Starting the book of Acts

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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 12, 2026: SOAP #6156: Nehemiah 7-8; Acts 1

SCRIPTURE:  Acts (NIV) 1:5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” …
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

OBSERVATION:  It does not take long before the subject of the Holy Spirit is introduced into the book of Acts.  (The gospel of Luke and the book of Acts were both written by Luke.)  In the gospel we read the importance of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus and the promise of the Holy Spirit coming to work in the lives of believers.  Now, here, beginning with the second verse of Acts, we find the same theme. To put it simply, my relationship with Jesus frees me from sin whereas my relationship with the Holy Spirit empowers me to serve. 

APPLICATION:  As I grow in my understanding of what Jesus has done for me, I grow in my desire to serve Him.  I want to please Him and be a profitable worker in His kingdom.  I soon come to understand that I need the empowering of the Holy Spirit.  His presence and anointing makes my service a joy and makes it fruitful.    

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, fill me and use me for the glory of Jesus my Lord.  Make me a useful servant of Jesus.  Guide me and speak through me.  Amen. 

Pastor Leon
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A Good Question!

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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 11, 2026: SOAP #6155: Nehemiah 5-6; Psalm 146; Luke 24

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 24:1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4  While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5  In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?

OBSERVATION:  The women were looking for Jesus.  The last time they saw him, He was being crucified and then placed in the tomb.  According to their understanding of the nature of the things they had witnessed, coming to the tomb made perfect sense.  But according to Jesus word that He would rise from the dead on the third day, what the angle said was most logical! 

Living people do not make their homes in cemeteries, and Jesus was alive!

APPLICATION:  Jesus was not only alive then, HE IS STILL ALIVE!   Sunday morning gatherings should not be funeral services, but resurrection celebrations!  Do not expect to find a living Jesus in a dead church. 

We are not gathering to hear what Jesus did 2,000 years ago, we are gathering to celebrate what He did this past week!   We gather in expectation of what He will do this coming week!   The best thing about our gatherings is that the One we worship is actually present!   Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the preacher takes words written 1000s of years ago and makes them applicable to our lives today!  

PRAYER:  Lord, make Your presence easily recognizable as we gather as Your church.  What really makes our gatherings to be Your church, is Your presence.  Encourage us with the testimonies of others.  Stir our hearts as we worship you.  Stir our minds as we hear your word, spoken, or read, or preached.  May we leave knowing that we have been in Your Presence.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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Being like Jesus

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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 10, 2026: SOAP #6154: Nehemiah 3-4; Luke 23

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 23:32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

OBSERVATION:  About verse 34, Albert Barnes wrote, “The power and excellence of the Christian religion. No other religion teaches men to pray for the forgiveness of enemies; no other disposes them to do it. Men of the world seek for revenge; the Christian bears reproaches and persecutions with patience, and prays that God would pardon those who injure them, and save them from their sins.”

APPLICATION:  What is it that disposes Christians to pray for their persecutors?  First would be the command in the Bible to “Pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44) 

Second would be the example of Jesus as seen in verse 34 above.  He is our Lord and we want to be like Him. 

And the third, and the greatest, would be the presence of Jesus living in our heart…for that is the essence of Christianity: Jesus living within the lives of those who are born again. 

PRAYER:  Jesus, be yourself living in me.  Grow within me your inclination to be loving and forgiving.  By your Holy Spirit teach me to respond in ways that represent you, that bring you joy and honor.  Bring to my mind the truth that I am just passing through this world and that soon, in your presence, I will either rejoice or regret my actions here.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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Making Preparation

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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 09, 2026: SOAP #6153: Nehemiah 1-2; Psalm 133-134; Luke 22

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 22:8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” 9 “Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked. 10 He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 12 He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there.” 13 They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

OBSERVATLION:  “Go and make preparations … ”  Some things can happen on the spur of the moment; however others require preparation.  The cross required great preparation beginning even before the foundation of the world. Man got a glimpse in the Garden of Eden; more details are added through the remaining chapters of Genesis.  However, in Exodus we see the cross being central, woven into the Tabernacle of Moses.

Now Peter and John were being sent to continue the preparation for the cross.  For Peter and John, it was merely preparing for the Passover.  For Jesus, it was preparation for the transaction that would bring many sons into glory! As Peter and John, they did what they could.  They made the preparations that were possible for them to make.  But Someone would soon be present that would be able to do what they could not do!

APPLICATION: There are many times when we will be used to make preparations. We may have the opportunity to start the process that will end with Jesus being invited and moving into the heart of someone needing their sins forgiven.  Our part may be as small as an invitation to our home, or to church.  Our part may be sharing our testimony of what God has done for us.  Our part will include praying for them.  But the goal of our part is for Jesus to become their Lord!      

PRAYER:  Lord, use me in the preparation for those around me to become believers in Your saving grace and to become followers of you that are full of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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The Remainings

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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 08, 2026: SOAP #6152: Ezra 9-10; Psalm 131; Luke 21

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 21:1  As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.  2  He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.  3  “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others.  4  All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” 

OBSERVATION:  Jesus was watching people as they gave their offerings at the temple.  What impressed him was not the amount of their gift, but the amount remaining after their giving.  It was not the size of the giving, but the size of what remained after the giving.    

APPLICATION: Jesus watches my giving too.  Although I am able to give more than in earlier years, I also know that I have more left over after my giving.  Knowing that I am a steward and that it all belongs to God, I know that he is just as interested in what remains as in what is given.      

PRAYER:  Lord, may you be pleased both with my giving and my remainings.  Amen

Pastor Leon
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Outside AND Inside

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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 07, 2026: SOAP #6151: Ezra 7-8; Luke 20

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 20:22  Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 
23  He (Jesus) saw through their duplicity and said to them,
24  “Show me a denarius.  Whose image and inscription are on it?”  “Caesar’s,” they replied. 
25  He said to them, “The give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” 

OBSERVATION:  If the image of Caesar on the coin indicated Caesar’s ownership, then that which carried the image of God would indicate God’s ownership. 

APPLICATION:  The song goes, “I was made in His likeness, created in His image.  I was born to serve the Lord.  I can’t deny Him;  I’ll always walk beside Him.  I was born to serve the Lord!”     

Consider this: on the outside, I carry His image; AND on the inside I carry His presence!  

PRAYER:  Lord, I bear your image and you have chosen to live in me.  Today I want people to easily recognize your Presence.   Amen

Pastor Leon
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Identified with me!

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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 06, 2026: SOAP #6150: Esther 9-10; Luke 19

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 19:10  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”:

OBSERVATION:  Jesus could have identified himself with the Jews by calling himself the “son of Abraham.”  He could have taken pride that he was in the royal line by referring to himself as the “son of David.”  He could have rightfully called himself the “Son of God.”  But Jesus took the humble way and identified himself again and again as the “son of man.”  He identified himself with those he came to serve. 

He was called a friend of sinners.  (Luke 7:34)

APPLICATION:   I am not above or more valuable than those to whom I have been sent, those whom I serve. 

PRAYER:   Lord, today may I walk humbly before you and before those around me.  Amen.

Pastor Leon
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Something fresh!

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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 05, 2026: SOAP #6149: Esther 3-8; Luke 18

SCRIPTURE:  Luke (NIV) 18:35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”… 42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

OBSERVATION:   When he was blind, he had no special agenda for the day.  Just sit and beg.  When he was healed, he lost his means of “employment,” he could no longer depend on the sympathy of the public.  He did the logical thing.  Verse 43 says, “Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.”
     I believe this man led the procession through Jericho where Zacchaeus was in the sycamore-fig tree and then on to Jerusalem where, seemingly, the whole city turned out to welcome their king as prophesied, arriving on a donkey.
     This man had a fresh testimony.  He was excited.  He was willing to share what Jesus had done for him TODAY! 

APPLICATION: When God heals me, or provides for me, or encourages me, or strengthens me, or whatever He does for me—I am not the only one to receive the blessing.  God Himself should be blest by my praise, my rejoicing, my testimony to others. 
     Oh, the testimonies I receive each week from the move of God in West Africa.  People who receive a healing are blest!  The people who witness those healings are also blest!  But I think that the one most blest is God!  He receives the joy and praise and celebration and worship and new commitments.  He joyfully forgives their sins and welcomes them into His kingdom!  

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, so many times you have intervened in my life.  I have been blest serving you.  I want you to be blest too!  When I get the benefit of your intervention, You should get the glory!  There is always something fresh for which I can be thankful. Amen

Pastor Leon
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Relationship Requirement

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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 04, 2026: SOAP #6148: Esther 1-2; Psalm 150; Luke 17

SCRIPTURE:  Luke 17:3 So watch yourselves. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.
4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

OBSERVATION:  Jesus is not speaking here to the one sinning, but to the one being sinned against!  Repentance is important, but He is not speaking about repentance here; He is speaking about the importance of forgiving!    Forgiveness allows the hurt to move into the past and heal.  Not forgiving keeps the hurt current and unable to heal. 

Forgiveness is vital for maintaining relationships.  People who hold grudges and will not forgive are always in danger of losing friends. 

APPLICATION:   If I am talking big numbers, it is not how many times I have to forgive my brother, but how many times my Lord has already forgiven me!  I could never out-forgive the LORD!  But I depend on the presence of the Holy Spirit to help me forgive others.          

PRAYER:  Lord, you indeed are The Great Expert on forgiveness!  I am so thankful that the Holy Spirit who was with you is also always with me.  Amen.

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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Look Who is watching!

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Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
October 03, 2026: SOAP #6147: Ezra 5-6; Psalm 138; Luke 16

SCRIPTURE:  Psalm (NIV) 138:6 Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly: but the proud he knows from afar.   

OBSERVATION:   The Lord is highly exalted above all creation, yet his eyes are drawn to the humble.  He knows the value of humility.  He is not looking for those who can put on a good show; he looks for those willing to work behind the scenes.  He is looking for those who serve faithfully even when no one is looking.  He who never sleeps and whose eyes are never closed sees what no one else sees.  He sees what people do when they think no one else is watching. 

He knows what the proud are doing, but his attention is drawn to the humble.     

APPLICATION:   It is important for little children to know that their mom or dad is watching.  If I want to have God’s attention and enjoy His presence “up close” I must learn to walk in humility.  I must be willing to serve those who cannot repay me.  I must serve with equal passion when people are watching and when no one is watching.  I am a child of the kingdom; my Heavenly Father is watching me!  

PRAYER:   Heavenly Father, I pray that you enjoy watching me. Give me an opportunities to serve in ways that no one will know but you.  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!   
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