Awaken | Let The River Run | Charlotte Gambil

Morning, good morning. All right, up on your feet, everybody. Come on, you're all way too comfortable. Well, I haven't seen you yet this year. So happy new year to all of you. We're in it. It's almost the end of January, guys. Time goes fast. You don't have time to waste. And I am here this Sunday to remind some of you that this life that you have right now, this is it. This is your moment. These are your years. And you know what? The only person that can mess that up really is you. Because no matter what happens around you, you have God within you and you still have the power to choose. Life over death, you still have the power to choose. Peace over panic, you still have the power to choose. Joy over misery. And I just want to say to you at the beginning of this year, don't waste it. Don't waste the gift of another year of life. And we're going to get into the Word together today. And I'm just going to let you know, I'm just going to be up in your business. I gave 8.30 a real good shaking. And I might have to give you a good shaking too. Because you can't have a series called Awaken without a little shaking. And you've had a January where you've had revival nights. And you've been focused on praying and setting time aside. And we're here at the end of this series today. But I feel like though the series is ending, there's an invitation today to a beginning. That God's like, what are you going to do with this? This message today is going to be a, what are you going to do with this? Not what am I going to do with this? What are you going to do with this? Not what the person next to you is going to do with it. What are you going to do with it? So God we thank You for the breath in our lungs. You've given us this day and You've given us this year and God we don't want to waste it. It cost You everything to give us this life. So God why would we settle for anything less than the life that You paid everything to give us? A life that has access to peace that passes understanding. A life that has access to be abundant and overflowing. A life that has access to have joy that is so strong and so thick and so fast in our life. It overwhelms all the things around our life. God You did not give us a cup full of blessing. You made our cup overflow. God I pray for any this morning that are somehow still limping into 2025, slumbering through the days that are before them. I pray just as this series was intended, that they would be fully awake. Fully awake to what You're doing on the earth. And God I pray as always that You would have Your way. In Jesus' Name. Amen and Amen. You may take your seats. At the end of 2024, at the beginning of 2025, I think like all of us, I was in that mindset of okay God I'm just focusing and I'm praying and I'm seeking and God I'm asking some things from You and God I'm presenting some things to You.

And as I was having that kind of time with God, I felt like the Holy Spirit put a question before me. And the question was this, Charlotte, are your plans for the year ahead, are they made through the eyes of faith or are your plans made to really play it safe? And at first I was like well of course my plans are a plan of faith God. Like You know me, I'm like planning to do big things for You and I'm giving my whole life to You yet again. And I just emigrated God because You asked us to and God you know I don't think that's playing it safe. But I still felt this pressing of the Holy Spirit to go over what it was that I was putting before God with a different mindset. And as I'm sat there and as I'm thinking about what this year could be, could be, I feel like the Holy Spirit takes me and reminds me of my behaviour every single day when I go to the gym. I go every day to the gym and try and run a few miles, five, six miles and get on a treadmill. And it's just the way that I work out so that I can eat the food that I enjoy. And so I go to the gym, it's just routine to me. It's just part of my every day. But I felt Holy Spirit say, He says, Charlotte, what do you always, always, always do when you go to the gym? And I saw it instantly because the minute I get on the treadmill at the gym, there's a button I press before anything else can happen. And the button that I press is the button that says manual. In other words, this machine has been programmed by some fitness expert. And in the programming, they have deemed what kind of workout you should be doing in order to make sure your body is fully worked out. And the machine is programmed to say, hey, you should be going faster now so it speeds up all by itself.

Hey, you should be going up a hill now so it begins to incline all by itself. And I don't like the machine telling me what to do. And so before the machine can have an opinion about my workout, I hit the button called manual, which means I just took the power back. Because I don't know how I'm going to feel on any given day. And if I don't feel like running, I ain't gonna run. And if I don't feel like going up a hill, I ain't going up no hill. And if I don't feel like that's the pace I wanna do, then I will tell the machine what pace I wanna do. And as I saw that picture so clearly in my head, I felt the Holy Spirit say, stop pushing manual when I'm trying to give you supernatural. Stop allowing your life to have a manual button on it where you think that you should have more control than the expert that programmed what this thing should look like. And I'm here to challenge you today, church, before you take any more steps into 2025, I'm here to shake you and awaken you, to let you know that if you actually want a revival, if you actually say amen, when someone says we want revival in our homes, we want revival on our streets, and you're like, yeah, yeah, I'm just letting you know, yeah, yeah is awesome. But don't you think you should think about

how you walk out of this building and after saying yeah, yeah, you push manual on your life? See, a lot of times we don't know what we're saying amen to. So I'm gonna make it real clear for you today what you're saying amen to, because I don't know about you, but by now after a few weeks in this series, you should be getting the picture that revival is not a walk in the park. Revival, when it comes, it changes everything. You're not in control. God is doing something without your permission. God is moving in ways that make you uncomfortable. If revival hits, newsflash, you ain't having a latte in the foyer before church because you can't even get through the foyer to get in the church. When revival happens, you don't get your favourite seat on Sunday that your derriere imprints are in because you always sit in the same chair. You can't find the person that is your comfort person that you come in the doors with on Sunday because there's so many new people in the place coming that are hungry and starving for the hope that's being given out from the platform. Revival is a whole bunch of work and yet we have no time in our calendar

to come and be the ones that handle the work. And so we're amening something without realising our whole life has to change if we wanna see what we just said amen to. And I felt God say, Shallah, I'm trying, I want to give. I wanna give my people. I wanna give those that love me and those that don't even know me. I wanna bring something on the earth that will change everything about the earth. I wanna do a mighty move in a generation that need me to show up in the way that you're all praying for. I wanna send a flood of revival but that new wine will not go in old wineskins. See, a lot of us, we want a new pace, but we don't want a new process. And I'm after your old wineskin today. I'm after your manual mindset today. I'm after your processes today that have contained God in a way that He should never be contained in your life, in your finance, in your workplace, in your marriage. God is not made to go in your tidy box that you made for Him. And if you want revival in your life this year, you're going to have to say, I want the new wine and I don't care about the old wineskin. God took me to a passage in Amos. You know it's God when you're in Amos.

Some of you didn't even know Amos was in the Bible. Well, there you go. You'll learn something new today. And in Amos, it says, this verse, it says, He's saying, I'm gonna do something on the earth, but when it comes, this new pace is gonna mess with the process. Because what I just read to you makes no sense. You don't have the reaper overtaking the planter. That makes no sense. We're building a house right now. That's like the interior decorator showing up to do their thing while someone's digging drains in the same space. You're like, no, no, you're too early. You're not supposed to be here yet. This person's gotta do their job first. But the Bible's saying, when I kick in, everybody's needed on site at the same time. It's not tidy. It messes with your process. And if I could, and if I had time, I'd come off this platform and I would individually grab your sweet cheeks, the high ones, not the low ones. And I would give them a little shake and say, wake up. Do you understand? We are on the precipice. Like, I don't know if you can feel it, but I am so aware of God wanting to do something new

in this land, in this nation, in our communities and in our cities. But He needs us as the church to be the first to be ready for what that will look like. For we are the hands and the feet of Jesus to this locality and to this region. And I was reminded about when I went skiing for the first and the last time. I remember as we were getting ready, my friend presenting me with one of these. She said, you're gonna need this for skiing. I was like, that does not look fun. And about 30 minutes after struggling to get my foot in this ski boot, I began to put it on. And as I put it on, I began to walk around in my ski boots and I'm walking awkwardly and I'm totally uncomfortable. And I look like they don't belong on the ends of my legs. And as I'm walking around complaining about the boot, my friend's like, what are you doing? I was like, well, these boots, they're heavy. And these boots, they're just cumbersome. Because what I was doing, I was trying to walk in a new thing the way I walk in my old thing. See, I can put a sneaker on and I can run for miles. I can put a sneaker on and I can do a marathon. I can put a sneaker on and I can control my pace and my speed. But when I put this thing on, everything felt weird to me.

But I'm trying to behave like I behave in this, in this. And some of you this year need to realise God's trying to give you something new and you can't act the way you used to do when He gives it to you. Now, here's the deal. This thing felt heavy. And I feel like spiritually, God's trying to give some of you some things, some new responsibility, some new opportunity. He's asking you to step into some things. He's gonna present some things to you. And when it first arrives in your life, Life, if you don't understand what I'm trying to help you with today, you're gonna say, this doesn't fit me. This just feels too heavy for me. This just feels like a burden to me. But here's what you have to understand. The boot is not made for that terrain. This boot is no longer heavy when I bring it up higher. When I bring this boot up higher and I put it on the right terrain, all of a sudden the boot is not heavy. Now the boot is in the right environment. So I go up to the top of the mountain and suddenly the boots feel different. And I'm in the boot at the top of the mountain and my best friend is an expert skier. And this is my posture in the boot

because I'm terrified. I don't like heights. I don't know what I'm doing. It's a big drop. And I'm just, the whole posture of my body is like this because I'm trying to stay in control. And in 2025, God wants to do something new. And this is some of your posture. You're trying to stay in control. I'm trying to stay in control of my finance. I'm trying to stay in control of my relationship. I'm trying to stay in control of the things that my schedule looks like. You're trying to stay in control and you're fighting against the boot. So my friend says to me, who sees me standing like this, Charlotte, like only a best friend can, in the tone that you know you're in trouble, Charlotte, yes, I need you to do something. What? I need you to put your shin to the boot. I was like, what? I need you to put your shin to the boot. Well, in order for my shins to touch the boot, I was gonna have to go from this to this, which feels totally out of control. She's like, you have to trust the boot. It is built to do this. You have to change the distribution of your weight

and put your shin to the boot. Well, when I put my shin to the boot, the boot started moving. And it started going fast. And now the wind is behind me. And now I've got traction. And now I'm flying down a mountain and I'm shouting, get out of the way, get out of the way. Because I can't stop this thing. I'm like, you're going down if you don't get out of my way. And I'm telling you in the Spirit, God wants you to have such momentum this year that no devil in your way, no circumstance in your way, you have a momentum that gets all the way past it. But it's gonna require you putting your shin to the boot. And as I leant in and the momentum took off, I realised that what I was trying to control, I was now out of control. And Galatians talks about it this way. It says, we're supposed to live by the Spirit, which means we're supposed to stay in step with the Spirit. And some of you this year, you need to get back in step with the Spirit because you've been trying to lead the dance and you're not the dance leader. He is the dance leader. And so you're gonna have to do what Proverbs 3 tells us to do which is trust in the boot, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding

and what's gonna happen if you do that. It says this, in all your ways, submit to Him shin to boot. And guess what? He'll make your path straight. Like some of you, the last few years, this is the best way to describe your life. Like zigzag, like do you know there's a straight path? Like it's exhausting going zigzag, but you go zigzag when you try and do it your way. But God said, if you lean into me, I'll make your path straight. You don't have to go off a side ramp to get round that difficulty. I'll take you right through it. You don't have to go into that area. I'm gonna help you go right through it. And this year there's an invitation for all of us to have new pace, but it will require a new process. So I was like, well, God, I need you to help me a little bit more. Like, what does that look like? So God took me to Ezekiel. Like, whoa, you know it's really, really God when you have Amos and Ezekiel in the same day. And in Ezekiel, there's this prophet, this prophecy, this prophetic vision that God gives Ezekiel. And it begins to explain this revival that's coming. And as this man in the vision is showing Ezekiel

what God's gonna do, it's described this way. It says, there was a man and he brought me to the entrance to the temple. What's the temple? It's where the presence of God is. It's where the people of God is. It's where the house of God is. House of God is, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple. Toward the east and the water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. And then he brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east and the water, it was trickling from the south side. Can I let you know if there's going to be a revival and if there's going to be a fresh move in this nation, it ain't coming from government, it's not coming from education, it's not coming from social justice, it's coming from the house of God and the place where the people of God gather. And Ezekiel sees this water that's beginning to flow out of the house of God and I so see it in my spirit that this water wants to flow from the house of God across this nation. And then as he's watching this vision, something strange happens. Then I saw there was a man with a measuring line

in his hand and he measured off a thousand cubits and led me through the water that was ankle deep. And he measured off another thousand cubits and he led me through the water that was knee deep. And he measured off another thousand and he led me through the water that was up to the waist. And then he measured off another thousand but now it was a river that I could not cross because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in, a river that no one could cross. And he asked me, son of man, do you see this? And church, I feel impressed by the Holy Spirit to say, church, do you see this? Do you see this picture that there is a river that God wants to send? But if you don't understand what God requires, you're gonna be that person that approaches a river with a stick. Some of you, you're a stick man, you're a stick woman. You bring your stick to the house of God. You bring your stick to the things of God and you're like, you know what God? 2025, I'm gonna give you my ankles. I'm gonna dip in the river but there's more of me out of it than there is in it. And at any given time, I can step all the way back out of it. And you wonder why you're dry? And you wonder why you're thirsty? And you wonder why you're trying to get hydration

from all the wrong places? And you wonder why your finances are not blossoming and not flourishing because you're bringing a stick. And you're saying, God, I'm gonna measure off what I'll give you this month. And I'm gonna measure off how I worship you this month. And I'm gonna measure off how I commit to the things of God. I'm telling you, we can't change our world with stick people. Some of you are like, well, I'm better than ankles. I'm all the way into my waist. Good for you. But this is still out of the water. And this is still out of the water. Some of you are head people, all up in here, trying to work stuff out that you can't possibly work out. The generation before you couldn't work it out. Your family can't work it out. Doesn't matter how many times or how brilliant you think you are. You can't work it out. Why? Because God doesn't work with a stick. You have to fully go in the water and trust Him and have faith in Him because God's mathematics are not man's mathematics. You just heard it in the offering. How do you feed thousands from one, a couple of fish and some loaves?

You don't. It doesn't make sense unless you're in the river and you realise and have a revelation. It doesn't matter what I give, it matters that I give it and I'm giving it to the one who can do something that my stick can't measure. Some of you are like, oh, coming for you today, I'm coming for your church. Oh, you know, got my stick out. And you know, I just decided that, you know, my stick says that I'm not sure that small groups are for me because I don't like being in a group and I certainly don't like it when it's small. And I don't know what those people are gonna be like. And I can't control the environment. So I know you're telling us that we're... we should get in a small group so that we can be in community. But my stick says that's not for me. What can I just tell you? Stop complaining, you're lonely then. And stop saying there's no one that gets you then. And stop saying I don't feel supported by the church then. Stop making criticisms about your experience when you've got a stick about your involvement. It's hard to applaud something that might cost you a change. But honestly, I'm just trying to help you.

I've been serving God all my life. I've been preaching the Word of God for 30 years. I'm more excited, more passionate, more in love with Jesus. Not because my life is perfect and not because I don't have challenges. I have challenges just like you. I have financial challenges and relational challenges and health challenges. I have all kinds of things that I have to navigate just like you. But let me tell you, when you're in the water so that you're over your head, the challenge hits different. But when you're measuring with your stick, there's only so much you can do. See, we've made the house of God a place of hydration instead of a place of saturation. Our house got flooded a few years ago on Christmas day. Let me tell you, that flood was not asking my permission. That burst pipe was not saying, is this a good time? That water wasn't holding back at the threshold saying, oh, it's Christmas day, I won't intrude. That water was coming. And that water didn't care what was on the floor. It didn't care about the carpet. Didn't care about the toys. Didn't care about the stuff. It literally overwhelmed all of it, washed all of it without my permission. When a flood comes, everything changes. Nothing is the same after a flood.

Stop treating God like your faucet. Oh, I just brought my cup to church. Just, I like it about this high. Oh, and by the way, I'm a stick man. So I'm just gonna let you know what temperature I like my water. What songs I like, what songs I don't like. How loud I like it, how loud I don't like it. What I like you to talk about, what I don't like you to talk about. You know, where you can go and where's the no go zone. I'm just gonna come with my cup, but I'm gonna let you know this is the measure that I'm willing to receive. When did we make God a faucet? He wants all of you, He gave His all for you. And some of you this year, you gotta get in the river. You gotta get in so over your head. You're like, I'm not in control, good. I don't know where the shore is, good. I can't touch the bottom, good. I'm not a great swimmer, good. Do you see this, son of man? God, forgive us for being those who say, God, you can have my ankles, but you can't have my will. You can have my knee, but you can't have my wallet. You can have my waist, but you can't have my addiction. Son of man, do you see this? We should be swimming. And today I make no apology for being your pusher.

Because today I feel like getting behind some of you who are like, oh, I'm not sure, just going, well, too late, pushing you in, right? Just get in the water. Right? Just get in the water. Come out, fake lashes are gone. Hair gel's messed up. Sunday outfit is ruined. But you, you're different. Because now there's less of you and there's way more of Him. Ezekiel, it goes on and it says this. It says that this river, where it flowed, the water flows and when it entered the Dead Sea, when it empties into the sea, the salty water there, even became fresh. And swamps of living creatures, they will live wherever the river flows. And there'll be such large numbers of fish because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh. So where the river flows, everything will live. But watch this, verse 11. But the swamps will not become fresh. Like what? God, you're sending a river that can bring even the dead things back to life, but you ain't touching the swamp. Here's what I felt the Holy Spirit say.

I will not waste my water on the places that will not surrender. Do you know there's less salt in a swamp than there is in the Dead Sea? So the salt was not the issue. The surrender was the issue. And some of you, you're like, yes, God. You come in and environmentalize, you have revival nights in January, you're like, yes, God, yes, God, woo! And then you go all the way home back into your swamp life conversations. Swamp relationships, swamp counsel, swamp mindsets. Do you know if I took this off the snow into a swamp, there's only one way I'm going, and that's down. Maybe your life looks like this. I'm up and then I'm down. I have momentum and then I have nothing. You're not tired of that? And I'm not saying that everything's perfect, but what I'm saying is there's a momentum and there's a wind behind you that means even the obstacle is no longer a swamp before you. And I say, well, that sounds uncaring of God, unkind. Well, Jesus said it this way to the disciples. If they won't receive what you have, you shake the dust off your feet and you go find the one that will receive what you have.

In other words, I have water and it's living and it can bring dead stuff back to life, but I'm not wasting it. And some of you this year, stop allowing the swamp to be where you always lose your momentum. Stop letting the swamp change the way that God moves in your life. Get out of the swamp of addiction or out of the swamp of dysfunction or out of the swamp of people pleasing or out of the swamp of criticism or out of the swamp of negativity. Come on, church. There's a world out there dying. The church is not supposed to be where we have swamp meetings. Gossip on Facebook, criticise the house and the people of God. This is where we're supposed to be, a river that flows and everywhere it flows, everything changes. This water was so powerful that what was dead came back to life. This year, some of you need a resurrection, a resurrection of hope, a resurrection of a dream, a resurrection in your home and your marriage, a resurrection in your faith. This water can do it, but you've got to let the river run. Some of you need to join growth track. Oh, I don't know if that, there's, I don't know if it's for me, there's your stick.

Oh, I feel uncomfortable, there's your stick. Some of you need to join a small group. Some of you need to lead a small group. Oh, I don't know if I can do it. Get in the river and let God do it with you. I don't know, maybe just cause I'm getting old. But I'm like, I don't know how much time I have. I don't wanna live my life. In a swamp, I don't wanna live my life. Coming to God like He's a faucet. I wanna be so overwhelmed and saturated that I have such a faith that I'm God. Like you can move a mountain and you can raise what's dead and you can transform a city and you can infiltrate a school and you can change my college and you can help my family and you can bring the lost back to life. I wanna live like that. So I make no apology for pushing some of you today. Some of you are fighting me. You're not getting me. I ain't going in. Well then have a year where you fight instead of flow. But I know what I know is better for you. All across the room I stand to our feet. Time's gone. Some of you are, you are half-masked worshippers. I'm just giving you some examples. Like I feel comfortable here. It's even like your posture. This is, I kind of feel like I'm still in control. This is like there's a posture shift. Some of you, your mouth stays shut and it just needs to flow. And what needs to come out of it is a river of gratitude instead of a whole lot of complaining. Some of you, your whole life would change this year if you would just have a river of I'm thankful God. I'm just thankful. God I'm thankful for my breath. I'm thankful for my marriage. I'm thankful for my, the roof over my head. I'm thankful for the food on my table. I'm just like literally let the river run.

Just close your eyes all across the house. God as we conclude this series of Awaken, God I sense you're in the house today with an invitation. That as a teaching ends, a decision would begin. That God we would not applaud and be excited about a revival night. But instead we would say God I'm not satisfied with a night. I want a revival life. For God there is a world that is dying and we have the living water on the inside of us. And God time is short and I pray an urgency would land on the hearts of every single person in this room. An urgency that makes them put their shin to the boot in 2025. An urgency that gets them out of their head and in over their head. An urgency that shifts their priorities. An urgency that banishes the stick and welcomes and embraces the swim. If you're in the house today the best way to describe you is you are dry. It's only January but you feel like I just have little hope. I have little vision. I have little peace. I have little faith. I want to invite you today to a transaction. Some of you the decision is I'm gonna follow God with all my heart this year. Not part of my heart but with all my heart. God I want a new pace but God I'm willing for all new processes. Some of you that's the first time you're gonna pray a prayer that says God would you flood my life with your forgiveness. Some of you you've prayed it several times but this time you're gonna allow it to change you. If that is you today just put your hand on your heart. God you see these hands. You know exactly what they represent and God I pray today as they ask for forgiveness that there won't be a flood that reaches their heart on life today. A flood of grace and a flood of mercy. A flood of forgiveness and brand new beginnings. God I pray You would awaken what has been dormant. I pray You would shake up what has been still. I pray today that as they lean into You and trust in You God that they would find something happening in their heart that releases even what is in their hand. God I thank You that You did not give us a trickle from heaven. You sent us Your very best. You sent Your only Son. You sent a flood to earth to change our lives and so God today I thank You for that life that flows. For every single person under the sound of my voice that this year is saying God I don't want to hit manual. Then God I pray

even as they walk out of these doors they would do something different. They would allow the new pace to instantly meet a new process by giving You a for a yes in their heart to things that they have been resistant to. And God, I thank you that you don't leave us, but you want to send revival to us. May we not waste it, God, not even a drop in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. What an absolutely incredible message. I hope you feel encouraged, that you feel challenged, that you've been able to lean into this year. And if you prayed that prayer to make Jesus the leader and the forgiver of your life, congratulations. It is the best decision that you will ever make. And so we just want to celebrate with you and know that we are celebrating with you. And so if you made that decision, you may be going, well, what do I do now? I've prayed this prayer, now what? Well, I'm glad you asked. There's a couple of things that we'd love for you to do that's really gonna help you out. Number one is this, let somebody know. Tell a friend, a family member, a coworker, somebody else that's on a journey of faith and let them know about the decision that you've made. Secondly is this, is we have a resource that we'd love to get to you.

And so there's a QR code on the screen right now for a resource called New Beginning. And it's gonna answer some basic questions for you. Like how do I pray? Where do I start reading the Bible? How do I begin to build this relationship that I just started with Jesus? So it's just a great, great resource. And then Kenna's gonna tell you about something else that we've got for you as well. Oh yeah, one of the next steps that we've got here is called Growth Track. And what Growth Track is, is a four-week program designed to help you discover who God's created you to be and the gifts that he's placed inside of you. And it's for everybody. So whether you've been on your walk with Jesus for a long time or a little time, it is for everybody. And so if you're wanting to lean in to take that next step, we super encourage you to do it. It starts the first Sunday of every month. So next Sunday, you could be a part of Growth Track. So if you're interested, we'd love for you to check out our app or our website to sign up. Yeah, absolutely. And today we actually just wrapped up our 21 days of prayer and fasting. And I know it's been such a huge blessing here. Hopefully it's been a huge blessing for you as well, just as you're continuing to grow in your faith,

learning, reading, doing all those different things. We wanna challenge and encourage you to keep going. Even though the 21 days of prayer and fasting is over, maybe your fast is done, but man, let's continue to pursue Jesus with everything that we've got this year so that 2025 does become a year that's just life transforming. And so we wanna make sure that you do that. And so the thing that we'd love for you to do is this, is invite somebody, all right? Yes, please. Let somebody know. Send this message. If it was an encouragement to you, send it to somebody else. Let them know and say, hey man, this is something you guys wanna hear because it's just a challenging, powerful message. Oh yeah, and the best thing that you guys could do is to come back next week, okay? Because we're starting a brand new series called It's Complicated, talking about healthy relationships God's way, which I feel like everybody just needs in their life. And so it's gonna be amazing and we encourage you to check it out, but we love you. We'll see you guys next week, bye.