Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
July 25, 2023: SOAP #4982: Isaiah 43-45; 1Peter 4

SCRIPTURE:  1Peter (NIV) 4:4 They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

OBSERVATION:  When people are born again, their life style changes.  Old friends try to pressure them back into the parties and revelry they used to enjoy.  I went from Bible school, studying to be a missionary when the Lord sent me into the US Navy.  What a change that was!  

Especially overseas, sailors and marines would try to pressure me into joining their drunken parties.  If they could get me to join them, it would allow them to think that what they were doing was not so bad.  But the Lord was with me and strengthened me, thanks to the prayers of friends back home. 

APPLICATION:  Jesus is READY to judge the living and the dead.  He does not need to get ready; He IS ready!   He does not have to study up on the law by which sin will be judged; He IS the author of the Law.  He knows the temptation to sin; He knows the attraction of sin; He knows the penalty of sin; He knows what it takes to cover sin!   HE IS READY to judge!  He personally provided the sacrifice of sinless blood to cover the sins of everyone who repents!  HE IS READY!  

Now, are you ready?  This is a good time to acknowledge our sin and receive the forgiveness Jesus paid for with His death on the cross. 

PRAYER:  Lord Jesus, when it comes to sin, I plead guilty.  I have broken the laws you gave to man for our protection.  I now receive your forgiveness, your salvation.  I now receive you as the Lord of my life.  I set my heart and mind to know you and love you. Make my heart your home.  Amen 

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
July 24, 2023: SOAP #4981: Isaiah 40-42; 1Peter 3

SCRIPTURE:  1Peter (NIV) 3:10 For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. 11 He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

OBSERVATION:  In reading Isaiah chapters 41 and 42, I noticed all the promises God made to Israel.  God was interested in Israel and made promises because He loved them and wanted them to be secure in His plan.  No one ever twisted God’s arm to force Him to make those promises.  He was interested in what was happening; He likes to be involved with His creation. 

And in verse 12 above, we see the same God watching over His people to answer their prayer and to do them good.  From God walking with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, through the Old Testament, to coming as a man-child baby, to the ministry of Jesus, to the crucifixion and resurrection, through the book of Acts…God has not been some stand-off stranger to what happens on earth.  God is very interested and involved with people!  He created them for fellowship!  …to love and be loved!  God is holy, so sin breaks our fellowship with God.  God is also wise and loving; He found a way to restore our fellowship by personally paying the cost of our redemption!!! 

APPLICATION:  Clearly God is not some disinterested being keeping His distance from me.  God is actively involved in my life.  It is only right for me to be actively involved in His life, in His ministry, and in His body the church.  I expect a close relationship.  I expect Him to walk with me and talk with me. 

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, getting to know you up close, sometimes I forget how big and awesome, and great you really are!   Your presence fills the universe.  I am honored and humbled that you even know my name.  May my life bring you glory.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
July 23, 2023: SOAP #4980: 2Kings 20; Isaiah 38-39; Psalm 75; 1Peter 2

SCRIPTURE:  1Peter (NIV) 2:13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

OBSERVATION:  In the heart of scriptures that speak of submitting to governmental authority and of slaves submitting to earthly masters, we read a principle that applies to all!   Free, or not, we are to live as free men!  AND free or not, we are to live as servants of God. 

God has set us free.  We may not be free to do everything we like, but we have freedom to respond as we choose.  We have freedom of attitude.  The “old man’s” habits do not control me any longer!   Praise the Lord!!! 

APPLICATION:  While living like I am free, I must always remember that I am a servant of God!   I am a servant by free choice!  My circumstances cannot force me to be angry or negative!  By the death of Jesus on the cross, I am set free.  Not only am I set free from the chains of the old way of living, the Holy Spirit lives within to help me use my freedom to live as a servant of God!!! 

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, obviously you knew that not only would I need help in getting free, but I would also need help in living free.  I need help to live as your servant!  Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit!   Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
July 22, 2023: SOAP #4979: Isaiah 36-37; Psalm 76; 1Peter 1

SCRIPTURE:  1Peter (NIV) 1:7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

OBSERVATION:  Faith is of greater worth than gold!  So, when I stand before God, it will not be how much money I had, but how much faith!  How foolish to work so hard to make sure that I have enough money for my future, but not make any, or very little, effort toward that which would increase my faith!  

If faith is more valuable than gold, I should make growing in faith a greater priority than growing my finances!   This is not some special revelation, this is simple logic! 

APPLICATION:  I need to apply myself to growing in faith.  Smith Wigglesworth wrote a book titled, “Ever-increasing Faith.”  That should be my goal, to be ever increasing in faith! 

Here are four thoughts about how to increase faith:  1, ask God to increase your faith; 2, read the Bible faithfully; write down what He impressed on your heart and mind; 3, meet with others where the Scriptures are taught and discussed; and 4, obey what God speaks to you—nothing is too small. 

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, I know that I cannot take money from this life into eternity.  But I am seeing that I can have faith that will carry me to death’s door, through death’s door, and into my eternal life in your presence!  Help me never run short of faith!  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
July 21, 2023: SOAP #4978: 2Kings 18-19; 2Chronicles 32; James 5

SCRIPTURE:  James (NIV) 5:14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

OBSERVATION:  The first words that caught my attention were “powerful and effective.”  It is prayer that brings the expected results.  The example given in verses 17 and 18 is of Elijah.  He prayed that it would not rain; AND IT DID NOT RAIN.  Then he prayed that it would rain; AND IT RAINED! 

The second group of words that caught my attention: “righteous man,” “earnestly,” and “faith.” They describe the person making the powerful and effective prayer.  He is righteous because his sins are forgiven.  He is living in the forgiveness provided by the blood of Jesus!   He is standing before God covered by the blood of God’s Son, Jesus!  He prays earnestly.  It is a matter of importance to him.  He will pray about it again if he does not see the answer.  This is a matter of concern.   And He prays in faith. He expects God to answer because He knows what God has said in His Word.  He knows how God thinks about such matters.  Of course, God will answer. 

APPLICATION:  Too often, I pray my will and not God’s will.  Too often I do not even consider how God feels about the matter for which I am praying.  I am more concerned about how the matter affects me than how it affects God!  

PRAYER:  Lord, forgive me for being so self-focused when I pray.  Holy Spirit, help me see things from heaven’s point of view.  Help me pray prayers that you want to answer.  When I close a prayer “in Jesus name,” may it truly be a prayer that Jesus would pray!  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
July 20, 2023: SOAP #4977: 2Chronicles 29-31; James 4

SCRIPTURE:  2Chronicles (NIV) 29:1 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them.

OBSERVATION:  King Ahaz had turned to other Gods to find help.  He reasoned that that since Damascus had defeated Israel they must be more powerful and encouraged the people to make sacrifices to those Gods. (2Chronicles 28:23)  He oblivious to the truth that sin had turned God away from them!    

When Ahaz died, his son Hezekiah became king.  Obviously, Hezekiah had been watching what was happening.  Surely someone had good input into his life.  Someone educated him in the history of Israel and Gods deliverance from Egypt.  In the first month of his reign, he set about to clean and open the temple.  In the second month (2Chronicles 30:13-15) they celebrated the Passover. 

King Hezekiah entered the office of King with an agenda!  He had set priorities to honor God and he wasted no time.  Job #1 was honoring God! 

APPLICATION:  When the opportunity presents itself, I must be quick to do what God has shown me.  Honoring God is my first, no, my only priority.  When Jesus is Lord, He sets the priorities. 

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, move in my heart to do what pleases my Heavenly Father.  When I am inclined to go contrary to His will, put a hesitancy in my heart.  Use the scriptures to align my thoughts with His.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
July 19, 2023: SOAP #4976: 2Kings 17; 2Chronicles 28; Psalm 46; James 3

SCRIPTURE:  Psalm (NIV) 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way, and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day….
7 The Lord Almighty is with us… 11 The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. 

OBSERVATION:  Verse one does not say that the Lord will provide a refuge; He will not show us where to go for safety; He will not send a strong angel to be with us. No. No! NO!   God IS our refuge and strength.  God is our EVER-PRESENT (ALWAYS THERE) help!  

He has not made a fortress for us into which we can run!  NO!  He is our fortress! (vs 11.) 

NOTE: All the promises in this Psalm are tied to His presence!   

APPLICATION:  I do not need to convince God to be present with me.  I do not have the power or authority to force Him to be with me.  He is omnipresent, everywhere present.  He is the ever-present help mentioned in verse one above.  He is with me!!! 

My task is to keep myself aware of His presence!   I must not let my awareness of God be buried under the pressures of the day. 

Memorizing scriptures, singing praise and worship songs, having a conversation with a friend about God and what He has recently done—with these and many other ways I can keep myself aware of the presence of God! 

PRAYER:  Lord, I am not asking for you to go with me today.  I am asking permission to go with you!  Help me walk in an awareness that I am with you.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
July 18, 2023: SOAP #4975: Isaiah 32-35; James 2

SCRIPTURE:  James (NIV) 2:21 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

OBSERVATION:  We are saved by faith, by faith in the power of Jesus’ death on the cross.  Yet if our faith is not strong enough to cause us to do anything, then it is not strong enough to save us.  Our faith must be strong enough for us to confess our sins, confess that He is now Lord of our lives, and thank Him for His forgiveness.  It is like the movement of a child still in its mother’s womb—it is proof of life!  The baby does not stop moving when it is born!  Neither do we as we grow in our new life in Jesus! 

Faith is something inside that only God can see.  Actions/deeds are something that man can see.  Pulse, respiration, and heartbeat prove I am physically alive, deeds are the vital signs that prove my faith is alive.

James gave some specific deeds that were/are signs of faith, but the list of outward expressions of our faith would be too numerous to list. 

APPLICATION:  My deeds are a witness, strong or weak, of the Christ-life within. 

How will people today know I am a Christian?  Will they see or hear evidence of my faith?  Will it be difficult for them to recognize me as a Christian?  I should live my life in such a way that people can clearly see my faith. 

PRAYER:  Lord, may it be easy for others to see you working through me.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
July 17, 2023: SOAP #4974: Isaiah 29-31; James 1

SCRIPTURE:  James (NIV) 1:19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent…
… and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

OBSERVATION:  The first section above concerns our words.  How we speak is very important.  I know that actions speak louder than words, but words are more prevalent in our lives.  There is always an abundance of words to reveal our character.  And we often use words to try to control or change others or our circumstances. 

The second section concerns God’s Word.  God’s Word is powerful.  We must accept the truth of God’s Word into our minds and hearts to be saved.  We must believe it and apply its truth to our lives.  Proof of our belief is doing what it says!   The fact that we have accepted His Word is that we “do what it says!” 

APPLICATION:  To hear God’s Word, but not apply God’s Word sets me up for self- deception.  Applying God’s word is the proof that I have entered into a relationship with God!  It demonstrates to God how seriously I take His Word; and it demonstrates to the world that I truly belong to Him!  I am a part of His Kingdom!  

His actions are the proof of His Word and the promises He offers me.  My actions are the proof that I believe His Word and have received His promises! 

PRAYER:  Lord, may my life, my words and my actions, bring you joy.  May I be a witness to others of what a wonderful God I serve!   Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
July 16, 2023: SOAP #4973: Isaiah 25-28; Hebrews 13

SCRIPTURE:  Hebrews (NIV) 13: 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

OBSERVATION:  It is so important to remember what God has said!  When I forget, or do not line up my thoughts and actions with the truth He has spoken to me, I end up living in doubt and worry. 
-Verse 5 above gives us God’s word that he will never leave or forsake us!!!  So, how should that truth affect the way I live?   One way is how I look at money.  I am not desperate for money.  I do not live my life focusing on money.  God is with me; I do not desperately beg others for money. 
-A second way is that I am content with what I have.  I have Jesus and His promise to never leave me.  Why would I want to make Him think that He does not satisfy me?  He is my all.  He is my everything!  His presence is my greatest possession! 
-A third way is that I do not live in fear of what man can do to me!   He can turn what they mean for evil into good for me! 

APPLICATION:  I should make God’s promise, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you,” a banner thought above all other thoughts in my mind.   I will find that the truth of His presence changes how I approach everything!  
-Before I make any decision, I should consider, “God is right here, with me. He has given His word not to leave me or forsake me!”  Before I enter any situation, especially stressful situations, I should read that banner, “God is right here with me…” 

PRAYER:  Lord, today you will be with me in every situation!  I may not be with my family or friends, but I will never be alone; you will be with me!  Amen

Note:  For those who could not be with their loved ones when they died, know that Jesus kept His promise.  He did not leave them nor forsake them!  He was with them, and now they are with HIM! 

Pastor Leon
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