Study Desk

"When David's ride for God was done, he fell asleep and was buried with his granddaddies. His body has decayed.

But watch for badger holes! Don't let the prophets' words apply to you when they said,

The Lord gave us these orders, 'Y'all are a campfire in the night for all the mavericks to come to. Y'all will help bring salvation to the far corners of the world.'"

So Paul and Barnabas camped there for quite some time. They preached boldly about how to ride for God's outfit, and God proved what they were saying was right by allowing them to do some great signs and amazing feats.

So Paul hollered at him and told him to get up. The man jumped to his feet and started walking for the first time.

"Amigos! What in the world are y'all doing? We ain't gods. We're just a couple of cowboys sent to gather the strays for the Boss with the good news. Quit paying attention to statues made by human hands and bow down and worship the living God. He made the heavens and the seas and everything in 'em.

but he never did so without showing them how much he loved them. He sent down the rain for crops, cattle for food, and smiles for your ugly mugs."

All the believers gathered around him after the crowd left and Paul got to his feet and went right back in the city like a boss. The next day, Paul and Barnabas struck a long trot for Derbe.

On their way through, they stopped and checked with all the cowboys who had started riding for God. They encouraged them to be strong and faithful. They reminded them it ain't easy to cowboy for God's outfit and there would be hard times gathering remnants out of the brush.

While Paul and Barnabas were still in Antioch in Syria, some cowboys showed up from the country around Jerusalem. These cowboys began giving clinics on how to ride for God, but they were telling people, "You've got to have the tip of your pickle clipped like the code of Moses says if you want to be saved. If you ain't got a clipped pickle, then you ain't saved."

The cowboys saddled up and headed for Jerusalem. They stopped in Phoenicia and Samaria to visit those who had previously been gathered and were now cowboying for God's outfit. They told them, much to everyone gladness, the unbranded mavericks were also being allowed to ride for God and were being saved.

Everyone spoke for a long time and then Pete stood up and said, "Brothers, you all know God chose me a long time ago to go out and gather the unbranded Gentiles. He was pulling them into his herd, and they believed in him.

Pete talked to you about how God first decided he was going to bring the unbranded mavericks into his herd for himself.

James continued, "This is what we're going to do. We ain't gonna make it hard for the mavericks to be a part of God's outfit.

This is all wisdom from Moses that has been taught for centuries. It would be harder to change it than follow it. And following these doesn't hurt anyone."

who have risked their lives for Jesus Christ, so you will know this is from us.

The messengers struck a long trot toward Antioch with the letter. As soon as they arrived, they gathered in all the cowboys who were riding for God and read them the letter.

These two top hands stuck around for a while and then they headed back to Jerusalem with a blessing of peace riding with 'em.

Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch and taught folks how to ride for the Lord.

they headed out through Syria and Cilicia. They strengthened all the outfits they went through that were riding and gathering for the Lord.