From “No King but King Jesus” to Today’s Choices

We explore the math of time that shapes faith and marriage, then turn to Scripture, history, and vocation to call for courage, mercy, and daily acts of good. Prayer, Mark 10, and Titus 3 anchor a practical path from quarrels to gratitude and unity.

• opening thanks and prayer of intercession across vocations and families
• time arithmetic applied to faith and marriage priorities
• lay leadership and being Christians in every profession
• Mark 10 on one flesh and covenantal unity
• Titus 3 on mercy, doing good, avoiding useless quarrels
• Psalm 100 on gratitude and steady joy
• Civil War Medal of Honor story as courage and providence
• historical quotes on faith in public life
• warning against appeasement and compromised principles
• closing blessings and recommended reading

If you're looking for a family-friendly middle-grade fantasy series to read, I would humbly recommend Countryside. There's two books in the series, working on the third. And if you enjoy it, if you would share it with somebody else and leave a review somewhere, I would greatly appreciate that.

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening, Thanks, and Prayer
• 2:47 Time Math: Kobe, Faith, and Marriage
• 6:07 Lay Leadership and Christian Vocation
• 9:27 Marriage Teaching: One Flesh in Mark 10
• 11:05 Titus 3: Mercy, Doing Good, Avoid Quarrels
• 14:28 Psalm 100 and Gratitude
• 15:20 Medal of Honor: Charles M. Betts
• 17:20 History Quotes: Faith and Public Life
• 19:30 Appeasement, Ideologies, and Resolve
• 21:13 Book Plug and Closing Blessing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

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 here, giving me a little bit of your day, a piece of your day. I will try and use it wisely. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others, tell others about it. Thank you for those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast. Thank you. 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 our Son, of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. Thank you for those who listen to the podcast and share it. Please be with them, be with their families. Guide them, bless them, surround them with your angels. Protect us all from evil of any kind, Father. Be with our farmers and our ranters, those who grow our food. Give them bountiful harvests, crops, herds, our fishers who go out into the ocean, the lakes. Our foresters who go out and gather our lumber. Be with those who work on our roads, our transportation system, be with those who work on our power lines, our grid. Keep them all safe. Bring them home safe to their families. Thank you for them. Be with our doctors, our nurses, our EMTs, our trainers, all the people that keep us healthy. Give them wisdom and courage and a strong faith. Be with our nation's children. Father, please help us to care for those who are hurting, to defend the widow and the orphan, the poor and the needy. Be with those children who are hurting. Comfort them. Help us to lead them to know you, Father, and your son Jesus Christ. Across our entire nation. To teach them your commands, to show them a little bit of you, Father, and your son Jesus Christ. Forgive us when we fail. And bring us all home to you, Father, and your Son Jesus Christ in your timing. And God, my words here, in your Son's name we pray. Amen. Have you made time for God today? Have you made time to read his word? Have you made time to pray? To listen to him, to talk to him. And if you're married, have you made time for your spouse? Do they know that they are your top priority each day, second only to God and Jesus Christ? I got two little vignettes to add in here. The first is something that popped in my head, and it applies to faith and marriage, but I was really thinking about it in terms of marriage. Kobe Bryant, if you're familiar with him, is a pretty phenomenal basketball player. Passed away a few years ago. But in an interview one time, he was talking about the fact that I think the interviewer was asking him, you know, how did you get so good relative to other people over the same amount of time? And he said, Well, it was really just numbers. It's just math. I just spent more time on a court, you know, and I did that on purpose. He said, I thought about that. You know, everybody else was on the court for an hour and a half, two days a week, maybe three days a week. He said, I'm on the court playing basketball, talking about even junior high and high or high school, I mean, uh, you know, I'm on the court for an hour and a half playing basketball every single day. And he said, so you start to widen that gap uh year after year, to the point where at some point it becomes you can't close it anymore with your own peers, at least. But it was just a numbers game. You know, Elon Musk says the same thing about the population collapse. He said, it's just numbers, folks. It's it's not, there's nothing emotional about it. We just have certain countries around the world that have put themselves in a situation numerically that they just they can't recover from. We're going toward population collapse. I don't think we look at our our faith and our marriage like that enough, folks. If you're putting all this time into TV, sports, social media, uh workouts, whatever it is. And you're putting a fraction of that time into God and Jesus Christ, most importantly. But but again, I was really thinking about marriage the other day, and you're not putting that time into your marriage, then when your marriage falls apart and it's broken and dysfunctional, you really don't have anybody to blame but yourself, and it's just a numbers game. Well, you didn't give any time to your spouse. You didn't make them the priority. You you made your phone, TikTok, YouTube, uh, Instagram, Netflix, Amazon Prime, whatever. You you made that the priority, your workouts, going walking, running, uh, sports, watching hours and hours of sports, you made those things your priorities. That's what you put your time into. That's where whatever benefit you're gonna get, it's it's gonna come out of those, not out of your spouse, not out of your faith. The other is a comment, and I won't embarrass the person, uh, but uh a man that I have a pretty good opinion of actually sent me this, uh, talking about the Charlie Kirk Memorial. It is delightful irony, perfect Christ-inspired irony, that what amounted to a supersized revival meeting in Arizona was galvanized in speech by multiple pastors, it is true, but more exceptionally, as far as the masses were concerned, by some of the leading national Republican politicians. Only Christ could have orchestrated the unbelievable fact that the courage to speak out boldly would not come from professional Christians, but from a slain layman, through the mouths of professional Christians and more unbelievably, politicians. It shouldn't surprise us, because his closest friends deserted him. But I bet a dollar to a donut, Jesus Christ is walking around heaven, puzzling the heavenly host because he is breaking into seemingly unwarranted smiles the last few days. D. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity talked about the fact and I wish I had the quote in front of me and I don't, but he said, you know, we don't need playwrights and lawyers and doctors and teachers, police officers, plumbers. Um we don't need pastors and priests who are those things, right? We don't need pastors and priests who are playwrights, uh actors, plumbers, electricians, teachers, lawyers, doctors. He said what we need is we need people in those professions that are Christian. We need playwrights who are Christian. We need doctors who are Christian, we need lawyers, teachers, electricians, farmers, ranchers who are Christian. And and this quote that I just read to you from this gentleman, uh it really it struck me that way. Charlie Kirk wasn't a pastor or a priest. And I'm not saying we don't need pastors or priests, folks. We do. I I think we just forget that we have a responsibility as Christians to do our job while being a Christian. Right? We're we're not maybe it would be better to say it this way. We don't need to be a teacher who happens to be a Christian. We need to be a Christian who happens to teach. But not in the professional sense, right? At any rate, I'm probably mucking this all up, but hopefully y'all got a little something out of it. We're gonna go into the Bible verses uh for today. So the marriage verse for today comes out of Mark chapter ten, verses five through nine. But Jesus said to them, Because of your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh, so they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. We don't make enough of the one flesh, folks, the fact that we're supposed to bind and bond to our spouse to cleave and cling to our spouse above all else every day. Those are not weak words. Those are not transitory words, they are extremely strong words and language from God and Jesus Christ. Other Bible verses for today we're gonna Titus chapter 3, verses 1 through 15. Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone. Once we too were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy and we hated each other. But when God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace, he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these things so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone. Do not get involved in foolish discussions about spiritual pedigrees or quarrels and fights about obedience to Jewish laws. These things are useless and a waste of time. If people are causing divisions among you, give a first and second warning. After that, have nothing more to do with them. For people like that have turned away from the truth and their own sins condemn them. I am planning to send either Artemis or Tychus to you as soon as one of them arrives. Do your best to meet me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to stay there for the winter. Do everything you can to help Zenus the lawyer and Apollos with their trip. See that they are given everything they need. Our people must learn to do good by meeting the urgent needs of others. Then they will not be unproductive. Everybody here sends greetings. Please give my greetings to the believers, all who love us. May God's grace be with you all. Psalm one hundred verses one through five, a psalm of thanksgiving. Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth, worship the Lord with gladness, come before him singing with joy, acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, go into his courts with praise, give thanks to him and praise his name, for the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation. Proverbs 26, verse 18 through 19. Just as damaging as a madman shooting a deadly weapon is someone who lies to a friend and then says, I was only joking. You go back to Titus, the thing that jumps out there is to be ready to do good, right? That you look at verses four through seven that he saved us, not because we're so righteous, folks, but because of his mercy, God's mercy. And because of his grace and the fact that he's made us right in his sight because of Jesus Christ, we have confidence that we will inherit eternal life with him, right? But Titus 3, they talk, he talks a couple times here. Don't get involved in foolish discussions, quarrels, right? And do good and devote yourself to doing good. How many of us, if we really devoted ourselves? It's kind of like the pastor I've talked about here before. He was an Air Force captain, I believe. He was a preacher at one of the churches we went to years ago in my life and I. And one of the things he talked about, excuse me, was in marriage. What would it be like if every day we got up trying to outdo the other one in loving each other, right? What if we got up every day and that was our focus was doing good to those around us? And not quarreling. How much would that change our marriages, our families, our nation, our communities, our churches? How many of us love quarreling too much? How many of us aren't near enough concerned about pleasing our spouse, doing good to those around us? And then the Thanksgiving Psalm, Psalm 100, just makes me smile because we're just a little bit closer to November when we go through all the Thanksgiving proclamations, and I'm excited about that each year. Medal of Honor for today, Charles Malone Betts, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Civil War, 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry, U.S. Army, April 19, 1865, Greensboro, North Carolina. With a force of but 75 men while on a scouting expedition, by a judicious disposition of his men, surprised and captured an entire battalion of the enemy's cavalry. Accredited to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, not awarded posthumously, presented October 10th, 1892. Born August 9, 1838, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, died November 10th, 1905, Germantown, Pennsylvania. Buried West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Woodlawn 22Tac 4, Bala, C Y N Y, or N Wy D, Pennsylvania. Charles Malone Beth, you definitely know there's more to that story. With 75 men capturing an entire battalion of the Confederate cavalry. You have to see God's hand preserving the Union when you really look at a lot of these little incidents. Just like you have to see God's hand during the Revolutionary War, during World War II, so many of these moments in the history of our nation. And that kind of goes back to John Adams' quote that we read the other day, talking about even if we have all this calamity yet to come in America, it will get rid of our vices and our evils, some of them, right? And it will increase our virtue because that's what affliction, the furnace of affliction, does. Charles Malone Betts. Another name to remember. So I've got a few real short quotes that I think kind of all go together here. Otto Edward Leopold Bismarck was the Russian chancellor in the 1800s who united the German people. February 6th, 1888. Bismarck stated, We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world. President James Garfield describing the Chancellor. I am struck with the fact that Bismarck, the great statesman of Germany, probably the foremost man in Europe today, stated as an unquestioned principle that the support, the defense, the propagation of the Christian gospel is the central object of the German government. Hugo La Fayette Black, United States Supreme Court Justice in 1962. Indeed, as late as the time of the Revolutionary War, there were established churches in at least eight of the 13 former colonies and established religions in at least four of the other five. And then a little story that I stumbled across, all of this coming out of America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations. If you don't have this or the Founder's Bible by the Wall Builder Association or the Patriots Bible edited by Dr. Richard Lee, I highly recommend a hard copy of each of those. This again is America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations by William J. Bedder. As the continent moved closer to the Revolutionary War, one of the governors wrote to the Board of Trade in England, if you ask an American who is his master, he will tell you he has none, nor any governor but Jesus Christ. And the committees of correspondence that were so crucial to the colonies in the Revolution spread the cry, no King but King Jesus. We have for sure forgotten where we started, folks, and where we have to be. One other real quick one. Do I have time for this? Yeah. Telford Taylor talking about the word appease, right? What does appease mean? To pacify, to buy off an aggressor by concessions, usually at the sacrifice of principles. Telford Taylor, talking about appeasement during the 1920s and 30s in Britain. The word became a symbol of weak and myopic yielding when resistance would be bolder and in the long run safer. Folks, there's no appeasement of people who follow leftism, socialism, communism, Nazism, fascism, Islam. You can't appease them enough. The only reason that any of those people promote peace and tolerance is as time to gain power. And once those ideologies gain power, there is no more peace or tolerance. In the 1920s and 30s, Britain and France, there was no way they could appease Hitler enough, the dictators as a whole enough. They tried it. It didn't work, and it won't work today. There's no amount of appeasement. Nothing you can offer followers of those, that bucket of isms or Islam that will get them to leave you alone. If you're looking for a family-friendly middle-grade fantasy series to read, I would humbly recommend Countryside. There's two books in the series, working on the third. And if you enjoy it, if you would share it with somebody else and leave a review somewhere, I would greatly appreciate that. God bless you 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. We'll talk to you again real soon, folks. Looking forward to it.