Scripture
For He will conceal me there when troubles come; He will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high Rock.
~Psalm 27:5, NLT
Quote
Many have puzzled themselves with the origin of evil. I am content to observe that there is evil, and that there is an escape from it {Jesus} and with this I begin and end.
~John Newton
We are all evil but in different ways. Jesus said to His disciples in both Matthew and Luke, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! The Greek word for evil is ponērós and it comes from the root ponos which means hurtful. It is used of both men and angels. Jesus also used it to describe bad fruit on a tree. All have sinned, we are all product of Adam’s rebellion and as such, we are bad fruit. Our core is rotten, corrupted by a selfish nature. We have all done things and said things that hurt other people.
But there is a greater evil, a degenerative type evil. When we rebel against God, when we reject His grace offered through Christ, we sink to a deeper level of evil. Yet there are many who reject Christ who practice some form of virtue. The greatest evil of this moral crowd who rejects Christ is their refusal to give God the glory: they want it for themselves and that is evil. When our rebellion reaches to point where we turn away from virtue, we sink to an even deeper level. This is a perilous level where men not only hurt each other, they destroy each other. This is the dark world of crime, violence and bloodshed. This is the evil you read about in Nik Ripken’s book the INSANITY OF GOD. This deep and dark level of evil is highly destructive. Most of us have not seen this level up close and personal. It would be a horrifying experience to do so.
Psalm 27 reminds us that Jesus is our high Rock, our Cliff. Had it not been for Him and His sacrifice, evil would destroy us all. We find our sanctuary in Christ. He is our Rock and our Refuge. He is our Ark, our Shelter from the storm. He has put us out of the reach of the evil one. Jesus is our High Protector. I have no doubt that Satan would wipe us out if it were not for Jesus but he can’t get to us without going through Jesus which he cannot do. Hallelujah, what a Savior.
You don’t realize it but the third Sunday in May is hard on your pastor. Most of you attend one service but he has three. We had from 12-15 hundred people come through out gates yesterday. We had a record attendance at Baccalaureate last night with some 90 Seniors attending. Over 80% which is by far our highest turnout. For the second year in a row, Danville graduates over 100. There were only 133 in my senior class at Athens High School. The way Danville is going, they will pass that mark within the next decade, maybe sooner.
Mother always said, “It is a poor dog that cannot wag its own tail.” I don’t do it much but the Baccalaureate sermon last night was the best I’ve ever heard. Holly and crew {All female} did a marvelous job hosting the reception. Noah and I helped put the tables up but they did all the chairs and even carried out the garbage. Way to go girls!
THANK YOU JESUS FOR THE RAIN. Yesterday was a beautiful day. Last night, Mylee, Chloe and myself drove to Mickey D’s in the rain. I love to drive in the rain. Of course, I prefer peace and quite when I do but with the Chloe Bug, there is no peace and quite.
I also enjoyed the Baptism. I want to thank my pastor and the parents who allowed me to be a part of such a special service and didn’t Michael W. Smith bring a good message. I was afraid he would be boring but he was very good.