America’s Hope Depends On Childlike Faith

Two men walk into the temple to pray, and Jesus says the one everyone despises goes home justified. That single twist from Luke 18 forces an uncomfortable audit of our own spiritual instincts: do we come to God listing our virtues, or do we come like the tax collector with nothing but honesty and a plea for mercy?

We start with Jesus’ call to persistent prayer, the widow who refuses to stop asking, and the question that lands like a warning shot: when the Son of Man returns, will He find faith? From there we slow down over the words, “O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner,” and talk about humility, repentance, and how easy it is to look fine on the outside while things decay behind closed doors.

That connects directly to 1 Corinthians 7 and a practical conversation about Christian marriage, sexual self-control, and why Scripture treats intimacy and temptation as serious discipleship issues for husbands and wives. We also read Psalm 85 and Proverbs 13 as prayers for revival and truth, remember Medal of Honor sacrifice as a rebuke to cheap cynicism, and revisit a Second Continental Congress prayer that reveals how badly the founders wanted peace, virtue, and religious liberty under God.

If you care about biblical prayer, humility, Christian marriage, faith and patriotism, and the spiritual roots of America, listen through to the end, then subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

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Transcript

Mercy Over Self-Righteousness

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Luke 18, starting with verse 13. But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner. I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Kayla Hamilton, July 27, 2022, Aberdeen, Maryland. 20-year-old woman with autism was raped and murdered in her home by Walter Javier Martinez, an illegal immigrant, an MS-13 gang member from El Salvador. Folks, if you don't think that stuff is going to affect you and yours, it is. Don't think that leftism and Islam and illegal immigration is just somebody else's problem somewhere else in the United States, and it's never going to affect you.

Welcome And A Prayer For The Nation

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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 to appreciate you joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and attention, a little piece of your day. We'll 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. Father, thank you for today. For this day that you have made. Thank you for the people that you put in our lives. Thank you for those who have come before us in generations past.

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Who have set such a good example for us? Of perseverance, of frailty, and yet faith.

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Help us to pass that example on to the next generation and the next, our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren.

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Help us to pass on liberty to future generations, to be willing to sacrifice for you, Father, and your Son Jesus Christ, and liberty, the ability to worship you. Not according to the dictates of the state or one particular denomination.

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And not under the slavery of evil ideologies. Forgive us, Father. Help us.

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Have mercy on us and pity on us, sinners. Help us to love you with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength to love our neighbors as ourselves.

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Help us to support and encourage our pastors and our priests, our military, our law enforcement, our firefighters, our EMS. And please help us to elect men and appoint men who will rule in fear of you. And follow your son. And please guide my words here. Your son's name we pray. Amen.

Marriage Duty And Sexual Self-Control

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1 Corinthians, marriage verse for today, 1 Corinthians 7, 2 through 6. Each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband because of sexual immorality. The husband should meet his wife's sexual needs, and the wife should do the same for her husband. The wife doesn't have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, the husband doesn't have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Don't refuse to meet each other's needs unless you both agree for a short period of time to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come back together again so that Satan might not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I'm saying this to give you permission. It's not a command, right? Permission to abstain. You don't have to abstain. You know we don't follow this in the church today. I had a great uncle who used to say, you really don't know what's going on in a marriage until you're behind the bedroom doors, right? And uh there's a lot of marriages inside the church today where this is not going on behind the bedroom doors, right? We look good on the outside, like the whitewashed tombs that Jesus talked about with the Pharisees, but on the inside we're full of rot and decay. I can't tell you how many of those marriages I had seen over the years. And eventually it comes to light, right? Eventually it comes to light.

Persistent Prayer And Humble Repentance

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Luke 18, 1 through 17. One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. This is one of my all-time, my two top favorite stories that Jesus told. Well, one's an one's a story and one was an actual event, but these are two of my favorite parts. There was a judge in a certain city, he said, who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly saying, Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy. The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, I don't fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I'm going to see that she gets justice because she is wearing me out with her constant requests. Then the Lord said, Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don't you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly. But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith? Are we really crying out? We have these problems. Do we really cry out night and day? And, as would Jesus, as our ultimate end, thy will be done, not my will. Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else. Two men went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer. I am certainly not like that tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income. But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner. I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner. Please, Father, in your Son's name, we pray. Amen. One day some parents brought their little children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But when the disciples saw this, they scolded the parents for bothering him. Then Jesus called the children and said to the disciples, Let the children come to me, don't stop them. For the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn't receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it. All my hope, folks, all my hope is of Jesus Christ. It's one of those things that I just have to trust God because I don't understand it, I can't explain it. But the only hope that I have of eternal life and salvation, and I do have it, is because of Jesus Christ. That's it. He's the only hope I've got. No denomination. No pope or pastor, priest, cardinal, bishop, no celebrity, no sports, professional college athlete, entertainer. Only Jesus Christ. Not Mary, not Joseph, not the disciples, not the thief on the cross. Although the thief on the cross is the great example to me of why we need only Jesus Christ.

Revival Language From Psalms And Proverbs

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Psalm 85, 1 through 13. Lord, you poured out blessings on your land, you restored the fortunes of Israel. You forgave the guilt of your people, yes, you covered all their sins. You held back your fury, you kept back your blazing anger. Now restore us again, O God of our salvation. Put aside your anger against us once more. Will you be angry with us always? Will you prolong your wrath to all generations? Won't you revive us again so your people can rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people. But let them not return to their foolish ways. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him. So our land will be filled with his glory. Unfailing love and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed. Truth springs up from the earth, and righteousness smiles down from heaven. Yes, the Lord pours down his blessings. Our land will yield its bountiful harvest. Righteousness goes as a herald before him, preparing the way for his steps. Proverbs 13, 7 through 8. Some who are poor pretend to be rich, others who are rich pretend to be poor. The rich can pay a ransom for their lives, but the poor won't even get threatened.

Book Recommendation And Support Requests

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Countryside, Book of the Wise. It's the first book in the Countryside series. If you get a chance, check it out. There's some reviews. It's kind of like Narnia, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, The Hobbit. There's a review on here, a five-star review on Amazon for the first book in the series from Neil Stone. If I had to use one word to describe this book, it would be engrossing. From the beginning, you are living, you are breathing each scene. Very kind review. If you get a chance and you enjoy the book, if you would leave a review for the first or second one too, that helps a great deal and tell others about it. Same thing with the podcast. Word of mouth helps more than anything else. And if you have five or ten dollars that you can share each month, there's a link in the show notes where you can set up that monthly donation for the podcast, and that helps the podcast and the writing. So thank you. Very grateful for any or all of those.

A Medal Of Honor Sacrifice Remembered

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Probably said that wrong. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, Sergeant Bucker Detachment B-55 distinguished himself while serving as a platoon advisor of a Vietnamese Mobile Strike Force Company during an offensive mission. Sergeant Bucker personally led the platoon, cleared a strategically located, well-guarded pass, and established the first foothold at the top of what had been an impenetrable mountain fortress. When the platoon came under intense fire from a determined enemy located in two heavily fortified bunkers, and realizing that withdrawal would result in heavy casualties, Sergeant Bucker unhesitatingly and with complete disregard for his personal safety charged through the hill of enemy fire and destroyed the first bunker with hand grenades. While reorganizing his men for the attack on the second bunker, Sergeant Bucker was seriously wounded. Despite his wounds and the deadly fire, he crawled forward, destroyed the second bunker. Sergeant Bunker refused medical attention and was reorganizing his men to continue the attack when he was mortally wounded. As a direct result of his heroic actions, many casualties were averted, and the assault of the enemy position was successful. Sergeant Butker's extraordinary heroism at the cost of his life are in the highest traditions of the military service and reflect a great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

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Remember this story, folks, the next time somebody out there starts to talk about how horrible our military, our country is, kneels for the national anthem, turns their back on the Pledge of Allegiance.

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Accredited to Bangor County, Maine, not yes, awarded posthumously, presented December 16, 1971, old executive office building presented by Vice President Spiro T. Agnew to his family. Born November 3rd, 1949, Benton, Kennebec County, Maine, died April 5th, 1970, Republican Vietnam. Buried Brown Cemetery, Benton, Maine. Location of Metal Lawrence High School, Kennebec, Maine. Brian Leroy Bucker. Definitely one of those names we need to remember more than college and professional athletes, statistics, etc. Actors, actresses, singers, songwriters.

Founders’ Prayer And A Christian America Claim

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Want to go back to the Second Continental Congress June prayer of June of 1775. Read at least one more excerpt today. We humbly beseech the divine blessing to bless our rightful sovereign, King George III, and to inspire him with wisdom that a speedy end may be put to the civil discord between Great Britain and these colonies without further effusion of blood. May the British nation regard the things that belong to her peace, and may these colonies be prospered under the protection of heaven for a reconciliation honorable to both. You can see our founders still desperately wanted reconciliation with Great Britain. They didn't want the split. They weren't looking for the split. That's you got some application there today, too. Let us pray that virtue and true religion may revive and flourish throughout our land, that all America may soon behold the gracious interposition of heaven for the redress of her grievances, the restoration of her invaded rights, and that our civil and religious privileges may be secured to the latest posterity under the care of a kind providence. Again, folks, I had somebody talk to me online recently, and we've done such a horrible job of education, and we've allowed the left to do so much revisionist teaching. Our nation wasn't founded by deists. When you look at the delegation, the Constitutional Convention delegates, something like 93 plus percent of them were avowed Christians, and the remaining four delegate members all had a biblical worldview. And that was representative of that founding generation. We weren't just kind of Christian, we were almost universally Christian. And the the principles that started our republic were the principles of Christ. We don't have, there is no America without God and Jesus Christ.

Blessing And Farewell

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Amen. God bless y'all. God bless your families, your marriages if you're married. God bless your nation. God bless America. We'll talk to you all again real soon, folks. Looking forward to it.