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

November 20: Matt 5-7

Scripture: Matthew (NIV) 6:19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Observation: My heart is interested in the location of my treasure. If I place my financial savings in the stock market, I will be paying attention to how the stock market increases or decreases. My joy and my worry will rise and fall depending on that investment. If I invest my treasures in a business, I will be concerned how that business does. If I put my finances to support a missionary, I will be interested in what I can read about the country to which that missionary goes. I need to thoughtfully plan my investments!

Application: If I do not plan my investments, my money just goes wherever my heart is at the moment. Thoughtlessly my money follows my heart and many times is wasted. But if I purposefully plan where to invest my treasures, I find that my heart follows my treasures. This is especially true about the Kingdom of God. My interest is activated because my treasure is there. My joy increases as I see God’s kingdom advance. Investment in God’s kingdom is one that always increases and can never be stolen or diminished by taxes!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, it is my desire to invest time, talent and treasure into Your kingdom understanding that the greater my investment, the greater will be my interest. Your kingdom is a source of great joy for me! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

He deserves my worship!

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

November 19: Matt 1-4

Scripture: Matthew (NIV) 2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

Observation: It is interesting to note the certainty of the magi in what they had seen. They did not come looking to see what might have happened in Israel. They knew. They did not come to check out what was happening in Israel. They came to worship the King. Somehow they recognized that this was a king deserving more than service, more than commitment; this King was to be worshipped.

Application: For the United States of America, Thanksgiving is fast approaching. How important it is for me to be thankful, and there is no one more deserving of my thanksgiving than my God. However God deserves more than thanksgiving; He deserves my worship. I thank Him for what He does. I worship Him for who He is!

Prayer: I worship You, Almighty God, There is none like You!
I worship You, O Prince of Peace, That is what I want to do.
I give You praise, For You are my righteousness.
I worship You, Almighty God, There is none like You!
(Don Moen/MetroLyrics) Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

November 18: Ps 124, 2Cor 11-13

Scripture: Psalm (NIV) 124:8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Observation: The help a person receives is only as good or bad as the helper. It is only as strong or weak as the helper. It is only as wise or foolish as the helper. It only comes with the resources available to the helper. There can be no better helper than the one who created the heavens and the earth.

Application: The only questions left: Does He love me enough to help me? Does He think I am worth helping? Is He willing to help me? Yes, yes, and yes! First: Calvary answered the question of his love! Second: His promises answer the question of my value to Him. And third: The Presence of the Holy Spirit answers the question of His willingness!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, without question, You are amazing! Thank you, thank you, thank you for being my God…and my Helper! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

November 17: 2Cor 7-10

Scripture: 2Corinthians (NIV) 8:3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. 5 And they went beyond our expectations; having given themselves first of all to the Lord, they gave themselves by the will of God also to us.

Observation: The Corinthians believers were not just making a donation. They gave according to their ability. They gave beyond their ability. They gave willingly. They considered it a privilege to give. They exceeded Paul’s expectation. The Corinthians believers were givers. Where did such sacrificial giving begin? It began by giving “themselves first of all to the Lord.”

Application: I claim Jesus as my Lord all that I have belongs to Him. So giving is not a matter of making a donation. Giving is willing and joyfully disbursing His money as He directs.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, May you have joy in increasing my finances because you have joy in seeing how I manage what you have already given. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

November 16: 2Cor 3-6

Scripture: 2Corinthians (NIV) 4:11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Observation: Here again Paul writes about the troubles he faces as a Christian leader. The fact that he endures the troubles shows that he values of what he has received from the Lord. It also shows how he values the Lord. And it shows how valuable he considers those to whom he preaches. It is important for them to know the truth. Their eternal life is at stake.

As those in Corinth see how willing Paul is to suffer, they see how much he loves them and how important his message is for them. Paul willingly dies to his desires and what would please him so that they can come alive in Christ.

It is like the pain a mother has in giving birth to the child in her womb. It is like the parents sacrificing to provide for their children.

Application: The joy and satisfaction of pleasing the Lord and seeing people experience His life makes it well worth any struggle necessary to reach out with God’s love to others.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing me to be a part of sharing your love with others. It is my pleasure! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

November 15: Job 41, 42; 2Corinthians 1, 2

Scripture: 2Corithians (NIV) 1:8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

Observation: Paul’s life was being lived for the glory of God and for the benefit of others. He shared with them his victories; he also made sure they knew about his troubles. His troubles were severe and depressing.

His victories would encourage his readers to have faith for their own victory. His troubles would help them to understand that going through trouble is not an indication that we have sinned, or that God is not with us. Jesus told us to expect troubles (John 16:33) as did the Apostle Paul (2Timothy 3:12).

When I run from my troubles, including those I bring on myself, I hinder my own growth and I do not become an example of how to deal with trouble and be an overcomer.

Application: Being pressurized is tough, but it forces me to rely on God. Not only do I grow in trusting God, my life can be an example to others.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me and use me! May my life be a source of joy to you and an example for others. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

He Completed It! I’m Just Passing Through!

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

November 14: Psalm 149; 1Corinthians 15, 16

Scripture: 1Corinthians (NIV) 15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, or preaching is useless and so is your faith…
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead…

Observation: The death of Jesus on the cross as the payment for our sins is meaningless without His resurrection. Without the resurrection, there would be no forgiveness of sin, there would be no basis for our faith, and there would be no reason for preaching.

Application: Without the resurrection I would still be trying to work off my sins. I would still be trying to do enough good to outweigh the load of my sin. I would still be without the presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling within me. If Jesus could not conquer death, then I would have no hope of conquering it. But Jesus did indeed complete the payment for my sins and returned to life in his physical body, changed though it was! The payment for my sins is completed! The Holy Spirit does dwell in me! I do have hope to conquer death! My life, as Jesus life, will not end in death. Death will be my servant, a doorway through which I will pass into a life that can never die! This life—I am just passing through! Death—I will just be passing through!

Prayer: Lord, thank you for pioneering the way not just into death, but through death! Thank you for removing the sting of death! Thank you for hope eternal! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

November 13: Job 39, 40; 1Corinthians 13, 14

Scripture: 1Corinthians (NIV) 13:1 And yet I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in human or angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

Observation: And so begins the greatest definition of love ever penned. Love is the essence of the life of God. Should someone be confused as to what love is, or how love is expressed, they need but to read this chapter. A person, or a nation, or a religion that does not express recognizable love does not know God. To claim that God lives inside, yet to live a life without love—how could that be!

Application: Growing in love is like physical growth. Seeing the amount of growth in a six month time is really the culmination of the daily growth over the six months. If I am going to grow in love, it will happen as I stretch to do loving things each day that feel unnatural and uncomfortable. Love will continue to draw me out of my comfort zone.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, love through me today. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

November 12: Job 37, 38; 1Corinthians 12

Scripture: 1Corinthians (NIV) 12: 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were and ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?…
27 Now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it.

Observation: It is a fact that we have hands and feet; that we can see. But there is another fact that can only be understood with special revelation. It is a fact, but just not as obvious. That these parts are present in the body is obvious, but how they got there must be deduced from an outside source. Here the Bible says that the parts of the body were designed and placed by God, just as He wanted them to be. They are present at His pleasure!

Application: I am placed in the body of Christ at His pleasure and for His purpose. Being securely attached means that the life of the body flows to me, and through me. If it does not flow through me, it will soon stop flowing to me. As the members of my physical body cannot move themselves to other locations in my body, so I cannot move myself from one part of the body to another part without doing harm.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, help me be faithful where you have placed me, faithfully doing what you have assigned me to do. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

November 11: Psalm 122; 1Corinthians 9-11

Scripture: 1Corinthians (NIV) 10:15 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.

Observation: Paul has been speaking to them about life being a race that we should run in a way that we win. He has given them some examples from their history. He is about to address the subject of how to partake of communion in a proper way. In this verse we can hear him say, you have enough common sense that you can judge for yourselves if what I am saying is right. Not only did they have their own common sense, they had the Spirit of God living inside and they had the Old Testament scriptures. Paul had faith that they were capable of judging his words. In Acts 17:11 Paul commended people who checked out his teaching with the scriptures.

Application: I am to judge what I hear, even from preachers. Just because they say, “God told me…” does not mean that I should accept it as God’s word for me. I am to judge. I have my knowledge of God’s character; I have my knowledge of God’s Word; I have what I know God has spoken to me in the past; I have other Christians that God has placed around me. I give God time to mix these four ingredients with my faith that God is a speaker and can speak to me in a way that I can understand. With the Holy Spirit living inside me, I have confidence that I can recognize what is from God.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, reading your word convinces me that you are a SPEAKER. You want me to hear and understand your words. I trust you to help me judge what I hear. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!