Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
April 8, 2024: SOAP #5240: 1Samuel 3-5; Psalm 77; 2Corinthians 8 (reworked)

SCRIPTURE:  2Corinthians (NIV) 8:3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. 5 And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will.

OBSERVATION: The Corinthians believers were not just making a donation.  They gave according to their ability.  They gave beyond their ability.  They gave willingly.  They considered it a privilege to give.  They exceeded Paul’s expectation.  The Corinthians believers were givers. 

Where did such sacrificial giving begin?  It began by giving “themselves first of all to the Lord:….”

APPLICATION:  Since I claim Jesus as my Lord all that I have belongs to Him.  Giving is not a matter of me deciding to make a donation.  Giving is disbursing His money as He directs. 

Through the scriptures, God has shown me to tithe.  Not only do I have the joy of participating in His kingdom, but I also reap the benefits of tithing. 

In addition to tithing and through the indwelling Holy Spirit, He directs me to give to various ministries.  (I definitely need His direction because I receive many more requests for money than I can help.)  I have found when I when I obey Him and give to other ministries, my faith is increased to believe for my needs. 

Finances are God’s way to teach us obedience and trust. 

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, May you have joy in increasing my finances because you have joy in seeing how I manage what you have already given.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
April 7, 2024: SOAP #5239: 1Samuel 1-2; Psalm 66; 2Corinthians 7

SCRIPTURE:  2Corinthians (NIV) 7:5 For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears within. 6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever.

OBSERVATION: Paul arrived in Macedonia concerned about Titus.  So, when Titus finally arrives, it is a comfort to Paul.  Titus had come from Corinth and now Paul is writing to the church in Corinth.  He tells them of the comfort he received from the arrival of Titus, and of the comfort Titus had received from them. 

Paul recognized that God is the source of all comfort.  God’s comfort flows to us in various ways through all His servants.  (2Corinthians 1:3) Comfort should be a hallmark of the church.  

APPLICATION:  It should not surprise us when we encounter people who need comfort.  The “God of all comfort” has directed their path to us so that He can give them His comfort through us. 

It should be noted above that the one in the passage above that needed comfort was the Apostle Paul.  Often, we think of church leaders as the strong Christians that can comfort others.  We do not think of them as needing comfort, or solace, or encouragement.   If God could minister comfort to the Apostle Paus through Titus, perhaps He could minister comfort to your pastor through you! 

PRAYER:  Lord, focus my attention today on someone needing comfort or encouragement.  Use me to say something, or do something, that will help renew their strength.  Minister your encouragement through me to someone today.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
April 6, 2024: SOAP #5238: Ruth 3-4; Psalm 64, 65; 2Corinthians 6

SCRIPTURE:  2Corinthians (NIV) 6:16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” 17 “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” 18 “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

OBSERVATION: Paul does not say “we were…” or “we will be…”; he said, “we ARE the temple of the living God!”  There could be much said about being the temple of the living God, but God has something more!   He has chosen us to be more than a building in which we enjoy His presence and honor Him.  He is our Father; we are His sons and daughters!   He shares His life with us.  As a child shares the life of their parents, we share God’s life!  We share His DNA! 

NOTE:  Paul is quoting God!  He is telling us what God has said!  This is God’s idea!  It is His plan!   

APPLICATION:  As children mature, they often show characteristics of their parents.  And as I mature in Christ, His characteristics should begin to show in me.

The Life of God within me grows and expands to influence and control every aspect of my life.  I must learn not to trust my feelings.  I must learn to submit all my thoughts to the Holy Spirit’s supervision.  Thoughts can arise from recalling past experiences; even Satan can introduce thoughts that entice me to meditate on unholy subjects.  Every thought should be analyzed by the Holy Spirit.  (1Corinthians 10:5)

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, I am your temple, you have made me your dwelling place.  But, more than that, I am your child, growing to be your son.  Make me like your Son, Jesus!  Every day I represent you.  Amen.

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
April 5, 2024: SOAP #5237: Ruth 1-2; Psalm 53, 61; 2Corinthians 5

SCRIPTURE:  2Corinthians (NIV) 5:20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

OBSERVATION:  Jesus, God’s Son, took my sin as though it was His own.  He carried my sins to the cross where He paid for those sins as though they were His own.  So, where does that leave me?  I have become the righteousness of God.  Jesus took my sins and left me righteous!  

APPLICATION:  Jesus was treated as a sinful man, receiving the just punishment required by a holy God.  Now, I am treated as righteous as Jesus!!!   I am seated with Christ in heavenly places, far above all power and principalities!  (Ephesians 2:6) 

PRAYER:  Lord, my words cannot properly express thanksgiving appropriately for what you have done for me.  I give you my life, my days and my nights, my possessions including my money, my hopes, and dreams…all I am and all I have is yours.  Amen 

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
April 4, 2024: SOAP #5236: Judges 19-21; 2Corinthians 4

SCRIPTURE:  2Corinthians (NIV) 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

OBSERVATION: Paul is experiencing some tough times.  He says “outwardly we are wasting away.”  Considering his troubles from the outward perspective, they were very troublesome.  But in verse 17 he calls them just “light and momentary troubles.”  They are nothing to worry about and they are just temporary and will only last for a moment.   How can that be? 

It is because he sees his troubles in the light of eternity.  The eternal glory that he will receive “far outweighs” these troubles. 

APPLICATION:  What lies ahead for us after death, in the presence of Jesus, “far outweighs” any trouble we have here in this life. 

So how do we deal with trouble?  We take our eyes/thoughts off the trouble we are experiencing.  We lift our thoughts from the temporary to the eternal!  The trouble is only temporary.  It will not enter the grave!  It will not be a part of our resurrection!   We fill our mind with eternal truth.  We read His Word!  We meditate on His promises.  We talk about what we discover in the scriptures. 

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, help me keep my eyes focused on heaven, on that which is eternal.  Check my heart when I start to pay too much attention to temporal things.  Interrupt my thinking when my thoughts get stuck on things that bother me.   May I consider EVERYTHING from heaven’s point of view.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
April 3, 2024: SOAP #5235: Judges 17-18; Psalm 89; 2Corinthians 3

SCRIPTURE:  Psalm (NIV) 89:1 I will sing of the LORD’s great love for ever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. 2 I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.

OBSERVATION: Music is a great medium to express love.  Man has been writing and singing love songs for years.  Speaking words of love can have great meaning, but it seems to me that singing those words lift them to a higher level. 

Music is a good way to express our love for and to God.   Yet the greatest theme of a song (as in the verses above) is not our love for God, but God’s great love for us.

APPLICATION:  Having experienced His love, it is my pleasure and privilege and responsibility to make it known. The Lord’s love is not to stay within my heart; it is to be expressed with my mouth.  It is to be sung and declared!  It is to be proclaimed in a way that others can hear and understand. 

May people see in me how a person loves God.  And may they see in me how wonderful it is to be loved by God!

PRAYER:  Lord, what wonderful peace and security I have in knowing that you love me.  My goal is to make you secure in my love.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
April 2, 2024: SOAP #5234: Judges 13-16; 2Corinthians 2

SCRIPTURE:  2Corinthians (NIV) 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?

OBSERVATION: Here Paul writes about the effect our lives have on those around us.  A fragrance is not noisy but is always noticeable.  It is carried in the air to everyone in the room.  It floods the atmosphere.  People cannot escape the fragrance. 

APPLICATION:  My body is a temple in which Christ lives by His Spirit.  He is always present.  Like a fragrance, His presence accompanies me wherever I go and into every situation I enter. 

My attitude, my disposition, my tone of voice, my facial expressions—these all communicate the peace and joy of having the divine presence of Jesus in my life.  I am blessed!  I am highly honored that Jesus would choose to live in me.  I am humbled, knowing that it is far more than I deserve.      

PRAYER:  Lord, may my life carry the fragrance of you.  May your presence be noticeable.  When people who know me think of me, may they think of you.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
April 1, 2024: SOAP #5233: Judges 11-12; Psalm 50; 2Corinthians 1

(Most taken from past SOAPs)

SCRIPTURE:  1Corinthians (NIV) 1:9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

OBSERVATION: In this letter to the church in Corinth, Paul writes of a great struggle he had to endure.  It was not pleasant   It pushed him beyond his own capacity to endure.  It appears Paul wished he could die.  How did he make it through?  He quit relying on his own strength and ability.  He depended on God.  God had enough power to raise the dead; God had enough power to get Paul through.

Paul remembered how God had delivered him in the past.  God was with him so Paul had confidence that God will deliver him from the present trouble.  And the God who delivered Paul in the past, and is delivering Paul in the present, is the same God who will deliver Paul from yet unknown perils in the future!

APPLICATION:  What God has done in the past gives me faith for the future. What I know about the past builds my faith for the future.  What I have experienced of God’s grace prepares me to expect His grace in the future!  It is my confident expectation that God will not change and will continue to deliver me.  I must always face forward.  I must face the future, but I must not forget the past. As I look to the future, I remember the past!  To move into the future without the lessons of the past is foolish.

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, I remember singing “Constantly Abiding, Jesus is mine.  Constantly abiding, rapture divine.  You never leave me lonely, You whisper O, so kind, ‘I will never leave thee,’ Jesus is mine!”   Thank you for your continuous presence!   Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
March 31, 2024: SOAP #5232: Judges 9-10; Psalm 49; 1Corinthians 16

(from yesterday’s scripture reading)

SCRIPTURE:  1Corinthians (NIV) 15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith….
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
20 BUT Christ has indeed been raised from the dead!!!

OBSERVATION: Today we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.  It is a day that fulfilled the promises in the Old Testament that a sacrifice would be made for sin. 

Without the resurrection we would have no hope, for in the resurrection we see that the sacrifice of Jesus was acceptable as payment for our sins.  It is proof that Jesus died a sinless death.  He had no sins for which His death would be required.  Death and the grave could not hold Him!

The bloody animal sacrifices were no longer needed for the perfect, sinless blood of a human had been completed. 

APPLICATION:  The resurrection of Jesus is proof that our faith in His death is no misplaced!  The resurrection of Jesus is our assurance that we will again see those who have died believing in Christ!  The resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee that our hope goes beyond this life and into eternity! 

The resurrection of Jesus gives value to our preaching, witnessing, singing, writing SOAPs and whatever we do to spread the truth about God and His love for us. 

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, you sent your Son as a baby to grow and live among men.  You sent the Holy Spirit to live in Him and anoint Him in ministry.  At your will He died in payment for sins He did not commit.  You accept His death as the payment for our sins acknowledged and confessed to you.  Your Holy Spirit now lives in your children and is available to embolden us and anoint what we do in the name of your Son, Jesus.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
March 30, 2024: SOAP #5231: Judges 8; Psalm 42; 1Corinthians 15

SCRIPTURE:  1Corinthians (NIV) 15:55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

OBSERVATION: Many people have suffered through extremely hard times and then come into a place of great success in which they became very thankful for the hard times. The path to victory was through the hard times. Their troubles were swallowed up in their blessings!

Women go through much pain in childbearing, but all is forgotten as their little bundle of joy is laid in their arms.  The pain is swallowed up in the joy.

Until Jesus comes and calls the church to be with him, the only way to enter heaven is through the doorway called “death.”  Some deaths happen in a clean environment, others in filth.  Some deaths happen in a peaceful setting, others in violence.  Some deaths happen quickly; others take days or weeks, even years.  Whatever the dying process, those who are born again can all have the assurance that death will be “swallowed up in victory!”   The struggle will be forgotten in the rejoicing.

APPLICATION:  So “until then my heart will go on singing.” I know “it will be worth it all when we see Jesus.” “When we all get to heaven” “everybody will be happy over there!” “What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see!”

PRAYER:  Lord, for you there must be two very special days in the lives of each of your children — the day they made you the Lord of their life (Luke 15:7) and the day they pass through death’s door (Psalm 116:15) into your presence! Amen

Note:  If the above us true, two of the hardest days for our Creator would be the day He is rejected and the day His potential child passes through death into eternal judgment!   In this moment, we each have opportunity in prayer to confess our sins, accept His forgiveness, and make Him Lord of our life. Amen

Pastor Leon
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