← The Wake-Up Call
The Wake-Up Call
The Mark of a True Friend
00:21:37
Grace me to be a better friend to others—to listen deeply, to take the time to see into them, and to call forth their deepest and truest self.
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Foreign.
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Sower nation. It is Tuesday, January 20th, in the year of our Lord 2026. I'm John David Walt, and this is your wake up call. And we got good things lined up today. Of course, you know, Tuesday is the International Day for tacos. It's Taco Tuesday. Dad's already here with me and he's lined up with our song today. And we got a. One of my favorite entries. We're going to talk about friendship today from Proverbs, Man. How we need friends and how we love friends and how we grieve when we lose friends. But before any of that, we need to enter into the day through the doorway of consecration. So 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. All right, we're in. We are in the grand hall of Transformation now, where we're going to behold Revelation. We're going to respond with all that we are. And then that's going to lead us outward into the world of demonstration where we're going to sow for a great awakening today. That's it. Consecration, transformation, demonstration. Wake up, grow up, light up. That's our agenda today. So today's entry is entitled the Mark of a True Friend. And our text is Proverbs, chapter 20. I'm hoping you've read the whole chapter or you're going to or listened to it. Proverbs chapter 20. The verse we're going to focus on today is verse five. Hear now the Word of the Lord. The purposes of a person's heart are deep waters. But one who has insight draws them out. The Word of the Lord. Now consider this. I will always remember the words of one of my mentors to me. After a long and challenging conversation, he said, john David, you are a very complex and complicated person. To which he added, and that's about the nicest thing I can say about you. Whether he meant it as a compliment or not, the longer I live, the more I know that it is true. And if you're honest, it's true about you too. We are complex, complicated people. We have the capacity for incredible goodness, yet the possibility of profound self deception. Today's text says as much. The purposes of a person's heart are deep waters. In short, at times it can be Next to impossible. For me to know the purposes of my own heart. I need help. I need wisdom. Left to myself, my own inner complexities can lead to a veritable hairball of confusion. You too. But one who has insight draws them out. What I need most is a person of insight. What I most need is a friend. Years ago, I read a book by Eugene, the late Eugene Peterson, whom I considered to be a literary mentor. I got to meet him and correspond with him a little bit, but the book was called Leap Over a Wall. Earthy Spirituality for Everyday Christians. I heartily recommend it. It's a book on the life of David. In the book, he walks through 1 and 2 Samuel and the life of David. In one of the chapters, he writes about friendship through the lens of the relationship between Jonathan and David. Now I'm going to quote him at length here. Each of us has contact with hundreds of people who never look beyond our surface appearance. We have dealings with hundreds of people who, the moment they set their eyes on us, begin calculating what use we can be to them, what they can get out of us. We meet hundreds of people who take one look at us, make a snap judgment, and then slot us into a category so that they won't have to deal with us as persons. They treat us as something less than we are. And if we're in constant association with them, we become less. And then someone enters our life who isn't looking for someone to use, is leisurely enough to find out what's really going on in us, is secure enough not to exploit our weaknesses or attack our strengths. Recognizes our inner life and understands the difficulty of living out our inner convictions. Confirms what's deepest within us. A friend. The purposes of a person's heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out. That's a friend. Then Peterson quoted the great Jewish theologian Martin Buber. This is so good, he says. The Buber said, the greatest thing any person can do for another is to confirm the deepest thing in him, in her. To take the time and have the discernment to see what's most deeply there, most fully. That person, and then confirm it by recognizing and encouraging it. We are prone to think of insight as some kind of mystical quality possessed by the few. The truth. Insight comes to those willing to take the time to see into something or someone. People who will take the time, quoting Buber, take the time and have the discernment to see what is most deeply there. That's a friend. These people are few and far between. The good news you can be one of those kind of people today. I can too. It's the. It's the greatest gift we can give to one another. Lets pray. Abba Father, thank you for the gift of friendship. Thank you for your son Jesus who said I no longer call you servants, instead I call you friends. Grace me to be a better friend to others, to listen deeply, to take the time to see into them and to call forth their deepest and truest self and bring those people into my life as well who can do the same for me. We all pray for our friends, for more friends and to be a better friend. And we pray in our great friend Jesus name. Amen. Journal prompts Today who has been this kind of friend in your life and who have you been this kind of friend to? And then how might I become a person of insight in this way, man? Isn't that good? This is. This has got to be one of my favorite entries ever. What a friend, what a friend. And, and you know, when g what a friend. There's that hymn we're going to sing in a minute. What a friend we have in Jesus. But when Jesus is in us, you know what we become? We become super friends. Remember that? I love that about those early cartoons of Superman and Batman and Robin and Aquaman and all those superheroes on the cartoons on Saturday morning. I love that. That cartoon wasn't called superheroes, it was called Super Friends. Just now hits me like they call that Super Friends. Well, when Jesus is in us, that's what we become because he raises our own love and power to the level. He raises our own capacities to the power of his love. And he starts attending to other people, seeing other people, listening to other people in us and through us. Wow, what a deal. You know, back in the gospel series, you may remember, as we were coming through John's Gospel, I issued the little challenge to any kids out in the sower nation who would remember Eyes the seven I am sayings of Jesus and then actually get their parents permission, get them to take a video and send it in. And I said, you know, if you do that, I will send you a set of our flashcards that are coming out. And I got some great submissions. Well, I said, the first what dozen or so? I'll send you free cards. But I went ahead and sent free cards to every one of the kids that sent them in anyway. Those kids. It was beautiful. And you know what? I'm going to try to share that video. I'll either share it at the end of this or I'll Put it on our Facebook group love for you to go. Check that out. That's the best group on the whole Facebook. Okay? You will not find more love in Facebook than you'll find in the Wake Up Call Facebook group. You gotta. You gotta kind of make say, I want to join. We'll let you in. You know, we made these flashcards, and they're just. They're just gorgeous. Just, you know, like, you see, this one says, you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. Anyway, that's just a little. Little pitch for the. For the flashcards. Lots of people ordered them. I go over these every week. I want you to get a set. If you hadn't got one, I'll put a link in the bio, in the. In the. In the notes today. Dad said. He's sitting here. He said, I want to get me a set. I can hook you up, dad. Now, here's why I told the story. One of the young ladies at the end of the video where she's saying, you know, I am the the way and the truth and the life. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the true vine. And she remembered one of the things I was teaching in John. And she said. And JD said, I am the true friend. Talking about Jesus. And I'm like, wow, she heard that teaching. And I actually said. I'm like, you know, I'm not one to correct or add to the words of Jesus, but, you know, he didn't say it in these words, but he said it with his whole life. I. I am the true friend. And Jesus says to you. He says, I am your friend. And how great it is when you're with one of your friends and Jesus is in you. You know what he's saying to your friend? He's saying himself through your voice. I am your friend. He's the true friend. There's nothing better. I mean, he said, I don't even call you guys servants anymore. You're not employees. You're not working for me. We're friends. Everything I have, I've given to you. I've revealed to you. Everything I've learned. I am yours, you are mine. We're friends. That's what we need more of in the world, you know, in our work, in seedbed, one of our deepest values. I often say it like this. Our relationships, which is to say, friendship is the mission, right? It's the means and the end. Friendship is the mission. Because Jesus says, greater love has no one than this. Remember it. To lay down your life, which is to say, give yourself to your friends. To lay down your life for your friends, he said. All right, well, we're about to upgrade the program this morning. Look who's here. He's been patiently listening. He did request to have some flashcards. Dad, your set is right here. We're going to send them home with you today.
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Good, good.
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And we're just give you a complimentary copy because you are a good giver to see bed. Now what are we singing?
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What a friend we have in Jesus.
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What's the number?
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116.
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So any friends come to mind? Who's. Who's your best friend? Who would you say?
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Hmm, I'd have to think on that.
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You know who I thought about of your best friends? I thought about Andrew.
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Andrew Pickens.
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Andrew Pickens, of course. You know who was really one of your best friends? Your brother Martin. Martin.
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Oh yeah.
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We miss him. But he was a true friend to you and the many.
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Martin was as good as they come.
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Good as they come. You know who else I think was a good friend? Benny Estes.
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Benny Estes was a good friend.
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Yeah. And you know who was a good friend, who is a good friend of mine? My first friend. Jeff Estes. Ye son. Yeah, my first friend. I'm a. I duck hunted with Jeff this past weekend and he's a true friend.
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Where is he living?
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He lives in Madison, Mississippi, down outside of Jackson. Yeah, he is a great man, Jeff. In fact he. When we opened up the seed house here, he. He's an insurance man. He sells property. Casualty insurance. He said, I won't cover your insurance, your liability insurance. We couldn't get insurance on the building. There was nobody insure this place. But you know, you got to ensure in case somebody falls. He paid for that policy for this place.
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He did.
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So yeah, if we got something happens to us, he's got us covered. And Mark Williamson, my other friend, is the one that got it for us. You know Mark? I know you know his dad.
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Yeah.
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Mark S. Mark V. Okay, let's sing, dad. All three verses. What a friend we have in Jesus. Ready? Jeff is going to be singing with us. I can hear you, Jeff, even though you can't sing.
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What a friend we have in Jesus all our sins and griefs to bear what a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer O what peace we often forfeit O what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer Every trials and temptations is to trouble anywhere we should never be discouraged Take it to the Lord in prayer can we find a friend who faithful who will all us worlds share? Jesus knows our every weakness Take it to the Lord in prayer Last verse. Are we weak and heavily la Humbered with a load of care? Precious Savior still our refuge Take it to the Lord in prayer do thy friends despise, forsake thee Take it to the Lord in prayer in his arms he'll take and shield Thee will find us solace there. Amen.
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Well, we need more. You can't have too many friends, can you?
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No. Because you're going to lose some.
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You're going to lose some. That's a sad truth. Good gosh, sometimes you lose them to death. And sometimes they just.
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You just don't know why you lost it.
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You don't know why they just. They leave you. And I never want to leave a friend, even if I've been left by one. There's always hope coming back. All right, everybody, that's a wrap for today. Thanks for joining us on this Tuesday. It's going to be a good day. We've had consecration, we've had transformation. Now we're moving into the fields for demonstration, sewing for a great awakening. So for The Awakening, I'm J.D. walt.
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And I'm David.
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Walt. And we will see you. Where we going to see him?
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On the field. On the field. We got a bunch of fields.
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Ra.