John Mark Hicks

We live in a chilling moment. Children are dying. War has no end in sight. Political discourse is laced with malice and vitriol. Yet, it seems to me, our time is no different than many other times in world history. There is nothing unique about the previous paragraph. This is one reason the Hebrew Bible […]

Returning to Bethlehem (Ruth 1:19-22) So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them,             “Call me no longer Naomi,                         call me Mara,                         for the Almighty […]

Widowed (Ruth 1:6-18) Naomi Begins to Return to Bethlehem (Ruth 1:6-7) Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had considered his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she had been […]

Texts: Romans 5:1-5; 8:18-27; Hebrews 5:8-10 Days 71-74 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. Divine grace empowers hopeful waiting even as we groan for wholeness, for shalom. We live in-between-the-times. The creation is a very good place to inhabit. Yet, it is presently filled with chaos, both natural and moral. In many ways, God’s […]

A Keynote Address for Harbor, Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA, on May 6, 2022 Influenced by both their Greco-Roman culture and egged on by the intruders Paul called the “super-apostles,” the Corinthians apparently thought the ministry of a celebrity pastor like Paul should be characterized by thrilling and brilliant rhetoric about his visionary experiences, triumphant […]

Anchors for the Soul is now available for free streaming! Several years ago HIM Publications, led by Chad Harrington, published a 10 lesson video series by John Mark Hicks on both DVD and through streaming service. It is entitled “Anchors for the Soul.” These lessons are 9-13 minutes long and enter the sacred space of […]

Brief words often speak volumes. They say so much, and no other words are needed. “I thirst” is exactly that. While, at first, we may think this is primarily about physical thirst—and we should not discount that dimension, the words are more about the situation in which Jesus finds himself. “I thirst” is the cry […]

This is a presentation of the Five Anchors for the Soul in the Storms of Life at the Central Church of Christ in Athens, AL on July 8, 2015. Here God loves, God listens, God understands, God reigns, and God wins.

In September 2014, I was honored to present some material on the book of Job to a group of dedicated and devout servants in the church at the Midwest Preachers’ Retreat in Wisconsin.  Here are the audio links to those presentations. 1.  The Text of Job as Dramatic Lament: The Dialogical Structure of the Book […]

Israel had recently experienced defeat. Though perhaps an exilic context, it probably reflects a military defeat in the pre-exilic period (e.g., the invasion of Zerah the Cushite during the reign of righteous Asa in 2 Chron 14:9-10, the invasion of the Moabites during the reign of righteous Jehoshaphat in 2 Chron 20:1, or some other […]