Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 11. 2024: SOAP #5457: Psalm 122; 1Corinthians 9-11

(expanded from 2010)

SCRIPTURE:  1Corinthians (NIV) 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

OBSERVATION:   Paul here offers his life as an example for his readers.  Yet his offer to be their example is based on his following Christ.  He could have said it in a negative way:  Do not follow me if I am not following Christ. 

Every good leader is also a good follower.  Good leadership comes from good follower-ship. 

APPLICATION:  So the first question I must ask myself—who am I following?  Who is my example, or examples?   

A second important question for me to ask—who are my leaders following?  Who was their example? 

And a third question that logically follows—who is following me?  What are they learning from my example?  Are those following me learning to be a good follower of Christ?  Are they learning to love God’s Word?  Are they learning to apply the scriptures to their daily lives? 

PRAYER:  Lord, I want to follow you closely.  May my life be a good example of following You.  Lord, thank you for my parents who not only gave me a good example of how to live, but also of how to grow old gracefully.  Lord, thank you for assigning me to write SOAPs.  I pray that others will follow my example and experience you speaking to them through Your Word.  Amen. 

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 10. 2024: SOAP #5456: Job 35, 36; 1Corinthians 7, 8

SCRIPTURE:  1Corinthians (NIV) 8:1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But the man who loves God is known by God.

OBSERVATION:   Paul was writing about food available for purchase in the market that had been sacrificed to an idol before being put up for sale.  People who had a clear understanding of God and creation, knew that idols were not gods.  They could eat the meat with a clear conscience because they were not offending the true God in their eating.  However, there were people in the church who still looked at the idols as gods.  Eating food killed as a sacrifice to an idol was very offensive to them.  Since they had been saved out of a pagan society, they had probably worshipped those idols.  It was confusing in their thinking to see believers eating food that had been sacrificed to those idols from whose worship they had been delivered.    

Paul does not in these verses deal with the non-godness of the idols, but with the love we should have not to offend our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

APPLICATION:  Maturing in Christ is growing in love.  It is seen in how we are willing to limit our freedoms in order not to offend, or, in order to serve others.  Some people leave their family and homeland to take the gospel to others.  Some people forgo a better car or house in order to give more money to spread the gospel.  Some people give up an evening at home in order to minister to a group of boys or girls.  Etc.   We sacrifice what is not bad or sinful in order to make sure someone else joins us in heaven. 

PRAYER:  Lord, that is what you did for me.  You gave up your home in heaven to come to earth, to make the sacrifice for my sins.  May I never complain about what I may need to sacrifice in spreading the truth of who you are and how great is your love.  May my love for you cause me to consider any sacrifice as only a minor inconvenience.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 9. 2024: SOAP #5455: Job 34; 1Corinthians 4-6

(reworked from 2012)

SCRIPTURE:  1Corinthians (NIV) 4:1 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.
2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.

OBSERVATION:   A servant is how Paul saw himself, and how he wanted others to see him.  He was not about promoting himself.  He was all about serving Christ and those to whom he had been sent.  The secrets were given to him not so that he and God could have something special that no one else would know, but so that he could share them with others.  God wanted them to be well-known and Paul was a servant doing God’s will. 

APPLICATION:   A servant is how I should see myself, and how I want others to see me.  It is not about promoting me.  I am all about serving Christ and those to whom I have been sent.  The things God shows me in His Word (things He has shown to many, many others) are not only just so God and I can have something special, but so that I can share them with others. 

And the truth that the LORD makes special in the lives of SOAP readers is for them to share with others. 

PRAYER:   Lord, SOAP is a major avenue you provide for me to share with others the things you give me.  May each reader recognize the opportunities you bring their way to share with others what you give them.  In this way we serve YOU, and others.  Amen. 

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer

November 8. 2024: SOAP #5454: Job 33, 1Corinthians 1-3

SCRIPTURE:  1Corinthians (NIV) 1:26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

OBSERVATION:   God did not choose the nation of Israel because they were the biggest, “baddest,” gang of people that ever walked the planet.  He chose them because they were weak, few in number, and did not amount to much in the eyes of their world.   If they ever carved out a portion of land to be their home, it would have to be because God was with them.  They would be able to take no credit.  Their presence today in the land God gave them is still a testimony to God’s work!    

God is still working that way today.  God is not looking for great strength or many talents, but people with weaknesses who have faith.  When God sees a weakness, He gets a gleam in His eye and chuckles to Himself, “I love it!  Here is something only I can do; people are going to see how much I am willing to do on behalf of those who put their faith in me.”     

SOAP ministry is proof of that.  I still do what the Lord told me to do 15 years ago.   I daily read His word and write a SOAP on what He speaks to my heart.  I know so little about computers and the internet, yet God has raised up people in various Asian and African countries to spread what He has given.  He is using my weaknesses. 

APPLICATION:  It is our weaknesses that give opportunity for God to shine through us.  We can take no credit for any good seen in us because if God had not helped us, we would have failed miserably.   We cannot let our weaknesses  or lack hinder us from doing what we can for God. 

PRAYER:  Lord, if you can get any glory out of my weaknesses, you are welcome to them!  I’ll just continue to trust you to work out all things for good.  Amen. 

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 7. 2024: SOAP #5453:  Job 31, 32; Galatians 5,6

(reworked from 2011)

SCRIPTURE:  Galatians (NIV) 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

OBSERVATION:   “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”  What love is seen in the Father’s sending Jesus to give His life to redeem the lost creation.  Jesus came to do the Father’s will.  What love is seen in Jesus for His Father that he would be willing to carry out the Father’s will!   He prayed, “Not my will but thine be done!” The choices of the Father and the Son prove their love.  The Father was not forced to send His son.  The Son was not forced to do the Father’s will.  The motivation for these choices was love!  

That is why our freedom is so important to God; He wants us to love Him because that is our choice.  Love is expressed through our choices.  If there is no choice, it is not an expression of love.  Some choices can lead to bondage when what begins as a choice becomes the master.  It is our responsibility to make choices that protect our freedom.

APPLICATION:  Making choices to serve and please my wife is a major way of saying, “I love you,” especially when it is not what I would personally like to do.  The same is true with God.  I choose to serve God because I love Him and am convinced that He is worthy of my devotion.  I must remember: the greater the sacrifice, the greater the expression of love.  My choices are the proof of who I love and how much I love. 

PRAYER:  Lord, what can I do today to please you? Amen. 

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 6. 2024: SOAP #5452:  Job 30; Psalm 120; Galatians 3,4

For new believers: consider what God has done for you!  He has brought you into a love relationship! 

For those who have been walking with Jesus for some time:  do not forget what He has done for you.  Joyfully spend time with Him.  Do His bidding joyfully!   Doing His will is not burdensome; it is our privilege!   Serve Him with eternity in view. 

SCRIPTURE:  Galatians (NIV) 4:7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

OBSERVATION:   What a change:  from being a slave to sin, to being a son of God!  From serving sin because we were in bondage, to serving God because we love Him.  And we love Him because He first loved us! 

APPLICATION:  I do not have to serve God—I get to serve God.  It is my privilege to serve Him. 

Because I love Him I consider myself His servant.  Because He loves me He considers me His son! 

Because I love Him and see myself as His servant, I serve Him joyfully.  Because He loves me and considers me His son, He makes me His heir! 

He is always outdoing me!  That’s just the way He is! 

PRAYER:  Lord, I am your creation.  I am your child.  I am your friend.  I am your servant.  I am your son.  I am your heir.  I am blest!  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 5, 2024: SOAP #5451:  Job 28-29; Galatians 1-2

(reworked from earlier)

SCRIPTURE:  Galatians (NIV) 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

OBSERVATION:  Verse 21 stirs two very strong thoughts, the weakness of the law and the power of the cross.  It also leads me to consider how important my righteousness is to God. It is so important that He sent His Son to die in payment for sin!  Amazing!

The battle was won on the cross!  It was there that the price was paid.  It was there that Jesus won over the temptation of trying an easier way.  It was there that the power of Satan’s temptation to move outside the will of the Father was defeated!  Jesus would not give in to the devil’s temptation to move other than in His Father’s will!

Jesus entered death as The Triumphant One.  He entered the grave as The Victorious One!   He came out as More than a Conqueror!   The three days in the grave was the victory lap taken after the race had been won!

APPLICATION:  Verse 20 says I am crucified.  My life is dead.  I now live the life of Christ within me.  His life has already won victory over death and the grave.  That is the life by which I live!  In me is His victorious life!    

God wants children who will serve Him because they love Him.   Selfish children do good things because they want some reward.  But for those who love Him, serving Him is the reward!!  They consider it a privilege to bring joy to God’s heart.  They are not looking for more reward than they have already received—their salvation. 

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, continually remind me that I am living by God’s grace.  It is not depending on my ability to keep the law but depending on the Christ life within me who has already kept the law!  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 4, 2024: SOAP #5450:  Job 26-27; Mark 15-16

SCRIPTURE:  Mark (NIV) 16:19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

OBSERVATION:   Here we have the last two verses in the book of Mark.  We see that the ministry of Jesus did not stop when He returned to heaven.  Instead, it increased!   He had fulfilled the one ministry that only He could do which was to make the sacrifice that would pay for our sins.  As He was moving toward that Special ministry, He had other ministries also.  He taught and performed miracles.  He was called a teacher.  People brought the sick to him for his touch.  The ministry of making the payment for sin is complete!!!  Another payment will never be needed.  But the ministry of Jesus in teaching and performing miracles did not stop!  

They came to where Jesus was to hear His teaching.  They brought the sick to where He was for His touch.  Now the same Holy Spirit was in the disciples as was in Jesus.  The Holy Spirit was anointing them to teach and heal the sick. 

APPLICATION:  The ministry of Jesus continues, but not in just one city, but in cities around the World.  Not just in one nation, but in every nation in the world!   His ministry has increased tremendously!!!  

Several months back a gentleman from a quite restricted area for Christians, needed to see a medical doctor for his sickness.  While out of that area, someone gave him a copy of a SOAP and told him that Jesus would heal him.  JESUS DID!   Later he called the phone number on the bottom of the SOAP and asked if SOAPs could be distributed in his area!!!  For the past six weeks, SOAP Bible studies have been happening in that area.  As the ministry of Jesus continued in the book of Acts, it is continuing in Africa!  

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, your anointing is on the Word in these SOAPs.  Strengthen those who print and distribute them.  May you be glorified.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 3, 2024: SOAP #5449:  Job 25; Mark 13-14

SCRIPTURE:  Mark (NIV) 13:34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. 35 “Therefore, keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the cock crows, or at dawn.

OBSERVATION:   The owner of the house will temporarily be away.  He prepares for his absence by organizing his servants by giving them specific assignments.  This caught my attention because I have recently found myself talking about writing the Daily SOAPs as an assignment God has given me. 

I did not choose to write SOAPs.  It was not something that I read about or heard about and thought “I would like to do that.”  When Pastor Dayton asked me to write SOAPs as an example for the congregation, I did not want to do it.  But God clearly told me I should do what Pastor Dayton had asked.  Now I understand this is God’s assignment for me in the closing years of my earthly life. 

Knowing that this is God’s assignment greatly affects my attitude and faith for direction and provision. 

APPLICATION:  I believe God has assigned tasks for each of His servants.  Some are assigned to raise their children to fear and honor Him.  Some are assigned to represent Him wherever they live, work, learn, etc.  Some are temporary; others are ours for life. 

We will all answer to Him for the assignment He has given us.  Just a special note:  He did not give us our assignment because He knew we could do it.  He knows the assignment is too big for our talents.  He sent the Holy Spirit to live in us and empower us to fulfill our assignments!  

PRAYER:  Lord, teach me how to rely on the presence of the Holy Spirit as I fulfill my assignments in my daily life.  May I be a channel through which you can easily flow.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
November 2, 2024: SOAP #5448:  Job 23-24; Mark 11-12

SCRIPTURE:  Mark (NIV) 11:20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig-tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig-tree you cursed has withered!” 22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

OBSERVATION:   Faith is such an important part of our religion.  Even more, it is a basic part of life.  It would be impossible to live in a community of people without faith.  It takes faith to live in peace.  We learn to trust each other, having faith that they will keep their word. 

Of course, faith is only as good as the foundation on which the faith rests.  Faith in our neighbor is only as good as the neighbor is in keeping his word.  To gain eternal life, we must have a sure foundation.  Jesus is that foundation.  No other will do!   Faith in God grows as the truth of the scriptures is soaked up by our heart and mind. 

APPLICATION:  Faith is the assurance that God is and that He works according to His word.  When we move in obedience to Him, we have faith that all will work out for our good and His glory!   It is such a privilege to know that the little we do is an important part of the big thing God is doing.  So, we keep faithful doing the little things He has assigned to us, knowing that he loves to reward His people!   

PRAYER:  Lord, walking by faith becomes our way of life.  We make you look good when we do as you say.  In faith we move ahead, not knowing how or even why, but assured that you will be glorified.  Amen 

Pastor Leon
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