by admin | May 15, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
Fly high cowboy, your fees are paid.
Using some form of that phrase when someone in the rodeo cowboy crowd has died is fairly common.
The problem is, most people don’t really understand what they’re saying and it creates the false impression that we call go to Heaven when we die. I see it used by people I thought knew differently but they continually place a cowboy in Heaven who almost certainly didn’t enter that rodeo.
How can you say that? How can you know for sure? That’s judgmental.
Well, the reason I can say it with almost certainty is because I’d had an open and frank conversation with that person in question and he made it clear to me he didn’t believe in Jesus and wasn’t interested in it. He was someone I got along with and was explaining why he didn’t come to cowboy church at the rodeos we were often at together because he didn’t want me thinking it was personal. He made a lot of sinful or what I would consider “dumb” choices at best, but he was a nice guy who was well-loved by all those he partied with every weekend.
Here’s the kicker: most of the time when we share a social media post about a cowboy riding a rank one in Heaven or getting his wings (we don’t become angels), we don’t actually even know what the person believed before they died and we never ask. Most of us pray. Most of us believe in God, but that doesn’t get us to Heaven. James reminds us that even the demons believe in God. A lot of us don’t really know ourselves how to be certain we’re going to Heaven, never mind how to tell someone else.
And sure, one never knows what happens privately between a person and God but we’re also told in scripture that when someone has a genuine, saving faith in Jesus, there will be fruit. Fruit are changes in a person’s life that show Christ and the Holy Spirit in them is moving them away from sin and into a life that’s more holy. By holy, we mean more Christ-like by how we see Jesus in the Bible
John 15:8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
That made it that much harder personally when he died. It’s important to understand God can draw someone to Him at any time and there’s no telling what happened in his last moments, but the reality is, not only did he not believe, but he openly rejected Christianity.
So how can so many people put him in Heaven?
I think when we love someone, it’s hard to think of them suffering for eternity in Hell. I think we also just don’t think seriously enough about how real both places are. It’s also largely because we don’t really understand what is called the gospel—how through Jesus, a person is saved from God’s wrath against sin and made right before God to be given an eternity in Heaven.
We can’t ‘love them’ into Heaven. Only the love of Jesus gets them there through their faith in his birth, death and resurrection and belief that he took the punishment meant for our sins so that by repenting of those sins and asking to be forgiven, we can be given eternal life in Heaven.
This is where the expression in rodeo that “he paid your fees” comes from. It’s taken from a genuine understanding of the gospel that tells us that Jesus paid the price meant for our sins.
Being liked and loved by others, being popular, being good by how we might measure goodness; none of these ideas gets us into Heaven. Even the kindest most generous person is separated from God by just the smallest sin and none of us are able to get through life without some kind of sin like a moment of anger or a lustful thought.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Grace and mercy are what God has given us through Jesus’s death on the cross. We deserve God’s wrath for our sin, any sin, but we’re given a way through a saving faith in Jesus, to be made right with God. The ‘works’ being referred to is what makes it clear that just being a good person doesn’t earn a place in Heaven. Works are the good actions we do and way of living we might lead. Through an understanding that any sin deserves punishment and no amount of good can earn us Heaven, every single person has the same chance to have Jesus pay his fees.
by admin | May 15, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Will Brunke / Cowboys of the Cross
My wife and I’s most recent visit to worship service this past Sunday yielded some interesting results. While my usual excitement for the weekly message roiled along with the complimentary coffee that is offered in the foyer, the monotone rhythm of the substitute pastor managed to counteract the excitement of the spirit even coupled with the moderate dose of caffeine into submission. Yet, as I dazed in and out of the message, a “God Thing” happened as only He could impose. And during my arousal from a near neck-snapping chin nod, I felt transported sideways into a message entirely as if I was the only
one hearing it.
Concerned that my “side message” may be spurious in nature, I attempted to reengage the subject matter and connect the talking points back to the pastors original baseline message. But then yet another anecdotal framing reinforced the first, and
another, and another. On the drive home, my wife stopped for fast food and while waiting, we were asked to pull ahead by the curb since our order was slow to materialize. My wife and I then picked up on a conversation cut short earlier and again, I came back to that same sticky thought in my brain.
Then they forgot the spoon for the milkshake.
As I soothed my wife and jokingly reminded her that sometimes the greatest test for a Christian is how we treat the drive-through employees on our way home from church, I stepped out of the truck to secure both the order and humanitarian spirit. But on the ride home, the gears really started turning in my head.
What I write at this moment will come with a disclaimer; Scott Hilgendorff, who was called to lead this ministry full time, knew nothing and knows nothing of what I am about to say. Nor is Scott probably comfortable with my calculated poking of the proverbial “bear(s)”.
And that is the point. Poking you bears. And most of you bears have been hibernating ……right on top of an unrealized gem.
Now as a retired bulll rider, in the nearly 20 years I have known Scott, I have quietly been amazed by him of many things. One point of amazement is a running joke I started and repeat to Scott and others who know Scott personally. Tell me if you’ve heard it: It’s the one about a guy who comes from a diminishingly Christian nation named Canada. He hears the Holy Spirit telling him to abandon everything he knows and go to one of the most populous Christian nations named ‘Merica because there are people in places who haven’t heard the Gospel and some of those who have heard it, were given a false version of it.
This joke for most Christians in America could be considered offensive. It’s like having to sit without interruption while a comedian roasts your wife or child that you were so sure that there was nothing wrong with or funny about. What?? We need missionaries to come from outside the U.S. to spread the Gospel in our own back yards?? Harumph!!
But yes, it’s true. A lot of us absolutely stink at spreading the Good news, proclaiming the Gospel, participating in the Great Commission, and even discipling. Many more treat the sanctuary of the church as barricade from the world rather than a fort to train the Christian soldiers and prepare and discipline them to resist and defeat the evil one who prowls like a lion. (1 Peter 5: 8-10)
And not only has Scott Hilgendorff left his successful professional former life in Canada, Scott has chosen to inhabit the dirt holes and hovels to whence you dare not approach. Scott has not only worn the shoes of the peace of the Gospel, (Eph 6: 10-20) but he bought the extra padded insoles and the snake guards that extend up to the knee and has been like the one crying out in the wilderness, (Isaiah 40: 3-8) in a spiritual battle to save the souls of countless characters –many of ill repute.
While many of us Christians are not equipped or called into missions, in general, the church congregation has adopted a contemptuous view of missional work outside of the quasi-vacations to Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rico, Kenya, etc. We are constantly surrounded by chaos and despair in our own communities but speed past it daily. all the while, after 100’s of known missional studies conducted over the years and a similar number of personal admissions I have witnessed, the most common reactions to first-time foreign missionaries upon their return home are;
“They seem so happy with so little over there”
“I didn’t know that the country of _ __ had so many Christians”
“I never felt unsafe”
What I am NOT saying is that safety should not be prioritized. I am NOT saying that foreign mission trips are bad. After all, God will send a messenger to his people and there is a plan for every one of us, (Jer 29:11).
What I am saying is that Scott has planted the Christian flag by the encampments of despair where happiness is sometimes fleeting at best. Scott is surrounded by non-believers in stark contrast to the number of professed Christians. Scott has risked his safety many, many, many times. And while there have been many breakthroughs, conversions, and moments of pure joy, the reality of the matter is that through Scott, the Lord has taken a nearly inarable field and brought forth fruit from it.
What I am also saying is that those of us who are familiar with Scott have been given a unique opportunity to support a grassroots mission that few people are called or equipped to succeed in. Not only has Scott persevered, but he has thrived in the environment the Lord led him to and developed a road map for local missions work that is more valuable than the latest and hottest crypto currency but will stand the test of time.
What I am asking is that as many of us as possible should lift up and support our brother who has defended the faith, (1 Peter 3:15) from the likes of false teachers, hollow prosperity, and mere wolves in sheep’s clothing who have perilously outnumbered him.
Scott, at times has had to bear his cross quietly and even at times against resistance from all sides.
I have been to the places I am describing to you. I have seen and heard the atrocities and abominations. And I have also been there when these same perpetrators of hate and sin have made the 2 am phone call to Scott when they had no one else to turn to or were in desperation. Even though Scott was a “Goodie Goodie Missionary” his reputation was beyond reproach and his name was trustworthy. Through John 13:35 Scott has cultivated relationships of love for his neighbors no matter if they were believers or had admonished him for calling sin, sin. I met and was joined by Scott in the days of yore concerning my bull riding career. I was taught and discipled by this man. I in turn taught and discipled.
And yes, when I say, “lift up and support” I mean give. Financially support a ministry that has boots on the ground of the lowly corners of despair where the lost gather together unaware of their own peril and sometimes just horribly misinformed. And where opportunists prey openly and spiritual warfare aims to keep any unity and understanding scattered like seed thrown for the birds to eat.
Please consider making May 2024 the month you commit to our brother in the faith.
Be Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity
Don’t be Proverbs 17:16 Why should a fool have money in his hand to buy wisdom when he
has no sense.
Tax deductible donations, tithes and offerings are administered for Cowboys of the Cross through a church in Lewisburg, TN. Tax deductible donations can be sent to LifeSong Family Church, 1041 S. Ellington Pkwy, Lewisburg, TN, 37091. Checks should be made out to LifeSong Family Church with a note in the envelope that it is for Cowboys of the Cross or rodeo missions.
Contributions can also be made online at https://www.lifesongfamily.org
by admin | May 2, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
For Christians in the cowboy crowd, or those who at least believe in God, one of two things seems to happen when a cowboy hits rock bottom.
The first: he shares publicly with everyone who will listen how bad things are, how bad he feels about it and how much he wants to change. It often includes social media posts and that generate lots of encouragement, especially when he says he wants to get things right with God and is going to make some serious life changes.
The second: he shares with a couple people close to him the struggle and asks for help coming to Jesus as he experiences a deep feeling of repentance and a desire to understand what it really means to be a Christian; a follower of Christ.
The first has good intentions but is likely dealing with guilt or self-pity over whatever circumstances have led to him finding himself at rock bottom which can be any number or combination of these examples or plenty of others that aren’t mentioned here: lost marriage or girl friend, lost job, impending jail time, loss of visitation rights with children.
But when feeling guilty over what has happened is the dominant reason for professing to want to change, it’s far less likely that any lasting change will take place.
The first happens far more often than the second and that’s just how it is supposed to be because scripture tells us that the number of people who make it to Heaven is going to be a small percentage of the population.
I’ve shared with the first person free access to an otherwise paid Christian teaching service with all kinds of videos and lessons, many of them short and simple, to help a person grown and “get right with God” as they have said they want to do. The Cowboys of the Cross website and YouTube channel have more than 300 videos and written devotions and sermons to help and usually when I send that to the first person, he tells us he’s going to take a look at the site but never does.
When rock bottom brings about real repentance, you have the second person and God begins to do a work in him to bring about real change and transformation.
Ephesians 4:20-24 17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
In this letter from Paul, he is describing both types of people: the ones whose hearts are not ready for change and the ones who are and have become new ‘selves’ transformed by their faith in Jesus and becoming more like him; more righteous and holy. By that, we understand we aren’t perfect and if we’ve hit rock bottom, we may have a long way to go to ever become like Jesus but like all Christians, day by day we begin to grow and change more into his likeness.
Without a saving faith in Jesus, we can climb back up from the bottom but nothing about our nature is truly changed.
by admin | Apr 18, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
If there’s ever a time when people in the cowboy culture pray, it’s at a rodeo or bull riding before competing. Some pray not to be hurt, some pray to win, some pray for the stock and some just use it as quiet time to talk to God.
The Bible gives us lots of examples of praying to God to meet our needs as well as verses that tell us not to worry; that God will provide.
Matthew 7:11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
When we look at just this verse without context and careful understanding of the power a single word in the verses before it, it sounds like God will give us more than we could dream if we just have faith and ask. It’s a common belief but it comes from not having a more full understanding of God’s word.
Here is the whole section:
Matthew 7:7-11 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
The word we need to look at closely: “Seek.”
Seeking means we are looking hard into what it is we should be asking God for. Are we trying to follow His will for our lives? Then we would be seeking what we need to follow His direction for us. Are we looking for ways to share the gospel or love our neighbors as Jesus commands us? Then we would be seeking what we need to accomplish that.
And then we would trust that if our parents, who are flawed compared to God’s greatness, are going to meet our needs, then we trust even more that God will give us what we need.
In James chapter 4, he comes at the issue from a different direction, explaining how it’s our nature to want things for our own, selfish desires to the point it can lead to fights and even murder—something we still see in society today. He explains to us that this is why it sometimes seems like God isn’t giving us what we want.
James 4:3 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
It’s okay to want to win the rodeo, but what is our motivation? If we’re digging into what it means to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus, then we should be wanting what Jesus would want us to do or what the Bible teaches us about living out our faith. We know in Scripture that we are meant to live in a way that glorifies God. So how can our win be used to give Him glory or point others to Jesus? It can and if what we pray for lines up with what God wants for us, we could see that win come our way.
And if that win doesn’t come, no matter how hard we were seeking God before we asked for it, then we also trust that our loss, even at a time when we personally needed the money or confidence, is still a better gift than what even our own parents could want for us. It just may take some time to see what God was doing in that moment and we rely on God’s strength to endure what feels like a struggle and trust that everything works together for His good–and we get to be a part of that, even when it feels hard for us.
by admin | Apr 4, 2024 | Behind the Bucking Chutes
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
Sometimes the bad guy wins. There really is a rodeo judge out there that has it in for someone and successfully screws the cowboy over every chance he gets. There really is someone lying and cheating their way to get ahead of you at work. Some of you are victims of crimes in which the person got away with it or the punishment just didn’t seem like enough.
When I get to teach something and it’s one of the ‘difficult’ Bible verses like the one that you’re about to read, I get it. I know it’s easy for me to teach it but it doesn’t mean it’s always any easier for me to live it out when I’m standing there asking you to try.
Romans 12: 19-21 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
This is honestly harder for me to say than you might think because I don’t want to share the bad thoughts as someone who is in a position to teach and minister to you but this is my reality right now: there is someone out there that a small part of me would take satisfaction in taking a swing at with my baseball bat. I’m not joking. And it troubles me that as mature as I would like to be in my faith, that I’m still capable of a thought like this, though I’m grateful and want to be clear it is a small part of me and I would never take that action.
But what it shows about me is that I do get it when I teach verses like this. I’m not asking you guys to do things I either presently find hard or have had a chance to work through myself as I’ve learned more about what’s in the Bible.
It’s hard to see someone get away with evil and be satisfied that God will take care of it when the systems in place fail. But here’s the deal. Adam and Eve decided in the garden they wanted the same knowledge as God and allowed sin to be a part of our world. They wanted to be able to judge for themselves what is right and wrong, rather than leave it to God. It’s a natural part of being human but as Christians, we’re made new and meant to be becoming more like Jesus and less like our old selves.
When we’re dealing with Christians who do wrong to others, there are several Biblical responses to that including church discipline e and a process to make the situation right. A Christian who is truly saved would want to follow these steps, particularly ones laid out in Matthew 18:15-20.
For non-believers, there are two outcomes for someone who has done evil to you, they will repent through God’s grace and mercy
or they will face God’s judgement and spend eternity in hell.
I have a hard time taking comfort or being at peace with someone who has wronged me enough to want to hit them with a bat, suffering for eternity in hell when I know I’ve been forgiven of my wrongs and received God’s grace and mercy through Jesus’s death and resurrection and my own repentance and saving faith in him.
Right now, I’m also having a hard time with the idea of showing kindness to the people who have done evil but they deserve the shot at salvation I received and while they haven’t received the justice that I would hope for them, they don’t find Jesus the lord of their life, hell is the reality they face.
While those verses in Romans are not teaching this, while I continue to wrestle with God’s direction for me to repay evil with kindness, what I can do in the meantime is follow other Biblical teaching that directs us to treat others with kindness so that they could come to saving faith in Jesus.
It doesn’t take away my responsibility to work through these verses and adopt them into how I approach the evil that we do in this world, but it does provide a positive outcome that can impact the world around us for Jesus.
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