Hello my friends and welcome back for another service of Cowboy Church.
Today's musical selection begins with Billy Cate singing Every Cowboy Knows There's a God Above. This song comes from his 2017 album, A Cowboy's Prayer. Next comes Johnny Cash with his self-penned My Children Walk in Truth. This song has an important message to all my fellow Christians. One of the most important things in any believer's life should be leading others to Christ or strengthening struggling Christians. I hope and pray that I have done this with my life and that hopefully through my blog posts, God can speak to those who need to be spoken to. If this can be true than my life has been more than worthwhile. Yet if this happens, I know that it is not me doing it, but God doing it through me. Still just to play a part in God's master plan means everything to me. However it must be remembered that we not only speak to people through our words but our actions as well. Johnny Cash once said, "There's three different kinds of Christian. There's preaching Christians, church-playing Christians, and there's practicing Christians. I'm trying very hard to be a practicing Christian. If you take the words of Jesus literally and apply them to your everyday life, you discover that the greatest fulfillment you'll ever find really does lie in giving. That is why I do things like the prison concerts." Next comes the Carter Family with their 1935 recording of Gospel Ship. This is followed by The Sons of the Pioneers with their 1941 recording, What Wonderful Joy. This song has a simple but very true message for each of us. While Christianity does tell us how to live our lives it should not be simply some rigid rules to follow but something that should give us true joy beyond anything the world could ever offer. After all we as Christians are incredibly blessed and one day will be able to spend entirety with God in heaven and there we will know joy beyond anything we can understand right now. Following is Sonny James with How Great Thou Art. Around 1886 Swedish pastor, Carl Boberg is said to have been caught in a violent thunderstorm. When soon after he saw the sun return and birds singing, he fell to his knees in amazement of God's incredible majesty. He then wrote the words to this song as a poem. Supposedly serval years later he was surprised to hear a congregation singing his poem to an old Swedish folk melody. Its first English translation was in 1925 by E. Gustav Johnson. However this version simply never caught on and has faded into obscurity. In 1927 it received a Russian version by Ivan S. Prokhanoff. This version inspired English missionary Stuart K. Hine, who began writing his own version. When Hine returned back to England in 1939, he brought this song with him and it is this version that we know so well today. The hymn reached a new popularity with Billy Graham's crusades. George Beverly Shea later remembered, "We first sang in the Toronto, Canada, Crusade of 1955. Cliff Barrows and his large volunteer choir assisted in the majestic refrains. Soon after, we used it in the ‘Hour of Decision’ [radio broadcasts] and in American crusades. In the New York meetings of 1957 the choir joined me in singing it ninety-three times!" This version of the song comes Sonny's 1966 gospel album Till The Last Leaf Shall Fall. Up next is Hank Snow with his 1951 recording of the simply titled Pray. Today's musical selection ends with a real classic, Hank Williams singing, I Saw the Light. Hank wrote this song as he was heading home from a dance in Fort Deposit, Alabama. His mother was driving him home and told her son "Hank, wake up, we're nearly home. I just saw the light" (she was referring to the light near Dannelly Field Airport). Hank wrote the song on the rest of the way home. The song melody-wise strongly resembles Albert E. Brumley's He Set Me Free, but I Saw the Light has certainly taken on a life of its own apart from the earlier song, heavily through the powerful and inspiring lyrics that do what Hank did best as a songwriter, convey something powerful and moving in a way that seems so simple and unpretentious. Hank recorded this song on his first MGM recording session (April 21, 1947). However even though he was the first to record this song, his version was not the first released. Producer Fred Rose gave it to two other singers (Clyde Grubbs and Roy Acuff), both of whom had their versions released before Hank.
Up next is a 1945 episode of Roy Rogers' radio show.
Here is C.S. Lewis' essay, What Are We to Make of Jesus Christ.
He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. Acts 16:30-33
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31
Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. Proverbs 3:31
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil. Proverbs 4:27
Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death. Proverbs 10:2
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24:15
Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. Proverbs 17:9
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13
Thanks for joining me and come back next week for another service of Cowboy Church. Happy trails to you until we meet again.
Resources Used
The Man Called Cash by Steve Turner
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-how-great-thou-art
Liner notes for the Hank Williams boxset, The Complete Mother's Best Recordings
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