Please see previous post. Michael Jackson is gone and although some may be sad for him, I am sad for his family because they are who remain. May God cause someone to see that this world is not our home. We will all one day face death.
I ask for your prayers as I prepare to preach the Gospel for the next three weeks. This does take considerable time and meditation so you may not hear too much from me. Please also pray for my Pastor as he is recovering from knee surgery and as such has asked both the Assistant Pastor to stand in for him.
Blessings,
Koralee
Friday, June 26, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Celebrate with those who Celebrate!!!!
Romans 12:10-16 "10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion."
Continue celebrate with those who celebrate. There are those who going through and there are those who are doing quite well. Pray for those who are going through but please celebrate with those that are doing well. There is a season for everything under heaven.
Continue celebrate with those who celebrate. There are those who going through and there are those who are doing quite well. Pray for those who are going through but please celebrate with those that are doing well. There is a season for everything under heaven.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The Tree of Life
A few months ago I blogged regarding Genesis and I would like to do a follow-up. Genesis 2:8&9 states: "The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9 Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Were you aware that the "tree of life" was also in the middle of the Garden with the "tree of knowledge of good and evil?"
I would like to bring to your attention what God told Adam specifically. Eve was not yet present. Gen 2:6 "The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat , for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." God never told Adam not to eat from the "tree of life." He could eat from that tree freely.
Chapter 3:1-3 "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.' " God did not speak directly to Eve. He spoke to Adam and mentioned a specific tree that he was not to eat from--"the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Did Adam give Eve incorrect information????? Interesting question isn't it???? Look at her response to the serpent.
4 The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! 5 "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Do you realize that the Serpent pointed Eve away from the "tree of life." What else can you expect from Satan. His desire is to steer you away from what is good for you. He intentionally led Eve to eat from the "tree" that God commanded not to eat from. Satan was on His vocation as the Father of lies. He knows how to tell half truths and misquote God's Words and intentions. He is crafty. His job is to cause us to reconsider what God says.
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. All of a sudden Eve begun to see the tree differently. JUST like sin today. Contrary to what you may believe, Sin always looks good. But it is against God's command. PLEASE note that Adam was with Eve and that he did not REMIND her of what God had told HIM, nor did he correct the lie of the Serpent. Do you stand by and allow a lie to be told about God's Word and say nothing?????
I know that most of you know the rest of the story well, but do you???? Look at what God says as to the reason why He put Adam and Eve out of the Garden.
Genesis 3:22 "Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"— 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
Many of us concentrate on the lie of the Serpent regarding the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil," but let's look at the choice that Adam and Eve made. God had commanded Adam to eat from every tree including the "tree of life" but instead they chose to disobey God and listen to a lie. It was their choice. As a result of their disobedience God prevented them from eating from the "tree of life" which would have allowed them to live forever.
These are choices we make everyday. We make choices contrary to what God has commanded us. We ignore what the Word of God says and listen to the lies of the world. How can we read the about Adam and Eve and not learn that God is not pleased when we disobey Him? He does punish disobedience. I am thankful to report the He does not give us what we really deserve. He gives us GRACE and MERCY. He does however have the right to do whatever HE wants to do to us, because HE created US. We must understand that the Words in the Bible are not OLD or NEW it is GOOD!!!!!!! The Bible teaches that "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." (2 Tim 3:16-17)
The "tree of life" is never mentioned again until the book of Revelation. "Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations ." (Rev 22:1-2) Until there is a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1-2) the "tree of life" will not be accessable to man. If you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savoir, you will see the "tree of life," if you don't, you will never see the TREE of LIFE. Trust Him today.
Blessings.
I would like to bring to your attention what God told Adam specifically. Eve was not yet present. Gen 2:6 "The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat , for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." God never told Adam not to eat from the "tree of life." He could eat from that tree freely.
Chapter 3:1-3 "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.' " God did not speak directly to Eve. He spoke to Adam and mentioned a specific tree that he was not to eat from--"the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Did Adam give Eve incorrect information????? Interesting question isn't it???? Look at her response to the serpent.
4 The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! 5 "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Do you realize that the Serpent pointed Eve away from the "tree of life." What else can you expect from Satan. His desire is to steer you away from what is good for you. He intentionally led Eve to eat from the "tree" that God commanded not to eat from. Satan was on His vocation as the Father of lies. He knows how to tell half truths and misquote God's Words and intentions. He is crafty. His job is to cause us to reconsider what God says.
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. All of a sudden Eve begun to see the tree differently. JUST like sin today. Contrary to what you may believe, Sin always looks good. But it is against God's command. PLEASE note that Adam was with Eve and that he did not REMIND her of what God had told HIM, nor did he correct the lie of the Serpent. Do you stand by and allow a lie to be told about God's Word and say nothing?????
I know that most of you know the rest of the story well, but do you???? Look at what God says as to the reason why He put Adam and Eve out of the Garden.
Genesis 3:22 "Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"— 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
Many of us concentrate on the lie of the Serpent regarding the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil," but let's look at the choice that Adam and Eve made. God had commanded Adam to eat from every tree including the "tree of life" but instead they chose to disobey God and listen to a lie. It was their choice. As a result of their disobedience God prevented them from eating from the "tree of life" which would have allowed them to live forever.
These are choices we make everyday. We make choices contrary to what God has commanded us. We ignore what the Word of God says and listen to the lies of the world. How can we read the about Adam and Eve and not learn that God is not pleased when we disobey Him? He does punish disobedience. I am thankful to report the He does not give us what we really deserve. He gives us GRACE and MERCY. He does however have the right to do whatever HE wants to do to us, because HE created US. We must understand that the Words in the Bible are not OLD or NEW it is GOOD!!!!!!! The Bible teaches that "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." (2 Tim 3:16-17)
The "tree of life" is never mentioned again until the book of Revelation. "Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations ." (Rev 22:1-2) Until there is a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1-2) the "tree of life" will not be accessable to man. If you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savoir, you will see the "tree of life," if you don't, you will never see the TREE of LIFE. Trust Him today.
Blessings.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
A response to an Unexpected Death.
On Monday, June 8, 2009, I learned of the death of the St. Thomas Carnival Queen in a car accident. Karence Decosta was selected less than two months ago. She graduated from Charlotte Amalie High School on Sunday afternoon and at 2:15 a.m. Monday she was pronounced dead on impact after losing control of her vehicle. She was asked to sing at the graduation and chose the song "Ave Maria". (I'll say more about this later)
On Tuesday morning as a former Carnival Queen (1985) I called the local radion station in St. Thomas (WSTA) to offer my condolences to her family and to others in the community. Irvin "Brownie" Brown asked if me to speak "live" on the radio. I used this opportunity to share the following words of Scripture found in Proverbs 3:5&6: Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. I stated that it is clear that we do not understand why accidents like these happen, yet we can never lean on our own understanding. We would certainly fail to honor God's sovereign will, if we do. I also shared Ecclesiates 3:1&2 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven— 2 A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
(The following was not said on the radio) We must all expect death because the it is a one per one chance that we will all face it. None of us have a "get out of death" card---neither do we have a "pick the proper time for your death" card. As insensitive as this may seem, if we understand these two realities, we can live each day to its fullness. God is faithful and He should be worshipped at all times. Do you know what David did after God took His son with Bathsheba????? He worshipped God. (2 Samuel 12:1-20) Many do not understand that God IS always in control. Ask Abraham if God is in control???? God asked Abraham to take the life of his son Isaac and when God saw that he was willing to be obedient, He knew that Abraham feared Him. (Gen. 22:1-14) Do we reverence God the way Abraham did???? Do we understand that when death comes that we must trust and worship God?
Here are the words to Ave Maria: "Hail Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thee among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary mother of God. Pray for us sinners now and at the time of our death. Amen." Karence sung this song in Latin as it is usally done, so many people including myself never consider what the words of this song mean in English.
Biblically speaking, only a small part of the song is correct. As the mother of Jesus, Mary was blessed (Luke 1:42) The practice of Catholics however, to deify Mary and to state that her mother conceived her through immaculate conception is false. Mary was no more special than Abraham, Isaiah, Jeremiah or David. God chose her to fulfill the task of being the mother of Jesus. She found favor with God not because she had done anything or because she too came from a virgin birth. There is no biblical evidence that any other person was conceived of the Holy Spirit other than Jesus. HE was the only one born this way because HE needed to be sinless. HE alone was the Son of God not the son of Joseph, but Joseph was indeed respected by Jesus as His earthly father.
There is nothing biblical about the belief of Catholics that Mary or any other dead "saint"(those that they consider to be saints) can pray for us. When asked by His disciples to teach them how to pray, Jesus taught them to pray to God our Father. He also did the same. (John 17) We are to pray to God ourselves while we are still alive, not ask (dead) Mary to pray for us. Because of Jesus' death, (Hebrews 2:17; 4:14&15; 5-1) we now pray through Him not through a priest or through any other person. His sacrifice made it possible for us to pray to God through Him. We can also have others to pray for us, and we should pray for others as well. But we are never to ask the dead to pray for us.
We will never know why Karence chose to sing this song, but I was informed that many at the graduation believed that the song had something to do with her death--without even knowing what the words of the song meant in English. I hope that these words offer some clarity for those of you who read this. (You might want to pass this on to others.) We must be careful about reading meaning into things carelessly. I pray that Karence knew God personally. However, by singing this song she only did what many "gospel" artists do everyday--they sing songs that are not biblically correct, but sound good to the ears. A song should be about the Gospel found in the Word of God in order to be called "gospel" music. I do not believe that the song had anything to do with her death.
A FINAL WORD ON DEATH:
Jesus taught in John 11:25-26, that any man who believes in Him will never die. We must trust Him while we are alive and in death we SHALL live with HIM.
To God Be the Glory.
On Tuesday morning as a former Carnival Queen (1985) I called the local radion station in St. Thomas (WSTA) to offer my condolences to her family and to others in the community. Irvin "Brownie" Brown asked if me to speak "live" on the radio. I used this opportunity to share the following words of Scripture found in Proverbs 3:5&6: Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. I stated that it is clear that we do not understand why accidents like these happen, yet we can never lean on our own understanding. We would certainly fail to honor God's sovereign will, if we do. I also shared Ecclesiates 3:1&2 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven— 2 A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
(The following was not said on the radio) We must all expect death because the it is a one per one chance that we will all face it. None of us have a "get out of death" card---neither do we have a "pick the proper time for your death" card. As insensitive as this may seem, if we understand these two realities, we can live each day to its fullness. God is faithful and He should be worshipped at all times. Do you know what David did after God took His son with Bathsheba????? He worshipped God. (2 Samuel 12:1-20) Many do not understand that God IS always in control. Ask Abraham if God is in control???? God asked Abraham to take the life of his son Isaac and when God saw that he was willing to be obedient, He knew that Abraham feared Him. (Gen. 22:1-14) Do we reverence God the way Abraham did???? Do we understand that when death comes that we must trust and worship God?
Here are the words to Ave Maria: "Hail Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thee among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary mother of God. Pray for us sinners now and at the time of our death. Amen." Karence sung this song in Latin as it is usally done, so many people including myself never consider what the words of this song mean in English.
Biblically speaking, only a small part of the song is correct. As the mother of Jesus, Mary was blessed (Luke 1:42) The practice of Catholics however, to deify Mary and to state that her mother conceived her through immaculate conception is false. Mary was no more special than Abraham, Isaiah, Jeremiah or David. God chose her to fulfill the task of being the mother of Jesus. She found favor with God not because she had done anything or because she too came from a virgin birth. There is no biblical evidence that any other person was conceived of the Holy Spirit other than Jesus. HE was the only one born this way because HE needed to be sinless. HE alone was the Son of God not the son of Joseph, but Joseph was indeed respected by Jesus as His earthly father.
There is nothing biblical about the belief of Catholics that Mary or any other dead "saint"(those that they consider to be saints) can pray for us. When asked by His disciples to teach them how to pray, Jesus taught them to pray to God our Father. He also did the same. (John 17) We are to pray to God ourselves while we are still alive, not ask (dead) Mary to pray for us. Because of Jesus' death, (Hebrews 2:17; 4:14&15; 5-1) we now pray through Him not through a priest or through any other person. His sacrifice made it possible for us to pray to God through Him. We can also have others to pray for us, and we should pray for others as well. But we are never to ask the dead to pray for us.
We will never know why Karence chose to sing this song, but I was informed that many at the graduation believed that the song had something to do with her death--without even knowing what the words of the song meant in English. I hope that these words offer some clarity for those of you who read this. (You might want to pass this on to others.) We must be careful about reading meaning into things carelessly. I pray that Karence knew God personally. However, by singing this song she only did what many "gospel" artists do everyday--they sing songs that are not biblically correct, but sound good to the ears. A song should be about the Gospel found in the Word of God in order to be called "gospel" music. I do not believe that the song had anything to do with her death.
A FINAL WORD ON DEATH:
Jesus taught in John 11:25-26, that any man who believes in Him will never die. We must trust Him while we are alive and in death we SHALL live with HIM.
To God Be the Glory.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
I AM BACK
Good Day All:
I pray that all of you are doing well. I am happy to say that I have gotten some much needed rest and am prepared to be with you each day except Sunday. After graduation, I had planned to blog each day, but I soon learned that I needed some down time. If this can be of encouragement to you---WE ALL NEED DOWN TIME. Don't wait until your body tells you that you need down.
My husband and I are currently studying the book of Jeremiah for our devotion each day. I mention this because it is incredible to read about Israel's story and then compare how much God's people still have not learned. Israel thumbed there nose at God and forgot how HE had saved them and provided for them. They--- like us, only remembered God when life was difficult. As soon as life is seemingly good, some of us get too busy for God.
If you have any Bible questions please feel free to ask.
In the next couple of weeks, I will be on vacation for several days, but I will try to blog from wherever I go.
Blessings.
I pray that all of you are doing well. I am happy to say that I have gotten some much needed rest and am prepared to be with you each day except Sunday. After graduation, I had planned to blog each day, but I soon learned that I needed some down time. If this can be of encouragement to you---WE ALL NEED DOWN TIME. Don't wait until your body tells you that you need down.
My husband and I are currently studying the book of Jeremiah for our devotion each day. I mention this because it is incredible to read about Israel's story and then compare how much God's people still have not learned. Israel thumbed there nose at God and forgot how HE had saved them and provided for them. They--- like us, only remembered God when life was difficult. As soon as life is seemingly good, some of us get too busy for God.
If you have any Bible questions please feel free to ask.
In the next couple of weeks, I will be on vacation for several days, but I will try to blog from wherever I go.
Blessings.
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