← The Wake-Up Call
The Wake-Up Call
Sometimes It Takes Pressure to Light a Match
00:17:38
This episode is a devotional wake-up call centered on the idea of true freedom in Christ. Dan opens by reflecting on Independence Day and connecting national freedom with the deeper spiritual freedom found in 2 Corinthians 3:17: “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is true freedom.” From there, he frames the day’s theme around everyday ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit, encouraging listeners to see themselves as vessels through whom God’s love, fruits of the Spirit, and gifts can flow into homes, neighborhoods, churches, and communities. The main teaching comes from Acts 20:7–12 and the story of Eutychus, the young man who falls from a window and is raised back to life by Paul. Dan uses that passage, along with a personal story from the Asbury outpouring, to argue that pressure-filled moments can become opportunities for faith and obedience. His core message is that when difficult situations arise, believers should stop, pray, and trust God to move rather than fear embarr...
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Sower nation Today is Saturday, July 4th, in the year of our Lord 2026. I'm Dan Wilt and this is your wake up call. So if you are one of our sowers here in the United States, Today is the 4th of July or Independence Day. And, and I'm always very grateful for, for all that it represents. I'm especially grateful, though, for the freedom that we have in Christ. And that always moves me to 2 Corinthians 3, verse 17. The Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is true freedom, liberation of the heart. And that's our great celebration as the people of God today that moves through any other celebrations you're experiencing. This is the primary one, the liberation of the heart. Jesus came to set captives of the heart free. And we have a world in which freedom takes on many forms. There's a lot of language about it and we need so many different expressions. But that ultimate freedom, the freedom of the heart where Jesus is able to move and live his life through us, is what this whole gospel project has been about. This true good news for humankind of every tribe, nation, language, people throughout all of time and through all of time to come, this will be the good news. Jesus sets the heart free. Amen. All right, well, let's dive into today's, today's entry in all the things everyday ministry in the power of the Spirit. We're coming into the last few days together in this and I've just been so delighted by the stories coming in over@seedbed.com Holy Spirit stories. You can keep sending those in. I've been so delighted at the, the steps we're taking to enter into the fullness of apprenticeship with Jesus to learn how to love people in his name. And then in the context of that love, the fruits of the Spirit moving in gentleness and humility as Jesus did, and compassion. We are vessels through who the Holy Spirit moves in gifts of the Spirit, in spiritual gifts. And my dream has been to continue just to normalize those for us. Get them off stages and microphones, bless them in those places. But where they are really meant to be is lived out in you and I in the way of love. Living in the way of love in our neighborhoods, in our homes and our churches and our communities. That's what will change the world. So 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. Amen. Well, our entry today is titled Sometimes It Takes Pressure to Light a Match. And our text for today is Acts 20, verses 7 to 12. Hear the word of the Lord. On the first day of the week, we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. Don't be alarmed, he said. He's alive. Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted. The word of the Lord. I'll just to say before I get into consider this, this is a beautiful and funny story. There are these notes about Paul maybe talking a bit too long and then a man falls. A young man falls asleep. He's raised from the dead by Paul in this moment. And then it says, they just kept talking until dawn. So. So this all went on and on and on and. And I love that it just ends with, you know, the people took the young man home alive and everyone was greatly comforted. So consider this. During the Asbury outpouring in February 2023, I found myself, along with many trained brothers and sisters, praying for anyone and everyone who wanted prayer in Hughes Auditorium during a break, I began to walk toward McKenna Chapel, where I would join a team to prepare to pray for others during the overflow gatherings happening there that evening, the quad outside of the chapel was strangely quiet. It was like the thousands of people flooding the campus had left this area open for something else to happen. As I sat for a breather on a bench, a family of five or so, as I recall, it was that many walked toward me from the parking lot. It was just us in that large open quad, as far as I could tell, other than the inspiring John Wesley statue, the young girl with them, in her teens, had severe physical challenges and was quite distressed. As they came near. The grandparents expectantly asked me, would you pray for her to be at peace. And I immediately thought, what happens if I pray for her to be at peace and she isn't? Does that mean my prayers are not effective? This could be embarrassing. And I want to help. Isn't it fascinating? The story became about me and how I felt in that moment. So I prayed for her as we all did. And after about 10 minutes, she began to calm down. I. I later realized that the pressure of that moment was part of the teaching. I heard the Lord speak to me, whisper in that still, small voice I've come to know over the years. Dan, sometimes I put you in situations you can't escape. You either trust me to move or it falls flat. It's not about you. It's about me and someone I love. All I ask is that you be willing to take your best shot and trust me to lead. Wow. True story. True story. Not me at my best. But. But learning, growing as we all are. In Acts 20, verses 7 to 12, Paul is in an awkward position even for a risk taker like him. He is preaching too long. Luke is happy to write that Paul talked on and on, as if to clarify that it was Paul who put the young Eutychus to sleep. I know many teenagers who can't handle a little late night preaching. We know the story. Eutychus falls from a third floor window and dies. I imagine the crowd looking at Paul as if to say, you're talking about miracles. Is there one to be had here? And Paul has a choice. He can mourn with everyone. He can encourage them in their grief, saying things like, well, God had a plan for Eutychus and we'll need to just trust that plan. Or Paul can practice what he preaches. Sometimes it takes a little pressure to make a match ignite faith. And I believe. Some clear discernment fills Paul's heart. He knows what to do by the Spirit and he throws himself on the dead boy. The boy wakes up and everyone rejoices. I'm grateful for moments when God has to show up or the situation will go south. Those moments put me in a place where the Spirit can use that pressure to strike the fire of faith in my heart to help me just to show up and trust him. Maybe today God will allow a little pressure in the system to help you step across the threshold of believing that you can do the works that Jesus wants to do through you. And here's our prayer for today. Lord Jesus, I won't say no to situations in which I must trust you or everything will fall apart. Show me where that is happening. In my life right now and help me to obey in the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. And here are your journal prompts for today. Take a few moments to write about how much effort you put into avoiding difficult situations compared to how much effort you put into embracing difficulty as an opportunity for for God to show up. You can read that one through a few times before you answer it. Then offer what you've written to God so he can take you to a new place of trust. Now let me say this as you journal, you know I'm leading us in this series and all along I am listening for Jesus. I am looking for what the Father's doing. I'm seeking to lean in and to pray for people to give words of encouragement. And I'm doing that all along the way. But there have been moments and I love how JD has often led the way in just self disclosure that I felt old fears rise in me. There have even been moments where I paused and as I look back, I kind of rethink it and think, lord, did I miss you in that? And I asked him in those moments, well, would you recreate an opportunity to show your love to someone and to a particular person to pray for them? And I just encourage you just to not be too hard on yourself in this journey of doing the all the things everyday ministry in the power of the spirit. Yes, we want to have faith. Yes, we want to show up. And sometimes I do believe God will create moments where it's like time to show up. I've had a number of those in my life. Once I was asked to pray for a family member who was very ill and I just wasn't prepared in heart, but I just did it anyway. Just dove in and, and there were gifts that I've seen over decades that came from that moment of obedience. I just encourage you to keep your heart open. And then if you feel like you, you rose to something with Jesus or you pulled back to not get hung up on it, to just say, jesus, I want to go to a new place of trust as we're journaling about. And if you create a scenario where like I either show up or I don't and we either see something happen or we don't and you know, I'm just going to trust you in those moments and know that no matter which direction it seems to go, that you've been in it because I sought to love in your name. I sought to open my heart to be a vessel. And I love that image of vessel. Not like we're Hollow containers. We have personalities, we have gifts, we have all these things. But I do love this idea that the Spirit moves through us because he inhabits us. He dwells in US. John 15 he. He remains in us as we remain in Him. That's the language of habitation and mutual indwelling in those moments together. And so he lives in us, we live in him. And then he moves through us in those moments. And we just have to trust him for the results as we're faithful as we come in the way of love to people. Okay, so our activation today. See difficult situations as opportunities to stop and to pray. Don't worry about being embarrassed. You'll show up with love and you'll show up trusting him. And the results are in his hands. So don't worry if he lets that happen. Don't worry if there's a little pressure on the system to strike that match in you of faith. He'll let those things happen because he's calling you forward. And he knows that your heart is wholly his, that he wants to lead you forward, further up and further in, into his kingdom. Whether it's at that hair salon or whether it's at the grocery store, or whether it's with even someone in my family, a child or a relative, or wherever it might be, in church or otherwise, I just know that my heart is to follow Him. He knows your heart, and if your heart is to follow him, he's going to do beautiful things through you. Just in those moments, trust him, make decisions, go with him. I'd encourage you if you sense he's done it and he's put the pressure on there like Paul did. Just show up, show up to it and trust him for the results. Okay, let's sing our song together today. I've picked a song that matches the day and particularly, as I said, the, the. The. The larger theme of the day that. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom from 2nd Corinthians 3:17. So let's worship with that song together.
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Where the Spirit of the Lord is, There is freedom. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, There is freedom. Lift your eyes to heaven There is freedom. Lift your eyes to Jesus There is freedom. Freedom reigns in this place Showers of mercy, Mercy and grace they're falling on every face There is freedom. Freedom reigns in this place Showers of mercy and grace they are falling on every face There is freedom.
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Amen. Well, today you and I, we walk in the freedom of the Lord. His gifts are poured out lavishly to his church, through his church for the awakening of our hearts, the transformation of our hearts by love, and then for sowing that love into the world all around us. Remember our definition of awakening we're using here. Awakening is the transformational journey. Love from Jesus to a person through a person, to a person through a person, and so on. So go as awakening people as an awakening soul and awakening person and love others in Jesus name. All right, let's get those seeds together and I'll see you on the field for the awakening. I'm Dan.
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