Tag Archives: jesus

What A Teacher!

Posted on by
Reply

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
March 05, 2025: SOAP #5571:  Deuteronomy 1-2; Mark 12

SCRIPTURE:  Mark (NIV) 12:1 He [Jesus] then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey…

OBSERVATION:   When Jesus taught heavenly principles, He always used earthy illustrations that would be easy for people to understand.  He used illustrations from their everyday life, things with which they were already familiar.  When Jesus returned to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to continue this ministry of revealing truth.  (John 16:3)

APPLICATION:   When the Holy Spirit shows me something new, I often come away thinking, that is so simple.  The most profound truths are put in the simplest of terms so that even I can understand them!  

The Holy Spirit is a good teacher because 1) He perfectly understands the truth, 2) He perfectly understands each of us, and 3) He communicates with each person individually. 

He is with me when I read the scriptures.  He is with me when I hear a preacher or teacher or a word of prophecy.  He rode the school bus with me and made me aware of things that demonstrated spiritual truth.  The Holy Spirit sparks my heart to receive truth and then apply it.  The Holy Spirit is my personal tutor.  I could not ask for a better teacher.  (And the same is true for each believer!)

PRAYER:   Holy Spirit, thank you for being my teacher.  As I write these SOAPs give me clarity of thought.  Help me understand what you are saying and help me communicate the truth in ways that are easy for readers to understand, and easy to translate.  Thank you for being with each SOAP reader and showing them what is important for them to hear and apply.  Amen. 

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon

Until Then…

Posted on by
Reply

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
March 04, 2025: SOAP #5570:  Numbers 34-36; Mark 11

SCRIPTURE:  Mark (NIV) 11:7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest!” 11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple.

OBSERVATION:   The road was covered with coats and branches.  It was a great celebration!     Jesus was entering Jerusalem, riding on a colt.  The people who were at the head of the parade shouted, “Hosanna!”  Those who brought up the end shouted, “Hosanna!”   Their focus was Jesus!  

APPLICATION:   The parade that entered Jerusalem that day is still going.  It has stretched through the years to where I am today.  The parade route has changed.  It is not going through the gates of the city of Jerusalem in Israel; it is going through the “death gate” and entering the New Jerusalem in heaven!   Those who preceded us in death have already entered the gates of heaven and are now enjoying the presence of God from heaven’s point of view.  Last night I was privileged to join 20-25 others still in this life.  We joined in the presence of God as we worshipped the same God from our limited earthly point of view.

We are near the end of the parade.  we join with those who have gone ahead in shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”  Jesus is the center of our world too!

PRAYER:   Jesus, all of earth and heaven is centered on you!  May those who are standing along my part of the parade route see you exalted and be welcomed to join the celebration!  What a day that will be when we are all together in the courts of heaven!  But until then we will continue singing your praise worshipping you!  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon

A Servant

Posted on by
Reply

Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
March 03, 2025: SOAP #5569:  Numbers 32-33; Mark 10

SCRIPTURE:  Mark (NIV) 10:42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

OBSERVATION:   The world had gotten things upside down.  Jesus put them right side up.  In man’s eyes, rulers are the greatest.  In God’s eyes, servants are the greatest. 

Jesus had come to serve the will of the Father, and to serve man by making the payment for sin.  And in being the servant/slave of all, He clearly was the greatest of all! 

People who have been given authority should use it as a tool to increase their service to others.  Their decisions and their actions should be for the benefit others.       

APPLICATION:   I am a servant of the Most High God.   It is all about Him!  I must remember how Jesus answered the question about which was the greatest commandment: 

Mark (NIV) 12:29  “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

PRAYER:   Lord, what an example you set!  I am amazed at the great extent You went to serve me.  May my life be used to serve your purposes.   Amen. 

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon

My Loving Lord!

Posted on by
Reply

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
March 02, 2025: SOAP #5568:  Numbers 30-31; Mark 9

SCRIPTURE:  Mark (NIV) 9:7 Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

OBSERVATION:   Peter, James, and John had accompanied Jesus up the mountain.  They saw his garments glow super white.  They saw Elijah and Moses present to talk with Jesus.  Peter suggested they build three shelters, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.  Then a cloud enveloped them, and they heard the voice of God.  He was not speaking to Jesus; He was not speaking to Moses; and He was not speaking to Elijah.  He was speaking to them!

They were words of identification: “this is my son!”  This is someone special.  God the Father was identifying with Jesus.  
They were words of relationship:  “Whom I love.” I have an emotional tie to Him.  I expect you to treat Him as someone very special to me. 
They were words of direction:  “Listen to Him.”  Do what He says.  Make sure you can hear His voice. 

APPLICATION:   God the Father may be speaking to someone else, but He has been definitely talking to me.  Fifteen years ago, He told me to drive a school bus.  Two weeks ago, He told me my season for bus driving was over.  I continue to write the SOAPs and I am now living and listening day by day for further direction. 

Do I respect God?  I must identify with Him as my Father.  I must love His Son as my Lord.  I must listen to Him and do what He says! 

PRAYER:   Jesus, my relationship with you starts with acknowledging that I am a sinner and I need the forgiveness you provide through your death on the cross. But that is only the beginning!   Because what follows is a life-long loving relationship learning how to live as Your friend and discovering the joy of having you for my best friend.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon

Serving A Faithful God!

Posted on by
Reply

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
February 27, 2025: SOAP #5565:  Numbers 21-23; Mark 6-7

SCRIPTURE:  Mark (NIV) 6:49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

OBSERVATION:   To me, this verse is a strong indication that they had taken along with them one or two of the left-overs from the earlier dinner. They had in the boat evidence of God’s miraculous provision.  They had in the boat evidence that Jesus could impower them to do as He commanded, after all, it was He who commanded them to feed the 5000, and then He provided the food for them to do so.  It was He who told them to go to the other side, and He would empower them to do so.

APPLICATION:   So often, we need but to look around to find evidence of God’s great intervention in our lives.  In our homes, we have “basketfulls” of left-overs from some previous miracle.  Let’s not let our hearts become “hardened” so that we forget and cannot see what is so obvious.

God told me that my bus driving was over.  He did not say that my living in His provision was over.  As long as I am faithful to do as He directs, I can rest assured that He will continue to provide.  My faith was not in the bus company, my faith was in God.  My faith is still in God.  What He provided through the bus company, He will now provide through another source—probably for the next six months or a year, through the VA as a pension from cancer that is associated with agent orange being used in the areas we traversed in Viet Nam.  When this gets cleared up, God will provide through another means!  That is the way He is.  I am faithful to do as He says; He is faithful to provide and do what is needed for me to complete His assignment. 

PRAYER:   Lord, keep me in step with you, not lagging behind nor running ahead.  May I live and move with an awareness of your wonderful presence.   Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon

The Journey becomes Personalized!

Posted on by
Reply

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
February 26, 2025: SOAP #5564:  Numbers 19-20; Psalm 28; Mark 5 Mr 5:37  

SCRIPTURE:  Mark (NIV) 5:25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. …27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came, and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

OBSERVATION:  Jesus was walking in a large crowd; many people had touched Jesus that day.  They had jostled against him as they walked. 

It was not just being on the same road with Jesus.  It was not just going in the same direction as Jesus.  It was not the way she talked to Jesus!  It was how she touched Jesus.  She touched Him on purpose.  She intended to touch Him.  She had purposed in her heart to touch Jesus.  The journey became personalized to her!     

APPLICATION: It is not just being in a church or being around people who love the Lord.  It is not just hearing others talk about Jesus.   It is when I realize that what is said—what I read—what I hear—is for Leon—it becomes personalized!  The Holy Spirit stirs within me that this is for me.  On February 16, 2025, as the pastor was preaching about seasons, the Lord said to me, “The season for bus driving is over!”  I started planning to finish driving this school year.  Then I heard Him say, “I did not say it was coming to an end, I said it was over!”  The next morning I took actions that showed I understood what God said to Leon. 

I confess my sins; He forgives.  I obey; He provides and meets my needs. Often His answers come as I respond to His word! …sometimes even before! 

PRAYER:   Lord, it is an honor to be your child and a joy to serve you.  To call you “Lord” means that I do what you say.  Living for you is a daily adventure. Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon

Who is in your boat?

Posted on by
Reply

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
February 25, 2025: SOAP #5563:  Numbers 17-18; Psalm 29; Mark 4

SCRIPTURE:  Mark (NIV) 4:37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

OBSERVATION:   At least three of Jesus disciples were fishermen. (Peter, James and John) Quite probably others were too.  So, as people with knowledge and experience, they knew what a storm could do to a small boat.  They were afraid.  They looked at their environment.  They looked at their boat.  They probably heard fear filled comments of those who were not fishermen.  Surely, they were frantically bailing out the water from the waves breaking over and swamping the boat.  This was a serious situation!   They had every reason to fear.  It would have been unnatural not to fear. 

BUT there was something that could overcome such fear.  Faith!  Not faith in their ability as fishermen, nor faith in people on the shore.  Only faith in Jesus!  …and He was present with them!!!!    He was already in their boat!!! 

APPLICATION:   We all face storms that can swamp our physical bodies, our family relationships, our finances, whatever boat we are in.  We are powerless against them.  We all face trouble that only Jesus can solve. 

Is Jesus in your boat?  You are either in a storm, or a storm will be coming.  We all have faith, but where is your faith?  The object of our faith must be worthy and capable.  Jesus is both!   I invite you to pray with me…

PRAYER:   Lord, I need you in my boat.  You see the things that are beyond my ability.  I place my faith in you to forgive my sins.  Make me clean in my heart and mind.  I set you as the Lord of my life. 

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon

A Well-Used Path!

Posted on by
Reply

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
February 22, 2025: SOAP #5560:  Numbers 10-11; Psalm 27; Mark 1

SCRIPTURE:  Mark (NIV) 1:2 It is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”—3 “a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” 4 And so John came,

OBSERVATION:   Mark begins his gospel telling about John the Baptist who had been prophesied in Isaiah 40.  He was to introduce Jesus.  He was to “prepare the way for the Lord,” What caught my attention was the phrase “make straight paths for him.”  One can travel two ways on a path, so, the path would be a way for Jesus to move to the people, and a way for people to move to Jesus. 

Straight speaks to me of being not crooked and level.  It speaks of easing the journey and being able to look and see what is ahead. 

APPLICATION:   For those who have committed their life to Jesus and invited Him to live in their life as Lord, our lives become a path that Jesus can travel to the people around us.  Our lives also becomes a path that our family and friends can travel to Jesus. 

We should make sure our lives are a straight path to Jesus.  We should remove things that may make Jesus hard to see.  Our lives should provide a “straight” path to Jesus, a path without things that block the view of Jesus.  May people quickly and easily see Jesus in all we do, in every conversation and every action. 

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, make my life a path that Jesus can easily travel to get to those around me, and that those around me can easily see and get to Jesus.  Lord, may my life be a well-used path between you and those around me.  Amen         

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon

Oh, what a change!!!

Posted on by
Reply

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
February 2, 2025: SOAP #5540:  Exodus 33-34; Psalm 16; Acts 9

SCRIPTURE:  Acts (NIV) 9:19 …Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who caused havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ. 23 After many days had gone by, the Jews conspired to kill him,

OBSERVATION:   What a change!  Paul was on a trip to Damascus to take those who believed in Jesus as prisoner and take them before the religious court, probably to kill them.  That is the way it started, but Jesus interrupted Paul’s trip and Paul came to believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah for which the Jews were waiting.  Before leaving Damascus, he preached powerful sermons proving that Jesus is the Christ.  He even became a target of being potentially killed

APPLICATION:  No one can change a life like Jesus!  When He comes into a person’s life and is given the place as Lord, He makes changes!   Our nation is presently undergoing great changes as we have a new president!   Every day, the news has stories about how President Trump has changed something.  But the political changes are small compared to the changes Christ brings to our lives.  2Corinthians 5:17 says “if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.  The old has gone, the new is here!”

PRAYER:  Lord, what a special blessing it is to be a “new creation” in you.  Life is not boring with you because every day you have something new for us.  Being faithful in reading your word, in prayer, in consciously being aware of your presence all day long keeps us spiritually alert for a new adventure with you.  Amen.

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon

Programmed for Victory

Posted on by
Reply

Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 23, 2025: SOAP #5529:  Exodus 6-8; Luke 23

SCRIPTURE:  Exodus (NIV) 6:6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.’” 9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage.

OBSERVATION:   What promises!   And consider who it is that is making these promises!   It is none other than The Creator of the Heavens and Earth!   If anyone had the power to keep such promises, GOD DID!!! 

If God almighty made such a promise to me, I believe I would be shouting, and dancing, and having a happy party!!!  But not the Israelites, no. They were so discouraged, they did not even hear the promises, or Who it was making such great promises!   We often criticize them, but we must be careful. Because we do the same thing!  

APPLICATION:  Knowing us as well as He does, He has given us a whole book filled with His promises!   If we forget we can go back and read them again!  

And knowing us as well as He does, He has given us the Holy Spirit to accompany us throughout our lives!   He accompanies us 24 hours a day.   He teaches up; He reminds us; He guides us!   We are never left alone.  We must apply what we have been given.  

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ who suffered and died in payment for our sins.  We are so blest!    AND thank you for your Word, written and available.  It teaches us to live in victory.  AND thank you for the Holy Spirit!  His presence assures us that we will always have someone to guide us and remind us of what you have said.   Heavenly Father, you have programmed us for victory and you have provided for our victory.  We rejoice.  Amen 

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
On Facebook:  Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon