Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
July 18, 2024: SOAP #5341:  Isaiah 32-35; James 2

SCRIPTURE:  James (NIV) 2:26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. 
Romans (NIV) 10: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

OBSERVATION:    We are saved by faith, but faith that has no outward expression is dead.  Faith is a heart matter, but its presence is “seeable,” “recognizable,” or as in Romans 10:9&10 “hearable.” 

In James 2 we find several expressions of saving faith:  giving food and clothing to the poor, Abraham offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God, Rahab hiding the Israelite spies and sending them safely out of Jericho,

APPLICATION:  When the Living God makes my heart His home, it will be impossible to keep that hidden from others.  It is not a legalistic thing where I have to do certain things to prove that Jesus lives in me—no, it is an outward expression of a changed heart!  I have become a new creation!  (2Corinthians 5:17) 

My vocabulary changes, not so much the words, but the attitude carried by my words.  Forgiveness flows from a heart once full of resentment.  All are changes that I cannot do myself but are expressions/proof of my faith and the presence of a living Savior within. 

PRAYER:  Lord, you are still making changes in me.  You are causing my faith to grow, and increasing faith meets increasing challenges.  But my faith is not in my abilities, but in you.  My faith is not that others will help me, but in you.  I am confident that you will enable me to do what you have given me to do.  And I am confident that what the doctors discover with a biopsy on August 6 will only be what you already know!  My life is in you!  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
July 17, 2024: SOAP #5340:  Isaiah 29-31; James 1

(reworked from 2010)

Scripture:  James (NIV) 1:26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
                               

Observation:   Perhaps James was tired of people claiming to be religious and claiming to love God, yet their words showed something different.   If our faith does not affect the way we talk, then, according to the Bible, it is worthless. 

Of the Ten Commandments, the second deals with speaking the name of God in an insignificant, valueless manner.  The ninth deals with speaking what is not true.  Throughout the Bible we see references to our words:  not only gossiping, complaining, etc., but also praying, encouraging, etc. 

The first action of God recorded in the Bible was speaking.  “And God said…” Jesus is introduced in the first chapter of John as “the Word became flesh…”  It should not surprise us that God sees our words as important.  

Application:  God’s Words are important to me; my words are important to God.  What I say to Him and what I say about Him, what I say to others and what I say about others—it is ALL important to God. 

Prayer:  Lord, as in Psalm 141:3, put a guard over my lips.  May my words today make you smile and bless those nearby. Amen. 

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon