SPEAKER_01: 0:02

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, I sure do appreciate you joining me, giving me a little bit of your time. I know y'all have other things buying for your attention. So I appreciate that you're here. I will try and use it wisely. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others, tell others about it, and for those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, thank you very, very much. Very grateful for your prayers. 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 alone. Thank you for the time to record this podcast. Thank you for the people that listen to it. Please be with them wherever they are across the nation, here in America, and around the world. Be with their families. Bless the marriages of those who are married, guide those who have children to raise them to know you, Father, and your Son Jesus Christ. Surround us with your angels. Protect us from evil of any kind. Guide our thoughts and our words and our actions. Help us to flee from evil, to flee from immorality of any kind. Help us to care for the widow and the orphan, the poor and the needy. To follow the commands of your Son Jesus Christ, to love him. To love you with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.

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To love our neighbors as ourselves.

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Help us to get our priorities in the right order, Father, to make time for you each day. To make time for our spouse each day if we're married. To make time to be still. Be with those who are hurting and alone. Those who are brokenhearted, please draw close to them, Father. Be with our leaders, both in the pulpit and in the state, our pastors and priests, president, vice president, prime ministers, judges, senators, representatives, governors, mayors.

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Be with our military and our law enforcement. Firefighters, EMS, comfort them, bring them home safe to their families. Be with those who have been victims of shootings and violence and killings. Your son's family pray. 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? Listen to him.

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You know, there's nothing wrong with being bored, folks. I think we could use a little bit more boredom in our lives these days. And if you're married, have you made time for your spouse? Do they know that they are your second priority each day after only God and Jesus Christ every day? And not just like in a rush, folks. It's the same with spending time with God and our spouse. It shouldn't be something that we just do as a check on a box, which I'm too often guilty of, folks, rushing through prayer, rushing through reading the Bible. My wife asked me to do something rushing through getting done with that, right? It ought to be something that we look at as a privilege and a pleasure. And a lot of that, honestly, folks, has to do with us and not God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and not our spouse. It has to do with us and our attitude that we choose. Marriage verses from today come out a song of Solomon two. The Bride's admiration. I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys. Like a lily among the thorns, so is my darling among the maidens. Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. In his shade I took great delight and I sat down, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He has brought me to his banquet hall, and his banner over me is love. Sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, because I am lovesick. Let his left hand be under my head and his right hand embrace me. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, that you do not arouse or awaken my love until she pleases. Listen, my beloved, behold he is coming. Climbing on the mountains, leaping on the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold he is standing behind our wall, he is looking through the windows, he is peering through the lattice. My beloved responded and said to me, Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along. For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have already appeared in the land. The time has arrived for pruning the vines, and the voice of the turtle dove has been heard in our land. The fig tree has ripened its figs, and the vines and blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along. O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret place of the steep pathway. Let me see your form, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your form is lovely. Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that are running, ruining the vineyards, while our vineyards are in blossom. My beloved is mine and I am his. He pastures his flock among the lilies, until the cool of the day when the shadows flee away. Turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of Bethar. Bible verses for today we're going to start with Hebrews six, one through twenty. So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don't need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. You don't need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding. For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened, those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the power of the age to come, and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance by rejecting the Son of God they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again, and holding him up to public shame. When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God's blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it. Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don't believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation, for God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God's promises because of their faith and endurance. For example, there was God's promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying, I will certainly bless you and I will multiply your descendants beyond number. Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised. Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it, and without any question that oath is binding. God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge and have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal high priest in the order of Melchizedek. Psalm one hundred five verses sixteen through thirty six. He the Lord called for a famine on the land of Canaan, cutting off its food supply. Then he sent someone to Egypt ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with fetters, and placed his neck in an iron collar. Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph's character. Then Pharaoh sent for him and set him free. The ruler of the nation opened his prison door. Joseph was put in charge of all the king's household. He became ruler over all the king's possessions. He could instruct the king's aides as he pleased and teach the king's advisors. Then Israel arrived in Egypt. Jacob lived as a foreigner in the land of Ham, and the Lord multiplied the people of Israel until they became too mighty for their enemies. Then he turned the Egyptians against the Israelites, and they plotted against the Lord's servant. But the Lord sent his servant Moses along with Aaron whom he had chosen. They performed miraculous signs among the Egyptians, and wonders in the land of Ham. The Lord blanketed Egypt in darkness, for they had defied his commands to let his people go. He turned their water into blood, poisoning all the fish. Then frogs overran the land, and even invaded the king's bedrooms. When the Lord spoke flies descended on the Egyptians, and gnats swarmed across Egypt. He sent them hail instead of rain, and lightning flashed over the land. He ruined their grapevines and fig trees and shattered all the trees. He spoke and hordes of locusts came, young locusts beyond number. They ate up everything green in the land, destroying all the crops in their fields. Then he killed the oldest son in each Egyptian home, the pride and joy of each family. Proverbs twenty seven, one and two. A stranger, not your own lips. If we have to tell people how great we are, folks, we're probably not that great, right? And uh we have no idea what's going to happen tomorrow. Not a single person out there can tell you exactly what's going to happen tomorrow. I think sometimes we I need to remember that at least a little bit. Psalm 105, when you look at verse 17, 18, and 19 talking about the suffering that Joseph went through. I forget that often, that there's a lot of really great leaders, important people in the Bible that suffered a great deal waiting on God. And the point didn't really seem apparent until after the fact, right? And then there's quite a few things from Hebrews 6, but I think the one I really want to focus on is if you look through verses 16 through 20, one of the most encouraging things to me is God tells us in his word that if we confess Jesus Christ as Lord, right? So I'm telling you right now that I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I confess him as Lord and Savior. And he said, and if we believe in our heart, right, and I have doubts, I have fears, but I choose to believe that God raised Jesus Christ, his son, from the dead. If you ask me, I'm going to tell you that. It's a choice that I make. And God tells me because of those two things, he promises that I'm going to have eternal life. And when you look at these, start right here with 17. God also bound himself with an oath so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary. And Jesus has already gone in there for us, right? Take some comfort in that, folks. If you struggle with doubts and fears, sins, failures, right? Know that God promises, and he can't break that promise. That's a great thing. Because he's unchangeable. So no matter how much we screw up, no matter how many doubts and fears we have and failings, because of Jesus Christ alone, and God's promises, we're gonna get to spend eternity in heaven with God and Jesus Christ one day. It's on him, folks. It's not on us. You don't have any pressure on you. God promised, and and he is unchanging, and he cannot lie. And that's just I I hope that that's as encouraging to you as it is to me. A little bit of house cleaning before we get into the Medal of Honor and the history quotes for today. I was talking to an acquaintance of mine, known this man for a little while, and he was talking about the fact that uh his father is getting divorced at almost age 80. And that was just shocking to me. And he talked to me a little bit about it, but um I don't know what the gray divorce, right? That's what they call, I think, divorce over 50, 55. I don't know what that rate is currently. I don't know if it's increasing or decreasing, but you can just see the general dysfunction of marriage, right? And and there was something else that caused me to look up a Bible verse talking about cleaving. And and I dug into it a little bit. I got to chasing one of those rabbit holes, and it it talked about the fact, I think it's the Greek word. I'm not even going to try and pronounce it, but it it means glue, like you're stuck together like glue. That's the only relationship in the world, folks, where we stick to somebody like glue. And I think we we really need to ask ourselves a lot more often, especially in the church, are we sticking to our spouse like glue? Are we clinging to them, cleaving to them throughout the day? And when we look at the dysfunction and the brokenness and the fact that we have something like a couple that's been married for decades getting divorced, even in the 80s, because the marriage is so dysfunctional. Are we gluing ourselves to our spouse each day throughout the day? Is that our top priority? Medal of Honor for today, John F. Bickford, captain of the top. I didn't know that was a rank. Highest rank master's mate. U.S. Civil War, USS Cheersarge, U.S. Navy, June 19, 1864, off Cherbourg, France. Served on board the USS Carrasage when she destroyed the Alabama off Cherbourg, France, 19 June, 1864, acting as the first loader of the pivot gun during this bitter engagement, Vickford exhibited marked coolness and good conduct and was highly recommended for his gallantry under fire by his divisional officer. Accredited to Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, not awarded posthumously born March 12, 1843, Tremont, Hancock County, Maine, died April 28, 1927, Gloucester, Massachusetts, buried Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Gloucester, Massachusetts, United States. John F. Bickford in the Civil War in France. That's kind of crazy. But another name, folks, we need to remember much more than pop singers and athletes who don't really care too much about our nation. So our history quote today is Pennsylvania. We're going to go into Pennsylvania. I think we're going to spend about three days here. I've got two quotes that I want to get through today. The first is make sure I'm yep. The Charter of Pennsylvania in 1681, given to William Penn by King Charles II of England. It was all the land between Maryland and New York. And the following year they added Delaware from the Duke of York. Interesting little thing. William Penn named it Sylvania because that meant woodland. But the king changed it to Pennsylvania, right? Obviously from William Penn. I guess that means Penn's Woodland. The goal of the plantation in the charter, and this is coming out of America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations, you can find it other places, I'm sure. American Patriots Bible, America Founders Bible, Avalon Project from Yale online. There's a bunch of good resources online. But the the goal of the plantation to reduce the savage natives by gentle and just manners to the love of civil society and Christian religion. You remember again, folks, when people tell you about Indigenous Day and how utopic and peaceful the indigenous people were. You can just kind of shake your head and move along. Fundamental Constitutions of Pennsylvania, 1682, written by Penn. Constitution Considering that it is impossible that any people or government should ever prosper, where man render not unto God that which is God's, as well as to Caesar that which is Caesar's. And also perceiving that disorders and mischiefs that attend those places where force is used in matters of faith and worship, and seriously reflecting upon the tenure of the new and spiritual government, and that both Christ did not use force, and that he did express expressly forbid it in his holy religion, as also that the testimony of his blessed messengers was that the weapons of the Christian warfare were not carnal but spiritual. Therefore, in reverence to God, the Father of lights and spirits, the author as well as object of all divine knowledge, faith, and worship, I do hereby declare for me and mine, and establish it for the first fundamental of the government of my country, that every person that does or shall reside therein shall have and enjoy the free possession of his or her faith and exercise of worship towards God, in such way and manner as every person shall in conscience believe is most acceptable to God, and so long as every such person uses not this Christian liberty to licentiousness, that is to say, to speak loosely and profanely of God, Christ, or religion, or to commit any evil in their common in their conversation lifestyle, he or she shall be protected in the enjoyment of the aforesaid Christian liberty by the civil magistrate. There's two things that are really illustrated here in this fundamental constitution of Pennsylvania from 1682. One is what our founders understood, that you you can't use force like the Anglican Church and Roman Catholic Church did for centuries throughout Europe to try and force people into your religion like the Muslim faith still does up until this day, to try and torture people, threaten people, kill people in order to join their religion. Our founders understood that, but they also understood that if you had people that profaned God and Jesus Christ, right, which was the only true religion, if you had people that attacked that, you were going to lose your society. Your society was going to fall apart. And that you had to have Christians, people that were willing to follow those principles of Christ in order for that nation to survive. All right, we're going to read one more short one. The Great Law of Pennsylvania from April 25th, 1682. Whereas the glory of Almighty God and the good of mankind is the reason and end of government, and therefore government itself is a venerable ordinance of God, there shall be established laws as shall best preserve true Christian and civil liberty in opposition to all unchristian, licentious, and unjust practices, whereby God may have his due and Caesar his due, and the people their due from tyranny and oppression. What is the reason and end of government? The glory of Almighty God and the good of mankind. You can't have good order and discipline. You can't have good government if the goal isn't not just the good of mankind, but the glory of Almighty God. If you want liberty, you have to preserve true Christianity. Christianity and civil liberty go hand in hand together, and we have forgotten that in America. And we're paying the price for it. You've forgotten it right now in the UK, too. You can see that if you look at the attack, I think it was last week on the Jewish synagogue and the people that were killed there. Folks, you just you cannot have liberty outside of the principles of Jesus Christ. If you are looking for a family-friendly middle-grade fantasy series, I would humbly recommend Countryside. There's two books in the series so far, working on a third one. If you get a chance, check it out. And if you enjoy it, if you would leave a review somewhere, I would greatly appreciate that. On the podcast, there's a website page on Buzz Sprout, which hosts the podcast where you can donate$3 a month,$5 a month, whatever you can do would be greatly appreciated. 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.

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Amen.

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God bless y'all, God bless your families, 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.