiah 8:22). Uncertain of where to turn, people sought guidance in all the wrong places, including false gods, […]


Did Jesus Preach the Gospel?

June 18, 2015

Yes and No.  Check it out at here.


Our Pledge of Allegiance…to the Kingdom of God

May 24, 2015

The Sermon on the Mount is the epitome of Kingdom ethics and discipleship. The Sermon opens with the Beatitudes, which begin and end with a promise that the blessed belong to the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3, 10). The Sermon ends with a promise that those who “do the will of the Father” will “enter […]


Revelation 4 — Bowing Before the Throne

July 7, 2013

Revelation 4-16 gives us eyes to see the conflict between the kingdom of God and world powers with the eyes of God. We see the conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this earth from a heavenly perspective; we see it from the throne room of God. John, “in the Spirit,” is […]


The Second Vision: Revelation 4-16

July 5, 2013

When the seventh angel sounded the seventh trumpet, “voices” (note the plural) announced: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever. This, I believe, is the fundamental agenda of the Apocalypse, that is, to announce the coming of the kingdom […]


The Politics of the “New Heavens, New Earth” (1913 Stone-Campbell Book)

March 22, 2013

Peter Jay Martin, following in the footsteps of his father Joseph Lemuel Martin, authored a book that surveyed Revelation. Published by the McQuiddy Company (the Gospel Advocate publisher) in 1913, it was entitled The Mystery Finished, or The New Heavens and the New Earth. Peter’s book is not as well known as his father’s (The Voice of […]


David Lipscomb on Voting

November 5, 2012

David Lipscomb’s opposition to participation in civil government is perhaps well-known. He is, in some ways, a Christian anarchist. This arises both from his experience in the Civil War but also out of his kingdom theology which envisions the kingdom of God destroying all human ruling authorities through Jesus Christ. Consequently, Lipscomb was a pacifist […]