← The Wake-Up Call
The Wake-Up Call
Jesus Did What He Saw the Father Doing; We Can Too
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In this episode of the Wake-Up Call, Dan Wilt explores the theme of perceiving and partnering with what the Father is already doing in people's lives. He shares a personal story about a neighbor who came to faith, emphasizing the importance of listening to the Holy Spirit and discerning God's timing and manner in interactions. Dan encourages listeners to engage in kingdom ministry by being aware of God's work around them and joining in with compassion and humility. Dan also discusses the interactivity of the Trinity, highlighting how Jesus only acted upon seeing the Father at work. He invites listeners to practice perceiving God's actions in their daily interactions and to document these experiences in a journal. The episode concludes with a call to worship and a reflection on the hymn "I'd Rather Have Jesus," reinforcing the message of prioritizing spiritual alignment over worldly desires. CHAPTERS: 00:00 Introduction to Sower Nation and Community Support 03:14 The Importance of L...
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Good morning Sower Nation. Today is Friday, June 5th in the year of our Lord 2026. I'm Dan Wilt and this is your Wake Up Call. Thank you for joining me each morning in our meeting with Jesus. I know that you and I know so many who are part of Wake Up Call Nation. We call call us Sower Nation. Love the voice, the wisdom that the Holy Spirit brings through JD each week. And I know in these seasons where I come in or someone else does, it's good, it's something different and we have a different approach. But I'm just so grateful that you're here. I'm grateful that the Holy Spirit is at work in your life. I'm grateful for the beauty of creation around you. The. The beauty and the gift of, of people who will call you up in your faith in Jesus. And if you have those, thank Jesus every day for them. And I hope that, that I can be one of those champions of you and your journey with Jesus today, as I know JD is. And if you don't have those, begin to ask the Lord for them. We want to see everyone encouraged in heart United in love start bands. You can see those@discipleshipbands.com we have bands in our relationships here and I just want to encourage you to be thankful. Speaking of that, one more thing before we get into the entry today. I don't like to take too much time at the beginning, but I think it's important sometimes. I'd like to invite you to do something that JD who I just call John David at all times that I can and can remember. He gives so much. I may be as much as or more than others. Know what it takes to do the wake up call each day to listen to the Holy Spirit's voice as we write. There's a whole team that makes everything happen from the recordings to YouTube to the writing and the journals and the different expressions, even the hymnal that we sing from. So much of our team is invested in all of these things, but JD carries something very uniquely and I'd like to do what he did related to his dad. He doesn't know I'm doing this, but he does. Now I'd like to encourage you. You can find Gillette Methodist Church on encourage you to find the address there. Send JD a card or a note, something physical, a letter. And I think you can send it to the church and just tell him how grateful you are. You could do it in email. You could do it any way that you like. But I would encourage you if you can send a card or a note and just share your heart in that way. Just to say thank you and thank you Jesus for him. I know it would be a great encouragement to him. I'm just dropping that off and if I get in trouble, I'll let you know maybe. All right, we're ready to start our day today. Wake up, sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Let's pray our prayer of consecration as we begin. 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. We're praying in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Well, today's entry is very important in our all the Things series and it's titled Jesus did what He Saw the Father Doing. And we can too hear the word of the lord from John 5:19. Jesus gave them this Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself. He can only do what he sees His Father doing. Because whatever the Father does, the Son also does. Consider this. Don't say a word to him about me. That's what I heard the Lord say. As a neighbor in my housing development told me his favorite off color joke, I sensed the Lord continue. The reason he's like this is because someone banged him over the head with a Bible. He's going to come to know me and you will have a part in it. Within a year, this man came to Jesus and I had a part in it. I was learning that when God wants to do something in someone's life, there's a timing and a manner in which he wants to do it. As an apprentice of Jesus, I was learning to wait for the details from the Lord, to see what the Father was doing, to perceive what the Father was doing, and then to follow along with the plan as it unfolded. Now I'm just going to say this is a very special story in my life where the Lord invited me to learn to listen before I simply tried to mention one part of the Trinity in every conversation or tried to direct something because he was teaching me what I hope we could learn together, that the Father's already doing something in someone's life. Our role is to perceive that and enter into it because he may be doing other things through other people. They may have a backstory that informs what I'm about to say and how he wants to lead them to himself. As I recall, it took about a year of friendship, of relationship as I recall through it, I don't think we ever talked about me being a pastor until the day my friend actually walked into our church, invited by someone else, and came to Jesus in a powerful, powerful way. And to this day, one of the greatest delights in my life to see what the Lord has done in and through him in the world. And so this story sort of shines a spotlight on why it's so important to be simultaneously listening to the Holy Spirit as we're in an interaction with someone. So let's talk about that. Have you ever wondered how Jesus knew when to pray, when to heal, when to teach? According to Jesus, he only did all the things he did because he first saw the Father doing them already in someone's life. In John 5:19, Jesus tells us very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself. He can do only what he sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does. In other words, Jesus, the Son of God, was not simply doing what seemed best in the moment, drawing primarily on his sense of compassion or desire to help. This is a fascinating picture of the interactivity of the Trinity in motion. Jesus is waiting for cues from the Father that something is already happening in the life of a person. He partners with the Father by the Spirit. That's how this works for us in real time. Feeling like he should help is not Jesus motivation. Let me say that again. I'm a helper, you're a helper. We want to be compassionate and encouraging. But Jesus is not leading just with that. It says that he's gentle and humble in heart. He's moved with compassion in these different contexts. But what we see here is he is first contextually seeing what the Father is doing before he's simply speaking and acting. Feeling like he should help is not Jesus primary leading motivation. Doing the Father's will is Jesus motivation. And in John 5:30, Jesus says, By myself, I can do nothing. I judge only as I hear. And my judgment is just meaning his decision as to what to do in this moment. For I seek not to please myself, but him who sent me. Well, isn't that for us? That's what we want to do. Not just to pray nice prayers or to be an encouragement, etc. We do want to do those things for sure. But Jesus is noting here his delight is not just for him to feel like he did a good deed for the day. His delight is to partner with the Father to please the Father who sent Him. So Jesus goes away to pray Each day, Jesus has heightened intimacy with the Father and therefore he steps into the day with discernment high and awareness in the lead. And then Jesus sees what the Father is doing and joins in the work. Now, later, I'm going to be talking about in some of our entries and hearing God's voice, how we discern what the Father's doing, how we perceive it in our minds, in our emotions, sometimes even in our bodies, what the Father is doing in someone's life. How do we hear God's voice? There'll be more on that, I promise. We're going to actually spend some time in it later, but we're laying groundwork here. Theologically, biblically, what is this ministry we're invited into and what's the nature of it? What does it mean to partner with the Father and what the Father's already doing? So with awareness high, discernment high in the lead, then Jesus sees what the Father's doing, joins the work. Seeing what the Father is already doing in the life of a person is vital for those of us who want to participate in Kingdom ministry. We're not going cold into situations, functioning out of our own empathy in the hopes of seeing good things happen in someone's life because we were kind enough to offer a prayer. We're taught talking about doing things we could not do naturally because the Spirit is leading us into maybe some uncharted territory because he wants to speak incisively into someone's life. This is a pivotal idea for the apprentice of Jesus. I can't tell you how many times I've had to catch myself. Just because I can rescue someone from this situation or give them a kind word doesn't mean that's what the Father is doing. What are you doing in the person's life right now? Father, please don't let me get behind you or in front of you. Teach me to move at your pace. We engage with the Father with a continual silent prayer running through our hearts with every encounter. Father, are you doing something particular in this person's life? How can I join you? Show me the how, the what, the when, and the where. As I play the part you want me to play, it's then that we're in a state of listening and perceiving the Father's will at work in the life of a person. And when we get a sense of that plan unfolding, we join Him. We only do what we see the Father doing in the Walmart parking lot at the office Christmas party, or in the driveway with our neighbor. We are perceiving what God is already doing before we take a step to partner with Him. So here's our prayer for today. Lord Jesus, you are at work in the lives of those around me. I am eager to learn to see what the Father is already doing in someone's life and then to partner with it. Show me how to get beyond my own best ideas and join you in your work of transformation. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Amen. That's a powerful prayer. I'd encourage you if you have the journal, if you want to re listen to that, that prayer and write it down. This is one of the most important prayers an apprentice of Jesus can pray. If we want to enter into the all the things everyday ministry in the power of the Spirit, ministry with Jesus, we must learn to perceive what the Father's doing and then to partner in it and to pray. Father, give me eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart that perceives what you're doing in someone's life right there in front of me. And then show me, whisper to me as we're talking, as we're interacting, how you want me to partner with you. The unique way that is me taking my part in a harmony of other people taking their parts in this person's life. So here are our journal prompts for today. Answer these questions. What do I perceive the Father is already doing in the life of someone in my sphere of relationships? Second question is God welcoming someone who is suffering into a deeper experience of his comfort? And this was a sense of a word from the Lord to me as I was writing. This is God welcoming someone who is suffering within your orbit, other than you at this moment, though you too, but someone who is suffering in a place of pain, in your orbit into a deeper experience of his comfort. We know that the Spirit is the comforter. And my sense is that might be a bridge into their life, the word comfort, that the Lord wants to bring them comfort. So just note that as you journal that out and see if today you perceive that someone in your life is open to experiencing Jesus comfort in a new way. And it might be a believer, but it also might be a non believer or someone who's kind of in the in between land in a liminal threshold space. Lead with their point of need, the comfort of Jesus. And I believe the Spirit's going to bring it. That's a prophetic word from me today, so lean into that. Okay, third question is someone coming to the end of themselves and their heart is ripening for someone else to Lead them into a new or deeper faith. Now this is a little bit like the suffering, but let's take it another level. Someone is coming to the end of themselves. How many of you have found that, that you know, when you come to the end of yourself is often when you're the most open to Jesus. We see it happening all around us. You even see it on the news and in celebrities and, and young people. We're just coming to the end and going, enough. I surrender. Show me your way. Sometimes people in pain, in struggle, they are open, they are in a beautiful holy way, vulnerable to the work of the Holy Spirit moving in their lives. And I'm telling you, and I know this, when the love of God meets someone in their place of self deprecation or self hatred or brokenness, when the love of God meets them, it is profound, the shift that happens in someone very quickly. And so I encourage you journal about that and ask the Lord that question and then begin to pray for them. Okay? Activation. So ready. It's a new phrase for you with your sails up. Now that's a phrase that I elaborate on in my book. It's back here. Receive the Holy Spirit. Sails up simply means it's the image of a boat. Your sails are up to perceive movements in, in the wind that will propel something forward. With your sails up, opening your heart to catch the wind of the Holy Spirit moving in the circumstance, perceive you're going to practice this now. Perceive what God is doing in the lives of some of the people around you. Now watch this. I said that this is a full body sport. Okay? All the things, ministry. This is not like learning from a book. This is like learning how to play ping pong or learning how to knit, or learning how to cook, or learning how to do karate or learning how to figure skate. I think I've used that metaphor from a friend. This is a full body experience. So what we're doing today is we're just taking another incremental step in your conversations. Begin to perceive what you sense the Father doing in the lives of some of the people around you. You can act on it. There might be a moment for you to act on it in our, you know, may I pray for you or may I pray for you now? But what I'd like you to do today is just practice perceiving it. Then using your journal space, begin documenting what you perceive the Lord may be doing and the pace at which he is working. Can I just say this? There is no rush in kingdom ministry. There's just no rush. I know that many say we should have this sense of urgency about everyone around us. But sometimes for me, a sense of urgency matches more with the Father's sense of urgency. And to the Lord, a day is like a thousand years. We may have years before someone comes to faith, or it might just be a moment in an airport and someone has a moment of awakening, and we're just part of a long story. That's why we want to discern. That's why it doesn't take just spiritual superheroes to get out there and extroverted evangelists to make things happen. We are being the love of God to the person right in front of us. We're perceiving what the Father is doing. And then with compassion, with gentleness, with humility, we're stepping forward with the Father and we're saying, I want to partner with you in what I see you doing right now, and may I pray for you? Could you use just a coffee right now just to process this, talk about it? I once showed up at a neighbor's doorstep, and there was a moment where I didn't realize that as a royal priest, as part of that royal priesthood, that sometimes people, as I've said, just open up. They just begin to confess and share things. And those are the doorways that show the Father has already been opening this door. You don't need to bang it down. The Father's already been opening this door. Lord, what have you already been doing? And then we partner in it. So again, in that perceiving and journaling it out, there's no right or wrong. Begin to learn, practice depending less on your compassion toward others and more on God speaking to you through an impression, through a verse, or in some other way. Okay, thanks for hanging in there on this one. This is one of the happiest places in my own journey of learning the all the things ministry of Jesus and letting the Spirit move through me in circumstances where it just went beyond what I could do on my own, in my own strength. And honestly, we love the control factor. I like to do things that are just in my control. But in those moments, faith is spelled risk. There is a sweet vulnerability that begins to be learned as we kind of walk through that veil. We think fear is a wall. It's actually more like a curtain. You touch it and it opens, and Jesus is on the other side saying, let's partner in something beautiful in someone's life. Okay, today we are going to worship with a favorite song of mine. It is hymn number 140 in our great Redeemer's praise. And I'm using the large print edition because I like that and it helps me.
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I'd rather have Jesus. Let's worship with it together. There are three verses and it really highlights this idea that I could have anything in the world, potentially. I could desire anything in the world, potentially I could want it. But honestly, I'd rather have Jesus at the center. Because when he's at the center, then all things, all the great benefits, as the scripture says, are my inheritance, your inheritance in Jesus. Let's sing.
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I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold I'd rather be his than have riches untold old I'd rather have Jesus than houses or land I'd rather be true led by his nail pierced hand Than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin's dread sway I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause I'd rather be faithful to his dear cause I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame I'd rather be true to his holy name Than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin's dread sway I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today he's fairer than lilies of rarest bloom he's sweeter than honey from out of the comb he's all that my hungering spe Spirit needs I'd rather have Jesus and let him lead Than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin's dread sway I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.
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Let's sing the refrain again then.
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To be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin a dread sway I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.
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Amen to that. Hey, I love the Alison Krauss version of this. She sings an amazing version of it. So if I changed up some rhythms that, you know, if this is really familiar to you. Sorry about that. Or notes. I have that in my heart and in my head. It's definitely worth. Worth a listen for you. So we're entering into today perceiving what the Father is doing and partnering with him by the Spirit at work within us. Let's get our seeds together and I'll see you on the field for the awakening. I'm Dan.