Study Desk

Here's something that will maybe help you understand this better. When a contract is drawn up and agreed to by both sides and signed by a judge, you have to go by it. You can't be adding to or taking away from it just because you changed your mind for a minute.

Think about this, can following a set of rules bless us? If it could, then we wouldn't need God's promise, just good rule-following ability. But God blessed Abraham because of his faith, not because he followed rules. We have the same promise made to us.

But what has changed? Am I now your arch enemy just because I told you the truth?

You can't say, "That's what God said," because God ain't gonna make you quit on his boy.

Do y'all really think the Jews are after me because I'm trying to convince everyone to get their pickles clipped? If I were doing that, nobody would bother me at all! If I went back to telling people they could be saved by following rules instead of trustin' in the cross, my problems would all go away.

You can either follow the Holy Ghost or you can follow your human nature. You'll have to pick one because you can't ride for both.

Even before God built the place we call home, he had chosen us to ride for his brand. By doing so, we became holy and in us he finds no fault. Not because we are perfect, but because he loves us.

He knew from the beginning he would bring us into his outfit through his son. We don't just work for God, we are now his kids because of what Jesus did. He did all this on purpose because it pleased him to do so.

Because we ride for this brand already, we've received an inheritance from God. He chose us before we were born and everything works according to his plan.

Now, even outsiders are allowed into God's crew. This doesn't happen because they are top hands, it's because they believed the good news. And when you believe the good news, the Holy Ghost comes in and rides with you. This was a promise God made to us long ago.

It wasn't long ago that you were hung up in the stirrup of sin because you wouldn't live the way the Boss told you to.

But the truth is, all of us used to act like that. We only followed what felt good at the moment. We thought we were doing what we wanted, but we were being guided by the devil. Because of this, it's no wonder we were destined to be punished by God.

Get this, boys! We were dead because we were hung up in the stirrup of sin, but when God brought his son back to life, he grabbed us by the belt and lifted us back in the saddle with a new purpose. It's God's grace that saved us, cowboys!

God raised Jesus up from the dead and gave him a place of honor in heaven. And we get to go with him because we are part of his crew!

People will look back and see the extraordinary gift that is available to everyone who rides for the brand. We've got a spot in God's crew because of his grace through Jesus, not because we are top hands.

Back in them days, y'all didn't have a spot with Jesus on the ranch. Y'all had no part in the promise of God because you weren't his people. You rode through this world without God and without hope.

Now we ride right beside God and can ask him anything through the Holy Ghost. All of this is possible because of what Jesus did for us.

It's because of him you outsiders are now brought in and made a part of the place where God resides through his Spirit.

It's because of this that I, Paul, who is a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of the outsiders, pray to God.

This is his crazy plan, both the Jews and the outsiders who believe the good news will be God's children and share in a rich inheritance. Both are part of the same crew and will receive the same blessing because they ride for Christ Jesus.