December 22, 2022
Texts: 1 Chronicles 29:29-30; Psalm 19:14 Days 20-22 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. Every people-group has a history; they tell stories about their journey. And every people-group has a liturgy; they worship someone or something. Israel is no different. The Torah and subsequent histories (running from Judges through Kings and Chronicles to Ezra-Nehemiah) narrates […]
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Theodrama | Tagged: 80 Days Around the Bible, Genre, History, Israel, Law, Liturgy, Narrative, Poetry, Psalms, Torah |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
December 14, 2022
Texts: Romans 9:4-5; Psalm 19:7-10; Romans 3:1-2 Days 20-22 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. God chose Israel from among the nations as God’s own firstborn. As firstborn, Israel was tasked with blessing the nations through their obedience to God (as a light among the nations) and the promises made to Abraham. God equipped […]
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Biblical Texts, Theodrama | Tagged: Abrahamic Promise, Adoption, Covenants, Glory, Liturgy, Messiah, Promise, Scripture, Temple, Torah |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
August 29, 2015
Here is concluding counsel for a marginalized, victimized group. As exiles and aliens (1 Peter 2:11-12) within Roman society, Peter calls them to transcend their situation by living as an authentic community, which seeks only good for its surrounding culture. This section concludes the major exhortation section of 1 Peter. It opened with the vocative […]
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Biblical Texts | Tagged: Assembly, Ecclesiology, Eschatology, Hospitality, Liturgy, Love, Worship |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
September 3, 2014
There is always reason to weep. We don’t have to look too far into our world—whether through social media, television, or newsprint—to find reason to weep. Yet, too often we—especially the church—ignore, hide our eyes, or look past the pain in order to escape into fantasy, denial, or hope. We rarely sit in our grief […]
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Biblical Texts, Pastoral Care | Tagged: Grief, Lament, Lamentations, Liturgy, Prayer |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
July 29, 2013
Who can stand on the days when the wrath of God and the Lamb are poured out on empires? That is the question asked when the sixth seal is opened in Revelation 6:12-17. The shaking of the Roman empire, as with all empires, will affect everyone from rich to poor, from free to slave. Who […]
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Biblical Texts | Tagged: 144000, Assembly, Dead, Death, Intermediate State, Liturgy, Martyrs, Revelation 7, Worship |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
July 14, 2013
While Revelation 4 focused on the worth of the Creator who sits on the throne, Revelation 5 turns our attention to the dramatic investiture of the one who is worthy to break the seals and unroll the scroll. Revelation 4 portrays the reality of the heavenly throne room where the sovereign God, sitting on the throne, […]
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Biblical Texts | Tagged: Assembly, Christology, Instrumental Music, justice, Lamb, Liturgy, Music, Prayer, Revelation 5, Sing, Worship |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
March 27, 2013
During the summer of 1858 Tolbert Fanning, President of Franklin College and a leader in Middle Tennessee for over twenty-five years, toured the congregations surrounding Nashville. He recounts this tour in the September 1858 edition of the Gospel Advocate (“Prospects in Middle Tennessee,” pp. 257-263). He visited Hartsville and Bledsoe’s Creek congregations in Sumner county; Lebanon […]
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Stone-Campbell | Tagged: Acts of Worship, Assembly, Churches of Christ, Liturgy, Lord's Day, Nashville, Sunday, Tennessee, Tolbert Fanning |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks
February 8, 2012
“God is Spirit, and those who worship God must worship in Spirit and Truth” (John 4:24). You might not immediately notice but one of the differences between my translation and the traditional one is that I capitalize “Spirit” and “Truth.” I think this is important. The traditional use of this text is to locate the prepositional […]
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Theology | Tagged: Bible-Gospel of John, Christology, Eschatology, Holy Spirit, John 4:24, Liturgy, Temple, Truth, Worship |
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Posted by John Mark Hicks