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 you joining, giving me a little bit of your day, a little bit of your time. I will try and use it wisely. Hopefully it'll give us all some extra tools for our toolbox. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others, tell others about it, thank you very much. For those of y'all who continue to pray for me and the for the podcast, thank you. Very, very grateful for your prayers. Father, thank you for today, for this day that you have made. Thank you for you, Father, and your son Jesus Christ and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love, your mercy, your grace, your forgiveness of sins, through the mercy and through the life and merit of your son Jesus Christ. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the ability to pray to you, talk to you without the need of any mediator except your son. Forgive us our sins, Father. Forgive us our greed and our selfishness, pride, vanity, judgment of others. Forgive us when we don't forgive others as you have forgiven us. Help us to do your will, above all else, to love you with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. To love our neighbors as ourselves. Watch over those listening to the podcast, Father, wherever they are around the world, across the nation, here in America. Be with them, be with their families, guide them, bless them. Surround them with your angels. Protect them from evil. Be with those who are anxious, fearful, concerned. Be with those who are worried about where their next meal comes from. Be with those who are worried about water to drink or clothes to wear. Help us to care for them. To follow the example that your son set. Help us to get our priorities in order with your priorities and to help us, Father, to ward off, to ignore the distractions of this world. Help us to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, not here on earth. Be with our military and our law enforcement, our firefighters, our EMS, those who go out into the night, the cold, the rain, and the snow, protect them, keep them safe, bring them home safe to their families. Help us to support them and encourage them. And guide my words here, Father, please. In your son's name we pray. Amen. What have you done with your last 24 hours, folks? How have you spent it? Did you give time to God? Did you give time to God as a check in a box? Or because you really wanted to? Did you give time to your spouse? Did you do it with a grateful heart as a privilege? Or was it a burden? How much time did you give to social media? How many hours of sports did you watch? Did you work out? Are you pleased with how you spent the last 24 hours of your life that you'll never get back again? How many TV shows did you watch? Were they useful? Were they beneficial? Did it make you a better person? Just questions, folks. We need to ask ourselves each day. I don't like some of the answers for myself. Marriage verse for today. This is 1 Corinthians 7, verses 2 through 6. But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way the husband does not have authority over his own body, but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. Do we follow that in our marriages? You have to know from the state of marriages across the nation here in America and really Western civilization as a whole, that no, we don't. Even remotely. Bible verses for today, we're going to start with Hebrews chapter 11, verse 32 through 1213. How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death, but others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with a sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes on the ground. All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses, for the life of faith let us strip off every weight that show that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up, and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor besides God's throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people. Then you won't become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin. And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, My child, don't make light of the Lord's discipline, and don't give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child. As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Whoever of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn't discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate, and you are not really his children at all. Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn't we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits and live forever? For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how, but God's discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in His holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening. It's painful. But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong. Psalm one hundred twelve verses one through ten. Praise the Lord. How joyful are those who fear the Lord and delight in obeying his commands. Their children will be successful everywhere, an entire generation of godly people will be blessed. They themselves will be wealthy, and their good deeds will last forever. Light shines in the darkness for the godly. They are generous, compassionate, and righteous. Good comes to those who lend money generously, and conduct their business fairly. Such people will not be overcome by evil. Those who are righteous will be long remembered. They do not fear bad news, they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. They are confident and fearless and can face their foes triumphantly. They share freely and give generously to those in need. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. They will have influence and honor. The wicked will see this and be infuriated. They will grind their teeth in anger. They will slink away their hopes thwarted. Proverbs twenty seven seventeen. As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. That's a great one, folks, at the end there. Surround yourself with people of good character, people that make you better, that push you to be a better Christian, a better husband or wife, a better father or mother, a better son or daughter, brother or sister, a better citizen of America, a citizen of your nation. You go back to Hebrews chapter 12, keeping our eyes on Jesus, right? Verse 2. We need to focus on Christ. Cling to Christ above all else. Verse 3 and 4, think of all the hostility Jesus endured, right? From sinful people, then you won't become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin. Are we with how much do we struggle against sin, or do we give in easily? It's something you have to work on, folks. Don't be overwhelmed. I'm not trying to make you but feel bad. If you're if you're really struggling with sin and you're trying to overcome it and you're failing, that's okay. Just turn back to God each time and it'll it will improve just like anything else. The more we struggle, right? Just like physical workouts or anything else, you get better at it. But but also we can't use that as a excuse, as a crutch to not get better, right? And how important to remember that just like a father who truly loves his children, uh, he disciplines them. And when we're going through these hard times often, we we forget that that God truly loves us as his children. And so he's gonna discipline us. Medal of Honor for today is Richard Binder, also known as Richard Bival, sergeant, U.S. Civil Civil War, USS Teconderoga, U.S. Marine Corps, January 13th through 15th, 1865, Fort Fisher, North Carolina, USA. On board the USS Taconderoga during the attacks on Fort Fisher 24 and 25th, December, 1864, and 13 to 15 January 1865. Despite heavy return fire by the enemy and the explosion of the hundred-pound parrot rifle which killed eight men and wounded twelve more, Sergeant Binder, as captain of a gun, performed his duties with skill and courage during the first two days of battle. As his ship again took position on the 13th, he remained steadfast on the Ticonderoga, maintained a well placed fire upon the batteries on shore, and thereafter, as she materially lessened the power of guns on the mound, which had been turned upon our assaulting columns. During this action, the flag was planted on one of the strongest fortifications possessed by the rebels. Credited to Pennsylvania, not awarded posthumously born july twenty sixth, eighteen thirty-nine, Germany, died february twenty sixth, nineteen twelve, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Buried West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Noraton, forty eight TAC two. Oof. There's a lot of other acronyms here. Pennsylvania. Richard Binder. U.S. Civil War Fort Fisher. A few historical quotes today. This one is not quite so historical. It's from Charles Coulson, who was the founder of Prison Fellowship. The most remarkable thing, though, is the difference Scripture makes in the lives of those who sincerely follow it. I've never heard anyone who said, I've studied the Bible, I've lived it for years, and it doesn't work for me. The people I've talked to say that the more they truly absorb Scripture and seek to live by its precepts, they find God is able to accomplish amazing things for his purposes through their lives. I think one of the questions we often ought to ask ourselves, folks, when we find ourselves, when we're struggling, and we just don't think that following God is working in that moment for whatever reason is how much are we really following him? I think a lot of times I'm trying to convince myself that I'm following God really well, but what I'm really doing is kind of giving lip service to God while I'm trying to do what I want to do. Robert E. Lee, in all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength. Do we turn to God and to the Bible as our first recourse or as our last hope? I mean, at the end of the day, if you turn to the Bible, turn to God, at some point that's better than never. But how much easier our lives would be if we would turn to God sooner. One more, Benjamin Franklin. A Bible and a newspaper in every house, a good school in every district, all studied and appreciated as they merit. And the principal support of virtue morality and several are the principal support of virtue, morality, and civil liberty. And then a couple from Winston Churchill talking about the approach of World War II, the interval between World War I and World War II. We shall see how the councils of prudence and restraint may become the prime agents of moral danger, of mortal danger, how the middle course adopted from desires for safety and a quiet life may be found to lead direct to the bullseye of disaster. They lived from hand to mouth and from day to day and from one election to another, until when scarcely twenty years were out the dread signal of the Second World War was given, and we must write of the sons of those who had fought and died so faithfully and well, shoulder to aching shoulder, side by side, they trudged away from life's broad wields of light. Siegfried Sassoon Too often today, and for quite a while in America, folks, people have pretended that being a centrist or a moderate quote unquote was a virtue when it really is a vice. Our weakness, our cowardice, that centrist, moderate mentality, it's it's really not a strength. It's a lack of willingness to acknowledge right from wrong. So that you don't really have to make a decision so that you can sit the middle fence and say, Well, I'm not on either extreme. It's as if you had a scale, and on the far one side was truth, and on the far other side was the opposite of truth. And then in the middle, there were a bunch of people sitting there going, Well, I'm a good person because I'm in the middle, see, but but the middle still lie. It's still not the truth. You're still not on the side of truth. And what that does is it just merely ensures that men and women and children are going to have to suffer pain and death and heartache at some point to correct those mistakes. And that's what Churchill was talking about going into World War II. If you're looking for a family-friendly middle grade read, I would humbly recommend Countryside. If you get a chance, can read it. It's on Amazon, Barnes and Noble. Pretty much any bookstore ought to be able to order it for you, hardback, paperback, ebook. And if you enjoy it, if you would leave a review, I would be very grateful for that. Working on the third book in the series now. And if you are getting something out of the podcast, if you would share it with others, and if you would, if you feel like you can spare$3 a month or$5 a month to donate to the podcast, that would help a great deal. There's a support page there on the Buzz Sprout website for the podcast. So thank you. 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, your marriages if you're married. God bless America. God bless your nation, wherever you are around the world. Listen, folks. We'll talk to you all again real soon. Looking forward to it.