My phone says “scroll”; my soul says “Psalm 103”

We reset our hearts around Jesus, ask hard questions about spare time, and walk through Scripture that reframes marriage, family, and courage. We draw lessons from Hebrews 2, Psalm 103, a Civil War hero, and Delaware’s early faith declarations to anchor daily choices.

• prioritizing God and spouse in spare time
• rethinking what we call necessary
• Colossians 3 on marriage and family roles
• Hebrews 2 on drift, death, and deliverance
• Psalm 103 on mercy, forgiveness, and praise
• warning against smooth words and hidden hearts
• Medal of Honor story of Hilary Barr
• resources: Founders Bible, American Patriot’s Bible, Federer’s quotes
• Delaware’s historic faith requirements and civic virtue
• the Lord’s Prayer as daily pattern

If you’re enjoying the podcast and you’re getting something out of it, there’s a page on the Buzz Sprout website to donate. Cup of coffee each month, maybe at the most. And if you enjoy it, if you would leave a review somewhere, I would greatly appreciate that.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome, Thanks, and Opening Prayer
• 3:20 Spare Time and Spiritual Priorities
• 6:01 Marriage Focus: Colossians 3:18–21
• 8:20 Hebrews 2 and Psalm 103 Readings
• 13:01 Reflection on Grace and Daily Scripture
• 15:01 Medal of Honor: Hilary Barr
• 16:26 Foundational Books and Resources

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

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, whatever part of the day you're in. Sure do appreciate y'all joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and attention, a little piece of your day. I know you'll have a million other things probably pulling strings pulling on you. So thank you. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast, tell others about it. For those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, thank you very much. Very grateful for your prayers and your continued support. 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. Help us to take his yoke upon ourselves, because his burden is light. To know that he has already carried the load for us for all the sins we've committed, the ones we are committing and the ones we will commit, Father. Help us to forgive others as as you have forgiven us. Help us to trust you more each day. Thank you for those listening to the podcast, wherever they are around the nation here in America and around the world. Be with them. Thank you for them. Be with their families. Bless the marriages of those who are married. Guide those who are struggling, Father. For whatever reason. Anxiety, fear, illness, depression, injury, loneliness. Help us to remember our goal, Father. Help us to make our priorities the same as your priorities. To make sure that we are concerned with doing your will and keeping eternity with you and your son Jesus Christ in focus. Be with our leaders, both in the pulpit and in a state. Comfort them. Give them wisdom and courage and a strong faith. Be with their wives and their children. Be with our military, our law enforcement firefighters. Particularly here in America, be with those ICE agents around the nation who are doing their job, a much needed job, Father. Protect them. Keep them safe. And please guide my words here, Father. In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen. So our normal little, 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? Do they know each day throughout the day that they are your second priority behind only God and Jesus Christ? Our pastor, I believe it was last weekend, talked about a question that these two questions we ask every day on the podcast really get up, and that is how do we spend our spare time? What do we do with that time that isn't given to what we view as required at least? And a lot of us really need to rethink what we view as required, as necessary to begin with. Because a lot of what we view as necessary, A, it isn't necessary from God's point of view, and B, we're really just chasing materialistic things of this world and you using necessity as an excuse to begin with. But but that's a whole different discussion. At any rate, he talked about what are you doing with your spare time? Folks, what are you are you are you are you sitting down and looking at your phone? Are you turning on a TV? Are you watching sports constantly and he was picking on himself about sports, which as you all know that if you've listened to the podcast here, that kind of resonates with me because that's one of my or has been in the past, one of my great weaknesses. But whatever it is for you, social media, phone, Netflix, Hulu, uh sports, shopping, gossiping, whatever it is, what are you giving your time to? And is it is it God? Because it should be. Is it your spouse if you're married? Because it should be. Every time we get spare time, folks, those are the places that we ought to be turning. And it shouldn't feel like a burden or a chore or oppressive. It ought to be a privilege and a blessing. And if it's not, as it often isn't for me, I need to really look in the mirror and reassess my priorities in my heart, my values in my heart. Because the fact that serving God, spending time with God, the fact that serving my wife, spending time with my wife, when I don't view those as uh a privilege and a blessing and a pleasure, a lot of that has a lot more to do with me and the condition of my heart than it does what I'm actually doing. Right. So the marriage verse for today, uh, Colossians 3, 18 through 21, family relations. Wives, be subject to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not become bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not antagonize your children so that they will not become discouraged. Bible verses for today. So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm. And every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus Himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak? And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose. And furthermore, it is not angels who will control the future world we are talking about. For in one place the scriptures say, What are mere mortals that you should think about them, or a son of man that you should care for him? Yet for a little while you made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them authority over all things. Now when it says all things, it means nothing is left out. But we have not yet seen all things put under their authority. What we do see is Jesus, who for a little while was given a position a little lower than the angels. And because he suffered death for us, he is now crowned with glory and honor. Yes, by God's grace Jesus tasted death for everyone. God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory, and it was only right that he should make Jesus through his suffering a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation. So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters. For he said to God, I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, I will praise you among your assembled people. He also said, I will put my trust in him, that is, I and the children God has given me. Because God's children are human beings made of flesh and blood, the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. We also know that the Son did not come to help angels, he came to help the descendants of Abraham. Therefore it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful high priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are made tested. Psalm one o three verses one through twenty two. Let all that I am praise the Lord, with my whole heart I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord. May I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly. He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins, he does not deal harshly with us as we deserve, for his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him, for he knows how weak we are. He remembers we are only dust. Our days on earth are like grass, like wildflowers, we bloom and die. The wind blows and we are gone, as though we had never been here. But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children's children, of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments. The Lord has made the heavens his throne. From there he rules over everything. Praise the Lord, you angels, you mighty ones who carry out his plans, listening for each of his commands. Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels, who serve him and do his will. Praise the Lord everything he has created, everything in all his kingdom. Let all that I am praise the Lord. Proverbs twenty six verse twenty three. Smooth words may hide a wicked heart just as a pretty glaze covers a clay pot. Smooth words How often do smooth words hide a wicked heart? Hebrews two verse one, so we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. So important to read the Bible every day. He does not punish us for all our sins, he does not deal harshly with us as we deserve, for his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the East is from the West. Hopefully that's a little comforting to y'all, as comforting to y'all as it is to me, especially with all my failings and foibles. Medal of Honor for today, Hilary Baer, second lieutenant, highest rank, first lieutenant, U.S. Civil War Hotel Company, 90th Pennsylvania Infantry, U.S. Army. Medal of Honor action date September 17, 1862, place in Tetham, Maryland. After his command had been forced to fall back, remained alone on the line of battle, caring for his wounded comrades, and carrying one of them to a place of safety. Accredited to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, not awarded posthumously, presented October thirtieth, eighteen ninety-six, born September twenty-eighth, eighteen thirty-seven, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, died September 24, 1907, buried Presbyterian Church Yard Cemetery, MH1, Tac 39, Tac 6, Norristown, Lower Providence, Pennsylvania. Hilary Baer remained alone on the line of battle. So I feel like I need to recommend these books often, not only because I use them so often, but probably more importantly because I feel like they are so important to our nation. The Bible, right, obviously, but uh particularly the Founders Bible by the Wall Builder Association and the American Patriots Bible, edited by Dr. Richard Lee. And then America's Guide and Country Encyclopedia of Quotes by William Federer. If you don't have hard copies of those, I highly recommend those. They certainly ought to be primary textbooks in all our classrooms across the nation. So the history from today comes from Delaware State Constitution until it was so this was part of the Constitution of the State of Delaware until 1792. Article 22 Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house or appointed to any office or place of trust shall make and subscribe the following d following declaration. To wit, I state your name, do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ his only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed forevermore, I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration. So in order to be a political appointee or just in office in the state of Delaware, their constitution required a profession of faith in God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and to acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be divine. Delaware's constitution also here, it is the duty of all men frequently to assemble together for the public worship of the altar of the universe, although no man ought to be compelled to attend any religious worship. This is the two sides of the same coin that we talk about. On the one hand, our founders knew you couldn't force anyone to or away from a particular faith, and they didn't think that you should be able to. On the other hand, they knew that our nation couldn't survive without the principles of Christ. And that the only way to do that was to have a people that followed the principles of Christ and to have men in positions of authority who followed Christ. And that's why it was a requirement. If you get a chance and you're looking for a family-friendly middle grade read for kids, grandkids, whole family, I would humbly recommend Countryside. There's a couple books in it. Working on the third in the series so far. You can find it on Amazon, Barnes ⁇ Noble, ebook, paperback, hardback. And if you enjoy it, if you would leave a review somewhere, I would greatly appreciate that. Also, if you are enjoying the podcast and you're getting something out of it, there's a page on the Buzz Sprout website to donate. Cup of coffee each month, maybe at the most. And I would be grateful for that as well. Close with the Lord's prayer here. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not to temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen. God bless y'all. God bless your families. God bless your marriages. If you're married, God bless America. God bless your nation, wherever you are around the world listening. We'll talk to y'all again real soon, folks. Looking forward to it.