The American Soul
The American Soul
Priorities of the Heart: Examining Our Time with God and Loved Ones
We examine the critical gap between our stated faith values and how we actually allocate our time and attention in daily life. Through scripture readings, personal reflection, and historical examples, we challenge listeners to honestly evaluate their priorities and commit to more intentional spiritual disciplines.
• The disparity between time given to entertainment versus spiritual practices
• Practical examination of our daily priorities through the lens of scripture
• Warning from Psalm 79 about nations that refuse to acknowledge God
• Proverbs' teaching on laziness and personal responsibility
• The danger of only performing well when others are watching
• Medal of Honor tribute to Emery Lawrence Bennett, highlighting true sacrifice
• Simon Greenleaf's perspective on the non-negotiable claims of Christianity
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with others who might benefit. And check out my family-friendly middle-grade fantasy series "Countryside" available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and through local bookstores.
The American Soul Podcast
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Hey folks, this is Jesse Cope, back with another episode of the American Soul Podcast. Hope y'all are doing well, wherever y'all are and whatever part of the day you're in. Sort of appreciate y'all joining me, giving me a little bit of your time, a little piece of your day. For those of y'all that continue to share the podcast with others, tell others about it, thank you so much, very grateful for that. For those of y'all that continue to share the podcast with others, tell others about it, thank you so much, very grateful for that. For those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, thank you so much. Still a little under the weather, but I think, maybe turning the corner. For those of y'all who have prayed for my health, I sure do appreciate that.
Speaker 1:Father, thank you for today. Thank you for you, father, and your Son Jesus Christ and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love and your mercy, your grace and your forgiveness of sins through the merit of your Son Jesus Christ. Thank you for all your many blessings, the ones we admit, the ones we don't, for whatever reason. Help us to love you, to love your Son Jesus Christ truly, to follow His commands, and not just in word, father, but in deed and action. To love you with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength. And to love our neighbors as ourselves. To care for the widow and the orphan, the poor and the needy, to care for the least of these. Watch over our children, father, here in America, across the nation and other countries where there are people listening right now, of our own families, communities, churches, schools and those everywhere around us. Help us to care for them, to lead them to you and your Son. Protect them to provide for them, to teach them your commandments and your son. Protect them to provide for them, to teach them your commandments and your love. Offer them clothing and water to drink and food to eat. Help us to do your will in all things. Watch over those who lead us. Give them wisdom and courage and a strong faith. Help them to rule in fear of you, from the president and vice president all the way down, father, and please guide my words here. In your son's name, we pray Amen.
Speaker 1:Have you made time for God today? Have you made time to read his word? Have you made time to pray, to talk to him, to listen to him and, if you're married, have you made time for your spouse. They're your closest neighbor. Do you act like it? How much time are you giving to God and your spouse versus social media, your phone, tv workouts, sports?
Speaker 1:I've said often on the podcast over the years one of my great weaknesses has been sports. I could probably easily sit and watch college football for 12 hours on a Saturday and used to maybe not 12, but quite a few hours. How long would it take me to give that same amount of energy and affection and time and attention to God or my spouse? How many weeks or months would I have to build up in a bank account in order to equal that same energy? You know which is interesting, because in sports you talk about energy a lot, right? You know which is interesting, because in sports you talk about energy a lot, right? No-transcript. That's an important question we need to ask ourselves, folks, every single day.
Speaker 1:Marriage verse for today is Song of Solomon, chapter 6. That we may seek him with thee. My beloved is gone down into his garden to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens and to gather lilies. I am my beloved's and my beloved's is mine. He feedeth among the lilies. Thou art beautiful, o, my love as Terzi, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners. Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead. Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one. Barren among them. As a piece of a pomegranate, are thy temples. Within thy locks, there are threescore queens and fourscore concubines and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled, is but one. She is the one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bear her. The daughters saw her and blessed her. Yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners? I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley and to see whether the vine flourished and the pomegranates budded Forever. I was aware. My soul made me like the chariots of Amenadab. Return, o Shulamite. Return, return that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite, as it were, the company of two armies? Bible verses.
Speaker 1:Today we're going to start with 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1. This letter is from Paul, silas and Timothy. We are writing to the church in Thessalonica, to you who belong to God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May God give you grace and peace. We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people, for when we brought you the good news, it was not only with words, but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true, and you know of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you. So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit, in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece, throughout both Macedonia and Achaia, and now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia, For wherever we go, we find people telling us about your faith in God. We don't need to tell them about it, for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serving the living and true God, and they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God's Son from heaven, jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.
Speaker 1:You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure. You know how badly we have been treated at Philippi just before we came to you, and how much we suffered there, treated at Philippi just before we came to you, and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his good news to you boldly, in spite of great opposition. So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery, for we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the good news. Our purpose is to please God, not people to be entrusted with the good news. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know, and God is our witness, that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money. As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ, we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children among you, or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children. We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God's good news, but our own lives too. Psalm 79, verses 1 through 13.
Speaker 1:O God, pagan nations have conquered your land, your special possession. They have defiled your holy temple and made Jerusalem a heap of ruins. They have left the bodies of your servants as food for the birds of heaven. The flesh of your godly ones has become food for the wild animals. Blood has flowed like water all around Jerusalem. No one is left to bury the dead. We are mocked by our neighbors, an object of scorn and derision to those around us. O Lord, how long will you be angry with us? Forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire, pour out your wrath on the nations that refuse to acknowledge you, on kingdoms that do not call upon your name, for they have devoured your people, israel, making the land a desolate wilderness. Do not hold us guilty for the sins of our ancestors. Let your compassion quickly meet our needs, for we are on the brink of despair. Help us, o God of our salvation. Help us for the glory of your name. Save us and forgive our sins for the honor of your name. Why should pagan nations be allowed to scoff, asking where is their God? Show us your vengeance against the nations, for they have spilled the blood of your servants. Listen to the moaning, proverbs 24, verses 30 through 34.
Speaker 1:I walked by the field of a lazy person, the vineyard of one with no common sense. I saw that it was overgrown with nettles, it was covered with weeds and its walls were broken down. Then, as I looked and thought about it, I learned this lesson A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit and scarcity will attack you like an armed robber. How often, folks, do we blame our circumstances or others, or even God, for our lack of things, things that we really need right? Not talking about greed here, but and what really is is is that we're just lazy, we procrastinate, we get mad at the grain. We got on that last test or report, but we didn't start to really work on it until the day before it was due. We get mad that somebody else got that promotion at work over us, but we weren't really working until the last week just to try and make a show so that our boss would notice.
Speaker 1:You know, we look at somebody else that has something that we want. They've got this great marriage or their kids are very respectful but they put time in day after day after day when nobody's looking and we don't. We only put time in when people are paying attention. You go back and you look at Psalm 79, verse 6, pour out your wrath on the nations that refuse to acknowledge you, on kingdoms that do not call upon your name. That's really scary to me right now for America, because we were founded as a Christian republic, but we don't seem to be doing a very good job for quite a while now of acknowledging God and calling on his name alone. And then 1 Thessalonians this is out of chapter 2, verse 4. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. What's our task each day, folks? What's our goal? Are we really trying to please God or are we trying to please people? Because he knows, he knows and thank God that we have Jesus Christ and forgiveness, at least in my case folks often because I'm afraid I worry about the wrong things far too often.
Speaker 1:Medal of Honor for today. Emery Lawrence Bennett, private First Class PFC, korean War Bravo Company, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, us Army, june 24, 1951, sobangsan, korea. Pfc Bennett, a member of Company B, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity, at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty and action against an armed enemy of the United Nations. At approximately 0200 hours, two enemy battalions swarmed up the ridgeline in a ferocious bonsai charge in an attempt to dislodge PFC Bennett's company from its defensive positions. Meeting the challenge, the gallant defenders delivered destructive retaliation. But the enemy pressed the assault with fanatical determination and the integrity of the perimeter was imperiled. Fully aware of the odds against him, pfc Bennett unhesitatingly left his foxhole, moved through withering fire, stood within full view of the enemy and, employing his automatic rifle, poured crippling fire into the ranks of the onrushing assailants, inflicting numerous casualties. Although wounded, pfc Bennett gallantly maintained his one-man defense and the attack was momentarily halted. During this lull and battle, the company regrouped for counterattack, but the numerically superior foe soon infiltrated into position. Upon orders to move back, pfc Bennett voluntarily remained to provide covering fire for the withdrawing elements and, defying the enemy, continued to sweep the charging foe with devastating fire until morally wounded. Sweep the charging foe with devastating fire until morally wounded. His willing self-sacrifice and intrepid action saved the position from being overrun and enabled the company to effect an orderly withdrawal. Pfc Bennett's unflinching courage and consummate devotion to duty reflect lasting glory on himself and the military service, casting glory on himself and the military service Accredited to Cocoa, brevard County, florida, awarded posthumously, presented January 16, 1952 at the Pentagon by Secretary of Defense Robert Lovett, to his father.
Speaker 1:Born December 20, 1929, new Smyrna Beach, florida. Died June 25, 1951, korea. Buried Pinecrest Cemetery. Coco Beach, florida. Died June 25, 1951, korea. Buried Pinecrest Cemetery. Kakoa, florida. Emery Lawrence Bennett Definitely another name we need to remember, more than pop stars or athletes or politicians.
Speaker 1:Our talk for today comes from Simon Greenleaf, who was we've talked about pretty recently, I think was the Royal Professor of Law at Harvard, one of our great legal minds. This is out of his testimony of the evangelists. The religion of Jesus Christ aims at nothing less than the utter overthrow of all other systems of religion in the world, denouncing them as inadequate to the wants of man, false in their foundations and dangerous in their tendency. It not only solicits the grave attention of all to whom its doctrines are presented, but it demands their cordial belief as a matter of vital concernment. These are no ordinary claims, and it seems hardly possible for a rational being to regard them with even a subdued interest, much less to treat them with mere indifference and contempt. If not true, they are little else than the pretensions of a bold imposter which, not satisfied with having already enslaved millions of the human race, seeks to continue its encroachments upon human liberty until all nations shall be subjugated under its iron rule. But if they are well-founded and just, they can be no less than the high requirements of heaven, addressed by the voice of God to the reason and understanding of man, concerning things deeply affecting his relations, to his sovereign and essential to the formation of his character and, of course, to his destiny, both for this life and for the life to come.
Speaker 1:Two things here. One this shows how far away our education system has fallen. If this was one of our great minds at Harvard at one point, how far, far far we've fallen. And two folks. Jesus Christ demands an answer, and you're going to give it one day, one way or the other. And the answer is either going to be whether you choose to acknowledge God as your Lord and Savior and submit to his authority, or whether you refuse to and you're forced to. But even beyond that, you can't be indifferent to Jesus Christ, because if Jesus Christ is wrong I mean if Christianity is of God then we ought to do everything we can to follow his commands each day. But we definitely should not be lukewarm about our attitude one way or the other.
Speaker 1:If you get a chance and you're looking for a family-friendly, wholesome, middle-grade fantasy, I would humbly suggest or request that you check out Countryside. I've written two books in that series so far. Kind of working on the third one now. Find it on Amazon, barnes, noble. Any local bookstore, too, can order copies paperback, hardback, e-book. Any local bookstore, too, can order copies paperback, hardback, e-book. And, if you enjoyed, if you would leave a review somewhere, I would appreciate that too. God bless you all. God bless your families, god bless your marriages, god bless America, god bless your nation, wherever you are around the world. Listen, we'll talk to you all again real soon. Folks Looking forward to it.