This is WB7MX, neck control for the West Coast Model Study. I see Will, Kilo-8-5 Foxtrot lurking around there on the Utah SDR. Good morning, Will.
KM5F, I was just getting ready to push the button on the bike. No new prayer request, KM5F. All right, real good.
That's real. Keeley Mike 5 Foxtrot, and I preempted his button pushing. Will, good to have you with us.
Thank you for being there. And I know you're going to keep us apprised on the results of the PET scan when it comes in, but we continue to pray for a good result from that. All right, that's real.
KM5F. Also, I see Brian, KJ7PWM on the Utah SDR. Good morning, Brian.
Are you on the radio? Go ahead and key up for us. All right, well, we've got Brian down as a listener.
Brian is the... guy who runs our website and also records all of our Bible studies. So really grateful for that.
If you want to access any of our Bible studies, you can go to our website, westcoastbiblestudy.com, and the Archives tab. You can listen if you're unable to listen. So some folks have other obligations in the morning.
And so they are able to just click on that like in the middle of the day and listen to the West Coast Bible Study and get the benefit. So appreciate that, Brian. KJ7 PWM, we have you checked in.
All right. Any other check-ins, please come down. All right.
There's KJ7. Uh, pardon me, K7NEB, Keith, Q07NB, Bravo, Keith, good to have you with us, how you doing? Okay, copy, good morning, no new prayer requests, Keith, thank you for being with us, appreciate that.
Alright, that's Keith, K7NEB, any other check-ins, please come down. Okay, there's Brian, KJ7PWM, good morning Brian, how are you doing? Okay, unable to copy much of that, but it sounds like you're doing well.
Brian, if you have a prayer request in there that I didn't pick up, just go ahead and text me. I lost you a little bit in the mud there. All right, that's Brian, KJ7PWM.
Brian, good to hear your voice. Thank you for being there. All right, any other check-ins, please come down..
Alright, got about a minute to go before we start the West Coast Bible Study. Any more check-ins, please come down to the conference. Good morning, AK60K.
Good morning, Jeff. AK60K. Good to hear your voice.
How are you doing? Any prayer requests? Uh, you know, it's too early to tell.
I haven't thought about it yet. Copy that. No worries.
Well, if something pops into your brain, you just key up. I will always recognize you as I do everyone on this net. So anytime, anyplace, just let us know.
All right, we've got Jeff AK6OK checked in. And we're going to get some coffee into that boy. Okay.
and he'll be more together mentally in a few minutes. All right, that's Jeff, AK6OK. All right, I see Peter, KJ7DA.
Good morning, Peter. Good to have you with us there on the Utah SDR, and good to see your call signal. And there's Peter coming back with a good morning to everyone.
Peter, thank you for that greeting and good morning to you. Alright, we've got Peter all checked in, KJ7BA. Alright, any other check-ins, please come down.
WB7VZL, good morning all. And good morning Roger, WB7VZL, good to have you with us. How are you doing?
Well, I'm kind of overwhelmed because I really haven't started packing. You know, I mean, it's just all my, all the details. And, of course, fear of not remembering things.
But I don't know. It's going to be a short trip. And, you know, we're, oh, yes, I have my anniversary in the middle of it.
So got to get that card, you know. Yeah, copy that. So anyway, all right, Al, KJ7QQH, we've got Roger packing to go to Coville, Washington, to the cabin there.
And he just is praying that God will help him remember everything he needs. Hey, as long as you have your Bible and you have some cold cereal, you're good to go, right? Right.
Yeah, you know, you kind of rationalize it, but with that sort of thing. But I'm looking forward to Psalm 8 this morning. I couldn't miss.
That's such a tremendous psalm. So, thank you, WB7VZL. Yeah, you bet, Roger.
Real good. All right, any other check-ins? Please come down.
N6T&I. Oh, there's Dan from North Highlands, N6T&I. Dan, good to hear your voice.
How are you doing? Any prayer requests? Go ahead.
No, no prayer request. Just got up, haven't even had my morning cup of coffee. I'm in the same situation as Jeff is.
I need that cup of coffee. So I wanted to get in there and say good morning. Another beautiful week.
It's going to be a little warm, but hey, it's good. Another great day and another great experience with the Lord. N16I.
Hey, man, real good, Dan. N16I, got you checked in. Great signal.
Appreciate you being there. All right, any other check-ins, please come down. All right, K6, okay.
What more is there? AK6, OK, go ahead. This should get us started off right.
Recently I've been taking all my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents' stuff and getting it down to my daughter in Southern California and letting her go through everything. She called me yesterday and she said, "Dad, did you know your mother had a hymn book?" And my mother wasn't a believer, and I said, "My mom had a hymn book?" And she said, "Yeah, a little different than what you think, Dad. It's H-I-M." And it was a record of all the boys that she'd dated, and every single date they went on, what they were wearing.
And, Dad, you'd be shocked. Yeah, well, that is an interesting way to describe a book. But, yeah, you know, we all leave behind a legacy, don't we?
And whatever legacy other people leave behind, we want to leave behind a legacy of having served the Lord, loved the Lord, and communicated the Lord to other folks. And that's the legacy you're leaving behind. You know, millions of Bibles, chapels and ships.
personal testimony of Christ and hopefully people will look at your legacy and go, I need to walk in those steps. Over. Boy, I sure agree.
Yeah, and by the way, it's spelled H-I-M at the handbook. Oh, my gosh. I thought my dad was the only one she ever dated.
Oh, was I wrong? Anyway, let's get to it. Yeah, yeah, okay.
Well, good, Jeff. Thank you for that. All right, any other check-ins this morning?
Please come down to the call sign. All right, we're going to get started with the West Coast Bible Study. We are in Psalm 8, so if you all could turn to Psalm 8 and read that over, be prepared to talk about that.
and we'll give a little introduction to it after we open in prayer. Jerry, AE7ER, could you open in prayer for us this morning, please? Thank you, President Hammond.
God, we give you thanks for not all feelings. for another day. We ask you to be with each of us and our families throughout this day.
Keep us well and safe, Lord, with our focus on you, that we live a life pleasing to you. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen, Jerry. Thank you for that. All right, we are in Psalm 8.
And this psalm is the first of the so-called nature psalms. That is, psalms that reflect on the glory of God that is revealed in His natural creation. The nature psalms are Psalm 8, which we're looking at today, and then Psalm 19, Psalm 29, Psalm 65, and then Psalm 104.
So that's 8, 19, 29, 65, and 104. Now, each of these psalms reflect on various aspects of God's creation. And we need to understand...
that God's creation is never glorified for its own sake. You know, there's a lot of nature worship going on, and people talk about nature with a capital N, as though somehow it exists by itself and it's virtually a god or a goddess, as the case may be. Some people call it Gaia, G-A-I-A.
In any event, in the Bible, in the Bible, nature itself is never worshipped or glorified. Instead, the God who made the creation and is the author of nature, is the one who is glorified as we view his handiwork, namely the natural creation. We turn from it to him who made it, and we give him the glory for it.
Do we appreciate nature and creation? Absolutely we do. But we look past it at the one who made it, and we give him the glory for it.
And that was one of the real problems that's spoken of in the Book of Romans, is that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations. Their foolish heart was darkened, and they began to worship the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. So that's the great indictment of the wicked.
in Romans 1.25 is that they turn the truth of God into a lie and they worship and serve the creation rather than the creator. So we are not going to fall into that error. We are going to give glory to God for what he has made.
And that's what David's doing here. And apparently he's walked out the door on a summer night yeah thank you mark for that mark is saying that this psalm is a messianic psalm and that is quoted in the new testament and applied to the lord jesus And he brought out the passage in Matthew 21:16 about how during the triumphal entry, when he's going into Jerusalem just before he's going to be crucified, everybody's praising him, and the children are crying out, "Hosanna to the Son of David, Hosanna in the highest!" And the Pharisees said, don't you hear what these are saying? Tell them to be quiet.
They're engaging in blasphemy. And Jesus says, have you never read in the scriptures, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, that there's ordained praise? and so he takes this passage and he applies it to his own situation in Matthew 21 16 so yes this psalm is actually quoted three times in the New Testament and Mark thank you for pointing out that passage Matthew 21 16 and how that Jesus takes this and applies it to himself alright other comments please come down let's see Kevin I'm sorry Kevin KB7ZXN was in there Kevin you go ahead KB7 is at extent.
Well, I'm looking forward to hearing others. And as Roger had mentioned, too, it's just such a wonderful psalm and a wonderful psalm of perspective. I wish I could hear Mark, but thank you for relaying what he said.
And you're exactly right, too. This is not only frequently uh... uh...
mentioned in the new test but probably most consequently mentioned in the new testament as well and i know there's some in discussion uh... uh... whether you know this is a song that maybe he had written uh...
you know someone evening outside maybe on a rooftop uh... looking at the great cosmos or very possibly one as he spent many nights and and uh... and probably months out in the fields as a shepherd boy, communing with God under the stars.
But whichever the case, what a beautiful and powerful psalm of perspective. Right in the first verse, we see in uh in english we don't really capture it but one a powerful declaration uh both uh god the god yahweh yahweh the lord the covenant god uh and also adonai the god of sovereignty and um starting out the gate, we see that impact that he puts out there. The same Yahweh in the burning bush as the I Am there, and yet the same God, covenant God of sovereignty as well.
And just the beautiful majesty. And this is one of the things I think is so important as we have... seek to have proper perspective of where we stand in creation and where we stand with God is so important.
One of the couple of errors that man tends to fall under is either the center of the universe is man, And somehow we think we're just the center of everything, or we think that we're so insignificant that we're just nothing more than a little more advanced creation than the animals around us. Well, both are in error. And here we see this.
The majesty, the glory, the immense... glory of God is so great that not only is he greater than the cosmos can contain him, but yet he's so intimate that he's involved. We have the opportunity to have a relationship with him.
He stepped out of eternity into humanity to have a relationship and with us a personal relationship. So this immense God of glory that creation cannot contain is also the same God that has reached out with His grace and His love seeking a relationship with us in paying the ultimate price, stepping out of eternity into humanity in the person of Jesus. KB7, is that acceptable?
Yeah, Kevin, thank you for making those excellent points. Kevin pointed out this opening phrase in Psalm 8, "O Lord our Lord," and he rightly pointed out that the first word there is Yahweh, God's personal name, the name he uses when he makes covenants. And then the second Lord there is Adonai, which speaks of the sovereignty of God.
So we have this covenant-keeping sovereign God being addressed. and this covenant keeping sovereign god is both transcendent and personal at the same time that is he's greater than the universe imagine how big a god is that he's greater than the universe that he made which tends to make us think he's he's far and distant and yet he inserted himself in the person of Jesus Christ into the human race and the human experience to communicate with us, have a relationship with us, and adopt us as his children. And so we see the greatness of God, but we also see the personal nature of God.
We see the faithfulness of God in keeping covenant, and we see the sovereignty of God. All of those things expressed right there in the first verse. And so, Kevin, thank you for pointing that out.
He also pointed out that humanity in its fallenness tends to go one of two false directions. They think that either man is the center of the universe and they worship humanity, or they reduce man to just nothing more than a highly advanced animal and just one life form among many, and so we don't amount to a hill of beans. So we can either dismiss man or we can deify man.
Both of those are errors. and Kevin did a good job of pointing that out. All right.
Kevin, thank you for those comments. We have a magnificent God and a personal God. We have a covenant-keeping God and a sovereign God, and praise the Lord for that, that he gives us our significance.
by making us in his image. All right, good comments. Any other comments, please come now.
KD7, yes? KD7, yes. Eric, please go ahead.
Yeah, I'd just like to also touch on, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. And what I notice is that the psalm It begins with that statement and then it ends with that statement. And as Mark pointed out, my second observation here is that Jesus quoted that out of the mouth of David's suckling has thou ordained strength.
But as I read through this, psalm last night i was kind of just uh meditating on it i kind of picked up on the uh the thankfulness and the greatness of dave was kind of uh you know lord you've made the heavens and the earth the stars uh you've given the stuff to us and really we are not deserving of this but yet you look demonish to us and so he's I think it's between him and his greatness and his singleness and that. But as you kind of scroll down and look at the part where it says, "What is man that thou art mindful of now?" And then it kind of just says, it says right along, it says here that "Thou madest him," and When I think about that in the context of Jesus, when he came, you know, John 1 says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was of God, and the Word was God. And then in verse 14, the Word was made flesh, and it belonged to God.
So, the Word is on and down, and the Word is not involved. and so but you know a lot of all that we do have a lot to be thankful for but was it all points Yeah, Eric, really well said and an accurate understanding Here we have the infinite transcendent God, not only coming down to the level of angels, but below that, down to the level of being a man. And so what humiliation this was for the Lord Jesus.
that he would step out of heaven and step down, not to the level of angels, but below that, to the level of man. And you know, Eric, what goes along with that is this passage in Hebrews chapter 2. And if you guys want to look at Hebrews chapter 2 for a second, there's an extensive quotation...
of psalm 8 there which is applied to the lord jesus and to us so in hebrews 2 um in verse 6 hebrews 2 6 it says the one in a certain place testified saying and now here's the quotation of psalm 8 what is man that thou are mindful of him or the son of man that thou visitest him thou made him a little lower than the angels thou promised him with glory and honor and that set him over the works of thy hands thou has put all things in subjection under his feet for in that he put all in subjection under him he left nothing that is not put under him but now we see not yet all things put under him and now he's starting to apply it to the lord jesus verse 9 but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor did he by the grace of God should pay staff for every man for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through the Lord. For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. And so this Psalm 8, as you well said, Eric, is directly applied to the Lord Jesus And he is, in fact, the one who was made a little lower than the angels.
And he tasted death for us so that we might be delivered from it. And he stands shoulder to shoulder with us as our brother. And we're joint heirs with Jesus Christ.
And so as Mark, KJ7PVT, said, this is a messianic song. and the fact that creation was put under man's feet. You remember God said to Adam and Eve that they would have dominion over the natural creation in Genesis chapter 1.
Well, Jesus, of course, is the perfect man. and under him is placed the entire creation and he is Lord and has dominion over all things. And so to him every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess.
And this of course is also applied to Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15:27. where everything is placed under his feet. So you are spot on there, Eric, with your application of this passage, not only to humanity, but to the perfect human.
Who is the Lord Jesus? And so whatever is said of mankind here is also then applied to the Lord Jesus and how that he had this tremendous humiliation. of being made lower than the angels, and a tremendous exaltation of being placed over the totality of creation so that it is all under his feet and he is sovereign and Lord over all.
Eric, great connection. Thank you for making that. All right, any other comments?
Please come now. Who's that, Eric? Mark, KJ7PVT, go ahead.
Yeah, I just got done talking about that, Mark, and we just discussed that together. So, yep, thanks for bringing that up. All right, other comments, please come now.
I think I heard ZXN. Kevin, if you're there, go ahead. Yes, KB7, ZXN.
I'd love to hear, Roger, your thoughts too and others. Great comments. And I concur, Eric, as well.
You know, it's texts like this that really are humbling and really cause us to have good reflection. And I'm glad you and Max and Eric and I think Mark, too, you mentioned this. Psalm 2 in the context of Matthew 21, there in Jesus in the temple.
You know, my understanding is that this Psalm, that verse in the Psalm, was somewhat perplexing to some as far as the full meaning of it until the events in the temple when the priest tried to silence the children. And yet we see it fulfilled there when the simple, pure worship of the children, in other words, having simple trust in God. and faith in God destroyed all the religious sophistication of the priests.
And that's why they demanded them. They wanted them silenced because God's glorious plan. And as Jesus quoted Psalm, you know, the second verse here, have you not heard this?
It just cuts through all the noise. And again... And as we recognize well for focusing on the faith, that simple faith, that innocent faith of children, and that faith that we come to God with.
And again, it's the focus of our faith, you know, our Lord and Savior, our God. and it cuts through all of the noise. KP7, you have an example.
Yeah, well said. And I appreciate you bringing up that contrast there, as well as Mark did, between the theologians of the day, the Pharisees, right? The guys that were at the pinnacle of the religious hierarchy and thought that they were the most wise?
And what Jesus is really saying there in Matthew 21, 16 is that these children were more insightful in understanding of who Jesus was and what the scriptures said than the theologians of the day were. And so we measure men by the scriptures. And when we measure men by the scriptures, what we see is some of the simplest people who are the most unremarkable have more understanding and insight of God.
than some of the most sophisticated, highly educated, erudite, you know, religious leaders of our world. And so, you know, to belong to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it's because there's no light in them. The children were speaking according to the word of God, as the Pharisees were, and so they were dumber than children, because the children were smarter than they were.
And so what we need to do is not look at people's degrees or at their position or at their sophistication, but look at one thing only: Is this person speaking according to the Bible, or are they contradicting the Bible? And if they're contradicting the Bible, then they are foolish and ignorant, and if they are echoing it, then they are wise and they are godly. and that's how we measure.
So by the measure of Scripture, the children here were smarter than the Pharisees. Good comment there, Kevin. Thank you for that.
All right, Danette would like to recognize Carol KK7TPO. Carol, good to have you with us. See you there on the Utah SDR.
and also Jim, a K6 LBP, otherwise known as JR. JR, good to have you with us. Appreciate you being there.
All right, any other comments? Put out your call sign and we'll recognize you. Go ahead.
I've made this comment before, but I'll make it again, and that is the scripture is saturated with reference to God as creator. And the point that God is creator is not only a foundation for worship, it's also a foundation for confidence, because if God has the power and the wisdom, as the manager of that creation, the manager of the circumstances of our lives, and the organization of all that goes on there to work out our good and His purposes. And this is why we vehemently and unrelentingly reject the idea
========== ### Scripture Reading (KJV)
**Psalm 8:1-9** O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
### Study Summary
In this Bible study, the group delved into Psalm 8, one of the nature psalms that reflects on God's creation and the glory of God, not nature itself. The psalm opens with a recognition of God's dual nature, both transcendent ("O Lord our Lord") and personal ("how excellent is thy name in all the earth"). This dual nature is emphasized to highlight God's majesty and his intimate involvement in the world.
The discussion centered on humanity's proper perspective within creation. The psalmist marvels at the contrast between the vastness of creation and the significance of humanity. While humans are not the center of the universe, they are not insignificant either. God has placed humans in a unique position, giving them dominion over creation, a role that was originally given to Adam and Eve. This dominion is seen as a reflection of God's wisdom and purpose, with Jesus Christ, as the perfect man, being the ultimate fulfillment of this dominion.
The study also touched on the messianic nature of Psalm 8, noting its application to Jesus Christ. Hebrews 2:6-9 references Psalm 8 to emphasize Jesus' humiliation and exaltation, underscoring his role as the one who was made a little lower than the angels, yet crowned with glory and honor. This ties into the broader theme of Jesus' dominion over all things, reflecting the original dominion given to Adam.
Additionally, the group discussed the importance of simple faith over religious sophistication, referencing the contrast between the children's faith and the Pharisees' sophistication in Matthew 21:16. This serves as a reminder that true faith is not about intellectual prowess but about a humble trust in God's word.
The study concluded with a reminder of God's role as the Creator and sustainer of all things. This foundational truth provides a basis for worship and confidence, emphasizing God's power and wisdom in managing creation and circumstances. The group was encouraged to reflect on their own place within God's creation, recognizing both their significance and their need to trust in God's providence. ==========