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THE LORD’S REAL COVENANT MODEL AND DISCIPLESHIP STANDARD [Part 3]
There were times when the Lord was tactful and parabolic in His teachings. There were other times He didn’t hold back a whit and came out with guns blazing.
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A STRONG POWERFUL MAN
“Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” [John 7:46]
No one taught like the Lord. No one ever spoke like Him or would ever do so again. During His ministry, the Lord Jesus, the great Yehoshua Ha`Mashiach, was the very epitome of the perfect Gospel Minister and the most excellent example possible to follow. He was the Living Word …and the Word was God.
Here was a Man who was strong as an ox, who had worked very hard at manual labor throughout His early life, specifically as a builder and carpenter, working with wood and stone, using by our modern standards relatively crude but effective tools and materials often straight from the fields. He likely hewed and harvested His own trees, loaded and hauled heavy rocks, made His own bricks, and possibly even forged metal though certainly used it as needed. All of it was extremely labor intensive and time consuming.
As a builder myself, and longtime carpenter and tradesman, I know what hard work is and have the “evidence” to prove it. Yet the work I’ve done is relative to the times which are wholly unlike the Lord’s times in that tools are a massive upgrade, the materials are often machined to the point of direct use, and most of all, we have electricity. There have been many times when I did remodeling work on relatively very old houses built prior to 1900 when local carpenters of that time did everything by hand using hand saws and drills. The first hand-held power saws were not invented until the early 1920s. The old material I worked on in those houses—old dark wood studs and framing—was somewhat rougher cut, thicker, and much harder—the latter likely being due in part to the passage of time. But those boys back then had to cut it all by hand without losing any precision or time. The milled lumber used for tongue and groove flooring, trim, and siding was all hand-nailed. It was very hard work and I think underappreciated by modern tradesmen. It did not matter what the trade was in the past, the men working them were much stronger and tougher. They had to be.
Keep this in mind when considering the work of ancient times. Most of the men the Lord chose for ministry were likewise strong and tough, wiry and ripped, and accustomed to hard labor whether they were carpenters, fishermen, lumbermen/millers, stonecutters, butchers—you name it. Whatever it was they did it was without the many later innovations and certainly without electricity which we all pretty much take for granted. This does not mean that modern workers do not work very hard in their own right or are not tough and strong as well (one has to be), but times must be put in perspective.
THICK SKIN TENDER HEART
No one is more tender-hearted than the Lord. No one loves as much, No one is more willing to serve and do whatever must be done in the process of saving souls from eternal death. It is why the Lord could use finesse and tenderness when called for, knowing a deft touch works wonders for the heart, especially upon those with broken, aching, and contrite hearts. Living in this fallen world of sin, pain, and suffering wreaks havoc on human hearts and the Lord was never one to pile on but expressed compassion whenever necessary. He was the essence of kindness.
Imagine such a strong Man with weathered thick skin and crinkling about His face and eyes showing such care and concern. He was the very picture of the ultimate Disciple, putting up with the rigors and necessities of life while also exhibiting the height of spiritual Light and Grace. He was a Man from heaven within but appearing ever much like a Man of his times without.
Yet, He was also a Lion and His roar could be heard at a distance. This was often the case when He had to preach to great crowds. To lesson the decibels, He would on occasion use natural means to make His voice go further, such as when He would preach from a boat just off the shoreline or at His Sermon on the Mount when He was actually at the base of the rise, allowing His voice to waft upwards as in a natural amphitheater.
I think He saved his greatest roar for those with the thickest hearts and thinnest skins. You know who I mean. Check out all His world-class “Woe to you” rebukeathons dispersed throughout the Gospel accounts. These were directed at non-men existing in the mere guise of humanity who hated people and wanted only to rule them, extract whatever wealth from them they could, and make them live in fear. In their twisted minds, people subjected to such conditions were far easier to control. The Lord greatly opposed such miscreants, those given over to false authority, especially those of the religious leadership variety. They were pretty much all sellouts, existing as mealymouthed persnickety hairsplitters, devious to a T, with less compassion than an angry rattlesnake. They were so evil they relentlessly attacked their very Creator, the One so infinitely unlike them. They were, as the Lord Himself stated, “of your father the devil.” This gives us insight into the hard-hearted thin-skinned one opposing all that is good and always falsely accusing the righteous.
WHY A COVENANT?
I spent many seasons as a coach. I put my own men’s softball teams together. I’ve done decades of team-oriented blue collar work in construction and the Texas oil field. Try working with people who refuse to be team players. These are usually not the higher minded and talented independent types able to forge their own path by God’s grace. If needing to be team players, such independent types almost always submit to teamwork because they are smart enough to know it works for the greater good and makes working together much more enjoyable and doable. The good guys often don’t care so much about who’s in charge but only that whoever is in charge is very good at it for the benefit of everyone else. Most people have no problem submitting to such leadership but there are always bad apples who can’t make it on their own and for whatever reason, can’t work so well within a team either (a covenant).
It is the same with many Christians. They either simply cannot understand the concept of covenant with God or refuse to do so, displaying a lack of perceived understanding regarding its required purpose, an incomprehension of its necessary full application, or an insufficient grasp of its inherent constitutional structure. Regardless, there is never any reason or excuse to violate it.
Speaking of which, there are times when tact and finesse won’t do. When the Lord has already put the very best deal together, one that can never be improved upon, He sometimes has to enforce it. Though it may be harsh, it is necessary. Here’s an example:
I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! [Galatians 1:6-9][1]
This is why the Lord created a sacred covenant that each of His followers must sign on to in the beginning knowing it is forever and always and also knowing that one’s total submission to the Leader is a non-negotiable requirement. It is not because the Lord wants to rule and reign over His people and make them feel His weight (He can), but to simply make the whole thing work. He is the best. The best of the best. There is nobody better. He is the greatest Leader there could ever be and is infinitely trustworthy, loving, and kind. He is also stronger and tougher than anyone else, the greatest Alpha Male of all time, and proved it by His entire ministry.
The final proof came when He voluntary went to the cross, subjecting Himself to abject horrendous torture and shame on our behalf. There is no greater love than this. He deserves infinite glory for all eternity. One can never praise Him enough!
Therefore, whoever has a problem with signing an eternal covenant with such a Man has got a severe problem which likely demands spiritual deliverance. In other words, if the Lord will never wrong you (He won’t), if you can always trust Him (you can), if He will never walk out on you (He won’t), or betray you (He won’t), will always love you (He will), can always be counted on (Amen), and will forever do His best to keep His end of the deal (He will), then what’s the problem? There is no other covenant or contract or agreement that any of us has ever signed onto that is anywhere close to being as beneficial as the Lord’s covenant. And it’s eternal! Therefore, though church and ministry agreements are fine, they pale in comparison to the agreement each of us makes with the Lord. Anyone with a measurable IQ knows it’s the Lord who has by far the bigger challenge in such a deal.
WORTH IT ALL
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. [Romans 8:18]
It is understandable then, why the Lord has commandments that His followers must keep. Whatever it is they must do is nothing comparable to what He subjects Himself to in His Covenant. And no matter what the cost of Discipleship may be, it is next to nothing compared to the benefits both here and beyond. Those who sign up and stay the course make the greatest and best decision of their entire existence.
The names of every one are found recorded in the Book of Life.
© 2025 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
THE PRESIDING AUTHORITY OF THE LORD JESUS [Part 2]
Whoever never acknowledges the overall authority of the Lord, whether due to simple ignorance or outright refusal, remains subjected to the flawed authority of others.
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AN OIL FIELD STORY
I spent several years working on oil and gas rigs in Texas. One time many years ago I was working on a lousy little rig in the far south part of the state in that early contested area between the Nueces and Rio Grande. This was not a high dollar rig and was thus staffed with lesser clientele. It was during my early days when I was still learning the various nuances of my profession before I moved on to the much newer and much better Cadillac rigs.
The old rig was located out in the relatively unpatrolled badlands. I can’t remember the particulars but it was a lower class operating company that could only afford a lower class drilling rig which could only afford lesser clientele. I think you may get the picture here though it is virtually impossible to explain working on a rig to someone that’s never been on one or worked on one. Starting out on such rig sites is a good education toward certain elements of the industry, one of which is that one better keep working up the ladder or probably just move on down the road. In my case I had no choice at the time and had to stick it out.
Another cost saving measure is the quality of the company man. Again, for those who don’t know, the company man is the on-site man hired by the operating company to ride herd on the rig. He is like the captain of a ship. In the oil field he is the absolute on-site boss. In later years I met and worked with some fine men who knew their stuff and knew how to treat other men. Those lesser company men were different. They were not good enough to work the better rigs. You get what you pay for, as they say. (Regarding such pay, the best company men were getting upwards of fifteen hundred dollars a day back then.) Even so, most of those lesser guys were alright but an observant man like myself quickly understood why they were working for lower pay on lousy rigs in not so great locations. I didn’t know it at the time because I had no frame of reference.
Anyway, proceeding with the story, on that one particular well, the company man was not just among the lower class of company men but also had a big screw loose somewhere in his fat cranial region. He wasn’t just a brick shy of a load but several pallets of bricks shy. Though somewhat subtle when all was cruising, one could see the brick deficiency a tad better not long after one’s initial acquaintance. When things were not going so well which always happens on a rig to varying degrees, especially on a rig of this kind with a clientele of that kind, this man’s cranial deficiency was soon on full display. One of his episodes came my way one night…
By the way, oil and gas rigs operate twenty four hours a day. The work never stops though there may be occasional delays. The days are usually divided into two twelve hour shifts starting at 6am and 6pm though some might break at midnight and noon. In the industry, though, these shifts are never referred to as shifts. They’re called “towers.” But this word is spelled tours. Even so, it has always been pronounced towers. In other words a man works his tower. It may be the day tower or the night tower. For those that can read, however, all the paperwork says tours. There are many things like this in the oil field that hearken back to the very early days of the industry.
This means there are two full crews working the rig, a day crew and a night crew. One crew works while the other crew sleeps. It works the same with other personnel. This sometimes includes company men. The usual protocol, though, was one company man on the site working a two week shift. He was allowed sleep time as he could get it but must always be available for whatever may occur.
On this particular lousy rig in the badlands of far south Texas the operating company could only afford so much for a rig boss so they had to dip into their bag of dregs. He was supposed to be always available but really wasn’t. He slept at night. He was supposed to be on call at all times but this particular individual paid no attention to that and slept through the night regardless of what was happening on the rig. Everyone learned to fend for themselves because he made it clear that he was never to be awakened under any circumstances.
But no one on the rig passed on this most important piece of information to me. Well, because I was still in the early days of learning my craft as what they called “third party personnel” and was working the night tower, something pretty serious happened one night that demanded the company man’s attention. Again, because I was not wise to the rig protocol though was otherwise well trained and knew the company man must be told of the occurrence, I went over to his office which also was his lodgings and knocked on the door (unless a man tells you otherwise you never just walk in). I guess you may surmise what happened next. Not only did I wake him up but I raised his dander to full tilt and he pretty much went native. I could then see very well that the man was a certifiable nutcase. No man ever treated me like that before but because I could not risk my job and was a Christian I could not take a chance on beating the ever living tar out of him though I think the Lord would understand and not hold it against me but the company I worked for probably not so much.
So I had to take his guff. It’s hard for a real man to take the guff of a lesser man only because he is higher on the totem pole. When I got off tower and went to my motel room I didn’t take long to inquire of the Lord just what I should do about this. That’s when I learned once again about THE PRESIDING AUTHORITY OF THE LORD JESUS. He told me something really cool during that prayer time. It was by His inspiration that I received the revelation. So I prayed a really great prayer:
“Lord, you know I am submitted to your authority. But I also have to be submitted to the crazy man’s authority. So I ask you Lord to take full authority over him so when I submit to him I am submitting to someone who is under full submission to Your authority even though he does not know that and this will allow You to take authority over him for my sake and work your will in the situation.”
The next day I went to work. The man’s attitude toward me had changed. It even appeared as though he was somehow better in the head. He was now treating me with the respect I deserved all along and even appeared to have a better nature. We actually began getting along just fine. I never had any problem with him again and completed the well.
This is why wise people submit themselves 100% to the Lord Jesus. When the authority structure is lined up the way the Lord wants it everything goes better and it all works out.
All praise to You, My Father. Amen.
© 2025 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued…]
Leaving the Grateful Dead and Creating Great Wineskins: An Oil Field Story (2)
And He was also telling them a parable:
“No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.
“But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
“And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’” [Luke 5:36-39]
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When the Lord Jesus prepares to bring real revival He must first create a real community.
Since He only works with and through people, such people must be real disciples. They must be born again. They must be new. They must be filled with His Spirit. Without willing, obedient, and fully submitted participants—new wineskins—He cannot work, create, or pour out new wine. We know this from His Word.
Creating the new necessitates leaving the old.
And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” [Luke 9:59-60]
Though it is obvious that the Lord Jesus is all-powerful and can do whatever He wants whenever He wants, it is also the case that He has given human beings a free will. People must choose. People must choose Him. Otherwise He cannot bring forth new life.
Therefore, free will restricts God.
Strangely enough, though, what most people don’t know is that free will also restricts free will.
Let me explain.
SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS OF THE OIL FIELD
I have worked many years in the oil fields of Texas. When I was a rookie learning operations and equipment I became aware that much of the stuff we were using was old and outdated. The old stuff was still in use for two reasons: It still functioned and to replace it would cost money.
The oil field is different like that. Because of the nature of ongoing boom and bust cycles, those who make their living in the industry have long since developed a traditional corresponding attitude. Those smaller companies who are invested in old equipment that still functions continue to use it even though it is outdated and advanced technology has created upgrades. It is the effort to work on the cheap and maximize profits while the getting is good.
During a boom when a lot of money is available, one would think the equipment would be upgraded. But I noticed that money was at such a premium even when it flowed that few wanted to use it to make upgrades as long as the old equipment still worked. People feared the inevitable bust and were afraid to spend, not sure if they would ever get their investment back. In other words—in a classic case of the counterintuitive—in times of plenty wallets often got even tighter.
Why spend money on new stuff when the old stuff still worked? Why upgrade the method when the existing method has worked for decades? Why treat people well when you could save money by treating them like cattle? Instead of thinking about spending for the future, a much greater price is paid in great inconvenience, more effort, more repairs, and more headaches.
Sound familiar?
Of course, the larger companies had capital to spend. Some newer companies began with the latest technologies. Their initial investments were in the best equipment and rigs of the time if they could afford it and had relatively long-term contracts. But for smaller operators, it was always a matter of using the past in the present.
I remember one day in my first year, when working on an old rig that had been cobbled together in the yard from parts going back decades, I asked a worker with much more experience what had occurred to me early on: “Why are we still doing things this way?” I’ll never forget his answer:
“Because that’s the way they did it in the fifties.”
It was then that I noticed a completely different phenomenon. Not only did the people who were invested in old, outdated equipment insist on using it until it was scrap beyond any possible repair, they also insisted on doing things “the old way.” There was great reluctance to adapt to anything new.
From this I learned three things:
(1) The old-timers who spent a lifetime working their way up from the bottom in much toil and misery and had gained a better position of employment with greater authority and salary only knew what they knew. They knew a lot, of course. They had a ton of experience. They knew how to run a rig. But they knew little that was new.
They had a hard time learning and adapting to new technologies. Their entire beings, brains, and brawn was an incredible collection of everything done in the oil field from many decades past to their present.
Though they had worked extremely hard and learned it all, they had become hardwired to history. It was all they knew.
(2) The second thing I learned from this strange dynamic is that it was like pulling dinosaur teeth to get anyone on a rig site to clue me in on a few things so I could do my job better and easier. There were so many times early on that I had to go through my work in the dark, just barely aware of my surroundings and how everything worked. I was trained enough to do the job just barely—that’s the way training was done. A man learned the basics quickly and then broke out into the field. So I had to learn a lot on my own on rig sites.
My employers were happy. They liked me. I was a great worker. I did my job. But they also would only invest so much. They invested in the minimum toward their employees. If you couldn’t hack it you were gone. I hacked it. I was forced by the culture to learn my job the way everyone else had always had to learn. Unless you knew somebody or were born into the oil field with a supportive family or friends, you were on your own. No one who knew anything was talking.
Also, nobody wanted anyone else to know how little they did know. People acted like they knew more than they did. So, on top of not knowing and wanting to know, one could not reveal that they didn’t know or they would lose rig site credibility. Cred is very important in the oil field. But one had to earn it. Low level rig workers would clue me in to some stuff here and there, as long as things were worded right and all the protocol was respected. They had had the same problem and could relate. But the higher ups were generally clammed up.
You know why? It wasn’t just to make the new guys squirm and feel like idiots, and for the joy that such actions brought them. It wasn’t just because men had to earn respect by working their butts off and figuring stuff out on their own. No one ever helped most of them when they were coming up and they were bound and determined to do likewise.
(3) It was mainly because they didn’t want anyone taking their job. They learned as rookies that knowledge in the oil field was power, and the more one knew the better off they were regarding the constant competition from new workers. Whatever they learned they put into practice but they never shared the information.
If you wanted to learn you would have to learn the hard way as they did. You would have to man your post the best you could though feeling like an idiot much of the time but never letting anybody know it. It’s how you climbed the ladder. You would have to be treated with supreme disrespect and indifference by condescending closed-lipped and close-minded rascals. You would have to be an idiot until you figured it out on your own.
Once you did figure it out you gained respect. I reached a point where it suddenly all came together. All the puzzle pieces fit. I saw the big picture. I got the big idea. I went from working in the dark to walking fully into the light. I learned it all the hard way, and it was very hard. Once a man goes through that process, he can afford a little swagger. I arrived at a place where I demanded respect without saying a word and I got it.
Whoever does not understand this is still in the dark.
Regarding Unreal Christianity, it explains everything. It explains why Unreal Christianity is still in the Dark Ages. It explains why it rejects the New Wine of the Spirit and why it refuses the Lord’s real community.
Rather than leave dead works and dead religion, the grateful dead thereof have invested everything they have in Old Wine, Old Wineskins, burying dead fathers, and spiritual darkness.
“If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” [Matthew 6:23] [1]
[To Be Continued.]
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
BLOWOUT! (Part 1)
The Lucas Gusher, Spindletop Hill, Texas. Jan 10, 1901
Oil and natural gas are under pressure far inside the earth. It is trapped in geologic formations thousands of feet below ground. When drilling rigs drill down to release the flow of these hydrocarbons to the surface for later production, the drill string punctures these formation zones and releases the trapped gas and/or oil into the borehole.
As the gas/oil flows into the hole created by the drill string, the pressure increases because the hydrocarbons are seeking escape through a relatively miniscule egress created by the drilling pipe.
In the early days, drilling rigs had no method of controlling highly pressurized oil or gas as it shot toward the surface.
When the oil or gas travels upward through the borehole, it gains in speed and increases in pressure. If the formation pressure within the earth is relatively minor, it will be easier to control when it reaches the surface.
But sometimes the drill string (composed of drilling pipe and the bottom hole assembly) punctures a downhole formation under very high natural pressure. The oil or gas within the formation zone thousands of feet below ground then begins flooding into the borehole at a high rate of speed and shoots rapidly toward the surface gaining speed exponentially as it blasts upward. Since oil and gas wells often exceed two or three miles in depth, and some are even deeper, there is time to contain what is known as the kick before it reaches the earth’s surface and the drilling rig.
This is done through the use of BOPs, or Blow-out Preventers. These are a series of large valves below the drilling rig that can be closed off quickly to prevent a blowout in cases of large amounts of rapidly rising oil and/or natural gas. Also, there is much on-site instrumentation designed to detect such hydrocarbons within the wellbore. If everyone is on their game, blowouts can be prevented and contained. The oil/gas can then be slowly and safely bled off and burned off over time and the rig can remain under control. But drilling rigs can squat on a veritable giant powder keg for days and weeks until the well pressure and danger is vented and reduced to a manageable level.
On occasion, though, the pressurized hydrocarbons arrive so quickly at the surface of the wellhead that the entire drilling rig is destroyed and melted to the ground. It is sometimes the case that thousands of feet of drilling pipe flies out of the well hole like spaghetti as if shot from an underground cannon.
And any small spark can ignite the natural gas upon reaching the surface.
[To Be Continued]
© 2013 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Real Christianity 