The American Soul

Defending The Faith, Strengthening The Home

• Jesse • Season 5 • Episode 155

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What would your last 24 hours say about your faith? We open with a hard look at how time choices reveal our real priorities, then move into the everyday courage it takes to order a life around Christ, not convenience. From marriage duties in 1 Corinthians 7 to Jude’s charge to contend for the faith with mercy and clarity, we trace how private devotion and public witness meet in the places that matter most—home, church, and community.

Scripture stitches the throughline: Psalm 127 calls us to build homes God’s way and rest from anxious toil; Proverbs reminds us that discipline grows wisdom and peace. Along the way, we honor Second Lieutenant Bleckley’s WWI sacrifice, a living picture of love that risks comfort for the good of others. That story sets up a conversation about the heroes we celebrate, the idols we ignore, and how gratitude sharpens our moral memory. President Grover Cleveland’s 1895 Thanksgiving proclamation gives language for national humility and dependence that still speaks today.

We close with William Bradford’s account of Pastor John Robinson’s counsel: follow any leader only as far as they follow Christ, ready to receive more light from God’s Word. Duty is ours; results are God’s. If you’re hungry for a practical reset—on time, marriage, courage, and conviction—this is your map back to what lasts. Listen, share with a friend who needs a nudge toward hope, and leave a review to help others find the show. Your thoughts matter: what priority will you change this week? Subscribe for more conversations that put first things first.

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SPEAKER_00:

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. Sure to appreciate y'all joining me, giving me a little bit of your time, a little piece of your day. I will try and use it wisely. Hopefully, y'all are able to listen with somebody else. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others and tell others about it, thank you for those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast. Thank you very much. Very grateful for your prayers. Need them 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 sin. Through the merit of your son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for the time to record this podcast. Thank you for the people that listen to it and share it. Please be with them. Be with their families. Guide us, Lord, surround us with your angels. Protect us from evil of any kind. Guide our thoughts and our words and our actions. Help us to do your will above all else, including our own will each day. Help us to follow the commands of your Son Jesus Christ. To love you with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Be with those who are anxious, upset, concerned, depressed. Be with those who are scared, those who feel alone, Father. Please. Be with our leaders, both in the state and in the pulpit. Please give them wisdom and courage and help them to rule in fear of you. Be with our military, our law enforcement, our firefighters, our EMS. Protect them, keep them safe, bring them home safe to their families. Forgive us our sins, Father, both as individuals and as a nation. Forgive us our support of evil. Forgive us when we encourage evil in others. Forgive us when we lead children astray. Guide our steps, Father, and God my words here, please. In the name of your son Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Well, how did you spend your last 24 hours, folks? Are you pleased with it? Do you think God's pleased with it? Do your priorities line up with him? Are your priorities on his side on his page? If somebody accused you of being a Christian, if somebody accused you of God being your first priority, would there be enough evidence to convict you? If somebody accused you of being a good spouse, would there be enough evidence to convict you of that? Are you giving more time to sports and social media and TV and entertainment? Or are you giving time to God and Jesus Christ and your spouse, your family? All questions, folks, we ought to be asking ourselves each day. Marriage verse for today is from 1 Corinthians 7, starting with verse 2. But because of immoralities, each man has to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self control. But I say this by way of concession, not of command. Scripture for today? Jude 1 verses 1 through 25. This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love. Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share, but now I find I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. Excuse me. I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God's marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ. So I want to remind you, though you already know these things, that Jesus first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt, but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful, and I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them, but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment. And don't forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal flame, eternal fire of God's judgment. In the same way these people who claim authority from their dreams live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at supernatural beings. But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse the devil of blasphemy, but simply said, The Lord rebuke you. This took place when Michael was arguing with the devil about Moses' body. But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and so they bring about their own destruction. What sorrow awaits them? For they follow in the footsteps of Cain who killed his brother. Like Balaam, they deceive people for money, and like Korah, they perish in their rebellion. When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord's love, they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you. They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots. They are like wild waves of the sea turning up the foam in their shameful deeds. They are like wandering stars doomed forever to blackest darkness. Enoch, who lived in the seventh generation after Adam, prophesied about these people. He said, Listen, the Lord is coming with countless thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on the world, on the people of the world. He will convict every person of all the ungodly things they have done, and for all the insults that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These people are grumblers, complainers, living only to satisfy their desires. They brag loudly about themselves, and they flatter others to get what they want. But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ predicted. They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God's Spirit in them. But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith. Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way you will keep yourselves safe in God's love. And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives. Now all glory to God who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time. Amen. Psalm one hundred twenty seven verses one through five. Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects the city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat, for God gives rest to his loved ones. Children are a gift from the Lord. They are a reward from him. Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior's hands. How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them? He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates. Proverbs twenty nine verses fifteen through seventeen. To discipline a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child. When the wicked are in authority, sin flourishes, but the godly will live to see their downfall. Discipline your children, and they will give you peace of mind and will make your heart glad. I think the only thing I'll do here, folks, the only other comment is just to recommend to you that you go back and read Jude every once in a while and Psalm 127. There's just some great stuff in both of those, some things that we have ignored for too long in America. Medal of Honor for today. Second lieutenant World War One Fiftieth Aero Squadron, 130th Field Artillery, Air Service, U.S. Army Air Service, October 6, 1918, near Binerville, France. Second Lieutenant Bleckley, with his pilot 1st Lieutenant Harold E. Gottler, Air Service, left the aerodrome late in the afternoon on their second trip to drop supplies to a battalion of the 77th Division, which had been cut off by the enemy in the Aragon Forest. Having been subjected on the first trip to violent fire from the enemy, they attempted on the second trip to come in still lower in order to get the packages even more precisely on the designated spot. In the course of his mission, the plane was brought down by enemy rifle and machine gun fire from the ground, resulting in fatal wounds to Second Lieutenant Blackley, who died before he could be taken to the hospital. In attempting and performing this mission, Second Lieutenant Blackley showed the highest possible contempt of personal danger, devotion to duty, courage, and valor. Accredited to Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas, awarded posthumously, presented march fourth, nineteen twenty-three, born december thirtieth, eighteen ninety four, Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas, died October sixth, nineteen eighteen, France. Buried Muse or Moose Argonne Cemetery, MHF Tac 26, Tac 33, Rom Romange, Romange, Muse, France. Probably murdered that folks, I apologize. National, location of Metal National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Wright, Patterson Air Force Base. Second Lieutenant Irwin Russell Buckley. I say this often, folks. Sometimes I feel like I'm harping, but I'm not beating a dead horse because if the horse were dead, we wouldn't be having to talk about this. But you have to kind of think and not you can't even comprehend putting yourself in that situation for most of us today. But think about the fact that this young man and his pilot went to deliver supplies to a cutoff battalion. And it was their second trip. They had already been through this, they knew what was coming, and they tried to fly lower to make sure that they got the supplies to those men. Why in the world do we celebrate so often people who have not only no regard for our nation but are actively opposed to it in sports and entertainment and politics? And and we forget, don't even remember the names and the actions of men like Blackley. Thanksgiving proclamation proclamation 379, Thanksgiving Day 1895 by the President of the United States. The constant goodness and forbearance of Almighty God, which have been vouchsafed to the American people during the year which has just passed, call for their sincere acknowledgement and devout gratitude. To the end, therefore, that we may with thankful hearts unite in extolling the loving care of our Heavenly Father. I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart Thursday, the twentieth day of the present month of November, as a day of thanksgiving and prayer to be kept and observed by all our people. On that day let us forgo our usual occupations, and in our accustomed places of worship join in rendering thanks to the giver of every good and perfect gift, for the bounteous returns that have rewarded our labors in the field and in the busy marts of trade, for the peace and order that have prevailed throughout the land, for our protection from pestilence and dire calamity, and for the other blessings that have been showered upon us from an open hand. And with our thanksgiving, let us humbly beseech the Lord to so incline the hearts of our people unto Him that He will not leave us nor forsake us as a nation, but will continue to us His mercy and protecting care, guiding us in the path of national prosperity and happiness, enduing us with rectitude and virtue, and keeping alive within us a patriotic love for the free institutions which have been given to us as our national heritage. And let us also on the day of our thanksgiving especially remember the poor and needy, and by deeds of charity let us show the sincerity of our gratitude, and witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed, done at the city of Washington this fourth day of November in the year of our Lord 1895, and in the 120th year of the independence of the United States, from Grover Cleveland by the President Richard Only. Only only Secretary of State. I couldn't help, just in the first couple paragraphs, folks, it strikes me there's a couple things. One, as a nation, we we can't just randomly thank every single God out there and think that we're going to keep going, right? It's not. You're either a Christian nation or you're not. You're either serving God, following God, or you're not. There's only one way to be right in any given situation, right? There's a lot of ways to tell a lie. There's only one way to tell the truth. There's a lot of ways to not follow God. There's a lot of false gods out there that you can follow. Uh Allah from Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mother Naturism, sports, entertainment, politics, government. There's money, sex, alcohol, drugs. There's a lot of false gods out there that we can follow. There's only one true God. And as a nation, we can either follow him or not. We can either acknowledge him as a nation, give thanks to him, give praise to him as a nation or not. You know, if if you want to go to your own home and you want to worship a false God, that's between you and God, and you're going to have to deal with that. But as a nation, we have no right to honor impostors. In fact, we have a responsibility not to honor impostors. It's the analogy that pops in my head right now is you know, if you want to go into your own home and you want to celebrate people that are criminals, you want to celebrate people that do evil, you want to celebrate sexual immorality inside your own home, uh, that's between you and God. But as a nation, we can't do that. You can't celebrate criminals like we did with George Floyd and the riots. You can't celebrate evil like we do with Pride Month each year as a nation and expect God's blessings to continue. You can't celebrate murder and abortion as a nation and expect God's blessings to continue. You can't celebrate feminism and pretending that men and women are the same and expect God's blessings as a nation. You can't celebrate adultery and pornography, et cetera, et cetera, and expect God's blessings to continue as a nation. And whether we're at the end of the line or not, folks, if we've gotten to the point, if we've gone too far, like Israel did before they were exiled to Babylon, we may have. We may be at the point where we're at the end of the road. And so our job as Americans is exactly what John Quincy Adams, our president, said. Duty is ours, results are God's. Particularly today for men as leaders. Your job is to cling to Christ, to follow his example. And then if anybody follows you, right, great. And if they don't, whether it's other men or women, including your own wife, that's on them, folks. That's on them. Your job is to follow. Our job is to follow Christ. I want to read you something here. I've been wanting to read this for several days. I know we're over, and I apologize. Uh, if you get a chance, go back and read that Thanksgiving proclamation. But this is a quote uh written by William Bradford, right? You go back to the pilgrims here from Reverend John Robinson as the pilgrims were departing. He didn't get to go with them to America. And William Bradford wrote about his commentary. He charged us before God and his blessed angels to follow him no further than he followed Christ. And if God should reveal anything to us by any other instrument of his to be ready to receive it, as ever we were to receive any truth by his ministry. For he was very confident the Lord had more truth and light yet to break forth out of his holy work. For, saith he, it is not possible that Christi the Christian world should come so lately out of such thick anti-Christian darkness, and that full perfection of knowledge should break forth at once. There's quite a bit in this little quote, folks, but the reason I read it today is for myself, for anyone else that you're listening to, that you're getting advice from, that you're following, you should only follow them. I should only follow them. We should only follow them as long as they're following Christ. And when they deviate from that path of following Christ, we've got to stay on the narrow path and hope that they come back and try and help them to come back. And when we get off ourselves and somebody points that out to us, we need to work to get back on the narrow path and keep working our way through life down that narrow path, clinging to Christ, and follow people only as long as they're following Christ. If you get a chance and you're looking for a fun family, uh middle grade read, I would humbly recommend Countryside. There's a couple books out in the series, hardback, paperback, ebook. And if you enjoy it, if you would leave a review somewhere, I would greatly appreciate that. They're very helpful. And if you're getting something out of the podcast, if you have two or three or four dollars a month or five dollars a month, you can donate. I would be very grateful for that. 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 and 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, folks. We'll talk to you all again real soon. Looking forward to it.