John Mark Hicks

Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks discuss the meaning of Psalm 127. It is a wisdom Psalm about God’s providential involvement in the building, protection, and blessings in our lives. It is a Psalm for workaholics, and a Psalm for everyone who thinks achievement, reward, and rest depends on them alone. Unless God is involved, […]

Living in evil times, we walk wisely as we discern the will of God and seek to be filled with the Spirit. We choose wisdom rather than foolishness and drunkenness. Filled with the Spirit, we gather as people who sing and make melody to the Lord through speaking the Psalms to each other, giving thanks […]

What is the theological heart of the dream narrative in Daniel 2? The Statue of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and iron & clay serve the greater theological point: God gives power and wisdom, and God takes it away (deposes kings). Kings who are supposed to image God, as God intended from the beginning for all […]

Perhaps Psalm 25 is the “Lord’s Prayer” of the Psalms–it teaches us to pray, pursue the way (derek) of the Lord, and rest in God’s overwhelming mercy, love, and grace. Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks discuss Psalm 25 as a kind of model prayer for the covenant people of God. Petitions are grounded in […]

Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks on Psalm 1 This episode begins a new series led by Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks. This series is dedicated to understanding and practicing the Psalms. Each week they will discuss a particular Psalm. In this first week, they discuss Psalm 1, which introduces the whole Psalter itself. […]

Begins at the 45 minute mark. This sermon was delivered at the Cedar Lane Church of Christ at Tullahoma, TN, on June 4, 2023. On Lady Wisdom and Dame Folly in Proverbs 9, see also this blog.

Texts: Proverbs 9:9-10; Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 Days 25-26 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. Every people group carries a shared wisdom within their history. This wisdom provides boundaries and paths for successful living. It also offers a way for people to endure the chaos that regularly invades life. Wisdom envisions the good life but recognizes […]

Days 9-10 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days Texts: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7. The reading of Genesis 2-3 is widely disputed, and it is difficult to discern what the best reading is. Is this description of cosmic and human origins literal history (as if we were watching a video), a theological saga, a mytho-historical worldview, […]

Paul makes ministry decisions according to the grace of God grounded in the faithfulness of God rather than according to fleshly or human wisdom rooted in self-interest and egoism. His goal is not to attain celebrity status within Greco-Roman culture but to embody God’s faithfulness for the sake of others. Given Paul’s relationship with the […]

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).