August 21, 2018: SOAP #3183:  Jeremiah 21, 24, 27; Psalm 118; 1John 2

Scripture:  Psalm (NIV) 118:6 The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? 7 The LORD is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.

Observation:  Here is a simple truth around which the psalmist lived his life.  God was with him.  It was not complicated.  It was very logical.  If God is who He says He is.  If God can do what God does.  If God is omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing), if God is with him, what does he have to fear.

This was the psalmist way of saying Romans 8:28. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Fear is a form of worship.  When we fear man, we are giving to man what we should be giving to God.  The fear of God removes the fear of man.  A person who has Jesus living in their lives and yet fears man, does not yet realize what an awesome God lives within them!

Application:  If it is true that God works all things together for my good, what do I have to fear?  Like Joseph, even the bad intentions of others worked out for his good and through him for the good of others!  (Genesis 50:16-21).

Prayer:    Heavenly Father, you are the same today as in the days of Joseph and King David.  As in the 23^rd Psalm, “I will fear no evil for thou art with me!”  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

August 20, 2018: SOAP #3182:  Jeremiah 48-49; Psalm 67; 1John 1

Scripture:  1John (NIV) 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Observation:  I have yet to meet a person claiming to have lived a perfect life.  We all have a line of acceptable behavior, and, at some time, have all fallen below our own line right and wrong.  So, as in verse 8, claiming to have never sinned is deceiving ourselves.  And, as in verse 10, claiming to have never sinned is calling God a liar for He says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Our predicament is hopeless without the verse in the middle, verse 9.  Acknowledging the truth, agreeing with God that I have sinned, I discover that God not only forgives, He purifies me from all unrighteousness!

Application:  What a God!  He did for me what I could not do for myself!   He forgave me and purified me from all unrighteousness!  It is amazing.  And He sent the Holy Spirit to live in me empowering me to resist temptation.  And he continues to forgive me and cleanse me as needed!  I am humbled!

Prayer:    Heavenly Father, thank you for your forgiveness provided for me through the death of your Son, Jesus!  Thank you for your Holy Spirit living in me, helping me to resist temptation.  Thank you that you continue to forgive me and continue to cleanse me from all unrighteousness!  Thank you for being what I need!  It humbles me to say it, but You are the perfect God for me!  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

August 19, 2018: SOAP #3181:  Jeremiah 45-47; Psalm 105; John 21

Scripture:  Psalm (NIV) [Written about God leading the Israelites out of Egypt] 105:39 He spread out a cloud as a covering, and a fire to give light at night. 40 They asked, and he brought them quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. 41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out; like a river it flowed in the desert. 42 For he remembered his holy promise given to his servant Abraham.

Observation:  God’s promises were made to Abraham as recorded in Genesis 13:14-17.  Generations had come and gone, but God still remembered His promise.  I am so thankful God remembered His promise made to Adam after they had sinned.  He promised to send a sacrifice to cover our sins!  Generations later, Jesus came to fulfill that promise!  God’s promises are based on His character.

Application:  We can count on God’s promises because He is faithful to who He is!  It is a trait that God wants to perfect in me.  I want people to be able to trust me and depend on me because they know my character.

Prayer:    Heavenly Father, most important is that You can trust me.  Holy Spirit work in my heart, remind me of God’s promises to me and of my promises to God.  Help me be faithful to those commitments.  Help me be known as a promise keeper.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

August 18, 2018: SOAP #3180:  Jeremiah 26, 35-36; John 20

Scripture:  John (NIV) 20:3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.

Observation:   They did not see Jesus, but what they saw caused them to believe.  What did they see?  The strip of linen laying on the place where Jesus’ body had been.  What was so interesting about the strips of linen?  In the previous chapter we read: “Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them [Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus] wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.” John 19:40

The strips of linen that held the 75 pounds (John 19:39) of spices next to the dead body were still in place.  They were still wrapped around the spices, but the body was missing.

The empty grave clothes were proof that the body had not been stolen, but Jesus had risen!  The body was missing!

Application:  Sometimes the greatest testimony is what is missing.  When we become born again, and the old man is dead, and a new life is on the inside, the things that are missing are evidence of what has happened.  Some old habits are missing.  Some words are missing from our vocabulary.  Hot tempers, and impatience often disappear.

Prayer:    Holy Spirit, remove from my life anything that hinders people from seeing Jesus living in me.  May Jesus be easily seen in my life.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

August 17, 2018: SOAP #3179:  Jeremiah 23, 25; John 19

Scripture:  John (NIV) 19:36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”

Observation:   In John 5: 39-40 Jesus said, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

There were actions of Jesus that were clearly fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.  However, those in John 19 were accomplished by others over whom Jesus had no control.  In fact, they took place after he was dead!

Application:  Faith is required for my relationship with Jesus, however it is not an illogical faith.  The scriptures are believable!  And the scriptures make Jesus believable.  The see-able truth in the Bible makes me believe in the non-see-able truth.  As I have matured in life, I have come to believe many facts I cannot see.  Believing in Jesus is very logical to me!  Jesus is just as real as electricity and gravity.

Prayer:    Heavenly Father, the faith you require in our relationship is not a blind faith.  It seems you go out of your way to make yourself and your plan for us believable.  You have proved your love by sending your Son, Jesus.  You have made Jesus believable by all the fulfilled prophecies.  You have given us the scriptures to reveal truth.  And you sent the Holy Spirit to help us understand what is written.  You are amazing!  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

August 16, 2018: SOAP #3178:  2Kings 24; Jeremiah 22; Psalm 112; John 18

Scripture:  Psalm (NIV) 112:5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.

Observation:  No one will ever be more generous than God!  He gave his only begotten Son to die for the sins of mankind!  No human alive can ever exceed that generosity!   Generosity is a major part of His character.  It is an expression of His amazing love.

Application:  When God’s love fills our hearts, one natural expression is generosity.  It would be hard to call a person loving who is not generous.  A lack of generosity would be unnatural for a loving person.

People can see the benefits of generosity and train themselves to be generous, so I do not see generosity as clear proof that a person has Christ living within.  However, a lack of generosity would be a strong indicator that Jesus is not living in their lives.

People who are generous see their possessions as belonging to God.  God has been generous in supplying, so they can be generous in passing them on to others.  People who are not generous, may consider their possessions as belonging to them.  They earned them.  The need to keep them.  They take joy in ownership.

Prayer:    Heavenly Father, thank you for your generosity to me!  Holy Spirit, teach me to be generous in serving you and in serving others.    Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

August 15, 2018: SOAP #3177:  Jeremiah 18-20; Psalm 93; John 17

Scripture:  John (NIV) 17:23 [Jesus praying to the Father] I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Observation:  Oh, the truth we can learn as we listen in on Jesus praying to His Father in heaven.   He does not pray as though heaven is a long way off in some distant galaxy, but as though the throne room is right there in the garden where He is praying.   What a close, loving relationship Jesus shares with The Heavenly Father!

Application:  Jesus lives in me the same way The Father lives in Jesus.  The Father loves me even as He loves Jesus.   I am not an orphan child standing outside looking through the window, I am a child sitting at the table.

Prayer:    Heavenly Father, I am so undeserving of the great love and favor you give me.  The more I appreciate what you have done for me, the more I want to help others have a seat at your table.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

August 14, 2018: SOAP #3176   Jeremiah 16-17; Psalm 96; John 16

Scripture:  John (NIV) 16:12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

Observation:    I hear Jesus saying that there is so much more that they need to know, but they are not ready to hear it.  There are important things they need to know, but His time for being with them is short; there is not enough time to tell them all they need to know. However, Jesus is not desperate.  There is a plan!

The plan is to send the Holy Spirit.  As the previous verses tell us, the Holy Spirit will bring Jesus words to our memory.  Jesus is not relying on the faulty memory of man, but on the omniscience of the Holy Spirit to remind them!   Wow!

The plan is to send the Holy Spirit.  As the following verses tell us, the Holy Spirit will “guide … into all truth.”  It does not matter that Jesus only has a few hours left with them, the Holy Spirit is coming!   It does not matter that their memories are unreliable, the Holy Spirit is coming!  It does not matter that they may feel abandoned for a short time, the Holy Spirit is coming!   It does not matter that they do not know everything, the Holy Spirit is coming!

Application:  I must grow in my appreciation for the Holy Spirit.  I need to talk to Him and listen to Him.  I must learn to quickly recognize how He speaks to me.

Prayer:    Holy Spirit, teach me to rely on you even more that the disciples relied on Jesus.    Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

August 13, 2018: SOAP #3175   Jeremiah 13-15; John 15

Scripture:  John (NIV) 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

Observation:   And what a Gardener He is!!!  He planted the first garden and prepared it for Adam and Eve.  He prepared it for their arrival by filling it with plants and animals.  When they arrived on the scene, it was perfect!  An all-wise Creator had perfectly prepared it for His crowning creation—man!

For five days God prepared the garden and at the close of each day He saw “…it was good.“  On the sixth day, after creating man, male and female, and in looking over the completed garden, He saw that “it was very good.”  Yes, the Heavenly Father has a good history as a gardener!

Application:  The life of the vine flows into each ingrafted branch.  The Gardener, my Heavenly Father, has ingrafted me into the True Vine, Jesus His Son.  He carefully and lovingly, skillfully and wisely, tends this special relationship I have with His Son.  His goal is that the life of His Son flows through me to bring much fruit.  What the Gardener is doing in me is “very good!”

Prayer:    Heavenly Father, there are times when I do not enjoy your pruning work, but I know You are working for my good and Your glory.  I surrender to Your care.     Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

August 12, 2018: SOAP #3174   Jeremiah 10-12; John 14

Scripture:  John (NIV) 14:4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.

Observation:   Leota Morar was our good friend.  She lived in Springfield, Missouri and was known, like Dorcas in Acts 9, for her many good deeds.  Although she was elderly, she knew her way around that city!  Several times when visiting her, I asked her for directions to a specific place.  She did not like to tell me the directions; she would rather get in her car and have me follow her.  In that way, she would take me to the desired location.

Leota did not tell me the way to go, she was the way!  I only had to trust and follow her!   Her knowledge was available to me because of our relationship.  Her knowledge of the city was available to be because I kept our relationship close as I followed her through the city.  I did not let her get too far ahead of me; I never let her out of my sight.  I followed close.

Application:  I remember an old song:  Jesus is the way maker.  But He is more; HE IS THE WAY!   I must follow Him closely!  I must hear His voice.  I must recognize His voice.  I must never let Him out of my sight!

Prayer:    Jesus, you are The Way Maker.  You can make a way where there is no way.  You can do it because You are THE WAY!  You do not make a way then send me through it by myself.  You make the way, then go with me through it!  You lead me all the way!  You are the way!  Holy Spirit, remind me and help me to keep my eyes on Jesus!  Whatever the problem, He is going through; and I am going through with Him!  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!