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¹ Y'all just watch what I'm doing because I'm watching what Christ does.

Worshiping with Others

² I'm sure glad y'all keep me in your prayers. I'm also glad y'all are doing things the way I told you to do 'em. ³ But listen to this so there's no confusion—when you ride out in your pasture, God is the Boss, Jesus follows him, man follows Jesus, and woman follows man. ⁴ A man who rides in front of Jesus, even when praying to God, dishonors the one with authority over him. ⁵ A woman who rides in front of a man, even if she is praying to God, dishonors the man who has authority over her. ⁶ That's like if she were to cut off all her hair and try to be a man. She is denying the wonderful person God made her to be.

⁷ A man should remove his hat when praying, for he was made in the image of God and God's glory shines through him. A woman reflects a man's glory in the same way. Now everyone is shining when we do things the way God says to do 'em. ⁸ God didn't make a man from a woman, he made a woman from a man. ⁹ In the same way, a man wasn't made to help a woman, but a woman was made to help man. ¹⁰ For this reason, and even the angels are watching to see if we do this, a woman shouldn't ride in front of a man because he was given authority over her.

¹¹ But we are all working the same pastures together. Men ain't better than women and women ain't better than men. ¹² Even though the first woman came from a man, every man after that came from a woman. So, if you want to get all technical about it, everything and everyone came from God . . . and that's what's important.

¹³ See if this ain't right, a woman shouldn't be going to God in prayer or say she rides for the brand without doing things the way God said to do 'em. ¹⁴ Same thing goes for a man. It's obvious a man who prays to God should do things the way God tells him to do it. It's a disgrace if a man prays one way and acts another. ¹⁵ A woman's beauty is a reflection of who God made her to be and she should not dishonor that. ¹⁶ You can argue and throw a hissy fit about this if you want to, but this is the way God said to run his churches.

The Lord's Supper

¹⁷ I've patted y'all on the back for a lot of things, but in this next thing, there ain't no praise. Y'all are worse off after meeting together to worship than you were before you started. ¹⁸ First of all, I've heard y'all are dividing people up according to who you think they are. You're putting gunsels on one side, city slickers on the other, top hands in the front, and weekend cowboys in the back. And you know what? I can see y'all doing this. ¹⁹ Every man should be tested to make sure he walks the walk instead of just talks the talk, but don't take that to such an extreme where you become judgmental and divided.

²⁰ Y'all are not getting together for the Lord's Supper, you just use that as an excuse to eat a good meal. ²¹ How do I know? Y'all don't even wait on each other before you start. The first ones in line get all they want and those at the end don't have much, if anything. ²² If you're starving, eat at your own hacienda. God's house is for everyone and everyone should be thinking about his fellow man. You think I'm going to pat you on the back for being a disgrace? I don't think so!

²³ You listen to what I'm telling you because Jesus himself told it to me. On the night Jesus was double-crossed, the Lord Jesus took some bread ²⁴ and thanked God for it. Then he tore it up and said, "This is my body and my body is given for you. When you eat it, remember what I did." ²⁵ After supper, he took a cup of wine and said, "This cup is the new contract between God and his cowboys. It is signed in my blood. Anytime you drink it, remember what I did." ²⁶ Every single time you eat bread or drink wine, you are remembering what Jesus did and announcing to the world that you eagerly wait for him to ride back over the hill to get us.

²⁷ Those who eat this bread or drink the cup of the Lord in a manner that does bring glory to God are like the ones who spit on Jesus at his death. ²⁸ Before you do this sacred ritual, you'd best really examine how you've been living and what you've been saying. ²⁹ If you eat and drink without thought for your fellow cowboys, who are the body of Christ, you aren't receiving a blessing from God, but his judgment. ³⁰ That's why a lot of you are sickly and weak. Shoot, some have died because of their irreverence.

³¹ All you have to do is judge yourself, and then God doesn't have to. ³² But if the Lord does judge us, it's like a butt chewin' to get us back on the right trail. If we ain't on the right trail, we will be like the rest of the world that is headed for the brush fire that never goes out.

³³ Here, let me summarize this for you. When you gather together for the Lord's Supper, wait on each other to eat. ³⁴ If you are starving to death, get you something to eat at the house before you arrive. Otherwise, you will bring God's judgment on yourselves. I'll give you some more instructions about the other stuff when I get there.