Study Desk

Now there was a married couple who promised to sell a piece of property to raise money for Pete, John, and the rest of the cowboys.

Ananias and Sapphira did sell the property, but instead of giving all the money to the cause, they kept back a sizable amount for themselves.

Pete showed her the money Ananias had given him and asked, "Is this the price y'all got for the land?""Yes, sir," she said quickly.

Yet more and more cowboys started to ride for the Lord. Some of the greatest of these new cowboys were women.

The cowboys rode through the gates of the main church at daylight and spoke loud and clear for all to hear.When the head preacher and his cronies arrived at work that day, they called for an emergency meeting of all the bigwig rulers of Israel. They told the guards to bring the cowboys in for a hearing.

Everyone looked around trying to figure out what had happened and who could be blamed for their escape.

"We gave y'all strict orders not to teach about Jesus. You have caused everyone to believe we were responsible for his death."

But one of the members of the ruling party, Gamaliel, who was a teacher of the Code and very well respected, stood up and sent the cowboys outside for a minute.

A little while later, that guy named Judas from Galilee came riding out during the census making a big ruckus, but he and his men were also killed. Everything they claimed they rode for came to nothing.

But if they are riding for God, then you will be opposing the Lord himself."

The cowboys left in a good mood. They felt honored that they had been bullwhipped and got to suffer for the name of Jesus.

In the days that followed, more and more people saddled up to ride for God's outfit. But things weren't always rosy in the crew. The cowboys from Greece complained about the cowboys from Israel, saying the Greek widows were being left out of the food distribution.

The twelve cowboys gathered everyone together and said, "We are not going to stop traveling around and preaching the good news so we might wait tables for the poor.

But, it is vitally important to care for the needy and so we are going to find seven cowboys who are known to have the Holy Ghost in their life and have them be responsible for caring for the poor.

So the word of God spread like wildfire through the countryside. The number of cowboys riding for the brand in Jerusalem swelled every day. Even a large number of Jewish priests saddled up too.

Steve, a cowboy full of the grace of God and full of God's power, did amazing miracles for the people.

They tried to trap Steve with fancy words and accusations, but they were no match for the wisdom from the Holy Ghost with which Steve spoke.

God also told Abe his descendants would be in a foreign country as slaves for four hundred years.

God said, 'But I'll pay back that country for all the abuse they'll give your family. When all is said and done, they will leave that country and come back here to worship me.'

Jake heard there was still some food down in Egypt, so he sent his sons down there to trade for some.