The Church Cannot Afford Sleep | Discernment, Holiness, and Staying Awake

In a world overflowing with noise, distraction, outrage, performance, and deception, many believers have slowly drifted into spiritual numbness without even realizing it.

This episode of Unspoken Stewardship is a wake up call.

Dr. Lynn Abies speaks honestly about spiritual passivity, biblical illiteracy, the loss of reverence, and the danger of consuming more content than truth. This conversation confronts the modern Church with both conviction and hope, reminding believers that God is still calling His people to holiness, discernment, prayer, repentance, and intimacy with Him.

This is not an episode rooted in fear.
 It is an invitation to awaken.

If you have felt spiritually exhausted, distracted, distant from God, or hungry for deeper truth, this episode is for you.

The Bible says in Romans 13:11, “The hour has come for you to wake from sleep.”

It is time to return to the Word.
 Return to prayer.
 Return to holiness.
 Return to Christ.

Transcript

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Welcome to Unspoken Stewardship, where faith, culture, and responsibility intersect. Unspoken Stewardship is a thoughtful, honest podcast exploring the responsibilities we carry but rarely discuss. From faith and finances to culture, technology, leadership, and discernment, this podcast examines what it really means to steward our lives with wisdom and integrity. Hosted with depth, clarity, and compassion, each episode invites listeners into conversations that challenge shallow narratives, confront cultural blind spots, and calls us back to faithful living beyond what's preached, hosted, or publicly praised. Hey you guys, my name is Dr. Lynn IBS and welcome back to Unspoken Stewardship. I hope you've been cultivating time to commune with the Lord. And I just hope you've had a good start or end to your week, depending on when you're listening to this. When I was in thought and prayer about this week's episode, I'm gonna keep it real with y'all. Nothing came to me. Not a thing. And one thing I've learned throughout my time and walk with the Lord is that at least for me, when I don't hear from him, I either need to go back to the last thing he told me to, I need to just be still and wait for him, or I just need to be proactive in my day-to-day until he feels like revealing whatever he needs to reveal to me, right? So I said, okay, I'm gonna be still, heard nothing. I'm gonna go through my day-to-day, heard nothing. And at that point, I was just like, okay, well, I'm not releasing a podcast episode. It's that simple to me. Because at the end of the day, I refuse to come on this platform and just have a podcast for the sake of having the podcast. Everything that I do here is unto the Lord for your good, for my good and his glory. So this would never be that. I would never come on this platform and just say stuff just to say stuff, you know? So I was okay with that. And on top of that, I'm wasn't feeling well anyway. So I was just like, all right, cool. And then I just remember just being like, oh, I'm just gonna go back to the last thing he told me to do, which was worship. So I was playing worship music at the house, just praising and worshiping and glorifying and groveling and lamenting and doing all the things. And on top of that, keep in mind, I was not feeling well. So I just remember being like, okay, I'm gonna just keep doing this with joy. And then after it was all said and done, I just remember sensing stay awake. Like I just kept hearing that stay awake. I didn't really know what it meant. At first, I thought it was being him being literal, like, oh, you need to stay up, until I just felt a nudge to open my Bible and I did. And it took me to a few passages, and the things that just kept coming up was just this idea of where today's cultural climate is. Because if we're being real, a lot of us are spiritually exhausted, distracted, emotionally rude, overfed with so much information, underfed in the word, and slowly becoming numb to the presence of God. And the dangerous part is that numbness can start feeling normal. When I was in Romans 13, 11, it says, besides this, you know the time, the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. And it was just very interesting of the choices of words that it was used. It didn't say panic, it didn't say anything about performance, but it was like wake up, you know? And right now, the world is just loud. I think that's the best way I can put it. The world is just loud. Truth is being blurred in so many different directions. People are discipling themselves through algorithms more than through the Bible and through a local church. Many Christians know content creators and their schedules and their communities better than they know the character of God. And yes, God is still calling people unto himself. Not a perfect person, not someone who has it all together, but surrendered people. We don't have just a sin problem. We don't. We have an attention problem. Many believers have slowly drifted into spiritual passivity. We scroll more than we pray, we react more than we repent, we consume so much more than we commune with God. And little by little conviction starts sounding offensive instead of loving to people. But please hear me clearly. God correcting his people is not rejection of any kind, it's a mercy. Even if we look in Hebrews 12, right? It says the Lord disciplines those that he loves. So that means conviction is evidence he still wants us close to him. He still wants us close. Not physically, but spiritually. Even if you go in Matthew 24, he warns about deception. In Matthew 25, he talks about the virgins fall asleep waiting for the bridegroom. In Revelation, churches looked alive outwardly, but inside they were dying. And honestly, that sounds familiar. That sounds like today. Truth be told, we have platforms without prayer, we have visibility without holiness, opinions from everyone all over the world without scripture. We have crowds without discipleship. But God is still building his church straight like that. And I truly believe there is a remnant of believers who are hungry, bro. Like they are hungry for the word, they are hungry. People who want truth, even when it cuts them deep. There are really people who miss reverence. You know what I'm saying? People who want the presence of God more than they want performance and platforms and all this extra stuff. So I really just want you to ask yourself honestly when was the last time you truly sat with God without rushing it? When was the last time the Bible corrected you instead of just comforting you? When was the last time you obeyed quickly? When was the last time you genuinely grieved sin instead of trying to manage it through appearances? Because at the end of the day, Christianity is not this cosmetic transformation, it is death and resurrection. We see that on the cross. And I know y'all are tired of me saying this, but this is why Resurrection Sunday has to be preached every Sunday. It just has to be because when you know the cross, when you know the character of God, you know Christianity. Period. And just three things I want y'all to kind of just shift and rebuild is just return to the Bible before returning to opinions. Return to prayer before any form of systems and strategies, return to holiness before influence. And not to say that any of those things are bad, but it cannot outweigh your time with the Lord, it cannot outweigh more than the command that God has on our lives. And just one spiritual practice you can even practice this week, spend 30 minutes or more this week with no music, no worship pad, no scrolling, no multitasking, just you, the Bible, and God. And for those of you who are have busy schedules, you have children, you have all this stuff, I get it, I understand it, and so does the Lord. But you can create some form of time with the God, even if it means you have to do it in the shower, if you gotta go to bed later, if you gotta wake up earlier, if you gotta do it on the drive. Like, well, don't do that in drive, but just find some time where you can commune with God for at least 30 minutes. The five and 10, 15, 20 minute devotions, they cool and all, but cultivate time to commune with your dad, bro. And just one community step you can take for those of you who have community, and I tell you all the time, community don't have to be a gang of people, but just one trusted believer that you have in your life. Call them and ask them how their soul is. Because we be so busy soaking into our own stuff, and that's legitimate and that's fair. When you're going through stuff, it's hard to pay attention to what is around you. But I think about Ecclesiastes 4 10 when it says, For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow, but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. At the end of the day, we're gonna go through our stuff, but that doesn't mean that we do not cultivate something in our hearts to check on our fellow brothers and sisters because it's in that where you will help them and they will help you too. So yeah, just ask them how their soul is, check on your brothers and sisters, and you'll be surprised how that can shift something in you and for them, right? At the end of the day, the church does not need more hype, we don't need any more unnecessary conferences and events and group meetings and Patreons and all this other stuff. And those stuff are good, there's nothing wrong with that. But we don't need more hype, we need more holy people again, period. We need soft hearts again, we need biblically literate believers again, we need repentance again, courage again, wonder again. Because at the end of the day, Jesus is still worthy, he just is, he's still sovereign, the gospel is still true, and the spirit of God is still able to revive dry bones. Hello? It's like everybody lock in. I just need everybody to lock in, stay awake for real. Stay awake, stay locked in, spend some time with God and check on a brother or sister in Christ. That's all I asked for this week. I'm not about to sit here and break nothing down, I'm not about to sit here and give y'all a whole spiel of a thing. That's not what God told me to do. And all I can do is be obedient to the Lord. I just truly believe that the Lord is raising up a remnant of his people, and you're gonna have to choose. You're going to have to make the choice. Is it yes to God? And I'm gonna do what I can to obey and follow him with joy as best as I can. And it doesn't mean that you won't have your moments where you stumble and fail and go through trials and tribulations, but you still are choosing to say yes to him or you're not. You're either gonna make time for him or you're not. You're either gonna love him or you're not. We're really getting to this point that you're gonna have to make a choice. What you've been doing in your Christian walk is no longer gonna suffice to this season and beyond. It's just not. And I know a lot of y'all don't want to hear that. I know a lot of y'all have every excuse in the book, like, oh, I don't have a church, I don't have community, I don't have this, I don't have that, da da da da da da da da. I hear you. But in the meantime, be faithful to him. In the meantime, get in your word. In the meantime, choose him because it's in you choosing him with love and joy and all the things, everything else start to trickle down. Stay faithful though, endure though. Wait, though, and do it all with love and do it all with joy, and do it all with remembering his character and remembering that he loves you. All of this is for you to be more intimate with him, and all of this is because he loves you, and because he loves you, we should be willing to do all of this with him in mind and with love at the forefront. Okay, so that's all I have. I'ma just be obedient. Whoever this is for, this is who it's for. But yeah, I love y'all. Jesus loves you more, and I'll see y'all next week. Bye. Thanks for listening to Unspoken Stewardship. You are seen, you are loved, and you are entrusted. And what you do with what you hear matters. So make sure you steward it well. And let me say this clearly: this podcast is not a substitute for your child of God. Go sit with him. Open your Bible, pray, wrestle, test everything you hear, including me, the way scripture tells us to. Let the spirit lead you into truth. Think deeply and don't outsource your discernment. If this conversation strengthened you, make sure you're following so you don't miss what's next. Share with someone who might need it. And if it's been a blessing to you, leave an honest review so it can reach beyond this space. So until next time, store your life faithfully, love God deeply, and love people well.