Study Desk

Go now and recruit riders for my brand from all over the world, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,

I reckon it all started when one of God's top hands, a fella named Isaiah, wrote this, "God said, 'I got a cowboy coming who is going to show you a new message and a new way of riding for me.

He's already shouting from the desert and tellin' y'all to get ready to saddle up for the Lord and ride right straight for him.'"

So John came out of nowhere, riding for God and baptizing folks. His message was plain and simple, "Quit riding in sin and be baptized and God will turn a blind eye to all the sorry things you've done."

Jesus was out there for more'n forty days with nothing to eat and Satan tried to take him out time and again. Jesus spent all those nights surrounded by all sorts of predators, but God sent angels to take care of him.

He told 'em, "Y'all been waiting for a long time and the Boss's Green Pasture has made it here. Quit riding in sin and tie hard and fast to the good news."

The cowboys rode all the way to Capernaum. When the day of rest came (the old timers called it the Sabbath), Jesus went up to the church building and began to give all them folks a clinic on what it means to ride for God.

Jesus fixed ever' single one of 'em. He didn't let any of the demons open their mouths because they knew who he was and Jesus wasn't ready for everyone to know just yet.

Simon and the other cowboys looked and looked for him.

When they finally found him, they said, "Everyone is scouring the country for you."

A man with rotting skin came to Jesus and fell down in front of him, asking him for help. "If you had a mind to, I know you could fix me, Jesus."

Jesus was touched by this man's way of asking and he felt sorry for him. Jesus reached out to the man and touched him, saying, "I am of a mind—be fixed!"

"Don't tell anyone what happened here. Just go to the church and show 'em that you're clean. Take along the offering that Moses said to bring for your fixing."

But that fellow couldn't keep quiet about the great thing Jesus had done for him. Word spread around so quickly that Jesus couldn't even come into town because of the mobs of people that came to him. Because of this, he camped way out where it was hard to find him, but people still came to find him from all parts of the region.

Jesus rode out again along the area close by the sea. A whole crowd came with him and he gave them a clinic on how to ride for God's outfit.

There was this one time that the guys who rode with John the Baptist, as well as some other goody-goody preachers, were going without food for religious reasons. All these folks came to Jesus and asked, "Why do all those who follow John, and those who follow the Pharisees, go without food in order to get closer to God, but your cowboys don't?"

Jesus smiled a wry smile and said, "If a cowboy invites his buddies over for a BBQ, he doesn't expect them to go hungry, does he? Of course not. As long as the cowboy is cooking, his guests will be eating.

A little while after that, Jesus and his cowboys were riding through some grain fields on the day of rest. They got hungry and picked some heads of wheat for a quick snack.

ate the special bread. You all know it is against the Law for anyone to eat it except the priests?"

Then he told them, "The day of rest was made for cowboys. Cowboys were not made for the day of rest. God's Top Hand is Boss—even of the day of rest."