Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 16, 2025: SOAP #5523:  Genesis 39-41; Luke 16

(Reworked SOAP from 2012)

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 16:10  “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
11  So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
12  And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

OBSERVATION:   Here we see a progression from being faithful with little to becoming faithful with much.  We see the progression from being faithful with temporary worldly wealth to becoming faithful with eternal wealth.  There is the progression of working for others to working for one’s self. 

Two words that have no limit: little and much.  There is no amount too little to start.  And these verses put no limit on much. 

APPLICATION:   I must be willing to start where I am and use what I have.  I must keep aware that my future opportunities depend on my faithfulness today.

PRAYER:   Lord, help me not to become discouraged about my present circumstances but keep faithful knowing that today is preparation for my future.  Amen. 

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 15, 2025: SOAP #5522:  Genesis 37-38; Psalm 7; Luke 15

(from an earlier SOAP)

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 15:1 Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering round to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”

OBSERVATION:   When something clean and pure comes in contact with something dirty and contaminated, it is expected that the dirty will contaminate the clean.  But in this verse, we see the pure sinless Jesus purposefully intermingling with sinners.   Jesus even reached out and touched the lepers.  He did not get leprosy, but they were made clean!  (Luke 5 & 17)   Jesus did not become contaminated, but sinners left forgiven, and lepers left clean!    

APPLICATION:  When I confessed my sins to Jesus and invited him into my life, He did not become contaminated, but I became forgiven by his love and justified by his sacrifice.  He made me just as if I had never sinned!   Amazing!!!    Now his life in me helps me walk in the world without becoming contaminated also!   And when I do, He forgives. (1John 1:9)       

PRAYER:   Lord, I am so glad you are willing to intermingle with sinners.  Although you hate sin, you are not afraid of it.  Your righteousness is greater than sin!   Your death pays for my sins; your love forgives me; and your life lifts me to live as your child!   Amen. 

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 14, 2025: SOAP #5521:  Genesis 34-36; Luke 14

SCRIPTURE:  Genesis (NIV) 35:1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. 5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no-one pursued them.

OBSERVATION:   Jacob set himself to obey God, to go to Bethel, establish his household there and build an altar to God.  Since they were committing themselves to Jehovah God, they needed to get rid of any foreign gods and take off clothing that may have been designed around those gods. 

And as they moved out in obedience, the Lord set the greatest security system any people ever had.   Fear!  Not because they were such a great company, they were really few in number.  Not a fear because they were mighty warriors.  No, it was the “terror of God!”  Jacob was doing his part (obedience); God was doing HIS part! 

APPLICATION:  When I walk in obedience, I am finding that God takes care of the problems I may face because I am doing His will.  I am faithful to tithe on my income; God is faithful to provide the many aspects of life—finance, housing, transportation, medical, etc.  And above all of that, I have the joy of being a friend of God!   Wow!  

I am faithful to write the SOAPs and He is faithful to provide what finances may be needed.   He knows the finances better than I, so I work with what He provides.  I know my part and I am confident that He knows His part. 

PRAYER:  Lord, find me faithful doing what you have given me to do.  I know I have found you faithful to keep your word.  The more I am in your word and get your word into my heart, the more faith grows in my heart.  You are trustworthy, so I will “Trust and Obey!”   Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 13, 2025: SOAP #5520:  Genesis 31-33; Luke 13

SCRIPTURE:  Genesis (NIV) 32:9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ 10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups. 11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. 12 But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”

OBSERVATION:   Jacob was headed back to his home country where he would meet his brother, Esau.  Jacob had left home because Esau had threatened to kill him.  Jacob had sent some messengers to Esau looking for favor, but the messengers had returned saying Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men.  Jacob was desperate and turned to the Lord in prayer. 

His prayer is a good example for desperate people today.  First, he reminded God that he was doing what the Lord told him to do.  Second, he was humble and acknowledged what God had done.  Third, he stated his immediate need.  Forth, he ended by reminding God of His promises. 

APPLICATION:  Like Jacob, when I am desperate, I should begin and end my prayer with what He has said.  It is a way of saying, “I have not forgotten your word.  I have hidden it in my heart. And my faith is in you!”  I should not take more time in laying out my troubles that I do in praying His word!  He already knows my troubles; He wants to know if I know His Word!   

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, help me not to let my desperate thoughts and feelings determine how I pray.  May the fact that I know you are greater than any problem I face, be clearly stated in my desperate prayers.  May the humble confession of my faith, the confession of Your greatness, and the confession of what you have spoken to me all work together to build my faith and to live in victory as You change me and my current situation!   Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 12, 2025: SOAP #5519:  Genesis 29-30; Luke 12

(reworked from 2022)

SCRIPTURE: Luke (NIV) 12:29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

OBSERVATION: Do we need food?  We are instructed to consider the ravens. (vs. 24)   Do we need clothing?  We are instructed to consider the lilies. (vs. 27) 

Why?  Because we are more important than ravens and lilies!  (vs. 24)

To whom are we more important?  To God, but Jesus does not call Him God; Jesus calls Him Father!  (vs. 30)

Whose Father is He?  Jesus says He is “your Father!!!”  (vs. 30)

APPLICATION:  God feeds the ravens. (vs. 24)   God clothes the lilies. (vs. 27-28)   But when it coming to taking care me, Jesus calls Him my Father!  (vs. 30)

The One Jesus called “Father,” is my Father too!  He is my Heavenly Father but I need not wait until I get to heaven to enjoy His loving care! 

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, when I accepted the payment of Jesus on the cross for my sins, I became a member of your family.  You have always been and will always be God.  But through Jesus, you have become my Father!  What a blessing is mine!  Amen.

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 11, 2025: SOAP #5518:  Genesis 27-28; Psalm 4; Luke 11

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 11:9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

OBSERVATION:   Sometimes we have but to ask.  With simple faith believing and receiving from God.  

At other times, it is for us to seek out the answer.   To search the scriptures, to find what God has promised, to find what God has done in similar circumstances, or to see if God will emphasize a verse upon which we can place our faith.  Waiting for an answer can be a good time to search our hearts to see if we have missed something He has spoken to us.    

And there are times some action is required, so we knock.  Some personal involvement comes as we invest our time and resources into the matter for which we need His involvement.  Of course, our involvement is only like knocking on the door.  The opening of the door comes from Him.  The answer in the open door where we find His wisdom, power and resources. 

APPLICATION:  First:  I must not stop asking and believing.  Second:  I must not stop seeking until I find.  Do I desire it enough to seek?  Third:  I must not stop knocking until the door is opened and God is revealed in the situation for which I am praying.  Am I desperate enough to keep on knocking?      

The level of my faith can be seen in how quickly I stop asking Him and stop seeking Him and stop knocking on His door and I start looking elsewhere.  Of course, when God speaks, it is time to quit asking and seeking and knocking and start obeying and doing what He tells us to do.  Obedience leads to answers. 

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, continue to teach me to pray and how to pray.  May the Heavenly Father enjoy hearing from me in prayer.  Teach me how to ask, how to seek, and how to knock.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Dear friends, 

This is a praise report and a prayer request.  Yesterday Pastor Andrew went from Sierra Leone to Liberia to meet with Bishop Emmanuel.  The Bishop has vision and plans to spread the SOAPs further on the continent of Africa.  He already has contacts in many countries and friends in the Liberian government.  In the following letters you can catch his African vision to have SOAP conferences, to install computers and printers, and to distribute SOAPs.  Pastor Andrew sent me the following email yesterday and I received the last one from Bishop Emmanuel today.   (personal note continued below…)

———————————————————————————————————————–(received from Pastor Andrew , Sierra Leone 1/9/25)  God bless you Daddy. 

this is the expenditure and the budget of the SOAP MINISTRY conferences in 17 West Africa countries and four East Africa countries, this is the biggest project which the SOAP Ministry is undertaking right now which is going to start on the 10th February to the 31th March 2025.

These are the 17 countries that we will be going in West Africa, (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo), And also five East Africa countries, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe,

Each of those countries we will be having SOAP MINISTRY conferences, distribution of the SOAPs  and also installation of computers and printers for the SOAP MINISTRY in those countries.

We need $58,000 to on the take this great big projects in the SOAP MINISTRY God have already provided $48,000 to God be the glory Amen 🙏 this money was donated by a group of people which love the Lord, So they.SOAP MINISTRY team still need to raise $10,000 to complete the project in the next two weeks.

This is the breakdown of what we are going to buy for this project:
1. 100 computers, each one cost $250 * 100 is $25,000.
2. 100 printers, each one cost $200 *100 is 20,000
3. 150 cartoon of papers,each one cost $50 *150 is $7,500.
4. 100 button of ink, each one cost $20 * 100 is $2,000.
5. Cost of flight ticket is $2,000.
6. The remaining of $1,500 is for hotel bills and food.

This is the entire project budget, we thank us so much $45,000 have been received for this project so it’s only $10,000 now remain we are trusting God for it in the next two weeks.

I will be leaving for Sierra Leone Freetown tomorrow morning God bless you Daddy pray for us..  

 Yes   Faithfully servant Pastor Andrew

—————————————————————————————————————————(received from Bishop Emmanuel in Liberia 1/1/25) 

Good morning and God bless you sir Pastor Leon and your family. 

To God be the glory Pastor Andrew have left this morning for Sierra Leone but thank God that he came and we have a wonderful successful meeting for the SOAP MINISTRY project and also you meet with the minister and some of the SOAP MINISTRY team members  I was really happy when Pastor Andrew pray for the minister who gave the money.

So i and Pastor Andrew had their last meeting last night before he left this morning, we have a meeting concerning the remaining $10,000 that we need to raise so me and my team here in Liberia we have decided to raise $5,000 to wash the $10,000 and presently we have started raising the $5,000.

So Pastor Andrew said it’s going to meet with the SOAP MINISTRY team in Sierra Leone and also you for the remaining $5,000.

I and one of my pastor will be going to Sierra Leone on the 5th February 2025,to buy the computers and printers, paper and ink to brother Joshua, then me and my pastor will be leaving from Nigeria on the 8th of February 2025 that is where we’re going to start the SOAP Minister conference.

Thank you so much and God bless you Pastor Leon and also God bless Pastor Andrew.

Your Faithfully  Bishop Emmanuel SOAP MINISTRY in Liberia.

———————————————————————————————————————

(continued from above…)  Just like a gust of wind can turn a small flame into a raging fire, so the Holy Spirit blows on the small SOAP flame and is turning it into a mighty fire in Africa!  

So, praise the Lord for what He has done, AND for what He is doing today!!!  Join me in prayer for God to supply the remaining finances.  We pray in faith, for we know that God will provide.  SOAP is His ministry.  It was started at His direction.  It has continued with His provision.  It will grow as He provides.   😊 

Leon
Making friends for time and eternity

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 10, 2025: SOAP #5517:  Genesis 25-26; Psalm 6; Luke 10

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you…

OBSERVATION:   When God’s people gather to pray, often people are given opportunity to make a “prayer request.”  So many times, those requests are for God to heal a sick relative or friend.  Even personal requests usually are for healing.  If we would stop and ask Jesus what he would have us pray about, His answer surely would be like verse 2 above. 

APPLICATION:  Jesus suffered such great agony in order to make salvation available to anyone who calls on His name—how many people does He want to come into loving relationship with Him?   —how many people does He want to present to the Father?  

We are the ones who should be praying about the harvest.  We are the ones He is sending.  Every day we are walking in the harvest field as we go through our regular daily activities. 

Let us always have someone in our thoughts for whom we are praying for their salvation.  The next time we are in a prayer meeting, let us honor the Lord by praying for His request.  

Then we should not be surprised if He uses us to be a part of the answer to that prayer!

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, your Son, Jesus, told us to pray for people who will work in your great harvest field.  We pray for those who have taken SOAPs into the streets as a tool for evangelism.  Bless them.  We pray for those who took Jesus as their Savior and committed their lives to you.  Help them grow in their faith.  We pray for you to use us in answer to your prayer request.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 09, 2025: SOAP #5516:  Genesis 23-24; Luke 9

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 9:1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.  …
6 And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing everywhere. …
10 And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done…

OBSERVATION:   Not all the ministry in the gospels was done by Jesus.  Jesus sent THEM to preach, THEM to heal the sick,

THEY departed, THEY went through the towns, THEY preached, THEY healed, THEY returned, THEY reported back.     

APPLICATION:  Jesus was preparing the disciples for the time He would no longer be with them.  Later in the book of Acts, the church continued the ministry of Jesus.  As Jesus ministered in the power of the Holy Spirit, so the early church ministered in that same Spirit.     

Note how the healing ministry of Jesus continued through the book of Acts.   

Today, Jesus is not present in a physical body to teach and heal.  The leaders of the early church are not here to teach and to heal.  But WE are here.   And WE have the very same Holy Spirit that came upon Jesus when He was baptized by John.  And WE have the same Holy Spirit that came on the early church in Acts 2. 

The Holy Spirit is continuing the same ministry today.  He is looking for people who will follow His lead and step out in faith to minister truth and healing to those nearby.  Let’s be those people!!!  

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, find me to be an open channel through which you can continue the ministry of Jesus today.  Flow through me, Holy Spirit, flow through me. Speak through me.  Heal through me.  In Jesus Name, Amen

Pastor Leon
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