A 24-Hour Faith Self-Examination

Marriage Duties In 1 Peter 3

Testing Advice Against Scripture

Walking In The Light In 1 John 2

Psalm, Proverbs, And Salvation Assurance

Medal Of Honor: W.R.D. Blackwood

SPEAKER_00 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 and whatever part of the day you're in. Sure do 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. For those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, thank you. Very, 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 sins through the merit of your son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for all the people listening to the podcast, Father. Please be with them, be with their families, guide them, bless them, surround them with your angels, protect them from evil of any kind. Bless the marriages of those who are married. Guide those who have children in raising them to know you. Help us to follow the commands of your Son Jesus Christ each day, to love you with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, to love our neighbors as ourselves. Help us to care for the widow and the orphan, the poor and the needy. With actions and not merely words, Father. Forgive us our sins, Lord. Forgive us our greed, our pride, our selfishness, judgment of others, rash words, actions, lust, covetousness, our cowardice and our unbelief. Help us to overcome it. We do believe, Father. Be with those who are hurting and alone wherever they are around the world. Be with those who feel abandoned, be with those who are abused, Father. Be with our leaders in the military and law enforcement, politics, pulpit, and the state. Help them to rule, to lead and peer review and not men or women. Guide our steps. And please guide my words here, Father. In your son's name we ask and pray. Amen. How have you spent your last twenty-four hours, folks? Are you pleased with it? Are you striving to follow God and Jesus Christ each day? Are you holding on to something that you shouldn't be holding on to? I find that problem with myself often. I I'll find something and I'll turn it over to God, tell God I'm going to turn it over to Him, but I want to hold on to a little part of it. And I think at least for me, folks, that almost always involves at least a little bit of lack of trust in God. And probably more than a little bit often. We don't want to turn something over to God because we we don't really trust His outcome is going to be best for us. At any rate, I need to work on that. But the bottom line is, right, if somebody accused us of being a Christian over the last 24 hours, would there be enough evidence to convict us? And for those of us that are married, if somebody accused us of being a loving spouse, a godly spouse, would there be enough evidence to convict us? And how do we do that? So our marriage verses for today come out of 1 Peter 3, verses 1 through 7, I believe. In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the good news, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over by exerving your pure and reverent lives. Don't be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. This is how the women of old made themselves beautiful. They put their trust in God and accepted the authority of their husbands. For instance, Sarah obeyed her husband, Abraham, and called him her master. You are her daughters when you do what is right without fear of what your husband might do. In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God's gift of new life. Treat her as you should so that your prayers will not be hindered. That's pretty rough on both cases, right, folks? Like as a wife, you have a responsibility to completely submit to your husband. And we don't really seem to like to do that today, although it's kind of ironic because everybody submits to something or someone. We like to pretend that we don't, but we do. Work, whether you're talking about ideology, profession, academics, everybody submits to somebody. It's just a matter of who. And then on the husband's part, right? If you don't treat your wife the way that you're supposed to, there's a chance here that your prayers are going to be hindered. You're not going to be effective for those around you in praying. Always, always, folks, if anybody's telling you, giving you marriage advice, that's why we read, because the state of our marriages today is in such disarray. That's why we read these marriage verses each day. If somebody's giving you marriage advice, you need to make sure that it lines up with scripture. And if it doesn't, you just need to ignore it and move on and warn other people to ignore it as well. Especially if you go to a lot of these conferences, uh, you hear people talking so often about what men should do or what women should do, et cetera. Well, folks, if it's not lining up with scripture, you can just move on. Uh and we also need to make sure that we're not just pandering to our own desires, what we want to hear, right? So, like if we're husbands, men, and all we want to hear is what the responsibility of women is, we we probably need to look in the mirror pretty hard. And the same is true the other way. If you're a wife, if you're a woman and all you're really interested in is hearing about the woman's responsibilities or the husband's responsibilities, you probably need to go take a pretty hard look in the mirror. 1 John chapter 2, verses 1 through 17. My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins, and not only our sins, but the sins of all the world. And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims I know God, but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God's words truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you. Rather, it is an old one that you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment to love one another is the same message you heard before. Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining. If anyone claims I am living in the light but hates a fellow believer, that person is still living in darkness. Anyone who loves a fellow believer is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. But anyone who hates a fellow believer is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness. I am writing to you who are God's children because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus. I am writing to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ who existed from the beginning. I am writing to you who are young in the faith because you have won your battle with the evil one. I have written to you who are God's children because you know the Father. I have written to you who are mature in the faith because you know Christ who existed from the beginning. I have written to you who are young in the faith because you are strong. God's word lives in your hearts, and you have won your battle with the evil one. Do not love this world, nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. I took my troubles to the Lord, I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer. Rescue me, O Lord, from liars and from all deceitful people. O deceptive tongue, what will God do to you? How will he increase your punishment? You will be pierced with sharp arrows and burned with glowing coals. How I suffer in far off Meshek. It pains me to live in distant Kedar. I am tired of living among people who hate peace. I search for peace, but when I speak of peace they want war. Proverbs twenty eight verses twenty five through twenty six. Greed causes fighting. Trusting the Lord leads to prosperity. Those who trust their own inside are foolish, but anyone who walks in wisdom is saved. You go back to 1 John chapter 2, verse 1. If anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins, and not only our sins, but the sins of all the world. And then you look at verse 12. I'm writing to you who are God's children because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus Christ. Right? The sins we've committed, the ones we're going to commit today, the ones we'll commit in the future. Christ has atoned for them all. There's nothing you can do to earn salvation, folks, other than accept Jesus Christ. There's nothing you can do to lose salvation other than reject Jesus Christ. Medal of Honor for today, William Robert Douglas Blackwood. Surgeon, highest rank, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Civil War, 48th Pennsylvania Infantry, U.S. Army, April 2nd, 1865, Petersburg, Virginia. Removed severely wounded officers and soldiers from the field while under a heavy fire from the enemy, exposing himself beyond the call of duty, thus furnishing an example of most distinguished gallantry. Accredited to Philadelphia, not awarded posthumously, presented july twenty-first, eighteen ninety-seven, born May twenty-eighth, eighteen thirty eight, Hollywood County, Wicklow, Ireland, died April twenty sixth, nineteen twenty two, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Buried Chelton Hills Crematorium Cremated 29, April, 1922, deposition of remains. Disposition of moraine. Unknown. William Robert Douglas Blackwood. You know there's more to that citation. Removed severely wounded officers and soldiers from the field while under heavy fire from the enemy. Alright, our Thanksgiving reading proclamation. Maybe I should just say our November, right? These are all good, but I think this one from 1784 is particularly good. By the United States and Congress assembled. Whereas it hath pleased the supreme ruler of the universe, of his infinite goodness and mercy, so to calm the minds and do away the resentments of the powers lately engaged in a most bloody and destructive war, and to dispose their hearts toward amity and friendship, that a general pacification has taken place, and particularly a definitive treaty of peace between the said United States of America and His Britannic Majesty was signed at Paris on the third day of September in the year of our Lord 1783, the instruments of the final ratifications of which were exchanged at Pasi on the twelfth day of May, in the year of our Lord 1784, whereby a finishing hand was put to the great work of peace, and the freedom, sovereignty, and independence of these states fully and completely established, and whereas in pursuit of the great work of freedom and independence, and the progress of the contest in which the United States of America have been engaged, and on the success of which the dearest and most essential rights of human nature depended, the benign interposition of divine providence hath on many occasions been most miraculously and abundantly manifested. And the citizens of the United States have the greatest reason to return their most hearty and sincere praises and thanksgiving to God for their deliverance, whose name be praised, deeply impressed therefore with a sense of the mercies manifested to these United States, and of the blessings which it hath pleased God to shower down on us, of our future dependence at all times, on his power and mercy, as the only source from which so great benefits can be derived. We, the United States of America, in the Committee of the States Assembled, do earnestly recommend to the Supreme Executives of the several States to set apart Tuesday, the nineteenth day of October next, as a day of public prayer and thanksgiving, that all the people of the United States may then assemble in their respective churches and congregations to celebrate with grateful hearts and joyful and united voices the mercies and praises of their all bountiful Creator, most holy and most righteous, for his innumerable favors and merci vouchsafed unto them, more especially that he hath been graciously pleased to conduct us through the perils and dangers of the war, as finally to establish the United States in freedom and independency, and to give them a name and a place among the princes and nations of the earth, that he hath raised up great captains and men of war from amongst us, to lead our armies, and in our greatest difficulties and distresses, hath given us unanimity to adhere to and assert our just rights and privileges, and that he hath been most graciously pleased also to raise up a most powerful prince and magnanimous people as allies, to assist us effectually supporting and maintaining them, that he hath been pleased to prosper the labor of our husbandmen, that there is no famine or want seen throughout our land, and above all that he hath been pleased to continue to us the light of the gospel truths, and secured to us in the fullest manner the rights of conscience and faith and worship. And while our hearts overflow with gratitude, and our lips pronounce the praises of our great and merciful Creator, that we may also offer up our joint and fervent supplication, that it may please him of his infinite goodness and mercy, to pardon all our sins and offenses, to inspire with wisdom and a true sense of public good all our public counsels, to strengthen and cement the bonds of love and affection between all our citizens, to impress them with an earnest regard for the public good and national faith and honor, and to teach them to improve the days of peace by every good work, to pray that he will, in a more especial manner, shower down his blessings on Lewis, the most Christian king, our ally, to prosper his house, that his sons' sons I think I should have said Louis there, may long sit on the throne of their ancestors, a blessing to the people entrusted to his charge, to bless all mankind, and inspire the princes and nations of the earth with a love of peace, that the sound of war may be heard no more, that he may be pleased to smile upon us and bless our husbandry, fishery, our commerce, and especially our schools and seminaries of learning, and to raise up from among our youth men eminent for virtue, learning, and piety, to his service in church and state, to cause virtue and true religion to flourish, to give to all nations amity, peace, and concord, and to fill the world with his glory, done by the United States in the Committee of the States Assembled, to witness the Honorable Samuel Hardy, Chairman Year of Our Lord, and in the ninth of the sovereignty and independence of the United States of America. We'll probably come back and read that one one more time this year. I think sometimes in the past we've read it twice. But you see a couple things clearly. The concern with our leaders and God's involvement in our schools, our public councils, to continue to spread the light of the gospel, and as God being the only source for the survival of our nation, blessings, etc. We just don't work. Our institutions, constitutions don't work without God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Check that out, I would appreciate it. And if you enjoyed, if you would leave a review somewhere, I would be very grateful for that. The reviews help a lot. And if you're getting something out of the podcast and you feel like you have three or four or five dollars a month plus fair, you can donate at one of the on the website, the Buzz Sprout website for the podcast. They have a donation page where you can set that up. 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, the power, and the glory forever and ever.

unknown 21:43

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

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. Listen. We'll talk to y'all again real soon, folks. Looking forward to it.