Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
February 17, 2025: SOAP #5555:  Numbers 1-2; Acts 24

SCRIPTURE:  Numbers 1:1  The LORD spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. He said:

OBSERVATION:   God speaks in time.  On a certain day, in a certain month, in a certain year, God spoke…and, this is what He said.  It is not some general idea that one cannot tell when it came or from where it came.

APPLICATION:   God speaks to me through His word each day as I journal my SOAP.  Sometimes it is fresh insight or emphasis of previous notes or study; often it is something I have never seen before.  Sometimes my interest seems drawn to a specific verse, but I do not know why until I start writing—then it becomes clear. 

God also speaks by His Spirit into my mind, inserting His thoughts into my mind; like the summer day in 2010 when I turned a corner in the city of Wichita and before my eyes was a school bus with a “Drivers Needed” banner.  In my heart I heard, “You could drive a school bus.”  Then last Sunday when I heard Him say, “Your season for bus driving is over.”  This past week I was scheduled for some refresher training.  I thought, I will finish out this school year on the bus.  There was some trouble in scheduling the trainers to work with me, and I complained to the Lord.  He said, “I did not tell you that bus driving was coming to a close, but that it is over.”  So, I told those in the bus office, “It is over.”  Tomorrow a new season starts for me. 

PRAYER:   Lord, You are a speaker, and I am thankful I can count on you to speak to me.  You have a long history of speaking to people.  We, You and I, have history in your speaking to me.  May you find me faithful and careful in listening and obeying.   Amen. 

Pastor Leon
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The SOAP conference trip has a short delay.  Pastor Andrew wrote me that in Mali, 27,000 came to the conferences and “17,000 people gave their life to Jesus.”  So, they are staying a few days to do some discipleship training before moving on to Cote d’Ivoire.  As there is a shortage of Bibles (none in the stores for purchase) they would like to leave 500 Bibles with the 5 churches they will establish before leaving.  Some pastors do not have Bibles.  Please pray for these new churches and for Bibles.    

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
February 16, 2025: SOAP #5554:  Leviticus 26-27; Acts 23

SCRIPTURE:  Acts (NIV) 23:11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage!  As you have testified about me in Jerusalem so you must also testify in Rome.”

OBSERVATION:   Paul could be encouraged because of four things:  First: the Lord was with him!   Second: The Lord spoke to him!  Third: The Lord knew what he had been doing and was aware of his situation!  Fourth: The Lord had future plans for him!       

APPLICATION:   Bus driving is over for me, but the Lord is with me!  The Lord speaks to me!  The Lord knows what I have been doing!  The Lord still has plans for SOAP ministry and for me!   I am encouraged in the Lord!    

PRAYER:   Lord, thank you for the power of your Presence.  Thank you for the strength of your Word.  Thank you for the comfort of knowing that you are aware of my circumstances.  Thank you for the joy of knowing you still have things for me to do!  Thank you for the joy of seeing the SOAP ministry being used in Africa.  I am humbled!  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Andrew and Bishop Emmanuel have finished two days of SOAP conferences in Mali.  It is a French speaking country and predominately Muslim.  27,000 people attended the two conferences and there were “17,000 people who gave their life to Jesus.”  They will be having four days of discipleship training and establishing 5 new churches before leaving for Cote d’Ivoire on Wednesday.  They are also looking for money to have some Bibles purchased and shipped in from Sierra Leone.  They have found no Bibles for sale in Mali.  Some pastors do not have Bibles.   In many ways, this is a Book of Acts journey.  Keep this ministry team in your prayers.  

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
February 15, 2025: SOAP #5553:  Leviticus 25; Psalm 25-26; Acts 22

SCRIPTURE:  Psalm (NIV) 25:14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

OBSERVATION:   Creation is full of evidence that points to God.  That He exists is obvious.  Yet the only hope man has of knowing God is if God chooses to make Himself known.  This He has done through the scriptures and through God the Son coming to live among us and die for us.  In this verse, God reveals that He opens up His heart to those who believe He exists and that He is worthy of high respect. 

APPLICATION:  My attitude toward God is super important.  Believing that He is the Almighty, ever-existing, all powerful One, causes me to put great value on His word.  What He says is of great importance to me.  As long as I have that attitude I can expect Him to confide in me.

Yesterday I had to acknowledge that God had not told me that bus driving was “coming to an end,” but that this season of bus driving was “over!”  Today I had to go to the bus office and tell them that the One who had told me to drive a school bus 15 years ago, had told me that this season of my life is over.  I cannot hold on until the end of the year; it is over. 

If I want the Lord to “confide in me,” I must “fear” Him.  I must have a healthy respect for the Lord and what He says.  I cannot take His word as a mere suggestion.  When He knows I will respect and obey His word, He will continue to speak to me. 

If I am to continue to write SOAPs, I must have faith that God speaks to me and through me. 

PRAYER:  Lord, You are the supreme being of all creation.  Your words are my great treasure.  That you speak to me is my great honor.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
February 14, 2025: SOAP #5552:  Leviticus 23-24; Psalm 24; Acts 21

SCRIPTURE:  Acts (NIV) 21:11 Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”

OBSERVATION:   Paul should not have been surprised when his trip to Jerusalem ended up with him being a prisoner on his way to Rome.  All along this return journey to Jerusalem he had been warned that trouble awaited his arrival.  Also, when he first accepted Jesus as the Messiah, he was told that he would suffer and take the gospel to the kings of the Gentiles. (Acts 9:15-16)   So, Paul moved forward in faith!

APPLICATION:  Last Sunday, Pastor Steven preached on the seasons in our life.  I heard the Lord speak to me that my season for bus driving was over.  I started thinking that this 15^th year would be my last.  Because I had some driving issues during an evaluation, I am presently in a time of refresher training which due to some sickness and weather, has been postponed several times—now scheduled for next Tuesday.  I cannot drive until it is completed.  When I heard that I would not be able to finish it today, it came to my mind what God said Sunday.  He did not say bus driving season is “coming to an end,” He said “it is over.”  

When we receive notice from the Holy Spirit that change or trouble is ahead, we need not fear.  We can receive it as a challenge through which God will bring us to victory.  We can move forward in faith expecting God to work everything out for our good and His glory. 

PRAYER:  Lord, change is ahead, but I can move forward in faith that the challenges will not be bigger than you are able to handle!  Amen. 

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
February 13, 2025: SOAP #5551:  Leviticus 20-22; Acts 20

(from earlier SOAP)

SCRIPTURE:  Acts (NIV) 20:24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

OBSERVATION:   What gives value to life?  Different people have different thoughts.  Some value their lives in respect to their families and others in respect to their possessions.  Bottom line is that we all possess the human life made in the image of God which gives everyone value.  And Christians should have even a greater sense of value as they have the Spirit of the Creator God living within them.  Wow!  

Paul had come to love God to such a level that he valued his own life only in terms of fulfilling God’s purpose. 

APPLICATION:   What am I?  I am His creation!  

Whose am I?  He bought me with the sacrifice of His Son! 

Why am I here?  I am here to fulfill His purpose. 

My life is all about Him!  

PRAYER:   Lord, my life is all about you!  Today is all about you!  Amen. 

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
February 12, 2025: SOAP #5550:  Leviticus 18-19; Psalm 13; Acts 19

SCRIPTURE:  Acts (NIV) 19:8 Paul entered the synagogue [in Ephesus] and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.
9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So, Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

OBSERVATION:   One can read many Bible chapters in a short time and get the idea that everything happened quickly, even back-to-back.  The passage above shows a time of three months of preaching in the synagogue and then a time of two years of holding daily discussions in a lecture hall.  During this two-year period, everyone who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord!  

Much of the growth of the church in the book of Acts happened around the miracles that accompanied Paul’s ministry.   But here we read of the Holy Spirit using Paul’s faithful daily ministry.  Surely some days it seemed nothing notable happened, but the kingdom was growing and spreading! 

APPLICATION:  Some of the things God is doing in my life take time.  First, I must be patient and not get in a hurry to move on.  I am so glad I did not stop writing and posting SOAPs after just one or two years.  Second, I must be faithful to continue what God has given me to do.  After fifteen years of trusting God for a daily SOAP, God has spread them in many countries.

Pastor, do not give up or quit too soon.  You may not have the church building you have always wanted but use what is available to you.  Your goal is not a building of wood and metal and stone; but an eternal building in heaven!!!

PRAYER:  Lord, patience and faithfulness are of great value to you.  You use them as foundations of ministries that guide people into the eternal home you have prepared for them.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
February 11, 2025: SOAP #5549:  Leviticus 15-17; Acts 18

SCRIPTURE:  Acts (NIV) 18:27 When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. 28 For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

OBSERVATION:   We all have three sources of testimony about Jesus.  The first is in creation.  The truth about God can be seen in creation written from the beginning of the world.  (Romans 1:18-20) 

The second source is the special revelation in the Bible.  (John 1:1-5)  The Living Word (Jesus) is revealed through the Written Word, the inspired scriptures. 

The third source is the presence of the Holy Spirit within the life of each believer.  He reveals and applies the truth of the written Word personally to our lives.  He makes Jesus known through the scriptures. 

Apollos was gifted to help people understand that the scriptures proved that Jesus was the Christ (Messiah)!  

APPLICATION:  The purpose of the SOAPs is to reveal God’s plan in small, daily segments.  What makes us want to read the SOAPs is the application.  The application tells us why the scriptures were written.  Here is why they are important 2,000 years after they were written. Here is what they mean for today.   

PRAYER:  Lord, you are just as alive today as you were when the earth was first created.  You are just as alive today as when you walked the earth and gave your life as a sacrifice for my sins.  You are just as alive today as you were when Paul wrote the letters that are a part of the Bible.  Knowing this, makes the whole Bible important and its truth applicable to today.  Knowing that your Holy Spirit who anointed people to write your word—the same Holy Spirit is alive today and lives in every believer encourages us to let the word be applied to our lives every day.  Teach us how to live your Word.  Amen 

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
February 10, 2025: SOAP #5548:  Leviticus 13-14; Acts 17

(repeat)

SCRIPTURE:  Acts (NIV) 17:2  As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
Luke (NIV) 4:16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.
Hebrews (NIV) 10:25  Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

OBSERVATION:   Paul had a practice that was very much like Jesus.  They both had the same custom.  They regularly went to the place where God was honored.    

APPLICATION:  I accepted Christ as my Savior; He now lives inside me and has made me a part of His body, the church.  If those following the Old Testament scriptures were to meet regularly, how much more should the church regularly come together. 

As I want my physical body to interact and work together, how much more does Christ want His body to do the same. 

The writer of Hebrews mentions people with a different custom—that of not meeting together.  How unlike Jesus that custom is. 

PRAYER:   Lord, thank you for the privilege of being a part of your body.  May my presence in Your body (the church) be an expression of appreciation for Your Presence in my life!  Amen. 

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
February 9, 2025: SOAP #5547:  Leviticus 10-12; Acts 16

SCRIPTURE:  Acts (NIV) 16:33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptised. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.

OBSERVATION:   The jailer had been ordered to “carefully guard” Paul and Silas who had just been “stripped and beaten.”  He placed them in an inner cell and fastened their feet in stocks.  Their circumstances were not conducive to sleeping, so at midnight they were “praying and singing hymns to God.”  The prisoners all heard, but they could do nothing about it.  But the prisoners were not the only ones who heard—heaven heard!  And a violent earthquake shook everyone’s chains loose!  The jailer, thinking everyone had escaped, was going to kill himself, when Paul stopped him, telling him everyone was present. 

Immediately there was a change in the jailer.  He had put them in prison, now he invited them into his house.  He had put them in stocks, now he washed the wounds from the beating.  Now, he set a meal before them!  Now he, and his house, were filled with joy!  

APPLICATION:   Surely, Paul and Silas must have shared a part of the jailer’s joy.  But I must not miss the fact that the joy in the jailer’s heart, was preceded by the expressions of joy in Paul and Silas while still in stocks in prison.  The jailer’s new joy caused all of heaven to rejoice.  But the joy of Paul and Silas caused heaven to shake earth!  

No wonder Paul wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord! …and again I say, Rejoice.”  Philippians 3:1 and 4:4

PRAYER:  Lord, may my rejoicing as I experience the troubles of this life, shake the earth around me.  May my words of praise be a sign to the devil that I belong to the Lord!   May my conversations with others contain the declaration that my God is trustworthy and all powerful.  May my faith effect all areas of my life.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
February 8, 2025: SOAP #5546:  Leviticus 7-9; Acts 15

SCRIPTURE:  Acts (NIV) 15:36 Sometime later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

OBSERVATION:   During Paul’s first missionary journey, he and Barnabas evangelized and planted churches.  Now as they prepare for a second journey, Paul and Silas have the emphasis of lets “see how they are doing…” and on “strengthening the churches.” 

APPLICATION:  I like to consider that Bishop Emmanuel and Pastor Andrew are today on a missionary journey.  In the past, SOAPs have been used in leadership conferences, but Bishop Emmanuel’s goal is to have SOAP Conferences.  The response has exceeded expectations, so he has asked Pastor Andrew to join him.  The emphasis is on teaching churches how to use SOAPs in discipleship and evangelism. 

Their presence and their ministry will bring growth to the churches in West Africa and some nations in East Africa, but mostly to the Kingdom of God!  

PRAYER:   Lord, we pray for this outreach of your SOAP ministry.  Use it for your glory.  And use me to spread your message in my area.  May a small spark from a SOAP start a fire in me, then in those around me.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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