The Measuring Stick of Transformational Growth

0:00Good morning, friends of Jesus and friends of mine. It is Thursday, March the 26th in the year of our Lord, 2026. I'm John David Walt, and this is your wake-up call. So whether you're in the pre-dawn hours in your home, some of you are still grabbing that cup first cup, second first cup, second cup of coffee and you're sitting up right in the bed. Others of you are sitting in the back seat of a minivan on the way to school. We're in all sorts of places and stations, but we're all doing the same thing together. We're waking up to Jesus today.

1:01He's just gently kind of saying, let's go, it's time to get up, we've got good to do today. And I'm excited to be here with you. I'm honored to get to share this space every day with you. And I just want to keep encouraging you to invite new friends to join us. We're on a mission. We're on a mission. It's the journey of awakening. I say it's the awakening is the journey of love from Jesus to a person, through a person, through a person, through a person, to a person, and it keeps on going. That's how it came to us and he comes through us to others. So there's no substitute, you know, we don't do mass gimmick marketing at the wake-up call.

2:06It's through, it's to a person, it's through a person. We try to find ways to encourage people, but you are the sores. And again, we're getting ready to embark on this Easter season on the wake-up call. It's on the letter to the Ephesians, starts April the 6th. And I'd love for you to grab a, if you, I think we're doing the buy one, so one. If you buy one of our wake-up call, I call it a workbook, I'm not sure what to call it. It's really a party book. It's got all the entries in it. It has the journal space, wide margins, lots of space, every entry. It's got weekly discussion, a meeting set up. It's going to have a video every week of a little teaching from me to help a group get started and go in and talk in and pray in and learning.

3:10There's just, it's full of, of blessing these things are. And if you get one, we'll send you another one, you can share that one with a friend. Anyway, thanks for bearing with me here. I like to try to get straight into it. Sometimes I know I can say too many things and you're like, come on, can we get to the point? We're up to meet with Jesus. Not to hear about what's next week or next month. Thanks for just bearing with me. That's what I appreciate. Oh, here we go. 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.

4:11I 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. Today's entry is entitled, the measuring stick of transformational growth. And our text is 1 Corinthians 13 verses 4 through 8 here now, the Word of the Lord. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs.

5:13Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. The Word of the Lord. Now consider this, though it is unclear exactly what the Beatles meant when they said that all we need is love. They were exactly right. And to be sure definitions matter, for love has come to mean so many things that it means nothing definitively at all. We must peer behind the translated English word love to see the word chosen for our text

6:16in the original Greek language. The Greek word hiding behind the translated English word love, appearing or referenced some 21 times in this chapter of only 13 verses is agape or SCS Lewis would say agape. It means in short divine love, we are talking about the love of God. Now back to the question, transformational question number one, are you growing? My impulse was to measure myself against this marker of divine love. So I created a measuring stick of sorts first. I took the text that we read today and I inserted a blank everywhere the word love was written

7:22or referenced blank is patient blank is kind blank does not envy blank does not boast blank is not proud blank does not dishonor others blank is not self seeking blank is not easily angered blank keeps no record of wrong you get my point. Now second, I wrote my name in each of the blanks and then I read the paragraph allowed to see if I could pass the straight face test and learned that in law schools call the straight face test can you stand in front of the judge and make this argument while keeping a straight face then it hit me I was doing it all wrong. I was attempting to measure my performance against a divine standard here's the example John David is patient John David is kind John David does not envy John David does not

8:22both John David is not proud John David does not dishonor others John David is not self seeking John David is not easily angered you see John David always protects always trust John David always hopes John David always persevere I was trying to man you see now if you're you're listening but if you're watching you you're seeing I can't keep a straight face even reading that out loud okay that you get my point but I was doing it all wrong I was attempting to measure my performance against a divine standard so you see the Christian life is not about my performance but Jesus presence and power so I added another step in each of the blanks I had made I entered another name and he guesses as to whose name Jesus is patient Jesus

9:26is kind Jesus does not envy Jesus does not boast Jesus is not proud Jesus does not dishonor others Jesus is not self seeking Jesus is not easily angered Jesus keeps no record of wrongs Jesus does not delight in evil but Jesus rejoices with the truth Jesus always protects Jesus always trusts Jesus always hopes Jesus always perseveres Jesus never fails now Q are adapted declaration of Colossians 127 you where you put your name in there first you remember Maxi the secret is simply this John David the secret is simply this Christ in you yes Christ in

10:30you bringing with him the hope of all the glorious things to come and if Jesus is agape love and Jesus is in me I am agape love Jesus is the performer the worker the doer I am the participant the follower the friend he is the revelation I am the responder my life now becomes a studied participation in his life and empowered improvisation of his craft and infused reception and profused

11:38demonstration of his love and that's this is the truth gang this this is the gospel my life now becomes a study to participation in his life and empowered improvisation of his craft and infused reception and profused demonstration of his love the secret is Jesus in me in you that's why the awakening is the journey of love from Jesus to a person through a person to a person through a person I gotta stop let's pray our Father thank you for your son Jesus Lord Jesus your life is the vision of love

12:46we want to behold this vision in broad expanse and super up close how wide and how high and how deep and how long we want to become this kind of love so calm holy spirit and reveal it and unveil it in and and through us praying in Jesus name today oh man this is this is it gang this is why we came journal prompts can you remember I said I interestingly I said our life becomes a studied participation in his life here's a way to get at that can you remember a Jesus story

13:54for each of the dynamics of love listed in 1 Corinthians 13 can you find one if you can't remember one there's just so many situations you know he's he's sitting down by the woman by the well he's he's there with the woman caught in adultery he's he's going up to to Zacchaeus up in the tree he he's talking to a Roman centurion there's so many situations that demonstrate those dynamics of love and and this is what I mean by studied participation we're just getting down on the ground that's why we did that gospel series so we could just get down on the ground every day and say Jesus show me how you do it show me what you

14:54mean here show me what you were thinking about how'd you come up with that because that's how he wants to do the very things he did he wants to do keep doing even greater things he said in us through us all right we're going to sing today we're going to pick back up on our I loved our little medley we had going yesterday I mean reverse the songs but we're going to go to 502 come ye sinners poor and needy and then we're going to sing the second verse on that one and then we're going to go back to 121 oh the deep deep love of Jesus and we're going to sing the second verse on that one so sound good that's not here today I know I'm hearing about it like where is he what happened

15:58bringing back he's coming back so let's let's sing 502 verse 2 121 verse 2 come he thirsty come and welcome gods free bounty glorify true belief and true repentance every grace that brings you night I will arise and go to Jesus he will embrace me in his arms in the arms of my dear savior oh there are 10,000 charms oh 121 oh the deep deep love of Jesus spread

17:04his praise from shore to shore how he loved with ever love with change it's never never more how he watches or his loved ones died to call them all his own how for them he intercedes watch death or them from the throne again I will arise and go to Jesus he will embrace me in his arms

18:06in the arms of my dear savior oh there are 10,000 charms oh this is a medley guys we're creating a medley together I bet it's never been done these two songs in tandem like that and there's a there's a third little chorus that why don't we just tack it on here maybe you know the words I love you Lord and I lift my voice to worship you oh my soul rejoice take joy my king

19:11in what you hear and may it be a sweet sweet sound in your ear well remember if Jesus is a God I love and we know that he is and Jesus is in you and me then you are a God I love and I am a God I love we just got to rise up into it that's that's what discipleship means that's what transformation means not trying harder to do more to be better that's self-improvement

20:11but waking up rising up shining out that's Jesus in us is learning to participate with his presence his very personhood by the power of the Holy Spirit in and through our lives all right it's gonna be a good Thursday we're going out there with those seed thoughts I've got my seeds you get your seeds for the awakening I'm JD walked and I'll see you on the field you