Let The River Run I Charlotte Gambill

1:27 Just don't get too comfy on me. Stand on your feet. We're going to pray in a moment. I first of all want to welcome all of the campuses that are joining us this morning in every location online, in our correctional facilities. Those that are joining us this morning, we're all part of the same family. We're so glad you're here with us for what God's about to do. I want to start by saying this to me is such a joy and a privilege to be entrusted to speak into this house, a house that I respect greatly and honor greatly. Your pastor is one of my very favorite communicators and preachers of God's Word. Y'all are spoiled to get Pastor Jensen every single week. And so This Sunday you have to put up with the English relative, but I'm so thankful for the entrustment.

2:22 I am a builder of God's house. It's great to be blessed. God wants you blessed. But blessed doesn't stand strong in storms. Built does. So we can't just look to God for a blessing. We've got to also trust God in the building. And so today as I open the Word, God may say some stuff that challenges you, it's good. He may say some stuff that demands something from you, it's all good. It's because He's trying to build something within you. And we need to be built. We are in times when our world is shaking and we need to be the ones that are unshaken in shaking times because we're built on something greater. And we just lifted our hands and we gave God all of our praise and all of our worship. And we exalted Him above every circumstance.

3:19 And I just want to make sure as we go into this next part of the service that our posture goes into the position that it needs to. Because we've lifted our hands in worship. But now our posture has to shift. When we come to the Word, we no longer are giving God something. He's about to give us something. And when you lift your hands to give God something, that's one posture. But I don't know much about the game that you all decided to call football. I don't even know why you call it football, because that would mean you use your feet. But anyway, it's okay. I forgive you. But I don't know much about the game, but I do know there's a position called a receiver. and if you were on my team and I knew the ball I'm about to throw you is gonna be good it's gonna change the game and I know that your job title is receiver when I get ready to fling the ball I'm gonna expect a certain posture if when I threw the ball your hands were in your pocket or your arms were folded or you were distracted I'm gonna think what in the world your job right now is to receive. If you receive, we can change the game.

4:31 So I'm just making sure before you sit in that seat, before you turn your attention to what God is about to say, I'm just going to make sure, I'm just ensuring your posture is right. That you have a receiving posture. A receiving posture is, God, if I need to hear it, I'm going to hear it. If I need to change it, I'm going to change it. If you need to say it, then you need to say it. God, I am here right now to receive. Some of you have listened to everybody else's words, commentaries, opinions, thoughts all this week. But there is one word that is over every other word and it is the Word of God. And so we're gonna receive. So God, we position ourselves as receivers right now. God, we thank you that you deem us worthy enough that you would speak to us and instruct us.

5:28 God, who are we? That we have an audience with the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and yet you have chosen us. And God, you've chosen not to leave us as we are, but to build us and change us so that we leave here looking more like you than we do like us. So God, right now, I pray every heart would be open. I pray our ears would be open. I pray our hands would be open. God, whatever you ask today, I pray our response would always be yes and amen, God, to your way over my way. And God, I pray right now over these next few moments, Holy Spirit, help me get out of the way. so that God, you can have your way. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. You may take your seats.

6:19 I'm so thankful for the way that God works. You know, I was going to be with you a few short weeks ago to be part of your relationship series. And I was looking forward to being with you. And then a little ice storm happened. And so our dates changed because you weren't able to gather. but I think God was even in the rearrangement of when I would be with you for God told me as soon as I knew the date of when I was coming, he told me, I want you to speak this word. It was so loud and clear. I knew God had given me. I knew what my assignment was. And so I jumped on and watched last Sunday's service where Pastor Jensen was preaching a phenomenal word. And he said the words, if there's no snow, then there's no flow. And he began to talk about a river that was flowing. And it was like, God, just letting me know, you heard me right, girl, because the message I have come to bring to you today is about the river running and the river flowing.

7:20 And so I know God is trying to put something into the heart of his people in Free Chapel. And I am gonna add my voice and pray that God uses this to push us even deeper today into what God has for us. I don't know about you, but I often will come to God and let him know my plans. Here's my plans, God. They're really good. Here's my plans, God. Look how awesome I am planning my life. Look at all the things I'm gonna do for you. Now, God, I just am updating you on my plans so that you can bless my plans. I was having one of those conversations with God a little while ago. And I, after impressing I thought God with my plans, was then asking Him to bless my plans. And I felt God say, I want to ask you a question.

8:17 And the question I felt the Holy Spirit asked me was, Charlotte, are these plans plans of faith? Or are these plans playing it safe? What are they? Are these plans where actually you could probably do this without me? Or are these plans totally dependent on me showing up in order for anything on that list to be achieved? And I felt challenged in my cough, although my plans were big and though my plans felt like they were Christ-central, I understood that what God was saying to me was true. There was so much of it that actually with a lot of hard work and grit and determination, I could just make it happen all by myself. And I saw myself as I was praying, doing the routine that I do every day. I go every day and I work out. I'll jump on a treadmill and run about five, six miles. I don't run because I like to run.

9:11 I run because I like to eat. And so I have that discipline. And when I get on the treadmill, when the belt starts moving, I always hit a button. The first thing I do is I always hit this one button. And the one button I always hit on the treadmill is the one that says manual. Because if I hit the button that says manual, I am able to take the control back from the treadmill. If I don't push the button that is manual, I have discovered that the treadmill has been pre-programmed by some fitness expert that thinks they know how to work moi out. And I don't want them to tell me how to work out. But if I don't push that button, I am going on my walk. And all of a sudden, the belt gets faster. And I am running, not walking.

10:04 And I don't want to run today. Or if I don't push the button, I'm walking. And suddenly, the belt starts lifting. And I am going up a hill. And I don't do hills. And so I have realized if I push the button, I can take the power back and I am in control. And as I saw that image of myself, I felt so challenged by the Holy Spirit because so often that is what we do with God. God, I know you know how to work me out best. I know you know the speed I should be going and the incline I should be endeavoring to do. But God, I'd rather take the power back because I don't feel like running today. I don't feel like going on an incline today. And we are in a time where God is challenging all of his children and asking, is it gonna be your plan or is it gonna be my plan?

10:59 Is it gonna be your way or is it gonna be my way? And I don't know if you have noticed, but the earth is being shaken. God is up to something way beyond all of us understanding. and God when I was praying and saw that picture of me took me to a book in the Bible that you know it's God if you end up here because nobody's reading Amos for light reading. I'm saying, I found myself in Amos. Amos is a prophetic declaration. This is a prophetic declaration today that God is trying to include us in something that so many of us will not see unless we hear and listen from a different place. This is a prophetic declaration that God is making about the state of his people and the nation.

12:16 And it might not make sense to you for some of those images, ones that we don't see every day. We don't often talk about, you know, treading grapes or, you know, going to the press and dealing with the grapes. But what the imagery was common in that day, I'll replace it with imagery that would be maybe more common in our day. What God is saying, we just built a house, so I'll use this imagery. He's saying there's a day coming when the person that's digging the foundations is going to be overtaken by the person hanging the drapes. And the person that came to do the plumbing is going to be on site at the same time as the person that's doing all of the finishing. Well, how many of you know that doesn't make sense? You don't invite the person to hang drapes while you've still got cement mixes on the ground. You don't ask someone to come and do the finishing while we're still putting wires in the wall and the plumbing.

13:13 But what God is saying is, I am about to kick in a pace on the earth that means your process will not make sense. I'm about to do something that speeds things up on the earth. And when my pace kicks in, your process has to change. When my pace kicks in, your tidy, your manual, your pushing of control no longer works. And we are in a time, church, where God is up to something on the earth. And it does not fit our process because it is a divine plan. And God's asking us not to control it, but to get into sync with what God is doing. If you look in Luke chapter 5, verse 37. God puts it this way. No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the new wine will burst the skins.

14:11 The wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. God is after some of your old wineskins today. It is time to get rid of them, destroy them, and get them out of your life. For you are praying for new wine from heaven. And it is not landing in some of the areas of your life in which you're praying for it to land. And it's not because God doesn't have new wine. It's because he refuses to put new wine in old wineskins. Oh God, I want new relationships, but I won't leave the old toxic one. Oh God, I want something new in my marriage, but I won't change my dysfunctional behavior in my marriage. Oh God, I want you to do something new in my finances, but I won't give you anything other than the old way of my finances.

15:08 We can't pray for new if we're not willing to get rid of old wineskins. God is challenging us. He's changing the pace around us, and it is upon us to make a decision whether we will allow God to now flow in a way that he wants to flow, which means us changing the things that need to be changed. I have been with my husband 34 years, and when we first began to date, he was from Washington State, and he let me know that he likes to ski. I let him know I do not like to ski, and we will not be going skiing anywhere in our future. It was a clear no from me. Well, then we had children, and Steve decided he would get the children to join his camp, the ski camp. So now it was three against one and I was getting worn down by everybody wanting to go skiing.

16:04 Then our best friends who are expert skiers and their children who are snowboarders joined Team Steve and now everybody is ganging up on me that we should go skiing. I guess my defenses were down. I was tired of arguing. and on one particular evening when they put before me a ski trip, I said, yes. Within 48 hours, they had booked the trip because they knew I would change my mind 48 hours later and it was too late to change my mind. So we were on our way to the French Alps to go skiing. I went kicking and screaming, but we arrived at the chalet. When we got to the chalet, my friend gave me one of these. I was like what is that? She's like it is your ski boot. I was like it's ugly. It doesn't match any of my outfits. I will not be wearing this ski boot. She's like no you have to wear this ski boot. So I took the boot to my room and I was in the apartment and I put the boot on and I am walking around the apartment in the ski boot and I am muttering under my breath. This is the most ridiculous idea anyone has ever had. This is the most uncomfortable boot I have ever worn. I am not happy about this. This thing is heavy. It doesn't fit me. I just have a bad attitude.

17:24 My friend walks in. She's like, what are you doing? I said, I'm trying to break the boot in. She's like, you don't break the boot in. You're not supposed to walk around the apartment in it. This is not where the boot was designed to be. And in that moment, I realized I am trying to do in this boot what I do in this shoe. See, I know how to walk in this. I know how to run in this. I know how to climb in this. And so I was in a new boot, but with old behavior. And this boot didn't match this shoe. And so now I'm complaining about the boot because it feels heavy. But my friend's letting me know it's always going to feel heavy while you're walking around it as if it was a sneaker. And God is trying to put some stuff in the hands of his sons and daughters.

18:18 He's trying to put some stuff in the hands of his people that may feel heavy to us. I don't know that I can do that. I'm not sure I'm ready for that. God's like, stop trying to walk around your life with what I'm giving you. the boot needs to come up higher. You gotta take it higher. So my friend said, if we take this boot higher, it's not gonna feel heavy. If we take this boot higher, it's actually gonna do some stuff. So we go up the mountain. We get on top of the mountain. This is me. Everything in me is clenched. I'm like, I do not feel in control right now. I don't like this. This is unfamiliar territory for me. My friend looked at me and she said, Charlotte, you're going to have to trust the boot. I was like, what do you mean trust the boot? She said, it was engineered to do what it's about to do. It was made for this terrain. It is designed for this exact moment in time. She said, Charlotte, I need you to do something. I'm like, this is not enough. She's like, nope. She said, I need you to put your shin to the boot. I was like, wait a minute. If I put my shin to the boot, that means I am going to have to put all my weight on the boot. She's like, exactly. And in that moment, I was reminded of Proverbs 3 verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and in all your ways submit to him and he will make the path straight.

19:58 God's got some of you to the mountain and he's managed to get the boot on your foot, but this is your internal posture. But God, can I still press manual? Can I still lean on my own understanding? Can I still put my plan in place over your plan? And he's like, no, I'm asking you to put your spirit to the boot, to put your shin to the boot. and so I put my shin to the boot and guess what? When I put my shin to the boot, I started moving. I didn't wanna move, but I was moving and not only was I moving, I was going faster and faster because now I'm going down a mountain and the wind is behind me and I am very much out of control and I see people in the path ahead of me and I am yelling, I am yelling, get out of the way. I can't stop. Get out of the way. I'm coming through. And I feel like in the Spirit, we are in a time where God's like, I need you to get a new wineskin. I need you to get a new boot. And when you're in it, I need you to lean your spirit into it. And what you wrestled with on the flat, what was overwhelming to you when you were walking around in the old thing, I'm telling you, When you trust God and you lean in, you will shout at the same enemy, get out of my way because I can't stop.

21:27 Get out of my way because I'm coming through. There is a wind that the Holy Spirit wants to put behind you. There is the presence of God that wants to go before you, but your old posture and your old footwear will not help you catch what it is that God is trying to welcome you into. And so I began to seek God. God, what does it mean? God, show me. What is it that you're doing? What is it that you're inviting us all to be a part of? And I found myself in the very scripture that your pastor referenced last week, Ezekiel 47. It is a picture of what I believe God is doing on the earth. It is an invitation to every single one of us to see something today and have a revelation today that changes the way that we behave from here on out.

22:29 Ezekiel 47 verse 1 says this,

22:59 and the water was trickling from the south side. You're like, what does this mean? It is a picture of where the revival waters are going to flow from. It is a picture of the temple of God, the dwelling of God, the altar in the temple of God. And from that place, there is a river that is beginning to flow. You are praying for revival. God, we want revival. You know where revival is going to come from? It's going to come from the house of God and from the people of God and from the Word of God. There is water. And this water is life-changing. This water is what our world is desperately thirsty for. But the flow begins in the house of God, with the people of God, and the altar of God's Word.

24:00 And Ezekiel sees the water flowing. You know, we got to get back to a place where the water is flowing. we have turned this into a faucet. This is not a faucet. You're not supposed to come on Sunday for a cup of water from the faucet. This is not a place for hydration. God doesn't wanna hydrate you. He wants to saturate you. We're not supposed to live coming for hydration. But so much of the church in the earth right now come on a Sunday for a cup to be filled. And I'm glad if you're here for your cup filling, but I wanna let you know how sad that you would come to the house of God, to the temple of God for a cup when there is a flood, when there is a river, when there is way more than a cup of water.

24:59 Hydration is very different than saturation. Just in case you wondered, the worship team, they're not the aerobic warm-up exercise group. They don't get up here to try and get your hand in the air, to try and get you to a posture of where you're kind of giving God some thanks. They're not here to warm you up. You're supposed to live saturated, which is that your worship comes through those doors and meets the worship that comes off this place. And this whole place is saturated. And so there is this river that is flowing. There is this revival that God is sending. But in the same passage of Scripture, Ezekiel observes something.

25:56 And he says, through water that was ankle deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and that led me through water that was knee deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross because the water had risen and was so deep, deep enough to swim in. A river that no one could cross And he asked me, son of man, do you see this? And I feel with everything inside me today, church, that God is saying, do you see this, church?

26:51 Do you see I have a river? Do you see there is a mighty revival flowing water? But do you also see someone showed up with a stick? This is a river in which you are destined to swim. And yet there is a picture of a measuring stick. And so many of us are living short of God's best for our life because we have more stick in our life than we have swim. Oh God, I want a revival. God, I'm praying for revival. I just need you to stop a moment and understand what you're praying for. Revival doesn't fit in your cup. Revival is not tidy. Revival is not your schedule overrunning God's schedule.

27:46 Revival is not I get in church and I get out church when I want to be out of church. Revival is not anything that we think it is. Revival is messy and it's all consuming. So we pray for revival, but we have got our stick. Hey God, I want you to do all that stuff. But for me and my family, we're ankle Christians. We just do ankles. We come once a Sunday and we dip them in. we let Pastor Jensen open the word and we dip it in we let the worship team get us into that atmosphere his presence and we dip our ankle in I'll give you my ankles God the problem is by the time you get back in your vehicle and by the time you get back into your house your ankles are already dry some of you need a revival in your marriage and you're asking God to fix it through your ankles, God's like, that mess that you created is going to require more than your ankles in the water.

28:56 Some of you are like, oh, that's not me, Pastor Charlotte. I'm all the way in up to my knees. Good for you. But your wallet's still dry. Your heart's still out the water. Your mind's still out the water. So I know you got in a little deeper. I know you went a little further, but God wants all of you. He wants the whole part of you. He wants every part of your thinking and your heart and your intentions and your confession. He needs you all in the water and we can't help a world that is dying and thirsty and starving for truth if all we have are ankles and knees that are saturated.

29:51 Honestly, I feel like my assignment today is to be the mean girl at the pool. You know what I'm saying? Someone's asked you one time to come over to their home. They're going to have a pool party. And you're thinking to yourself, I like the party without the pool. so I'm going to time my arrival when they're all done with the pool because I'll just rock up for the food. So you get there a little later and you're all put together. And you look at all those people in the water that do not look put together and you realize I made the right choice because I look good. They do not look good. And you're standing up the edge of the pool and you're having a conversation with your friend who's in the pool with all the kids jumping on top of them.

30:46 And as you're talking, some fool comes up behind you and thinks it would be real fun to push you in. And you didn't intend it, nor did you want it. But now you find your body is flying through the air and heading towards the water. I feel God sent your English sister to push some of you in the water today. It's time. It is time to get in the water. You are way too dry. You are way too in your own thoughts. You are way too in your own plans. God's trying to push you in the water. See, on the edge of the pool, you look put together. And I, you know, I have come from the UK to the US of A. And by the way, if you think this is a cheap message for me to preach, I just need to let you know this message has cost me everything.

31:42 Because God asked my family, me and my family, just over 12 months ago, almost two years now, He asked us, I'm asking you to go all in again. Like, God, I don't know how else I can get in this water. I'm asking you to pack up everything you own and emigrate to the other side of the world, leave everything you've built. I'm like, God, that is not in my plan at this stage of my life. That makes no sense. This is a time when we should be settling, not uprooting. But we heard God loud and clear. And I knew God was asking for all in. And I never thought that I would be saying, I am from sweet Alabama. Because that was nowhere on my plan. But when God says, get in the water, you get in the water. Your kids are watching.

32:42 They're watching you, mom and dad. They're watching you, grandpa and grandma. They're watching. They're watching how much of you is saturated, and they're going to decide their level based on your level. This is not a time for you to be standing on the edge, looking so put together. America likes to look put together. I've realized that about church in America. We like to look put together. We like to put on our Sunday best and put on our best acts. Some of us could win an Academy Award for our acts on Sunday of how we put ourselves together. But God does not want you put together. God wants you completely saturated. And how many of you know when you fall in the water, you don't look the same as when you are on the side of the water. And some of you need a different look. You need a different look. stop stop trying to tidy up God I don't want anyone to know we're in a mess but you're in a mess so you need to get in the water it's not working your way maybe God needs to push you in today how can we give God our ankles how can we say God I'll give you my waist how can we give a stick measurement to the one who looked at your life and looked at my life and said, ankles won't do it.

34:03 Giving them a knee worth of grace won't do it. Giving them a little bit won't do it. I'm going to have to send my only son who's going to have to go on the cross and be crucified. I'm going to have to go all in for them. how can we be the ones that when God's gone all in for us, we say, I'll give you my ankles.

34:30 God, I don't mind you touching this area of my life, but don't talk to me about this. Some of you have been coming to Free Chapel for a long time, and I applaud your consistency of showing up, but God wants more than showing up. Some of you need to go on next steps and find out what is your next step, because you've been an uncle for 15 years. Like, well, what does that mean? It means I might have to actually come and serve instead of being served.

35:00 Might have to get committed. might actually have to come and join a group and actually be known by people and actually be open with people and actually be real with people. There's a baptism in a few weeks time. Some of you need to take a next step so you can get in the actual water and go all the way under. All the way. This river, it says where the water flows, it goes even into the Dead Sea. And when it empties into the Dead Sea, even the salty water there becomes fresh. swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows and there will be large numbers of fish because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh so where the river flows everything will live are you hearing what God is saying he don't care how dead it is if the river can flow there resurrection is possible if the river has access change is on the horizon if the river can get all over your marriage it can come back to life if the river can get into your addiction you can be set free in the name of Jesus if the river can get in your home and your family and on your children there can be transformation where the river flows there is change well nothing's changing it's not changing because it's not flowing well God's not moved yet he's not moving because you're only giving him a cup Watch verse 11, because this is shocking.

37:00 We just read that the river can bring dead things back to life. But verse 11 says, God, what are you saying? Are you saying you don't have enough power to deal with the swamp? No, this is not the issue here. In fact, if you research it, there's more salt in the Dead Sea than there is in a swamp. So the salt is not the problem. Surrenders the problem.

37:37 Swamps refuse to let anything flow through them. What goes in a swamp stays in a swamp and goes down in a swamp. And God is saying, I am not gonna waste the power of this water on things that refuse to surrender. I am not gonna squander the power of this water on marshes and swamps where there is absolutely no willingness to let this thing flow. Let me help you. Some of you step into an environment like this every week and you feel the river. You feel the power of God. You feel the presence of God. You leave here with hope in your heart that things are going to change and you're excited and you're ready for it. And then you take all of that water to the swamp, friend. to the swamp negative crowd, to the swamp on social media.

38:36 And you wonder why what God gave you is not changing you because you just took living water to a swamp and the swamp has no reason or no purpose, no willingness to surrender. It's like me taking this boot, thinking, well, it was great on the mountain. So if it was great on the mountain, I'm sure it'd be great in the swamp. You know, if I walk this into a swamp, there's only one way I'm going. Some of you are like this.

39:05 God brings you up. God begins to speak to you from the mountaintop. But then you take it right back into a swamp. Then you come next week and you need pulling out the swamp again. Some of you say, I'm not in a swamp. Show me your social media. I'm not in a swamp. Show me who you talk to most of the week. I'm not in a swamp. Show me the cycle of your thinking. Show me your habits. There is power in this water. And there are people outside of these four walls that are dying and all they need is the river to flow and their marriages and their lives will come back. Hear me church, time's gone, but hear me church today. We have something that God needs us to do. We have a world that He needs us to rescue.

40:01 We have people He needs us to go and testify to. He's given us good news and it needs delivering. We have a job to do and we can't afford to create swamps inside the church, debating parties inside the church, negative circles inside the church. We gotta get the river flowing because this is what the Word says. Where this river flows, verse 12, fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river and the leaves will not wither, nor will the fruit fail. And every month, not once a year, every month they will bear fruit. Why? Because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing. This is good news.

40:55 This is good news. It's time for the fruit trees on both banks of the river to be filled. It is time for the fruit to feed a nation that are hungry and the leaves to heal those that are hurting. But we have to let the river from the sanctuary flow. It's all across the house. I'm going to ask us to stand to our feet. God is not finished with you yet. God has another part that He wants to add to what He's already done today. You have lifted your hands in worship. You have adjusted your posture to receive. But now God wants a response. The Bible says, do not just be hearers of the Word, but be doers of the Word. There is a response every time we sit under instruction from God.

41:53 it requires a response from us. And so I am going to, in a moment, invite you where you know I am dry. I am so dry. I'm gonna invite you where your perfect image in this room is not the reality in other rooms. I'm gonna invite you where you're like, I've been in to my knees, but I think there's something more. See, some of you, your issue is not that you're a bad person or that your lifestyle is terrible. It's just that you've only got a certain level with God and you don't realize there's a whole other level to get to. There's a whole other level. I don't know any other way to live, guys, than being saturated. I wake up saturated. I talk saturated. I work saturated. I do life saturated. I don't know any other way to live.

42:46 It's just I discovered when I got all in, everything change and I'm not looking to get out. Not at all. So call me crazy. I don't care. I'm so saturated. I'm so under the water and I'm not seeking no cure. And some of you need to get all in. I mean your head under. I mean your heart under. I mean your will under. Some of you need to actually say our marriage is stuck. We got to get it in the water. Our parenting is stuck. We got to get it. My addiction is killing me. I got to get in the water. Some of you right now, you're far from God. You need salvation today. You need to make Him your Lord and Savior today. You say, God, I'm a sinner and I need saving. I need your grace. I need your mercy. I need your forgiveness. He's right there waiting for you to open the floodgate for Him to pour His life in. Some of you are prodigals, far from God, it's time to come home. So right now, this building, it's a river.

43:52 There's water flowing from the altar. There's a river and you have to choose whether you want to get in it or not. And you have to choose how much you're going to get in it.