I told Roy that I was going to, uh, give you the definition of itinerant this morning because I've been gone so much lately, I feel like an itinerant preacher, but I'm not. This is my home, thank you very much. We're going to look ahead and go look in Galatians again. We're in chapter four. Um, since I do it in wavering steps and far enough apart, you remember what Galatians is all about. Those, uh, people from Asia Minor who had wanted to turn back to a legalistic system. And Paul uses various and sundry techniques to try to keep them from doing it. He does it out of scripture, he does it out of experience. And in chapter four, the first seven verses, Paul reminds them that, uh, reminds them of their standing in Christ. Um, I'll just read it for you quickly. It's a digression. Um, I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is owner of everything. Then he talks about when the fullness of time come, God sent forth his son to fulfill the promise, born of the flesh. What he remind- and then he says that the, those of you who are in Christ Jesus are no longer slaves, but sons, and able to cry out, God, but Father. In the first seven verses, he, he reminds the Galatians that they've gone from slavery to sonship, and he reminds them or shows them again the superiority of that sonship, and reminds them that since they're now sons, that they're also heirs of the promise, and that they would receive, that they have received the Holy Spirit of promise, and because of that, they are able to not just call God Lord or, or God anything special, they can call him Abba Father. The, uh, it's that intimate relationship name that we can have with the Father. So in verse seven, Paul really concludes his discourse on justification. Um, from now on in this epistle, all the way to the end, he writes mostly on Christian conduct, uh, beginning in verse, in verse five one, uh, which you'll see Clifford has a thing on his wrist that shows Galatians five one. There you go. I'm not going there today, that's for next time. Um, but before he, before he jumps from the doctrinal to the practical, he, he takes his little time out, as it were, to reprove the Galatians one more time. Um, what he has in this section from eight through hopefully thirty one or at least through twenty is that, um, he wants to reprove them a little for what they've done and, and call upon them to come to their senses. Like I said, it's not an additional argument, it's not doctrinal as far as the justification part goes. He's already proven those points in the first three chapters, as well as just those first seven verses. Like I said, it's more of a rebru- rebuke and a reproof. And this, um, in these verses, Paul puts in mind what they were before com- before their conversion, what they were before they came to know Christ. Um, and he reminds them of what a blessed change that that, that that has made in them. Um, he endeavors to, he endeavors to convince them that to go back is, is foolhardy, and he, he, he tells them that by listening to those people who want to draw them away and put them at bondage of Mo- of Moses is just incomprehensible. He reminds them again, like I said, of their past state and their behavior and what they had since the gospel, the true gospel was preached to them. And he also reminds them towards the end of this of the love they had for him and he for them. Basically, Paul uses three questions in this discourse. You can look them up for yourself, but h- the first one is, how would you go back, or why would you go back to these things? And the second one is this, I used to make you happy. Where did the joy go? And lastly is this, am I the one who's really your enemy? Those are three questions that he asked him, and it includes on these points. So we'll read the first part, starting in chapter eight. Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that are by nature not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I'm afraid I've labored over you in vain. What they were before is what he reminds me for, but- but formerly, when you did not know God. Before Paul came, they were idolaters, just plain and simple. Not unlike Abraham, really, if you think about it, they were idolaters. And they followed after gods of their own making. That's just what they do. They were slaves to those things in whatever ritualistic manner that they followed those gods that they'd made up. Actually, if you look at it objectively, the past events when, um, when they didn't know God and all of a sudden they did know the God, it makes their, their, it makes their fall seem a little more criminal. You know, it's, it's, it's like they just didn't go back to idolat- idolatry, excuse me. They went on to pervert the gospel by doing so. When they wanted to go back, it wasn't like they said, well, I like your God, I'm just going back to mine. They perverted the gospel because they wanted to take you to Judaism, and that, that was seemed more heinous or seemed like a bigger offense. Um, you know, ignorance is bliss, they say, and a little knowledge can really, can really mess up the pot, and that seems to be what it was. It made it more heinous. Now, we need to make a note, though, that, you know, the, the finger always gets pointed at the Galatians. Um, we're not unlike them, or we weren't unlike them. Until we were enlightened to the true knowledge of who the Lord Jesus Christ were, we served idols. And you can wrap it up in whatever religious pretext you want to, but we were idolaters. You can, there's just myriads of them, church organization, put whatever you want to. You're making up something, you're worshiping something that's your own creation. Anything that's not the Lord Jesus Christ and worship of the God through him is out of our own mind, it's our own imagination. And, and people do, and we did too, thought they were gods or thought we were worshiping God, but really we weren't worshiping anything but ourselves. But now that you've come to know God, or rather be known by God, how can you turn back again to weak and worthless elemental things, he asked. Now that you know who the true God is, not somebody of your imagination, of your making, and now that you know what true worship is and the freedom is it, or worse yet, now that you are known by God. To be known by God, i- i- if I stumbled over this when I first started, I'm thinking, well, God knows everybody, and then I saw the error of my thinking. It's not, not that sort of deal at all. It has to do that God initiated the knowledge to these people. I mean, God called them just like he called us. You know, that's one of the sweetest things about the Gospels. If you even look, go back to Luke fifteen and look at those parables, like the parables of the sheep, the lost sheep, the parable of the, of the coin, even the parable, parable of the prodigal son. Did the coin seek the lady? Did the sheep seek the shepherd? Did the son truly seek the father? He turned around, and the father, it said, ran, which was indignant, but the father was watching for him the minute he turned, and that's not unlike the way our Heavenly Father is for us. He seeks us. He jealously desires to have fellowship with us, and that's, that's kind of what Paul is saying here. Paul reminds them where they reside, where they got their knowledge. He affirms that they didn't, they didn't obtain it from their own experience, and they didn't concoct it in their own mind to be known by God. Um, it just, only God's mercy is what called them. So that makes it worse yet. It's just like, well, I know God, and we can all say we did, especially those of us who came out of a religious background, but we really didn't. We weren't really known by God yet. We hadn't been sought by him yet, and when we did, when he found us, it changed us altogether. That makes it really heinous, what they did. That really calls to mind their situation. And then he says, well, knowing this, now that you know God, or better yet, now that you've been known by God, how can you turn back again to ceremonies that you never practiced? That's the key point. You know, they, they say the way to turn it back, well, before Paul came, they didn't practice the legalistic system of the Jewish nation. They were Gentiles. They didn't practice that sort of stuff. Um, turn back again, it's kind of a figurative expression, which would allude to the fact that they fell into wicked superstitions, which were always also being pushed by these, uh, these false apostles. Um, they'd been taught the right way to worship, and they were falling back to something that wasn't right. And they were says that they were falling back to the weak and worthless and beggarly elements. Uh, you think, well, the rights of Moses and circumcision really weren't, really weren't weak and worthless per se, but they were. They were weak and worthless in regards to salvation. They never saved anybody. And those things that they did, that the things that the Jewish people observed, they never had power to cleanse the soul. It says that we're washed again from a clear conscience. That didn't happen for the people who ob- observed the laws of Moses. They, they really afforded no satisfaction of the mind. None of those things did. It was just empty nest. Now for the, the patriarchs and those Jewish people, um, who were the faithful remnant, it was always combined with faith. They looked ahead to the promise. They didn't rely on just the sacrifices and the rites and stuff they had to do. So it was in effect, it worked for them, but they still, their salvation was wrought in faith, not by any of the ceremony, and they knew it. But the people who were coming to the Galatians weren't teaching it that way. And what it amounted to by them going back, it just, it amounted, like I said, to them reverting to idolatry. Um, and like I said, any religion that is man-made is idolatry. And funny that they would want to be enslaved to these things. It, it isn't funny, it's sad. It's easy to get enslaved to these things. It's easy to want to observe things. It's easier just to do things on your own. To take things by faith are really, really hard. Really, really hard. So, but they wanted to go back, they wanted to be enslaved to him again, and they wanted to observe days and months and think, like I said, things that they didn't deserve before. Now, these days and months and, and things like that are specific rights that have a religious connotation that comes to mind, anything that, that, uh, anybody tells you is necessary to worship God in the right way. I think of some specifics that where we used to go, you know, in some liturgical or- organizations have Lenten services, and they have Advent services, and Maundy Thursday is a special day, and if you guys have never been to any of those, you don't know what that day is. You know, Good Friday is a special day, and even as a Methodist kid, I used to make fun of those people who only came on Easter because it was a special day, you know, Easter and Christmas and whenever the kids were singing in, in, at vacation Bible school, that's the only time they came. I know because I was raised by people like that. But Paul said those days aren't special. They're just another day. Now, some people observe days, he says, um, and some people don't, but they just kind of honor them a little bit, but they don't necessarily say that they're special for religion. There are people you'll hear on the radio that really beat the drum about making the Sabbath a special day. I called, uh, Bushnell. I'm having some trouble with the trail cam, and the guy, uh, yeah, and I said, do you have Sunday hours? Because I was going to go to Overland Park. And the guy says, no, we're not open on the Sabbath. And I, I was being nice, and besides that, I only have so many minutes on my cell phone. I didn't argue with him and tell him I'm not asking about Saturday, I'm asking about Sunday. But, you know, he, people do that, and that's fine. If he wants, if he wants to take Sunday off, that's good. That's okay. But it doesn't have to be so. We re- we, you know, we worship a risen Christ every day. For us, every day is the first day. For us, every day is Easter. Or I hope it is. I would sincerely hope that it is. You know, Paul is saying, what's so special about days? I've kind of alluded to that. What happens when they, when they turn to that, they were filling their mind with, with superstitions, and they were just doing things that they didn't need to do. And to bring Christianity back to Judaism is evil in itself, but what the false prophets were wanting to do was oppose the grace of Christ, say that Christ's sacrifice wasn't enough, and contend that the freedom to worship was not by divine favor. They wanted to substitute those days to say you had to do it right, and it wasn't right. And then Paul says, I'm afraid that I've labored for you in vain. He'd gone through all that, it's the last thing he said, you observe days and months and seasons, I'm afraid I've labored over you in vain. Um, this was a really empty feeling for Paul, you can tell it. And anybody who's worked with people, you, you understand that feeling, regardless of who it is. There's a, there's a guy that, um, comes into work, who works a prison fellowship, and he was in just the other day, just really despondent because so many people that he's worked with go back. They're recidivists, and he can't understand it. You know, he helps them, he helps them get loans, he works with them, he helps them get a job, and next thing you know, they're back. It's like he's labored over them in vain, and Paul's feeling that here. And actually, if you think about it, for Paul to say to Galatians, have I labored for you in vain, is pretty harsh. Because if what Paul did to them, if what Paul taught them was in vain, then they were without hope. Because Paul had taught them the truth. Paul had taught them the true gospel. So if they didn't believe it, if they turned from it, where were they to go to find what the truth is? In twelve, he says, brothers, I entreat you to become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. You know it is be- because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first. And though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What then has become of the blessing you felt? For I testify that if possible, you'd have gouged out your own eyes and given them to me. At this point, Paul turns. I mean, it's, it's been fairly stern rebuke so far. I mean, it's not like you think up in your face, angry, pointing, pointing in their chest, but it's been pretty straightforward, and they could have construed it as just land blast. He's mad. You know, when you get angry people, lots of times you have a tendency to turn them off. Well, he softens it a little bit here. Um, and in his fort more harshness, he was justified because, you know, he was justified in doing so, but he wished him, like I said, he wanted him to know that he had their good at heart, and he wanted to know, them to know that he was trying to adopt a style of reconciliation. You know, in Timothy, he said, you know, that you need to be ready in season and out to reprove, rebuke, to use te- to use scripture, to to uh work on the doctrine. Well, he's kind of following his own recommendation, the one that he gave, gave to Timothy here. But see, he's he's not just forcing them, not just pointing at them. He's he's I entreat you, I beg you, you know, I beseech you. And like I said, when he calls them brethren, that's a term of endearment. He's calling them, he's putting them on the same level as himself. It's not like you foolish Galatians, like he did earlier. He's calling them brethren, so he wants them to know that he still looks at them as brethren. And he also does it to ensure that they don't see that there's any bitterness, eh, or that that might be mingled in with his reproofs. And he says, become as I am, because I became as you are. This is kind of an affectionate tone. Uh, he wants them to know that he's free. He's free to worship. He's free in the gospel. He's been as they were. He's been a legalist, and he chooses freedom. Um, and he's also showing in in those two statements that any resentment that they might think he has towards them, he's laying aside, and he's hoping that any resentment they might feel towards him could be laid aside also. He wants an even keel, even, even playing field. Um, that's what he's trying to do. He said, you do me real wrong, you've not injured me at all. He had no quarrel with them on his own account. Um, the problems he was addressing with them were not a personal affront to him, though, you know, he he had that fatherly instinct with him, but they weren't directly addressed at him. They were just... He was concerned, his zeal was the purity of the truth of the gospel. That's what Paul was concerned about. It wasn't a personal affront, it wasn't a character thing. He just was earnestly contending for what was true and real, and they were turning from it. And he had their welfare and their happiness at heart. That's where his concern was. I guess you could say, um, he wanted them to know that the issue for him was the message, not the messengers. He wasn't, it was, he was concerned that they were perverting the gospel. He wasn't concerned that they were evil people. And he honored them to know, too, that he wasn't rebuking them out of revenge. It was purely for their welfare that he w- he was talking to him at this point. Then he comes to the second question. I used to make you happy. Where did the joy go? Um... In thirteen through fifteen, he reminds them of the great joy they used to have together, the great love they had for him, um, the f- the the affection. Um... In in his in his ministry, um, he wants them to consider how unsuitable their present behavior is in light of it. It would seem like, if you read between the lines or you read multiple commentators, whichever is easier, that, you know, it seems like they had issue with him. Um, they were maybe getting bitter towards him. Um, the false apostles had alienated him from him a little bit, and he was trying to say, considering the affection you had for me before, where did it go? Why are you like this now? Um, he says thirteen through fifteen, you know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, and that my condition was a trial to you, and you did scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Jesus Christ. What then has become the blessing you felt? He, uh, there's a lot of speculation about this part, about the ailment that he had or what, what it exactly meant, but he, he wants him to recall or re- how respectful and friendly they were towards him regardless of it. Um, he wants to let them know that he loved them and he was ready to give him an ear to him again, and uh, he wanted to encourage him in this. This, this um, bodily condition. Now you have to remember, some say it was, it was an illness, an infirmity, um, that seemed to be contemptible for him. You got to remember, Paul was stoned in Lystra. And of course, Lystra is part of the Galatian province, and generally only the most heinous, heinous criminals were stoned. So, you know, if I come wandering into this, if I come, if I come wandering into your town and I've been beat up and totally abased, I've been whipped, beaten, stoned for offense, it would be easy to say, well, he's a criminal, don't need to listen to him. But the Galatians didn't do that. Whatever it was, whatever, whatever the infirmity was, or whatever his condition was, they didn't seem to hold him in contempt. Paul came in with no pretense. He didn't come in with high priestly robes and fanfare. He just came in a battered and beaded Pa- beaten down Paul. And he had nothing to cause him to give him honor, or he had no rank, but they still accepted him, and he's reminding them that whatever this condition was, he says, I came in, it's like I took a layover, and I'm preaching the gospel to you till I heal up. And they could have not listened to him because of how miserable he looked, but they didn't. They didn't reject him. Uh, it must have been a trial to him too, um, because it says it was... Yeah. And though my condition was a trial to you, um, it was hard for him to just accept him, but they did. They accepted it. Um, they didn't reject him. They went ahead and respect it, accepted him, like I said, with all the honor and dignity. Um, it says they went so far as to accept him as a messenger of God, which we know is an angel, that's what he calls it here, is an angel. They accepted him as Jesus Christ himself. That's, you know, for somebody battered and be- beaten and bruised up, he came in and gives a message. I mean, the Galatians are really to be applauded, you know? Really, they should be for their initial acceptance, as they accepted him as the Lord Jesus himself. I mean, everybody who preaches the gospel represents the Lord Jesus Christ, and so that's understandable how they got there, but that's how they did it. So then he asked, what then became, in fifteen, of the blessing you felt? What then became of the happiness? Paul made them happy. I mean, he presented to them hope that they'd never had before. Before they'd always just dealt with whatever God they'd made up and had to do whatever they decided that that God wanted them to do, and it was a losing proposition. They couldn't win with that. And he came in and he brought them hope. He presented a gospel, the spirit moved in their life, and they accepted it. They were happy. But they had a specific way, he says, of showing how happy they were when he says, gouged out your eyes. Some people think, and I've even heard it said, that Paul's ailment, Paul's condition was his eyes. Now, he may have had trouble with his eyes, because it says later that he writes in such great big hand, but I don't think this really proves it. The point he's trying to make here is that they loved him so much that they would have gone through life blind for him. Now, you unders- you got to understand at that time, that was quite sacrifice, because if you were blind, you could not make a living. You were pretty much going to have to beg to get anything, and these people loved him so much that they would turn from making a living to be blind beggars, like we read about in the rest of scripture, for Paul. That's how much they loved him. Um, that's how much they really, truly loved him. What a, what a commendation. Remember this, you love me that much. You loved me that much. And so then he comes to the third question, am I the one who's your real enemy? He says in sixteen, have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? It seems like, in his dealing honestly with him, that now they want to call him his enemy. And he just, he, he's just telling them the straight story. That's all it is. And just a short time from whatever time he left until now, they've turned from him being the loved one to him being pretty heinous. Someone who they'd received as the Lord himself was now of no merit. This is really in so much a call, a rebuke, as it is almost like a call to repentance. Remember and turn again to the way you loved me before. Remember the truth can be divisive. This is for us, but it's still the truth, and we need to espouse it. That's all there is to it. Then he goes in seventeen and says, they make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out that you may make much of them. Seventeen is really... it really tells the story. The false prophets don't care about you. They don't care about you at all. They chase after you. They puff you up. Um, but actually they're just in it for themselves, is what he's saying. They're just, you're just a notch in their pious religious belt. That's all you really are to them. Yes, they're men of zeal. Yes, they've got a story, but their zeal is for their own ambition. They only want a reputation. They all want to be thought well of. They don't care about, you know, they don't care about the truth. They just care about propagating their own religion. They just care about the reputation. Remember that they want to be, they want, they come in and they say, I'm an apostle, and Paul doesn't know what he's talking about. They want that elevated stately. And if that's not bad enough, um, it says that they would shut you out. They would exclude you. They only want to gain your affections, and according to one commentator, um, they want to kindle strife. When I say one commentator, those are OGDs, all ODGs, old dead guys that I like to read. They just want to, they just want to stir up strife. That's what they want. They want to cause disharmony in the, in the body. They want to cause dissension and division in the body. And then, especially the weaker ones, and this is who they generally get. It's like a, a bunch of wolves who always want to attack the weaker. Um, when the weaker become destitute, they become disenchanted, then they know they can win them over. And that's, that's their ploy. That's all that they real- that's all that they really want to do. They want to build up your egos, they want to line their coffers, they want to look good, they want to build glass cathedrals, and they want to do it at your expense. That's what they want to do. They just don't love you like I do, is what he says next. He says it's always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I'm present with you, my little children, for whom I again to the anguish of childbirth until Christ has formed you. I wish I could be present, that's to the end. It's always good to be made much of. I mean, it's, it's, we like to be made over, you know, we like to all be sterling examples of something, and, and Paul's saying it's good if it's for the right reason, if it's for the right person. He's saying, I'm zealous for you too, I'm, and I'm jealous for you too, and I've made much of you in many ways, but it was for your sake. It was for the glory of Jesus and the gospel. It wasn't for my sake, it wasn't from selfish ambition, um, it was just he had a zeal for them and their happiness, and like I said earlier, for the truth of the gospel, the purity in it. And it continued even when I wasn't with you. It isn't like he just puffed them up and dropped. It's like he kept it up. He kept them in their prayers. He writes back to them to try to get it. He longs to be with them. Um, he wished he could be there. That's what he says, like a dad. Um, he softens his rebuke a little bit more in, in nineteen when he says, my little children, for him I, whom I again in the anguish of childbirth. He's calls them little children. Um, it's even more affectionate than brethren to be called a little child, and it's not diminutive, it's a, it's an expression of, it's not like, hey little boy, what's your problem? It's not like that. It's, it's a, it's, it's an endearment. It's my child. It shows the affection you have as a father. And to be with them, I picture this as like, you know, for those of you, some of you don't, you don't have kids that are going off to college yet, but some of you have had kids that are older, had kids go off to college, and they run into a problem, you know, you want to be there with them to whoop somebody, you know? I think that's just the way you feel. It's a strong feeling, and that's kind of the way he felt. He wished he could be there. He wished he could be there to take up their defense. He wished he could be there to stand in the guard, to fight off all these evil people and do the debate, but he couldn't. He wishes he could be there. He said he's again in the anguish of childbirth. Um, it's as if he's saying he's ready to start all over again with them. He, you know, he, he wished he could lay the seed again. He wished he could do it all over again. Not necessarily that they need a rebirth, though some of them may have. Um, some of them need to be saved. It's, it's hard to know. He is willing to go and start the process all over again. He's not just done, he's not kicking off his sandal. He'll do whatever it is, and he's ready to do the hard thing. The ladies know more than me that childbearing is hard, and he's ready to do that. He's ready to do that all again. Contend with them, nurture them, carry them until Christ has formed them in and they're complete, until they're strong and ready to fight the battles themselves. That's what he's willing to do. Um, I said it's, it's like his desire to be a father. Um, probably it shows just how much he still loved them. To tell him that this, this is just how much he loved, how much he wants to take care of them, how different he truly is from the rest of the, from the, from the false apostles who've come in and tried to steal them away. Twenty one to thirty one, I'm not going to read it. He asks another question that I didn't do. He says, um, if you desire to be under the law, do you listen to what the law says? You can read it. It's, it's an allegory about Abraham, because Abraham did have two sons. He didn't just have the one. We always talk about Isaac because in our circumstance, you know, Isaac is, is a solid prophet, but he had Ishmael first. Um, and it says here that Ishmael represents the law and slavery. Ishmael and Hagar represent everything that false religion does, everything that is a religion of the flesh. And it compares them to Ishmael and Sarah, ex- excuse me, to Isaac and Sarah, and Isaac was a child of promise. Um, Isaac was a child of freedom. He had no effort in it. Um, Isaac was who was promised by the Spirit, and that's what Christianity is about. It's the Spirit calling us. It's like I said, it's an allegory. He shows it how this, and and he says at the end of that, we are children of prom- promise. We were born of the Spirit, or if you would, we were born again of the Spirit. The children, and to digress, he says that the children of the flesh persecute us, and that's exactly what the false apostles were doing. They were coming and they were, they were making fun of them, making light of them, and they tried to build them up into something else. It's a persecution, though it may not seem like what you see on the TV. It's still a persecution of their beliefs, and that's what they want to do. That's what they were doing then. He wants you to remember that only the sons of the freemen will gain the inheritance. That's the only one. That's the end. He reminds them of this. Please choose freedom. Please choose the promise. So you can ask, what can you glean from all this? Now, just in forty minutes or whatever, it's kind of hard to glean much of anything for you, but if you study it out, you might glean something. And for me, it was sometimes all my labors will be thwarted, thwarted. Um, people will want to go back to what they were. One of the girls I... one of the girls at my folks raised, they were Catholic. She came out of that for a while. She attended a Bible church in Medora, um, did all the right answers, and she went back to the Catholic Church. Went back to the, went back to the ritualism, went back to the legalism. And those of you who came out of Catholicism know, know more than I probably what that's like, but it's sad. And if you ask them, what happened? What went wrong? Well, I really never was one of those. I was always this. I just needed someplace to attend. What's a pity? And when I talk about working with people in vain, I know that there was a, a girl that was in our home for a few months that she had been... abused and was having trouble with her parents, and she needed a safe place to stay. We came, but her heart was to go back to her parents, and that's what she did. It all seemed like all the things we taught was in vain. That's not pat me on the back, it's just a fact of life. This is what I believe in this. There are people, there are circumstances that will seem like they're in vain, but we don't know because it's all in God's hands. It may not be. When you're forced to rebuke somebody, do it from the right motives. Now, I said this is all what I got. I don't know what you got or what you may get if you study it out, but do it for the right motive. It's all too easy. You know, Paul didn't do it out of resentment. He didn't do it out of pride. Um, he didn't do it out of retaliation. He did it for God's glory and Christ's glory, because he loved the purity, he loved what he should, and he loved the people. And that's hard when you're in the middle of it, because it's, your flesh gets in the way, but it tells me I need not do that. I should not do that. And lastly, the thing I got out of it has to do with my pharisaical attitude. What? Yes. You know, do I want, when I say that, I really get upset with the pharisaical element that you see in our community. And you know, I want to just jump, jump up, get right in your face, and, but am I doing it because I love the truth, or am I doing it because I just want to be right? And that, you know, if I'm doing it just because I just want to be right, that's as bad as them. That's worse than them because I know the truth. That's worse. And another thing is, is do I retaliate with scripture or counsel lovingly with it? Too often, I know. You come and say something, and I got a scripture right in your face, but it's a retaliation. It's not because I love you. Those are the three things that I gleaned out of this, probably not at all what Paul had in mind, but the three things that really touched, touched me. Um, I'm glad he's, I'm glad he wrote it. I'm glad I have things to work in. That'll give you a prayer request. How about that? Good stuff. Let's, uh, pray for the meal, and we'll be dismissed. Father, once again, I thank you for your word and all that's in it, and how what touches my life might not touch somebody else's, but that your word touches lives. Father, I pray if there be anyone here that might be looking to going back, or looking to change, or or looking to pick the uh Ishmael way, that they would stop and think and pick freedom. That they would pick the promise, that uh they would just stick to the faith, stick to those things in Jesus Christ that redeem us, that, that make us your child, make us your heir. What a loving God you are. You sought us out, you brought us to yourself. Pray, Father, in all we do that we would stay there. Father, ask your blessing on the rest of our morning, on our meal today. Nourish our bodies with it. May our time of fellowship be sweet. May you be lifted up in it, and may your son be glorified in all we do the rest of today throughout this week. In his name I pray, amen.