Warned: Wake Up, Deception Moves in Silence

Introduction

Patrice Martorano opens this Communion service with a word of warning. The title of the message is blunt: WARNED. Watch what you look at, what you listen to, what you let in. The preacher isn't addressing lukewarm Christians who need a good shake, he's speaking to watchmen who need to be woken up. The context makes it clear: we're entering a new year, a time when the economy, politics, culture, and the spiritual climate are all shifting fast. God is telling his people again: open your eyes, stand firm, keep your lamp lit. This article follows the thread of the message to help you receive Communion as a watchman, not as someone half-asleep.

Outline of the message

1. Discern the time you're living in

• The preacher starts with Romans 13: understanding the time we're living in. A Christian who doesn't discern their era easily becomes prey to deception and fear.
• He recalls the prophetic words given to the assembly in 2025: Elijah's posture, running ahead of Ahab's chariot (1 Kings 18:46), filled with strength; Jeremiah buying the field at Anathoth in the middle of the Babylonian invasion (Jeremiah 32:6-7), a sign of concrete hope in the midst of collapse; the uncut stones of Joshua 8:31, an image of a pure heart where God writes his law.
• "The Lord is telling us: open your eyes, wake up. This is the time to wake up." The warning isn't a message of fear, it's a call to stay clear-headed.
• Discerning also means refusing to be paralyzed by the scenarios you build in your own mind: "Don't start imagining every scenario. You're not Steven Spielberg. You're not Robert Zemeckis. Cry out, leave the scenarios in the Lord's hands."

2. Stay dressed for work, lamp lit

• Luke 12:35-40 is the heart of the message. Jesus says: "Let your waist be dressed and your lamps burning. Be like men watching for their lord."
• Staying dressed for work isn't switching on a religious mode. It's an inner posture: the servant hasn't loosened his belt, hasn't put out his lamp, he's ready to open the door the moment there's a knock.
• The preacher points to the illustration of Christmas: no one noticed that Mary was carrying the Messiah. Only the shepherds and the wise men saw it. "When the Lord returns, chances are it will happen exactly the same way, and no one will notice."
• The question becomes personal: are you one of those who will see, or one of those who will be caught by surprise? Being dressed for work, keeping your lamp lit, doesn't depend on a feeling, it depends on a daily choice to stay watchful.

3. Don't give in to contradiction or mockery

• Luke 7:31-35: John the Baptist fasts, and people say he has a demon. Jesus eats and drinks, and they call him a glutton and a drunkard. "This generation is like children who refuse every game." There will always be a reason to contradict God's servant.
• "The wisdom of God is justified by all her results." Don't defend your ministry with arguments, let the fruit speak.
• "I accept that people have opinions, but I don't accept the devil's opinion." Here's the warning: sometimes a familiar opinion, on your own lips or on a loved one's, picks up the accuser's accent. Recognize it, refuse it.
• The discernment the preacher is talking about means knowing how to shut deception down in time. Before it settles in. Before it lulls you to sleep.

4. Wake Jesus up in your boat

• Luke 8:22-25: the storm rises, Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat. The disciples panic, wake him, and he commands the wind and the waves.
• "If you're going through trials, if you're going through the storm, what do you have? Jesus asleep in your boat: wake him up."
• "This isn't a God nailed to a cross who no longer moves. This is a living God, a God who answers, a God who speaks to you." Waking Jesus up means refusing to face your situation alone. It means crying out, taking authority, saying out loud what you're going through.
• The preacher points to Argentine pastors from Mar del Plata who cry out loud before God. It's not theater, it's an act of faith that drives out fear.
• "Sometimes the Lord locks up situations, he prepares them so that only you can unlock them." Your cry of faith is part of the plan. "Your boat isn't going to sink. Jesus is with you."

5. Love one another fervently, with all your strength

• 1 Peter 1:22-25: "Having purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently."
• The warning isn't only about your personal watchfulness. It's about your relationship with your brothers and sisters. A sleeping Christian grows cold, sarcastic, distant. An awakened Christian loves fervently, with all their heart.
• The preacher ties this command back to Luke 8: "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it." Your spiritual family isn't an optional comfort. It's a place of shared watchfulness.
• Don't turn your natural family into an absolute that excuses you from loving others. The comfort of family can be its own temptation, and the Lord invites you to a wider love, without ever abandoning your own.

6. Receive Communion as a watchman

• Matthew 26: the institution of the bread and the cup. "Take, eat. This is my body. Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant."
• "Understand it with every sense." Communion isn't a mechanical ritual. It's an act of discernment: recognizing the broken body and the shed blood, remembering that you live because of this covenant.
• Receiving Communion as a watchman means coming dressed for work, lamp lit, heart purified, brotherly love active. It means refusing to treat it as ordinary.
• "You don't need to be perfect for the gospel. You simply need to bear witness. That's enough." Communion then sends you back into the world, not as a consumer, but as a witness.

Key takeaways

• God's warning isn't a threat, it's an invitation to stay clear-headed. Open your eyes, discern your times.
• Being dressed for work and keeping your lamp lit are daily choices, not feelings. The Master's return will come quietly: are you ready to see it?
• Deception moves through familiar opinions. Discernment means knowing how to say no in time to whatever carries the devil's accent.
• Your storm is never a shipwreck as long as Jesus is in your boat. Wake him up. Cry out. Take authority.
• A watchman loves his brothers and sisters fervently and comes to Communion as a witness, not a spectator.

Personal application

• What fearful scenario have you been replaying this week? Can you, out loud, hand it back to the Lord and let go of the script?
• Is your lamp lit today? What, specifically, is making it flicker: lack of sleep, distraction, screens, discouragement?
• What opinion (from a loved one, from the media, or from yourself) have you let settle in even though it carries the accuser's accent? How will you put an end to it?
• What storm are you going through right now? Take a moment, out loud, to wake Jesus up in your boat and tell him again that you're waiting on his word.
• The next time you take Communion, in what inner state do you want to come? What can you lay down beforehand, so you receive it as a watchman?

Scriptures cited

• Romans 13 · understanding the time we live in
• 1 Kings 18:46 · Elijah running ahead of Ahab's chariot
• Jeremiah 32:6-7 · buying the field at Anathoth
• Joshua 8:31 · the uncut stones of the altar
• Luke 12:35-40 · the watchful servants, lamps burning
• Luke 7:31-35 · the generation that rejects John the Baptist and Jesus
• Luke 8:22-25 · the storm calmed
• 1 Peter 1:22-25 · sincere brotherly love
• Matthew 26 · the institution of Communion
• Malachi 3:10 · the windows of heaven

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if I'm spiritually asleep?

Look at how you're responding to your times. If you can no longer discern what's happening around you (economically, in your family, spiritually), if you've stopped watching, if your lamp isn't lit anymore, you risk being caught off guard when the Master returns (Luke 12:35-40). The clearest sign: you let fearful scenarios, or the world's opinion, take up more room than God's voice. The remedy is simple: wake Jesus up in your boat, cry out loud, and get dressed for work again.

What does it mean to wake Jesus up in my boat?

In Luke 8:22-25, a storm comes up and Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat. The disciples wake him, and he commands the wind and the waves. Waking Jesus up means refusing to handle your storm alone. He isn't a God nailed to a cross who no longer moves. He is a living God who answers, who speaks, who calms the waters. In practice: cry out, tell him out loud what you're going through, take authority in his name. Your boat isn't going to sink. Jesus is with you.

Why is deception a trap for the Christian?

Deception doesn't always come from outside the Christian world. It comes through an opinion (sometimes your own opinion) that picks up the devil's accent without you even noticing. "I accept that people have opinions, but I don't accept the devil's opinion." Discernment means knowing how to shut deception down in time, before it lulls you to sleep. It means refusing the scenarios you build in your head, refusing the idol of comfort, and putting every situation back into the Lord's hands.