Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 06, 2024: SOAP #5421:  Esther 9-10; Luke 19

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 19:7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner’.” 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

OBSERVATION:    Visiting the home of Zacchaeus, a tax collector, gave the Jews opportunity to criticize Jesus, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”  But it also gave Jesus the opportunity to make a clear statement of His purpose in being on earth.  He had come “to seek and to save what was lost.”  

APPLICATION:  If I claim to be Christ-like (Christian) than I should have the same priority: to seek and to save what was lost.  If I claim to have the same Holy Spirit in me as was in Jesus, then I should expect that He will establish the same priority in me as He did in the life and ministry of Jesus. 

If I look at the world around me and believe that the time for the return of Jesus is getting close, then I should have the same priority as Jesus.  If someone I know has not received the forgiveness of sins that Jesus offers, if they do not know that Jesus paid for our sins by His death on the cross, then I should love them enough to tell them.  I cannot save them, but I can tell them.

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, guide my steps each day, and draw my attention to someone ready to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  Make me a continuation of the life and ministry of Jesus—to seek and save the lost.   Amen

Pastor Leon
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