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

December 21: John 9-11

Scripture: John (NIV) 11:14 So then He told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Observation: “Lazarus is dead…I am glad…” Lazarus was a good friend; Jesus loved Lazarus. How could Jesus say this? He could say it because he knew the end of the story! The resurrection of Lazarus became a powerful testimony for Jesus. The Jews even plotted to put Lazarus to death when they crucified Jesus. John 12:9-11

Application: I wonder how many times Jesus has said, “Leon is going through a tough time…I am glad…”

Prayer: Jesus, use my life for your glory. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

December 20: John 7-8

Scripture: John (NIV) 8:7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go not and leave your life of sin.”

Observation: The only one present with the moral authority to condemn this woman was Jesus. He was the only one without sin. Condemnation is putting down a person; conviction is putting down the sin. Condemnation says the person is unimportant; conviction says the person is important and has value. When the world condemns us, the Holy Spirit convicts us. Then He helps us overcome the sin!

Application: I need to see people as Jesus sees them. They have great value to God. I need to treat people as God treats them.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, your love for people is seen in that you were willing to send your Son to die for their sins. People have great value to you. They are to have value to me. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

December 19: John 5-6

Scripture: John (NIV) 5:6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 The Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

Observation: In continuing to read through the book of John, I notice an emphasis on the Word who became flesh (John 1:14) and who healed the official’s daughter by his word (John 4:50). In John chapter 5 we read of an invalid who stayed by the pool hoping to be the first one into the water whenever it was stirred by an angel and thus receive his healing. The invalid was healed by the words Jesus spoke to him. Jesus commanded him to do something that was impossible for him to do. He did not argue as to why he could not walk. Somehow he realized that he did not have to wait for an angel any longer. Somehow he realized that the one speaking to him had the power to make what he said come to pass. Jesus spoke with authority! The One who spoke the worlds into existence was now standing over him and telling him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!”

Application: The invalid may not have known completely who Jesus was. Surely I have a much clearer understanding that Jesus is the one who spoke the worlds into existence. If the invalid believed he could act on the words of Jesus, how much more should I be ready and willing to act on what He speaks to me.

Prayer: Jesus, your words are amazing! I want to honor you by acting like they are true. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

December 18: John 2-4

Scripture: John (NIV) 4:49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed.
51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday at on in the afternoon, the fever left him.”
53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.

Observation: Yesterday (in John 1:1-3), God emphasized to me that Jesus is the Word that was with God in the beginning and that He SPOKE the world into existence. Here we see the same power at work in speaking healing to the royal official’s son. The request was that Jesus would come to his home. But when Jesus told him his son would live, the official recognized the authority of Jesus words and returned home. He had faith that it would be as Jesus said. It was!

Application: Two things God is emphasizing to me: first, I must learn to recognize when Jesus is speaking to me. Second, I must be willing to act on His word. I must have faith that it is as He says. It is!

Prayer: Jesus, I am glad to know you still speak to people. May you find me ready to listen and quick to obey. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

December 17: 2Peter 1-3; John 1

Scripture: Genesis (NIV) 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…3 And God said…6 And God said…9 And God said…11 Then God said…14 And God said…20 And God said…
John (NIV) 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all people…14 And the Word became flesh…
Colossians (NIV) 1:16 For in him [Jesus] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

Observation: Through the writings of Moses, John, and Paul the Bible clearly teaches that this world was created by Jesus. The baby in the manger was none other than God the Son, entering as a man into the stream of humanity through the virgin. “The Great Creator became my Savior, and all God’s fullness dwelleth in Him!” (From the song “Down From His Glory” by William Booth-Cllibborn, grandson of William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army.)

Application: When I see the Salvation Army’s red kettles at the entrances to the stores during this Christmas season, I need to make a donation and express my thanks for the work of the Salvation Army. As I walk back to my car, I need to express my thanks to “The Great Creator who became my Savior!” As the song says, He was “Born in a manger; to His own a stranger” but he is no longer a stranger to me!

Prayer: Jesus, You are the Word in the beginning who created all things! Yet you became a man to pay my penalty for sin. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

December 16: 1Peter 1-5

Scripture: 1Peter (NIV) 3:9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

Observation: Recently I read the following quote that stuck in my mind. It could have been a sermon on this verse: “The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Application: I am a child of the light. I am called to live as a child of the light. I am not to respond to the evil that the world brings against me with more evil, but with good. I am not to respond to the world with the nature of the world, but with the nature of the God who lives in me. The evil I experience comes from the nature of the world. The blessing with which I am to respond comes from God!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I could never do this by myself. You knew that long before I did! And that is why you sent your Holy Spirit to live in me! Thank you! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

December 15: James 1-5

Scripture: James (NIV) 1:21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. … 24 You see that people are justified by what they do and not by faith alone. … 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Observation: If love does not motivate one to do something, that love is dead. One should be able to see evidence of true love. I learned a short poem as a young person: “A bell’s not a bell ‘till you ring it; A song’s not a song ‘till you sing it; Love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay; Love isn’t love ‘till you give it away!” (O Hammerstein II) Faith is quite similar to love. If faith does not have some expression, then it too is dead.

Application: From Romans 10:9-10 the first work of faith is to speak the truth I believe in my heart. Obviously that is only the first of many expressions of faith. My life is to be lived as an expression of my faith. As my faith grows, so the expressions of my faith grow.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, may my faith be seen by others and bring you joy. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

December 14: Hebrews 12-13; Jude

Scripture: Hebrews (NIV) 13:1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Observation: For those who are friends, we should find ways to express our love. For those who are strangers, we should show hospitality. In Genesis 18 we read of Abraham showing hospitality to strangers who just happened to be the Lord and two angels. In Luke 24 we read of two disciples that met a stranger on the road and invited him in for an evening meal. The stranger was the Lord Jesus! In Matthew 25, Jesus told them if they served even the least among them, He would consider it done to Him.

Application: To be unwilling to be inconvenienced by helping someone else can be a sign that I do not really appreciate what Jesus has done for me. Leaving heaven to live on earth surely was not convenient! Laying aside His divine glory to live as a man on earth is far beyond my ability to comprehend. Being hospitable is often not convenient.

Prayer: Lord, I desire to show my appreciation for your hospitality in bringing me into your kingdom, by being hospitable to others. I am going to need your help. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

December 13: Hebrews 9-11

Scripture: Hebrews (NIV) 11:35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be releases so that they might gain an even better resurrection…37 They were put to death by stoning…they went about in sheepskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—38 the world was not worthy of them…39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Observation: In a chapter that has a long list of people who overcame great hardships and won victory by their faith, we come to verse 35 and the following verses that give those who lived by faith but did not gain their desired victory. They too lived by faith. They are described as “the world was not worthy of them.”

Application: In reading that verse, I recalled that I had heard about four children earlier this week who refused to renounce Jesus and were beheaded. How sad for the families left behind, but I cannot help but thinking that there was a great welcoming into heaven—those for whom the world was not worthy! They were not too young to die for Jesus; may I not be too old to live for Him!

Prayer: Jesus, you are worthy of the years, many or few, I live on earth. You are worthy of my life in eternity. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

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

December 12: Hebrews 5-8

Scripture: Hebrews (NIV) 7:28 For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son [Jesus], who has been made perfect forever.

Observation: In this area of the Bible we see a comparison between the Old Testament priests and Jesus, the great High Priest. The Old Testament priests began their ministry by offering a sacrifice for their own sins. (Hebrews 7:27) Jesus is the sinless sacrifice paying for the sins of others. The OT priests had to be replaced because they all died. Jesus lives forever! Without a single exception, every OT priest had their own limitations. Only Jesus was both the perfect priest and the perfect sacrifice.
My mind began thinking about the past election. Instead of voting for the best candidate who had no chance of winning, I voted against the one who would do the greatest evil. I remember thinking that even the best candidate would fall far short when compared to Jesus.

Application: Jesus is not coming back to this earth to take the office of President of the US, but He is coming back to be King over all the earth! I understand the scriptures to say that He will reign for 1000 years. The Perfect Priest will be the Perfect King! What a reign that will be! There will be no separation of church and state then! We will truly be able to sing: “He rules the earth with grace and truth; and makes the nations prove; the glories of His righteousness; and wonders of His love; and wonders of His love; and wonders, and wonders of His love. “ (Watts, Isaac N.)

Prayer: Jesus, it will be good for the earth when you have the governments under your control and you truly rule the earth with grace and truth. Truly that will be “Joy to the World!” Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!