by admin | Jun 19, 2025 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Daryl Skeeter Spaulding / Cowboys for Christ
Have you ever met someone who always finds fault in a church fellowship?
A great Baptist preacher I knew had a wonderful statement he said all the time, “Every time you point a finger at someone, you have three pointing right back at yourself”. How true that is! There are some folks who are never happy for very long in one place. We all have an expectation of what a church should be like in our own minds, but we as Americans are used to having things our way.
Attending church is so important to our spiritual growth, but it’s not a place to just park our carcasses down and expect to be served. We should go to be “a part” of something. “a part” does not mean idle. It’s good for all of us not to think too much of ourselves,” get out of our box” as the saying goes.
I have great memories being in Brazil for a summer mission trip. We worked in somewhat of a remote area constructing a building for a youth camp. The kitchen crew worked under a lean-to and each day they boiled large pots of water at a roll for 20 minutes for drinking and cooking for the following day. Our team traveled each Sunday to a different church to sing and talk about the work we were doing as part of the service. I’ll never forget seeing poor people travel by a small boat down river just to get to church. At other places they walked to get to church. And you can forget the fancy wood pews.
Maybe, you yourself have served on a mission trip here or abroad. Worked in a food pantry preparing boxes to give to those in need in your community or collected items for Samaritan Purse Christmas shoe boxes. At the “Brand of The Cross”, the cowboy fellowship where my wife and I attend, we collect items for those shoe boxes all year long for a packing party along with a chili cookoff competition. The whole fellowship gets involved; it’s a lot of fun.
Jesus was the perfect model for us when it comes to serving others. He washed the disciple’s feet just before His arrest. He needed to show them how to serve each other.
We find in the gospel of John 13:12-16. After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.
When you and I serve others, it takes the focus off ourselves. It’s a great remedy to becoming a nitpicker. God bless you as you go serve!
by admin | Jun 19, 2025 | James
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
Even demons believe in God but do our lives demonstrate that we have a saving faith in Jesus?
If you look around during the opening sequence of a rodeo, you can see evidence of faith everywhere. People in the bleachers stand with their hats off and bow their heads in prayer as the announcer often leads a scripted prayer or uses “The Cowboy Prayer” that most of us have heard dozens to more than a hundred times. You can see the rodeo cowboys’ crosses on necklaces dangling out from under their shirts as gravity pulls them free in their forward-leaning positions as they pray. You might see some take a knee on the arena ground and point to the sky after a win or even just a safe dismount or run in a gesture toward God.
But if you walk through the parking lot after the performance, you can just as easily see the sinful side of some of those same cowboys as no one watches their language without the spectators and especially kids around as beer and weed come out. If you know what you’re looking for, you’ll see a handshake that exchanges money or a baggy. Later, some will hook up with buckle bunnies at a bar somewhere or get into a fight. Those are just some of the visible sins that can help create a negative stereotype for rodeo cowboys.
And of course, it isn’t like that with everyone. There’s still a huge family component to the sport but for many, that opening prayer will be the only time that family prays all week.
And also, of course, there are devout Christians in the mix who, like any Christian trying to follow Jesus, struggle with their sins but are dedicated to growing in their faith.
Real faith that leads to action.
And that’s what James is talking about in all of James 2:14-26.
James 2:14-18 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
James is telling us that when our saving faith in Jesus is real, it leads us to carry out “deeds” which are the actions we take as we follow what Jesus and others teach us in the Bible. Helping someone in need, speaking words that lift people up, refraining from anger and immorality.
None of these earn us salvation but they are proof that we’re saved because when our faith is real, we want to be more like Jesus and actually live out what the Bible teaches us. A cross around our necks can show us that we have faith, but how we conduct ourselves shows our faith is alive and real.
Wearing crosses and acknowledging God by pointing upward after a win can show that we have faith, that we at least believe in God, but James reminds us that even demons believe God is real. When our faith has saved us by truly believing Jesus was the son of God, died for our sins and was resurrected so that with repentance and asking to be forgiven of our sins, then we are going to live out our faith.
Just the act of receiving salvation requires more than faith. We have to believe but we also have to take the actions of repenting of our sin and asking to be forgiven.
James puts it bluntly that when there are no actions to back up our faith, our faith is dead. It’s actually as useless as telling a hungry person who can’t afford food, to go find something to eat. If we find ourselves wondering if we are really saved, by looking at our lives and seeing if we have a desire to know what’s in the Bible and that we’re trying to live it out; that can be proof to ourselves that we have a genuine saving faith in Jesus.
If there are actions to back up why we wear that cross or have it as a tattoo on our arm, others can see that our faith is real and alive. It can help others to want to know how to find an eternity in Heaven when they see our faith in action.
It’s okay to wear the cross or have the tattoo, there just are going to be Christ-like actions to back it up when our faith is real.
by admin | Jun 4, 2025 | James
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross Racing to get to a rodeo or stock sale on time, some of us have experienced mercy at the hands of a law enforcement officer who chose to let us off with a warning.
Mercy from God is not receiving a punishment we deserve. Be sending Jesus to die for our sins and take the punishment we deserve, God shows us His greatest of mercies.
James 2: 12-13 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
When James tells us to live like we are being judged by the law that gives freedom, he is talking about the gospel and God’s mercy and grace given to those of us who believe. We repent of our sin with the understanding Jesus died to take the punishment our sins deserve so that if we believe in his life, death and resurrection and ask to be forgiven, we are able to have an eternity in Heaven. God no longer judges us for our sin. That is true freedom, far greater than a cop overlooking a speeding fine and the fact we aren’t wearing a seat belt. We can breathe a sigh of relief that our efforts to get to the rodeo haven’t cost us a couple hundred dollars but true freedom comes in knowing God will receive us into Heaven no matter what mistakes we’ve made because of our saving faith in Jesus.
But if we’ve been shown that kind of mercy, how can we not extend mercy to others instead of our own personal judgments?
Because of the previous verses in James, there’s an emphasis on how the poor are treated and the need for them to receive mercy from Christians, not judgment.
This still extends to all aspects of our life and James is encouraging us to be sure that we show mercy to everyone, all the time. That’s tough to do and why God, who can show endless grace and mercy, will still extend it to us.
We know that even if we mess up pretty bad after we’ve come to a saving faith in Jesus, God will still welcome us into Heaven through His grace. James warns us that even as Christians welcomed to Heaven, there are still consequences from God for us acting without mercy to others.
Mercy triumphs over judgment.
What we show others, we should expect to be shown to us.
Would you rather sit in judgment of someone you don’t think deserves to be helped or would you rather honor God, who saved you from an eternity in hell, by showing mercy to someone.
That can be through forgiving a friend or family member who wronged you, helping pay someone’s entry fees who you would rather judge for blowing all his money at the bar the night before or giving money to the man begging at the intersection while the light is red and you’re late now anyway because the cop pulled you over.
Cowboys of the Cross is a rodeo/bull riding ministry that leads cowboy church services at events and maintains an online presence to share the gospel and make disciples among the ranch and rodeo community. They can be found at CowboysOfTheCross.com
by admin | Jun 2, 2025 | James
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
Have you ever been made to feel like you didn’t measure up? A lot of cowboys have been through this, especially from the rodeo side of the industry. To reach their goals, many jump from job to job and paycheck to paycheck to be able to stay on the road. They drive older, unreliable vehicles and ask to help tear down after the rodeo in exchange for the producer paying their fees.
Most within the industry gets it and will do what they can to help someone else that’s struggling. But back at our jobs or at school or among our extended families, we hear the “loser” comments behind our backs. Worse, we get hit with them spoken right to us.
And while I would like to think this doesn’t happen, there’s a reason many churches have notices on their websites about “coming as your are” or “dressed as your are.” I know a cowboy who quit going to church because to him, coming in starched jeans, cleaned up boots and a button-down shirt was coming dressed in his best, but he was actually told by a deacon in a suit to dress better for service. Be assured, this is rare and most churches are welcoming.
James 2: 1-11 (1 to 5 shown) My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
Our society still does this today. Maybe it’s because we think they can do something for us that a poor person can’t, but we’re drawn to the people who have more and the wealthy seem to get warmer welcomes in a crowd. While many are generous with their wealth, many also use their wealth and other rich connections to get further ahead. A rodeo cowboy is drawn to the successful champion and would rather be seen standing next to him than to the new guy who has his spurs on upside down.
For Christians, James is being straightforward in telling us not to show favoritism. And worse, he tells us when we separate out someone because they have less than us, we’re guilty of evil thoughts for judging them as lesser people. He later tells us it’s a sin to show favoritism.
Our real wealth comes in our faith and in those terms, we can all have equal chances at being rich in faith. The person with the new barn and growing cattle herd has just as much to gain in Heaven as the cowboy living out of his car, eating a gas station hot dog.
Further into the verses and we see reminders of the Old Testament law and how they kept the systems fair. We’re reminded to let the courts and governments set the rules society follows but that our place is to care for the people God puts in our path and to treat them they way we would want to be treated. That includes the welfare mom or the immigrant. It isn’t for us to personally judge and condemn them for their situations, but to help them when we see where we can provide help. It would be breaking the law to hire someone without a work visas but it isn’t wrong for us to give that person a bag of groceries if we know their children aren’t getting enough to eat. It isn’t right for us to condemn the welfare mom who has a package of cookies as a treat for her kids on the checkout belt but comes up short on her food stamps. If we have the extra, we can cover those cookies and hand her the orange juice we just paid for in our cart.
by admin | May 22, 2025 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Daryl Skeeter Spaulding / Cowboys for Christ chaplain
The greatest rancher of all time in the Bible was King Solomon. His kingdom stretched many places surrounding Israel. He had the command of the entire region and a multitude of personal staff that no other ever achieved. How would you like to manage and feed that bunch?
Let’s have a look at how he did it. We find it in 1 Kings 4:22-26. “Solomon’s daily provisions were thirty cors (5 ½ tons) of the finest flour and sixty cors (11 tons) of meal, ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice foul. For he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and had peace on all sides. During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, everyone under their own vine and under their fig tree. Solomon had four thousand stalls for chariot horses, and twelve thousand horses”. (Bold letters and parentheses are added.)
That’s a lot of livestock, not to mention the waterfowl!!! Plus, all wheat and corn for the refining of flour and meal. Solomon was a ranching and farming mogul. It would have been a sportsman’s paradise. He both grew/raised the daily provisions and imported it from the countries under his influence. The definition of “daily” is what really struck me.
But what really made Solomon such a great man? This guy was about 20 years old when King David placed him on the throne. And now King Solomon was in charge before David passed. There are some indicators in Scripture that Solomon was not David’s first choice for his replacement. Being 20 years old with the world setting on his shoulders, does not exactly breathe confidence. This young King knew this as well. Solomon had a dream when God asked him a question. 1 Kings 3:5-15.
Starting with verse 5 we read— At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him,” Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for- both wealth and honor – so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” Then Solomon awoke-and he realized it had been a dream.
This is what made King Solomon so great!!! He wanted wisdom from Almighty God above anything else. I want my heart and attitude to be like this and I hope you do as well. Wouldn’t this attitude be great for every government official?
But let’s start with ourselves today. The first thing is to have a relationship with Almighty God through faith in Jesus Christ, reading the Bible daily and finding a good fellowship at church to do life with. All of this will lead to the wisdom we need to live a life pleasing to God.
Recent Comments