When Jesus Calls, Do We Drop Everything And Follow Him?

What happens when the call to follow collides with the comfort of staying put? We open Scripture to let Mark 1, Psalm 35, Proverbs 9, and Titus 2 shape a candid look at wisdom, justice, marriage, and the raw cost of discipleship—and we don’t dodge the hard parts. From John the Baptist’s desert cry to Jesus’ unmistakable authority over evil, the gospel’s summons is immediate and inconvenient, yet life-giving for anyone willing to drop their nets.

We walk through the rapid movement of Mark’s opening: preparation in the wilderness, baptism in the Jordan, temptation in the wild, and a series of invitations that turn fishermen into followers. Along the way, we ask the question beneath every choice: when Christ calls, do we answer without delay? Psalm 35 gives language for days when doing right draws fire, teaching us to seek God’s protection without losing heart. Proverbs 9 draws a straight line between choosing wisdom and the quality of our days, warning that contempt for wisdom circles back as suffering. Titus 2 brings it home with concrete guidance for men, women, and teachers, showing how self-control, integrity, and kindness can stabilize marriages and communities in a restless age.

We also zoom out to history and civic life, reflecting on moments of terror and acts of quiet valor to consider why moral authority matters in public order. Faithful teaching, disciplined homes, and courageous citizens do more than soothe the conscience—they anchor a free people. The thread through it all is simple and demanding: surrender to Christ’s authority, practice wisdom in ordinary routines, and hold fast to a justice that may arrive slowly but never fails. If this journey stirs you, share it with someone who needs courage today, leave a review to help others find the show, and subscribe so you never miss what comes next.

#NoahWebster #DailyScripture #AmericanHeritage 

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening Proverbs And Tragic Headline
• 0:57 Welcome, Gratitude, And Prayer
• 3:41 Marriage Counsel From Titus 2
• 5:01 Mark 1: John, Baptism, And Calling
• 8:35 Authority Of Jesus And Deliverance
• 8:53 Psalm 35: Justice And Protection
• 11:21 Counting The Cost Of Discipleship
• 13:31 Book Plug And Listener Support
• 14:28 Lod Airport Attack: History And Ideology
• 15:52 Medal Of Honor: Charles Briar
• 16:59 Clergy, Liberty, And Public Order
• 19:37 Scriptural Models For Civic Virtue
• 21:25 Aim For Christ Amid Hard Times
• 21:47 The Lord’s Prayer And Closing Blessing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Proverbs 9 verses 11 and 12. Wisdom will multiply your days and add years to your life. If you become wise, you will be the one to benefit. If you scorn wisdom, you will be the one to suffer. Camilla Williams, March 13th, 2025, Marietta, Georgia. Fifty-two-year-old mother of five and grandmother was murdered in what was termed a gruesome attack by David Hector Ribas. Sagastum, if I'm saying that correctly, also reported as Hector David Sagastum Ribus Rebus, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, released by federal authorities. 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, in 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 support the podcast, to share it, tell others about it. Thank you for those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast. Thank you 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. Thank you for the time to record this podcast. Thank you for the people that listen to it and share it. Please be with them, be with their families. Guide them and bless them. Surround them with your angels. Help us to turn back to you, Father, and your Son Jesus Christ in our personal lives, our public lives, our marriages, our families, as husbands and wives, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. Help us to turn back to you as a nation. Here in America and in all the countries around the world where people are listening. Help us to get our priorities in the right order, Father. In your order. To make sure that we're concerned with doing your will each day. Help us to spread the gospel of your Son Jesus Christ. Help us 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. Forgive us our sins, Father, all of them. Our pride, arrogance, judgment of others, greed, selfishness, covetousness, lust, sexual immorality, drunkenness, gluttony, gossip, slander, cowardice, and unbelief. Be with our military and our law enforcement, our firefighters, our EMS, protect them, keep them safe, give them wisdom and courage and a strong faith. Help us to support them and encourage them. Help our leaders to rule in fear of you, Father. In the pulpit and in the state. And God, my words here, please. In your Son's name we pray. Amen. Marriage verse for today, Titus chapter 2, verses 1 through 8. You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith and love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way that they live, not to be slanderous or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything, set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching, show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned. So that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. Make sure your marriage advice, wherever you're getting it from, folks, lines up with Scripture. Whether that is politically correct today or not doesn't matter. Scripture, we're going to start Mark chapter 1, verses 1 through 28. This is the good news about Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God. It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written. Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way. He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, Prepare the way for the Lord's coming. Clear the road for him. This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins, and turned to God to be forgiven. All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. His clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey. John announced, Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am, so much greater than I am not even worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart, and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, You are my dearly loved son, and you bring me great joy. The Spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan for forty days. He was out among the wild animals, and angels took care of him. Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee where he preached God's good news. The time promised by God has come at last, he announced. Repent of your sins and believe the good news. One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people. And they left their nets at once and followed him. A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebede's son James and John in a boat repairing their nets. He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men. Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority quite unlike the teachers of religious law. Suddenly a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the holy one of God. But Jesus reprimanded him. Be quiet, come out of the man he ordered. At last the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into convulsion, and then came out of him. Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened. What sort of new teaching is this? They asked excitedly. It has such authority. Even evil spirits obey his orders. The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee. Psalm thirty five verse one through sixteen. O Lord, oppose those who oppose me. Fight those who fight against me. Put on your armor and take up your shield, prepare for battle and come to my aid. Lift up your spear and javelin against those who pursue me. Let me hear you say I will give you victory. Bring shame and disgrace on those trying to kill me. Turn them back and humiliate those who want to harm me. Blow them away like chaff in the wind, a wind sent by the angel of the Lord. Make their path dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them. I did them no wrong, but they laid a trap for me. I did them no wrong, but they dug a pit to catch me. So let sudden ruin come upon them. Let them be caught in the trap they set for me. Let them be destroyed in the pit they dug for me. Then I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be glad because He rescues me. With every bone in my body I will praise Him. Lord, who can compare with you? Who else rescues the helpless from the strong? Who else protects the helpless and poor from those who rob them? Malicious witnesses testify against me, they accuse me of crimes I know nothing about. They repay me evil for good. I am sick with despair. Yet when they were ill I grieved for them. I denied myself by fasting for them, but my prayers returned unanswered. I was sad as though they were my friends or family, as if I were grieving for my own mother. But they are glad now that I am in trouble. They gleefully joined together against me. I am attacked by people I don't even know, they slander me constantly. They mock me and call me names. They snarl at me. Proverbs nine verses eleven through twelve. Wisdom will multiply your days and add years to your life. If you become wise, you will be the one to benefit. If you scorn wisdom, you will be the one to suffer. You go back to Mark and Simon and Andrew and James and John leaving their job, their father immediately to follow Jesus when he called. I wonder if I would have done the same. Would I immediately have followed Jesus Christ at all costs, leaving behind anyone and anything? Or would I have started to make excuses about why I couldn't? And would I have persevered? Do I now when Christ calls? Do I do I immediately abandon whatever I'm pursuing in order to make sure that I'm pursuing Him? And you look at Psalm 35, you look at 9, 10, right? Specifically 10. Who rescues the helpless from the strong? Who protects the helpless and poor from those who rob them? I think it's just really important for us to remember, folks, that not everything in this life is going to turn out the way that we want it to, the way that we hoped it would. It's not always going to be fair. My grandmother used to say, life's not fair, it's just life. Eventually, it will be fair. Eventually, Christ will sit on the judgment seat, right? And and there will be eternal justice, which is why it's so important to know Christ, because it's the only hope of salvation and eternal life we have. And you see that in his followers. You look at John the Baptist, for example, you look at his own disciples. Their lives were very hard and they didn't end well often. You look at those throughout history who have truly followed Christ, and often it doesn't end great in this life, which is, again, why it's so important, though, because in the end, he is going to rescue the helpless from the strong, protect the helpless and poor from those who rob them eternally. Right? That's we've got to keep our hearts and minds in the right perspective. Uh, countryside. If you are looking for a family-friendly middle grade read, this is the first book in the series, and the second, if you get a chance to check them out, I'd appreciate it. And if you enjoy them, if you'd leave a review somewhere, it's kind of like Narnia, uh, The Hobbit, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, that kind of stuff. Hopefully, it uh has a little bit more of the principles of Christ than a lot of literature and entertainment these days for kids. And if you are enjoying the podcast, getting something out of it, if you could leave a review wherever you listen to it, Apple or Spotify or all the other different places. And if you have five or ten dollars a month you can spare, there's a link in the show notes where you can buy the books or support the podcast. And I would be very grateful for either one of those. May 30th, 1972, at Laud Airport, now Ben Gurin International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel. Three members of the Japanese Red Army, recruited and directed by the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the PFLP, carried out an attack. The attackers arrived on an Air France flight from Rome, retrieved assault rifles, hand grenades, hidden in their luggage, and opened fire in the crowded arrivals terminal. In minutes, they killed 26 people, including 17 Puerto Rican Christian pilgrims, one Canadian tourist, and eight Israelis. Two of the terrorists were killed during the assault. The third, Kozo Akamoto, was captured after being wounded. Both the Japanese Red Army, a leftist group, Marxist, Leninists, Communists, right, and PFLP claimed responsibility. They called the massacre an act of solidarity with the Palestinians struggling against imperialism and Zionism. Medal of Honor for today. Charles Briar, Sergeant, U.S. Civil War, India Company, ninetia Pennsylvania Infantry U.S. Army, august twenty third, eighteen sixty two, Rappahannock Station, Virginia. Voluntarily and at great personal risk, Briar picked up an unexploded shell and threw it away, thus doubtless saving the life of a comrade whose arm had been taken off by the same shell. Accredited to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, not awarded posthumously, presented july eighth, eighteen ninety six, born june nineteenth, eighteen forty four in England, died September ninth, nineteen fourteen, Potstown, Pennsylvania. Buried Limerick Church Burial Ground, 5G Tac 10, Limerick, Pennsylvania. Charles Briar. Remember some of these names, right? Of these immigrants that served our nation and won the Medal of Honor when you're watching the protests that you see today, not only of American citizens protesting against ICE, but when you see a number of the illegal and mass Muslim immigrants, their actions. Never cease then to give religion to its institutions and to its ministers your strenuous support. The clergy in this country are not possessed of rank and wealth. They depend for their influence on their talents and learning, on their private virtues and public services. Excuse me. They are the firm supporters of law and good order, the friends of peace, the expounders and teachers of Christian doctrine, the instructors of youth, the promoters of benevolence, of charity, and of all useful improvements. During the War of the Revolution, the clergy were generally friendly to the cause of the country. The present generation can hardly have a tolerable idea of the influence of the New England clergy in sustaining the patriotic exertions of the people under the appalling discouragements of the war. The writer remembers their good offices with gratitude. Those men, therefore, who attempt to impair the influence of that respectable order in this country, attempt to undermine the best supports of religion, and those who destroy the influence and authority of the Christian religion, sap the foundations of public order, of liberty, and of Republican government. I'm going to read that last one again, folks. We need to hear it today. Those men, therefore, who attempt to impair the influence of that respectable order in this country, attempt to undermine the best supports of religion, and those who destroy the influence and authority of the Christian religion sap the foundations of public order of liberty and republican government. Make sure you got that one to heart, folks. Paragraph 56, for instructions then in social, religious, and civil duties, resort to the scriptures for the best precepts and most excellent examples in imitation, for imitation. The example of unhesitating faith and obedience in Abraham, when he promptly prepared to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering at the command of God, is a perfect model of that trust in God which becomes dependent beings. The history of Joseph furnishes one of the most charming examples of fraternal affection and of filial duty and respect for a venerable father ever exhibited in human life. Christ and his apostles presented in their lives the most perfect example of disinterested benevolence, unaffected kindness, humility, patience, and adversity, forgiveness of injuries, love to God and to all mankind. If men would universally cultivate these religious affections and virtuous dispositions, with as much diligence as they cultivate human science and refinement of manners, the world would soon become a terrestrial paradise. If we followed Christ as hard as we follow sports and social media and entertainment, the latest TV series or book series or movies that we want to watch in our personal lives and our marriages particularly, in our public lives as well, though, folks, our nation would change overnight. And we know from scripture that it's going to get really rough toward the end, and maybe we're toward the end. You don't know, you have no idea. But we can still aim for perfection. Right? We can still push toward Christ. 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. Not to temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen. God bless y'all. God bless your families. God bless your marriages if you're married. God bless your nation, wherever you are around the world, listening. God bless America. We'll talk to y'all again real soon, folks. Looking forward to it.