Awake to God’s Calling

Introduction

• Sleep is not only physical but also spiritual.

• Many live life half-asleep, missing God’s blessings and purposes.

• God sets a feast before us, but we snooze through it.

The Call to Stay Awake

• Jesus warns against spiritual drowsiness:

  • Matthew 26:41 – “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

• Life is like missing your own party because you were asleep.

• Blessings walk past us when we fail to stay spiritually alert.

Scripture’s Alarm Clocks

• Paul shakes the church awake:

  • Ephesians 5:14 – “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

• Jesus’ warning about being found asleep:

  • Mark 13:36 – “Lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping.”

• Proverbs’ rebuke of slumber:

  • Proverbs 6:9 – “How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep?”

Dangers of Spiritual Sleep

• Missed seasons: like a farmer sleeping during planting.

• Opportunities pass by unnoticed.

• Churches asleep become weak and vulnerable.

• Peter’s warning about vigilance:

  • 1 Peter 5:8 – “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

The Joy of Awakening

• Awakening is clarity, not just coffee.

• It means seeing life with God’s perspective.

• Paul reminds us:

  • Romans 13:11 – “It is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.”

• Isaiah’s call to shine:

  • Isaiah 60:1 – “Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.”

• Revelation 3:2 – “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain…”

Living Awake in God’s Presence

• Jesus’ blessing for watchful servants:

  • Luke 12:37 – “Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.”

• Paul’s reminder:

  • 1 Corinthians 15:34 – “Awake to righteousness, and do not sin.”

• God’s Word as guidance:

  • Psalm 119:105 – “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

• Jesus’ abundant life:

  • John 10:10 – “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Awake to God’s Timing

• Time is precious, a gift not to waste.

• Psalm 90:12 – “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

• Awakening means valuing every moment.

Awake to Love and Community

• Love in action, not just words:

  • 1 John 3:18 – “Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”

• The church as light:

  • Matthew 5:14 – “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

• Prayer as a watchful act:

  • Colossians 4:2 – “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.”

• Stirring one another:

  • Hebrews 10:24 – “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.”

Hope and Renewal

• Lamentations 3:23 – “They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”

• God’s mercies wake us with fresh hope daily.

Awakening Builds Strength and Courage

• Courage to face giants:

  • Joshua 1:9 – “Be strong and of good courage…for the Lord your God is with you.”

• True greatness through service:

  • Mark 10:44 – “Whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.”

• Generosity as seed sowing:

  • Luke 6:38 – “Give, and it will be given to you…”

• Living with hope:

  • Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you…to give you a future and a hope.”

Awakening Restores Worship and Forgiveness

• Awake worship is alive, not sleepy:

  • Psalm 150:6 – “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”

• Forgiveness sets us free:

  • Colossians 3:13 – “Even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”

• Trials as teachers:

  • James 1:2-3 – “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”

Living Awake with Vision

• Habakkuk 2:2 – “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets…”

• Psalm 40:3 – “He has put a new song in my mouth—praise to our God.”

• Zechariah 4:10 – “For who has despised the day of small things?”

• Matthew 24:44 – “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Closing Call

• Gratitude:

  • 1 Thessalonians 5:18 – “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

• Endurance:

  • 2 Timothy 4:7 – “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

• Final reminder:

  • 1 Thessalonians 5:6 – “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.”

• Building on the Rock:

  • Matthew 7:24 – “Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

• Resist the enemy:

  • James 4:7 – “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”