Study Desk

As Jesus threw his saddle back in the boat, the former demon-possessed man asked to ride with him,

So the guy went off and told everyone his story and all who heard it were amazed.

All of a sudden, one of the local church leaders named Jairus came up, and when he caught sight of Jesus, he fell at his feet.

She'd heard about Jesus and got close enough to touch his vest. She kept telling herself,

"I bet if I just touch his clothes, I will be fixed."

When she touched his vest, her bleeding immediately stopped and she knew that she'd been healed.

His cowboys kind of chuckled and said, "There's a thousand people within three feet of you and you want to ask, 'Who touched me?'"

After all those great things were done, Jesus struck a long trot back to his hometown and his cowboys followed him.

When the day of rest came, Jesus went and did a little preaching at the local church. People who listened were wondering where he came up with all these different interpretations of God's word. They also wondered where all his wisdom came from and if the miracles he had been performing came from the same place. They all shook their heads and kept asking one another,

"Isn't this that carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son? Aren't those his sisters who live near here?" Because of all their questions, they didn't hear him; because of their looking for answers elsewhere they couldn't see him; and they got offended that this ordinary fellow would stand up in front and dare to teach them.

Then Jesus said to 'em all, "A cowboy who rides for God gets respect for what he does everywhere except his hometown. All the people he grew up with, including his family, think they know who he really is, but they don't."

Jesus didn't do any miracles there, except to put his hands on a few sick people and heal them.

One day, Jesus called his cowboys together and sent them out to gather people for his Father's brand two by two.

Herod was quite a fright because he had had John arrested and killed because he'd made a promise to his wife. That old gal was a burr under his saddle blanket because she made him kill John.

So on Herod's birthday, he threw himself a party and all the important people in his kingdom came to it.

—even up to half of his kingdom!

When the cowboys who rode alongside John heard that he had been killed, they came and got his body and buried it with the respect he deserved.

He told 'em, "Let's go somewhere private so we can all talk and rest up." There were tons of people hanging around and wanting to hear everything Jesus and his cowboys were saying; so much so that they hadn't even had a chance to get a bite to eat.

So Jesus and his boys saddled up and headed out,

Some of his cowboys came up