From Amazing Grace to Astonishing Grace | The Wake-Up Call 4/20/2026

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00][music] >> Well, good morning, sojourner nation. I pushed record before I was even ready to roll. So, I'm trying to get my act together as we wake up on this Monday morning.

[00:00:17]It is Monday, April the 20th in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 2026.

[00:00:28]We're in the days of Easter.

[00:00:31]We're right now living in the 40 days between the resurrection of Jesus and his ascension to the right hand of God in the heavens.

[00:00:43]And man, he he he he opened up a way for us to be in heaven with him while we're on earth. So much so that we can actually live on earth as it is in heaven.

[00:01:00]And he poured out his spirit 10 days later, set the thing on fire.

[00:01:05]It's still burning, guys.

[00:01:07]I mean burning.

[00:01:09]And >> [sighs] >> so, it's it's good news. It's all good news.

[00:01:15]It's not all easy, you know, what's the saying? It's not all easy sledding, but it's all good news.

[00:01:23]And we're moving into week three of unpuzzled, of our journey through Ephesians, where Paul is putting the gospel, the pieces of the whole cosmos back together, Jesus at the center.

[00:01:37]So, we're going to start a new week with a fresh consecration.

[00:01:41]Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

[00:01:49]Jesus, I belong to you.

[00:01:56]I lift up my heart to you.

[00:02:01]I set my mind on you.

[00:02:05]I fix my eyes on you.

[00:02:10]I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice, Jesus.

[00:02:17]We belong to you, and we're praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[00:02:28]Amen.

[00:02:31]I feel like when when I say that ending, like we're praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I feel like I just stepped into the middle of that circle.

[00:02:40]They're encircling and indwelling.

[00:02:43]And all day long, we're just moving about that circle.

[00:02:48]We're just moving about tabernacles. That's the tabernacle.

[00:02:56]And heaven is streaming through it.

[00:02:59]Everywhere we go, heaven goes.

[00:03:02]That's the picture of the New Testament church.

[00:03:06]Okay.

[00:03:07]And now we're we're we're we're rolling on Monday.

[00:03:13]Our entry today is entitled from amazing grace to astonishing grace. Our text, hey, chapter 3 of Ephesians, verses 1 through 6.

[00:03:30]Any you kids out there riding on the way to school, listen to the wake up call, I just want to say a special word to you today. I see you. I love you. I like you, and I'm proud of you. That's what the Lord's saying over you, too. He's like, I'm proud of you.

[00:03:45]You're going today to be filled with me in that school. Everywhere you go in school today, heaven goes, cuz heaven's in you.

[00:03:54]You're a temple of the living God. Here we go. Hear now the word of the Lord.

[00:03:59]For this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly.

[00:04:20]When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

[00:04:38]This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

[00:04:58]The word of the Lord.

[00:05:01]Now, consider this.

[00:05:03]What a phrase.

[00:05:05]The stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you.

[00:05:15]If I'm honest, and you know, I try to be, I typically think of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for me.

[00:05:27]>> [laughter] >> Isn't that the point of amazing grace? I once was lost, but now I'm found.

[00:05:35]Was blind, but now I see.

[00:05:39]This, of course, is true as it comes to the first half of the gospel.

[00:05:48]But this phrase, the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, is all about the second half of the gospel.

[00:06:01]While I'm on the topic, let me flesh out this first half, second half distinction a bit more.

[00:06:10]First half, justification.

[00:06:14]Second half, sanctification.

[00:06:18]First half, John 3:16, right? For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

[00:06:32]Second half, 1 John 3:16.

[00:06:37]This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

[00:06:44]Therefore, we must lay down our lives for one another.

[00:06:50]First half, the new birth. Second half, fully mature. First half, Lord, you took me out of Egypt. Second half, now take Egypt out of me. First half, baptism by water.

[00:07:08]Second half, baptism by fire.

[00:07:12]First half, I am loved by God.

[00:07:16]Second half, I am becoming the love of God for others. First half, God gives us grace for the sake of ourselves. Second half, God gives us grace for the sake of others. You see the point, don't you?

[00:07:37]It's those brothers and sisters who press on into the second half of the gospel, who steward the grace of God for the sake of those who haven't yet entered into the first half.

[00:07:55]This is precisely Paul's point with respect to the Gentiles.

[00:08:02]All of this brings me to the overarching and underlying reason for the stewardship we are attempting to exercise with Seedbed, with Wake-Up Call, with the New Room.

[00:08:16]The world, here it is, the world will awaken to the first half of the gospel when our churches awaken to the second half of the gospel.

[00:08:30]>> [snorts] >> The so-called unbelievers will believe when the so-called believers wake up. Have you considered what might be the stewardship of God's grace given to you for others?

[00:08:50]If amazing grace is God's grace to me for my own sake, then the grace given to me for the sake of others must be astonishing grace.

[00:09:07]Man, this may be one of my favorite ever.

[00:09:10]But let's pray. Father, we thank you for your son, Jesus, who reveals to us the fullness of grace as both a gift to receive and a gift to give.

[00:09:25]Would you teach us this way of stewarding the grace given to us for the sake of others?

[00:09:35]We pray in Jesus' name.

[00:09:38]Amen.

[00:09:42]Journal prompts today, I got three of them. Number one, how are you grasping the grace of God for the sake of your own repentance and transformation?

[00:09:55]Number two, how are you stewarding the grace of God given to you for the sake of others?

[00:10:06]And number three.

[00:10:08]How do you reflect on this journey into the second half of the gospel?

[00:10:16]How does it challenge you?

[00:10:21]Y'all, I feel like this This is I think this is why our little company was raised up.

[00:10:33]To help the church awaken to the second half of the gospel.

[00:10:43]I'm going to put a little video link in the day's email.

[00:10:48]It's going to take you all the way back to like Seedbed day number one 14 years ago.

[00:10:55]I got a little chalkboard and I drew a picture and I told a story and I I put some research behind it.

[00:11:04]And everybody who sees it gets it and they're like, yep, that's it.

[00:11:10]And I I feel like we've we kind of left that chalkboard back on day one. I mean, I keep talking about it. I You're going to notice I looked a lot younger back then, but I feel like the Lord has said to me as I've come back into the leadership of Seedbed, it's time to do the things we've left undone.

[00:11:35]And this second half of the gospel piece is central.

[00:11:41]It's core.

[00:11:44]And you know, what I all what I always say is the And and the And the research the data is very clear.

[00:11:53]Church is stuck in the first half stuck right at the end of the first half of the gospel.

[00:11:58]We're not making progress.

[00:12:01]And the reason we're not making progress in the second half of the gospel is because we don't have the kind of relationships it takes to sustain ongoing and long-term transformation metamorpho-o. It's not a It's not an individual. It's not solo sports team game.

[00:12:26]You know, we're justified by grace through faith before God alone.

[00:12:32]We're only sanctified together.

[00:12:36]And this is where the thing I talked about yesterday. If you didn't get to hear Sunday, go listen to Sunday's wake-up call. It's one of my favorites, too.

[00:12:45]It's about banded discipleship. You see, we created banded discipleship.

[00:12:52]That's like the vehicle That's the car, the truck. You got to get in that with a few other people to move through the second half of the gospel.

[00:13:03]That's why that's so crucial to it.

[00:13:06]Forming a band.

[00:13:08]And of course, the second half of the gospel, I talked about this last week.

[00:13:13]It really only begins when we reach that place of holy discontent. Like, I feel like I'm stuck. I know there's more. I just can't seem to get to it.

[00:13:28]Okay, holy discontent.

[00:13:32]This is the stuff, guys.

[00:13:35]And we're going together. You're going with me. I know you are. I'm going with you.

[00:13:41]And let's just be praying. I'm asking for your prayers. I feel like this is the the the the calling God's put on my life and I'm trying to steward this grace for the sake of others. This just hit me as I was working through this today. This is it.

[00:14:01]>> [sighs] >> So, um it being Monday, we're going to sing our Monday song.

[00:14:08]We've been singing it a couple of weeks now. It's a chorus. I'll print the words. You know it by now.

[00:14:15]It's called Open the Eyes of My Heart.

[00:14:18]That's what it's going to take, guys. I can't persuade you of this.

[00:14:22]Holy Spirit has to do it.

[00:14:25]Holy Spirit has to open the eyes of our heart. Has to give us the sense of the vision of it and the the hunger and the longing to go for it.

[00:14:34]And he will.

[00:14:36]He loves to answer that prayer. That's That's Paul's first prayer for great awakening in Ephesians. Second one's in chapter three. We're going to get there this week, I think.

[00:14:46]But that first prayer he says, I pray that the eyes of your heart would be opened.

[00:14:53]All right, let's just sing it a little bit here. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.

[00:14:59]Would you open the eyes of my heart?

[00:15:04]I want to see you.

[00:15:09]I want to see you.

[00:15:14]Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.

[00:15:19]Open the eyes of my heart.

[00:15:23]I want to see you.

[00:15:27]I want to see you.

[00:15:32]To see you high and lifted up, shining in the light of your glory.

[00:15:43]Pour out your power and love as we sing holy, holy, holy.

[00:15:54]Holy, holy, holy.

[00:15:59]Holy, holy, holy.

[00:16:04]You are holy, holy, holy.

[00:16:10]I want to see you.

[00:16:15]Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.

[00:16:20]Would you open the eyes of my heart?

[00:16:25]I want to see you.

[00:16:31]I want to see you.

[00:16:38]Amen.

[00:16:40]You can keep singing that.

[00:16:43]I could hear some of you harmonizing with me out there today.

[00:16:47]That's the song for the road.

[00:16:51]It's something, you know, you're going down the way and you're like, I want to see you in the people that I'm coming across.

[00:17:00]That's what he said. He said, you know, as you've done it to them, that was me.

[00:17:10]So, he's meeting us coming and going.

[00:17:14]So, I'm going to let you out of class a couple minutes early today. You're welcome.

[00:17:19]It's Monday.

[00:17:21]You're probably already behind like I am.

[00:17:24]But that's okay. We're right on time with Jesus. For the awakening, I'm J.D.

[00:17:29]Walt and I'll see you on the field.

[00:17:33]>> [music] [bell] [music and bell]