RESURRECTION

Easter Sunday we celebrated worship at The Reserve at Lake Keowee in South Carolina. What a beautiful place with a Nicklaus signature golf course, racquet club, pool pavilion, and clubhouse! In the center of the community is the great lawn of the village. It is surrounded by homes and on the bottom of the hill near the lake is the Foundation Hall which used as a Chapel. http://www.reserveatlakekeowee.com

The multi-denominational Chapel was filled to capacity with overflow folding chairs and people sitting on the steps of the balcony. At the beginning of worship the people declared with me, “He is risen; Christ is risen indeed!”

Together we sung two great hymns, “Christ the Lord is Risen” and “Because He Lives.” Our soloist was a ten year old girl from Charleston, SC, who presented a beautiful message in song about Easter.

I shared a passage of scripture from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12. Matthew and Luke also record this incident which occurred a few days before Jesus was arrested and crucified.

Some Sadducees came with a trick question about the resurrection in an attempt to embarrass Jesus. Instead Jesus embarrassed them in response by asking them two questions and supplying the answers succinctly himself.

Simply put, Jesus explained that heaven was going to be much different than earth since there would no marriage or procreation. Secondly, Jesus explained from Moses’ encounter with God in the burning bush, that God had resurrection for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Before his first question and after the answer to his second question, Jesus warned about making the serious mistake of denying resurrection.

Jesus said that God “is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” In response I commented that for each person whatever their work, Jesus brings new meaning and beauty.

For the architect, Jesus is the master designer.
For the artist, He is all together lovely.
For the baker, he is the bread of life
For the banker, He is the pearl of great price.
For the builder, He is the cornerstone.
For the carpenter, He is the door of life.
For the counselor, He is the wonderful counselor.
For the diplomat, he is the prince of peace.
For the lowly employee, He is the righteous servant.
For the explorer, He is the way.
For the gardener, he is the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley.
For the geologist, He is the eternal rock.
For the judge, He is the just judge.
For the lawyer, He is the faithful and true witness
For the physician, He is the great physician.
For the ruler, He is the king of kings, king of glory.
For the sailor, He is the bright and morning star
For the sheep herder, He is the great shepherd.
For the student, He is the truth.
For the vineyard keeper, He is the true vine.
For the writer, He is the good news.
For the sinner, He is the Holy One, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

I closed the message with two questions that have been asked of millions of people by those who use the resource, Evangelism Explosion.
1. Do you know for sure that you are going to be with God in Heaven?
2. If God were to ask you, "Why should I let you into My Heaven?" what would you say?