Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
May 20, 2023: SOAP #4916: 1Kings 6; 2Chronicles 3; Psalm 97; Romans 1

SCRIPTURE:  Romans (NIV) 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God…
5 Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.
6 And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

OBSERVATION:  Paul was purposefully chosen and placed in his ministry to the church.  It was through God’s working in Paul’s life and for the sake of glorifying the name of Jesus that Paul was so placed in the body of Christ.  The calling to be an apostle was not of Paul’s workings but an expression of the grace of God.  It was an undeserved act of God in calling and using Paul.

Verse 6 tells us that not only Paul had been purposefully placed in the body of Christ, but those to whom he was writing had also been called to belong to Jesus!  They too were purposefully placed in the body of Christ!   

APPLICATION:  I too have been purposefully called and placed—to be a husband, a father, a pastor, a school bus driver, and a SOAP writer.  It is God’s grace and mercy in working through my strength and weaknesses, my successes and failures, for His glory. 

AND YOU TOO, dear SOAP reader.  You too are purposefully called to be—a ?spouse?, ?parent?, ?student?,  ???.  We have been purposefully called and placed.  Do not despise where you are!   We must let Jesus shine through us—let Jesus be Jesus in us!     

PRAYER:   Lord, your grace has been extended to each of us in allowing us to carry your Presence in whatever circumstances we are.  May those around us see you living in us and may they receive the “calling to the obedience that comes through faith.”  Amen

Pastor Leon
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