The bang! The traumatic moment of losing someone under his command that brought a lot of other experiences together into a turning point that left Virginia Bull Rider Austin Beaty clinging to his faith. He wants his honest story to bring encouragement to you about the importance of a saving faith in Jesus, especially when you reach a breaking point.
The world we never got to see before sin entered it was free of weeds and thorns. Now ranchers and farmers have to contend with them all the time.
The Battle Against Sin, Part 1
By Josh McCarthy / Cowboys of the Cross
We’ve all heard it somewhere in the sport of rodeo: it’s “man versus beast” or “you versus the clock.” Or, for those of us out cowboying on some empty section of range, “it’s you against the elements”. All of these things are battles we face, things we prepare for, and take very seriously – as we should. In this series of articles, I want to talk with you about the most serious battle any and all Christians face, our daily battle against sin.
Before I go on I want to address the fact that this series of articles will be directed toward those who have already submitted to the Lordship of Christ and trusted Him as the one and only Savior from their sins, i.e. Christians. If you are curious what that means, feel free to contact this ministry for more information.
As with any battle, we need to know who we are fighting, right? If we drew a bronc we might talk to others that have been on him before or the stock contractor to find out if he’s trashy or a nice, honest bucker. Or that bull – is he going to “blow or spin”? (Bonus points for the movie reference.) If you’re out helping the neighbor gather some cows, it definitely helps to know the lay of the land, where the adjoining fences are, and surrounding neighbors’ brands.
So what is this thing called sin? According to GotQuestions.org, “sin is described in the Bible as transgression of the law of God and rebellion against God”. In Genesis 2:16-17, we see God’s first “law” to His creation:
And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Not long after, in Genesis 3:6-7, we see Adam and Eve violate this law bringing the curse of sin into all of creation.
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
God’s original creation was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), we could say perfect or without sin. None of us knows what this world looks like, as every part of our lives is affected and infected with sin. If you don’t believe me, just ask any rancher who is battling any number of weeds in his pastures. (Genesis 3:18: [The ground] will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.) Look how you treat the judge after a “bad call” or how we treat each other working cows. Heck, just turn on the news or check Facebook and you can see the whole of creation is cursed with sin.
Throughout the Church’s history, people a lot smarter than me have recognized three main sources of sin: the flesh, the world, and the devil. In Part 2, we will look at each of these.
God can put the pieces together to form a picture we can’t even begin to see. A cowboy church devotion from horse man Jim Bull.
By Jim Bull / Cowboys of the Cross
Chasing Gold Buckle Dreams or Chasing God Part 9
Chasing dreams can be as simple as chasing a rodeo win or as complicated helping bring food to a starving African village
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
Chase those dreams!
God has made us who we are and when we put Him first, we should enjoy the freedom to chase our dreams.
Sometimes it’s going to go well and sometimes it’s going to be hard but those are important truths we can embrace from the message found in Ecclesiastes 3: 1-15.
1To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:
2a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build,
4a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6a time to search and a time to count as lost, a time to keep and a time to discard,
7a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
God’s Works Remain Forever
9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden that God has laid on men to occupy them. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.
12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to rejoice and do good while they live, 13 and also that every man should eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his labor—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will remain forever; nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God does it so that men should revere Him. 15 What exists has already been, and what will be has already been, for God will call to account what has passed.
God is in control of it all and there is a purpose behind it all whether we ever see or understand it in our temporary lives here. We have to trust this. Nothing will be wasted no matter if it’s something we go through that we see as good or bad. That’s hard to understand whether it’s as big as having cancer or a buck-off streak that lasts more than six months. These are the struggles we go through in the “time for every purpose under heaven” we see in verse 1.
Solomon, who wrote Ecclesiastes, shows our desire to know the purpose of it all. The disciples wrestle with this in the New Testament, as we read about them trying to understand what Jesus really came here to do—take the punishment of our sins so that through his death on the cross, we could be saved from the punishment of our sins.
We know we’re made in God’s image and we know He sees us as perfect once we’ve asked to be forgiven of our sins through a saving faith in Jesus and an understanding he took the punishment meant for us for our sins.
In verse 13, we see that we should see everything as a gift from God—those good times and those bad times, because through those gifts is the opportunity to glorify Him.
Be satisfied in this life! Paul taught us in Philippians to be content in the circumstance we find ourselves in. James teaches us to find joy, even in our struggles, trusting God is using them to build us to be more like Jesus.
Through our successes AND our struggles, becoming more like Jesus is something we CAN be excited by when we understand how significant that is.
The pain we feel or the joy, it can all be used for God’s glory so whatever it is we pursue, when we understand this, we can see purpose in it. Win or lose, it isn’t about getting that buckle or reaching the next goal—it’s about glorifying Him along the way and understanding we’re part of His perfect plan.
Let God guide your steps, look for how you can glorify Him and chase it all as hard as you can, knowing as we do good and take pleasure in the work He’s put in front of us, we belong to Him. However we see ourselves and however many mistakes we make on the way to our goals, He wants us with Him in Heaven when our dream-chasing here is done.
Chasing God and Gold Buckle Dreams Part 8
By Scott Hilgendorff / Cowboys of the Cross
Once you’ve chased down that dream and that gold buckle is on your belt or in a case with some others, you now have a perfect, modern day example of what Jesus was telling us in Matthew.
Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
A buckle understandably becomes something we treasure. You worked hard to earn it. You had adventures along the way with stories to tell your grandchildren when they ask about that buckle on the shelf. All those are good things but we have to look at what we value more.
The Bible has much to say about idols. Many of the descriptions involve protecting the Israelites from following the false gods of the cultures all around them but an idol is anything we put before God. If we’re chasing that buckle, chasing that relationship or chasing that bigger truck, harder than we are chasing our relationship with Jesus, then we likely are dealing with idolatry.
John 5:21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
In this verse, John has just finished explaining who we are in Christ and how important it is to know we’re separate from the rest of the world; that we are following something that is good and true, moving away from our sinful natures.
He then kindly warns us to stay away from idols that could take our focus away from God.
That doesn’t mean we don’t pursue our gold buckle dreams. What Jesus is telling us in Matthew is that everything we can earn here or gain here is temporary and can be taken away. Our time here is short and our eternity in Heaven, where we truly belong, is where our focus should be.
If our hearts are on God and not what we’re trying to accomplish, what we work toward can easily become something that honors Him instead of an idol or something that will only give us temporary comfort or pleasure in this life.
By focusing our attention on God and looking for ways to glorify Him in our pursuits, our hearts on Him and what is yet to come in heaven and in that way, we’re storing up treasures in heaven. When we’re seeking God, everything else falls in line behind that. Nothing can become an idol and everything we do becomes about God.
Sometimes that might mean what we pursue changes. If something is becoming an idol in our life, if we can’t find a way to turn it toward God, then it becomes something we might need to let go. However our dreams might change or our paths might be altered, when our focus is on God and our treasure in heaven, then we will be at peace, even joyful, with the changes in our lives.
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