Author: Stephen Lindsey

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Go!

First thing I want to say is “Happy Birthday” to my amazing wife Naomi! She has hung in there with me for almost 38 years and I would not be who I am without her love and support. She is an amazing women, vibrant Christian, wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, and friend to all. I love you Naomi with all of my heart!

What a wonderful time we all had at the Total Church Life training that Pastor Ron Rich led this past weekend! I think that all who attended would agree that it was well worth the effort for each of us. It was a time for self-examination and it made me look inside my heart and ask the tough question, “Am I doing all I can to spread the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ?”

Jesus tells us in Matthew 28:19 to “Go and make disciples of all nations…” He didn’t tell us to go to our different churches and Bible study groups and study what it means to go, He simply said go! “Go where,” may be your question. Well, where do you go? Most people go to work, go to the store or any of a myriad of other places that we just “go.” He wants us to tell our story wherever we are to whoever we can and watch as He works through you in the lives of those you share with. We don’t have to go to a foreign land or across the sea or a border, we may just need to go across the road and talk to a neighbor. We can live our faith out at a family reunion or in the branding pen with our peers. Just go!

“What do I say.” may be your next question. Just tell your story of His love and forgiveness. If we don’t start we will never get anywhere! Just go!

Each of us that knows Jesus as Lord has a story.  Pray that the Holy Spirit will fill your mouth with His words when you speak. You’ll never know how if you never do it. And remember, He is always faithful and always gives us wisdom. We just need to be available.

A study conducted by LifeWay Research found 80 percent of those who attend church one or more times a month, believe they have a personal responsibility to share their faith, but 61 percent have not told another person about how to become a Christian in the previous six months. Can you imagine the revival that could happen if we simply did what Jesus commanded us to do? Go and Tell?

But for sure, revival starts with us individually. I pray that the Lord shows me where I need to change, where I need revival. I pray that I can be like king David and ask Him to “Search me oh God and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting (Psalms 139:23&24).”

Pray for me and I’ll pray for you!  Naomi and I love you all.

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Baptisms

Today is the day that we are going to baptize quite a few believers! I’m excited about it folks! I know that God is working in the lives and hearts of these people and their desire is to show the world that they have changed! That’s what baptism represents really. Paul writes to us in Romans 6:3 & 4, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we to may have a new life.” What this is telling us is that baptism symbolizes our death, burial and resurrection just like Christ’s. And then we need to live a life that reflects that we are saved and striving to live as He wants us to live!

Some people think that baptism is a necessity for salvation. And while it is a commandment from Christ, it is not necessary for us to be baptized to get into Heaven. All that is necessary to make Heaven our home is the Blood of Jesus Christ. He shed His blood and died that we may have eternal life and as Paul writes in Romans 10:9, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in you heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” So that all it takes, confessing and believing. Paul never says anything in this passage about baptism and if it were necessary to be baptized for salvation Paul would have told us about it.

Did you notice that Paul says we are buried like Him in baptism and we rise again to a new life? So that means we are laid down in the water and raised again in new life! So after we are baptized we then strive to live a new life. We will still trip and stumble but we know we have the forgiveness of sin that Jesus promised us. How wonderful is that? Jesus died for us so we can be saved, He rose again for us so we can have newness of life and He forgives us when we don’t walk as we should love. He has done all of the work and we just reap the blessings! How fantastic is that?

So if you know Christ as your personal Savior but have never followed Him in baptism, it’s not too late! Just let me know and we can get it done! It would be such a blessing to me to do that!

It is such a privilege to serve here at Canelo Cowboy Church! I thank my God daily for the call He placed on me and all the wonderful folks in our lives! Pray for me and I’ll pray for you!  Naomi and I love you all.

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Doers of the Word

‘Words from the Pastor’

Very often I ask myself if I am really putting my best effort forward in my walk with Christ. Let’s take a look at a passage in the Book of James that speaks to my heart every time I read it. 

James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says (NIV).” King James Version puts it this way, “Be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves.” Pretty plain and simple isn’t it? If we do not put into practice what God tells us then we are deceiving ourselves. It’s interesting that it says that we deceive ourselves. No one else is deceived, just us! 

A few weeks ago Naomi and I had the privilege of going to dinner with 6 of our children, their spouses and 10 of our grandchildren! All of the grandchildren had their own table and boy did they have a great time, as you can imagine! On our way home after dinner I mentioned to Naomi how well behaved our grandchildren were. Then I started remembering some of the shenanigans those little people were pulling! But it didn’t matter to grandma and me because we had on our “Rose Colored Glasses.” They’re our grandchildren! How could they ever do anything wrong? But grandma and I weren’t the ones that had to clean up the mess after we left. The wait staff may not have had the same impression that grandma and I had! 

Do you think we do that as Christians in our own lives? I know I do. There are things that I need to change and work on to become a better follower of Christ, but I don’t. I know I need to share my faith more with those that don’t know Him, but I don’t. I know I need to try and live more of the Big 9 (Fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23) and show Christ in my life, but anger still creeps in not love. I lack joy so often. Peace should be the sign of a Christian but I loose mine so easily. Lack of patience still takes over. Not to mention how poor of an example I am when it comes to kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And then Paul pours salt in the wound in the 24th verse and says, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Well Paul, I’m working on it. Praise the Lord that my salvation is through the Blood of Jesus and has nothing to do with my works! Faith in Jesus is all it takes. But I do strive, hope and pray that I will do better.

 Think about it. Naomi and I love y’all.

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Sawmill fire

What a week it’s been! With all the fires and displaced people and animals, some lives have been turned upside down. Then between doctor’s visits, financial difficulties and relationship issues it’s a wonder we are able to survive at all. But if you stop and think, it’s this thing we call life. Every human from the beginning of time has had these same types of issues and, if you can believe it, even those that don’t know Jesus as their personal Savior somehow find a way to survive! In reality I do not know how anyone could make it through life without knowing my Jesus.
The Sunday school workbooks for this quarter are titled, “The Rescue Begins.” The last few quarters we have been learning about the coming Messiah and how every book in the Bible points to the world that they need a Savior. And now, the rescue begins! Jesus is on the scene and only through Him we have the promise of eternal life! He will rescue us from sin and give us a place in the Kingdom of Heaven! That is what He has promised to all that have called on His Name.
But you know one thing He didn’t promise? He didn’t promise smooth sailing through life. Quite the opposite. He said that, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you WILL have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33 NIV).” We’re going to have troubles, problems and even death all around us, but we can overcome and have peace in these things if we know Jesus and trust in Him that He has it all under control!
In Matthew 7 as Jesus was finishing up His “Sermon on the Mount,” in verses 24-27, He tells us a very interesting story. He talks about two distinctively different types of people. Although they had everything in common and everything that they went through was the exact same, they had two very different outcomes. And the only difference in the two men was one was wise. He put into practice everything that he heard Jesus say. The other one didn’t put it into practice and Jesus calls him foolish. In this story both men built houses (Or were living life). Both men had the rain come down and the streams rising (Signifying the problems of living life). But the one that listen to Jesus’ Words, well, his house stood firm. The one that didn’t listen, his house fell with a mighty crash. Both living life but very different outcomes. Which one are you? Think about it. Naomi and I love y’all.

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Facing Giants

Deuteronomy 31:6 tells us to, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Moses was speaking these things to the Children of Israel right before they crossed the Jordan in to the Promise Land. Now you’ve got to remember that there were giants in the land at that time! We’re talking real live giants! And the giants’ main focus in life was to kill people! I’m thinking that they probably didn’t even like to share the same air as anyone that were different from them. And truth be known, they probably didn’t even like the other giants that were just like them. They were mean and an evil bunch. But God said, “Don’t be afraid or terrified because of them.”

I guess we all have giants in our lives. Big ugly giants that are mean and evil. We may not be able to see them but we know they’re there just the same. Might be a giant in the form of cancer. Maybe a giant in the form of a relationship with a spouse or a friend or relative. Maybe it’s one of our kids living a life that we know is self-destructive. How about a giant in the form of, “To much month at the end of the money?” This Scripture speaks the same to us as it did the day that Moses said it, “Be strong and courageous!” We can face these giants, just like the Children of Israel did when they crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land. And the great thing about God speaking these words to us is that we can realize that God knows what’s in store for us. He knows what we’re going to go through before we even go through it and He says to us, “Be strong and courageous!”

I John 4:18 tells us that there is no fear in love. God says He’s our Father and that He loves us. Which one of us as earthly fathers would do anything that would jeopardize our children? How many of us would knowingly put our children in harm’s way? Our desire is to protect them from things that will hurt them in anyway. But we can’t shelter them from every evil that’s out there. Our Father doesn’t want to hurt us either, but He understands that we need to go through some things to make us mature.

II Corinthians 4:17 tells us, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving in us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all!” It’s doing in us just what Romans 8:28 tells us it’s going to do. It is working together for our good! We need to experience these “giants” here on earth before we experience the glory that He has for us in eternity. That’s why the author of the wonderful hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul” could pen those beautiful words. “When peace like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say It is well, it is well, with my soul.” Horatio Spafford knew the peace that transcends understanding. Remember, the bigger the giant the easier it is to hit! David didn’t see a giant, he saw a great big target! Think about it.

Please pray for me and I’ll be praying for you! We serve a great God! Naomi and I love y’all.