Cowboy Church #134

 Hello my friends and welcome back for another service of Cowboy Church. 

Today's musical selection begins with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans singing Sweet Hour of Prayer on their 1957 album of the same name. This hymn was written by William Walford. Walford was a wood craver who had little to no formal education. However what he did have was a very close relationship with God. Those who knew him said that he knew the bible by heart and this man was even asked to share sermons at his church. One day around  1845 Pastor Thomas Salmon visited William Walford. Walford asked Salmon to write down a poem he had in his head. Salmon was so amazed by this poem that he right away sought to get it published. After Walford's death, William Bradbury wrote music for this poem and the hymn as we know it first appeared in the 1859 hymnal, Church Melodies. Bradbury had also composed music for such hymns as Just as I Am and He Leadeth Me. Next comes a real classic Red Foley's 1951 recording of Peace in the Valley. On September 19, 1968, Red Foley was doing a show in Fort Wayne, Indiana with Billy Walker and Hank Williams Jr. Billy Walker took the time they had together and share his faith in Christ. Red asked Billy, “Do you think God could ever forgive a sinner like me?” Billy told his friend, "Red, if God can forgive me, He can forgive you." The two then prayed together. Red ended that night's set with Peace in the Valley. After his set was over Red said to Billy, "Billy, I’ve never sung that song and feel the way I do tonight.” Later that night Red died in his sleep of respiratory failure. Hank Jr. would write a song about this last day entitled  I Was With Red Foley (The Night He Passed Away). This is followed by Sonny James with Be With Me Lord from his 1966 gospel album, Til the Last Leaf Shall Fall. Johnny Cash once asked Sonny James (when John was first starting out), how to live the life of an entertainer and still be a strong Christian. Sonny responded with "John the way I do it is by being the way I am. I am not just an entertainer who became a Christian. I am a Christian who chose to be an entertainer. I am first a Christian. Remember that what you are and the life you live sings louder than any song. And don't forget to pray." Next we join The Sons of the Pioneers with their 1946 recording of Cowboy Camp Meeting. This song was written by one of the group's founding members Tim Spencer. Next is Billy Cate singing God Must Have Been a Cowboy at Heart from his 2017 album, A Cowboy's Prayer. This is followed by singer, banjo player and first star of the Grand Old Opry, Uncle Dave Macon with his 1927 recording of Shall We Gather at the River. Today's musical selection ends with Johnny Cash and U2 with The Wanderer. This song was written by Bono in 1993 (under the working title The Preacher). The song was inspired by the book of Ecclesiastes, but takes place in a future time with a narrator who is worried about the lack of God in society. It is considered to be one of Bono's best songs, but for some reason whenever he tried to record it himself, it didn't work for him. Then he came up with the brilliant idea of having Johnny Cash sing the song (this idea came to Bono when he learned Johnny was going to be in Dublin). Bono would say that Johnny would teach him a lot about how to deliver a song like this during this recording section giving advice about how to put over each word effectively. Johnny told a reporter, "I don't know if it will ever be released or even what it's called." The song would be released on the U2 album, Zooropa  (one of U2's most experimental albums) and John would state that this song gave him a sense of artistic renewal.

The following is an episode of Gene Autry's Melody Ranch radio show, that aired July 26, 1942. 

Up next is C.S. Lewis reading his essay, Two Ways With the Self.

And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

Proverbs 11:24

Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor. Proverbs 22:9

In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty. Proverbs 14:23

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:35

For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.

 John 3:34

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Colossians 3:11

Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. Exodus 22:21

When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. Leviticus 19:33

Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. Genesis 3:20

 Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers? Malachi 2:10

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. John 5:24

Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out. Acts 3:19

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2:3-6 

 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. I am writing to you, fathers,

    because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children,  because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men,  because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.  I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 1 John 2:1-29

Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for another service of Cowboy Church. Happy trails to you until we meet again. 

Resources Used

http://www.limerickcitychurch.com/blog/hymn-history-sweet-hour-of-prayer

https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-sweet-hour-of-prayer

https://www.countrythangdaily.com/peace-in-the-valley-red-foley/

Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon by Greg Laurie and Marshall Terrill.