Winning Hearts Through Actions And Quiet Strength

We press on the question of how we spend our hours and why daily choices reveal our faith, our marriage health, and our community courage. Scripture, a Medal of Honor story, and practical calls to prepare locally shape a sober but hopeful path forward.

• examining time and priorities with God and spouse
• 1 Peter 3 on gentle strength and influence
• actions over words in marriage and parenting
• Hebrews 11 on faith as a choice with cost
• Psalm 111 on awe and wisdom that steadies life
• Proverbs 27 on quarrels that corrode a home
• Medal of Honor: Elmer C. Bigelow’s sacrificial courage
• building local resilience and communication lines
• practical encouragement to support law enforcement and EMS

If you are looking for a family-friendly middle grade read, I would humbly recommend Countryside if you get a chance, check it out
And also, if you're getting something out of the podcast, if you can donate$3 or$5 a month, I would greatly appreciate that as well. There's a donation page on the Buzz Sprout website for the podcast

Chapters

• 0:01 Welcome And Opening Prayer
• 2:35 Time, Priorities, And Marriage
• 3:06 Wives, Beauty, And Quiet Strength
• 4:48 Faith Illustrated In Hebrews 11
• 7:22 Wisdom From Psalm 111
• 8:32 Proverbs On Quarrels And Roles
• 9:15 Medal Of Honor: Elmer C. Bigelow
• 12:55 Quotes On Scripture And Leadership
• 15:34 Building Community Resilience
• 17:02 Book And Support Requests
• 17:32 Closing Prayer And Blessing

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 to appreciate you joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and attention, a little piece of your day. I will try and use it wisely. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others and tell others about it, thank you. Very, very grateful for that for those of y'all who continue to pray for me in the podcast. Thank you very much. Very grateful for your prayers. Need them. Definitely and want them. 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 our sins, Father. The ones we admit, the ones we don't, the ones we go back to time and time again. Guide us, Lord, in all that we do. Help us to truly follow your Son Jesus Christ, to truly love Him, and therefore to love you with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Please. Help us to overcome our doubts. Forgive us our unbelief we do believe. Help us to overcome our fears and anxieties, our cowardice. Help us to overcome any addictions we have, Father. Whatever it is. Help us to make sure that our priorities are truly your priorities. And make sure that we're on your side, Father. Because we know that your side is always the right side. Be with our leaders, both in the pulpit and in the state. Give them listening, courage, and a strong faith. Help them to lead, to rule in fear of you, Father. And guide my words here, please, Lord. And be with those, Father. Be with those listening to the podcast today, wherever they are. Whatever they're doing, be with them, be with their family. Guide them and bless them. Surround them with your angels, protect them from evil of any kind. And guide my words here, Father, please. In your son's name we ask and pray. Amen. Have you made time for God? 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? And if not, why not? What have you given your time to in the past 24 hours, folks? You can't ever get that 24 hours back. It's gone. It's over. Whatever you've given it to is what you got. Are you pleased with that or not? Today's marriage verse, 1 Peter chapter 3, verses 1 through 6. Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your own husband, so that if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah who obeyed Abraham and called him her Lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. For both husbands and wives, folks, it's important our actions, our behavior. That's what's going to really win people over, right? It's not words near as much as how we act and how we live. That's true of our spouse, it's true of our children, it's true of those just that we run into on a day-to-day basis. Another thing here, one thing that so many women don't seem to understand is for a good man, what makes a woman truly beautiful is actions. It's not the outside, folks. And again, I'm talking about decent men here, because there's a lot that aren't. Bible verse for today. We are going to what? Hebrews chapter 11, verses 17 through 31. It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God's promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son Isaac, even though God had told him Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted. Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead. It was by faith that Isaac promised blessings for the future to his sons Jacob and Esau. It was by faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons and bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff. It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left. It was by faith that Moses' parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king's command. It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to share the oppression of God's people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward. It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king's anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible. It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons. It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to follow they were all drowned. It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down. It was by faith that Rahab, the prostitute, was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God, for she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. Psalm one eleven verse one through ten. How amazing are the deeds of the Lord. All who delight in him should ponder them. Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. He causes us to remember his wonderful works. How gracious and merciful is our Lord. He gives food to those who fear him. He always remembers his covenant. He has shown his great power to his people by giving them the lands of other nations. All he does is just and good, and all his commandments are trustworthy. They are forever true, to be obeyed faithfully and with integrity. He has paid a full ransom for his people. He has guaranteed his covenant with them forever. What a holy, awe inspiring name he has. Fear the Lord. Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom, and all who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom. Praise him forever. Proverbs twenty seven verses fifteen through sixteen. A quarrelsome wife is as annoying as a constant dripping on a rainy day. Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind, or trying to hold something with greased hands. I wonder how many of us ignore God's roles and responsibilities for us as a husband or wife. In this particular case, how many wives are quarrelsome? Right? And then wonder why their marriage is so dysfunctional. And then Hebrews, this chapter 11, you see faith over and over and over again, folks. Faith and what is unseen. It all has to do with us choosing. You see that again and again here. It's a choice to have faith. It's a choice to choose to believe in what you can't see. And we all have faith in something, folks. It's just a matter of what we choose to put our faith in. And then Psalm 111, that verse 10. Fear of the Lord. There are things that we should be afraid of, folks. There's fear is not always bad. Today it seems like it's always made out to be something bad, and it's not. Fear of God is very good. It keeps us out of trouble a lot of times. It guides us down a better path. All right. Medal of honor for today. Let's see where we go. Elmer C. Charles Bigelow. Water Tinder First Class, World War II, USS Fletcher, U.S. Naval Reserve, February 14, 1945, off Corrigidor Island, Philippine Islands. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving on board the USS Fletcher during action against enemy Japanese forces off Corrigidor Island in the Philippines, 14 February, 1945. Standing topside when an enemy shell struck the Fletcher, Bigelow acting instantly as the deadly projectile exploded into fragments, which penetrated the number one gun magazine and set fire to several powder cases, picked up a pair of fire extinguishers and rushed below in a resolute attempt to quell the raging flames. Refusing to waste the precious time required to don rescue breathing apparatus, he plunged through the blinding smoke billowing out of the magazine hatch and dropped into the blazing compartment. Despite the acrid burning powder smoke which seared his lungs with every agonizing breath, he worked rapidly and with instinctive sureness and succeeded in quickly extinguishing the fly the fires and in cooling the cases and bulkheads, thereby preventing further damage to the stricken ship. Although he succumbed to his injuries on the following day, Bigelow, by his dauntless valor, unfaltering skill, and prompt action in the critical emergency, had averted a magazine explosion which undoubtedly would have left the ship wallowing at the mercy of the furiously pounding Japanese guns on Corrugador, and his heroic spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of almost certain death enhanced and sustained the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country. Accredited to Illinois, awarded posthumously presented February 15, 1946, Great Lakes Naval Base, Illinois by Vice Admiral A. S. Carpenter, Commandant, 9th Naval District to his family. Born July 12th, 1920, Hebron, McHenry County, Illinois, died February 15, 1945, Philippine Islands. Buried Lynn Hebron Cemetery, Hebron, Illinois, United States. Elmer Charles Bigelow. Goodness gracious, folks. Definitely a name we ought to remember more than pop stars or actors or actresses. Or athletes professional or college or otherwise. All right. Couple quotes. I hope most of us are. Unless we form the habit of going to the Bible in bright moments as well as in trouble, we cannot fully respond to its consolations because we lack equilibrium between light and darkness. Isn't that something for Helen Keller to be talking about? Lacking equilibrium between light and darkness. How many of us, folks, complain about things in our life? It's not even really the complaining. How many of us don't use the skills and the talents we've been giving, given to the fullest ability? Right? How many of those of us who have sight waste so much of it staring at things that we shouldn't be staring at or that are just a waste of time? How many people that are blind would give so much to be able to use their eyesight to do something positive for God? Timothy Dwight, who was a president of Yale College, the Bible is a window into this prison world through which we may look into eternity. For those of us that are Christian folks, we're already in eternity. We're going to get to spend eternity with God in heaven. We already know that because we choose, going back to Hebrews, right? We choose to put our faith in God. Quote from William Manchester. In combat, a leader's greatest need is information. And if he is competent, he does everything possible to establish a communication system that will survive in the chaos of battle. And, if possible, at least one backup net for what works well in peacetime maneuvers may disintegrate and vanish when great armies clash in the fog of war. I read that and it reminded me of a conversation I had recently with my father. And I won't throw him under the bus any more than that, but we ought to be doing all that we can right now, folks, on the conservative Christian side to develop these lines of communication and to be building up our law enforcement. Whatever state that you're in, whatever part of the country you're in, anytime you get a chance to talk to the people that make those decisions, whoever they are, county or parish commissioners or whatever government official has that ability to strengthen your law enforcement at the local level, your firefighters, your EMS. You ought to be talking to them and letting them know, hey, we need to be moving money around or whatever it is that we need to do to increase the number of law enforcement officers that we have, to increase the number of firefighters we have, to increase their training and their quality and their equipment. Because we've got a storm coming, folks. And we ought to be doing everything we can right now to prepare for it collectively, not individual as some doomsday prepper that's going to try and hide out in the hills by themselves. We ought to be working to establish those lines of communication and do everything we can to get ready for whatever's coming. If you are looking for a family-friendly middle grade read, I would humbly recommend Countryside if you get a chance, check it out. There's two books in the series working on the third one. And if you enjoyed, if you would leave a review somewhere online, I would appreciate it. And also, if you're getting something out of the podcast, if you can donate$3 or$5 a month, I would greatly appreciate that as well. There's a donation page on the Buzz Sprout website for the podcast. 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. 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, your marriages, God bless America, God bless your nation, wherever you are around the world. Listen, folks, we'll talk to y'all again real soon. Looking forward to it.