← The Wake-Up Call
The Wake-Up Call
On the Difference between Faith and Risk Management
00:20:02
This episode centers on the difference between faith and risk management. Drawing from Mark 8:11–21, J.D. Walt contrasts the Pharisees’s demand for a sign with Jesus’s call to trust, arguing that faith is not about demanding certainty or collecting endless data. Instead, faith is described as a deep inner confidence in God’s goodness, power, and faithfulness—a willingness to lean in even when the outcome is not fully visible. The second half turns that teaching into an encouragement for daily life. J. D. invites listeners to examine what holds them back from faith—fear of failure, looking foolish, disappointment, or a wilderness wound from past hurt—and to take a practical step back toward trust, including reconnecting with church community. The episode closes with a hymn sung as a prayerful reminder that real faith means trusting Jesus more, choosing courage over caution, and returning to relationship with God with an open heart. CHAPTERS: 00:00 Introduction and Morning Prayer 01:...
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Foreign.
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Sower Nation it is Tuesday, July 21st, in the year of our Lord 2026. I'm John David Walt, and this is your wake up call. Are you ready to roll on this Taco Tuesday? Because I am. Y'. All. We're about to meet with Jesus. He's among us, within us, joining us together, holding our lives together. He's got big plans for this day all over the world and it's our joy to get to wake up into it. So let's begin with consecration. 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. Well, today's text or today's entry is entitled on the Difference between Faith and Risk Management. Our text. We're going to read all of chapter mark, chapter eight today. We're going to cover verses 11 through 21 in our meeting together. Hear now the word of the Lord. The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly, I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation. And he left them and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side. Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, watch out. Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod. They said to one another, it is because we have no bread. And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and fail to see? Do you have ears and fail to hear? And do you not remember when I broke the five loaves for the 5,000? How many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect? They said to him, 12 and the seven for the 4,000. How many basketfuls of broken pieces did you collect? And they said to him, seven. Then he said to them, do you not yet understand the word of the Lord? Now consider this. We want signs. That's where Satan began with Jesus. Remember, back in the wilderness after Jesus fasted 40 days, when Satan approached him with this. If you are the Son of God, turn these stones to bread. Jesus promptly turned that one around with the reply, the man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. That's Matthew 4. If we are honest, we want a sign. We need to see something before we believe. Jesus says it's just the opposite. Those who believe will see. Faith is a disposition of the heart. Eyes that see and ears that hear. Jesus warned them, Demanding signs is the antithesis of faith. Faith is not an empirical certainty, but a deep inner confidence. The clamor for certainty leavens the clarity of. Of faith. Now, the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, watch out. Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod. So often we come to big decisions in life, and rather than the way of faith, we, we opt for the path of certainty. We list the pros and the cons and do the cost benefit analysis, hoping the defining sign will present itself. And to be sure, due diligence in our decision making can be a good thing. But I'm not sure it's the way of faith. I have a hunch that faith is is built more on counting the cost than analyzing the data. Are you facing a big decision in the days ahead? Ask yourself, what would it mean to walk by faith and not by sight? Faith is not blind. It is a much deeper, richer, an ultimately clearer way of seeing. Spend more time counting the cost of the decision rather than endlessly seeking more data. Don't let the quest for certainty override the gift of clarity. The ways of the Pharisees, which is the religious version of the ways of the world. They leaven faith by amplifying the fear of failure. Faith means risk, not risk management. That was kind of a zinger, wasn't it? Faith means risk, not risk management. I often ask my church here in Gillette, I say, all right, gang, tell me how you spell faith. And they'll say R, I, S, K. That's, that's the truth. And we're not risking things on our abilities or confidence or possibilities. We are risking on God's goodness, his power, his love, his faithfulness. We're just pushing out, leaning in. And remember, faith is not believing in God or believing things about God. Faith is actually believing God. Let that sink in. Faith, faith, moving in love. That's what this entire thing is about. Well, let's, let's sing our prayer today.
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Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. That's it.
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That's our prayer. That's a. I want you to sing that prayer throughout the day. Here's a couple of journal prompts for you. What keeps you from walking by faith? Is it the fear of failure? Is it of looking foolish? Or is it just kind of indifference? Might it be that you've been burned before, you've gotten hurt, you've been disappointed in God, and you've shrunk back? You've gotten what I call a wilderness wound. You leaned out, you trusted, and it didn't work out like you thought it would. Man, I'm calling you to lean back in. I'm calling you to wake up. It's time to dust off that broken heart, to present it to God, to let him break it back open and heal it. He will heal your heart, but you gotta. You gotta come back to the table. What might a practical step of real faith look like in your life right now? I don't want to say it is this, but I want to suggest it might be going back to church, reconnecting, or going to a new church. Just showing up in a place, in a house, a house of love, a house of faith, a house of prayer. Just getting up Sunday and doing it. I mean, Covid has gotten us all. I feel like I'm talking to some people right now. Covid took a blow, took an axe to the church and just hurt us. Many people just slipped out of the habit. The pattern of going to church,
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and
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you've meant to, you've wanted to. And one Sunday passes and it's a month, and then it's six months, and it's been two years. It just may be time to come back. Just consider it, okay? I'm not pushing you. But, you know, to go to places we've never been, we gotta start doing things we've never done, friends. We gotta wake up, right? Life is too short. It's passing us by. It's time to get back on the horse. It's time to start walking by faith again. It's time to get into the zone of Jesus, of the Holy Spirit, of the love and the power of God. He is knocking on your door.
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Can you.
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Can you hear it? Can you hear that? That's Jesus. He's like, there's not a knob out here. The only knob is on your side of the door. Please open the door. I'll come in. I'm not Mad. I'm not upset with you. I'm not disappointed in you. I'm ready to start fresh again. I'm ready. Can we break bread together? Come on. All right, who's ready to sing today? I've got dad with me and we're going to sing. Here we go. All right, everybody, look who's here today.
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Hello.
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We have got the. They used to call him King Bean. He was the king of soybeans. That. Is that fair to say you were a soybean?
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I did a lot in soybean.
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He did a lot in soybeans. He was on every state promotion board and soybean association and.
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And. Raised a lot of soybeans.
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Raised a lot of soybeans. And now he is in the seed house in Gillette and we get to sing hymns a lot of days together, dad.
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We do.
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We never knew we'd be doing this.
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No, we didn't. Yes. It's a blessing.
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It's been a blessing. And you know, there's a lot of people that really appreciate you helping us, leading us in song. So I'm happy to do it today. Dad, we talked on the wake up call about faith. And you know, oftentimes in Gillette, I'll look out at the church, you'll be sitting out there and I'll say, how do you spell faith? And they'll say, R, I, S, K, risk. You've got to get out of your comfort zone. And I was thinking today about how faith is actually the comfort zone of Jesus. And so we might not be comfortable, but he's comfortable. And if he's comfortable, we're comfortable, we'll be fine. So we're going to sing a song about risk and faith today. You know this song? Everybody's going to love it. What's it called?
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Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus.
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Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus what's The number?
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It's 1:54.
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1:54.
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In our great Redeemer's praise.
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Our Great Redeemer's praise. If you need a copy of this hymnal, look in the notes, you'll see the link. We want you to have one. So we're going to sing all four verses. You ready, dad?
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Yeah. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus Just to take him at his word Just to rest upon his promise Just to know that James held a heart Jesus, Jesus how I trust him How I proved him O' Er and o' er Jesus Jesus, precious Jesus oh to grace to trust him more oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus Just to trust him, guys. And Lord, just in sample faith who puns him by silent ends in flood Jesus, Jesus how I trust him How I proved him O' er and o' er Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus oh, for grace to trust him more yes, to me to trust in Jesus Just from heaven Just from Jesus Simply taking life and rest and joy and peace Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him How I proved him O' er and o' er Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus oh, for grace to trust him more.
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Last verse.
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I'm so.
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Let's go up a note.
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I'm so glad and to trust Thee precious Jesus Savior friend and I know that Thou art with me Will be with me to the end Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him How I proved him O' er and o' er Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus O for grace to trust him more.
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You know, dad, sometimes in singing that song, I like to just switch one word out. I like to say, Jesus, Jesus, how I trust you How I've proved you over and over. Let's try that one. Let's just. Let's just sing this straight to. To his heart, from our heart. Let's just do that this morning as we're getting ready to get out into the fields today.
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Okay? We can do it. Jesus, Jesus how I trust you How I proved you are andor Jesus Jesus, precious Jesus oh, oh, for grace to trust you more.
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That's it.
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Yeah.
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That works, doesn't it?
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Fits. The man that wrote this song might not like it, but he said the man who wrote this song might not like it. And you know what?
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You're exactly right.
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But he'll never know.
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As a songwriter myself, you just don't really want people to change your words. But I don't think he'd mind because we're making it our own prayer.
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Yeah.
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It's not like we changed the idea. We just switched.
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And we're not going to sing it as in the Marble Tabernacle Choir. So we're going to sing it in the Gillette Choir.
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That's right, dad. Well, guys, this is another day in front of us that we have to trust him more.
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That's right.
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And no matter what we're going through. Listen, you got two choices. You can lean out or you can lean in. And I can promise you that leaning in is better. And as I said earlier, some of us, it's just time to let go of our past disappointment.
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Right? Yeah.
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And to step back up to the plate of faith and swing the bat. Jesus will meet you there. He can even heal that plate past disappointment. So sure.
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Can.
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Can you come back? Can you come back? He's still knocking. So. For The Awakening, I'm J.D. walt.
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And I'm David. Walt. And we'll see you on the field.
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We'll see you on the.