SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, how are y'all doing there? Hey, welcome to Faithful Warrior Podcast where courage meets conviction. Each episode shines a light on powerful testimonies of veterans, first responders, and godly men of faith who have walked through the fire and found strength in Christ. These are real stories of real life warriors on the battlefield and in the life who share journeys of struggle, redemption, purpose, unwavering faith. Join us as we dive deep into the heart of what it means to be a faithful in the fight and anchored in hope. Man, I want to welcome our guest today, Greg Hunt, aka the Cowboy Preacher. How are you doing today, Greg? I'm good. How are you, brother? Man, I am blessed beyond measures, brother. Blessed beyond measures. Measures. Man, I'm glad to have you on the show today, man. Greg's from Texas, man, just up north side of Houston. And uh man, I just tell you, he he's a he's a character. He's a character. I I met him through social media about 10 months ago. And uh I actually got to meet him in person and spend a couple days with him back uh in March. And man, if I can tell you somebody has been through some fire and has come out on the other side and praising Jesus the whole entire time, Greg is the man. Amen. Man, just to just to get to know Greg. And man, I found out an awesome thing about him too, is he runs an organization called the Cowboy Life Ministries. Man, I'm just telling you, if you don't know anything about these guys, man, you're getting ready to sit back and listen to an action-packed, you know, show of what God can do if you'll just listen. If you'll just listen and move. So, Greg, man, just man, tell us who Greg Hunt is and tell us what Cowboy Life Ministry is.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Man, man, it's glad to be here, Dwayne. Good to good to hang out with you. You know, Cowboy Life Ministry is it's just been a lifelong journey that where God's manifested his work and he's been working on me throughout my whole life to kind of bring a message to to a uh to lost people, you know, and that's really what it amounts to. We use the cowboy life to to reach those who uh need to hear the gospel, and and he's we've taken it all the way to Montana, Oregon, North Dakota, all over the country, just using using cowboy ways and cowboy life and just and uh just reaching those guys. So I started as was 16 years old. The Lord just led me to the Lord, I mean, I just accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I had a a pastor who was a cowboy, wasn't a cowboy church, but he he was a cowboy, and uh I had got to know, lived in North Louisiana and grew up in North Louisiana and moved to Texas, met my wife, and when I was eighteen, I surrendered to the ministries just to go uh serve the Lord and I ran from it for a long time and then finally I realized that uh traditional church wasn't where God had left me. He had led me into I rodeoed and reached the guys where I was trying to where I lived and where I stayed and where I hung out. That's where I was I was more comfortable and where I was called to to share the gospel. And I didn't even know Cowboy Church existed until I just I just the Lord just led me into some folks and got connected with some Cowboy Ministries and and then I just started started preaching the gospel. Planted a cowboy church in Magnolia, Texas, probably 20 years ago. And within ten years we baptized 800 people. And uh it was just an awesome movement of God where God just used us uh to we started out in a tent. Starting out in an arena, really, and then we moved to a tent, built an arena, and then uh then we started uh like I baptized in five years we had a tent. I put a in Texas you put a tent up and in summertime it's hot, but we we'd fill a tent up every s every Sunday. I put out 178 chairs and 177 people showed up the first Sunday. Yeah, it was just a blessing, and I put the air conditioner out on the outside of it so it looked like we had AC, but I I fooled him.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

You fooled them. That's right. You get them there with the the cold air, whatever it takes to get people in the table.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Whatever it took, man, we just let them have it. So but uh once they got there, man, we just we started having two services in the tent. We'd fill the tent up and get a bigger tent, and then we had that had to have so and then we just through that ministry, being a pastor at a cowboy church, I I felt like I'd said y'all come for a long time. Now I had to turn around and say y'all go and uh sent them out. And uh we started sending them out to going to buddy of mine told me uh he knew an Indian guy in in Montana. And I said, Well, I mean I guess we can we can play Cowboys and Indians if you want to. We can try that. The Lord said, Go to Montana, and I said, Man, I ain't got enough money to go to Montana, that's a long way. And uh I called a fellow good buddy of mine, and I said, Man, God, I think God's called me to go to Montana to reach the Indians, and he said, Well, if you'll buy the gas, if you'll drive, I'll buy the gas. I said, Well, here we go. So we loaded up one one summer and just took off to Montana. I didn't have a clue where we were going. We got all the way to Billings, Montana, and and then the directions they gave us was to a to a place out in the middle of nowhere, and we started driving four hours north of Billings. I thought we were gonna end up in Canada. I didn't even have my passport. I thought, oh Lord, here we go. So Greg, let me ask, I want to clear something.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

So you felt called to go to Montana. So you and a buddy talk about it, and you jump in the truck and you head to Montana to go meet some some Indian random guy that you had met three people, right? Okay, I didn't you never met him.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Well, just never met him. I just had a name and an address.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Okay. I just want to make sure I'm clear on that. So you're you're you're just following blind faith right now, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Oh, I'm fine, blind faith. I'm talking about load up and go. Make sure we had the enough gas in the chainsaw. We was good. All right, let's go. And so we load up in the truck, and I mean, we just we I mean, we're 24 hours driving, and then we get to the middle of this place, and I mean, and there ain't no cell phone service, and there ain't no nothing, and they told me go down by a red brick building, turn left, and then by the tree stump, which they ain't do there ain't no trees out there in north where I'm at. It's just flat plains and mountains, and he said, by that big stump, turn left. I said, Oh, so I I mean I I'm I'm telling you, I drove four hours not seeing nobody in the middle of Montana, and I'm thinking, where in the world is this guy gonna take me? And so I'm I'm I'm paying attention to trying to find stumps and losing cell signal and thinking, man, uh Lord, where have you got me going? And uh we turn left, we find this little sign, it's got a little, it says Indian deal uh camp or something like that, some kind of camp. So I pull down in there and I get down in this valley and here comes this guy on a four-wheeler, and I think, oh, I'm gonna get on somebody's place and I'm gonna get shot. Here we I got my pistola in my hand. And so he comes on down and and I said, Duck, you the Indian? He said, Yeah. You the cowboy? I said, Yeah. I said, How? And that's how we met right there. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

And how long ago was that?

SPEAKER_01 8:01

That was ten years ago. Eleven years ago. Eleven years ago. And so we pulled down in there and he said, I'll be right back. Y'all pull down there in the middle of that valley that that valley. And uh, man, I you know, and and when you when you say yes to God, you never know what God's gonna do. You never you you you just assume, I mean, you just literally I was scared. I was f I was didn't know where I was getting into. I didn't know where I was going. I had no idea what it was gonna lead to. I had I just knew that God said, go meet this Indian in Montana. And I and I just loaded up and got went. And and and it was like, I don't even know why I'm going, I don't know how I'm gonna pay for any of this. And the guy told me, I'll buy the gas. And and and sure enough, he we just we took off. So here I am in the middle of this valley, in the middle of I'm talking about there's nothing. I'm talking about I ain't seen people for four hours in the middle of nowhere. And all of a sudden, I'm sitting and I'm sitting in the most beautiful valley I've ever seen in my life. With grass mountains and trees everywhere, and just beautiful. I'm talking about the most beautiful scene you could see. And then all of a sudden, here's this herd of horses that that comes over the top of this mountain and just, I mean, running wild horses. Every every horse you could think of, a paint horse, a bay horse, a black horse, a white horse, a saw horse, every kind of horse you could ever dream of. And I I remember as I was in college writing a paper one time, and and they they wanted me to write a paper on what I would what would be the my dream to see. And it was based on what I'm watching right now. What my dream that I wrote that paper on was coming true right there in that valley. And I'm sitting there thinking, all I had to do was say yes to God. And God delivered what I dreamed I'd ever would would love to see. And see what what what what blew me away right there was just the the the specific of how God knew me and knew my heart and knew everything about me, and he showed me just through my obedience, he showed me everything that he knew and he heard me and he listened to me from years ago. And he understood and he knows me better than I know myself. And from that moment I knew God was in there. And from that moment, we have we have been going to Montana for 15 years and and reaching and putting 250 to 200 missionaries in the field every summer and baptizing about 40 Indians a year to Cowboy Light Ministry. Amen. Praise the Lord. Yeah, and it's been it's been amazing.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Man. So tell us a little bit about uh so you've been going there for a while.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Uh is it on the reservation? So we started out on one reservation, and what what happened was we we went up there and and and really, I mean, this was just we were just feeling it out. We had no idea what we were doing, how it was gonna work. I mean, I had I had a bunch of miniature horses that I I would buck out. They were just mini horses and we had a buck out ministry where we we'd we'd load them horses up in the chute and put them kids on and put a plank on them, and them miniature miniature horses would buck and we'd have a big time, you know. So I loaded up 20 miniature horses that summer, the next summer after we got it all and figured out where we were going, and there was an arena there at the at the at the at the reservation there on and and we just had the kids come out and they did a vacation Bible school, and I said, I'll tell you what, I'll do the I'll do the recreation part of it, and I'll do it, it'll be cowboy stuff. So when they get they do the Bible teaching at the VBS and then I'll do the recreation. So the recreation part, my part was at the arena, and the VBS part was at the at this campground area that they had. Well, 60 kids come to the crank to the arena. Two kids went to the VBS. So we recognized that we were drawing a lot of the kids. All we had to do was put this cowboy stuff on, do these buckouts, and do these arena events and different things. So from there we recognized the the draw would be to get something for them kids. They they'd all come to do that. And then so we used that rodeo to uh to start. So the next year we just started putting on rodeo Bible camps and we'd do team roping, barrel racing, all the different events, and so we bring in clinicians and just and do it that way, and steer riding and all the things that we do. And so from there we just kind of created a a model to do, and then from there we added other camps because I'd have other teams from Texas and Louisiana and all over that wanted to come help. So I it was a two-fold ministry, we would do mission work, but we'd also go to churches and help help churches find a place to do missions. So I was kind of liaison for the pastors to find them a place to do missions. And so we'd we'd go to churches and I'd speak at different churches and build up mission teams to come hang out with us in Montana. And so we just kind of developed developed a ministry call. He just kind of grew into Cowboy Life Ministry because I was a pastor doing mission work out of our church, and then I recognized the need and and other reservations asked us to come do stuff, and so we were doing six, seven camps a year at some point before COVID. And so and then that's when I went full time into Cowboy Life Ministry. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Now uh now this is not just a little rodeo, this is the whole cowboy deal, right? Because I've heard you have a chuck wagon train out there.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Yeah, we have chuck wagon, so we'll we'll bring in a chuck wagon, we'll bring in uh um all the cat all the the Dutch ovens and all that and cook farm and do do that, and so they have all of that. We'll set it all up. They have tepees set up so that we can sleep in the tepees. Now, I don't I take a living quarters horse trutter, but we have the teepees and different things and for everybody to have the full experience. And then we'll we'll go into the do the powwows and we even set up a mechanical bull at one of their pow wows and the pow wows where they do the dance at their their ceremonies and they have their little fair kind of deal. And and we we go in and share the gospel. There's one of them we went in and we just picked up trash for them. And we just and just we just serve and love on them and and just share the gospel and pass out tracts and pass out water and different things. But we've had all kinds of opportunities to share gospel.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Amen. Well, here I want to ask you a question then. So why is reaching these this uh this reservation in the rural communities important to you?

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Man, so the whole whole thing about the reason let me let me put it in one one concept is that we have spent a whole lot of time playing church and creating, but we we we the the cowboy uh method, and we don't change the gospel, we change the method. And then what we do is we create breaking down and tearing down barriers so that people can hear the gospel. There's a there's as stigmatism, there's a and I I I I raise I was raised in a traditional church. I don't have anything against traditional church. I love I mean I was I was saved in a traditional church, so I don't really want but the rural community has has there's a reason you can there's a barrier that are keeping people out of church and from hearing the gospel. And and I won't I want to take those barriers away and I'm gonna be there for the unchurched, not for the church. I want to create a church for the unchurched, not a church for the church. If that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. So uh what is w what is one of the biggest challenges that you've had in this ministry of Cowboy Life?

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Oh man. So the one of the biggest challenges is that we're going into a culture that does not accept that that has it's really a spiritual battle. We're on the front lines of the biggest spiritual battle ever. Because the enemy is is all over those reservations. And it is a huge spiritual battle. And so we have to be prayed up, we have to be armored up, we have to be ready because we're gonna fight the enemy firsthand. One of the things that I I when I get back from the reservation, it's almost like a uh I'm I'm just slap war because I ha the enemy spiritually has it's been a battle the whole time. When you walk on that reservation and when you drive on that reservation, the enemy's there to kill, steal, and destroy. And we're there to bring life, and so uh there's gonna be a battle. And the enemy's had this rain on those reservations for a long time. And it's still there, and so we we're fighting that battle on the front lines.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

Yeah. I mean, because I tell you that must be a huge, huge battle struggle to cross over because you know, we know that the the American Indians are very spiritual in their their own way. And then then we are Christians here have a spiritual battle with with Satan and the demons coming in, you know. I mean, you're over here trying to fight it on two different fronts, what it sounds like, man.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

And it is, it it is. I mean, you got you got religious religion that you try to fight. And then, you know, you got people coming into from the Bible belt to a to a a community that less than two percent is churched. And so you're you're the you don't realize the depth. This is in America, you don't realize the need. You know, we go we need to go overseas, we need to do all kinds of of of in international ministry, but we need to do domestic a national ministry too, in in inside the United States. And missions there less than two percent of the Northwest is churched. And one of our goals is to start planting churches up there that are are Bible-believing churches, and and it is difficult. It's a it's a b it's a challenge. They believe in God, but they don't believe in Jesus. They have a creator, they talk to the creator, but Jesus is the is where we where we have trouble with. Yeah. And so this is a all volunteer? Yes, everything's volunteer. I mean, we we basically are uh a full-fledged 501c3 that we we basically are donated donations and like so. What I do is the way it works is I go in, we don't charge the kids anything for the camps. We feed the kids, but what we do is all the missionary teams, if you go on a mission trip, we charge the missionaries a fee to go on the trip that pays for the camp and pays for the meals for the kids and the prizes for the kids and all the like every kid at the end of the camp gets a Bible, gets a rope, and gets a devotion of some kind, or or you know. And so we we're handing out that and sharing the gospel with them and baptizing them in the little big horn river and just but we've I've seen kids that uh that I've been working with for you know, we've been doing it for 15 years, so I mean we've been kind of going back. I've I've seen kids now that are older that came in young that I've I've I've been there every year and been with their families and you know they're I'm just a part of their family. They've even given me an Indian name. They've they've changed they've they've they've given me a uh Indian name that did a big ceremony and accepted me as a as as one and they've taken me on places where no white man's gone where where only Indians can go. And so I've really been accepted into the culture up there because of And the and the name that gave me was Big Wind, which is it it could be twofold, Big Wind, but the the reason that they said when you came in, you came in like a big wind and left good things for our people. Oh that's just that's just tough. They felt the Holy Spirit when our on and and they they named it Big Wind.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

And so Yeah, and so it's pretty powerful. Man, to think about that, you you said just earlier that you were scared, you know, what you were doing when you showed out there, and then they see a big wind come in. And they provide things. Man, that's amazing. Yeah, that's pretty cool. For sure. God was with you for sure. So how many people do you have uh that y'all take up there or are that work in your organization that volunteer all the time?

SPEAKER_01 21:16

So we've got a team, it's a small team of about four or five, depending on that that that are consistently every year. But then we we have different and then it can be up to eight, you know, depending on the years of a of a the that travels. So we have a group that travels from camp to camp to camp, and then I have different teams that come into each camp. And so basically I'll have a group that'll come into one camp and they'll do this one camp, and then they'll go home and I'll bring in another camp or another group to do the next camp. And we travel from each one to do that. And so and then we like so we'll we'll have a small Crew that kind of goes from each camp. That's awesome. That's awesome. We'll probably run. I think this year we're putting at least 150 missionaries in the field this summer. Wow. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Yes. Man, I'm telling you, you said it. He's a 501c3. Man, that's a nonprofit tax deductible. We're going to be putting in the bio and the link ways that you can donate to Cowboy Life Ministries to help Greg and his ministry reach these reservations. Man, so many people are out there that don't even know who Jesus is. And man, one way you can is help Greg and Cowboy Life Ministries do a donation, man. It's tax deductible. Man, we'll get that out there, Greg. You're doing a great thing, brother. Thank you, man. I appreciate it. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Yeah, we we we do a do a lot of work and then you know, and what we want to do is teach them to fish, not give, you know, not give them fish. We want we, you know, those reservations are struggling financially, they struggle all the time. We we we have different things all during the year. Like we'll have times where we've gone up there and give them shoe boxes for Christmas and different things, gone into the schools and done Christmas for them and go into the homes and just, you know, there's some struggles. And I do marriage counseling for some of the Indian reservation things. So where I've had men's conferences up there, we've we've done ladies' conferences up there. So it's just kind of staying in, connecting with them all year, and then we've helped plant two churches and built one church, and we're building a youth center right now that's just trying to add to that. And so just just just investing in in them and and loving on them and and just helping them.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Amen. Well, can I ask you? I know there's probably so many, but can you share one powerful testimony of uh a life-changing thing that happened on the reservation at one of your ministries?

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Man, there's so many. But I the one that comes to mind is there's a young man and it and it happened the second year we were there, and and and and the reason this story is is so powerful is because today I I know where he came from and where he is today. There was a young boy on the on the reservation, his name was Cayenne, and I'll just leave it at that. But Cayenne was a was a he was a little Indian kid that was tough as a boot leather, and and just he rolled the hair off every horse we had. And but I'm telling you, he he was an angry child. And he was nine years old at that time, and and I'm telling you, he he was tougher in a boot. And um he showed up in the in the lunch line, and one of the ladies that were serving lunch gave him a piece of bread, and he wanted another piece, and she said, No, just one piece, and he cussed her out. And and I I and I jerked him up, grabbed him, took him behind the shed, and said, No, you're not gonna do that, and and and and the Lord just stopped me at that point, because I was fixing the I was I was upset. 'Cause of the way he and that was not the first time he had done that, it was just at a point where you just you were just at the at the limit. And then I was standing over him, talking at him, and then the Lord said, No, get down on his and I knelt down instead of fussing at him and condemning him, I just stopped, got down, looked him in the face, and said, What's wrong? And tears come out of his eyes, and he he'd been beat on, been whooped on, been all kind of things, and been condemned all his life. But Jesus told me not to not to do that. And he said, My mama's gone to jail today, and I don't know where my daddy's at. And instead of fussing at him, he's tugged his neck. From that day forward, that young man would never leave my side. He was everywhere I was at. He was the one going everywhere I went, he was at my hip. And what I learned from that is that when we see the grace that we've received, we need to give the grace back. And that grace can change a lot. That young man now is he went through some trials and tribulations, but he's a productive young man in the society and loves the Lord and shares Christ today. But it could have gone different if I wouldn't have humbled myself and got down to where he was at and recognized the need. And I thought, you know, Jesus got down and came down to where we're at so that he'd understand. And then he took our punishment rather than condemning us. He took it on himself. So that story has been a mission, who we are. We want to go where they're at and show them the love of Jesus Christ. Not gonna not be better than they are, but love on where they're at so that they might know the Jesus that I know.

SPEAKER_02 27:13

So that they can come out of their struggles with peace, love, and joy and salvation.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

Man, that's a pretty powerful story, testimony right there, Greg. Because man, I can see, man, it just you know, I can say amazes me, but nothing amazes me about our God. Because he can do so many different things. And and at that moment, that that young young boy, young man was needing somebody. And then God and humbled you to to be that person for him when he had nobody.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Man. Yeah, he didn't have he didn't have nobody. But God sent me from Texas. And what I realized was that's why I went. That's what he sent me for, for that one. Now we reached a lot, but he said, he he did he did that for just for one.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

Sent that many people that distance to an unknown place for that one. For that one.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Left the 99 to go.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Come on. Come on. Wow, man, I bet you have uh a lot of those. And just they just keep coming, man, because I'm telling you, when you get into ministry and you go under this, man, and when you allow God to use you as a vessel and move out of the way, amazing things happen. Amazing things happen. And uh, I I've got to, you know, experience that first hand myself. And thankful for that. So thankful for that. But yeah, man, man, I appreciate you sharing that again. I do, I do. You bet, brother. Yeah, man. And uh so I'm gonna switch gears just a little bit for a few minutes. And uh man, you you're doing uh want to talk about it, you're doing some motivational speaking and uh some preaching uh when available. So uh if you want to tell people about real quick, uh how you know, we'll have the information here about what you can do if you'll come to a church. I know you plant churches a little bit and uh or do some motivational motivational speaking, if you just want to touch on that for a second.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

So, yeah, there's a lot of opportunity to to be a part of Cowboy Life Ministry, go to Montana, go to go on a mission trip. If you're ever interested in doing that, there's opportunity. I travel and speak at different Cowboy churches, and I'm a part of helping consult pastors. I I I kind of help I've been a pastor for 15, 20 years and been through the mud, been through the mire, and been through the the highs and lows and been successful and and f and failed, you know. But but God has opened the door for me to be able to speak into pastors' lives and and be able to like this weekend I'm speaking at my home church back in Louisiana and and and then next week I'll be preaching at a another cowboy church here in Marquet, Texas. And the week after that I'm I'm going to Simple Truth Cowboy Church. And these pastors that have that have been a part of the the mission work that we do, they've also been I've been able to help them kind of plant get through. Basically, I've kind of been a a behind the scenes guy to help them kind of just push them along to get to where they are to, you know, and not not trying to toot my own horn, but I've just kind of been there to help them when they needed some help. And but that's kind of my what I feel like my role is now, and then and then go out and do encourage and and motivate folks to do what God's called them to do. Uh the biggest thing that I think in the struggle today, and I know this is one of the things on your heart, is is it w creating opportunity for men to do hard things. Yes. I mean, we got to get to the point where uh we get out of our comfort zone. I'm a pretty good mechanic. I get comfortable and I can get a put her put a rear in and a recliner real quick, but it we gotta get out of get out of that mode of of of being comfortable and getting uncomfortable and doing things that make us uncomfortable. And that's my my my goal is to is to charge people to get up and be doing what God called be about God's business and do what God called them to do, and and some of that stuff is not sitting around waiting on God to show up. God's already there, he's just waiting on you to move. Amen. You know, so absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

So man, I uh got a couple questions that we ask every guest that comes on, and uh the first one is what is your favorite verse and why?

SPEAKER_01 31:51

I guess my favorite verse is there's several of them, but if I had to go to one is Romans 12, 2 is I'll I'll dig it up real quick so I don't mess it up, but Romans 12, 2. And the reason for that is is the hardest problem or the biggest battle if you go through uh a whole book of Romans and you start digging into Romans, it tells you all of what God has done for us and why we need a Savior, and then we turn and understand what He did for us, and we're all in need of a Savior. But if you look at Romans 12, 1 and 2, it says, So dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he's done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, be the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. And then it says in Romans 2, don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good, pleasing, and perfect. You know, I I was I was thinking about how that applies to us, and and have you ever seen a downhill skier? Well, downhill skier will will will focus, and I can't figure out I I I've never skied because I I feel like if I tried to ski, I'd be in the trees, not hit every tree on the way down. Yeah. But the the key is you ask a downhill skier, how do you not hit the trees, or how do you he said, well, I never see the trees. I don't focus on the trees. I focus on where I'm going, on the path. And so the way we learn and the way we move and the way we change is that we learn how to think correctly and speak correctly. And the way we we change the way we do things, the way we we create positive and life and life more abundantly, is that we begin to focus on those things that are holy, those things that are good, those things that are pure, those things. And it if we'll begin to change the way we think, then we can change the way we live. And we'll understand God's will for us. If we'll seek God first in his righteousness and focus on him, and we're following him, and if our eyes and our mind and things are on him, then we're not distracted by the things of this world, then we can move in the direction of God's good and pleasing perfect will for our lives. Everybody wants to know what our will, what God's will is for. And it's like you've got to get to the mindset of understanding that only what God wants from you is you to surrender your life to Him so that you'll follow Him and He'll lead you to the places He wants you to go. You can't go where you can't where you where you're not being led. And God's only gonna lead you if you will follow. Come on, come on. I love listening to you. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 35:03

That's gonna be the pathway to get to success. All right. I love it, I love it. All right, so the next question is what does it mean to be a faithful warrior to you? Faithful warrior.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Well, faith, faith means that I have to believe in things that I can't see. And I have to have faith in something bigger than me. And my faith, in order for me to have the warrior attitude, I need to be understanding who my faith is in, is in the great, mighty, almighty warrior of Jesus Christ. So my boldness comes from not from what I can do, but what he can do through me. So the power doesn't come from me, it becomes it believe it's it goes back to me surrendering, and he is strong in my weakness. And so, therefore, if I'll just deny myself and follow him, pick up my cross and follow him, then I will be led and have the power to overcome and fight the battles that I need to fight. Amen. Great and be an over be an overcome. Amen. Man, that was and I fight, I fight from victory, not to victory.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

That's right. That's right. That's right. All right, as we close out, always I want to ask this question what encouragement would you give someone who feels broken, lost, or far from God?

SPEAKER_01 36:37

The encouragement that I would give, and it uh you gotta go back to the word. I mean the word is the word is life, and and and and the best advice that I could give anybody. And I've had I wish two people in my life would have listened, would have first of all, there's two places I would love for people to understand is that if you call, pick up the phone and call somebody and encourage them, tell them you love them. Don't miss. If you thought about it, do it. Don't wait. You may not have another chance. Maybe the last chance you get. But this is what if you're broken and hurtin', Jesus says, Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I'll give you rest. But in Psalms twenty three it says the Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need. He leads me rest in green meadows, and he leads me besides peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, brings honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect me and comfort me. You prepare a feast before me before for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil, and my cup overflows with blessings. Surely goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever. He is your shepherd. If you're running from him today, he's pursuing you.

SPEAKER_02 38:20

All you gotta do is stop, turn, and walk into his arms. He's right there. He ain't far. Don't run. Surrender. Give it up. Let him have it. He'll take it from you.

SPEAKER_01 38:39

And he won't he you won't have to bear it no more.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

He's a good shepherd and he loves you. Man. That's a great one, Greg. That's a great one. Psalms 23 is uh near and dear to my heart too. And you know, my dark times, that's what I leaned on. Psalms 23. So that that hits a little deep right there. And I think we're sharing that, man, because you know, there's so many people, not just men, but there's so many people out there that are just struggling and don't know which way they're gonna go. And and the way they need to go is to Jesus, man. He's he's out there pursuing them every single day. He's enough. And I mean, you know, that's just where you and I come in with our ministries, man, and just just do his word and and his work and just go out there and try to find these people, man. I'm telling you, it's just amazing. Thankful. Thankful. Well, man, I I appreciate you coming on the show today and and telling us about Cowboy Life Ministry and how God's working in your life. And man, just want to say thank you. Thank you for coming on the show.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Thanks for having me, brother. Love what you're doing, appreciate what you're doing. And and I've got a son in the Marines, he's over overseas right now. Just pray for him. Just pray for our all of our soldiers and our first responders and all that. I appreciate all they do, the sacrifice that they're giving up. But I appreciate all that all that you're doing for those soldiers and and first responders and those it's near and dear to my heart. So brother, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 40:07

So as we close, remember this being a faithful warrior is not about being the strongest person in the room. It's about have it's not about having it all together. It's about remaining faithful to Jesus no matter what battle you face. If you're walking through a difficult season today, don't quit. Keep trusting, keep praying, keep moving forward. God is not finished with your story. Until next time, stay faithful, keep your eyes on Christ, and remember the battle is real, but so is the God who walks with you through it. We'll see you on the next episode of Faithful Warriors Podcast.