Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 13, 2026: SOAP #6157: Nehemiah 9-10; Acts 2

SCRIPTURE:  Acts (NIV) 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 ALL OF THEM were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. …
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for ALL who are far off—for ALL whom the Lord our God will call.”

OBSERVATION:  The same Holy Spirit that empowered Jesus while living as the Son of Man, is the same Holy Spirit that came upon the early church as described above.  And it is the same Holy Spirit promised to ALL who are “far off”—that includes today, and that includes me!  2000+ years later and 6,700 miles away, the Holy Spirit is the same! 

APPLICATION:  Jesus, as the Son of Man, was limited to being in one place at a time.  He died on one cross and rose from one grave.  When He ascended to heaven, He promised to send the omnipresent Holy Spirit!  THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER!  He is with SOAP readers wherever we are, on every continent and every island in the ocean.  Even those who may be in space.  He makes the Word alive in our hearts and lives in us!  

PRAYER:  Jesus fill me anew with the Holy Spirit.  And keep me full!  Holy Spirit, work through me.  Glorify Jesus through me.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 15, 2026: SOAP #6159: Nehemiah 13; Malachi 1-2; Acts 4

SCRIPTURE:  Acts (NIV) 4:10   then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 He is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

OBSERVATION:  What a dirty trick it would have been for God the Father to send his son to die for the sins of man if there had been another way for man to be saved.   Jesus was convinced that there was no other way.  He had to die or man could not be free from sin.  In this verse Peter is speaking before the religious leaders of Israel.  Peter and John had been arrested because of a healing done in the name of Jesus who these leaders had recently crucified.

APPLICATION:  God the Father was so convinced that there was no other way for man to be saved that He sent His only son to die for my sins.  Jesus was so convinced that there was no other way that He was willing to suffer the great agony of the cross.  The apostles were so convinced that they were willing to go to jail and give their lives for telling others that Jesus is the ONLY way. 

Now it is my turn. 

PRAYER:  Lord, You are the only way.  There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved!   Lord, I believe that you are the only way.  Now help me act like it is true.  Holy Spirit, help me tell others.   Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 11, 2026: SOAP #6155: Nehemiah 5-6; Psalm 146; Luke 24

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 24:1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4  While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5  In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?

OBSERVATION:  The women were looking for Jesus.  The last time they saw him, He was being crucified and then placed in the tomb.  According to their understanding of the nature of the things they had witnessed, coming to the tomb made perfect sense.  But according to Jesus word that He would rise from the dead on the third day, what the angle said was most logical! 

Living people do not make their homes in cemeteries, and Jesus was alive!

APPLICATION:  Jesus was not only alive then, HE IS STILL ALIVE!   Sunday morning gatherings should not be funeral services, but resurrection celebrations!  Do not expect to find a living Jesus in a dead church. 

We are not gathering to hear what Jesus did 2,000 years ago, we are gathering to celebrate what He did this past week!   We gather in expectation of what He will do this coming week!   The best thing about our gatherings is that the One we worship is actually present!   Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the preacher takes words written 1000s of years ago and makes them applicable to our lives today!  

PRAYER:  Lord, make Your presence easily recognizable as we gather as Your church.  What really makes our gatherings to be Your church, is Your presence.  Encourage us with the testimonies of others.  Stir our hearts as we worship you.  Stir our minds as we hear your word, spoken, or read, or preached.  May we leave knowing that we have been in Your Presence.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 10, 2026: SOAP #6154: Nehemiah 3-4; Luke 23

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 23:32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

OBSERVATION:  About verse 34, Albert Barnes wrote, “The power and excellence of the Christian religion. No other religion teaches men to pray for the forgiveness of enemies; no other disposes them to do it. Men of the world seek for revenge; the Christian bears reproaches and persecutions with patience, and prays that God would pardon those who injure them, and save them from their sins.”

APPLICATION:  What is it that disposes Christians to pray for their persecutors?  First would be the command in the Bible to “Pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44) 

Second would be the example of Jesus as seen in verse 34 above.  He is our Lord and we want to be like Him. 

And the third, and the greatest, would be the presence of Jesus living in our heart…for that is the essence of Christianity: Jesus living within the lives of those who are born again. 

PRAYER:  Jesus, be yourself living in me.  Grow within me your inclination to be loving and forgiving.  By your Holy Spirit teach me to respond in ways that represent you, that bring you joy and honor.  Bring to my mind the truth that I am just passing through this world and that soon, in your presence, I will either rejoice or regret my actions here.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 05, 2026: SOAP #6149: Esther 3-8; Luke 18

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 18:35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”… 42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

OBSERVATION:   When he was blind, he had no special agenda for the day.  Just sit and beg.  When he was healed, he lost his means of “employment,” he could no longer depend on the sympathy of the public.  He did the logical thing.  Verse 43 says, “Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.”
     I believe this man led the procession through Jericho where Zacchaeus was in the sycamore-fig tree and then on to Jerusalem where, seemingly, the whole city turned out to welcome their king as prophesied, arriving on a donkey.
     This man had a fresh testimony.  He was excited.  He was willing to share what Jesus had done for him TODAY! 

APPLICATION: When God heals me, or provides for me, or encourages me, or strengthens me, or whatever He does for me—I am not the only one to receive the blessing.  God Himself should be blest by my praise, my rejoicing, my testimony to others. 
     Oh, the testimonies I receive each week from the move of God in West Africa.  People who receive a healing are blest!  The people who witness those healings are also blest!  But I think that the one most blest is God!  He receives the joy and praise and celebration and worship and new commitments.  He joyfully forgives their sins and welcomes them into His kingdom!  

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, so many times you have intervened in my life.  I have been blest serving you.  I want you to be blest too!  When I get the benefit of your intervention, You should get the glory!  There is always something fresh for which I can be thankful. Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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