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CONSECRATE
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.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
HEAR
Luke 13:18–21 NIV
Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.”
Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
CONSIDER
I witnessed this up close and personal last week in a Starbucks. I got there early because I do try to practice what I preach every single day (a.k.a. Wake up, sleeper . . .) because these Wake-Up Calls don’t write themselves. “What’s early for you?” I hear you asking. Well, let’s just say this is the only Starbucks I’ve ever seen that opens at 4:30 a.m.
It turns out this is the busiest Starbucks in the country. As I walked in there were ten—count them—ten employees and in Waffle House form they all shouted “Good Morning” to me, the first and only customer at opening bell. As I got my coffee (Grande Soy Chai with Five Pumps, an Espresso Shot, No Water, Extra Hot) and took a seat, employee number eleven appeared.
Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.”
Employee #11 will henceforth be known as the Mustard Seed.
This young woman was nothing short of extraordinary. For the next four hours I had a front row seat on nothing short of a demonstration plot of the kingdom of God blowing up at 555 Cool Springs Blvd. in Franklin, Tennessee. The Mustard Seed loved every single person who walked through the door. As she “saw” each person, I could almost see her heart going out of her body to welcome them. About every tenth customer she knew personally, calling their name, and pulling half of them into a full embrace. I was mesmerized as one woman came through the door who had obviously not been around in a while. The Mustard Seed became overwhelmed with the hospitality of heaven as something like a prodigal-son-comes-home party broke out around the mobile order pick-up counter. As I looked closer I could see tears in the eyes of the customer. As the Mustard Seed locked eyes with her, now holding both of her hands, I found myself beginning to tear up.
“It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.”
Meanwhile, there is a line of cars completely circling the building while the line of patrons is stretching out the door. Friends, I’ve been to a lot of busy Starbucks over the years—nothing even comes close to this experience I had on Wednesday morning. The Mustard Seed had become a mighty tree. Her hospitality was contagious as she moved from serving drinks to cleaning counters to making sure the shelves were filled with water bottles. Then it hit me—the other ten employees were playing off of her ethos and energy as we all like birds perched in the branches. It was a vibe. Everybody in there felt like a Wake-Up Call Sower rolling up into the Gillett Methodist Church on a Sunday morning and being swarmed by love (which happens about every week now, by the way).
That’s the kingdom of God—the very vibe of heaven.
And it starts with the smallest seed.
And it could be coming to a Starbucks near you or a jail or a hospital or a nursing home or an elementary school or a hardware store or (your daily grind here).
I’ll have to say, it was the only time the $7 coffee has been truly worth it. And I’ll be back tomorrow.
PRAY
Lord Jesus, you are the tiny Mustard Seed. You are the Great Tree. You are the Kingdom of God. And you are in me. Indeed you are in us together. Come, Holy Spirit, and bring this vibe in and around and through me every single day and every place I go. Awaken me to the possibilities of what you can do with a single seed. Grace me to be the seed today. It will be for your glory, for others’ gain, and for my good—and in your name, Jesus.
JOURNAL
Journal out a story where you have witnessed such a surprising in-breaking of the kingdom of God in an everyday setting on earth.
SING
Today, we will sing a couple of choruses: “Praise the Name of Jesus” and “He Is Lord.” These simple words are printed below.
“Praise the Name of Jesus”
Praise the name of Jesus,
Praise the name of Jesus.
He’s my Rock, He’s my Fortress,
He’s my Deliverer.
In Him will I trust.
Praise the name of Jesus.
“He Is Lord”
He is Lord! He is Lord!
He is risen from the dead and He is Lord!
Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
John David (J. D.) Walt Jr. is the Sower-in-Chief for Seedbed and the pastor of the Gillett Methodist Church in Gillett, Arkansas.
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9 Responses
That’s what I’m talkiin’ about. I believe that every church in America should be like the Starbucks that JD described. The pastor should be like the Mustard Seed woman actively and passionately demonstrating the love, humility, and service of Jesus to every person present and inspiring them to get off their seats and do the same for others. The kingdom of God is Spirit-prompted interactive caring and community not religiously compelled silent and passive conformity. O that pastors would train and release Christians to actively demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit in church instead of merely sitting through another religious lecture!
Parts 1 and 2 have landed with a thump in my heart as have your words. Rising from our seats! Actively and passionately demonstrating the love, humility, and service of Jesus. Thank you, Steve and J.D. See you in the field sowing for Jesus.
AMEN!!!
THE JUNIOR HIGH MEN OF ASBURY UMC DENTON
When I was a youth pastor at the church where I received the anointing from Pastor Jerry Simmons, I adapted a Bible study from the movie “The Matrix”. The junior high men received it and, with childlike faith, became zealous for the Holy Spirit and began to take it into the school with them.
I treated them as equals. Equal to me and with Christ. They began to lay hands on their friends at school and caught fire. Miraculous healings were performed. Eyebrows raised. I do not know how that revival continued because the people became fearful and angry.
I stepped down and left the church and began to drink and smoke my pain away. My ego was bruised and my heartbroken. But I would find out later that those men remembered me into adulthood. I know because one of their mothers told me when I was visiting my parents church in Hobbs, New Mexico. A place where she also visited because she had family there.
Mustard seeds grow into mustard seed trees. I don’t know where they are today, but I do know that their faith was/is something that saved my life from total debauchery. To know that those young men did pick up their cross and continue to work in the steps of discipleship to the one and only risen Lord. Is something that I hold dear today?
Praise God!
I work in the oilfield service industry. When my dad was still alive, he took the opportunity to hang a small wooden cross in my trucks rear view mirror. I can only give that cross the credit for the magnetic appeal for oil drilling rig employees that come to my truck to share their life stories with me. Once I was called at 2 o’clock in the morning to a small service job at a oilfield location. My attitude was not good as I drove up on location. I was immediately greeted as I got out of my truck, by a young man who had searched me out to talk at previous visits. He excitedly told me of accepting Jesus as his Savior. Afterwards, he returned to work, I immediately realized, that my 2 o’clock callout was not about my sleep being interrupted or what little pay I would receive for my work. It was about Jesus and how He blessed me to be part of his plan. And oh yeah, I now know I was experiencing “Wake up sleeper, and Christ will shine on you.” 😂
Here isn’t example of exactly what you were talking about. While I was caring for my husband with Alzheimer’s, I had a caregiver come to my house each morning at 8 o’clock until noon and each time she open the door she would call my name and would come in with the biggest smile on her face. Only for those whose name is no longer said by your loved one it means the world just have someone call your name. Her name is Joy and she is a wonderful woman of God. I am so blessed to have had her to walk with me through this lonely valley.
“He is Lord” is number 268 in Our Great Redeemer’s Praise
Amen great messssage . I can’t always get to u every day. I’m do catch up during the week. Thank you for all u do