"The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." (1 Cor. 2:15-16)

I love being disturbed during the night, when it is the Lord. Last night the Lord began speaking to me about the above verse and reminded me that it was the Spirit of God who gave this thought to our brother Paul and had him write it down for us to ponder over. And ponder we do. Webster tells us that to ponder we are weighing in our mind; to mediate; deliberate. He goes on with the word mediate and tells us that this is a definite focusing of one’s thoughts upon something so as to understand it deeply. Let us ponder this thought today – deeply.

I saw many years ago that the major sin of all of us who are living holy lives before the Lord is unbelief. The Hebrew epistle has this theme and after living among the Jews these past six years I stand in amazement of just how little they really believe about their God. But, we are not much better if any at all. Scripture clearly states that we have the mind of Christ. Do we really believe this statement? If we believe scripture and I know that most of us do, then what is the main hindrance to our truly having the mind of Christ?

Before we address this question the Lord wants us to grasp the tremendous blessing that is ours for the taking if we just dare to believe and trust Him. It is very clear that we are living in a crazy world these days and we also know that most likely things are going to get worse before the day that we look up and see our Redeemer coming to get us. Lord, help us to grasp your heart in all of this and cause us to hunger and thirst after You. Help us to realize just how desperately we need your mind as we walk our life out before You.

Back to the question of what hinders us in this pursuit of having His mind in all matters. Paul is basically laying out in the first part of this epistle the mind that we must have if we desire to have the mind of Christ. He tells us that we must lay aside everything accept Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2) Can you imagine yourself coming to this place in your walk with the King of Glory? I am personally seeing that a great deal of what I thought was so important about correct doctrine really is not that important. The absolutes of what we must believe are the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ.

The other day I was with a friend who owns a cabinet shop and I was visiting with an employee who was asking me about Israel. He was quick to let me know that he knew a great deal and so I was basically just listening to him. In this conversation he let me know that he was Pentecostal and that he had been baptized in Jesus name only. I smiled at him and told him that he was adding to scripture which stirred up all sorts of things within him. What do you mean, he asked? The little word “only” has been added to your doctrine on baptism I replied. I told him that I had been baptized in Jesus name and when we add the word “only” then we are in error. It is amazing how much stuff we can add to the simplicity of the gospel.

Elisha would not take his eyes off of Elijah because he had purposed to get a double portion of the anointing that was on Elijah. Elijah told him that if he saw him when the Chariot came out of heaven to pick him up he would receive a double portion. Pretty simple theology wouldn’t you say? The writer of Hebrews tells us that we must fix our eyes on Jesus if we are to run the race that is set before us. (Hebrews 12:2) Lord, help us to fix our eyes on You, the perfecter of our faith.

A note about our soap. We have a large shipment due in Dallas on Friday and we will began to ship soap orders a week from today. Thanks for your patience and especially thanks for your orders. You can continue to order by going to the soap page at:
http://www.samaritanfoundation.org/product.htm

I am looking for a single man or couple who would like to work in our soap plant in Ariel in 2007. You would need to be able to spend at least 5 or 6 months. I can furnish a place for you to stay and a little spending money. If interested, let me know.

Blessings, Homer Owen

www.samaritanfoundation.org
homer@samaritanfoundation.org