April 18, 2021: SOAP #4154:  1Samuel 20-21; Psalm 34; Matthew 5

SCRIPTURE:  Matthew (NIV) 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

OBSERVATION:  This verse tells me how I am to live in the world where people who do not personally know God hear my words and see my actions.  (Note verse 14.)  I am not to hide my life in such a way that people will not recognize me as a Christian.  (Note verse 15.) 

APPLICATION: I should live my life in a way that people in the church give glory to God because of me.  But they should already be glorifying God.  They should not need my good works to glorify God.  They should be doing that already. 

If I am going to “let my light shine before men” then I must live, walk, and work where people can see me.  Living a daily life that honors God will cause light to shine in the world. 

Good questions for Leon:  How long does it take for a new acquaintance to see that I am a Christian?  According to my friends who see me every day, what priority does Jesus have in my life?  Have any of my acquaintances ever asked me about Jesus? 

PRAYER: Holy Spirit, work in me so my words, my actions, and my attitudes help people see Jesus. Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

April 17, 2021: SOAP #4153:  1Samuel 19; 1Chronicles 7; Psalm 59; Matthew 4

SCRIPTURE:  Matthew (NIV) 4:18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”
20 At once they left their nets and followed him.

OBSERVATION: First: in these verses we have a command: come follow me. This was more than just an invitation to join Him.  Their response shows that they took it as demanding obedience. 

Second: in these verses we have a promise: I will make you.  It is a powerful statement: I will make you fishers of men.  Jesus did not say, “I am going to try to make you…”  He did not say, “Let’s see what you can do.”   Jesus called them for a purpose.  He took the responsibility to “make them…” 

So, how did Jesus go about keeping His promise?  He lived with them.  He taught them.  He answered their questions.  He had them watch him.  He used them as his helpers.  He sent them out on assignment.  He had them report back.  But greatest of all, He gave them the Holy Spirit to live in them when He returned to heaven!   This was the same Holy Spirit that descended on Him when He was baptized in water at the beginning of His ministry. 

APPLICATION:  The same Holy Spirit that descended on Jesus…  The same Holy Spirit that filled the early church on the day of Pentecost…  That is the same Holy Spirit that came to live in me when I got saved.  It is the same Holy Spirit that baptized me and empowers me today.  The Holy Spirit motivates me and empowers me to be a “fisher of men.”

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, continue working in my heart.  Help me see the people around me who need Jesus.  Flow through me to touch each one. Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

April 16, 2021: SOAP #4152: 1Samuel 18; 1Chronicles 6; Psalm 11; Matthew 3

SCRIPTURE:  Psalm (NIV) 11:4 The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them. 5 The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates. 6 On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulphur; a scorching wind will be their lot. 7 For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face.

OBSERVATION:  In John 3:16 we read that God loves the world—so much that He gave His only Son!  In Matthew 3:17 we read that God loves His Son, Jesus.  In the verse above we read that the LORD loves justice.  God is love!  

God is just as holy as He is loving.  It is the combination of perfect love and perfect holiness that makes God “good.” If He was just holy, or just love, we could not call Him “good.”  Being holy means that He loves justice.  Having the nature of love and loving justice results in hatred of wickedness.  Those who “love violence” are contrary to God.  Those who destroy what God loves, stand in danger of God’s holy anger and judgment.  Sin destroys the man God created.  Sin destroys the man for which he has so many great plans.  Sin destroys what God loves.  But being perfectly holy required that the sacrifice for sin had to be sinless.    The sacrifice could not be paying for his own sin! 

God’s holy and intense anger is logical when one considers God’s intense love.  (A mother’s intense love for her child results in intense anger at the animal who would harm the child.) 

APPLICATION: To think of God as only loving is to ignore half of His character.  To think of God as only holy is to ignore half of His character.  When I grow in my relationship with God, I get to know Him, not just about Him. 

The beauty of God’s character is indescribable.  It is beyond our words. 

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, Oh the beauty of you.  Your perfect character amazes me.  Your intense love for me.  Your perfect holiness guides your plan for me.  You are always working for my good!  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

April 15, 2021: SOAP #4151:  1Samuel 17; Psalm 9; Matthew 2

SCRIPTURE:  1Samuel (NIV) 17:31 What David said was overheard and reported to account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” 33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.”

OBSERVATION: Saul was king.  He was the commander of the army.  He was responsible for the battle plan.  He might have been a good judge of character, but he surely misjudged David. 

His assessment/evaluation of David was correct, David was “only a boy.”  His assessment of Goliath was also correct, Goliath had been “a fighting man from his youth.” 

But something was missing.  There was no assessment of David’s God!  There was no assessment of the battle.  Saul thought it would be between a nine-foot tall giant and a little boy.  Saul knew how that would end.  But the battle was really between a nine-foot tall giant and God!  David knew how that would end!       

APPLICATION:  I need to reassess the battles I face.  God is not on my side; I am on God’s side.  When I see where the battle lines are drawn, I too can have faith that God will win!   I will never have a true assessment of the battle until I consider God’s involvement! 

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, keep my thoughts centered on God’s part in my daily life and the things that trouble me.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

April 14, 2021: SOAP #4150:  1Samuel 15-16; 1Chronicles 5; Matthew 1

SCRIPTURE:  Matthew (NIV) 1: 22 All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”— which means, “God with us.”

OBSERVATION: It is not what the prophets said, but “what the Lord had said through the prophet.”  God is not bound to honor the prophet’s word; He is bound to honor His word. 

The gift of prophesy is one of the nine gifts listed in 1Corinthians (14;31.) It can be ministered through any believer.  They speak forth what God is saying in the present.  It may be a word of exhortation, edification, or comfort.  It may be recognized as a gift of prophesy or not, but it brings God’s desired affect to the hearers.  What it does is more important than what it is called!

A prophet must be careful to speak for the Lord.  He must limit himself to just what the Lord is saying.  (1Corinthians 12:10)   It may be easy to get carried along with the energy of a prophesy, but when the “prophet” goes beyond what God is saying, and it does not come to pass, it hinders the validity of the true word of the Lord. 

I do not believe that a prophet is a prophet because he claims to be a prophet.  God honors the true prophets by bringing His word to pass.  People can recognize prophets by seeing God’s words brought to pass. (1Samuel 3:20)

APPLICATION:  Speaking for the Lord is a high honor; it is also a great responsibility.  To think that God would use a man to communicate to people is amazing.  To think that a man could speak for God is fearful.  I am honored that God uses these daily SOAPs to speak to people (myself first).  I am also fearful/careful to write out only what He gives me.  Many times, they are prophetic, not that they foretell the future, but in that they give forth the Word of the Lord to someone. 

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, guide my words as I present God and His Word in these daily SOAPs.  I desire to faithfully communicate your truth and your love.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

April 13, 2021: SOAP #4149:  1Samuel 14; 1Chronicles 4; 2Corinthians 13

SCRIPTURE:  2Corinthians (NIV) 13:14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

OBSERVATION:  Here is Paul’s final words of this letter to the believers in Corinth.  It is a blessing from the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  The Father so loved that He gave His only begotten Son. (John 3:16)   Grace and truth came through Jesus. (John 1:17)   And our continuing fellowship with God is through the Holy Spirit. 

The disciples were concerned when Jesus said He was leaving.  They had grown close to Him.  He revealed the Father to them.  They ate together and took trips together.  He explained things to them.  Jesus sent them ahead of Him to the places He would visit.  Jesus died for them—and rose again.  And He was going to leave them. 

But His promise was that he would give them another Comforter.  Not another of a different kind, but another of the same kind.  (John 14:16)   Jesus was leaving, but this Comforter would be with us forever!!!  

APPLICATION:  Reading the gospels about Jesus and His disciples gives me an example of what God wants for me.  I need to get as close to the Holy Spirit as the disciples were to Jesus.  My relationship with the Holy Spirit is even better than the disciples with Jesus—it is MUCH better.  Jesus was limited to a physical body, but the Holy Spirit remains omnipresent.  He does not need to leave me to be with you!  This is MUCH better!  No wonder Jesus said it was good for us that he would leave.  He understood how much we needed the “fellowship of the Holy Spirit!”  (John 16:7)

PRAYER: Holy Spirit, thank you for the fellowship you offer to me.  May I be a vessel full of you, poured out by you, and filled again with you.  Help me know the joy of being useful.  In Jesus Name, Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

April 12, 2021: SOAP #4148:  1Samuel 13; 1Chronicles 2-3; 2Corinthians 12

SCRIPTURE:  2Corinthians (NIV) 12:7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

OBSERVATION:  Paul realized that the great things God had shown him, and the mighty ways God had used him, could have caused him to become proud.  He could have been arrogant with a “look at me and how great I am” attitude.  Such an attitude would have destroyed what God wanted to do through Paul.  God was not using Paul for Paul’s sake.  He was using Paul for the sake of the church!  God allowed Satan to “torment” Paul in some way.  Maybe it was with memories of how he had persecuted the church before the Lord stopped him.  Maybe it was some physical ailment.  Maybe it was all the trouble that seemed to stir around him in every city. 

What the trouble was is unimportant.  What is important: God’s grace was enough to sustain Paul.  God’s power would be seen through Paul’s weakness! 

APPLICATION: I believe God purposefully does not reveal Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.”  Whatever it was is unimportant to me.  What is important to me is that His grace is sufficient for whatever my thorn might be!   God’s power can be seen through my weakness or lack.  When what I have is insufficient, I find that God is all sufficient! 

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, you are God.  You are all sufficient for my need.  Your power can be seen in my weaknesses.  When I do not know what to do, my eyes are on you. Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

April 11, 2021: SOAP #4147:  1Samuel 11-12; 1Chronicales 1; 2Corinthians 11

SCRIPTURE:  2Corinthians (NIV) 11:30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
Ga 6:14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

OBSERVATION: Generally, when people boast, they mention things that make them look good.  They speak of accomplishing something difficult, or something important. 

From outward appearances, dying on a cross made a person look like a failure.  People were ashamed to admit that a family member had been crucified.  Yet in submitting Himself to the cross, Jesus accomplished the greatest feat in all time, past, present, and future!   Paul would boast in the cross.  He would boast in what Christ accomplished on the cross, and he would boast of what the cross accomplished in him. 

By boasting in things that demonstrate his weakness, Paul was making sure that he could not be credited with the good that came through him and his ministry.  Only God could get the glory.  And as to his own life, Paul would boast about those things that made it obvious that it was God at work in and through Paul. 

APPLICATION:  There are times when God’s assignment is obviously greater than my ability.  When I step out in faith and do the little I can do with the resources I have, I must depend on Him for the full supply of what is needed. 

He gets the glory when I depend on Him!  He may lead me to share the vision or need with someone else.  He gets the glory when people willingly respond to HIS leading.  He gets no glory when people are made to feel like they have no choice.  And when there are no people to be a part of the supply, God gets the glory by providing Himself like He did for the Israelites in the wilderness!  

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, my life is to bring glory and honor to you. I want to be obedient to your call and trust you to supply what is needed. Be glorified in the testimonies of your supply and work.    Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

April 10, 2021: SOAP #4146 (mostly from #2685—I believe God wants this repeated!):  1Samuel 8-10; 2Corinthians 10

SCRIPTURE:  2Corinthianas (NIV) 10:3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

OBSERVATION: Often the toughest strongholds to overcome are the arguments and pretenses in the mind.   If not careful, a person can become a captive of thought processes that hurt them.  Thoughts must be taken “captive.” The mind can become a battlefield.

On the battlefield facing Goliath (1Samuel 17), the Israelites were thinking, “How BIG Goliath looked compared to themselves!”  David was thinking: “How small Goliath looked compared to God!”  David’s part was the sling and the rock.  God’s part was the results.

APPLICATION: The biggest battle I will fight today will be in my mind. I am not a mind, but I have a mind. I must take control of my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about something, but I can start thinking about something else. The strategy is “thought replacement.” I must replace thoughts about my big problem with thoughts about my big God! The Bible never tells me how to feel, but often tells me how to think.  As I listen to the Holy Spirit, He brings things to my mind for me to consider. 

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, thank you for the “helmet of salvation.” Being your child, and having your Holy Spirit sharing this life with me makes a BIG difference in how I think! Amen  

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity! 

April 09, 2021: SOAP #4145:  1Samuel 6-7; Psalm 72; 2Corinthians 9

SCRIPTURE:  2Corinthians (NIV) 9:6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

OBSERVATION: In this chapter, Paul is encouraging giving by the church at Corinth for the needs of the people in Jerusalem.  Paul was not asking for money for himself.  Paul was not asking for money for his ministry.  The truths he emphasized were to encourage giving for others.  Paul could have used these truths about giving to raise money for himself.   Paul thanked people for giving to him, but he never asked them to give to him. 

Paul never encouraged people to send out letters of request for financial.   Instead, he encouraged them to go to God, let their requests be known to God.  God was the One who would supply all their needs according to His riches in glory. 

APPLICATION: So, what do I do about my personal needs.  I take them to the Lord.  I practice giving.  I share my vision.  I share testimonies of God’s faithfulness.  I start faithfully doing what I can do. Since God has directed my steps in ministry, I can count on Him to provide what is needed.  If He has not provided what I think I need, He expects me to work with what I have. I cannot wait until He provides what I think I need.  I must start with what God has provided me now.  God’s provision is proof of God’s calling. 

God’s promises do not depend on the country in which I live or the economy!  God is God wherever we are.  He can provide in any situation.  Living by faith gives God opportunity to prove who He is and what He can do. Faith pleases God!    

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, you gave your Only Begotten Son to die for my sin—you expect me to be a giver also.  I am counting on the promises you have made to givers.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!