March 2015 Newsletter

“If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.” – II Corinthians4:3

The lostness in our world is more than a moral problem. We see people living out their lives apart from God in such meaningless ways and investing so much confidence that their little pleasures and philosophies on life will provide just enough happiness to get through each day. Their lostness is not simply found in rebellion against God, but in their blindness to God. They don’t see God as beautiful and majestic and lovely.  They don’t see His Word as teaching us an immense increase to our joy (John 15:11). The sinner’s rebellion is much more than questioning God’s authority by screaming at Him, “Don’t tell me what to do and what not to do!” The sinner, the lost, cannot see God as more beautiful than sin!

So, what am I to offer this rebellious and blind world? Are we to tell people to simply stop their rebellion? Stop doing drugs, sleeping around, being lazy, being sad, or being angry. Is that all we, the body of Christ, has to offer a world broken in sin? Perhaps we should simply offer positive things to change lives: go to church, go take care of business, start being nice to people and your sadness and anger will go away. Is that the voice of the church today?

Sin keeps the lost “from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (II Corinthians 4:4). It’s not just moral problems; it’s blindness! How can a blind and broken world see the beauty of God? We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord (II Corinthians 4:5) because He is the God who called the sun to shine from the darkness and Jesus is a brilliant light that shines in the dark hearts of sinners (II Corinthians 4:6).

We proclaim Christ as Lord because He alone can restore sight to the blind and change the heart. The cry of the blind, “Lord, recover my sight,” can hear the voice of Christ say, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well” (Luke 18:41-43). Christ reveals His beauty and joy, and the rebellious sinner surrenders and has eyes to see He is altogether lovely.

My Prayer with Selah Joy

God has blessed my wife and I with a little girl, Selah Joy Hancock. She was born March 10th, 2015. Our first daughter.









I pray that our God would be gracious to my wife and I as parents. May He bless us sinners with His Spirit through His Word. Bless us the unwise, O Lord, with Your wisdom. Bless us the stumblers, O Lord, with the Light unto our feet. Bless us the unloving, O Lord, with Your unfailing love.
Be kind to us, O Lord, and may Your Word be on our hearts to teach our children and lead them in Your everlasting way. May we show Christ to Selah, in our instruction to her and our lives before her. Bless our marriage to display the love of Christ to His church.
You and You alone, O Lord, are our righteousness. Apart from Christ, we have no righteousness, no wisdom, and we can do nothing. We rejoice in Your grace that we are found in Christ. Jesus is the propitiation of our sins, the treasure of our heart, the delight of our life.
In Your grace, O Lord, You display Your perfect patience in these sinners' lives. Display Your glory in the life of our family, in our parenting, in our worship of You. Your Name is great and we delight in the work of Your hands. You have knitted my daughter in my wife's womb. You have been kind to Your servants and blessed us with an arrow to sharpen with Your Word. May we be found faithful to the glory of Your great Name.