← The Wake-Up Call
The Wake-Up Call
From Many Things to One Thing
00:23:01
Our deep inner rumblings of holy discontent are the birth pangs of consecration that lead to transformation.
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Foreign. Nation. I am so happy here. I've got some special friends to kick us off today from. We're live from Gillette. Hang on. Braxton, get back in the picture. All right, this is the youth group, or at least, you know, a small part of our youth group at the Gillette Methodist Church. And we were over here together tonight, and I said, hey, would you like to be on the wake up call and help me sing? And they said, you know what? We'd be happy to kick the show off, but we're not singing. So, guys, are y' all ready? We'll just do it like this. Wake up, sleeper, and rise from the dead. Christ will shine on you. You can do better than that. Okay, let's like, we mean it with all we got. Wake up, sleeper, and rise from the dead. And Christ will shine on you. Okay, that was a little better. We're going to do it one more time. Okay. Third time's the charm. I would like you to take a deep breath. I would like the word of God to come out of you with force, with some volume, with some umph. Are you ready? Wake up, sleeper, and rise from the dead. All right. Hey, thanks, guys. Thanks so much. Are you ready to get on with the morning wake up call? Well, I am, too. Here we go. Well, it's Monday, March 9, 2026, the year of our Lord. I'm John David Walt, and this is your wake up call. Loved having those kids. They are over here in the seed house every Sunday night. And we have been doing just de dive into Sermon on the Mount. I mean, we've been in the Beatitudes for weeks alone. We always bring the ten commandments in and the Beatitudes. Anyhow, we've got a new week with Jesus and we want to make it count. So we're going to begin today with consecration again. 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 Son, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. I love it when I make a misstep like that in prayer because it just kind of wakes me up. And like it says, get out of the formula, wake up. No religion, all reality. And so I love that. All right, well, today's entry is entitled From Many Things to One Thing. And our text today is Matthew chapter 11 verses 28 to 30 Hear now the Word of the Lord. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. The Word of the Lord. Now consider this Jesus words to Martha still echo today, only they aren't echoes. They are the piercing plea from the heart of God to the hearts of Mary and Martha and you and me. The Lord answered, martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about so many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen what is best and it will not be taken away from her. That's Luke 10, 41 and 42. I am worried and upset about so many things. You too, I see you. You are carrying a lot these days, and you are not carrying just what's on your list today. You are carrying disappointment and pain and frustration over things not working out like they should have yesterday or you had hoped they would 20 years ago. You are carrying the burdens of others and their frustrations and feelings. You are weary of the enormous responsibility you feel to hold it all together and somehow make it work. Or is it just me and what once felt like faith now feels like another list of religious responsibilities that you're not fulfilling. Not praying enough, not fasting at all, not going to church on Sunday mornings because of the kids sports games, not giving enough money and you're feeling the constant onslaughts of oughts and shoulds to try harder, to do more, to be better, to measure up. Could Jesus be talking to you? Because I'm almost positive he's talking to me. Hear him out. This is our text today in the message version. Are you tired? I'm asking for Jesus. Jesus asking, are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me, get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. Now insert your name in this passage and speak these words aloud so your ears can hear them. Here's where you say your name. John David. You are worried and upset about so many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen what is best and it will not be taken away from her. Our deep inner rumblings of Holy discontent are the birth pangs of consecration that lead to transformation. We want the only necessary thing, but we aren't quite sure what to do with the many things. Jesus is right now speaking three simple words to you. Come to me. Don't worry about the many things. Make the move toward consecration that will lead to transformation. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. I want you to see yourself sitting there on the floor, right at his feet. And now hear Jesus speaking this word aloud through your voice. Concerning you, John, David has chosen what is best and it will not be taken away from him. Let's pray. Our Father, thank you for your son Jesus. Lord Jesus. We are ready for the one thing, the only necessary thing. We know it will cost us our focus on so many things which actually is not focus at all. In fact it is, let's just call it distraction. We know the many things will not go away, but they will lose our commitment, they will lose their gravity. Because Jesus gravity is greater and stronger and richer and better. By the power of the Holy Spirit, today we are choosing consecration and we are praying in Jesus name, Amen. I don't know, but that prayer led me to a place of peace. This whole thing, I just feel kind of more peaceful than normal right now. Maybe you've sensed it in my voice. Something tells me you're feeling it too. You know you still got. There's still many things, there's still many dogs barking, but the one thing Jesus is becoming, the only necessary thing. This is so true. Here's a journal prompt or two for us. Are you seeing the parallels between the movement from many things to one thing and the movement from slavery to freedom? So what might the easy yoke of Jesus be like? Jesus asking, are you tired? Are you weary? Something tells me there's a lot of us feeling that. And you know, he's not given us a better task management system. He's not given us a technique on how to manage more to do's in our life. The TO dos aren't going to stop, they're going to keep coming. He's trying to shift our core being from many things to one thing. I want it, I want that. But you know what the secret is? It's wanting him, right? It's not wanting peace, it's not wanting order. It's not wanting, you know, everything to be easier. It's wanting Jesus. That's what's rising up in you. You know you need him. We all know that. He knows that. The clarifying question, Jesus asking, do you want me? Do you want me? That'd be good to journal a little bit on today. And you know what? You can always say, I want to want you. Just be honest. He can't deal with you as you think you should be. He doesn't deal with you as you think you ought to be. He deals with you as you are. So you might as well just tell the truth. That's. I don't care if you're 10 years old listening to this or you're a hundred. Jesus sees you as you are. He loves you right where you are, and he will only deal with you as you are. So just be honest. Just say, you know, Jesus, I need you. I kind of want you. Actually, let's just call it like this. I want to want you. I want a lot of things, but I want to want you. Actually, I want to want to trade the many things for the only necessary thing because something tells me that order will come for that, from that. But you know what? I'm not wanting that order. It's just. We just have to keep clarifying. I want you, Jesus. I want you, Jesus. I want you, Jesus. And when that comes real in your heart, it's. There's the shift right there. But you know what Jesus is saying to you today? I can guarantee it. He's saying, I want you. I want you. He doesn't even need you. He doesn't need me. He wants me. He doesn't need you. He wants you. He wants you to be with him. That's why he says, come to me. He's looking to create relation, like, joyful abiding, like this sense of. Like, I'm. We're. We're friends. We're walking together today. Well, we're going to sing. Dad's not. Not here with me today. And I'm. I feel. I feel like I'm missing something. And I am. And I appreciate all of you all. I get so many comments from people just about how much they appreciate dad here singing with me. And, man, I do, too. And y' all know he's struggling, and he's just. He's just turning it in. And he's. He loves doing this. And I always tell him when I hear from you, and he can't believe it. Every time. Are you kidding me? He'll say, so what we're going to sing today is a song that we all love. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. You don't need the hymnal, but I'm looking up the page. It's 670 if you need it. Because that's what that's what we're trying to do here. We're trying to turn our eyes off the many things onto the one thing. We'll sing it through twice. You ready?
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Turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.
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Let's let it be a prayer.
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Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.
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That's good. That's simple. It's true. That song says it too. It's like you're worried and upset about many things. Only one thing is necessary. Turn your eyes upon me, he says, I want you. Well, I want you to want me too. All right, well, it's looks like we're getting out of class a little bit early this morning. It's Monday. Maybe you need a couple extra minutes. I'll probably chew them up here if you give me time. But I don't know, I want to. I want to give a couple of. I don't know, pss here. We're getting ready to do. Well, first off, I want to thank all of you for all the happy birthdays. It was overwhelming. It was a tsunami and I'm still just trying to pick everything up. But I appreciate it. I felt loved and cared for and seen and appreciated. So thank you for that. I am now into the 60th year. I'm 59 years old, which means I just crossed into 60, which for me means fourth quarter. I think it means for you too, if you're that age. Fourth quarter, right? One to 20. First quarter, 20 to 40. Second quarter, 40 to 60. Third quarter, 60 on fourth quarter. Lady came up to me in church after church Sunday. Carolyn. Carolyn Berry, lover. She came up to me, she said, well, I guess that means I'm in overtime. So, yes, overtime is good. It can be hard, but I love that metaphor. Guys, we're in it to win it. Now. Second thing, we're gonna all be in Franklin. I think it's April 16, 17, 18. Basically a 48 hour gathering. And we're going to be focused. We're locking in a little gathering. It's going to be teaching the gifts, waking up to the gifts of the Holy Spirit with John Thompson. We're releasing a book with John now. And he's going to be there. He leads a church in Toronto. Profound church. This man is one of the best teachers. There's a conversation that I've done a wake up call conversation. You know, it's our weekly podcast because every day wasn't enough for me. But we had John on that show and we talked about this. So we'll link that in the email today. But he's going to be with us for those, you know, we'll start at noon on a Wednesday and end at noon on a Friday. Just come on. We'll put the link in today's email and it's going to be rich and it's open to anybody and everybody needs it. So we'd love to see you there. And I think that's enough to talk about today. Oh, yeah. I do want to keep pushing you towards the Unpuzzled, our next season on the Wake Up Call. Unpuzzled, it's on Ephesians. We're going six weeks, verse by verse through one of the most significant letters in the New Testament, the letter to the Christians in Ephesus. I love the material. We've pioneered a workbook, all the content, the entries, the journal space, weekly group meeting or Sunday school class meeting, weekly video that I'm going to be releasing that you can show in that weekly gathering. Of course, we'll be doing it on the wake up call. You don't need the the book of the workbook, but I think you're going to want to have it and we're so excited about it. And you can see the link in today's email for that. Okay, gang, it's Monday. I've given you as long I've taken up all the time. Go grab that extra cup of coffee. Most importantly, grab those seeds for the awakening. I'm John David Walt and I'll see you on the field.