Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 11: Isaiah 8-10; Hebrews 8

Scripture: Isaiah (NIV) 10:1 Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees,…
3 What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?

Observation: God is the ultimate law giver. Those making laws today should see themselves as God’s agents to establish justice and righteousness on earth. When those making the laws remove themselves from having to obey the laws, are they not unjust? When those creating the taxes remove themselves from paying the taxes does that not make others pay more? When those making the laws are required to receive the same consequences for breaking the laws as everyone else, then they will make laws more thoughtfully. The more I know God, the more I understand that His laws are an expression of His character. I believe the same is true of man’s laws. Hmmmm…

Application: As a lawmaker in any place of authority, especially in my home I must first align my life with God’s laws. Only then will I have the moral authority to make and enforce my laws. The privilege of making laws is not to be used for selfish gain; it is a tool entrusted to me for serving others. I will answer to the Great Lawmaker for the laws/rules I make.

Prayer: Lord, the fact that people may answer to me is not near as important as the fact that I will answer to you! Like you, I want to be just, righteous and merciful. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 10: Micah 5-7; Hebrews 7

Scripture: Hebrews (NIV) 7:19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Observation: What a difference!!! The law could tell what was done wrong and give a token penalty offering, but it could never change the heart. It is the heart from which our actions proceed. But Jesus can save COMPLETELY. He makes an acceptable sacrifice to more than cover the penalty for sin, AND by His Spirit He lives inside, working to change the heart! Wow!

Application: The sacrifice of the dying Jesus is more than sufficient to pay for all my sin! The presence of the living Jesus is more than sufficient to establish victory in my daily life.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for understanding my weaknesses and knowing how to be what I need. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 9: Micah 1-4; Hebrews 6

Scripture: Hebrews (NIV) 6:19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

Observation: How sad it is to hear of someone being hopeless. Everything looks gloomy. They feel that nothing will work out for good. What a difference to those whose hope is in Christ. Hope in God is an anchor that holds the soul steady in the midst of the storm. The circumstances may be gloomy, but there is sunshine in the heart. There is a confidence that all things will work together for good because they love the Lord and are called according to His purpose! (Romans 8:28)

Application: My hope is confidence that God is in control. My hope is confidence that He is able to use even the bad to bring about good things. What people may do for evil, He uses for good! With Him, I cannot loose! My hope is confidence that He loves me and wants me to live a life that pleases Him. My hope is the certainty that His plan for me is to spend eternity with Him!

Prayer: Lord, there is no area of my life that is not affected by my hope! Thank you for hope! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 8: Hosea 13-14; Psalm 100, 102; Hebrews 5

Scripture: Hosea (NIV) 14:1 Return, Israel to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall!
2 Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: “Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
3 Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount warhorses. We will never again say ‘Our gods’ to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.”

Observation: There is a place where the fatherless can find compassion. There is One whose heart is big enough to hold the orphan. In taking care of all the big problems of the world, He still has time for the fatherless. The homeless one who has been rejected and pushed away—the one who has been chased away for every door in town—yes that one can find compassion in God.

Application: The United States has rejected and aborted 50 million babies. Now the Lord is bringing into our nation thousands of children. Before we reject them, we need to remember the words of the Lord…”in as much as you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me!” (Matthew 25:40 & 45) And “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” (Luke 9:48) America, how we treat children—God takes it personally! How they arrived in our country is not nearly important to God as how we receive them!

Prayer: Lord, I am not wise enough to know how to pray for the decision needed to be made by our nation’s leaders, but I pray that the unaccompanied alien children coming across our southern border will find your compassion! Provide loving people to care for them who will be your hands extended. Amen

TAKE NOTE: The communities who welcome these children will reap unexplained blessings while the communities who reject these children will reap unexplained economic and nature troubles.

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 7: Hosea 10-12; Psalm 73; Hebrews 4

Scripture: Psalm (NIV) 73:28 But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

Observation: Much advertising today has someone telling how a particular product solved their problem or improved their life. In this verse I read that the Psalmist had discovered personal benefits from walking in a close relationship with the Lord. It was not just good for the nation; it was not just the right thing to do; the psalmist says it is good “for me.”

Application: In looking back over the 66 years of my life, I can join the psalmist in saying, “It is good for me too.” In considering the blessings that have come my way, in considering the troubles that I have not had to experience, I come to the obvious conclusion: It has been good for me.

Prayer: Lord, You have been good for me! I pray that in some way I have been good for you. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 6: Hosea 6-9; Hebrews 3

Scripture: Hosea (NIV) 6:6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Observation: In the midst of God listing Israel’s sins and what He is going to do about them we have this revelation of the heart of God. Verses like this are important to people who want to be God-pleasers.

Application: It is not with my actions, but with my heart and my mind that I please God. God is happy when my heart is full of faithful love and my mind is searching to better know and understand this God I love.

Prayer: Lord, to know you and then to show my love for you by making you known. I want to increase in both. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 5: Hosea 2-5; Hebrews 2

Scripture: Hebrews (NIV) 2:18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Observation: Love demanded that He help us; holiness demanded that the help come from one who had personal experience in overcoming temptation. God is so HOLY that love cannot be allowed a short cut to help the one loved. But God is so LOVING that he was willing to do what holiness required. It is amazing!

Because Jesus suffered through times of temptation when he was living as a man here on earth, he is able to help those who are being tempted now. Jesus understands our trials not because someone told him about them, not because he read about them, not because he overheard someone talking about them, but because he experienced them! He has been here; He has done that; and He gives more than a tee-shirt!

Application: Jesus can help me because He has experience dealing with the devil; he knows how to defeat Satan. Jesus can help me because He has experience dealing with the weaknesses and limitations of being human; he knows we cannot rely on the flesh so he gives us His Holy Spirit. Jesus can help me because He is finished dealing with his own trials; Satan cannot distract Him from helping me. Praise the Lord!

Prayer: Lord, You willingly paid the price holiness demanded when your love required that you help me. Thank you! You are all I need! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 4: 2Kings 15-16; Hosea 1; Hebrews 1

Scripture: Hosea (NIV) 1:2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife…
3 …and she bore him a son.
4 And the LORD said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu…”
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Call her name No Mercy for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel…”
8 When she had weaned NO Mercy, she conceived and bore a son…
9 And the LORD said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea…And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”

Observation: The Word of the LORD through Hosea started with his marriage and continued through the birth of three children. The fullness of the message that started with judgment, and progressed to judgment without mercy, then to rejection by God, ended with restoration to a place of favor as God’s children. It took over 27 months of pregnancy and weaning before the message was complete.

Application: God’s word to Sharon and I about blessing our home with a child was fulfilled in about 1 month. God’s word that he was going to send us back to where I came from was partially fulfilled in 12 months (to Bayview Chapel in Hawaii), but then totally fulfilled by his further word and direction 168 months later (to Kansas)! I must be patient to wait on the Lord for the fullness of His word AND the fulfillment of His word!

Prayer: Lord, in my life You have proved yourself FAITHFUL! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 3: Isaiah 6-7; 2Chronicles 26-27; Philemon

Scripture: Isaiah (NIV) 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Observation: Perhaps the eyes of the prophet had been on the king, but now that the king was dead, Isaiah saw the Lord! The Lord had been sitting on that throne long before the prophet saw Him but it seems the eyes of the prophet had been on King Uzziah. King Uzziah had ruled Judah for over 50 years. He was an able ruler and it had been a prosperous time. Now the king was dead, but the King of kings was still on the throne!

Application: I must be careful not to let my eyes become so fixed on earthly things on the earth that I have a problem seeing King Jesus! People and things around me often get rearranged, but King Jesus is still on the throne!

Prayer: Lord, as we sing, “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. I want to see you. To see you high and lifted up, shining in the light of your glory.” Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

July 2: Isaiah 4-5; Psalm 115-116; Jude

Scripture: Psalm (NIV) 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

Observation: What an interesting thought that one’s death could be considered special to the LORD. To Him the death of His saints is like a parent who is excited about the homecoming of a child who has been away at college. Like a mother who has cooked all the favorite foods of her college student, God is excited to show those arriving in heaven the things He has prepared for them. God understands that those left behind will have sorrow, but He knows they too have the opportunity to join their loved one with Him in heaven.

On the other hand, His heart must be terribly broken at the death of one who bears His image but refuses to trust the blood of Jesus to be the payment for his sins. No one understands the terribleness of hell more than the one who created it for the devil and his angels.

Application: This truth gives me comfort during the times when family members and friends die. This truth strengthens me as I think on my own death.

Prayer: Lord, you have wonderfully provided for every season of life. I am blest to know you! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!