May 10, 2018: SOAP #3080: 2Samuel 18; Psalm 56; Matthew 27

Scripture:  Psalm (NIV) 56:13 For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

Observation:   God likes to do things for His people; but He also likes to receive something from His people.  God’s blessings are for His benefit too!  David was delivered from death and stumbling SO THAT he could walk before God in a way that others could see what God had done for him.  He was not to walk in darkness where no one would know what God had done.  He was to walk in the “light of life” so that others could plainly see the benefit of serving God.

Application:  God did not deliver me from sickness or from trouble so that I could return to living how I was living before.  Now I have a new appreciation for God’s power and wisdom.  Now I have a new testimony to share with others.  I cannot hide what God has done for me.  I must let others know.  I am to be a walking testimony of what God can do!

Prayer:    Heavenly Father.  Thank you for all you have done for me.  Every day I receive something from you.  Through my life, may others come to know the great benefits of serving you. Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

May 09, 2018: SOAP #3079: 2Samuel 17; Psalm 71; Matthew 26

Scripture:  2Samuel (NIV) 17:14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had determined to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.

Observation:   Absalom was trying to overthrow his father, King David.   David and his men were unprepared and had fled the city.  Ahithophel was well known for his wisdom and gave Absolom good counsel to quickly peruse King David and use his advantage to bring a quick end to David.  However, Hushai, wanting David to get away to safety and have time to prepare for war, counseled Absalom to wait and gather more people around him before trying to engage such an expert fighter in the woods.  God’s presence tilted Absalom’s heart toward Hushai!

As David was frantically leaving Jerusalem, as people were ridiculing him, as they were escaping without sufficient supplies…as David was at his lowest, God was working on David’s behalf!   Out of David’s sight and unbeknown to David, God was at work!

Application:   David’s God is Leon’s God!  He is at work on my behalf when it appears that everything is against me!   His unseen influence in the right discussion, even when I am not present, makes all the difference!   I can walk in faith that God is aware of my need and will insert Himself at the right time to insure my victory!

Prayer:    Heavenly Father, in troubled times, I trust you to be with me and to work on my behalf for your glory!  I want to be faithful to give you the credit for the victory!    Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

May 08, 2018: SOAP #3078: 2Samuel 15, 16; Psalm 32; Matthew 25

Scripture:  Matthew (NIV) 25:34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Observation:   Jesus takes it personal.  He looks at what we do for others as if we had done it for Him!  He considers our service to others as service to Him!  And what’s more, we are considered blessed by the Father with an inheritance in the Kingdom of God.

Application:  When someone asks me how they can serve Jesus, I should ask them, “Do you know anyone who is hungry?  Do you know anyone who is thirsty?  …know any strangers? …anyone needing a shirt or shoes?  …anyone who is sick?  …anyone in prison?  Let’s start there!

Prayer:   Holy Spirit, as I look for big things to do for God, help me not to overlook the many small things—the things that Jesus takes personally and the Father blesses.    Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

May 07, 2018: SOAP #3077: 2Samuel 13, 14; Matthew 24

Scripture:  Matthew (NIV) 24:3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”  4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no-one deceives you.  5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.  6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth-pains.

Observation:   That people come claiming to be the anointed one is not the end of the age.  That there are wars and potential wars, that nations and kingdoms revolt against one another, that there is a shortage of food and earthquakes—these are not the end of the age.  These are just signs that the end is fast approaching.

When a woman’s body gives indications that the baby is about to be born, there is no time to waste.  No one knows how long labor will last.  People with experience can sometimes give an educated guess, but when it happens, it happens.  Sometimes there is time for last minute preparations, sometimes there is no time at all.  People who are wise have already made preparations.

Application:   From the signs we see in the world around us, I must be ready.  I must remain ready.

Prayer:    Lord, you have warned us.  You have given us signs to watch for as we approach the end of the age.  The signs are present.  May I be as ready to meet you as you are ready to return!  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

May 06, 2018: SOAP #3076: 2Samuel 11, 12; Psalm 51; Matthew 23

Scripture:  Matthew (NIV) 23:2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 “Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; …  11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Observation:   Jesus was speaking to “the teachers of the law and the Pharisees,” but it seems to me that he could be speaking to many of the politicians of today.  They pass laws that do not apply to themselves.  They pass spending bills that the nation cannot afford. By so doing, they are taxing future generations that are not even yet born.   For those in God’s kingdom, authority is a tool to be used in serving others.

Application:   Jesus is calling me to be a servant, to talk like a servant, to act like a servant—not just a servant on the outside but starting from the inside with how I think.  I am a servant of God; and I am a servant of people, God’s highest creation.

Prayer:    Heavenly Father, it is my great privilege to be your servant.  It is my prayer to one day hear you say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

May 04, 2018: SOAP #3074: 2Samuel 10; 1Chronicles 20; Psalm 20; Matthew 22

Scripture:  Matthew (NIV) 22:2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.

Observation:   Some thoughts from the whole passage: Matthew 22:2-14
1.  The King loved his son and desired to honor him and his new bride.
2.  The main characters are the King and the guests invited to the wedding.
3.  The King sent invitations AND then his servants to personally invite them.
4.  The invited guests refused to come.
5.  Final preparations were complete, so He sent his servants again.
6.  The invited guests still refused to come.  They even killed some who brought the King’s invitation
7.  The King became angry and sent His army to kill those who had mistreated His servants.
8.  The King will not disgrace His Son with an empty banquet hall. So, He sent out his servants one more time.  Then we come to verse 10: “So, the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.”  All could stay except the one who refused to put on the wedding garment provided.  (verses 11-14)

Application:   God wants heaven filled with people in honor of His Son Jesus!   Through His death on the cross, Jesus has provided me the necessary wedding garment of righteousness.  It is now my joy and responsibility to tell others where they can get their wedding garment of righteousness.

Prayer:    Holy Spirit, lead me today to someone who needs the wedding garments you have so graciously supplied.  Like our Heavenly Father, I also want to see heaven full in honor of Jesus!    Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

May 04, 2018: SOAP #3074: 2Samuel 8,9; 1Chronicles 18,19; Matthew 21

Scripture:  2Samuel (NIV) 8:15 David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people.

Observation:  David was chosen and assigned by God to be the King of Israel.  First, David was God’s servant; second, he was the people’s servant.   He was not king to serve himself, but the nation.   In doing what is “just” he acted in accordance with the law.  In doing what is “right for all his people” he acted with compassion for the individual and with wisdom as to how his judgments would affect others.

Application:   In school, one of my teachers taught us, “A politician is always looking at the next election; a statesman is looking at the next generation.”  Doing what is “just and right for all the people” is not necessarily doing what everyone likes.

Prayer:    Holy Spirit, guide our nation’s leaders to know what is “just and right for all the people.”  Then give them the courage to act accordingly.  Give us leaders that are not known as Republicans or Democrats, but as Godly statesmen and women.   Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

May 03, 2018: SOAP #3073: 2Samuel 7; 1Chronicles 17; Psalm 2; Matthew 20

Scripture:  Matthew (NIV) 20:17 Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, 18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. …

Observation:  Jesus was speaking to His disciples, preparing them for what is coming.  He knows it will be a difficult time, but He wants them to know that He has everything under control.  He tells them about the betrayal and suffering.  But, for the whole truth, one must read the end of verse 19: “On the third day he will be raised to life!”

Application:   Too often we only hear the hard part.  The doctor tells me I am dying and what to expect, but he stops before getting to the good part!  For the good part, I must go to the Bible!  Jesus has prepared a place for me in my Father’s house! (John 14:2)   Circumstances and the world tells me, “I am sick,” “I am weak,” “I am broke”…but that is only half of the truth.  For the whole truth, I must find out what God has to say!

I cannot know the whole truth about anything until I know what God has to say about it!  I must not be satisfied with just part of the truth!  NOTE:  Before it happened, Jesus knew what was ahead.  He knows the same about me.

Prayer:   Holy Spirit, burn your word in my heart.  Let me not forget it.  Then bring it to my memory so I can attach it to the half-truths I hear from the world around me.     Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

May 02, 2018: SOAP #3072: 1Chronicles 16; Psalm 106; Matthew 19

Scripture:  Psalm (NIV) 106:43 Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin. 44 But he took note of their distress when he heard their cry; 45 for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented.

Observation:    What an amazing God.  He chose Israel to be His people.  He had great plans for them.  He established them in the land of Canaan.  But they forgot about Him and turned to the gods of the other nations.  Again, and again, God punished them and then delivered them when they repented and cried unto Him.

God was being faithful to His word.  He had promised to send the Messiah to make the once-and-for-all-time sacrifice for sin.  God did not turn a deaf ear to Israel but listened and “took note of their distress.”  God gave them His attention.

Application:  As God’s child, one whose sins are forgiven by the blood of His Son Jesus, and one in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, I am glad to know that God listens and gives His attention when I cry out in distress.

There is no other helper who loves me as God does!  There is no other helper so willing to forgive!  There is no other helper willing to help me a 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, etc. time!  There is no other helper who can hear my faintest cry!  There is no other helper so able to deliver me from that which distresses me!

Prayer:   Heavenly Father, you have not given up on me, but continue to hear my cry, forgive my sins, and help me.  Your love amazes me!   Your love for me personally amazes me!  I love you!  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!

April 30, 2018: SOAP #3070: 2Samuel 6; 1Chronicles 13; Psalm 68; Matthew 17

Scripture:  2Samuel (NIV) 6:6 Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When he treated them harshly, did they not send the Israelites out so that they could go on their way?

Observation:    In reading the above verse by itself, one might think that this was one of Israel’s prophets speaking to the Israelites.  But, no!  It was a priest, probably of the Philistine god, Dagon.  It had been years, and it was not their personal history, but they still remembered how God destroyed Egypt with the ten plagues to deliver Israel!

From earlier verses, we see the Philistines had gone to their religious people to get some advice as to dealing with the ark they had captured and the trouble it brought to their cities.  The pagan priests remembered what had happened to Egypt; they must do something and do it quickly. They did not want to re-learn the lessons they could learn by the example of others, especially the bad ones!

Application:  It is amazing to me when non-believers have more faith than the believers!   Sometimes they more quickly recall what God has done in the past than God’s people.

I need to remember that “Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.”  (Hebrews 13:8) What He has done for me in the past, He is able to do now!

Prayer:    Holy Spirit, may my meditation and praise keep your blessings current in my heart and mind.  May I make choices today with the confidence that you will do it again!  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!