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¹ This wall tent we live in here will one day be taken down and put away. What we will get is a brand-new body in heaven that won't flap, sag, or tear. God is going to do us up just right. ² Sure, we get tired of living in these earthly bodies and long for the new one that we know is waiting on us. ³ Don't let anyone tell you differently, we will have bodies in heaven. We ain't gonna be like ghosts just floating around like a fog. ⁴ These tents we live in here groan, sigh, and complain, but we ain't trying to shuck 'em before God is through with us. We know the times coming and we can't wait to put on our new duds. ⁵ Having something made specifically for us from God is something special. We know it's waiting on us because the Holy Spirit was the guarantee sent to us as a promise of what's to come.

⁶ So we can walk with our head high even though we know as long as we are down here, we are away from the Lord. ⁷ What we believe will happen guides us and keeps us confident, not what we might be seeing right now. ⁸ Yep, we ride with our shoulders back and head high. There's nothing that can happen to these bodies we don't long for so we can be with the Lord. ⁹ So, here's the secret, if we are here or there, the goal is to please God. ¹⁰ We're all going to stand in front of Jesus and give an account of the things we did on his spread. We will then receive our reward or our damnation based on what we did down here.

We Represent the Brand

¹¹ Since we know what we do down here has eternal consequence, we are vigilant in our responsibilities to the Lord. He knows how hard we work and hopefully you can see it, too. ¹² We ain't bragging about ourselves, but we do hope you are glad we ride with you. We aren't like those other cowboys who are all hat and no cattle. We'd rather have a good heart than a fancy ministry. ¹³ If you thought we were genuinely crazy, it is for the glory of God. But if you thought we were sane, it was for you. ¹⁴ But neither really matters. It's Jesus who we follow every single day. We follow him because he died for us and we are willing to die for him. ¹⁵ When anyone believes his death was for their life, they begin to live for something other than themselves. When they start riding for the brand, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised back to life just like we will be.

¹⁶ It's because of this that we no longer judge people by their looks or their breeding. Shoot, there was a time not too long ago when we judged Jesus by human standards, too. But now we know he was one with God. ¹⁷ This means that anyone who rides for the Lord has become a brand-new cowboy. The old city life is gone and new life of purpose has begun.

¹⁸ All of this is God's gift to us. Jesus opened the gate to the ranch so all of us could come in and be a part of the greatest crew the world has ever known. And our job is to gather the strays and show 'em where the gate is. ¹⁹ God was working through Jesus when he had him die for our sins and the narrow gate was flung open. This wonderful message has the power to change our relationship with God from being an enemy to a son. ²⁰ We represent the brand in all we say and do. God is spreading his message through his cowboys. We tell it just like Jesus told us to when we say, "Quit your sorry ways and come back to God!" ²¹ God swapped his perfect son for our sorry ways so we could be right with him through what Jesus did for us.