Three Resurrections: Making All Things New

May 24, 2023

Texts: 1 Corinthians 15:21-28; 50-57; 2 Peter 2:11-13 Days 75-77 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. The voice from the throne announced, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). Ultimately and finally, God makes all things new through resurrection. Though Jesus was seemingly defeated by the powers in his death, God vindicated […]


Missional Mandate: Fill the Earth, Subdue the Powers, and Shepherd the Creation

April 26, 2023

Texts: Acts 6:7; 4:23-31; 12:24; Revelation 5:9-13 Days 65-67 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. When God created the cosmos, God invested in humanity a particular vocation:  fill the earth, subdue the chaos, and shepherd (rule) the creation (Genesis 1:28). As participants in the new creation, the people of God extend this human vocation […]


1 Timothy 2:11-12 – May Women Teach Men?

December 26, 2022

In January, 2021, Bammel Road Church of Christ in Houston, TX, asked me to share my understanding of 1 Timothy 2:11-12 with them. This is the ZOOM video for January 31, 2021. This presentation suggests that Paul is addressing a confused situation in Ephesus where some deceived women were influencing the whole church, and consequently […]


The Identity of Israel: New Humanity in a New Eden

November 9, 2022

Texts: Genesis 12:1-3, 7a; Exodus 6:2-8; Exodus 19:3-6. Days 14-16 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. Who is Israel, and what is her purpose? It is a new humanity in a new Eden to continue and further the mission of God in the world. Following the collapse of the world into violent imperialism and […]


Human Identity and Vocation

October 11, 2022

Days 5-8 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days Text: Genesis 1:26-28 Who are we as human beings? What is our identity, and what is our responsibility and function on this earth? The long history of spirituality, which is evident in today’s Western culture, has included a search for the authentic self. It seems we […]


God Creates the Cosmos

September 29, 2022

Days 2-4 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days Texts: John 17:24-26; Isaiah 66:1-2; Genesis 1:1-2, 31 Why did God create the world? I think it is for the same reason God sent the Son into the world. And it is this: to include humanity in the communion of God’s own love. That perhaps offers […]


Hebel Happens: A Sermon on September 11, 2022

September 12, 2022

This sermon was delivered at the Well House Church in Nashville, TN. The sermon begins at about 44 minutes. Hebel happens. 9-11 happened. Hebel is the word the preacher in Ecclesiastes uses thirty-seven times to describe a world soaked in death. Life is brief, a vapor. It is absurd and an enigma. It is unfathomable; […]


A Podcast Discussion: New Heavens and a New Earth

July 13, 2022


ELEVEN QUESTIONS ABOUT AND SIX INTERPRETATIONS OF 1 TIMOTHY 2:13-15

March 19, 2021

For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty. If the reasons Paul gives for 1 Timothy 2:11-12 are difficult to understand and subject to […]


Theodrama #9: Two Trees–A Wisdom Story

June 10, 2019

This is one meditation from the published book by John Mark Hicks, Around the Bible in 80 Days: The Story of God from Creation to New Creation (Abilene: Leafwood Press, 2022).