Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 01, 2024: SOAP #5416:  Zechariah 10-12; Psalm 126; Luke 14

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 14:13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

OBSERVATION:    Jesus had been watching the guests at a banquet and made two comments.  First to the guests: instead of taking a place of honor, they should choose for themselves a humble seat, because it is better to be blessed by being escorted to a place of more honor than to be asked to move to a place of less honor.  Second to those hosting the banquet:  Invite people who cannot repay you, because there is One watching who can repay and you will be repaid when it really counts.

APPLICATION:  Proverbs 19:17 reads: “He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.” When God sees us doing a kindness for those from whom we expect no repayment, he takes it personally.  He looks at it as though we did it for him!    He takes the responsibility for the repayment, if not in this life, then certainly in the one to come.

PRAYER:  Lord, you have done more for me than I can ever repay.  Today give me the joy of serving someone who has no means to repay me.  Amen.  And Heavenly Father, consider the many people who have given to the SOAP ministry.  Many have given money; many more have given their time and service.  And many have given both money and service.  In your faithfulness, reward their faithfulness.  And with your generosity, reward their generosity.  In Jesus Name, 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
September 30, 2024: SOAP #5415:  Zechariah 7-9; Luke 13

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 13:18 Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches.”
20 Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

OBSERVATION:    What is the kingdom of God like?  … a tiny mustard seed.  The kingdom of God starts small then grows and grows until it is like a tree in which Birds can gather.

What is the kingdom of God like?   … like yeast.  The kingdom of God will be worked through our lives until every aspect of our lives are affected by the kingdom of God.

APPLICATION:  It started with me possessing the Kingdom. It was such a small part of my life. But as I grew in understanding, the Kingdom became more and more influential in my life. I no longer see that I possess the Kingdom; now the Kingdom possesses me!

It started with me being interested, sensing the convicting presence of the Holy Spirit, but not understanding what was happening to me.  But as I grew in understanding, the Spirit’s influence affected more and more of my life. The Holy Spirit works the word through my life as yeast is worked through the whole batch of dough.  Presently, there is no part of my life unaffected by the Holy Spirit.

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, you can easily see the growth and maturity in my prayers.  The emphasis is moving from what you can do for me to what I can do for you. I am honored to be a part of your Kingdom!  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
September 29, 2024: SOAP #5414:  Zechariah 4-6; Luke 12

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 12:5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

OBSERVATION:   Here we see the obvious reason we should fear God!  This fear, as Proverbs says it, is the beginning of wisdom.  If we are walking in sin, we should be afraid of God!  It would be foolish not to fear!

As awesome as the power of God is to punish, it is also awesome to protect.  As awesome to exact justice, it is also awesome to express tenderness and kindness.  And so, Luke continues in the next two verses.  This awesome God who has the power to destroy the soul in hell, watches over the sparrows!   Not even one of them is forgotten!  Amazing!  This awesome God who has the power to destroy the body in hell, knows, and cares, about even the number of the hairs on my head!   Amazing!  And so Luke, who tells us to fear this One with the power to cast into hell, also tells those in HIS care “Fear NOT!” Luke 12:32

APPLICATION:  What a God!  How foolish of me to think I can get away with sin!  
What a God!  How foolish of me to think that I cannot trust His care!   
What a God!  What a joy to have such a close relationship with Him!
What a God!  What peace to know that I can trust Him in this life and in eternity!

No need for panic when He is present, living in me, when I can talk to Him and know He speaks to me!  

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, you are more than capable of correcting me and caring for me.  You have forgiven me and made me your child.  I trust you.  In Jesus Name, I pray,  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
September 28, 2024: SOAP #5413:  Zechariah 1-3; Luke 11

(reworked)

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 11:2 He [Jesus] said to them [his disciples], “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread.  4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.  And lead us not into temptation.’”  

OBSERVATION:    If we pray this prayer as it is given, we are asking God to forgive us because we forgive everyone who sins against us.  It is something to consider very thoughtfully. 

So, if I do not forgive, I am asking God to not forgive me.  If I forgive slowly, I am asking God to be slow in forgiving me.  If I hold a grudge, I am asking God to hold a grudge against me.      

APPLICATION:  It is clear; I have been forgiven and God expects me to forgive.  I will continue to need God’s forgiveness.  I cannot live without someone sinning against me. 

To not forgive those who sin against me further hurts me.   To think that someone’s sin against me is too great to forgive is to not fully appreciate what Jesus did to provide God’s forgiveness for me.  

Some time back, the Lord showed me that His death on the cross not only provided forgiveness for my sins against God but also provided for the sins of other people against me.  Jesus’ death enables God to forgive me and when I receive that forgiveness it enables me to forgive others. 

PRAYER:  Jesus, You are the great forgiver.  Holy Spirit help me to forgive as I have been forgiven.    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
September 27, 2024: SOAP #5412: Haggai 1-2; Psalm 129; Luke 10

(from 2015)

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 10:16 [Jesus speaking] “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

OBSERVATION:   Jesus had appointed seventy-two to be sent out two by two into the places he would be going.  He gave them instructions about what they needed to take and where they should stay.  He told them to heal the sick and preach about the Kingdom of God.  He told them what to do when rejected.  He ends with the verse above.   People who listened to them would be listening to Jesus.  People who rejected their message were rejecting Jesus, AND the Heavenly Father who sent Jesus.  

APPLICATION:  Sometimes I am not consciously aware of the great power that stands with me and behind me.  I act like I am on my own.  I act like it all depends on me.  Lack of results discourage me.  BUT if I can hear Jesus speaking the above verse to me and know the Holy Spirit is living in me, there should be nothing able to discourage or distract me from His mission.  The Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and me—what a team!!!! 

The SOAPs are the result of this team ministry.  It was the work of the Holy Spirit to anoint men to write the Scriptures.  He draws my attention to a small portion each day and places a thought in my heart.  I work to write out that thought.  Then I start it on its way, sending it out by email, Facebook, and a blog.  Through the drawing of the Holy Spirit, Jesus leads various individuals to find and read them.  He puts anointed thoughts in their minds as to how the SOAPs can be used in reaching the lost and bringing spiritual growth to the believers.  They become a part of this Holy Ghost team!   Without any official organization and without any financial backing, Jesus is glorified and our Heavenly Father honored.  Everyone is welcome to join! 

PRAYER: Lord, my one goal is to please you.  Rejection or failure means nothing when I know you are with me and Our Heavenly Father stands with us!  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
September 26, 2024: SOAP #5411: Ezra 4; Psalm 113, 127; Luke 9

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 9:23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.
25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?

OBSERVATION:   The successful Christian life is lived on a daily basis.  The daily life is so easy to put off, to skip a day or two, and before one realizes it, a week, then two are gone without Bible reading and prayer.  There is time every day, no matter how busy, to read God’s word and pray—that is if I am willing to deny myself and put Him first.

APPLICATION:  Jesus said we must “take up our cross daily and follow Him.” Much of the time it is not difficult to follow Jesus.  His will and our will often run quite closely together.  We love Him and it is our pleasure to please Him. 

But the phrase before “take up his cross daily…” can give us trouble.  “He must deny himself…”   The daily cross in our lives is the place where His will crosses our will.  We really want to do something, but the Lord gives us a strong indication not to do it!   We really want to say something, but the Lord tells us to be quiet!   It is then we demonstrate who is really LORD in our lives. 

PRAYER: Lord, You call me to deny myself and take up my cross daily.  It is not about me!  Every day is all about You!  Today is all about 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
September 25, 2024: SOAP #5410: Ezra 2-3; Luke 8

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 8:4 While a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.” When he said this, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

OBSERVATION:   Jesus went on to explain: “The seed is the word of God.” (vs 11) The different types of ground represented the different hearts that would hear the word of God.  Their response would be in accordance to the condition of their heart. 

Something in this story is missing.  There is no warning for the Sower to be careful as to where he sowed.  The Sower was not warned about wasting the good seed on ground that would be less fruitful.  The Sower was not a field judge, he was a Sower, so he just sowed the seed. 

APPLICATION:  The Lord of the harvest is not willing that any should perish, so He sends us into all the world and to every field.   As one of the laborers in my Father’s field, I am to be generous in spreading the seed.  When talking about the Lord with another worker, I do not know who might be listening behind my back or around the corner.  It is more important that I be a seed scatterer than a field judge.

In several places in Africa, people have been sowing the SOAPs like seed.  Some places I would have thought as rocky soil have proved to be very good ground!  The Lord of the Harvest opened a door and sent Sowers into His fields!  

PRAYER: Holy Spirit, make me a good seed scatterer.   Amen

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

Personal note: Praise the Lord.  Saw the doctor today.  The scan done last week shows no sign of cancer elsewhere in my body. 

On the 10^th of October I go in for a CT scan to make some tattoos where the frame containing the radiation with be placed to target the prostate cancers.  Then the radiologist will be working on a computer program to set the frame exactly in place.  About a week later, I will start 28 days of radiation, Monday – Friday.  Weekends will be off to allow the normal tissue to repair itself from radiation damage.  Treatments will only take 30 minutes each day, only 10 minutes laying still with the frame in place.  I should walk in and then 30 minutes later walk out as if nothing has happened. 

Between now and the start of radiation, I will see a urologist to start a treatment that will stop the production of testosterone which is food for prostate cancer.  While killing the cancer they do not want to feed it.  After the cancer is gone, the testosterone will be allowed to return. 

There should be very limited side effects, maybe some in the third or fourth week of treatment.  I should be able to continue my normal life. 

I thank everyone who has been praying.  I am thankful for testimonies from people who have gone through this.  May my prayer and testimony encourage others as yours did me!   😊  

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
September 24, 2024: SOAP #5409: Ezra 1; Psalm 84-85; Luke 7        

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 7:6 …”Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go’, and he goes; and that one, ‘Come’, and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this’, and he does it.” 9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

OBSERVATION:   In Luke 5:5 Simon said, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so … ” In this verse the Centurion simply asked Jesus to “say the word.”  There is power in the “word” of Jesus.

APPLICATION:  Oh, how I need to be faithful in reading the Bible, reading it myself, or hearing it read, or hearing it preached.   Not only does it contain the “words” of Jesus as He walked on earth, but the Bible IS the “Word of God.”  Oh, how I need to let the Holy Spirit speak to my heart bringing the written Word of God into personal daily application.

In reading or hearing the Word, the Holy Spirit often puts His thoughts into my mind so that I can know how apply the scriptures in my life.  By doing this, the Spirit makes my relationship with God very personal. 

As I consider the portions of scripture that are available to me, and as I ask the Holy Spirit to speak to my heart, I will learn to recognize how He speaks to me.  He will give my days purpose.  He will give me assignments.  It will make serving Jesus become exciting. 

PRAYER: Lord, I know you understand my circumstances perfectly and can speak to me, giving me direction in how I am to live.  May you always find me listening and trusting in your word.  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
September 23, 2024: SOAP #5408: Daniel 11-12; Luke 6 

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 6:44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

OBSERVATION:   The mouth often becomes a window allowing others to see what is in the heart.   A person may try to carefully choose their words, but in an unguarded moment the contents of the heart spills out through the mouth. 

We need to seriously consider what we read in God’s word.  In meditating on it, we are tucking away God’s word into the corners and empty places of our heart.   The Holy Spirit can bring it to my memory when we need it.  

APPLICATION:  Tasting what comes out of a squeezed container lets us know what is inside.  Honey taste sweet.  Lemon juice tastes sour. 

Praise and thanksgiving come from a sweet God-centered spirit; complaining and fault-finding come from a self-centered spirit.  

When my heart is suddenly squeezed may my words reveal HIM living inside!   

PRAYER: Lord, I want my heart to be filled with your Word and with your praise.   Then my words will be the same.  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
September 22, 2024: SOAP #5407: Daniel 9-10; Psalm 123; Luke 5     

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 5:1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding round him and listening to the word of God, 2 he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

OBSERVATION:   Nets, which are used for ministry, need ministry too.  Here we find the fishermen washing their nets.  In another place, we see fishermen mending their nets. 

The church, as a net, at times needs cleaned and mended.  This is not unreasonable.  The only nets not needing mending and washing are those which have not been used, nor those to be discarded and not used any more.

APPLICATION:  What joy should flood our hearts when the Great Fisherman scrubs us and repairs us.  It means that we still have value to Him.  It means that He is not through using us!  We are a part of His network!

As a part of His net, we can expect to be thrown into the sea where we can find someone needing God’s care.  As a net, we work together.  We are connected.  We can wrap ourselves around them and gently draw them into God’s Kingdom.  Or we can expect to be cast back into the sea to wrap our love around some prodigal soul needing to be drawn back into the boat. 

Some may like to be independent, serving God in their own way, but to be effective, we must stay clean and remain connected to the rest of the net!  

PRAYER: Lord, as a part of your net, keep me clean and keep me connected to the rest of the net.  May I work with the rest of the net to be effective in reaching people for you.  Amen

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