Let The River Run

Welcome to the Zeal Church podcast. There are seasons when God shifts the pace and what once requires driving now requires surrender. And in this message, guest speaker Charlotte Gamble unpacks a powerful picture of God's re-reflowing deeper and wider, inviting us to move from ankle deep control into waters deep enough to swim, from friction to flow, from barely enough to more than enough, and if you felt tension, resistance or transition in the season, this message will help you trust God's pace, follow His process and step fully into what He's releasing. Let's dive in. Well, one of the things that I like to do when I'm entrusted with what I have been entrusted with for the next few moments is I like to know what it is that God is doing and speaking in that community. And so I have been stalking you for the last few weeks. I'm up to date on the things that you are involving in and planning and I'm so excited as I've heard so many great messages about you getting deeper into community, you getting more involved in family, all the expansion that God is doing in the house and the new expansion pop up that's going to happen at Franklin at Easter is all a part of the growth of what God has for you as Zeal Church. But one of the things I want to speak over you today and remind you of is that if we want greater, which I believe is all of our heart, we want greater move of God, we want to see greater miracle signs and wonders, we want a greater outpouring of all that God is doing in our communities, we want greater relationships, we want greater in every area of our life. Well, one of the reasons why often we don't get greater is not because God doesn't want to give it to us, but greater requires deeper. You can't have greater unless you're willing to go deeper, you can't have a greater relationship unless you're willing to go deeper in your commitment, you can't have greater increase unless you're willing to go deeper in your release of some things. And so there's always a deeper that goes with a greater and today I want to put before you that challenge that maybe there's an area that God is asking today from you to go deeper in the things of God. I'm only putting before you this challenge because I have already lived this challenge personally. It was a little while ago that I was planning and mapping out the year that I had of serving God and things that were in my calendar and I was praying over the plans I'd made and I felt the Holy Spirit interrupt me with something that was not what I was expecting to hear. And I felt God asked me the question, Charlotte, are these plans that you're presenting? Are they playing it safe? Are these plans ones that require faith? And it was a real challenge to me because I had a lot going on and there was a lot of stretch in what it was that I was submitting, but I realized so much of the planning. Actually, if I just rolled my sleeves up and put in the work, I could achieve it by myself. I was not leaving a gap in my planning that meant that if God didn't show up, it was not happening. There was more safe than there was faith and I felt challenged to go back to the drawing board and say, God, I want greater. So in this area, I myself need to go deeper and I just sense that God was asking me to make room for something I had not even planned to make room for and I sense he is asking the same of you, Zeal Church. There are some things that you have not scheduled, you have not planned. You didn't think that this year you would do what it is that God may require you to do, but God is asking, is it going to be your plan or my plan? Is this your about your way or is it about my way? And so often there is a huge gap between those two things and as I was praying, I saw a picture of myself so clearly. See I go to the gym and when I go to the gym, I usually jump on the treadmill and do about six or seven miles every day. And so this is just a routine I have not because I love exercise, but because I love eating. And so I have to go to the treadmill. And so I go to the treadmill and over all of these years of this discipline I have learned something about treadmills. That if I don't push a certain button on the treadmill before it starts, it will do things I don't want it to do. And so I get on the treadmill and I immediately push the button that says manual. Because manual means that I take the power back from the treadmill because I know some expert has programmed the treadmill to work me out how they have deemed I should be worked out. And so if I don't push manual, I can be walking and the belt starts getting faster and now I'm running and I don't feel like running and if I don't push manual, I am walking on the flat and all of a sudden the treadmill starts to go up and put me on an incline and I don't want to go up a hill today and so before it can tell me what to do, I tell it no, I remove the power from you. I'm taking the power back. I'm going into manual. And I'm putting that picture before you because I honestly think so many of us every single day push the manual button in our life and take the power back instead of the supernatural button in our life. God may want you to do an incline this year. So you're going to have to decide who has the power and who is pushing the buttons. And as I saw that picture of myself, God took me to a passage in Scripture and you know it's God when he takes you to Amos. Because nobody turned into Amos for like reading, right? And Amos has this declaration, this prophetic declaration of what God is going to do and it's a declaration that stands true today. I believe with all my heart, Amos says the days are coming. Declare's the Lord. When the Reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes and new wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills and I will bring my people Israel back from exile. You're like, what does that mean? I don't understand. Well, in that day, this picture that the prophet is painting, he was using words and he was using images that everyone could relate to. There were a lot of people that had vineyards. There were a lot of people that were plowing and sowing not so much in our day and age. So I can put this into a modern day analogy. We just built a house. So I'll use the analogy of building a house. The prophet is saying the days are coming. When the foundations, the guy pouring the foundations, he's going to be overtaken by the person hanging the drapery. When the person that came to do the plumbing is going to be on site at the same time as the person that's come to do the painting, well, that doesn't make sense. You don't dig foundations while you're trying to hang drapes. Those people should not be on the site at the same time. But what God is saying is when my pace kicks in, your process has to change. When what I'm doing kicks in, what you have planned to do has to surrender to a greater plan that I am trying to do. And God is doing something on the earth right now. And it's not an hour pace, it's at his pace, which means it doesn't fit our process. God's not going to fit into your tidy scheduling. He is outside of your scheduling. So you have to ask yourself which one matters most. My way or God's way, because God's saying when I kick in, it's gone mess with your system. It's gone mess with your calendar. It's gone mess with your priorities. And I realized as I sat in my office, God was challenging me. Do you want something new? Which my answer is yes. Well God's like, I'm not going to do it in something old. In fact, in Luke 5, it puts it this way. No one pours new wine into old wine skins. Otherwise the new wine will burst the skins. And the wine will run out and the wine skins will be ruined. No new wine must be poured into new wine skins. Why do we have to have a service in Franklin? Because new wine needs new wine skins. Why do we have a 730 start service? Why are they telling me to go and connect in a small group? Because you're lonely and it's not working your way. And new wine needs a new wine skin. Why are they telling me I should get involved in a connect group or go and find out about zeal connect because you are not doing it your way. It's not working your way. So maybe you need the new wine, but in order to have new wine, you need a new wine skin. I know we don't like new wine skins, but we like new wine. God's like you can't have one without the other. And so I have personally been living in this tension and this challenge of realizing, man, I thought I was thinking big, but God is thinking way bigger. I thought my plan was good, but God's plan is even greater. And so I'm going to have to catch up to the speed of God's process. I'm going to have to change some things that I don't want to change. But I haven't got time to tell you how much this has messed our life up. But let me tell you, I was living in England where I've lived all my life and we just emigrated to America, which was not on my life plan. Just so you know, I'm living what I'm preaching. Okay, so if God's asking you to join a small group, you should thank your lucky stars. He's not asking you to emigrate. You got to flightly. And I'm saying, like, take the challenge. Take the challenge. So I'm living out what I am preaching to you today. And I realized God was doing something. It required a change. It required a surrender. And I was reminded a few years ago when I don't know what happened, I guess I was just worn down by the people in my world. See, I have been with my husband 30, four years. And when I married my husband, he grew up skiing. He loves skiing. He's from Washington state. And so he loves skiing and talked to me about skiing. I have no interest in skiing. We raised our children. He would sew seeds in them. You would love skiing. I'm like, we ain't going skiing. Forget about it. Then my best friend of 40 years is a very, very advanced skier. And so she was joining Team Skie. And her husband is a very advanced snowboarder and their children are avid skiers. So now I'm outnumbered. And I don't know many years of them trying to get me to ski. I guess one evening my walls were down. My defenses were low. And I kind of randomly said, OK. And within 48 hours, it was booked. We were going skiing. And nothing could change. The deposit was paid. And I just remember we got to the Alps in France for the skiing trip. And I was handed one of these. I was like, what is this? They're like, this is your footwear. I'm like, it is ugly. It is heavy. It doesn't match my outfit. What is this? They're like, you're going to have to wear this. We're going skiing. So I put the boot on. And we were in the shallay in France. And I'm walking around our shallay in France. And I am under my breath saying things like this stupid boot. It is so ugly. It is so heavy. It's so uncomfortable. This is the dumbest idea. Why do I even have to wear this thing? And I am clumping around the apartment muttering under my breath. And my friend said, what are you doing? I said, I'm trying to break the boot in. She's like, you don't break the boot in. I was like, well, I'm just trying to get used to walking in it. She goes, you don't walk in it. See, I was treating the boot like I treat one of these. I know how to walk in one of these. I know how to climb in one of these. I even know how to run in one of these. So the same behavior that I have when I wear this, I was applying to now wearing this. But this boot was not made to do what this shoe was made to do. And if you don't understand that God is asking you to wear a new boot, you're going to complain like I did. You're going to mutter under your breath like I did because it feels clunky. And it feels heavy. And I don't really want to do this. But the boot was not made for the apartment. The boot was made for the mountain. So my friends, like you're on the wrong terrain, it's never going to feel right while you're down here. You've got to come up higher. And God's going to ask some things from you this year that won't feel right down here when your mind is down here. And your confession is down here. And your faith is down here. But if you'll come up higher, all of a sudden, what was heavy lower will get lighter as you get higher. So we went up higher and sure enough, the higher we went, the more the boot became useful to me. Now we're at the top of the mountain and I'm in the boot. I got to the top of the mountain. I'm in the boot. This is me. Like everything in me is braced. My face, my face, my whole body posture is as stiff as I can make it. Because I know I don't want to do anything that would cause this boot to go. So I am gripping. I am standing there. My friends looking at me like, what are you doing? I said, I'm just trying to stay in control. She said exactly. That's your problem. She said, you've got to trust the boot. I was like, I don't want to trust the boot. She said, but the boot was engineered to do what it's about to do. You've got to trust the boot. And I was reminded in that moment 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 your paths straight. I realized I am more lent on my understanding than I'm trusting the boot. Which is why some of you right now are in a wrestle. Because you're leaning more on how you see it and how you configure it out and your way of dealing with it than you are trusting God's. So my friends at Charlotte, with a tone of voice that I knew she was mad, Charlotte, trust the boot. I said, well, what does that look like? She said, you've got to put your shin to the boot. I said, but if I put my shin to the boot, that means I'm going to go from leaning backwards to leaning forward. She said, exactly. I said, but if I put my shin to the boot, the boot's going to move. She said, exactly. That's the whole reason we're here to move. And I put my shin to the boot and we started moving. And now we're moving and the winds behind me and I'm going faster. And I'm going faster. And I'm shouting to the people down the mountain. Get out of the way. I can't stop. Get out of the way. I can't stop because I had no idea how I was going to break or stop. But I had such momentum. I was moving anyway and God this year for so many of your lives. He wants you to put your shin to the boot and trust him. And you'll gain a momentum and you'll shout at things before that intimidated you. Get out of the way. Because I can't stop. Get out of the way. I'm coming through. There is something about the Holy Spirit that wants to get behind you this year in a way that he can't when you're leaning back. But you've got to lean in to the things of God and see where God will take you. And so I'm like, OK, God, I hear you. I feel challenged by you. I know what it is that you're asking, but God, what does this actually practically look like? God's like, I'll help you some more. So God then takes me to a Z-Kill. If Amos wasn't enough, now we're going to a Z-Kill. And in a Z-Kill, there's a picture that today I want to speak to you and I pray gets all the way within you. Because it's a picture really that God is speaking of revival of something that's going to flow out from the house of God and change the landscape. And if we are praying for revival, we need to know how revival happens. We need to know how this thing gets out beyond the four walls of where we currently are sat. A Z-Kill says, "There was a man that brought me to the entrance to the temple." That's the house of God, the dwelling of God. 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. He then brought me out through the Northgate and led me around the outside to the out-of-gate facing east and the water was trickling from the south side. This is a picture of the temple, the dwelling of God, the altar of the things of God and out of the altar, out of the temple. The water begins to flow. You know, if there's going to be revival come from anywhere, it's not coming from education or from politicians or from anything outside of us. It's coming from internally from the house of God, from the things of God. This water was coming out of the temple of God. And I believe it is time for us to see water flowing out from the church through all our communities at an advanced level like never before. We got to understand that God's house is so that we can bring a flood of revival to all those that are around us and near us and far from us. But we have used the church like a hydration point. We've come to church on Sunday with our cup. Just give me a little piece, give me a little joy, give me a little word, pastor. Fill my cup up so I can be hydrated for the week and I'll be back next week when my cup is empty again. This is not for hydration, guys. This is supposed to be a place of saturation. You're supposed to be absolutely saturated in the presence and the word of God. You're not supposed to come in here to get hydrated. You're supposed to come in here already saturated. Hey, just like, still let you know, the worship team, they're not the warm up act. Then I had to warm you up. Come on, guys. Let's stretch some praise out of you. Let's get those arms raised. They're not here to warm you up. You're supposed to come in warmed up. You're supposed to come in saturated. Their praise is supposed to meet your praise. Their gratitude is supposed to meet your gratitude and between us, there is a saturation of the things of God. God is doing something and he wants it to flow out of his people out of his house and so as Ezekiel is watching this picture of this water that is available, it says there was a man with a measure in line in his hand. He measured off a thousand qubits and then led me through the water that was ankle deep. He measured off another thousand qubits and led me through water that was knee deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was now 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 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'm asking you, Zeal Church today, do you see this? God has a river and we bring a stick. God has a river that was supposed to be so far in. It is over our heads. We can't even stand up anymore but you have got to make a choice whether you're going to swim in the river or bring your stick to the river. I'm not going to call you out but some of you have come this morning with your stick. You're an ankle Christian. You're like, I'm going to go to Zeal Church and dip my ankles in and then I'm going to go about the rest of my week. Well the problem is when you get your ankles wet and only your ankles wet, how many of you know by the time you get back in your vehicle, your ankles are dry. So you came and got a splash of what God has for you but by the time you got back home, you're dry again which is why this is not changing your marriage. It is not changing your addiction. It's not changing your thought pattern. It's not changing your behavior because when you only go ankle deep nothing else changes. So we can't complain. Well God, I gave you my ankles but you didn't change my marriage. It's like I'm going to need more than your ankles to change your marriage. I'm going to need to get further in the water to change your addiction. I can't fix it unless you get all the way in. So I feel good today because I'm definitely gone beyond the ankles. Good for you. Good for you need deep person. I'm proud of you. Proud you got all the way into your knees but your wallet still dry. Hello. God you can have this part of my money. Don't talk to me about giving. Don't talk to me. Your heart's still out of the water. Well God, I'll give you some time but I'm not letting you change my affections. Your mind's still out of the water. You're still thinking the wrong thoughts. You're still thinking the things that are toxic and harming your body. You've got to understand God wants all of you just like He gave you all of Him. He can't fix you when all you give Him is a dip every Sunday. And so I feel like my assignment today is to be the mean girl at the pool party. I'm talking about someone says we're having a pool party. You're like, "Yeah, yeah." You're like, "You have no intention of going in." Like you just got your hair cut or you just got new lashes on. I don't know. You're like looking cute. You're like, "I ain't getting in." So you arrive late and you're hoping that all out the water by now and you're standing at the edge of the pool talking to someone in the pool. And then some fool comes up behind you and pushes you in. And everyone's laughing but you. Because now you're all the way in the water and you don't look like you looked when you were on the side. You don't look put together anymore. You look like you are saturated and nothing is in place like it was when you were on dry ground. And this year I feel like God's saying to some of you, "I'm trying to push you in. I'm trying to push in your perfect picture of what your life, I'm trying to push in your image. I'm trying to push in your agenda. I want you so in the water because I want it to be a year where there's more of me visible and way less of you." You're like, "Well, why do they keep telling us to go to community groups? Because they're trying to push you in?" Well, I feel awkward in those settings. Me too. But you won't make it without a group of people around you that are helping you understand what God has for you. Why? It's like God, isn't it? That God assigned that I would be here the Sunday before baptism Sunday? You're like, "Well, I don't know. Let me tell you, I do know. If you aren't being baptized, you've got to go all the way in. You've been splashy holy water. That's not enough. I need you all the way in because it's saying to God, "I want to go so in with you. I want to be so saturated in the things of God. I don't care what I look like. Take me under the water God so I can come out a different man, a different woman. So some you need to sign up for baptism because you need to go all the way in this year. Put your stick away. It's time to swim. It says in the same passage, "The wear this water flows." As it float out the Eastern region, it entered the Dead Sea. And when it empties into the sea, the Dead Sea, the salty water that even becomes fresh. And swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh, where the river flows. Everything will live. You've got to ask yourself, what's dry in your life? What's not working in your life? And then you've got to go back and say, where did the flow stop? There's enough power in the flow of God's presence and God's word. There's enough power in the presence of God to even bring dead things back to life. Dead marriages, dead dreams, dead hopes, dead things can be resurrected where the river flows. But watch this. In verse 11 of the same passage, it says, but the swamps, they will not become fresh. Like, what are you saying, God? You say you don't have enough power for a swamp? No. God's saying he will not waste his water. That has the power to bring dead things back to life. He will not waste his water in swamps that have absolutely no intention of allowing this thing to flow through them. See a lot of us? We get in the flow, feeling what God's asking of us, we're seeing what God wants to move in us. And then we take the water to the swamp. The swamp on social media, the swamp of our negative friends, the swamp of our people that don't believe in what it is that God wants to do in and through us, the swamp of negativity, the swamp of questioning, we take what it is to the swamp and then we wonder why things are not working in our life. That's like me taking this boot off the mountain and trying to go in a swamp. How many of you know if I take this boot in a swamp, there's only one way I'm going? When you take that faith in that swamp, there's only one way it's going. When you take that dream in that swamp, there's only one way it's going. When you take that decision to have a change life to the swamp person that doesn't want you to change your life, there's only one way it's going. When you take that flow of freedom back to the place of addiction and prison, there's only one way it's going. We've got to understand that God's saying, listen, I'm not wasting my water on swamps. Just like Jesus said to the disciples, shake the dust off your feet if it's a swamp because there's a lot more people I need you to go reach. This year, before us all, is an invitation. How much of this river do you want to flow in you and through you? But if we let God have His way instead of our way, if we let the new wine find new wine skins, then it says of this river when it flows, it says fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. And their leaves will not river. No, will their fruit fail. And every month they will bear fruit. Why? Because the water from where the sanctuary flows to them. And their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing. I don't know if you know. And I don't know if you've noticed, but the world is desperate. And they're looking in all the wrong places to quench their appetite and thirst. And they're getting more, more dark and more and more in a swamp. And so the church has to rise up and start being the river that we're called to be and let the flow of God go through us. But that means in any area where it's just your ankles, you've got to get deeper. It's just your knees, you've got to get deeper today. I feel like the Holy Spirit wants to push some of you in. You've been coming a while, yeah you, but you've never led a group. Lead a group. You've been attending, but you've never served, served. You've worshipped, but you've never been baptized. Get baptized. I don't know what you need to do. But take a step today to get deeper into the things of God. I promise you, it is the best ride of your life when you let the river flow through your life. Welcome you in person. Plain your visit at zeeltourge.tv and let us know you're coming. We hope that today you're more equipped to walk and the purpose God has for you. So let's go out and love God. Love people and enjoy life.