Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
December 23, 2025:  SOAP #5864: John 15-18

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 15:4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

OBSERVATION:  Jesus had just told of this unique relationship they had with the Son and through the Son to the Father. (John 14:20 ) Now He speaks of their responsibility to maintain that relationship.

God’s plan for each branch is fruitfulness, but our fruitfulness depends on us remaining in contact with Him.  The works we do and the attitude we display to the world is to be the outward expression of the inner person that is being renewed in Christ Jesus. 

We obtain Christ by faith and on the basis of His completed work at Calvary.  We maintain that relationship by our daily walk of faith and obedience.

APPLICATION:  Fruitfulness in the responsibility of every branch, but fruitfulness is impossible unless it remains attached to the vine. 

And so it is with us.  We are to be fruitful.  We were created to be fruitful.  Yet the fruit God desires from our lives is impossible to bear unless we are attached!

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, being your child is a constant part of my life that I live out every minute of every day.  It is an adventure to learn how you react to the world around me.  May my outward life be proof that you are living inside!   Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
December 21, 2025:  SOAP #5862: John 12-14

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 12:17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

OBSERVATION:  It was an amazing time.  Jesus had just called Lazarus out of a tomb in which his body had been for four days!   Obviously, it was hard to keep that news quiet.  Everyone present at the tomb was talking to everyone they knew!  It was an amazing event that they had personally witnessed.  It was unlike anything they had ever seen. 

But they were not the only ones talking.  Others who had only heard about it were talking about it!  So “many” went out to meet Him!   So many that the religious leaders said, “Look how the whole world has gone after him!” 

APPLICATION:  That is what is happening today in West Africa.  A Muslim from New York City is scheduled to arrive this week to encourage the Muslims not to listen to the Christians.   But he will find that some of the ones he was counting on to help him have already heard and have already made commitments to Jesus!!!   They have seen what Jesus can do in healing and miracles.  They have talked about it.  And others who have only heard have also been talking about Jesus and what He does today for His followers. 

PRAYER:  Lord, we pray for the many people who have given you what you most want for Christmas—they have given you their hearts!   May your peace flood their hearts and minds.  Keep them strong.  May they feel your love surrounding them.  We need your help to provide Bibles and your anointing on the leaders who will help them understand your word.  Amen

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

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 14:14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me…
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand.

OBSERVATION:  As the relationships with an earthly parent progresses through many levels, so the relationship with our Heavenly Father progresses/grows through many levels.  I see the first level described in the Bible as a Shepherd and sheep.  Before one can be sent as a servant, one has to first learn to recognize the voice of the Master.  The emphasis on being a sheep is to recognize His voice and follow. 

APPLICATION:  New-born sheep learn the voice of their shepherd by watching their mama sheep.  They learn to recognize the voice to which she responded was the voice to which they should respond.  It is the same with little children learning from their parents.  They learn from their parents’ reactions. 

And the same is true with new/young Christians.  As a child I learned to honor God and His Word.  I learned to respect God.  Through my parents and people working with children in the church we attended I learned how to recognize God’s voice. I learned the value of listening to God and doing what He says. 

When I get together with other believers, I listen to their stories of God’s working.  I learn His ways and His priorities.  Then as I read the Word of God, or hear it read, I recognize Him speaking to me. 

PRAYER:  Lord, speak to us.  Help us recognize your voice.  Speak to us through your Word.  And for the thousands of new believers who do not yet have a Bible, uses these SOAPs and other believers who have known you for long enough to have some maturity—use us to help them recognize your voice.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
December 20, 2025:  SOAP #5861: John 7-8

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 7:18 He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.

OBSERVATION:  Jesus was speaking about Himself as He had been sent by His Father in heaven.  He was present on earth to make the Father known.  He was present on earth to do the Father’s will. 

A person speaking on his own authority is trying to prove that he has a good grasp of the issue.  He wants others to see his valuable opinion.  He wants others to see his wisdom.  He wants to win others to his side.  It is to his glory to have others change to his point of view. 

But when a person has been sent by God and represents His love and holiness, he will do so in love and holiness.  He will not use lies to speak of God’s holiness.  He will not use hate to reveal God’s love.  He will be a person known for honesty and truth. 

APPLICATION:  As I represent the Holy God where I live and work, I can only properly do so by allowing His character to shine through my words and actions.  Of course, in myself I fall far short of such a high standard.  Which is no surprise to God!  That is why He sent His Holy Spirit to live in me.  

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, how I need you to help me properly represent the One who has sent me to those around me.  Knowing that you anointed Jesus for His ministry here on earth, you are the perfect one to live in me and help me to be like Jesus!   Help me work for the honor of the One who has sent me.  Holy Spirit, I am counting on you!  Do what you do in me!  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
December 19, 2025:  SOAP #5860: John 5-6

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

OBSERVATION:  Much of Jesus teaching was about His Father.  And much of Jesus when He left, He and the Father sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in believers and through them to continue the ministry of Jesus!  

The Father sent Jesus to live as a sinless man totally dependent on the Holy Spirit to fulfill His assigned ministry. While Jesus was living as a sinless man on earth, it was the Holy Spirit who was the life of God within Him.  The Holy Spirit was the source of the words spoken by Jesus. 

Jesus told us, “As the Father has sent me, so send I you.”  Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin.  Being forgiven and justified, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us as He did within Jesus.  Jesus was sent to rely on the Holy Spirit, so if I have been sent in the same way.  Since He is my example, I too must rely on the Holy Spirit as He did.  

APPLICATION:  When I confessed my sins and ask Jesus to forgive me on the basis of His death on the cross, the same Holy Spirit that came upon/within Jesus comes to take up residence in me!!!   My life’s goal is to allow the Holy Spirit to flow through me as He did through Jesus!  

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, You and Jesus, what a team in honoring the Father!  Baptize me; fill me to overflowing as you filled your disciples in Acts 2.  Make me your partner in ministry. Anoint me to do your works as happened in the book of Acts, and is happening today in Sierra Leone.  Take the lead in my life.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
December 18, 2025:  SOAP #5859: John 2-4

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 4:36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.
37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

OBSERVATION:   The sower and the reaper work in different seasons, but they work for the same goal and share the same satisfaction.  It is all for the harvest.  Their work is “harvest-driven.” 

In Kingdom work, joining the sow-ers and reap-ers are the prayer-ers—those who pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His fields.  (Matthew 9:37 and Luke 10:2) (And Romans 2:15 mentions senders.)

The different yet coordinated work results in them being “glad together.”   Surely one of the joys of heaven will be learning about the others who planted the seeds we had the privilege of reaping.  And even others who reaped the seeds we planted.  And the joy of meeting the intercessors who prayed in the harvest.  There will be great joy shared by sowers and reapers and intercessors and senders/givers with the souls brought to Jesus!  

APPLICATION: I need to keep my eyes open and focused on the field.  Today I will be an intercessor or a sower or a reaper, or a sender maybe all four. God will bring into my field of vision, someone who needs to hear the gospel, or someone who is ready to commit their life to Jesus.  (In Luke, the next verse after telling them to pray, He told them to go!  Similarly in Matthew.) 

PRAYER:   Lord, use me this day for your glory.  May I meet someone in heaven for whom I prayed today when I gave support, and/or someone in whom I planted a seed today, and/or someone I led to Jesus today.  May there be much rejoicing in heaven because I have been faithful today.   Amen

Pastor Leon
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
December 17, 2025:  SOAP #5858: 2Peter 1-3; John 1

SCRIPTURE:  John (NIV) 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

OBSERVATION:  We are now in the Christmas season, a time when many people celebrate the birth of Jesus.  Mark begins his biography of Jesus with His baptism.  Matthew and Luke give more specific details about His birth. 

The “Christmas Story” in John does not give the account of the angels, the shepherds or the magi from the east.  It tells us nothing of Joseph, or Jesus’ earthly mother, Mary.  We read nothing of the Bethlehem nor of the reason Jesus was born there.  But what we read is so important! 

The Word who is as much God as God became flesh and became as much man as man! 

APPLICATION:  Jesus walked and lived in time and space, in history and geography.  We know the years in which he lived and the cities in which he walked.  He is very much aware of the struggles I face.  He knows what it is like to live among people like the ones around me.   He is well able to help me because He has personal knowledge and understands.  

PRAYER:  Lord, thank you for coming to earth and living among people like me.  Thank you for your personal involvement in my salvation.  Thank you for forgiving my sins. Thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to live in me.   Amen. 

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
December 15, 2025:  SOAP #5856: James 1-5

SCRIPTURE:  James (NIV) 2:22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did….
24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone….
26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

OBSERVATION:   How do we know someone loves us?  It is by the way their deeds back up their words.  If there are no actions, then we come to know that there is no love.  Self-serving actions only prove that they love themselves.  Self-sacrificing actions are proof that they love another. 

And so, it is with faith.  Faith is proved by action.  When someone has faith, it can be seen.  Of course, God sees the heart and is the only true judge of someone’s faith and deeds.  But it is impossible to hide true faith from others.  Those working in the emergency room check vital signs (respiration, pulse, brain waves) to see if life is present.  So, works are the vital signs of faith. 

So, in what do I place my faith?  I place my faith in the work of Jesus who died on the cross as the payment for my sins.  My works (which man can see) show proof that I my faith (which only God can see) is settled in him. 

In the Old Testament, the law gave a specific list of things to do i.e. when to pray and what sacrifices to make.  In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit living within us shows us what to do.  The command is “love” and the Spirit nudges us in how to express that love. 

APPLICATION:  I am to live my life so that my faith is visible.  Let my love and devotion to Christ be well known.  May my talking about my fith not be the first someone knows about it.  May they first see it in the way I live. 

PRAYER:  Lord, thank you for what you have done for me.  Holy Spirit, show me how to express my faith and love today so that others can see it.  Amen. 

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
December 14, 2025:  SOAP #5855: Hebrews 12-13; Jude

SCRIPTURE:  Hebrews (NIV) 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” …
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

OBSERVATION:  As a believer in Jesus, His words are important to me.  What He says is of great importance to me.  I want to learn His teachings. 

It is worth any effort to read God’s Word or go to a gathering where His Word is being read and explained. 

Living like His words above about never leaving us nor forsaking us should have a great influence in how I live.  His constant presence means I do not love money and I can be content with what I have.  I can count on His help and I do not need to beg others for money. 

Knowing that God Almighty is with me frees me from fear of what lesser beings (like man) can do to me.  They may kill this physical body, but then I will be forever with my Lord in heaven!  

APPLICATION:  What I know of God’s Word should affect how I live and how I speak. 

So I make every effort to read God’s Word and/or to go where I can hear it read and explained simply in my language.   Then I must apply it to my life. 

PRAYER:  Lord, what you say is important to me.  Help me to learn what You have written in your scriptures.  That will help me better understand what you are speaking to me in my heart.  Thank you for walking and talking with me.   Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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