Be ready to explain why you believe

Be ready to explain why you believe

by | Jul 28, 2025 | Best Sermons

PART TWO OF TWO

By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross

The best sermons are lived, not preached.

Many cowboys have seen memes or posts on social media that make this kind of statement and liked or shared them because it sounds great.

But it’s only half of the equation and it’s important not to miss the other half.

In Matthew 5, Jesus tells us to be a light in the world—that how we live our lives and the good we do will show Jesus to others. That’s very true and essential to our faith. When our saving faith in Jesus is real, we can’t help but want to become less sinful and live out more of what Jesus teaches and commands us to do.

One of his commands is what we call The Great Commission.

Matthew 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

A disciple is a follower of Jesus and in this command, we are all told that we are to go into the world around us and make disciples. That means first telling them about Jesus and then teaching them what we have learned or are learning. It isn’t just for preachers in the pulpit, it’s for rodeo cowboys at the fairground and ranch hands working cattle.

Being a light, doing good things, demonstrating that our life is changed by our saving faith in Jesus will show people our lives are different and being affected by our growing relationship with Christ, but others can’t be saved through our actions alone. We have to actually tell them who Jesus is and that he died on that cross to take the punishment meant for our sins so that through belief, genuine repentance of sin and asking to be forgiven, we can have an eternity in Heaven. The plan for salvation is commonly called The Gospel and we understand The Great Commission to be about sharing The Gospel with others.

Peter explains to us that we have to be ready to explain it to people what we believe.

1 Peter 3:15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

In other verses in this chapter, Peter teaches ways we can demonstrate our faith and that we should demonstrate good, not evil, to others. He also explains that as we live a life different from others, we might even suffer for our faith at the hands of those who reject Christianity as we make different choices than them.

Peter references our hope, which is our understanding that a perfect life waits for us in Heaven so that no matter how hard this life gets or the struggles we face, we have confidence that a better, eternal life is waiting for us. Our hope is in that belief, not in anything the world around us can give or do for us. Whether we face persecution or not, if our life is demonstrating Christ in us, others can see it and ask. He stresses that we have to be prepared to tell others what we believe and why that gives us a different hope than they have.

This is where we can see how both our actions and our words are necessary for others to also come to a saving faith in Jesus.

The best sermon is both lived our and preached, together, so people can see our lives are different through our hope in Jesus but that we can also explain what that saving faith, The Gospel, is, so that they also can have a chance at a perfect eternity in Heaven.

No matter your past, you can show Jesus to others

No matter your past, you can show Jesus to others

by | Jul 17, 2025 | Best Sermons

PART ONE OF TWO

By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross

There can only be darkness if there is no light.

Matthew 5: 14-16“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Jesus was describing in verses 14 and 15 how, when our faith is real, we can’t hide it. We know through our saving faith in Jesus that we become something new and that others will see it in us. They’ll see the mistakes we still make and some will call us hypocrites for them. When Jesus says a city on a hill can’t be hidden, he means we can’t hide that our faith has changed us and others can’t help but see it. He then uses the example of a lamp and how the light from the lamp serves a purpose so we wouldn’t light it and then hide it so no one else, including ourselves, benefits from that light.

But in verse 16, Jesus is encouraging us to be purposeful in letting others see how our faith has changed us through our actions. By doing good, others can see Christ in us and God is glorified.

Our actions and how we handle our mistakes or sinful moments show to others that we’ve changed and are different from how we were before. When we are saved, we don’t suddenly become perfect. We start a process called sanctification and through that process, we start becoming more like Jesus; we want to understand the Bible and live out what it teaches. Even is we make mistakes, the people who truly know us will know that we’re living life differently.

A lot of rodeo cowboys struggle with thinking they don’t measure up. Many enter the sport because it appeals to their feelings of being an outsider. For others, they want to prove to themselves or others they can make it in a difficult sport where, in almost every event, it’s your individual power, strength and ability that will take you to a paycheck.

Your identity before you were saved and the outsider nature that can be found in rodeo might feed the idea that you don’t live up to what you think the Christian standard is; ;that you need to get your life together or in a better place before you can talk to God or walk into a church. But when you are truly saved through a real faith in Jesus and a genuine repentance of sin and desire to be forgiven for it through Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross that took the punishment meant for our sin, God sees you as perfect. However much good or sin has been in your life before then, God sees us all as perfect when we’ve made Jesus the Lord and Savior of our lives.

That means, even the smallest act of kindness or helpfulness you are able to do brings light into this broken and sinful world.

No matter how you’ve lived your life or how others have made you feel about yourself, you have as much power as the best preachers and godliest people you know, to affect the world around you. Even when you feel at your worst, the smallest act, a kind word, can glorify God and bring light into someone else’s darkness.

Even the toughest cowboy or blackest sheep in the family has the power to drive away darkness when they have a saving faith in Jesus.

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