← The Wake-Up Call
The Wake-Up Call
The Kingdom of God Is Now and Not Yet
00:16:33
The world as it should be is yet to be. - - - - - - - We're preparing for another year of sowing! Help keep the Wake-Up Call free for everyone by sponsoring a day. https://seedbed.com/springsowing - - - - - - - What if the Kingdom of God is closer than you think—yet somehow still out of reach? In this transformative episode, Dan Wilt invites you to explore the profound tension between the “now” and “not yet” of God’s kingdom, diving deep into the mystery that shapes everyday faith and ministry. This episode draws listeners into a spirit-led reflection designed to awaken, encourage, and equip. Dan Wilt, author and seasoned spiritual guide, shares moving stories and biblical insights, including a poignant account of a community surrounding a loved one at the end of her life. Through this lens, he explores why some prayers seem to be answered instantly while others linger in mystery, and why miracles sometimes wait for fulfillment in the world to come. Key highlights include: An explo...
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Foreign Sower Nation Today is Sunday, May 31st 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 together as we begin our 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. We continue in our series all the Everyday Ministry in the Power of the Spirit with today's title the Kingdom of God is now and not yet Hear the Word of the Lord. Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus Jesus replied, the coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, here it is or there it is, because the kingdom of God is in your midst. Luke 17:20 21 the Word of the Lord Consider this as we reflect on what the kingdom of God is all about, it's important we begin to consider the mystery that comes along with kingdom ministry. And here's today's story. The small group of family and friends mourned around the bedside of their sister in Christ. She was succumbing after a long and courageous battle to cancer. And as she breathed her last breaths with worship music softly sung by this circle of companions, there was a clear sense that she was soon to see Jesus face to face. This group, who had seen God do miracles in their lives and in the lives of others, realized that the miraculous healing she needed would be in the presence of Jesus on the other side of a victorious death. The kingdom of God was now yet still to come in its fullness. If we want to do all the things that Jesus did, then we need to be aware of a big idea about the kingdom that explains why some miracles happen immediately and others don't. In Luke 17:21, Jesus says that the kingdom of God is in your midst. Or as it can be interpreted, the kingdom of God is within your reach. Wait, people can reach out and touch it by touching him. The kingdom of God is here. In other words, the kingdom of God is happening. The kingdom of God is as within our reach as Jesus himself. But why are things not fixed then? Jesus? Why are the Romans still here? Why is my mother in law still sick? My finances in such a mess, My child still such a Prodigal. It gets even more confusing. Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God as being here and now, but also yet to come at a later time, as being near and among them, but also coming to fulfillment in the future. Meaning the kingdom is here but not in its full maturity. The kingdom of God is, in other words, both now and not yet. The kingdom is now in the sense that the messianic age of the future is coming to fulfillment in the now. The signs of God's shalom and the coming new creation, physical healings, deliverances of the heart and mind, forgiveness, compassionate love, revelations that lead to transformation. Consider the woman at the well in John 4:1 42 Nathaniel under the fig tree in John 1:47 50. These were miracles of revelation that led to transformation. Then there are miracles and words of knowledge, gifts that could only be given by the Spirit, and they are everywhere. But the kingdom is also not yet. According to Jesus, the kingdom is here, but is also yet to come in its fullness. A dear friend says that the kingdom of God is the world as it was meant to be. But the world is still not as it was meant to be. The world is still in pain. I you we're still in pain. We still have trouble. It is not only the will of God that is being done. The will of individuals is also being done, leading to divorce, family strife, war, murder, hatred and brokenness. Even as God's will is being done by individuals and communities devoted to Him. Marriages fail after long struggles, mental and emotional health issues distress even long time and devoted followers of Jesus. Terrorist acts leave families devastated and the innocent taken too soon from this life. I pray for someone and they are not healed. In fact, they may die. The world is not as it should be. Why is the world in such rough shape if the kingdom of God is among us? The world as it should be, is yet to be. John Wimber had this to say about what the kingdom being among us means. When Jesus said that the kingdom of God had come in him, he claimed for himself the position of a divine invader coming to set everything straight. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work in the now. Jesus is the divine invader and God's kingdom is coming in this, this moment. And for those who follow him, we are looking for signs of his kingdom breaking in where we can partner with him in bringing the future kingdom yet to come in its fullness into the now. Let's pray this prayer together. Lord Jesus, I feel the tension of living between the times in the now. And the not yet of the kingdom of God, give me grace today to see the now of your kingdom and patience to bear with the long hope in the kingdom yet to come. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. So here are your journal prompts for your all the things journal. In what ways are you seeing the kingdom now manifest right in front of you? Second question in what ways are you seeing the kingdom not yet all around you? And the third prompt is this for your journal. After you've answered these two, write down a now and not yet prayer that emerges from your reflection. And today's activation is this. Today ask the Lord to show you how his kingdom is breaking in like a divine invader in the lives of those around you. When you see a glimmer of the work the Holy Spirit is doing, take a risk. Tell the person you see God is at work in their life. Don't be shy. You can text it, you can write a letter about it, or you can ask the person to lunch. People need to know. They need to hear that God is at work in their lives. So today's entry was maybe a reality check. Locating ourselves in the midst of this kingdom now and not yet story that we're in. And sometimes when we pray in our all the things everyday ministry in the power of the spirit experience with Jesus, we're going to see amazing things happen. That is all packed into this idea that when we say may I pray for you, we're opening a door to all sorts of possibilities of ways that God wants to move in someone's life, then at the same time we are living in locating ourselves in a kingdom world that is not yet in its fullness. We still have tears in our eyes. And though the scripture says every tear will be wiped away, we cry and we weep for now. We also know that though the scripture says, you know, we'll see him face to face one day. Now, as Paul said, we see in part. We see through a glass, dimly, darkly. And in many experiences that I've had praying for those who are sick, ministering to those who are in need, the answer doesn't show up right away. Or the answers that I would like to to be made real in that moment aren't the ones that Jesus is bringing in that moment. And it's then that we have to trust, brothers and sisters. We have to trust that Jesus is with us, Jesus is in us. Jesus Kingdom is moving forward and we are participating in something that God is doing that we often don't fully understand. But we stay in the game Because Jesus sees the end from the beginning. The Father is doing things all around us. The Spirit is empowering us to participate with Jesus in the work of ministry that he, by His Spirit is doing through us. And when we remember that this is Jesus doing his ministry through us and this is not about us being effective or super Christians or professional Christians. It's not about us doing everything perfectly or seeing results to every prayer that we pray immediately. When we recognize that it's Jesus doing the work of ministry through us, we can rest in knowing that he is about a bigger story. We don't need to be afraid. As we say, we don't understand. We don't know why Jesus doesn't heal everyone immediately. We don't know why sometimes he does. And, and why that person and not another person who we might think is really worthy of it really should be healed. Well, it's because the kingdom is now and not yet. Because the story that God is weaving in lives is so much bigger and broader and more expansive and to us more mysterious, but to him more beautiful than we could ever know, we could ever even ask or imagine. As the scripture says. So today we carry Jesus in us and he carries us because we are in him. And we move forward into the world with faith, with hope, with love, in the humility and gentleness of Jesus, listening for his voice, learning to discern his voice from our own, and ministering to others in Jesus name. Well, let me take us to our hymn for today. It's a beautiful Sunday for us to meet with God and to worship with God's people. And I want to lead us in the hymn O Worship the King. Because many times I found in the midst of the challenges I face, seeing more of the not yet of the kingdom than the current of the kingdom. I have often found that when I move into a place of worship, my heart opens, I find peace again. I find my orientation in Jesus. And so let's worship together. We will sing all the verses and it is hymn number 11 in our great Redeemer's praise. All right. Let's worship together.
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O worship the King all glorious above O gratefully sing his power and his love Our shield and defender the ancient days Pavilion in splendor and girded with praise O tell of his might O sing of his grace Whose robe is the light Whose canopy space his chariots of wrath the deep thunder clouds form and dark is his path on the wings of the storm the earth with its store of wonders untold Almighty Thy power hath found it of old Hath established it fast by a changeless decree and round it path cast like a mantle the sea thy bountiful care what tongue can recite it breathes in the air it shines in the light it streams from the hills it descends to the plain and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain Frail children of dust and feeble as frail in thee do we trust Nor find thee to fail thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end Our Maker, defender, Redeemer and friend
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what a beautiful hymn. Well, today we are a royal priesthood. A holy nation. A people belonging to God. We've been called out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now we go into the world like stars shining in the sky. And. And we carry the kingdom in us, with us. Because Jesus is in us and with us. He wants to minister to others through us in his all the things. All right, let's get our seeds together and I'll see you on the field for the awakening. I'm Dan.