I'm Hicksited

Recently I did a comedy routine at the Elk's Lodge in Grapevine, Texas.  So in the spirit of recognizing laughter as a gift from God, I thought I would share this rather jovial bit before I forget how it goes. It answers those important questions that you couldn't care less if I answered -  why I will never become a stand-up comedian, what I should have been warned about when it comes to...

What do we need to do to improve when it comes to telling others about Jesus?  How can we be more effective? What mistakes are we making? We start our look at the answers to these important questions by examining the need for prayer, the need for both word and action, both saying it and living it, and finally the need for more than just the one strategy of inviting people to church. Scriptures cov...

What do we need to do to improve when it comes to telling others about Jesus?  How can we be more effective? What mistakes are we making? We start our look at the answers to these important questions by examining the need for prayer, the need for both word and action, both saying it and living it, and finally the need for more than just the one strategy of inviting people to church. Scriptures cov...

We take a look at three options or ways that we can share the good news of Jesus with others. 1) Invite people to opportunities to get to know Jesus. The Samaritan woman did this then her whole town went out to meet Jesus.  2) Tell people about Jesus yourself. We don't always have to leave it to others to explain the gospel. We can tell the good news about Jesus as well!  3) Support those who...

The first thing to realize about the "how" of telling others about Christ is that it is not up to you to come up with the perfect phrase or story to convince someone Jesus is real.  The Holy Spirit can guide you to what needs to be said and when. The second thing is that we need to pray for the lost - that God will send out laborers into his harvest, that we will speak God's word bo...

We begin a series on sharing Jesus with others by looking at three reasons why we should do so - Jesus told us to do it in "the Great Commission", Jesus will defend us before the Father only if we will defend Him before men, and most importantly, because Jesus is the only name by which people can be saved.  Scriptures covered: Mark 16:15-16, Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 8:1-4, Matthew 10:32-33...

We read the first two chapters of the book of Job to see an example of Satan being an accuser, a slanderer, and one who inflicts suffering to get us to give up on our faith.  Job was a rich and righteous man, one who "feared God and shunned evil." Despite losing almost everything he had at that hand of Satan, we will see how Job determined to refuse to speak evil of God.   Scriptures cov...

In part 3 of our look at God's enemy, we talk about the many ramifications of Peter's description of the devil as a lion seeking to devour us. We also take an extensive look at one of Satan's primary weapons when it comes to getting people to quit their faith or keeping people from having faith in the first place, the weapon of suffering.  Scriptures covered: I Peter 5:6-11, Revelat...

As we continue our look at the story of the birth of Jesus, we read the stories of the journey to Bethlehem, Mary giving birth to Jesus and laying him in a manger because there was no room in the inn, the shepherds being told the great news by a host of angels, and finally the visit of the magi, wise men who saw the star of Jesus in the east.  Scriptures covered: Luke 2:1-20, Matthew 2:1-12 To see...

In Part 1 we cover how the angel Gabriel appeared to a young girl named Mary to let her know that she would become the mother of the Son of God, the Savior of the world! We also look at how Joseph, the one who was supposed to become Mary's husband, almost decided to call off the marriage. But an angel of the Lord appeared to him as well to let Joseph know that the child in Mary was from the H...

In part 2 of our look at God's enemy, we study two famous passages associated with the devil that, if they are indeed about Satan, indicate he was an extremely powerful spiritual being that thought he could be become God. Ultimately we see that regardless, Satan's pride was his downfall.  Scriptures covered: Hosea 11:1, Isaiah 14:12-19, Ezekiel 28:11-19, I Timothy 3:6. To see David Hicks...

God has an enemy, a nemesis if you will. He is called Satan; he is called the devil, names that imply he is an accuser, a slanderer, an adversary.  In Revelation 12, John the apostle sees a vision of Satan as a tremendous dragon ready to devour Jesus as soon as He is born and leading a band of angels in war against God.  When those attempts fail, he goes after the woman who gave birth to God'...

We continue our look at the overall story of mankind and our relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, picking up from the death of Jesus for us. Along the way we will answer such questions as "What does Jesus rising from the dead mean for us?"  "What is significant about the prophets and the Bible?" "How can I be forgiven?" In other words, "How can I be...

We take a look at the story of mankind as presented in the writings of the Bible.  Who created us? Why were we created? What is God's desire for us His children? Why did Jesus have to die? These are just some of the questions we will tackle in part 1 of this mini-series.  To see David Hicks on YouTube, click here . 

The Bible describes death as that moment when our spirit leaves our body.  So when that happens, where does it go?  What happens to our souls in the afterlife?  We take a look at Sheol, aka Hades, the realm of the dead, a place that is part Paradise, part fiery torment.  Along the way we will answer one very important question: if my loved one is destined for hell, is there anything I can do about...

Note: the following podcast is NOT for children.  We look at a teaching of Jesus and a prophecy of Isaiah regarding how bad hell is, after which we wrestle with the question of why this lake of fire is so dreadfully awful.  Scriptures covered: Mark 9:42-50, Isaiah 66:20-24, Deuteronomy 13:6-11, Matthew 18:21-35. To see David Hicks on YouTube, click here . 

We look at the descriptions of hell, who is going there, the different reasons as to why people end up there and compare the verses indicating hell is everlasting with the passage where Jesus talks about some servants being beaten with many stripes while others will be beaten with few.  Scriptures covered: Revelation 20:11 - 21:8, Matthew 25:31-46, Luke 12:47-48, Revelation 14:6-11. To see David H...

Spoiler alert!  When it comes to when Judgment Day is, Jesus' message is clear: Only God knows, literally, so watch and be ready! But why does God want to judge mankind in the first place?  Can't He just let us be?  The answer is in God's passion for the value of justice.  Scriptures covered: Mark 13:24-37, Proverbs 6:16-19, Exodus 20:16, 2 Chronicles 19:4-7, Psalm 33:5, Psalm 37:28...

In this episode we look at two passages, Revelation 20:11 - 21:8 and Matthew 25:31-46, that detail what the actual judgment part of Judgment Day will look like.  Who will be saved?  Who will be lost?  Why will people end up where they will end up?  How can I be saved? What does forgiveness look like on Judgment Day?  We will tackle these and other questions in this podcast.   To see David Hicks on...

In this episode we begin our deep dive into the day of judgment.  It is the final day of life on earth, the day on which all the dead will be raised back to life.  It will be a resurrection of life for those who have done good, for those who put their faith in Jesus, but a resurrection of condemnation for those who have done evil and refused to turn from it.  Finally we will see that, for those wh...

We begin by continuing our look at the intensity of the wrath of God by reading a passage on His rewards for obedience versus His punishment for disobedience.  In the end what we will see is that the strength of God's love is greater the strength of His anger.  Lastly, we wrestle with the statement of God calling Himself "a jealous God."  The key to understanding this lies in the fa...

We continue our deep dive into the anger of God by seeing an example of Jesus was open and honest about it.  In particular, we look at God's love for children and how bad it is to cause them to sin and to turn them away from Jesus.  We then start looking at the intensity of God's anger, a wrath that is often described as "fierce." To see David Hicks on YouTube, click here . 

Having seen that Jesus can save us from the coming wrath, we shift our focus to understanding what wrath is and why God has it.  The answer is rooted in a fundamental principle of values, that whatever we love and are passionate about, we also hate its opposite, the thing that opposes it.  To put it more simply, if you love love, you're going to hate hate, and no one loves love more than God....

It is difficult to imagine a more serious topic than the one we will attempt to tackle over the next several episodes.  It isn't fun or entertaining; it is serious and admittedly scary.  Still, we have to debunk the lies and the myths about God's anger and wrath so that we can understand it and so we can help unbelievers to comprehend it as well.  In this first episode, we will begin wit...

Comedic Bible-story teller Jungle Jim goes over the long rivalry, the intense battle that Rachel and her sister Leah had when it came to trying to either keep or win the heart of their husband Jacob.  For Jacob it leads to two more wives, 12 sons, a daughter, and probably a whole lot of therapy.   In all seriousness, of the various lessons to glean from this story, probably the most important is t...