Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 24, 2022: SOAP #4435:  Exodus 9-11; Luke 24

SCRIPTURE:  Exodus (NIV) 9:13 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me, 14 or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no-one like me in all the earth.
15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. 16 But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

OBSERVATION: God was working to get the Israelites released from Egypt without any effort on their part.  Later, on their way to the Promised Land and then inside the Promised Land, Israel would fight.  But their deliverance from Egypt was God’s work. 

Bringing Israel out of Egypt was God’s primary goal, but not the only goal.  God was leaving a testimony for the Israelites to remember later.  God was demonstrating His power to Pharoah, and to Egypt.  And God wanted His name “proclaimed in all the earth.”

Our salvation is God’s work.  Jesus paid the price for our deliverance from sin.  We accept His forgiveness by faith.  But once we are securely in His Kingdom, we will have opportunity to bring glory to God by participating with Him.  Salvation is His work (John 3:16).  The emphasis is on what we get.  Being filled with the Holy Spirit is to make us His witnesses (Acts 1:8). The emphasis is on what He gets!

APPLICATION:  Too often I have been only selfishly concerned about how things affected me.  I did not take time to consider how those around me could be influenced.  I did not take time to consider things from God’s point of view. 

PRAYER:  Lord, forgive me for thinking that this world centers around me. May my response to my troubles, and my response to your intervention on my behalf bring you much glory.  May people see you at work in my life and may they hear my testimony. Amen.

Pastor Leon
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