Study Desk

I talked to him about what I'm asking for and he's agreed to come help. He wants to see y'all again.

Did the farmer make the seeds himself? No, they came from God in the first place. We just use them to make bread for food. He is going to give you more and more so you can give more and more away. He is planting a harvest of generosity in you!

What you are doing for those folks will really help them with their needs, but that ain't all. It makes people give thanks to God.

Y'all don't have any idea of the impact this will have on people . . . and God will get the glory! This will prove to everyone that y'all ride for the brand in deed, not just in hats.

All the thanks for all our lives goes to God and his wonderful gift. The gift that words cannot describe.

I sure hope the ones who think this reconsider their opinion before I get there. I don't want to have to use this type of boldness in person if I don't have to. We don't do what we do for worldly gain.

We won't hesitate to punish anyone who tries to do their own thing in this outfit. That ain't what we want though. We want you to ride for the brand and follow Jesus.

Look at the facts instead of just listening to roosters crowing. If someone says they ride for the brand, then we do the same. There is only one brand.

When we get new country to ride in, we will be able to gather new cowboys for the brand. We don't want someone else's country that has already been picked through. We want raw, untamed, wild country to ride in. Then no one can say we bragged about what someone else did.

Patting yourself on the back don't count for nothing. Ride in a way where God will do the pattin'.

What I need from y'all right now though is a little patience for a cowboy who has been on the trail for a long time.

As surely as Jesus is Lord and lives in me, no one will ever keep me from bragging about how I worked for y'all.

I'm going to continue to ride for y'all this way. That way you will be able to tell the difference in a real cowboy and one who comes riding in with shiny silver on his saddle and fancy words on his tongue. These charlatans say they do the same things we do, but you'll be able to spot the difference a mile away.

They are wannabe cowboys, charlatans and gunsels, all hat and no cattle! They only pretend to ride for the brand.

Y'all are the wise ones, so put up with me for a little spell.

Do they ride for the brand? Even talking like this to make a point makes me throw up a little bit, but I've ridden for Jesus much longer and much harder than they have. I've been thrown in jail, bullwhipped more times than I can count, and faced death time and time again.

I've taken the outside in this gathering and rode at a long trot on many perilous journeys. I've faced raging rivers and bloodthirsty bandits. I've had showdowns in the street with my own people, the Jews, as well as from the outsider Gentiles. I've ridden through hell in cities, deserts, and even on the open sea. I've gone toe to toe with cowboys who pretended to ride for the brand, but really were trying to get close enough to stab me in the back.

Understand though, it ain't bragging if it happened and I wouldn't be a fool for telling y'all the truth. But the reason I ain't going to tell y'all is because I don't want credit for something I only saw and heard. I only want credit for what y'all have seen me do.

It'd be way too easy for me to brag about what I saw, but I really had no part in it. I can't take credit for a gift like I'd earned it or something. And just to make sure I remember, I was given a mesquite thorn in my hide to remind me of just how weak I really am.

The only thing I didn't give y'all was the opportunity to support me financially. I think this is the only way I've wronged y'all. Please forgive me for not allowing y'all to help me.