Author: Cisco Baez

Words from the Pastor
Well Happy March!! With all the moisture maybe it will warm up here and we will have a wonderful spring with green feed and fat cattle! Pretty soon we’ll be wishing for cooler weather and we’ll be missing the snow. I myself am glad that it doesn’t stay around very long. Someone once said that if you don’t like the weather her in Southern Arizona just wait for 10 minutes and it will change! How true that is. But isn’t it great to know that God will never ever change?
The Scripture tells us in Hebrews 13:8 that, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Just to know that He is as sure as the sunrise and sunset and that we can depend on Him should give us the greatest joy ever. But it is so easy to get carried away with all the stuff of the world and get burdened down with things that don’t matter in the long run. Paul goes on to tell us in the 9th verse of Hebrews 13, “Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so.” So, if we read verse 8 and verse 9 together the writer is telling us that Jesus is the same day in and day out forever and that we need to pay attention to what we get carried away with.
What is a “strange teaching?” Well, according to verse 9 it’s not depending on grace alone for our salvation, it’s depending on “Fluff.” Such as, “You have to dress this way for God to love you. You have to wear your hair this way to be accepted into the Kingdom. You can’t eat that kind of food and be a Christian.” Some religions put a lot of rules and regulations on people to be Christians, but Jesus said that He is the way the truth and the life, not this extra “fluff.”
So, does that mean that we don’t try and change after we become Christians? No, not at all. That’s what the Christian walk is all about, changing from our old self and putting on our new self. Paul told king Agrippa this, “…I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds (Acts 26:20).” Did you read that? And demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. In other words, change your ways. Stop doing what you were doing and start serving God. Start doing what Jesus told you to do and that is to love your neighbor as yourself. Brothers and sisters, if we could do that then we could start to see a revival in this Nation like we have never seen! If we as Christians could just love as Jesus tells us to love we would see a whole new dimension to what the church could do in the world today! I would love to be a part of that, wouldn’t you? I know that God is working in all of your lives to bring about His will for you and those you can touch for Him. Let Him do that work and see what happens to the darkness around us!
Please let me know if you need anything. Naomi and I love you all. -Pastor Steve

Words from the Pastor
Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6 this: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done (NLT).” I believe that one of the things that we need to do as Christians is learn to thank Him for everything that happens in our lives. We always say that we trust Him and that we know that He is in control, but do we really put that into practice when the push comes to shove? When hard things come in my life, do I allow the Spirit of God to have His way in my life or do I kick and scream like a brand-new baby Christian? I think that I have gotten stronger after all of these years but I still have a long way to go.
My niece posted the following quote on my Facebook page this last week: “If you can trust a puzzle company to make sure every piece is in the box to complete the puzzle, then why can’t you trust God that every piece of your life is there for a reason?” Isn’t that the truth? He is the one that pieced this whole earth together, hung every star in the sky and set this whole thing in motion, so why can’t we trust Him to know what He is doing with our lives?
Now I do know that somethings that happen to us are just from us reaping what we have sown. I mean, that is just a principle of life. If we live a promiscuous lifestyle, we just may pay for that. If we drink and drive, we just may pay for that. If we live in sin, we are going to reap what we have sown and we should never think that God is being mean to us! He gave us our own free will and He allows us to make our own choices, that is just how our Heavenly Father operates. But there are times that He will allow things in our lives that are out of our control just so we can grow in our walk with Him. If you don’t believe that just read the Book of Job. Or read the story of Joseph in Genesis. Both of these men were righteous men, but God allowed things in their lives just to prove to them that He is in control. His desire for us is that we can grow constantly and that our walk with Him will be one that is constantly getting stronger.
In the 7th verse of the 4th chapter of Philippians Paul tells us, “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” So, if we don’t worry about anything and we pray about everything then we can experience God’s peace. And His peace will guard our hearts and minds. What does it mean to guard something? It means to protect something. It’s interesting that Paul writes “guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” That’s where all of our problems start you know, in our minds. And that’s why Paul writes in the 8th verse, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things (NIV).” Think about good things. Fill your mind with good things. There are plenty of things out there that beg for our attention and it is up to us to fill our minds with things that will glorify God and bring us that kind of peace that exceeds anything that we can imagine. His desire for us is that we have this peace no matter what our circumstances. All we need to do is reach out and take it!
Please let me know if you need anything. Naomi and I love you all. -Pastor Steve

Words from the Pastor
I want to welcome you to the February Ranch Family Fun Day (RFFD). I can’t believe it’s our 13th season already! This is the first RFFD this year, so I hope this one is your best! It’s so great to see you all here! And I hope that you have brought a friend with you. Everybody needs to know Jesus and what’s a better way to find Him than in a rodeo arena?
Speaking of knowing Jesus, what does it take to know Him? That’s pretty simple actually, it takes faith. Simple, childlike faith. Jesus said unless you become like a little child you will not see the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 18:3). “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me (Matthew 18:1-4).” In our world of manly men this doesn’t seem to fit does it? But think about it for a minute. If a child is loved and cared for, they are usually pretty happy. I am going to have to assume that the little child that Jesus placed among them was a toddler. And most toddlers that I know are pretty sure that they will be taken care of. They never fear that their parents are going to allow anything to happen to them that will harm them. They are pretty sure that they will be fed and clothed and that their needs will be met.
Now I am not naive enough to think that all children everywhere are taken care of like my children and my grandchildren are. But for the most part, the children that I hang out with are well taken care of. And they trust their parents to meet their needs. And this is what I believe Jesus is asking us to do! Relax and allow Him to take care of us.
How many of us knew what it was like for our parents when they were raising us? They could have been as poor as pig tracks, but us kids never knew it. We just knew that we were loved and cared for and we were fed. And that’s what Jesus is asking of us. Just to trust Him completely like a little child. Trusting in Him to do what He says He is going to do, and that is to supply your every need and take care of you no matter what your circumstances are. Can you trust Him for that? Can you completely give Him your life? Faith, if you have trusted Him to take you to Heaven one day where you will spend eternity with Him, why can’t we trust Him for our everyday needs? He promised that He would meet them no matter what it looks on the outside. We just need to build our house on the Rock! You need only pause at the base of the cross and be reminded of this: The maker of the stars would rather die for you than live without you. And that’s a fact!
God Bless You! Let us know if we can do anything for you. Naomi and I sure love all y’all! -Pastor Steve

This weekend will be our first Ranch Family Fun Day of the year and we are excited to tell you about some changes for this year: After many requests, we are bringing back our separate Lead Line Class for Barrels & Poles for the littles that aren’t quite ready to compete on their own. This will be a smaller pattern and will run right after the roughstock, while the littles are still awake and happy! Remember this is just for fun, not for points towards year end awards. To qualify for year end awards in each event, the competitor must attend and compete in the event at least 3 times in the year. For example, to qualify for barrels, they must compete in barrels at least 3 times. Also to qualify for year end awards, there must be at least 2 people to compete in each event. So bring your friends! The order of events will be as follows: -Roughstock (Mutton busting, calf & steer riding, chute dogging) -(Concurrently with roughstock) Dummy roping & Goat ribbon pull -Lead line barrels and poles -Goat tying -Barrels -Poles -Breakaway Thanks again, Tiffany
[email protected]