Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 30, 2023: SOAP #4806: Exodus 25-27; Acts 6

SCRIPTURE:  Acts (NIV) 6:1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

OBSERVATION:  People were becoming believers in Jesus and joining the church.  The church was growing.   That’s great, but church growth brought problems.  The Greek-speaking Jews complained that their widows were being overlooked.  So the church chose seven me with Greek names and gave them the responsibility of caring for the widows.  And the church growth continued, rapidly. (Acts 6:7)   

Church growth continued, but now with trouble from outside the church.  Jews from other nations began harassing Stephen.  I am wondering if some of the new Christian believers had not come from this synagogue.  Hmmm. 

APPLICATION:  Success does not always mean that we will have no more trouble.  Satan is usually around to stir people against us.  However we know that the One who is with us is greater than the one who is against us!  (1John 4:4)

I can count on His presence! 

PRAYER:   Lord, how I appreciate your never-ending presence!  I am never alone.  You are never without an answer to what challenges me.  As I keep my eyes on you, and my ears open to you, I can move ahead with confidence.  Amen.

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 29, 2023: SOAP #4805: Exodus 23-24; Psalm 14; Acts 5

(reworked from 2021)

SCRIPTURE:  Acts (NVI) 5:41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

OBSERVATION:  It was not until 1440 that Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press.  So, the church in the book of Acts had no Bibles in their homes.  They could not have a daily Bible reading plan.  Yet the early church did not have a lack of spirituality due to a lack of Bibles.  They met daily.  The Holy Spirit was present in their gatherings.  They read the scriptures  publicly.  Anointed teachers taught them spiritual truth.

APPLICATION: There are places in the world today where no Bible is available in their language, or affordable in the marketplace.  Yet they too need daily spiritual input.  In such places, as in the book of Acts, daily church gatherings would be a priority for teaching, fellowship, worship, and prayer.  As in the book of Acts, church buildings are not necessary.  Such meetings can be in public places and from house to house.

If I am serious about my physical life (about which I have been reminded this week, is continuing to age), then I am serious about food.  I do not consider it an inconvenience to pause during the day just to eat.   So, if I am serious about my spiritual life (which will never die) I must be serious about spiritual food.  I need it daily!

PRAYER:   Lord, it is not my Sunday life, but my daily life that shows how much I love you.  May my daily life show how important you are to me. Amen.

Pastor Leon
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Special NOTE:  I rejoice with the brothers in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ghana who were able to raise USD17,500 to purchase 50 computers and printers!  Only (10% came from USA!)   Their sacrificial giving shows that they value the SOAP and are willing to made sacrifices to provide it for others.  God has promised His blessings to those who sow into His kingdom.  So. I expect to hear of future financial blessings in these countries.     

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 28, 2023: SOAP #4804: Exodus 21-22; Psalm 12; Acts 4

SCRIPTURE:  Acts (NIV) 4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! …
13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished, and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

OBSERVATION:  Yes, they had been with Jesus.  But Jesus was gone.  He had returned to His Father.  So, what made the difference?  As Jesus had instructed them, they had also been in the upper room on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came like Jesus had promised.  The Holy Spirit filled them with power and courage.  They had boldness to speak in witness of Jesus. 

APPLICATION: I need to develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said the Holy Spirit would be another comforter like Jesus was.  As the disciples interacted with Jesus, so I should interact with the Holy Spirit.  The BIG difference is that the Holy Spirit dwells within me and is with me 24 hours every day.  The disciples did not have it this good with Jesus!  They were not able to ask questions anytime, and any place. 

PRAYER:   Holy Spirit, fill me afresh and anew till a witness for Jesus flows from me.  Not one that has to be thought up, but one that flows out without even thinking.  One that comes from Your fountain within.  Amen.

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 27, 2023: SOAP #4803: Exodus 17-20; Acts 3

SCRIPTURE:  Acts 3:1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; 3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms…  6  Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

OBSERVATION:  Peter and John were not out looking to heal someone, or to have a large gathering where they could preach about Jesus and call people to faith in Christ.  But that is what happened.  It started as they were moving through a normal day.  Nothing big was planned.  They were just doing what was common for them to do.  It was nothing out of the ordinary.  They were just being faithful in doing something ordinary.  But their ordinary day was interrupted by an ordinary beggar with an ordinary request.  Then the Holy Spirit turned their ordinary day into an extra-ordinary day!  Now we can read the rest of the story in Acts 3.

APPLICATION: The Holy Spirit specializes in taking the ordinary things I faithfully do and using them to bring glory to Jesus!  I may not know how my faithfulness in doing the little things might affect someone who is watching.  It may be just a smile, or a gentle touch, or a short prayer, (baking a cake, fixing a leaky roof, writing a letter, making a phone call, etc.) It may be a mother faithfully reading the Bible and praying with her small children.  It may be writing this SOAP, but the Holy Spirit can do something big in someone’s life with something small from us.  Whatever it is we do, do it in the name of Jesus!  Give Him glory!  Many of the big things God does, starts with a believer faithfully doing a small thing!

PRAYER:   Heavenly Father, Bless my faithfulness in small things.  May you be glorified, and others be encouraged.  Amen.

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 26, 2023: SOAP #4802: Exodus 14-16; Acts 2

SCRIPTURE:  Exodus (NIV) 16:31 The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey…
33 So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD to be kept for the generations to come.”  34 As the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna in front of the Testimony, that it might be kept. 35 The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan. 36 (An omer is one tenth of an ephah.)

OBSERVATION:  There are many miracles of food provision in both the Old and New Testaments.  This is, in my opinion, the greatest.   There was no small starter lunch to be broken and distributed.  Six days a week, for 40 years, God provided manna and water for 2+ million Israelites!     

I found the following on the internet:  Historians tell us that there were approximately 2,400,000 Israelites who left Egypt and went into the desert. God provided a ½ gallon of manna for each of them every day. That equals 1,200,000 gallons a day. Every day.Feb 3, 2017

APPLICATION: Another reason this miracle is special to me, it happened on the continent of Africa.  Today in Africa there is much poverty and hunger; so many are looking for money to purchase food.  I receive 5-6 requests from Africa every day for money to purchase food.  I am often praying, “God, you can do again.  People have opened their homes and stretched their food to care for orphans.  Build their faith to believe you for the impossible.  May their lives and the miracle of provision you do provide people examples today of what faith in You can do. Amen” 

PRAYER:   When we are faced with something beyond our capabilities we can pray:  God, all we can do is be people; we need you to be God!  Amen.

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 25, 2023: SOAP #4801: Exodus 12-13; Psalm 21; Acts 1

SCRIPTURE:  Exodus (NIV) 12:24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’”

OBSERVATION:  Bringing the Israelites out of Egypt was an important part of God plan, but it was only a part.  God’s plan could not be fulfilled in just one generation. 

The plan of God in the Garden of Eden was that the woman’s seed (child-Jesus) would crush the serpent’s (Satan’s) head. It was important that people would be able to recognize Jesus as the true Passover Lamb.  The children needed to know.  And it would be important for them to be able to pass that information along to the next generation! 

APPLICATION:  My generation is one link in the chain of information flowing until Jesus returns for His church.  It is important for my son, for our children, to understand the truth of Jesus as the center of God’s plan.  They must understand that Jesus is worth any suffering we must endure. 

PRAYER:   Lord, help my generation to pass along the truth.  Help us plant truth deep within the hearts of our children.  May they find us faithful!  Amen.

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 24, 2023: SOAP #4800: Exodus 9-11; 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.

OBSERVATION:  Their preparation demonstrated their love for Jesus, but not their faith.  They were carrying the spices they had prepared.  They talked about who they could get to roll the large stone away from the entrance to the tomb. (Mark 16:3) 

What a difference their journey would have been if they just remembered what Jesus had told them!  More than once He said he would rise from the dead on the third day! (Mat 16:21, 17:23, 20:19, Luke 13:32, 18:33, 24:7) They should have been on a “happy trip!”  They could have been singing as they arrived at the tomb!  The time they unnecessarily spent in preparing the spices could have been spent in preparation for celebration!!!   

APPLICATION:  I am certainly not in a place to criticize these ladies, for I too have missed hearing and remembering what God has said.  I too have been worried about rocks that needed to be moved rather than preparing for celebration! 

It is not an issue of loving Jesus, but of believing Jesus!  

PRAYER:   Lord, forgive me for not listening carefully and believing you.  Holy Spirit, help me to live my life by the Word of God.  May I walk to the tombs in my life with praise in my heart, claiming the promises of God.   Amen.

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 23, 2023: SOAP #4799: Exodus 6-8; Luke 23

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 23: 20 Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. 21 But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” 22 For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore, I will have him punished and then release him.” 23 But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. 24 So Pilate decided to grant their demand. 25 He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.

OBSERVATION:  Pilate had the power of the Roman government behind him, but he had a crowd of Jews led by the priests before him.  In his heart, he knew that Jesus was innocent.  “But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he [Jesus] be crucified, and their shouts prevailed.” 

APPLICATION: Surely most of us have faced similar situations.  The shouts of the world sway us to ignore the still small voice of our conscience and we submit to temptation. 

God knew we would have this problem, so He gives us the Bible.  By reading we strengthen our understanding of what pleases the Lord.  

God knew we would have this problem, so He gave us the Holy Spirit.  The indwelling Holy Spirit reinforces the voice of our conscience.  He makes it hard to ignore.  The Holy Spirit strengthens our will enabling us to say “no” to temptation. 

PRAYER:   Holy Spirit, fill me as you did the early church on the day of Pentecost.  (Acts 2:4)  Be my teacher as I read the Bible. (John 14:26)   Sew the truth of the Word into the linings of my heart and mind so that there is no logical way to accept what the noisy, worldly crowd is selling. Make me like Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 22, 2023: SOAP #4798: Exodus 3-5; Luke 22

SCRIPTURE:  Exodus (NIV) 4:2 Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. 3 The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the LORD said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So, Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand….
17 But take this staff in your hand so that you can perform miraculous signs with it.”
20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

OBSERVATION:  In verse two, it was just a staff.  It was a walking stick.  It was something Moses probably found laying on the ground.  He picked it up to help him on a rocky path.  Then he found it useful to move something just out of reach.  Before long, others would recognize it a Moses’s rod. 

But when God used it, it became the “staff of God.”  It was used to do miracles before Pharoah.  It was used when God rolled back the waters of the Red Sea, and then when they closed over Pharoah’s army. 

APPLICATION:  I wonder what I have in my hand that might become special when used at God’s direction and under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.  It probably is not a stick, but it might be a savings account, or a automobile, or a boat, or extra time every Monday or Tuesday, or a talent that I am too busy to use. 

Ordinary things used at God’s direction are often accompanied by the Spirit’s anointing. 

PRAYER:   Lord, like Moses had to throw his rod on the ground, so I must be willing to drop my possessions in order for them to be used and transformed by you.  Amen.

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 21, 2023: SOAP #4797: Exodus 1-2; Psalm 88; Luke 21

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 21:14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.

OBSERVATION:  Jesus was talking to the disciples about the end times.  There will be trouble, so He gives instructions and a promise. 

The instructions are not very easy.  We are to determine beforehand not to allow negative thoughts into our thought process.  As surely as we would work to keep germs out of an open wound, we need to work on keeping worries out of our mind.  It is a tough assignment as our minds tend to focus on the bad things around us.  If it can go wrong

But we are promised help.  God is working inside.  The Holy Spirit has taken up residence in the believer.  Jesus promised to give us “words and wisdom.” 

APPLICATION: I have discovered that I cannot keep thoughts of doubt out of my mind by trying not to think about them.  When I think about not letting them in my mind, I am actually thinking about them!  To overcome worry, I must fill my thoughts with thoughts of praise.  I must fill my mind with the promises of God. 

When things are going good, I can set a pattern of praise in my heart.  Every day, I can set my mind on God’s Word.  Doing that faithfully every day keeps those thoughts at the front of my mind. 

PRAYER:   Lord, you are worthy of all my praise. There is nothing I will face today that you cannot give me the wisdom I will need. Holy Spirit, your presence gives me the courage to face the unknown.  Amen.

Pastor Leon
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