Author: Stephen Lindsey

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The Church and Bride of Christ

Jonas asked me to ride with him this past week, an opportunity that I jumped on because I enjoy checking cattle on horseback almost as much as I enjoy preaching! And I don’t get to ride near as much as I get to preach!

As I was riding along taking in all the sounds, sights and smells I got to thinking about how many times I’ve heard people say, “I don’t need no church to worship God! I can look at the beautiful things that God made and be right next to Him out here in nature!” And while this is all so very true, we don’t need a church to worship God, we need THE church to truly know His heart. You see, the church isn’t a building. The church is the people that use that building. The Bible calls the people that use the building the bride of Christ. Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” Christ’s bride is the church! Christ loves you and me with all of our faults and sins because we are His bride!

Ok preacher, what are you getting at? What does this have to do with me coming to church instead of communing with nature? Well everything actually! Think about it, if you are horseback all alone or hiking by yourself or even if you’ve stayed at home and are reading the Greatest Book, the Bible, how are you putting it into practice? Sure, you may be dealing with a hard headed horse or a witchy old cow, but is there a human that is maybe rubbing you the wrong way and MAKING you put His word into practice, namely, love your neighbor as yourself? Is there a cow (bovine) that is telling you what kind of person you are or are not? Most likely no. See, we need each other to rub off the rough edges and to make us more like Jesus. “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth (Isaiah 53:7 NIV).” Jesus couldn’t do that from His throne in Heaven. He had to come to the Earth and rub shoulders with imperfect people to get that done. And He loved them anyway, no matter what they said or did or how they acted. He loved them.

So, next time you come to church and you see someone acting like the world, just remember Jesus loves them anyway. Remember, you can’t love Jesus and hate His bride.

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

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He still loves us!

As I sit down to write this I am reminded, again, of how God loves me in spite of myself. I look back over this past week and I think of where I missed God and the opportunity’s that He gave me to minister to the hurting or where I got angry and I think, “God could use a rock in my place!” The apostle Paul said that he was “Chief among sinners (I Timothy 1:15)!” Meaning that he would trip, stumble and fall down. He had flesh and blood to contend with just like me. But Paul also knew about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and I am learning about the same grace.

Have you ever studied Romans 7:18-19 & 24-25? “18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is in my sinful nature, for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no the evil I do not want to do –this I keep on doing. 24What a wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” What a true picture of the grace of our Jesus!”

You see, He was God who came to earth and became a man and had the same ailments and testing and trials that you and I have. He knows what He’s talking about when He offers us grace and He can understand when we fall down. He understands us and still loves us. And He promises that no matter what He is going to love us unconditionally! He also promises us that He will NEVER leave us or forsake us and that we are really, really His (Heb 13:5)!

Now I want to ask those of us that have children of our own, do our own children ever do anything that irritates you? Have your flesh and blood children (no matter how old they are) ever done something that makes you shake your head and wonder where all of their brain cells went? I know mine have and I also know that I did the exact same thing to my mom and dad! But no matter how stupid I was I still remained their son! And my offspring still remain my sons and daughters! Even if we don’t love them at the moment, our DNA is still the same and they will always be our children because we love them! Now, just multiply that love that you have for your kids by a billion and you still won’t come close to how much you Heavenly Father loves us. So, as we try to live a holy life, let’s remember that we have a Savior that loves us no matter what!You pray for me and I’ll pray for you. Naomi and I love you all. -Pastor Steve

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Be imitators of God

Have you ever spent time in the Bible reading Deuteronomy? All of the do’s and don’ts that the Law of God points out, all of the everything in our everyday life, God had Moses write down. He even tells Moses to tell the Israelite’s what kind of clothes and fibers should be worn and sew together! God even goes on to tell the Israelite’s that if you’re going to eat a kid goat, don’t boil it in its mother’s milk!
I’ve often thought and even stated out loud that we are not under the law and we don’t have to worry about all of these things any longer, which is true. We don’t need to worry if we wear a cotton shirt with a pair of knit jeans. We don’t have to fret over the trivial things that God has laid down in His law for the Israelites to follow, but I thought about this another way this week, how involved do we need to let God be in our lives?
I mean, what if we did everything to please Him? What if we asked Him if He would be pleased with what we were wearing or what we were eating or how we conducted our lives in our everyday activities, don’t you think that maybe, just maybe, our days would go a little smoother? If He was involved in everything we did, down to what we shopped for, what we watched on TV or the type of music we listened to (Well you understand where I’m coming from), don’t you think our lives and our attitudes would be a little easier to control? Sounds fanatical doesn’t it? But someone once asked me if I knew the definition of a fanatic? I said no, and he answered, “Someone that loves Jesus more than you do!” Ouch!
It is my desire to allow God control my life. It is my desire to imitate Him like it tells us to in Ephesians 5:1 “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly beloved children.” And then Paul goes on to tell the Church at Ephesus in the next verse, “and walk in love as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for us…” Wow. So if we make Him a part of everything in our lives and we become imitators of God in all of our actions, then we can be pretty sure that we can have the peace of Jesus rule in our everyday lives like it says in Colossians 3:15 “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful”. Will our circumstances change? Probably not! But we no longer have to be under our circumstances! We can be on top of them because in Jesus there’s victory! Naomi and I love you all.

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Just a closer walk

I want to welcome you to the July Ranch Family Fun Day (RFFD). I can’t believe it’s been a month already! It’s so great to see you all out here!

What’s God doing in your life? Is He able to lead you and guide you? Do you allow Him to lead you and guide you daily as you go out into the cold cruel world and face the trials, tests and temptations? Did you notice that I said daily? See, this walk with the Savior shouldn’t be a once a week, “I’ll get my “religion” in on Sunday and live for the Devil” type of thing!

Remember the great song, “Just a Closer Walk With Thee?” What a wonderful song! The 1st verse says, “I am weak, but Thou art strong; Jesus, keep me from all wrong; I’ll be satisfied as long As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.” And then the chorus, “Just a closer walk with Thee, Grant it, Jesus, is my plea, Daily walking close to Thee, Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.”

I love the song, but I’m thinking, “If I am not walking close to the Lord, it for sure isn’t His fault!” I mean sure, He is going to help us get through anything! He’s our provider and our strength and He is our life, but when we can’t seem to find Him and we’re in a dark place, whose fault do you think it is? “Just a closer walk with Thee, grant it Jesus is my plea!” And I can hear Jesus saying to me, “Hey, I’m right here where you left Me! You got all caught up in “stuff” that really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of eternity and left Me standing here just waiting for you to get done with all of the things that you’re doing and realize you miss Me.” And all of those things could be great things we’re doing. We could be rodeoing with our kids, we could be camping with the family we could…you fill in the blank. Does it take you away from your time with the Lord and with His people?

As I’ve said before, your Heavenly Father wants a relationship with you so bad that He allowed His only Son to die for you! And once He has that kind of relationship with you He doesn’t want to let you go! He’ll do everything that He can to keep you around, but He will not force you to love Him. So if you’re not feelin’ it today, go back to that place where you last felt it. To the place where He’s still waiting for you!

God Bless You! Let us know if we can do anything for you. Naomi and I sure love all y’all!

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Fatherhood

I want to welcome you to our June Ranch Family Fun Day.  I know that today is Father’s Day and I do understand that you could be celebrating in some other way, but I’m stoked to have you here hanging out with us at Canelo Cowboy Church.

What do you think of the new building? Pretty cool don’t ya think? No pun intended!

Being a father is not easy!  I know; Naomi and I have nine wonderful children.  None of them came with any instructions!  We just did the best we could, and boy oh boy did I make mistakes.  However, God knows and He was able to fix my stupid.

You know, no matter what you think, you have a Heavenly Father that loves you and He wants to help you make it through whatever struggles you may be going through right now.  As an earthly dad, I want to help my children and make sure they all have what is good and have everything that they need.  It’s part of being a dad.  It’s in your heart to do good for them.  And if we as dads want that for our children, then I can guarantee that our Heavenly Father wants to do good for you and have a relationship with you even more!  He sent His Son to die on a cross for you so you could have a relationship with Him.  Because of His love, you can spend eternity with Him. He loves you more than a fat kid loves cake!

It’s my prayer that we, as a church, can minister to every one of you.  Someone brought to my attention this week the fact that the church is the people.  That’s you and me; not the building or the grounds, but us as folks.  It’s made up of folks like us that are just plain and simple.  The Bible calls us the Bride of Christ!  His church.  But you must be born again by the Blood of Jesus Christ before you can truly be the Bride!  So please, join us today.  If you’ve never made that commitment please do.  Don’t leave here without making that decision for eternity.

God Bless You!  We sure love all y’all!