John Mark Hicks

Hosea, as Yahweh’s prophet, takes on the role of a prosecutor. He serves the indictment against Israel in Hosea 4:1. There is no faithfulness, love, or intimacy with God in the land. The next message from Hosea (5:1-15) renders a verdict. Verdict Announced Hosea delivers the verdict to the leaders of Israel and reminds them […]

Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks walk through the meaning of Psalm 9, which both remembers God’s mighty deeds for Israel in the past with gratitude and cries out to God to renew those mighty deeds in the present. It is a Psalm of both thanksgiving and lament. The Psalm remembers God’s justice for the […]

Hebrews 10:26-39 For if we willfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony […]

The sermon begins at the 42 minute mark. Delivered on June 19, 2022 at the Woodmont Hills Church of Christ. Obadiah is the shortest book of the Hebrew Bible. It is a word of judgment against Edom who has mistreated, throughout its history, Israel and Judah. What might such a brief ancient and situated address […]

Text: James 2:1-8Sermon begins at the 45 minute mark.

[A Version of What was Delivered at Woodmont Hills Church of Christ, Nashville, TN, on June 19, 2020.] Continuing a series on the “Day of the Lord” in the Hebrew prophets, the text selected for this morning is Obadiah, and today is June 19, historically regarded as Jubilee Day or Emancipation Day in African American […]

This is the third movement of the letter. In the first Peter stressed the identity of believers as God’s chosen people whom God has loved from the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:13-2:10). In the second Peter encouraged believers to live out that identity despite their difficult circumstances as witnesses to the grace of […]

Joel begins with lament over the famine and drought as Yahweh’s army threatens Jerusalem with desolation, but it ends with abundance and water-filled ravines as Egypt and Edom become a wilderness. This reversal happens because “Yahweh dwells in Zion.” “In that day,” Joel announces, the fortunes of Israel are reversed. “That day” links Joel 3:18 […]

In the first half, Joel called Israel to lament and repentance, to fasting and assembly (Joel 1:1-2:17). In the second half, Joel assures Israel that their gracious and compassionate God will “restore their fortunes.” Yahweh promised a new creation where even the soil and animals as well as the people will rejoice (Joel 2:18-27). Yahweh […]

The “day of Yahweh,” or the “day of the Lord,” reverses creation. Through creation God subdued the chaos and gave it boundaries, but divine judgment releases chaos. The “day of Yahweh” uncreates. Eden is despoiled. Or, more specifically in the context of Joel, Israel is threatened with the prospect that the land flowing with milk […]