Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
August 12, 2025: SOAP #5731: Jeremiah 10-12; John 14

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 3:6 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John (NIV) 14:21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” (Note verses 23 and 24)

OBSERVATION:   In John 3:16 we read that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Becoming a Christian is responding to the great love that God has for us. It is singing, “Oh how HE loves me!” We love Him because He first loved us! We are responding to His great love for us.

However in John 14:21 Jesus is speaking to His disciples.  Here it is God responding to our great love for Him!  We have come to know and love Him. Our love for Him is clearly seen in that His commands are priority in our lives. It is God singing, “Oh how he loves me!”

APPLICATION:  It is an ever-widening spiral. At the center is His great love for me. He gives His Son to die for me. I respond in love, beginning to learn and keep His commands.  He sees my response of love and is so joyful that He reveals even more of Himself and His plan for me. I respond in such appreciation and amazement that I love Him even more! I begin to sacrifice my wants in order to fulfill His wants. He sees my increased love for Him and He reveals His heart to me. I am so enamored with His great heart of love that I am willing to decrease so that He may increase. And on, and on it goes! Ever more and more loving revelation on His part; ever more and more loving surrender on my part.  It is an ever-growing, never-ending story of love.

PRAYER:   Lord, loving you more, bringing greater joy to your heart—that is what life is all about!  Now, how can I make you smile today?  Amen. 

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon
Also on:  soapsbyleon.wordpress.com

NOTE:  In the morning Sharon and I will be flying to Hawaii.  I believe the Lord will continue to have me write a daily SOAP, however the time in Hawaii is 5 hours later than our home time.  If I send them out in the evening they will arrive 5 hours later than usual.  The SOAP ministry is HIS.  Since HE is sending me on this assignment, I am sure He will work it all for our good and HIS glory!   😊

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
August 11, 2025: SOAP #5730: Jeremiah 7-9; John 13

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 13:33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

OBSERVATION:   Large corporations and businesses commonly spend lots of money to have someone make a trademark.  It identifies and distinguishes their product from others.  Automobiles and large equipment have their trademark/emblem attached in prominent places where it can be easily seen and recognized. 

Here Jesus gives the trademark by which His disciples will be recognized.  It is a universal identifying characteristic by which ALL men will know.   His disciples, the early church, even those living in the 21^st century, all will be recognized by this characteristic.  Those living in Israel, and disciples living in every country on every continent.  They will all be recognized by this identifying characteristic!  

APPLICATION:  Jesus raised the standard from loving one another as we love ourself to loving one another as Jesus loved us!   I am finding that the only way I can love my brother as Jesus loved me is for Jesus to live in me and cause His love to flow through me!   And that is what He does! 

It is an “inside love,” for Jesus lives in me.  It is also an “outside love” because ALL people will be able to recognize that I am Christ’s disciple.  ALL men will SEE His love flowing through me.  It is not a love that I use to get others to give to me, but a love that motivates me to serve others. 

PRAYER:   Lord, let your love flow through me to those around me.  Holy Spirit, work in me and work through me.  May those around me be able to see Jesus in me.   Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon
Also on:  soapsbyleon.wordpress.com

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
August 08, 2025: SOAP #5727: Jeremiah 1-2; John 10

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 10: 2 The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3 The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

OBSERVATION:  For those wanting to know something about God and who start reading the Bible from Genesis chapter one, in that first chapter will discover three things.  First: God is!   Second:  God creates!  He makes things.  Third:  God talks!  He spoke the world into existence.  (Genesis 1)   In reading through the Old Testament, one finds pages and pages of God speaking.  Much of the Bible is giving us the spoken words of God. 

God the Father sent Jesus as the Good Shepherd.  (John 10:14)  He leads the sheep; He guards them; He protects them; He provides for them.  The sheep have but two simple things to do.  Learn to recognize their shepherd’s voice and follow. 

APPLICATION:  How does God speak to us today?  He speaks through His infallible Word, the Bible.  He speaks through people and circumstances. 

How do I know when the scriptures I am reading, or what I hear in the sermon, or what just happened to me is really God speaking to me?  I know it because the presence of the Holy Spirit in my heart and life sparks a strong awareness of what I have just read, or heard, or seen.  And the more I give attention to those “eye opening” thoughts and do what I feel strongly led to do, the better I will learn to hear and understand how God speaks to me and what He is saying to me. 

PRAYER:  Lord, you are my Good Shepherd!  Please keep talking to me.  Never stop talking to me.  Keep talking until I learn to recognize Your voice and to do what you tell me to do.  Live in me and live through me.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon
Also on:  soapsbyleon.wordpress.com

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
August 07, 2025: SOAP #5726: Zephaniah 1-3; John 9

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 9:30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

OBSERVATION:   First: A personal testimony is easy to give.  We all know what has happened to us.  We have personal thoughts.  It is our experience.  No one can take that from us.  It is ours.  Second: A personal testimony is hard to refute.  It was hard for the religious leaders to refute this personal experience.  They looked foolish trying.  Third: A personal testimony comes with personal convictions.  Some things become logical when we go through an experience.  This man was amazed at their attempt to discredit which was so apparent. 

APPLICATION:  No one knows better that I what God has done for me.  If He is going to get the glory He deserves, it will have to be because I have told others.  If others are going to be encouraged to believe what God can do for them, it might be because I tell them what God has done for me. 

Pastor Andrew and SOAP workers in Sierra Leone are passing to me some great testimonies of what God is doing through the SOAPs.  They go to villages/towns where they are invited, install computers and printers, print thousands of SOAPs to be distributed, then present the SOAPs and the gospel in a large meeting with many thousand gathered.  When the invitation is given to receive Jesus, thousands are responding!   Then another town (with drug problems, thievery, and prostitution) hears about what God is doing and calls them to come to their village/town. 

Three things:  pray for Africa, pray for the SOAP ministry in Africa and Asia, and be sure to share your testimony of what God has done for you!  

PRAYER: Lord, help us to be busy in fruitful ministry until you return!   Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon
Also on:  soapsbyleon.wordpress.com

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
August 07, 2025: SOAP #5726: Zephaniah 1-3; John 9

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 9:30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

OBSERVATION:   First: A personal testimony is easy to give.  We all know what has happened to us.  We have personal thoughts.  It is our experience.  No one can take that from us.  It is ours.  Second: A personal testimony is hard to refute.  It was hard for the religious leaders to refute this personal experience.  They looked foolish trying.  Third: A personal testimony comes with personal convictions.  Some things become logical when we go through an experience.  This man was amazed at their attempt to discredit which was so apparent. 

APPLICATION:  No one knows better that I what God has done for me.  If He is going to get the glory He deserves, it will have to be because I have told others.  If others are going to be encouraged to believe what God can do for them, it might be because I tell them what God has done for me. 

Pastor Andrew and SOAP workers in Sierra Leone are passing to me some great testimonies of what God is doing through the SOAPs.  They go to villages/towns where they are invited, install computers and printers, print thousands of SOAPs to be distributed, then present the SOAPs and the gospel in a large meeting with many thousand gathered.  When the invitation is given to receive Jesus, thousands are responding!   Then another town (with drug problems, thievery, and prostitution) hears about what God is doing and calls them to come to their village/town. 

Three things:  pray for Africa, pray for the SOAP ministry in Africa and Asia, and be sure to share your testimony of what God has done for you!  

PRAYER: Lord, help us to be busy in fruitful ministry until you return!   Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon
Also on:  soapsbyleon.wordpress.com

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
August 06, 2025: SOAP #5725: Habakkuk 1-3; John 8

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 8:28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”

OBSERVATION:   Special note: the One who sent Him, was also with Him.  According to His own words, “He was not left alone.”  The Heavenly Father was with Jesus. 

Jesus was aware of the presence of the Omnipresent God.  Even as he laid aside His deity to live as a man on earth, he had fellowship with His Father.  He often spoke to and with Him.  His awareness of the presence of His Heavenly Father can be seen in many places. 

APPLICATION:  Special note:  the One who sent me, is also with me!  As Jesus did not live His life on His own, so He has designed that I not live my life on my own.  He has promised to never leave me or forsake me.  He sent His Holy Spirit to empower me to minister to others in His name.  I am not here on my own.  Jesus and the Father have made me their dwelling! (John 14:23) My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit! 

Jesus did not drop me off, leave me on my own, promise to check up on me from time to time, and finally promise to return later to take me where He lives.  He sent me here; He remains with me; He does His work through me. 

PRAYER:   Jesus, it is you and me—we are in this together!  My desire—to always do what pleases you! Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon
Also on:  soapsbyleon.wordpress.com

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
August 05, 2025: SOAP #5724: 2Kings 23; 2Chronicles 35; John 7

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 7:16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me…
18 …he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth….
28 …he who sent me is true. You do not know him, …
29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”…
33 …then I go to the one who sent me.

OBSERVATION:   Of the many words to describe Jesus only three or four are used more then the word “sent.”  And when reference is made to him being sent, it is usually Jesus doing the talking!   This is how Jesus saw himself.  This is how He describes himself.   

APPLICATION:  Jesus later said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you!” (John 17:18 and 20:21)  The Sent One is sending me. 

So, this is how I must see myself.  I am “sent.”  I must be diligent about reaching out to those to whom the Father has sent me.  To the people I meet today, I need to remember that it is not by chance that I meet them, but I have been sent. 

What a difference it will make in our meetings, if I remember that I am sent.  I have a message to deliver.  The message may be in a smile; it may be in a warm greeting; it may be a message of encouragement or acceptance; it may be that today is the day of salvation! 

PRAYER:   Holy Spirit, keep me aware of the opportunities to deliver the message God has assigned me.  Many of God’s messages are delivered in pieces. The piece of God’s message that I am to deliver will be joined with a piece from someone else.  May the piece assigned to me not be missing.  Amen. 

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon
Also on:  soapsbyleon.wordpress.com

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
August 04, 2025: SOAP #5723: 2Kings 22; 2Chronicles 34; John 6

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 6:5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming towards him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” 8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

OBSERVATION:  Philip had already determined the impossibility ratio.  Andrew had found a boy with a “sack lunch” perhaps prepared by his mother before leaving home that morning.  But before Jesus asked the question, Jesus ALREADY knew what He was going to do. 

Jesus knew the status of the crowd; they were hungry.  Jesus knew the size of the crowd; 5,000 men plus women and children.  He knew how much food was needed.  He knew what was available.  AND Jesus knew what He would do! 

APPLICATION: There is nothing about the challenge I am currently facing that Jesus does not know.  He knows what is available.  He knows the schedule. Of course, He knows; He is the one who gave me the assignment!  He has told me where He wants me to be and when.  He knows how the SOAPs will be written and sent.  I take the challenge, and my perception of the challenge, to Him.  There is no need for frantic prayers.  I am praying to the One who already knows. 

If I am following His leading and doing His will, there is no need for me to be alarmed.  Jesus already knows what He will do!  I might not have enough to do everything I want to do, but I can rest assured that I will have enough to do what HE wants me to do. 

PRAYER:  Lord, when I obey you, I have confidence that you will provide what is needed and will make it possible to accomplish my assignment. Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon
Also on:  soapsbyleon.wordpress.com