In some rodeo circuits there are those known as “shout gate cowboys.” They are nothing more than spectators who sit on the gate and offer and unceasing barrage of advice and criticism to those who participate in the rodeo. What makes this rather amusing is that these shout gate cowboys wear the jeans, the boots and the hats, perhaps chew the tobacco and speak the language of the rodeo but many of them have never even ridden a horse. Their entire knowledge of the rodeo is second-hand in the sense that it is something they have watched, but in which they have never participated.
Shout gate Christians will never be in a position to see the wonder of an experience with a Holy God. They will never be totally aware of the awesomeness and majesty of Holy God, because their experience of Him is only second-hand. They enjoy knowing that their grandparents or parents or children are living for Christ, but somehow they never become convinced that they need to get off the gate and into the real experience of Christ themselves. They may wear the costume, speak the language and even fool a lot of people with their apparent spirituality-they may even be elected to a church office-but they have never had that first-hand relationship with God through Christ which is required for eternal life.
Rocky Henriques, in a sermon entitled “Seeing the Unseen”
