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The Wake-Up Call
Hearing God's Voice, Part 5: Sails Up!
00:18:13
In this episode, Dan Wilt begins with a prayer of consecration, inviting listeners to focus on their spiritual journey. He introduces the theme of "Hearing God's Voice, Part Five: Sails Up," using the metaphor of sailing to illustrate how we can align ourselves with the Spirit's guidance. Dan shares a personal story about sailing, emphasizing the importance of being open to the Spirit's movement, much like a sailboat relies on the wind. He encourages listeners to be attentive to God's voice, suggesting that moments of insight or scripture that come to mind may be divine communication meant to guide and encourage others. Dan further explores the concept of spiritual gifts, referencing Ivan Philby's book "Live Stream" and discussing how God is eager to bestow these gifts upon us. He shares a personal experience of delivering a message of encouragement to a neighbor, which led to a significant spiritual awakening. Dan emphasizes the importance of humility and openness in ministry, enc...
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Good morning Sower Nation. Today is Sunday, June 28th in the year of our Lord 2026. I'm Dan Wilt and this is your wake up call. Wake up sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Let's pray our prayer of consecration as we begin today's meeting with Jesus. 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. Well, on this beautiful Sunday, our entry is titled Hearing God's Voice. Part five Sails Up Hearing God's voice sails up, up. And our passage for today is First Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 8. Hear the word of the Lord to one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge. By means of the same spirit, the Word of the Lord. Consider this. A good friend of mine recently took me sailing. I was amazed at what happened when the sails had no wind to work with, and then at what happened when an unseen wind filled the sails. Moving a sailboat without wind is plain hard work and may require putting oars in the water and breaking a sweat. But when the sails are full of wind, the boat by design, cuts across the water and gets where it intends to go. A sailboat works with the wind. It doesn't move by its own power. Let's call the ministry of Jesus that has been entrusted to us Sails Up Ministry. We live with our sails up as Jesus did. When the wind of God's spirit blows and we sense God moving in a situation, we go with that wind, partnering with what the Father is already doing in someone's life. We move the story forward with our prayers with a word of encouragement or with an act of faith. The impression I have that I should ask a question that wouldn't normally be on my mind for a person. What if I assume with my sails up that the wind of the Spirit is blowing and I'm actually catching it? What if that image that flashed through my mind or that passage of scripture that feels unusual emerging in my thoughts is the Lord speaking to me? These things can be a word of knowledge or a prophetic word, or an insight that pierces through someone's confusion and lets them know that God is is near. I find that when I am open without forcing something, I'm staying close to Jesus. All it takes for me to hear his voice for another is for me to say inside my own heart, Lord, my sale is up. Speak to me for that person. Nine times out of ten I sense something that may help that person in in their unique journey with God. In Livestream Another favorite book of mine by our own Ivan Philby, who I've just come to love as a dear friend and guide in so many ways. JD calls them friendors, where they're mentors and friends. Ivan Philby asks us to remember a time when we gave someone we love a gift, and then he says this about spiritual gifts. God is far more excited to give you the gifts of the Holy Spirit than you were to give your gift to your friend or family member. The problem is not that he doesn't want to stream the Holy Spirit's gifts through us. The problem is that we often don't know how to receive them. And that book Livestream Learning to minister in the Power of the Holy Spirit just runs right in tandem with all that we're doing in all the things everyday. Ministry in the Power of the Spirit I'd encourage you to get that and read it. Ignatius of Loyola called it the Help of Souls. I believe that receiving a word of insight or knowledge for someone is a gift of the Spirit for the help of a soul. In fact, an entire family line, as we've said, can change from the first domino falling in someone's life because someone had a word for them. Once I had an impression to share something with my neighbor that felt more like a word from the Lord wrapped in a message of encouragement. And I think that's a great way to put it a word, but it's wrapped in a message of encouragement. I had rehearsed it a bit beforehand before I said it to him to make sure it didn't sound odd or confusing. And Ivan talks about that in his book about rehearsing words sometimes before delivering them. Just to clarify what the Lord is actually saying to for a person with my sales up, I shared it with him in a moment that the Lord clearly had orchestrated. Because it's not just about what the word is or what the word of encouragement or the scripture is. It's also about when we deliver, that when we take that step forward, when we share it. It's also about how we do that ministry moment. And that's why I'm always talking about gentleness and humility, kindness, opening ourselves to being generous as someone who has the fruits of the Spirit manifesting in their lives. Well, with my sails up, I shared it. The Lord had clearly orchestrated the moment. And within weeks, that neighbor came to Jesus along with his wife. It was quite beautiful. With my sails up, I learned how to hear God for someone else and to pray with greater listening awareness of the Spirit's leading and over time building greater accuracy. There's something very fun when you pray for someone and at the end they say something like, you read my mail. In other words, God was speaking to you as you became a listener and willing kingdom participant in prayer for someone. So let me lead us in prayer, but I want to say something because I want to give you just a little mission for today. This is your mission. Should you choose to accept it. This message will not self destruct. But should you choose to accept it. Today, it's Sunday, you may be at church and you see someone across the room and a verse comes to mind, a scripture. Now there are many things you could do with that. You could write it down, you could just pray it for them, you could walk away. But I want to encourage you to just ask the Lord because I think he might want to do this. Could I share this with them? Could I share this with them and then just go up to the person after the service or whatever the context is and just say, hey, I just wanted to share a word of encouragement with you. I saw you this morning and as I looked at you, I felt like the Lord gave me a scripture for you and I'd just like to submit it to you, share it with you, and hopefully it could encourage you and then share the scripture and just let that be what it is. Your sails were up and the Holy Spirit's always moving, so we're going to catch something. And so with that sails up moment, you're going to look at someone and see if the Lord would just give you a scripture. And I personally believe he's going to give you something and just let it be a word of encouragement. It doesn't have to. Again, you don't have to mention one part of the Trinity in every sentence in order for it to be holy and blessed and anointed. Remember, this is about hearing and obeying. That's what Jesus said. Blessed are those who hear and then obey. And as we obey, the gift of God meets in that moment. And it's not about us, it's not about our ministry on our business cards. It's about the Holy Spirit doing something through us. And the end result should be greater humility, not greater pride. That's an indicator if we're owning too much of the Holy Spirit's gifts, moving through us. Remember, this whole series is built on this reality. Jesus intended to continue his ministry by his spirit, through us, through the church as a whole. So we're doing it all over the world, but also through you personally, through your unique personality, your unique gifts, your unique testimony, your unique story. I have found that often I can speak into people's lives, and often the Lord will give me words for people who have struggled with areas of depression and other issues that they've dealt with only because it's part of my testimony, it's part of my story. I've found that other people who have different testimonies around me, they have experiences where it's like I can say something, but it's a gift from the Lord. It might even be something, a word for them, but when the other person does, it's like there's heat on it and it goes deep and there's connection. And their testimony is a part of how God works through it. So as we pray, let's just posture our hearts to listen today with our sails up. If you're in church, or maybe you're at lunch or wherever it might be and you see someone, if something comes to mind, let's assume that the Holy Spirit's speaking to you. If your heart is tender to Jesus and others and you're growing in your faith with him, let's just assume he has a gift he wants to give through you. As Ivan said, he's more eager to give gifts through us than we are to give gifts to someone that we love. So here's our prayer. Lord Jesus, I believe that I hear your voice. I want to cultivate a listening ear by putting my sails up today, expecting you to speak to me about others. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Well, here are your journal prompts for this Sunday. Take a moment today to put up your sails, quiet your heart and mind and listen. What impressions do you get for others? And I kind of altered this activation earlier. Just go ahead and share it. Assume that it should be shared unless you really feel like you're not to right now. Do any verses come to mind? And if they do, just ask the Lord, what do you want me to do with what you've just shown me? And then do that. And I would say, err on the side of just simply kindly with. With open hands. Just sharing it as a word of encouragement. Okay, then just go for it. So that activation today. Use the journal exercise to begin exercising your faith in hearing God's voice. Assume that God speaks to you. Take A chance with what you hear, silently pray about it, and then do what I just said in that activation, or write an email to the person or share it with them in some way that seems fitting. All right, well, there we go. We are now going to sing our song of worship, our hymn today, and then we're heading out into the fields on this beautiful gift that is a Sunday morning morning. So the hymn we're going to sing today from our Great Redeemer's Praise is hymn number 96, the Love of God. Now, I know this one way, you may know it another, and there'll be some slight differences. So if I'm singing a little differently than you, and you know this song very well, then just go ahead and sing your version with me or sing a harmony, but I'll just sing it as. As I know it, which is close to this, but might be a little bit different. Okay.
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All right. The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen could ever tell it goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell the guilty pair bowed down with care God gave his son to win his erring child he reconciled and pardoned from his sin O love of God, how rich and pure how measureless and strong it shall forever more endure the saints and angelsong when years of time shall pass away and earthly throne and kingdoms fall when men who hear refuse to pray on rocks and hills and mountains call God's love so pure shall still endure all measureless and strong Redeeming grace to Adam's race the saints and angels song O love of God how rich and pure, how measureless and strong it shall forever more endure the saint sand angelsong could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made? Were every stalk on earth a quill? And every man ascribed by trade to write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole Though stretched from sky to sky O love of God, how rare, rich and pure, how measureless and strong it shall forever more endure the saints and angelsong O love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong it shall forever more endure the saints and a jail so
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Paul was committed to praying that we would have power in Ephesians 3 to apprehend and fully experience and know the love of God that surpasses all knowledge. Its height, its depth, its breadth, its length, its goodness, its fullness for us and for others. So go today as the beloved of God this Sunday, seeing others as those who are loved by God. And then speak a word of encouragement or pray for them or do whatever it takes to help them come just a little more deeply into the fullness of his love. Okay, my fellow sowers, let's take those seeds. I'll see you on the field for the awakening. I'm Dan.