Biblical Priorities For Marriage And Home

Your priorities are not what you say they are, they’re what you fund with your time, energy, and attention. We start with a blunt biblical reminder from Acts 20 and the words of Jesus: hard work and open hands are not optional add-ons to faith, they’re evidence of it. From there, we wrestle with the cost of public choices that affect the vulnerable, including a real-world crime story used to argue that immigration policy and Christian responsibility cannot be separated.

We then turn inward to the home. We read Song of Solomon 7 and talk about biblical marriage in plain terms: honor your spouse, pursue faithfulness, and stop letting screens, sports, and constant distraction crowd out the people you claim to love most. The challenge is simple but hard: if we can binge, scroll, and drift for hours, we can also show up with intention for our marriage, our kids, and our walk with God.

Next, we move through Acts 20 as Paul warns church leaders about false teachers, personal ambition, and wolves among the flock. We also talk about the meaning of “the church” as the worldwide body of believers, not a denominational club with locked doors. Finally, we spotlight a Medal of Honor story and revisit the Founding Fathers on democracy versus a constitutional republic, using Madison and Adams to ask what kind of civic culture actually protects security, rights, and ordered liberty.

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Transcript

Scripture On Work Giving And Duty

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ACTS twenty starting with verse thirty-three I have never coveted anyone's silver or gold or fine clothes. You know that these hands of mine have worked to supply my own needs, and even the needs of those who are with me. And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus. It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Crime Case And Immigration Claim

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March 2025, Marietta, Georgia, Camellia Williams, fifty-two-year-old mother of five, and grandmother who was murdered in a what is described as a gruesome attack by David Hector Rebus. Illegal immigrant from Honduras released by federal authorities. You can't support illegal or mass Muslim immigration and follow Christ at the same time because you're hurting women and orphans, widows, children.

Welcome Gratitude And Opening Prayer

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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, whatever part of the day you're in. Sure do appreciate y'all joining me, giving me a little of your time and attention. For those of y'all who continue to share the two podcasts, the American Soul Podcast and America's Christian Heritage, thank you. For those of y'all who continue to leave reviews, uh also thank you very much for taking the time to do that. Uh for those of y'all that have checked out the Countryside Book Series and either read the first or the second book and left reviews, thank you very much for that as well. And for those of y'all, most of all, who pray uh for me and for the podcast, thank you very much. Need your prayers and want them. So thank you so much. Father, thank you for today. Thank you for this day that you have made. Help us to rejoice and be glad in it. Thank you for your son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for the blessings you bestow upon us. The ones we admit and the ones we don't, for whatever reason.

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Forgive us our sins.

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Forgive us when we make our priorities more important than yours. Forgive us when we make gods and idols out of things that don't matter, Father.

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Out of anything before you and your son. Give us wisdom, Father. Help us to stand for the truth.

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To do your will. Give us the the wisdom to see those things, the courage to act on it, the perseverance. To do it all the way home to you. Please bring us safely home to you along the narrow path. Be with those listening to the podcast, surround them with your angels, protect them from evil. Bless their marriages, their children, their nation. Calm any anxieties or fears. Help them to see the path you want them to take. Be with our leaders in the pulpit and in the state. Give them wisdom and courage, help them to rule and lead in fear of you. Be with our military, our law enforcement, firefighters, EMS. Comfort them. Be with our families. Give them wisdom and courage, strength and speed. Stamina. And guide my words here, Father, please. In your son's name we pray. Amen.

Marriage Scripture And Godly Advice

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Marriage verses for today, Song of Solomon 7, 1 through 9. How beautiful your sandal feet, O prince's daughter. Your graceful legs are like jewels. The work of an artist's hand. Your navel is a rounded goblet that never lacks blended wine. Your waist is a mound of wheat encircled by lilies. Your breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle. Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are the pools of Heshmon by the gate of Bath Rabbam. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus. Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel, your hair is like a royal tapestry. The king is held captive by its tresses. How beautiful you are, and how pleasing my love with your delights. Your statue is like that of a palm and your breasts like clusters of fruit. I said, I will climb the palm tree, I will take hold hold of its fruit. May your breasts be like clusters of grapes on the pine, the fragrance of your breath like apples in your mouth like the best wine.

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And then the the wife, may the wine go straight to my beloved, flowing gently over lips and teeth.

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Again

Actions Reveal True Priorities

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and again, folks, wherever you're getting your marriage advice from, it it has to line up with God and Jesus Christ and their commands for you as a husband or a wife. And I got into this with somebody online recently, but folks, our actions show not only our character, but also our priorities, what's really important to us, who's really important to us. There is no way for us to claim that our spouse is important to us when we play sports for hours a day, or watch sports for hours a day, or watch TV shows or movies for hours a day, or scroll social media for hours a day, or sit on our phone for hours a day, and then we try and tell our spouse we don't have time for them.

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It's just a lie. The same thing's true with our children, the same thing is true with God, most of all.

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I struggle with that one, folks. You're not going to be perfect. But man, we ought to be getting a lot closer than we are, and we ought to You can't pretend it isn't so. You can't pretend you can give all this time and effort and energy to other things, and that God's a priority, that your spouse is a priority, that your kids are a priority each day. It does not work. And again, it shows people your character, who you really are. Actions, folks. There's a great quote attributed, I haven't used it on the podcast in a long time. Great tro quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, I believe. And it says something along the lines of, Your actions speak so loudly I cannot hear the words you're saying.

Acts 20 And Guarding The Flock

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Acts twenty, one through thirty eight, when the uproar was over, Paul sent for the believers and encouraged them. And he said goodbye and left Macedonia. While there he encouraged the believers and all the towns he passed through. Then he traveled down to Greece, where he stayed for three months. He was preparing to sell back to Syria when he discovered a plot by some Jews against his life, so he decided to return through Macedonia. Several men were traveling with him. They were Sopater, son of Phyrus from Berea, Architecus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derby, Timothy, and Tychius from Trophimus, the province of Asia. I murdered some of those folks, I'm sorry. They went on ahead and waited for us at Troaz. After the Passover ended, we boarded a ship at Philippi in Macedonia and five days later joined them at Troas, where we stayed a week. On the first day of the week we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord's supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day he kept talking until midnight. The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many fickering, flickering lamps. As Paul spoke on and on, a young man named Eudicus, sitting on the windowsill, became very drowsy. Finally he fell sound asleep and dropped three stories to his death below. Paul went down, bent over him, and took him in his arms. Don't worry, he said, he's alive. Then they all went back upstairs, shared in the Lord's supper, and ate together. Paul continued talking to them until dawn, and then he left. Meanwhile, the young man was taken home alive and well, and everyone was greatly relieved. Paul went by land to Asos, where he arranged for us to join him while we traveled by ship. He joined us there and we sailed together to Middalene. The next day we sailed past the island of Chios. The following day we crossed to the island of Samos, and a day later we arrived at Miletus. Paul had decided decided to sail on past Ephesus, for he didn't want to spend any more time in the province of Asia. He was hurrying to get to Jerusalem if possible in time for the festival of Pentecost. But when we landed at Milidas, he sent a message to the elders of the Church of Ephesus asking them to come and meet him. When they arrived, he declared, You know that from the day I set foot in the province of Asia until now I have done the Lord's work humbly and with many tears. I have endured the trials that came to me from the plots of the Jews. I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear either publicly or in your homes. I have had only one message for Jews and Greeks alike: the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God and of having faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. I don't know what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus, the work of telling others the good news about the wonderful grace of God. And now I know that none of you to whom I have preached the kingdom will ever see me again. I declare today that I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it's not my fault, for I didn't shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know. So God yourself guard yourselves and God's people. Feed and shepherd God's flock, his church purchased with his own blood, over which the Holy Spirit has anointed you as leaders. I know that false teachers like vicious wolves will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock. His church, folks, his church is every single person in the world who believes God and Jesus Christ. You cannot try and prevent people from coming to God and Jesus Christ by claiming that your denomination is the only true denomination. You won't find that in Scripture. You don't find it here. His church purchased with his own blood. How condemning for you to try and tell people they can't come to Jesus Christ because they don't belong to your particular denomination. Even some men from your own group will wise up, rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following. Watch out. Remember the three years I was with you, my constant watch and care over you night and day, and my many tears for you. And now I entrust you to God and the message of His grace that it is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those He has set apart for himself. I have never coveted anyone's silver or gold or fine clothes. You know that these hands of mine have worked to supply my own needs and even the needs of those who were with me. And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus, it is more blessed to give than to receive. When he had finished speaking, he knelt and prayed with them. They all cried as they embraced and kissed him goodbye. They were sad most of all because he had said that they would never see him again. Then they escorted him down to the ship.

Praise Proverbs And Practical Asks

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Psalm one forty eight, one through fourteen, praise the Lord, praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him from the skies, praise him all his angels, praise him all the armies of heaven, praise him, sun and moon, praise him all you twinkling stars, praise him skies above, praise him vapors high above the clouds. Let every created thing give praise to the Lord. For he issued his command and they came into being, he set them in place forever and ever, his decree will never be revoked. Praise the Lord from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths, fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather that obey him, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all livestock, small scurrying animals and birds, kings of the earth and all people, rulers and judges of the earth, young men and young women, old men and children. Let them all praise the name of the Lord, for his name is very great. His glory towers over the earth and heaven. He has made his people strong, honoring his faithful ones, the people of Israel who are close to him. Praise the Lord. Proverbs eighteen, six and seven. Fools' words get them into constant quarrels. They are asking for a beating. The mouths of fools are there ruined. They trap themselves with their lips. If you are looking for a family-friendly middle grade read, if you would check out the countryside series, there's two books in the series. The first is the Book of the Wise, the second, The Tears of Edina. You can find them on Amazon, uh, Barnes and Noble, any local bookstore can order them partback, paperback, ebook. And if you enjoy them, if you would leave a review uh for one or both, that helps others to find it very much. So thank you. Uh same thing with the two podcasts, America, America's Christian Heritage and the American Soul Podcast. If you feel like you're getting something out of them, if you'd leave a review uh online wherever you listen to the podcast, that helps others immensely too. Uh and if you have five or ten dollars you can spare each month for the podcast, there's a link in the show notes where you can set up that donation. And I would appreciate any or all of those.

Medal Of Honor Then Democracy Critique

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Medal of Honor for today, Hugh Carey, sergeant, U.S. Civil War, Echo Company, 82nd New York Infantry, U.S. Army, July 3rd, 1863, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Captured the flag of the 7th Virginia Infantry, being twice wounded in the effort. Accredited to New York, awarded posthumously, presented February 6, 1888, born, Ireland, 1840, died March 26, 1886, Brooklyn, New York, buried Holy Cross Cemetery, St. John's, D Tex 7, Brooklyn, New York. Hugh Carey, another good example of the difference between immigrants in the past who wanted to come to America and assimilate into our Christian nation and Christian values compared to the ones we get today. Not that all of those were perfect in the past, folks, but that they wanted to be Americans. They wanted to assimilate. We're going to read a few more quotes here about democracy, our founder's opinion of democracy. It wasn't good. When you hear people talk about we're a democracy today, we're closer to that than we are a republic, but we were never intended to. We were supposed to be a republic. We don't function as a democracy. We don't function with universal suffrage. Voting was never intended to be a universal right, folks. And it's not working out very well. Us ignoring that. James Madison, Federalist No. 10, 1787. Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention, have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property. And have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. Safety, personal property, those things don't go with a democracy. Hence, you see the fact that nobody in America, no American citizen, truly owns anything anymore. At least not as far as land and property and homes go. You don't pay taxes. It doesn't matter if you own it, quote unquote, own it outright. The government's going to come take it from you. All we do is pay rent to the government on our homes and land. James Madison, again, Federalist number 55, 1788. Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob. You look at the mobs across the country today, the rioting. It goes hand in glove with the left mob democracy. There's no safety in it, there's no security. It's like a pack of dogs. You know, the mob, you ever notice or had somebody tell you that dogs act much differently in a pack than they do alone, that pack mentality, right? You see that in the people in the United States today that go around defending their party against all doesn't matter whether the party's wrong or not, right? The group mentality that's mob democracy. John Adams, letter to John Taylor, 1814. Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. And we are. We're doing our best today. As Lincoln said, our our threat is never from the outside. Our threat is not China or Russia or North Korea or Iran or anything external, folks. As Lincoln said, the only way we're going to die is by suicide. And we're doing a pretty good job of it today of trying to get there. Tying the noose for ourselves as we speak. John Adams, again, letter to John Taylor. Oh, this was the same. This is just, you may hear this same quote, folks. It's just worded a little differently. Democracy never lasts long, soon waste exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. That was just a different wording of the same quote, same letter. Our founders rightly feared democracy, folks, and we should too, today. We're a republic. And whether it's politically correct to say it or not, folks, universal suffrage was never intended. We were not intended to be a mob democracy. We were intended to be a constitutional representative, right, republic. Our

Lord's Prayer And Farewell Blessing

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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 the stay 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 a kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. God bless y'all. God bless your families, your marriages, if you're married, your kids, if you have them, your nation, wherever you are around the world, listening. God bless America. We'll talk to you all again real soon, folks. Looking forward to it.