August 28, 2021: SOAP #4286:  Ezekiel 1-3; Revelation 2

SCRIPTURE:  Ezekiel (NIV) 3:24 Then the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet. He spoke to me and said: “Go, shut yourself inside your house.
25 And you, son of man, they will tie with ropes; you will be bound so that you cannot go out among the people.
26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.
27 But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says.’ Whoever will listen let him listen, and whoever will refuse let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.

OBSERVATION:  The Spirit of God told Ezekiel what to do and what was going to happen to him.  His mouth would be so dry that he would be unable to talk, to complain, or to defend himself. 

BUT when God gave him something to say, God would open his mouth and enable him to speak. 

APPLICATION:  When God gives me something to do, He will provide what is necessary for me to accomplish the assignment. 

When God assigns something beyond my abilities or my resources, He will use it to build my faith.  God may use others to help or provide, but I should not pressure anyone to help or give.  They will respond to God much better than to me.  Rather than twisting a man’s arm to convince them that they should help me, I should wait patiently for God’s provision.  Waiting in faith is a way of twisting God’s arm because God responds to faith. 

God’s enabling and provision provides proof of His calling.  He is not depending on my abilities and resources; He wants me to depend on His ability and His resources! 

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, as you enabled Ezekiel to speak when he had a word from you, so enable me to carry out what you have assigned me. I rest in your will. Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

August 27, 2021: SOAP #4285:  Jeremiah 52; Revelation 1; Psalm 143-144

SCRIPTURE:  Revelation (NIV) 1:1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John…

OBSERVATION: God is at work to reveal Himself.  We approach Him by faith, and He reveals Himself.  Then with renewed understanding we step out in faith again and He reveals Himself again.  Our understanding of Him grows bit by bit.  He becomes more and more amazing!  

John was not the revelator; God was/is the revelator.  John was in the focus of God.  John did not dream this up; John did not combine the thoughts in his own mind; God revealed this truth to John. 

John had several qualifications for receiving such a revelation from God, but the one that pierces my heart today:  John was a man!  God works through people!  Even God, the Son, had to become a man to be qualified to die for the sins of man.  A major theme in the whole Bible is that God works through people to reach people. 

APPLICATION:  God is at work in me.  I too am qualified.  I am a man.  I am human.  Even my sin uniquely qualified me to be one who could be saved only by His grace.  Only He could receive the glory for His work in me, and through me to others.  In love, God’s grace is extended to me; in faith I reach out to receive forgiveness and restoration to His purpose for me. 

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, with love and deep appreciation for what you, and your Son, have done for me, I dedicate my life to live for your glory.  May I bring joy to your heart today.  I pray that your work in me will be a blessing to you and to others.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

August 26, 2021: SOAP #4284:  Jeremiah 50-51; 3John

SCRIPTURE:  3John 3 It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth.

OBSERVATION: John had heard Jesus speak about the first and greatest commandment— “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ (Matthew 22:37) John had heard Jesus speak about the second commandment—Love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:39)   Then John had heard Jesus give a new commandment—to love each other as Jesus loved us.  (John 13:34)

John had obviously taken Jesus words to heart.  Good news about those he loved pleased him.  He took “great joy” in those he loved. 

APPLICATION:  When someone gives me good news about someone dear to my heart, it pleases me; it gives me “great joy.” 

PRAYER: Holy Spirit, help me pass along good news that will bring “great joy” to others.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

August 25, 2021: SOAP #4283:  Jeremiah 37-39; Psalm 79; 2John

SCRIPTURE:  2John (NIV) 5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

OBSERVATION: The commandment is that we love each other.  Love is walking in obedience to His commands.  And what is His command?  It is that we walk in love! 

Love leads us to keep God’s command.  Keeping God’s command is to love! 

APPLICATION:  Businesses trying to establish a market often pay to have a trademark designed to represent their new product.  They want a strong link between their product and the trademark.  They desire that people who see the trademark think of their product. 

The church has a trademark; it is love! 

PRAYER: Lord, may the love that flows out of your church make people think of you.  And may the love that flows out of my life be an expression of your presence in me.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

August 24, 2021: SOAP #4282:  Jeremiah 33-34; Psalm 74; 1John 5

SCRIPTURE:  1John (NIV) 5:3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome [grievous KJV}.

OBSERVATION: John was writing to the church.  To people who have not made Jesus their Savior and Lord, keeping God’s commands can seem very hard to do.  They like their own freedom too much to willing submit to another.  BUT for those who are living for the glory of Jesus, His commands are not a burden. 

APPLICATION:  In serving the Lord, I have found: 
First, obedience to God’s commands is for my good. 
Second, God’s commands are motivated by His love for me!
Third, my obedience is motivated by my love for Him!
Fourth, God graciously placed His Holy Spirit in me to help me! 

The Holy Spirit teaches me God’s law and its reasons. 
The Holy Spirit convicts me when I do something that disappoints God. 
The Holy Spirit empowers me to joyfully obey God’s will. 

John wrote it well: “And His commands are not burdensome!”

PRAYER: Yes, Lord, your commands are not burdensome. The more I know you, the more reasonable your commands appear. Being your child gives me a sense of belonging; being your servant gives me a sense of usefulness. Keeping your commands develops my direction.  What an honor to be known as yours.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

August 23, 2021: SOAP #4281:  Jeremiah 31-32; 1John 4

SCRIPTURE:  1John (NIV) 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world….
12 No-one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is made complete in us. 13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.

OBSERVATION: God is in me!  I am in God!  God lives in me, and I live in God! 

APPLICATION:  That truth means that God is as close to me as my breath.  If I ever complain that I am all alone, I am ignoring truth! 

The same God who lives in me delivered the Israelites from Egypt and fed them in the wilderness for forty years!  He is the same God who opened blind eyes and fed 5000 people with a small boy’s lunch!  He is the same one who proved His love for me by dying on the cross.  He is the same one who rose from a borrowed grave! 

PRAYER: Lord, I am blessed to know that you are with me!  It is my privilege to be with you.  I want my presence to be as pleasing to you as your presence is to me.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

August 22, 2021: SOAP #4280:  Jeremiah 28-30; 1John 3

SCRIPTURE:  1John (NIV) 3:10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother….
18  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth….
21  Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God  22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him….
24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

OBSERVATION: When the emergency medical technicians arrive at the scene of an accident, they begin by checking for key vital signs; they feel for a pulse and check for breathing.  Vital signs are not life, but they are expressions of life.  Physical life always finds some way to express itself. 

The same is true for spiritual life.  The presence of God’s life within a person cannot be hidden for long. 

APPLICATION:  I am saved by faith.  I cannot do enough works to earn my salvation.  It is a gift of God that I receive by faith!  That basic truth is the foundation which is followed by another truth.  Saving faith grows.  It finds ways of expression in what I do.  I do what it right; I love our brother; I obey His commands; I do what pleases Him.  Faith without works is dead!  (James 2:20 & 26) The proof of saving faith in my life is in my living.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, the proof of my faith, and of your life in me, can be seen in my living.  I want the love and holiness of your presence to find expression in what I do and say.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

August 21, 2021: SOAP #4279:  Jeremiah 21, 24, 27; Psalm 118; 1John 2

SCRIPTURE:  1John (NIV) 2:4 The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

OBSERVATION:  In every walk of life, actions are the proof of belief!  People often speak of their beliefs.  People believe in airplanes.  People believe in medicine.  People believe in many things they cannot explain, and their actions are proof of their belief. 

We speak of religion as belief.  But the verses above state very clearly that Christianity is more than a belief.  It is a way of life.  It is walking “as Jesus” walked.   

One’s actions do not turn into belief; but real belief turns into action; and the actions become proof of the belief.

APPLICATION:  If I am going to take these scriptures to heart, learning about Jesus is very important.  I must do more than believe in Him; I “must walk as Jesus did.”  Walking as Jesus is so important that four books in the Bible are dedicated to telling us how Jesus walked.  Especially Matthew, Mark, and Luke are very similar.  Repetition is God’s way of saying, “This is important!”  “Look at this!”  “Do not miss this!” 

PRAYER: Holy Spirit, Jesus said you would teach us about Jesus and help us remember what He said.  Work with me to make me more like Jesus.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

August 20, 2021: SOAP #4278:  Jeremiah 48-49; Psalm 67; 1John 1

SCRIPTURE:  1John (NIV) 1:6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

OBSERVATION: Here is one of the biggest words in the Bible.  The meaning of whole passages swings on this one, two—lettered word.  It is a word found through out the Bible.  It sets the condition of the promised reward, or the promised judgment.  …IF…

APPLICATION:  At times I like to take the passage of scripture following the “if” and claim it as applying to me.  But the promise is true only IF I fulfill the condition. 
“IF” I confess my sins… 1John 1:9, 2Chronicles 6:37-38
“IF” I forgive my brother… Matthew 6:14
“IF” I abide in him… John 15:7
“IF” I ask anything according to His will… 1John 5:14
…and many, many, many others!  
Sometimes I memorize what follows the “if” and quote it when it fits my need, but God is not obligated to answer those prayers.  I need to align my life with the whole counsel of God!

PRAYER: Holy Spirit, show me the conditions to be met when I need your help.  May my life be one you enjoy blessing because I enjoy doing those things that please you.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

August 19, 2021: SOAP #4277:  Jeremiah 45-47; Psalm 105; John 21

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 21:19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!” 20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) 21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” 22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

OBSERVATION: Jesus had just talked to Peter about how Peter would die.  Peter wanted to know how John would die. 

In all the ways God deals with us, He does it personally.  He treats us as individuals.  We will be rewarded as individuals. 

APPLICATION:  That another believer has a more difficult life, or easier, should make no difference in my relationship to God.  Living in a beautiful home, or homeless, makes no difference.  I must keep my eyes on Jesus!  Living in freedom or under oppression makes no difference.  I must follow Jesus. 

What God is preparing for us far surpasses anything we have here on earth; it will make all our differences seem small.  Everyone in heaven will be rewarded for faithfulness.  My focus must be on where God has placed me and using what God has made available to me.  I must be faithful in whatever opportunity God has provided for me to serve Him. 

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, what a great privilege to be a part of what you are doing in the earth today.  Thank you for the opportunities to serve You and others.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!