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Judging Others

¹ "Don't make opinions about what others do, and no opinion will be made about you. ² The way you treat others is the way you will be treated. The judging eye you cast upon others will be the same judging eye that will be cast on you.

³ "Don't criticize your partner's horse for slinging its head when you can't even get on your own horse without gettin' bucked off. ⁴ How can you offer to help your friend out with his horse when you can't even put a saddle on yours? ⁵ That's just bein' a hypocrite! When you get your horse goin' good and steady, then you can offer to help your partner.

⁶ "Don't give the best of what the Boss has given you to the coyotes. Don't throw pearls into the pig pen just so they will get mashed down in the mud and never be seen again.

How to Talk to the Boss

⁷ "If you need somethin', keep tellin' the Boss about it and you will get it. If you keep lookin' for the cows in the pasture, you will find them if you don't give up. If you keep knockin' on the barn door, he will open it for you. ⁸ If you ask, you will receive. If you knock, the door will be opened. If you look, you will find.

⁹ "If you're a mom or a dad, listen up. If your children are hungry and ask for something to eat, do you hand them a fence post? ¹⁰ If they ask for some macaroni and cheese, do you give them turpentine and taters? Of course you don't! ¹¹ So if you sinners know how to take care of your kids, how much more will the Boss be able to take care of those he thinks of as his own children?

The Rule to Live By

¹² "Work another man's horse the way you want him workin' your best horse. This is what the Rules and the Wise Cowboys were tryin' to teach all those years ago.

The Narrow Sorting Gate

¹³ "You can only enter the Boss's ranch by way of the narrow sortin' gate. The trail to hell is wide open and easy to follow for those who choose it. ¹⁴ But the gate to life is narrow and the trail is rough and steep. Only a few will ever find it or be able to follow it.

The Mesquite Tree and Its Beans

¹⁵ "Look out for the fake fellows who stop by the ranch disguised as harmless sheep but are really rabid coyotes. ¹⁶ You can spot 'em by their beans. Can you pick beans off of tumbleweeds, or taters off of cockleburs? ¹⁷ A good tree produces beans that will feed the animals, but a bad tree produces beans that kill cattle and cowboys. ¹⁸ A good tree can't make bad beans and a bad tree can't make good beans. ¹⁹ So every tree that can't make good beans is cut down and used for firewood. ²⁰ You can spot a tree by its beans, and you can spot people by their ways.

Real Cowboys

²¹ "Not everyone who claims to be a cowboy who works for me will end up on the Boss's ranch. Only those cowboys who do what the Boss wants them to will end up there. ²² On the day of reckonin', many cowboys will claim they worked for me. They will say, 'Lord! Lord! Didn't we ride out and tell people about you and get rid of evil things in your name? Didn't we do things that could only have come from you?' ²³ But I'm gonna tell 'em, 'Maybe so! But we never rode together as partners and amigos. Get out of my sight and off my spread.'

Building a House on Solid Rock

²⁴ "Any cowboy who listens to what I tell them and does it, knows the right trail to take. Just like a cowboy who builds his bunkhouse on solid rock. ²⁵ When the creek rises and the north wind blows like a hurricane, not a thing will happen to it. ²⁶ But anyone who listens to what I'm sayin' and then blows it off is like the cowboy who built his bunkhouse on sand. ²⁷ When the creek rises and the norther starts blowin', his bunkhouse won't last a split second."

²⁸ When Jesus was done talkin', everyone just kind of stood there in awe and wonder. ²⁹ He said things like he knew what he was talkin' about and had the authority to say it—unlike those fake fellas who didn't know nothin' except rules and regulations.