Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

January 27: Exodus 17-20; Acts 3

Scripture: Acts (NIV) 3:3 When he [the crippled man] saw Peter and John…he asked for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him as did John. The Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. 6 The Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk.

Observation: Money is an important part of ministry, but lack of money is never a reason to stop or delay ministering. The ministry that Jesus left the church was based on the power of the Holy Spirit rather than the power of money.

Application: I believe I will give an account to the Lord of how I use the money He provides or enables me to earn, but how much more will I be held accountable for the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit he has given me!

Prayer: Holy Spirit, forgive me for the times I have hindered the flow of your ministry through me. I want to be a willing and useful vessel through which you can flow. Use me today however you deem best. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

January 26: Exodus 14-16; Acts 2

Scripture: Exodus (NIV) 16:35 The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.
Acts (NIV) 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to breaking of bread and to prayer…46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.

Observation: God has designed that we have a daily relationship with Him. As the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they depended on God for their daily food. God was faithful to provide a day’s measure of food each day for six week days and two measures on the sixth day (none on the seventh.) And when the church was born on the day of Pentecost it became their practice to join daily for teaching and fellowship. (Copies of the scriptures were not available in their homes.)

Application: How wise that God has provided for my daily need. I have many copies of God’s Word in book form, on audio tape, and via the internet. How foolish it would be to leave God’s Word unopened.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your daily provision. You knew that we would need our personal copies of your Word for our daily provision. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

January 25: Exodus 12-13; Psalm 21; Acts 1

Scripture: Acts (NIV) 1:7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

Observation: Jesus had risen from the dead and was now preparing to leave the disciples and return to His Father. They had been asking if this was the time to restore the kingdom to Israel. In the verse above He tells them that the Father has set the times and seasons. Then He tells them to expect a new empowering relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Application: It is quite logical to think that the One who set the distance between the earth and the sun and the moon, the One who set the boundaries of the oceans, would have some control over the activities of created life that He placed here. The One who set the time of days, weeks, months, and years surely has something to say about times and dates of key world events. The day of our Lord’s return is not determined by religious leaders, dictators, or governments. That date is set by Father God! And that date seems to be fast approaching!

Prayer: Lord, how foolish it is for us to think that things will continue as they have been. We see major changes in the world as preparations are made for your return. Help us to move forward in faith and not in fear. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

January 24: Exodus 9-11; Luke 24

Scripture: Exodus (NIV) 9:20 Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the LORD hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside. 21 But those who ignored the word of the LORD left their slaves and livestock in the field. … 23 …The LORD sent thunder and hail… 24 …it was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation… 26 The only place it did not hail was in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were.

Observation: Pharaoh’s heart would soften during the plague, but when things returned to normal, it would harden again. Six plagues had come on the Egyptians and some of the Egyptians were beginning to believe in Moses’s God. Now Moses told them to bring in their livestock and servants to a place of protection because God was sending hail such as Egypt had never experienced. Some of them did!

Application: I believe God’s judgment is coming to the United States of America. As a nation we have turned away from God and made for ourselves gods of economics, government, science, medicine, education, entertainment, etc. God will judge these gods just as He judged the gods of Egypt. But I believe God will have His ways of protecting those who believe His word. To believe His Word, we must recognize His Word and to recognize His Word, we must come to know Him. It is not enough to know about Him, we must know him. (If someone reading this desires to know God, send me an email and I will gladly explain it further: elhiebert.)

Prayer: Heavenly Father, it is your holy nature to judge sin. Yet your loving nature provided a way for you to bear that judgment. Thank you, Jesus, for taking my place and dying on the cross for my sins. Thank you for accepting my invitation to live in my life. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

January 23: Exodus 6-8; Luke 23

Scripture: Exodus (NIV) 7:3 “But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, 4 he will not listen to you. They I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. 5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”

Observation: Bringing Israel out of bondage and into the land He had promised them was the obvious plan of God. But He was interested in the Egyptians also. The Egyptians were not unimportant to God! He wanted them to see the powerlessness of their gods and come to know Him, the One and Only True God. Later it would be written: “For God so loved the world…!” (John 3:16)

Application: Sometimes what God does in my life is for the benefit of others. He loves them too. He wants them to see Him working in my life. His plan is bigger than what is happening in me. Those around me are important to Him; they should be important to me too!

Prayer: LORD, you have done so much for me! Use me so that others can see your holiness and love. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

January 22: Exodus 3-5; Luke 22

Scripture: Exodus (NIV) 3:2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that thought the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God call to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”

Observation: Moses was not in a “spiritual” place or doing some “spiritual” thing. He was tending sheep on the back side of the dessert. In the heat of the dessert, a burning bush may not have been too strange, but something made this one different. It did not burn up. It caught Moses’ attention. It was when God saw that Moses took extra time to check it out that he spoke to Moses.

Application: I hear God saying that I need to be careful not to overlook things that are happening around me. When I am inclined to give something a second look, or to go closer to check it out, God may be preparing to speak to me. Hearing a painful or unusual comment may open the door for ministering the love of Jesus. Encountering the unusual in my daily life can be an opportunity to hear God speak to me or through me.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, remind me not hurry past the unusual. I want to be open to hear you speaking to me in the normal routines of my daily life. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

January 21: Exodus 1-2; Psalm 88; Luke 21

Scripture: Exodus (NIV) 2:5-9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe…She saw the basket… She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” “Yes, go,” she answered. And the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.”

Observation: It was too dangerous to keep him at home. Moses mother made a floating basket and placed him in the Nile River. She had to put him in a place out of her control, but not out of God’s control! What she gave up, was returned to her with all the protection of the army that before would have destroyed what she loved. (And she was paid to do it!) As an Israelite baby boy, the army of Egypt was determined to kill him; now as Pharaoh’s grandson, the army of Egypt was determined to insure that nothing would harm him. Pharaoh had given the order that all boy babies should be thrown into the Nile. But the Nile became the place of salvation for Moses and Pharaoh’s house the place where he grew into manhood! Moses ate Pharaoh’s food from Pharaoh’s table; he wore Pharaoh’s clothes and studied under Pharaoh’s teachers.

Application: I believe God enjoys taking what is set to harm His children and not just making it harmless, but completely changing it so that it is now designed to bless His children. The situation that once held great danger now holds great blessing!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, you love to take what is dreadful and make it glorious. Out of what once caused fear, you bring joy. Help me never forget! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

January 20: Genesis 49-50; Psalm 8; Luke 20

Scripture: Luke (NIV) 20:17 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone?’ 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed. (KJV…ground to powder.)”

Observation: Jesus, the promised Messiah, the One prophesied in their holy writings had come to them, but was rejected by the religious leaders. Now Jesus is the Head of the church; He is the chief stone from which all others are set in place.

Application: As a sinner I must come to the Rock and be broken in repentance. I am broken as I fall on that Rock, and in my brokenness I find forgiveness, healing and wholeness. If I refuse to repent, the Rock will fall on me and crush me, grinding me to powder. People who refuse to repent greatly underestimate the awesome power and majesty of the Rock that is about to fall on them. Today is the day of salvation!

Prayer: Jesus, you have not hidden greatness of your love and your willingness to forgive. And neither have you hidden the terribleness of sin and the great judgment about to come. Thank you for clearly showing both sides of the truth! Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

January 19: Genesis 47-48; Psalm 10; Luke 19

Scripture: Genesis (NIV) 48:21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers.

Observation: Israel, previously known as Jacob, knew that he was dying. But he knew something else; he knew that the God who had been with his grandfather Abraham, and with his father Isaac, and had been with him throughout his life—that same God would continue with Joseph. He also knew that God would take his descendants back to the land God had promised them. In a short time, Joseph would return to the Promised Land to bury his father Israel. Years later, Joseph’s body would be carried out of Egypt by the Israelites when they left under the leadership of Moses.

Application: It is good to be able to face one’s death with confident assurance that the God who has been with us will also be with our children. It is good to know that when our part is over, God’s plans will continue on.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, our time on earth is short, but when we are gone, your presence and plan will continue. Help me be faithful during my time here. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!

Pastor Leon’s SOAP: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer

January 18: Genesis 44-46; Luke 18

Scripture: Genesis (NIV) 45:7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

Observation: Joseph had been attacked by jealous brothers and placed in a pit. They then sold him as a slave to people traveling across the wilderness. He was taken to Egypt and sold to Potiphar. Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him of sexual attack so he was put in prison. In this verse Joseph is now revealing himself to his brothers who have come to Egypt to buy food for their family. He summarizes all that happened to him in three (3) words: “…God sent me…”

Application: I can look back in my life and remember several times when I complained to God about things that God was using to position me to do His will. Of course I did not see it that way at the time. I did not enjoy what was happening, but “God was at work.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, You have been faithful to work in my life. Holy Spirit, help me to recognize what you are doing through my troubles. And when I cannot recognize what you are doing, I want to walk in faith that you are surely at work for my good and your glory. Amen

Pastor Leon

Making friends for time and eternity!