From Information to Revelation

Summary

The Wake-Up Call – From Information to Revelation
Seedbed | Host: JD Walt | February 27, 2026 | Day 9 of Lent

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Overview

In this episode of The Wake-Up Call, host JD Walt leads listeners into the ninth day of the Lenten journey, focusing on the theme “From Information to Revelation.” Walt encourages the audience to move beyond accumulating knowledge about Jesus and into a deeper, personal revelation of who He is. Using Scripture, personal anecdotes, and reflections, the episode calls the community to shift from striving to surrender, inviting the Holy Spirit to awaken true understanding and transformative relationship.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Importance of the Present Moment

• Emphasis on “waking up to Jesus today” and the uniqueness of each day.
• The act of consecration to start the morning: relinquishing worries about tomorrow and focusing on the now.
  • Quote: “Wake up, sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.” (02:10)

2. From Information to Revelation: Setting the Stage

• The ongoing focus of Lent isn’t amassing more biblical knowledge but moving into a living relationship with Jesus.
• The Scriptural theme centers on Matthew 16, where Jesus declares Peter as the rock.
  • Quote: “We’re just not trying to get smarter here. We’re not trying to learn more. We’re trying to know Jesus more. … We just all are swimming in information. And what we need is Revelation, right?” (04:05)

3. Story of Law School and the Value of Experience

• JD Walt recounts a lesson from his former law professor, Dr. Robert Lawrence:
  • “This one page of history is worth more than 10,000 pages of logic.”
• Application to spiritual life: “Life trumps theory. Real world experience is more valuable than theoretical preparation.” (05:05)
• Personal connection: Walt reflects on his own shift from striving for a legal career to ministry, paralleling the move from information to revelation in faith.

4. The Revelation at Caesarea Philippi

• Exploring Peter’s confession:
  • Jesus: “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16)
• The distinction between knowledge given by humans versus revelation granted by God.
• Application for spiritual formation: Walt’s desire for confirmation students to “learn by revelation, not just by information.”

5. Paul’s Prayer for Revelation

• Reading from Paul:
  • “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better.” (08:30)
• Emphasis: The deepest need is to actually know Jesus, not just learn about Him.

6. Shifting Gears: From Striving to Surrender

• Invitation to stop striving for more knowledge and start surrendering to God’s revelation.
  • Quote: “You’re going to have to shift gears. You will need to shift out of the gear of striving and into the gear of surrender. Less taking on and more letting go.” (10:30)
• Core message: “Less is more… Letting go of taking more on is better.”
• Psalm 84:10 to close this point: “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.”

7. Journaling Prompts and Personal Reflection

• Encourages journaling as a means of spiritual processing.
• Prompts:
  • “What will it take for you to press past the comfort zone of more information and knowledge and into the realm of revelation and knowing?”
  • “What in you resists this kind of move?”
    (12:40)

8. Peter’s Encounter and Our Own

• Breakdown of Peter’s revelation: this was more than right words—it was a divine insight.
• Jesus’ response: not just affirmation but transformation (“You’re Peter, the rock”).
• The foundation of the church lies in such revelation, not mere information.
  • Quote: “This is where I build my church. This is where I build the thing that cannot come apart… Even the gates of hell cannot overcome this reality here that’s born of revelation.” (14:50)

9. Prayer for Revelation

• Direct prayer inviting the Holy Spirit to guide listeners beyond head knowledge:
  • “Come, Holy Spirit, and break through, leading us into the way of knowing you beyond mere knowledge.” (15:50)

10. If You’re Not Getting It…

• Encouragement for the spiritually weary or puzzled:
  • “Just tell [Jesus] that. Here’s your prayer… ‘Jesus, would you wake me up? Because I’m willing to be made willing. Would you, Jesus, wake me up?’” (16:20)

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• JD Walt on stepping into deeper relationship:
  • “We know a lot of things about him, but… there’s a lot of people we know a lot of things about, but we don’t know them. … It’s not enough for you to know about me. I want you to know me personally like I know you.” (21:10)
• JD and David Walt Reveal Ages:
  • JD: “And I am about to be 58…”
  • David: “I am 85.”
    (16:26–16:52)

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Singing Segment: “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us”

(17:10–21:04)

• JD and David Walt sing all four verses of “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us,” highlighting the importance of hymnals and singing as a form of prayer.
• JD notes: “The Bible and the hymnal have guided us through history. We cannot give up to the screens. It’s okay to have screens, but you better have a hymnal, too.” (17:36)

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Conclusion: Living in Revelation

• Final encouragement: let Jesus lead each day, aiming not just to learn about Him, but to know and follow Him intimately.
• “If he’s leading us, guess what makes other people want to follow us? Because guess who they’re really following? Him.” (22:20)
• Reminder that the path to the cross and resurrection is a journey of revelation and growing intimacy with Jesus.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:00]–[04:05]: Introduction, Lenten context, consecration
• [04:05]–[07:20]: Theme explained, law school anecdote
• [07:20]–[09:20]: Peter’s confession, revelation v. information
• [09:20]–[11:00]: Paul’s prayer, movement from knowledge to knowing
• [11:00]–[12:40]: Shifting from striving to surrender
• [12:40]–[14:50]: Journaling prompts, reflection
• [14:50]–[16:20]: Peter’s encounter, foundation of revelation
• [16:20]–[17:10]: Invitation to honest prayer, wake-up call
• [17:10]–[21:04]: Hymn singing segment
• [21:04]–[22:38]: Final reflections & encouragement

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This episode calls listeners beyond information toward revelation, inviting a living, surrendered relationship with Christ—an awakening of the heart that changes homes, churches, and cities.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign Sower nation. It is Friday, February 27th, in the year of our Lord 2026. I'm John David Walt, and this is your wake up call. All right. Are you ready? It's Friday. What is this one? This is day nine of the 40 days of Lent. Let's just keep reminding ourselves. Right you are here. We are waking up to Jesus today, okay? Because this is the only time today is going to come. It'll be today again tomorrow. But Jesus said, don't worry about tomorrow. This is now. So we got a lot going on. We've all got long lists. The. The. The week is going to run out before the list runs out. In some of our cases, we feel like the week is the month. The. The money's gonna run out before the week runs out. Come on, Lord, we need you. Provide. Give us this day our daily bread. Sometime we should do a series together on the Lord's Prayer. That would be a great wake up call series. Let Jesus teach us how to pray. But that's what we're doing, gang. We're meeting with Jesus in the word of God today. And we're going to win. Right? How? You win the day, win the morning. So consecration, that's where we start. Wake up, sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you. And we're praying in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay, today's entry is entitled From Information to Revelation in our text, Matthew 16. We're still at Caesarea Philippi, guys. We're still in the first full week of, of Lent. That shows you how important this is. Because, you know, we're just not trying to get smarter here. We're not trying to learn more. We're trying to know Jesus more. We're trying, trying to really break beyond the realm of information and into the reality of revelation. That's the dynamic relationship we're going for here. That's why I'm laboring on this. I just felt the Lord really pressing me as I wrote this series. This is awakening. We. We just all are swimming in information. And what we need is Revelation, right? Here we go. Hear now the word of the Lord. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. And the gates of Hades will not overcome it. The word of the Lord. Now consider this in my first year of law school, I met my favorite law professor. He passed recently. For my money, Dr. Robert Lawrence was the master Yoda of law professors. One day, in the midst of an insanely complex property law class, in trying to get across a concept which was deeply logical and yet defied logic, he said, this one page of history is worth more than 10,000 pages of logic. In legal terms, he was trying to help our obtuse black and white minds grasp something of the relationship between common law precedent and and statutory law, between what actually happened and what should have happened. Here's what I heard. Life trumps theory. Real world experience is more valuable than theoretical preparation. In those days, I was struggling deeply with Jesus as I perceived he was calling me away from a career in the law and into the fields of Amazing Grace. I had no playbook for that, no history or logic to bring to bear in those days, in the spirit of Professor Lawrence's dictum, I experienced my own flash of insight along those same lines. A word of revelation is worth more than 10,000 pages of information when it comes to Jesus, and particularly when it comes to answering the question of all questions, who do you say that I am? What we need is not more information, but more revelation. Isn't this what so excited Jesus that day in Caesarea Philippi with his band of disciples, Jesus replied, blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. In other words, he's like, this didn't come to you by information from somebody else. This was revealed to you by God. You see, this is what I wanted for my first ever confirmation class. I wanted them to learn and to learn to learn by revelation, not just by information. This meant we would need to trade the pursuit of knowledge for the passion of knowing. Isn't this precisely what Paul was praying for his little churches back in the day? I'll quote him. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. Something tells me you are ready for this. You're tired of going from one Bible study to the next. You are more than a little weary of learning more things about Jesus. You want to actually know him better, and you've come to the realization that this will require less of you and yet more of you at the same time. You're going to have to shift gears. You will need to shift out of the gear of striving and into the gear of surrender. Less taking on and more letting go. That's enough to process today. Less is more. Letting go of taking more on is better. And in the spirit of Professor Lawrence's dictum, let's give the psalmist the last word on today. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. That's Psalm 84. 10. Let's pray together today. Our Father, thank you for your son Jesus and Lord Jesus. We confess we like information. We can manage information. We can manipulate information. We can store information, we can amass it. We like right answers. We like to ace the quiz. We want to learn how to learn by revelation. Come, Holy Spirit, and break through, leading us into the way of knowing you beyond mere knowledge. And we're praying in your name, Jesus. Amen. We're getting deep here. By day nine, we're way in, gang. I feel like we're going somewhere together. You sensing that too? We're not just going through the motions this time. We're jumping into the movement. How about a couple of journal prompts today? I hope you're journaling. I hope you're taking time to. I know you're busy. Okay, I'm busy. We're all too busy. That's why we gotta let go of some things. Stop taking on more and start letting go more. Start moving away. Moving from striving to surrender. That's a. That's a shift. That's a move. So what will it take for you to press past the comfort zone of more information and knowledge and into the realm of revelation and knowing? What in you resists this kind of move? I'm asking for Jesus. Jesus asking. This is. This is the thing you see. Notice when, when, when Peter made that response to Jesus, it was more than just words. It. This was like. It's just like the light. Jesus could see the light going off in him. He could see the mind blown emoji happening over his head. And he didn't say, you know, ding, ding, ding, ding, you know, survey said, right answer number one answer, no. Here's how he responded to Peter that day. He said, you did. You. You got. This came from heaven. This is revelation. You're not just parroting back information to me. This wasn't something somebody taught you, is something that God mysteriously, by his spirit revealed to you. And then he said this. He said, you've told me who you say that I am. Now let me tell you who I say that you are. You're Peter. He just called his name. He'd been Cephas. And this is. This is how Jesus does he. He sort of almost renamed him there. You're Peter means rock. And on this rock, on this kind of rock, on this faith, this revelatory download, if you will. I this me and you, who you say I am, who I say you are, this is. This is where I build my church. This is where I build the thing that cannot come apart, that cannot be deconstructed, that cannot be washed away. Even the gates of hell cannot overcome this reality here that's born of revelation. That's what we're going for, guys. And I went for a long time in church without knowing that. And I think the thing I just want to encourage you today before we sing is if. If I'm talking to you, if, if. If you're sensing like, this is real, or if you're sensing like, I don't get it. I'm not getting what you're saying. Just tell him that. Here's your prayer to Jesus today. If you're getting it, and if you're not getting it, is Jesus, would you wake me up? Because I'm willing to. To be made willing. I Would you, Jesus, wake me up. And if you say it to him, like, really say it to him, Buckle your seatbelt because we're about to go for a ride. Wake me up, Jesus, would you wake me up? Would you shake me awake? I don't want to go sleep walking anymore through this life. I want the real you. All right, let's sing. All right, everybody. There's a lot of new people, dad, that are. That are with us here in this Lenten season. They never been on a wake up call before. I'm sure they've been very surprised that one old guy and one really old guy are singing or. Yeah, their songs, you know. Dad, how old are you?

[B]

I am 85.

[A]

85. Keep hope alive.

[B]

I had to think on that one.

[A]

Yeah. And I am about to be 58. I'm 50. 50. No, I'm sorry. I am 58. Yeah. And I recently thought I'm 5 58. And you're 85. 5885.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

And so that tells me we're in a golden season. I'm about to be 59. So we got to get the most out of it here that we can because time is short, time is sure. And we're going to sing today. Tell them what we're singing.

[B]

Savior like a shepherd, leaders, what's the number?

[A]

131 3O in our seedbed hymnal, Our great redeemer's Praise. You know, again, if you've not ever been with us long on this, we have a hymnal. We've. We've published it. It's called Our Great Redeemer's Praise. This is the leather edition. Okay. It's the fancy one. Dad's got the large print edition.

[B]

Dad needs it.

[A]

Dad needs a large print, he said. And then we've got. Of course, Our Great Redeemer's Praise. We've got the red ones and the blue ones. And if you don't have them in your church, you. You just email me back. I'll call you today. We would love to get these in your church, but I would love even more to get one in your hands in your home. The Bible and the hymnal have guided us through history. We cannot give up to the screens. It's okay to have screens, but you better have a hymnal, too. All right, you ready to sing? Dad, we're gonna sing all four verses. All right. Unto the Lord. This is a prayer. This is a song. That is a prayer. So attend to those words as we're singing them.

[B]

Savior like a shepherd, lead us much. We need thy tender care in thy pleasant pastures, feed us for our you soft foes prepare. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Thou has brought us Thine, we are. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Thou hast brought us Thine, we are, we are thine, Thou befriend us, be the guardian of our way. Keep thy flock from sin, defend us, seek us when we go astray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, you hear us when we pray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, when we pray.

[A]

Great third verse.

[B]

Thou has promised to receive us, poor and sinful thought we be. Thou has mercy to relieve us, grace to cleanse and power to free. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, early let us turn to thee. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Early let us seek thy favor. Early let us do thy will. Blessed Lord and only Savior, with thy love our bosoms fill. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Thou hast loved us, love us still. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Thou hast loved us, love us still.

[A]

Amen.

[B]

Amen and amen.

[A]

Well, that's our prayer today as we're making our way to the cross. You know, we never would have found the cross if Jesus hadn't led us there. It's a place we wouldn't have known to go, and he's leading us there again. We're trying to get up close to him. We're trying to get to know him. We know a lot of things about him, but, you know, there's a lot of people we know a lot of things about, but we don't know them. It's like, you can know a lot about this famous person or that singer, but we don't know them. And Jesus is like, it's not enough for you to know about me. I want you to know me personally like I know you.

[B]

And he's easy to know.

[A]

He's easy to know. He's always with us, and he's real. So I just encourage you. Today, he'll lead today. This is what. This is why we're up this morning. We're trying to win this, this morning so we can win the day, so Jesus can sow his life, his love, his goodness. And that's the thing.

[B]

Through us.

[A]

Through us. If he's leading us, guess what makes other people want to follow us? Because guess who they're really following? Him. That's what this is about. So gather your seeds up for The Awakening. I'm J.D. walt.

[B]

And I'm David Walt.

[A]

And we'll see you on the field.