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............ Okay, I heard a K-something. Station, please come again when your call is heard. November 6, Tango November 8, good morning, pass command. Okay, I think that's Dan, N6T and I. Dan, is that you over? Roger, roger, just jump in here and go get a cup of coffee. Alright, copy that Dan, N6T and I, thank you for being there, appreciate that, going to get a cup of coffee, and we'll chat with you in a minute. Dan, thank you for checking in, appreciate that. Alright, any other check-ins, please come down. Alright, I see Brian, KJ7PWM on the Utah STR. Good morning Brian, how are you doing? Okay, not hearing from Brian, KJ7PWM, but I do have him checked in from the Utah SDR. Also see Carol there, KK7TPO in Utah. And, yep, Bert's there, a bunch of folks are there. I appreciate you all being there on the SDRs. I listen to those quite a bit, and they're very helpful when wind-bend conditions aren't the best. All right, WB7MX here looking for check-ins. Any more check-ins, please come down. Mark, KJ7PVT, if you're out there, come back to me with a Roger, Roger. Okay, not hearing anything from Mark. All right, WB7MA, clear neck control for the west coast of Iowa City, looking for voice check-ins. Please come down to the call center. Thank you. Thank you. WB7. I heard a WB7. Thank you for that relay, really appreciate that. All right, Darrell, WB7AOT, come back to me. Good morning, Matt. Good morning, everyone. Have a good study. Yeah. I'm listening. I'm going to go to the WB7AOT. All right, Darrell. Good copy on the Utah STR. Appreciate you being there. And Jeff, AK6, thank you for that relay. And so Darrell, we got you checked in and glad that you're listening. Okay, any other check-ins this morning? Please come down to your call site. WB7VZL, I can hear you. Boy, Roger, WB7VZL, you are really weak this morning. That's very unusual. But Roger, WB7VZL was able to get a copy on you. Go ahead there, Roger. So I can hear you. I don't know about the other station. Over. Yeah, copy that. Well, I can hear you. You can hear me. So we can communicate. And I don't know whether other stations are picking you up or not. But I guess we've got some atmospherics going on, Roger, because generally you're one of the strongest, if not the strongest station. And you're kind of in the noise today. So anyway, Roger, make sure you've got your amplifier turned on and all that good stuff, okay? Yeah, yeah, you have one S unit over my noise, over. Yeah, okay, alright, thank you Roger, appreciate that. Alright, we got Roger, WB7VCL checked in. Any other check-ins this morning, please come to... Hello, all right. This is WB7MX, Net Control for the West Coast Bible Study. We've got everybody checked in on the SDRs who's there with a call sign. And those of you who are there with IP addresses or something else, we appreciate you being there and are glad you're here with us listening in. Okay, this is WB7MX, and we are going to get started with our Bible study. Okay. We are in Galatians chapter 5, and we are looking at verses 11 through 18. And so this is the section in which Paul is talking about the Christian's walk. We talked last time about the fact that we're free from the necessity of circumcision. If circumcision is something that is imposed as a declaration that, we're attempting to be justified by the Old Covenant and our performance of all of its commandments. all of its rituals and all of its ceremonies. Well, he's now going to switch here, and he's going to talk about how we treat our neighbor. And the focus of this section is how do we treat our Christian brothers and how do we have a relationship with them. And there's this wonderful passage here, that talks about the second great commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself. So that's what we're going to be talking about today in our passage. But before we get started here, we want to open our time in prayer. Steve, W6YSI, I know you had an early out today. Are you here to open a prayer for us? Over. All right, I was trying to catch Steve before he headed out the door, but obviously he's already out there. Okay, and N6XOH, please open a prayer for us today. Sure, and love is Christ. Dear Heavenly Father, we have come to you today to ask that you bless our Bible study. Each one here will gain a blessing from the study this morning that we can take and use the knowledge in our own lives throughout the day, Lord. Watch over each one of us here. Keep us all safe. and that's the Lord that has passed the black mountain, has the majesty, leads out, and the study this morning, the guide directs him, the Lord help us all to be ready when you come to take us home. In the name of Jesus, amen. Amen. Thank you so much for that. All right, the net would like to... I recognize K4VCL. Good morning. Good to have you with us. Appreciate you being there. And K4VCL, that is Bruce. Bruce, K4VCL, thank you for being there with us on the Utah SDR. Let me make a note here to myself. All right, good. All right, we've got Bruce checked in. All right, this is WB7MAX. Thank you, Ed, for that prayer. Appreciate that. Main conditions are starting to deteriorate on us. I actually had to listen to Ed on the Utah SDR because I couldn't even hear him on my own radio. So if I don't hear you, it's not because I'm ignoring you. And I appreciate any relays. If you hear something I didn't respond to, throw out your relay. All right, WB7MAX here, and we are going to ask back to Alpha Alpha 5 Yankee to read to us this morning. Back, if you could read for us, please, Galatians 5:11-18. That's 5:11-18. Yes, sir. Alpha Alpha 5 Yankee. I'll be reading from the New King James Version. Good morning, everyone. And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offence of the cross has ceased. I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off. For you, brethren, have been called to liberty. Only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through the love served one another. For all of the law is fulfilled in one word: Even in this you shall love your neighbour as yourself. But it be But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. 16. I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another. So that ye do not do things that ye wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. I've got to have some fun. Keep back to net. All right, Beck, real good reading. Thank you for that. All right, any comments on this section, please come down to call for it. Is that XM? Is that XM? Go ahead. I can get things started here. There's a lot packed in here. And he's really -- Paul doesn't mince words. And he's calling out -- well, he understands how damaging and how devastating the error of grace plus the law or grace plus works or grace plus human effort is. And as he points out to them once again, that it's not the circumcision that's going to prosecute anything. In fact, those that would bring in the error, they just as well cut everything off. They just as well. emasculate themselves because it's a serious issue that is you know if you have grace anything to the grace of God because Jesus did do it all on the cross it is no longer grace Paul drives this point home in Romans 11:6 and elsewhere and so He's very emphatic about this issue of it's grace plus nothing. It's simply by coming to God in faith and what Christ has done on that cross on our behalf. And I don't know if a lot of you have seen, I think Max's article he wrote on baptism for salvation. you did a good job of expanding on that initial essay and it's up on discovertheword.net website now. But you also make the point there, it's grace plus nothing. And the big argument, the big concern, and still today you'll see, is that, well, but if it's just grace alone, then people are going to go wild in sin. Then where is the accountability? Well, the accountability is in the transformation that takes place. Because as he points -- continues to go on here, and I won't cover it all in this one section, but he also makes the point that, you know, when he says don't use the -- you the grace as an opportunity for sin. In other words, don't use that. It's really a military term. Don't use this grace as a base of operations to indulge in sin. God forbid. It is love that transforms us. It is love that saves. The grace is motivated by love. And it's love that now in our walk, in our daily sanctification, metaphor was because this really describes I heard that anything are the work that God does in us as believers on a day-to-day basis and we walk with the Lord in the spirit in other words we're focused on him and in that love he says don't use it for a base of operations for sin But really, he's literally saying you need to be a slave for one another. Remember, the law is fulfilled in Christ. And the second commandment of great is to love one another as yourselves. And, of course, Jesus drives that point home to the scribes and the Pharisees as well. KB7 is next. Yeah, Kevin, thanks for that comment, those comments on those early verses there. Yeah, verse 11, And I, brethren, if I yet preak circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? For then is the offense of the cross ceased. So Paul is very clear here that circumcision is not necessary for salvation, and neither is anything else. Circumcision is just a category for anything that you would add to the gospel. And Paul was saying, I'm not adding anything to the gospel. The gospel is by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. And we're saved by His works and not by ours. And of course, as Kevin mentioned there, then people are going to say, oh, well then, if it's all by grace, then it doesn't matter how we live. And since Jesus saves us and our works don't save us, then... We can trust in Him to save us and then set up a storm. And Paul rebukes that, as Kevin pointed out here, when he says there in verse 13, Brethren, you've been called to liberty. Yep, we're not depending on our own works for salvation. We are free from having to do performative acts. in order to be saved. But that liberty is not to be interpreted then as we can live any old way we want. But rather, we are now free from the condemning power of the law. We're free from the fear of going to hell. We're free from the fear that God is angry with us. We know there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ, Romans 8.1. So what do we do with that freedom? Well, we use it to serve other people, not to indulge in the flesh, as Kevin said. So... We're free from having to work in order to gain our acceptance, and now we're free to work in order to serve our brethren. And so I can spend my time focusing on how can I bless and build up my fellow Christians? How can I bring the lost to salvation without always worrying, is God accepting me or rejecting me? We can settle the matter of acceptance. on the ground of the saving work of Jesus and our faith and trust in Him for redemption and reconciliation with God. And then out of that confidence and assurance, then we can go forward and serve without fear and just look around us and see who has a need and how can I meet that need. Because, you know, Jesus said in John chapter 13, He says, love one another as I have loved you. The club fell on Jesus. He bore the penalty for our sins and there's no more club for us. So we can be really thankful for that. Kevin, thank you for bringing out those thoughts. Alright, other comments, please come down. Five Yankee? Five Yankee, please go ahead. Yeah, I've got kind of a weird question to ask regarding 12, why you even said it. I couldn't wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off. And there's a little letter C there, and I read down to see what the letter C is, and it says mutilate themselves. And I'm kind of wondering, why would he even say that? I thought it was like Yankee. Yeah, that's a good question. It's kind of a disturbing visual image there. And basically what he's saying, he's using a figure of speech here, Beck. You know, circumcision, we all know what that is, right? It's a cutting off of the foreskin and a casting of it away. And he's saying, you know, if you're going to do that, just do the whole thing. Go ahead and, as Kevin said, emasculate yourself. Now, obviously, he's not encouraging anybody to literally physically do that. But the idea here is that this business of circumcision as a religious rite, as a declaration of a commitment to obey the whole Old Covenant, as the grounds upon which we hope to approach God and obtain acceptance with Him, that is a lie, it's a damnable lie. And it will lead people to hell. And he is so angry with these folks. He's just saying to them, you know, this is not only useless, it's not only destructive to your spiritual life, it's even destructive to... your body. You're not achieving anything. Now, obviously, if people want to be circumcised for medical reasons or if they want to be circumcised for aesthetic reasons or if they want to be circumcised for cultural reasons, fine. Go on ahead. Nothing wrong with it. Okay? It doesn't matter if you do. It doesn't matter if you don't. And I would just say, by way of aside, about 90% of the world isn't. So it's kind of a thing that has to do with Judeo-Christian civilization, Western civilization. And even now, our culture is moving away from it more and more. It's neither here nor there. So why did he say it? I'm not inside his head, Beck, but it's like, if you're going to go part way, go the whole way, is the idea. And it's like he's trying to shock. those that he's speaking to into an awareness of the foolishness of what's going on here. The other part of this metaphor, Beck, is that of cutting yourself off from the people of God and cutting yourself off from the hope of salvation. We all know people who have cut themselves off from any exposure to the scriptures, who have cut themselves off from any belief in Christ. who have this attitude of hostility towards the Gospel, well, they've cut themselves off from hope of salvation. They've cut themselves off from any connection with the covenant community of the people of God. And they've cut themselves off from any hope of receiving grace. So there's that element there as well. Back to you there, Beck. Roger. The ladder that you mentioned is how I was viewing it and what I thought of it until I read the mutilate yourself, and then I was really thrown for a loop. Thank you for the excellent explanation and breakdown of that. Alpha Alpha 5 Yankee. All right, Beck. Real good. Thank you. All right. Any other comments or questions, please come now. Is that Xen? Is that Xen? Go ahead, please. Well, just a little follow-up, too. And, yeah, you're exactly right. You know, this is a very serious matter, and Paul is really just amplifying the point and the uselessness of it. problem with legalism and we need to be very mindful of it today. It can be sometimes start out a little subtle and we need to be very careful with that because it can be very damaging. When you have legalism, which Paul is dealing with, bringing in the law or bringing in our own efforts The focus is on ourselves then. It's not on God. The focus with legalism then becomes about, well, how am I measuring up? Well, I can check the boxes. Well, I've done this and that. And then you start looking critically at others against, okay, I've checked these boxes. I've kept the rules. I follow these items, you know, that I think are necessary. And then so now you're looking at others critically as well. And that's why he goes on to talk about don't devour each other. and be biting at each other because that's what happens pretty soon. You know, it's divisive. It creates a critical spirit and it's not of God. You know, you're trying to measure up. Your focus is on yourself. But when... the point is here too I love this the way Paul expresses it because he spends all this time talking about freedom and we're free from the law we're free from the bondage of the law we're free from the bondage of trying to measure up our own selves it's not about picking ourselves up by our own bootstraps we can't do it it's all about God and we're free from all that because God has given us this gift as grace but then he says but don't use this grace as a base of operations for sin but to love one another and he actually literally says be a slave for one another. Well, wait a minute, Paul. You just talked about all this freedom we have. Well, yes. One thing that doesn't change is the moral law of God. But the thing is, when we are saved, we are now motivated in love. We serve God in love. We worship God in love. And we serve one another in love, fulfill the moral God in love. by the second commandment to love one another as ourselves. So when you love your brother, you're not going to be sleeping with his wife. When you love your brother, you're not going to be stealing his tools. When you love your brother, you're going to be treating them well. in a godly fashion. And so, yeah, it's the walking in the Spirit is that love that God bestows upon us, lives within us through the Spirit to honor and worship Him, but to also walk with each other as brethren. KB7 is that example. We read about that in Romans chapter 13, where it says, "Owe no man anything but to love one another; for he that loves another has fulfilled the law." And so, when you understand that, as you well said, and I really appreciate you bringing that out, People say, "Oh, you know, this isn't loving," or "That isn't loving." Well, how do you define what is loving? A lot of people define loving as you never make anybody feel bad about anything. Well, if that's the case, Jesus was about the most unloving person that ever lived, because he made lots of people feel bad about lots of things as he preached the Gospel.