Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
March 18, 2023: SOAP #4853: Joshua 1-2; Psalm 37; 1Corinthians 3

SCRIPTURE:  1Corinthians (NIV) 3:16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.  

OBSERVATION: God’s temple is where He lives.  The church is not the building I visit once or twice a week, or month, or year.  The church is not a building, but people.  It is people in whom God lives by His Spirit.  He does not just visit once a week but lives there twenty-four hours, seven days a week.

APPLICATION: The house is not the family and the building is not the church.  The family is not a family only when they are present in the house, nor is the church only the church when it is gathered in the “church” building.  The family is tied together by a common life and so is the church. 

We do not go to church; we are the church.  We are the church when we are in our homes.  We are the church when we are at work.  We are the church when we are in the market.  The presence of the Holy Spirit in people—that is the church.  My body is the temple of the Lord!  

Yesterday I met with a group of about 15 men at Panera restaurant.  God had accompanied each of us to that place and the Holy Spirit was clearly moving among us.  We were the church.  Later, Joe and I were together in my car, just the two of us.  But no, Someone was with us!  We were still the church. 

PRAYER:   Lord, What is true in your word, is true in my life.  Help me to live it today.  Help me to be a good presentation of what I really am.  Amen.

Pastor Leon
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