Study Desk

"But the crooked brand inspector stood a far piece away from everyone else because he didn't feel worthy. He wouldn't even look at heaven as he prayed. Instead, he dug his fingernails into his palm as he prayed, 'God, I'm a sorry piece of work. Please take me onto your outfit even though we both know I don't deserve it.'" Jesus continued,

"I'm telling you the truth cowboys, this crooked brand inspector was right in God's eyes, not that religious fellow. Those who pat themselves on their back will end up flat on their back. And those who cry out to God with their face down in sorrow will be lifted up to heaven."

Jesus said, "It is impossible for man to get in on his own, but all things are possible with God."

Jesus rode off a little ways with his twelve cowboys and said, "Listen, we're getting close to Jerusalem. Everything that the old cowboys of God talked about concerning the Top Hand are fixing to come true.

Immediately, the blind guy could see again. He followed behind Jesus, praising God just as loud as he had cried for help. And everyone who saw this, their eyes were opened too.

When he turned down the road leading down from Olive Hill, all of the people following him began praising God for sending the Top Hand and all the miracles he had done.

He said, "You, Jerusalem, have cried out to God for help and he has answered your prayers. But now it is too late, and you cannot see the gift you've been given.

They will muck you out like a mad mama cow and do the same to your kids. They won't leave one stone standing on top of another because you were too blind to see when God stood among you."

"Well then, if his picture is on it then he must own it. Give to Caesar what is his and give God what belongs to God."

Jesus continued, "But this isn't a question about marriage, but one about life after death. Even Moses proved this when he wrote about his experience with the burning bush. Way after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, Moses referred to God as 'the Boss of Abraham, the Boss of Isaac, and the Boss of Jacob.'

If death was the end, and there was no more, then dead people don't need a God. The Boss is God over the living, not the dead. These three great cowboys are alive with God today, not dead."

Think about it. David himself wrote in the book of Psalms, 'God said to the Top Hand, Son, ride here in the place of honor to my right.

Jesus replied, "Don't be fooled by imitations. Many people will come bearing what appears to be my name. They will say, 'I am the Top Hand who will save you' and also things like, 'Now is the time that God foretold!' But don't believe a word of it.

"But before any of this happens, there will be a great persecution of those who ride for God. His cowboys will be sent to prisons and punished in the churches. They will stand trial before national leaders just because they ride for me.

After the meal, he took another cup of wine and said, "This cup symbolizes a new agreement between y'all and God. The agreement will be signed in my blood. It will be poured out as a sacrifice for all of you.

But y'all better not act like that. The best of you will be the ones who give the most of themselves away for my sake. The best will be thought of the least, and the least will be thought of most by God.

But from here on out, the Top Hand will be riding at the right hand of God himself."

They all looked around at each other and then asked, "So you're saying that you are the Son of God?"Jesus said, "You said it right. I AM."

There is going to come a day when they will say, 'God has blessed those women who have no child and those who have never fed from their breasts.'

The sun seemed to have lost its light. At the same time, the curtain that symbolized the separation of God from man, which hung in the main church, was torn from the top to the bottom.