The Greatest Commandments And The Courage To Live Them

Start with the center and everything else comes into focus. We open with Jesus’ greatest commandments—love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself—and trace how those two clear lines cut through confusion at home, at church, and in public life. When love becomes the measure, rituals lose their shine, excuses run out, and courage becomes daily work.

We reflect on Proverbs 31 as a portrait of ordered love, not a hustle mantra. The wisdom points every talent and task toward God, marriage, and family, challenging both men and women to weigh ambition by the good of those entrusted to them. From there, we follow Jesus’ response to the Sadducees and find hope big enough for the happiest and hardest marriages: the resurrection does not erase love; it fulfills it. If your season is lonely or broken, heaven’s promise reframes the pain without pretending it away.

Our path winds through the teacher who declares love greater than sacrifice, then into Jesus’ question about David calling the Messiah “Lord.” Alongside Psalm 48, we talk about memory, worship, and why a city stands strong when its people keep God’s justice at the center. We don’t shy away from present wounds—Sri Lanka’s Easter bombings, systemic abuse—and we insist that naming evil is an act of neighbor love. A Medal of Honor story reminds us what leadership looks like under fire: standing up so others can stand.

Drawing on Jonathan Mayhew, we tackle the tension between honoring civil authority and obeying God. Taxes can be argued; God’s commands cannot. A Christian conscience submits where it should and refuses where it must, not out of defiance but fidelity. We close in prayer because prayer keeps our hearts low and our hope high, and that’s the only way to love God wholly and love neighbors well. If this resonated, share it with a friend, leave a review, and subscribe so you never miss an episode.

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Transcript

Greatest Commandments Read Aloud

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Mark twelve verse twenty-nine through thirty-one. Jesus replied, The most important commandment is this Listen, O Israel, the Lord our God is one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important. Love your neighbors yourself. No other commandment is greater than these. Sixth March 2024, Berkeley County, West Virginia. Samantha Daly, 32-year-old mother who was killed by blunt force trauma with her body found burned on a sofa in a field by David Antonio Calderon, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who entered the U.S. illegally in 2021. 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 me, giving me a little bit of your day, time and attention. 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. Very, very grateful for your prayers. Father, thank you for today.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

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.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Through the merit of your son Jesus Christ. Thank you for all the blessings you bestow upon us as individuals and as a nation. The resources you give us, the people you put in our lives, those who have gone before us and set such great examples. Help us, Father, to love you with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Help us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Be with those listening to the podcast, be with their families, bless their marriages.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Comfort those who are depressed, anxious, afraid. Take their stress and their burden away. Help us to turn to you, Father, and your son Jesus Christ, whose burden is light and whose yoke is easy.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Help us to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, not here on earth.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

Be with our military, our law enforcement, firefighters, EMS. Keep them safe, protect them. Surround them with your angels, give them wisdom and courage and a strong faith. Be with our leaders in the pulpit and in the state. President, vice president, admirals, generals, senators, representatives, judges, governors. Be with those leaders.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

In countries around the world where people are listening as well, Father, please. Be with the men who go out and keep our roads working, power lines working, sewers working. Our infrastructure. Give them strength and health and speed.

Proverbs 31 And Marriage Roles

SPEAKER_00 3:37

And be with our enemies, Father. Draw them close to you through your Son Jesus Christ. And God, my word to you. In your Son's name we pray. Amen. Marriage verse is for today. Proverbs 31, 10 through 12, and 27 through 30. A competent wife, how does one find her? Her value is far above pearls. Her husband entrusts his heart to her, and with her he will have all he needs. She brings him good and not trouble all the days of her life. Pretty interesting translation there. Think it's a little different than one most people, one certainly that I have usually read over the years. And 27 through 30. She is vigilant over the activities of her household. She doesn't eat the food of laziness. Her children bless her. Her husband praises her. Many women act competently, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting. But a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Young men, take note. That's the highest attribute you ought to be looking for. A woman who fears the Lord above all else. And young woman, that ought to be what you, the kind of man that you're looking for is one that values that above all. Notice that a lot of the feminist movement over the years that's crept its way, that cancer that's crept inside the church, they try and use Proverbs 31 to justify abandoning their husbands first and foremost, and then their children at home to go chase a career. But the Proverbs 31 woman, when you read it, all of her activities, inside or outside the house, are directed toward God, husband, children. They're directed in.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

She's not out there chasing a career for herself.

Sadducees Question And Life After Death

Comfort For Broken Or Blessed Marriages

Love God And Neighbor Above Ritual

Messiah And David’s Lord Explained

Psalm 48 And God’s Protection

Proverbs On Laziness And Work

Book Plugs And Listener Support

Sri Lanka Easter Bombings Recap

Medal Of Honor: Charles Browse

Mobility, Voting, And Community Roots

Rotherham Abuse And Moral Condemnation

Jonathan Mayhew On Law And Tyranny

Obeying Authorities Versus God’s Law

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Everything she does is directed toward her husband and her children. And you know that that's not the way that this proverb has been used. Mark 12, 18 through 37. Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees, religious leaders who say there is no rest resurrection from the dead. They pose this question Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother's name. Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. So the second brother married the widow, but he also died without children. Then the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them. And still there were no children. Last of all, the woman died. Also. So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her. Jesus replied, Your mistake is that you don't know the scriptures, and you don't know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect, they will be like the angels in heaven. But now as to whether the dead will be raised, haven't you ever read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the burning bush? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said to Moses, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. So he is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error. I can't help but think and note here, folks. In the Marine Corps, one of the things they've said is if you get a duty station that you really like, or you get a duty station that you really don't like, don't worry, it'll change. Give it three years. If you found one you really liked, enjoy it, because in three years it's going to change one way or the other. If you found one that you really didn't like, that you hated, just suck it up because it's going to change in three years. I don't know what heaven is going to look like, but everything in the Bible says that it's going to be beyond our comprehension. If you are blessed with a great marriage in this life, enjoy it. Soak it up. But don't worry because in heaven, you're not going to lose this great love. You're going to gain something even better. And if you struggle with no marriage and you want one, or you're in a marriage that's broken, dysfunctional, painful, don't worry. There's something better in heaven. There's something better either way, folks. The teacher of religious law. Oh, wait, I'm sorry. One of the teachers of the religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, Of all the commandments, which is the most important? Jesus replied, The most important commandment is this Listen, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Amen. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important, love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these. The teacher of religious law replied, Well said, teacher, you have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and with all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law. Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions. The Pharisees and Sadducees, the teachers and the scribes get a bad rap, and rightfully so for a lot of them. But it's important to remember that there's some of them who got it, who understood. Not all of our politicians are bad. Not all of our priests or pastors are bad. Not all of our professional college athletes are bad. Not all of our actors and actresses are bad. Not all of our CEOs, CFOs, business leaders are bad. Not all of our admirals and generals, senators and representatives, judges and governors are bad. There are some out there, folks, that get it. All the more reason to encourage them, to support them, to strengthen them. Later, as Jesus was teaching the people in temple, he asked, Why do the teachers of the religious law claim that the Messiah is the Son of David? For David himself, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath your feet. Since David himself called the Messiah my Lord, how can the Messiah be his son? The large crowd listened to him with great delight. Psalm 48, one through fourteen. How great is the Lord, how deserving of praise. In the city of our God, which sits on his holy mountain, it is high and magnificent. The whole earth rejoices to see it. Mount Zion, the holy mountain, is the city of the great king. God himself is in Jerusalem's towers, revealing himself as its defender. The kings of the earth joined forces and advanced against the city, but when they saw it, they were stunned. They were terrified and ran away. They were gripped with terror and writhed in pain like a woman in labor. You destroyed them like a might like the mighty ships of Tarshish Tarshish, shattered by a powerful east wind. We had heard of the city's glory, but now we have seen it ourselves. The city of the Lord of heaven's armies is the city of our God. He will make it safe forever. O God, we meditate on your unfailing love, as we worship in your temple. As your name deserves, O God, you will be praised to the ends of the earth, your strong right hand is filled with victory. Let the people on Mount Zion rejoice, let all the towns of Judah be glad because of your justice. Go inspect the city of Jerusalem, walk around and count the many towers. Take note of the fortified walls and tour all the citadels, that you may describe them to future generations. For that is what God is like. He is our God forever and ever, and he will guide us until we die. Proverbs 1026. Lazy people irritate their employers like vinegar to the teeth or smoke in the eyes. Don't irritate your employer. Countryside. Of course I put the books way over here. First book in the series, again, countryside. Here's some reviews. If you get a chance to check it out, I would greatly appreciate it. And the second book in the series, middle grade fantasy. Kind of like Narnia, Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Percy Jackson, stuff like that. If you enjoy that. And if you enjoy these, if you'd leave a review, those help immensely, especially the five-star reviews. And also, if you feel like you're getting something out of the podcast, if you could leave a review wherever you listen to it, that would help. And if you have uh five or ten dollars a month you can spare for the podcast, there's a link in the bottom of the show notes where you can set that monthly donation up, and that would help a great deal. Uh, I would be very grateful for any or all of those. April 15th, 2019, Sri Lanka. Series of coordinated suicide bombings, uh, churches, luxury hotels, Colombo and other locations on Easter Sunday. The attackers were from the National Falheath Jamath, a Muslim group, and they detonated explosives at three churches and high-end hotels with tourists and foreigners, and then a smaller church later and a housing complex. Killed 269 people, injured over 500 others, children, families, women. Again, folks, Muslim. Common denominator, Muslim. And when you look at all the 20th century, you have to remember that it's consistently tied to socialism, communism, Nazism, fascism, leftism. Medal of honor for today, Charles W. Brouss, Captain U.S. Civil War Kilo Company, 100th Indiana Infantry, U.S. Army, November 25th, 1863, Missionary Ridge, Tennessee. To encourage his men whom he had ordered to lie down while under severe fire and who were partially protected by slight earthworks. Browse himself refused to lie down but walked along the top of the works until he fell severely wounded. Accredited to Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, not awarded posthumously, presented May 16, 1899. Born November 30th, 1839, Indianapolis, Indiana, died October 26, 1904, Indianapolis, Indiana. Buried Crown Hill Cemetery, MH7 Tech 41, Indianapolis, Indiana. You notice a lot of these older Medal of Honor, the people didn't, not all of them, but a lot of them, they were born and died in the same place. It would do us a lot of good today to be more stationary, more tied to our families in the United States. Certainly you see the phenomenon where you have movement from states, right, from left-leaning states to Christian conservative states, but those people moving there, they still want to vote the exact same way they did in the place that they left, which makes absolutely zero sense. You would solve a lot of that, for example, right, if uh for you didn't have to pay property taxes or you couldn't vote in that new state that you moved to for five years, six years, seven years, something like that, right? Same thing with immigrants. You should certainly not immediately be able to vote upon moving into the country. Anyway, I got sidetracked there. Charles W. Browse, Civil War. Uh from 2004 to 2012, there were six girls. There were a lot more than that, but this particular hearing. Groomed, plied with alcohol and drugs, including crack cocaine, repeatedly raped and trafficked for sex by a gang of seven Muslim men. Again, folks, Islam. All right, so we're gonna read a couple quotes today from Jonathan Mayhew. We've talked about him recently, and we're gonna show you a couple books. Again, the Founder's Bible. It's a great place to start. This quote is actually out of uh his sermon that we read a while. No, this one is not. The other one we're gonna read is. This is from a 1765 lecture at Harvard, uh, talking about George III's Stamp Act. The king is as much bound by his oath not to infringe the legal rights of the people as the people are bound to yield subjection to him. From whence it follows that as soon as the prince sets himself above the law, he loses the king and the tyrant. He does to all intents and purposes, unking himself. I always like the way he phrased that, unking himself. If you don't have one of these folks, highly recommend it. Great resource, along with Patriot's Bible and America's God and Country Encyclopedia quotes. Another book, I don't use it that often, but there's some great stuff in it. Hundred Verses, Bible verses that made America. This is by Robert J. Morgan. Here's the cover again. And he's got a little clip in here on Mayhew as well. This is actually out of his sermon from 1750 that we read through recently. Romans 13 urges the duty of obedience from this topic of argument that civil rulers, as they are supposed to fulfill the pleasures of God, are the ordinance of God. But how is this an argument for obedience to such rulers as do not perform the pleasure of God by doing good, but the pleasure of the devil by doing evil? And such as are not, therefore, God's ministers, but the devil's. I think it's very important for us to remember as Christians today that we have a duty and responsibility to obey civil authorities, but only up to the point that they are following God's commands. Not talking about being a theocracy, not talking about having priests and pastors being our secular leaders, but those secular leaders not going against God's principles. For example, you and I might have very different ideas of what an appropriate level of tax is, and that's fine. We might have a governor or legislature at the state or federal level that imposes a tax that we don't feel is right. Not saying immoral, but just we think that tax bracket is too much for everybody. That's our opinion, and that's fine. But we have a responsibility to follow that civil authority. However, if that civil authority says that we can go out and murder people at will, i.e. abortion, they are now going against God's command not to murder. We don't have a responsibility. We have a responsibility not to adhere to those ministers. Because they're not working for God, they're working for the devil. Right? I had something else, but I can't remember today. So, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is on heaven, 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. 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 you all again real soon, folks. Looking forward to it.