Sermon

The Loss Adjuster | Charlotte Gambill

Next Level Church Podcast

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  1. thankful if you are new to next level, new to who Pastor

  2. Charlotte is. She is an author speaker, She is

  3. a prophetic voice to the global church.

  4. She loves leaders. She pours into US year round and

  5. we are just so honored. She doesn't just speak to women,

  6. she speaks to men too. So lean in and listen.

  7. We are in for a word from God today.

  8. So we put your hands together and welcome Pastor be in the

  9. house. I'm going to keep you on your

  10. feet just for a few seconds longer.

  11. First of all, happy Mother's Day.

  12. From my heart to all the women in the room, wherever Mother's

  13. Day finds you. I just want to say that Mother's

  14. Day for some is a joyous day. For some, it's a hard day.

  15. I remember there were years where Steve and I, my husband,

  16. we were told we would never have children.

  17. And I remember being in services on Mother's Day, aware of my own

  18. lack of being able to be a mother.

  19. And it was a hard day, but I knew I served a good God.

  20. And I want to remind you if today is a little harder for you

  21. that we serve a good God. I now I'm the God rewrote the

  22. story of the doctor's report, and he can rewrite your story

  23. too. And so I celebrate you mums.

  24. We do a lot and expect little. So I pray today that God

  25. overwhelms you with his kindness and his goodness.

  26. And I pray today that you realise you're doing way better

  27. than you think you are. We're the hardest on ourselves,

  28. but you do way better than you think you are.

  29. And I get to open the word just in these next few moments.

  30. I love this house. I love you pastors.

  31. They're incredible people. And I'm thankful that I get to

  32. come back and pour into this house and this location and all

  33. the other locations. And I loved being with the

  34. women, but I love being with the church because this is where we

  35. get to build right family and home.

  36. And and so I want to help you receive.

  37. And maybe sometimes we just need a picture to help us receive.

  38. And you know, I've been saying this to the services because I

  39. think it's important we get ourselves in the right posture

  40. to receive what God has. I really believe we sometimes

  41. miss things because we're not in the right posture.

  42. We're not in the mode of receiving.

  43. You know, in the worship just a moment ago, you lifted your

  44. hands. Many of you, we lift our voice.

  45. Why? Because we're giving God our

  46. worship. Worship is your opportunity to

  47. give God something. He doesn't need anything, but we

  48. get to give Him our worship. We get to give Him our thanks.

  49. We get to give Him our gratitude.

  50. But when it comes to the Word, this now is not about us giving

  51. God something. The Word is actually about God

  52. giving you something. Which blows my mind that God

  53. wants to give us something right back after we just worshipped

  54. Him. So what that means is that your

  55. posture has to change. The worship we're giving.

  56. But now we have to go into a posture of receiving.

  57. And I don't know much about your game, football.

  58. I don't even know why you call it football because that would

  59. mean you use your feet. But if you were on my team and I

  60. had the ball in my hand and I know this is a good pass, I know

  61. if you catch it right now, we're about to win.

  62. I know if you catch this ball, the whole game is about to

  63. change. So I get ready to throw the ball

  64. and you're on my team and I know your job brief is you're the

  65. receiver. And I get ready to throw the

  66. ball that I know can change the game.

  67. And I look at the receiver and his hands are in his pockets or

  68. he's on his cell phone. He's chatting to somebody on the

  69. sidelines. I'm thinking to myself, what are

  70. you doing? Don't you understand?

  71. All I need you to do right now is receive.

  72. And this whole thing changes. And I feel like when it comes to

  73. the Word, it's like God's given me a ball.

  74. He's given me some truth, He's given me a revelation and I've

  75. just got to throw it out into the room.

  76. But I'm just looking for the receiver that realises if I

  77. catch this, it could change my marriage.

  78. If I catch this, it could change our family.

  79. If I catch this, it could change my future.

  80. I'm going to receive, so let's shift our posture before we take

  81. our seats. God, we thank you that you want

  82. to give us Your Word. God, you're aware that our lives

  83. are filled with many people's words, but none of them can do

  84. what your word can do. The God I pray today that we

  85. would put ourselves in the seat of the learner, the God.

  86. Today, no matter how long we've been alive on this planet, we

  87. would sit in these next few moments saying, God, teach me,

  88. God, the things I need to learn. There are things I don't know

  89. that you do know. God, I pray today we'd be so

  90. hungry for your Word, so desperate for your Word, that we

  91. would leave here knowing we just received something that can

  92. change the rest of our life. And God, I pray as always that I

  93. would get out of the way. God, I want to be invisible so

  94. that you can be fully visible today.

  95. So God, have your way in these next few moments and we'll give

  96. you all the glory in Jesus name, Amen and Amen.

  97. You may take your seats. I don't know how you begin your

  98. years. I hope that there's some prayer

  99. in it. I hope there's some devotional

  100. time in it. For me, at the beginning of

  101. every year, I lean in. I pray.

  102. I'm really. I'm just asking God.

  103. OK, God, what is it that's on your heart for this year?

  104. What is it that you would have me lean into this year?

  105. That's where I found myself in January of this year.

  106. And as I was praying, I felt such a sense of excitement,

  107. honestly, such a sense of passion to run after God with

  108. all my heart. I was a little surprised because

  109. when you've done something, as long as I've done what I'm doing

  110. now, you can almost go into, you know what, maybe God, I'm over.

  111. Maybe it's time for me to retire.

  112. I mean, I started preaching the word of God at age 21 and I'll

  113. be 53 this year. I'm like God, maybe it's time

  114. for me to put the book down. Maybe it's time for me to do

  115. something else. But I honestly started this year

  116. feeling feeling just excited about preaching as I was when I

  117. was in my 20s. I was so passionate to get out

  118. and do what God needed me to do. And so I felt this urgency at

  119. the beginning of the year to go for it, to serve God, to open

  120. his word, to teach, to preach like I am doing now.

  121. But at the same time, I felt something I'd never felt before.

  122. And I felt God say to me, Charlotte, I don't just need

  123. your urgency this year. I need your accuracy this year.

  124. I don't just need you to run with passion.

  125. I actually need some precision this year.

  126. I don't just need speed. I actually need some specific

  127. things doing this year. And if you're running too fast,

  128. you're going to miss the things that will be more effective

  129. because there is an accuracy that I want to put alongside

  130. your urgency. And I was reminded when I was

  131. praying had something that we went through as a family years

  132. ago, years ago, I needed to see a doctor, a specialist, but the

  133. doctor and the specialist that I needed to see in England was

  134. really hard to get an appointment with.

  135. So I had been on a waiting list to see this doctor for over 18

  136. months. That's how long it was taking

  137. just to get an appointment with him.

  138. And I knew seeing this doctor, this specialist, it literally

  139. could change the rest of my future health wise.

  140. I knew that he could help me in a way that no one else could.

  141. So we waited. So you can imagine the

  142. excitement when we finally got the letter saying you've been

  143. accepted. He's going to see you.

  144. He's going to be in your region. This is the date.

  145. This is the time we rearranged our entire schedule so that I

  146. could be at that appointment. On the day of the appointment, I

  147. was up early, early. I was not going to let anything

  148. get in the way. I'm not, I'm not going to get on

  149. a traffic jam. I'm not going to get caught in.

  150. I'm going early, early. And so I was at the appointment

  151. way before my time. So I realise I'm here, you know,

  152. nearly 3040 minutes early. So I'm just going to sit and I'm

  153. just going to wait until it's my time.

  154. And I'm waiting and I'm hearing people's voice names get called

  155. over the voice tanoi, and they're saying a name and then

  156. they're saying the room for this person to go to, then another

  157. person's name and the next room to go to.

  158. But I know I'm early, so I'm not waiting for my name yet.

  159. So then it gets to the time of my appointment.

  160. And so now I'm like, OK, it should be me next.

  161. And so I'm waiting, but it's taking a while.

  162. And I'm thinking to myself, like you would think to yourself,

  163. well, he's busy. These people have been waiting

  164. as long as me to see him. Appointments are probably taking

  165. a little longer. So I'll have a little patience.

  166. I'll have a little grace. Well, now we're 5/10/15.

  167. Now we're 20 minutes past my appointment time.

  168. So I just go to the desk at the front and I just say to the

  169. lady, Hey, just wanted to let you know I am here.

  170. I, I, I, I have not heard my name yet.

  171. I've heard everybody else's name, but I've not heard my name

  172. yet. So I'm just letting you know I

  173. am here in case you forgot to Call My Name.

  174. So she said, well, just let me know.

  175. Remind me your name, your time on all the things.

  176. And so I gave her the details of my appointment.

  177. And she goes on her computer and then she gets on the phone.

  178. And then she looks at me and she says, Mrs. Gamble, I'm really

  179. sorry to tell you this. She said, you do have an

  180. appointment with that doctor and it is today and you have the

  181. right time. But did you not get the updated

  182. e-mail? I said, what e-mail?

  183. She said the one that would have let you know his office is no

  184. longer in this building. He's a good 30-40 minutes all

  185. the way across town. And I realized in that moment I

  186. have been sat here getting angry and frustrated that no one is

  187. calling my name when the reality was 40 minutes away.

  188. Someone was calling my name, but I was not in the right room.

  189. See, I had part of the equation, right?

  190. I had the day right. I had the time right?

  191. I had the doctor right? I just had one part off and that

  192. was I was in the wrong building. But how many of you know it

  193. doesn't matter if I had 3/4 of it, right?

  194. That one part that was off meant I missed the entire appointment.

  195. And that's what I felt God remind me of in the beginning of

  196. this year. Charlotte, I don't need you to

  197. get 3/4 right. I don't need you to get just the

  198. time right or just the person right.

  199. I need you to get the space right.

  200. I need you to get the accuracy that I require from you this

  201. year. And I was reminded of Two Samuel

  202. 11, which is a story about David, King David, chosen by

  203. God, anointed of God. But the Bible says in Two

  204. Samuel, at a time when kings go to war, David is a king.

  205. David, it's letting you know you're the king.

  206. This is the time and this is the place you should go to war.

  207. But the Bible says that David decided he would not go to where

  208. he should be, but instead he would stay home.

  209. It seems like a small decision. It seems like an insignificant

  210. choice until you realise all the enemies waiting for is for you

  211. to get one part of the equation wrong.

  212. Because if you're not where you should be doing what you should

  213. be doing, he will wait till you where you shouldn't be, and then

  214. he will give you something to do that you shouldn't be doing.

  215. And in that one decision to stay home, Bathsheba shows up.

  216. And the Bathsheba became the temptation that David did not

  217. resist, and the whole trajectory of David's life was changed just

  218. because he refused to be in the right place at the right time.

  219. So I don't want to overlook this today.

  220. I don't want to downplay the seriousness today of us

  221. positioning ourselves where God needs us to be when He needs us

  222. to be there. There is a verse in Galatians

  223. that says this. It says, since we live by the

  224. Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

  225. That is a small, short sentence to read, but that is a huge

  226. revelation to wrap your mind around.

  227. What's it saying? It's saying, hey, I need you to

  228. know that you actually can live out of step with the Spirit.

  229. You have to choose to live in step with the Spirit.

  230. I don't know if you've ever danced with someone that's not a

  231. great dancer, but when they're out of step with the step they

  232. should be in, you get your toes trodden on.

  233. It's a painful experience. And some of you right now are

  234. having a painful experience in your walk with God, but it's not

  235. that His step is off, it's that your step is off.

  236. See, when you get in step with someone, somebody has to

  237. surrender. And just in case you wondered,

  238. it ain't God. You don't have to surrender, You

  239. do. So let me illustrate and get my

  240. helper up here to let you see what it is that Galatians is

  241. trying to help us understand. It's telling us we've got to

  242. live our lives in a way that stays in step with the Holy

  243. Spirit. When you stay in step with

  244. someone, it means that you have to be attached to that person.

  245. In order to stay in step with someone.

  246. It means my life has to be In Sync with whoever I'm trying to

  247. stay in step with. The problem is that a lot of us

  248. come in services like this or go to conferences like this weekend

  249. and we're like, I'm in step with you, Lord.

  250. I'm in step with you, Lord. But then we get in the car and

  251. we're like, and now I'm not in step with you.

  252. I don't want your step in my business.

  253. I don't want your step in my relationships.

  254. I don't mind it in services. I don't mind it in church, but I

  255. don't want it on Wednesday. I certainly, I really don't want

  256. it on Friday. I don't want it at the party on

  257. Saturday. So I'm just letting you know

  258. Sunday I'll be in step. But the rest of the time I'm out

  259. of step. Because here's the thing, when

  260. you're in step with the Holy Spirit, he don't, don't want to

  261. do what you want to do. So you're like, I'm just going

  262. to say that. And the Holy Spirit is like, no,

  263. I don't think so. I'm just going to put that on

  264. Facebook. He's like, I don't do Facebook.

  265. Well, they said a mean thing. So I'm going to say a mean

  266. thing. Holy Spirit is like, we don't do

  267. mean things back. We don't retaliate.

  268. Well, I'm angry. I don't do angry.

  269. See what I'm saying? When you are In Sync with the

  270. Holy Spirit, it kind of cramps your style because you want to

  271. do something over here. And the Holy Spirit's like we're

  272. not doing that. That's why we come to church and

  273. we have a moment where we sync up, but then we leave church and

  274. we detach because I don't want you to confront me on Friday.

  275. I don't mind on Sunday, but leave alone my Friday.

  276. But the Bible says you've got to keep in step with the Spirit.

  277. So you've got to start working at this awkward relationship

  278. that God wants you to get in step with.

  279. But the more you do it, the more you find a rhythm.

  280. And all of a sudden what was awkward becomes quite normal.

  281. And now it's not just you walking, it's the Holy Spirit

  282. walking with you. There's a sink into what you're

  283. doing, and that's what this Scripture is appealing for.

  284. It's saying, hey, since you live in the Spirit, why don't you

  285. keep in step with the Spirit? See, you always have God on the

  286. inside. If you've said yes to Jesus,

  287. he's going nowhere. He's on the inside of you.

  288. He's not leaving you. He's not forsaking you.

  289. Thank you. He's on the inside of you.

  290. But just because he's on the inside of you doesn't mean

  291. you're in step with him. It's like having power in your

  292. house. You have power in your house,

  293. but just because you have power in your house doesn't mean it

  294. works. Until you flip a switch that

  295. connects the power to the light bulb and all of a sudden the

  296. power has a purpose. You have the power on the inside

  297. of you, but until you get in step, that power has no purpose.

  298. I think one of the places where we often detach, where we say

  299. God, you know what, I don't mind you speaking into this, but I

  300. don't want you speaking into that, is when we get into

  301. seasons where we feel hurt or upset or offended or pained.

  302. Something happens and we don't like what just happened.

  303. It's in those moments that we often want to detach from the

  304. Spirit because the Spirit wants to move on and your feelings

  305. want to stay. I've discovered something about

  306. God. He don't care much about my

  307. feelings. You don't care about your

  308. feelings. God's not a feeling driven God.

  309. Thank the Lord he's not feeling driven.

  310. Because if he was feeling driven, most of us in here would

  311. be dead by now. He'd be like, I ain't giving you

  312. no more breath because you keep wasting it on dumb stuff.

  313. I have a feeling you've been rebellious enough.

  314. We're done. We wouldn't have woken up with

  315. breath this morning if he was feeling driven.

  316. So thank the Lord that he's not driving our lives through his

  317. feeling. So God doesn't we care much

  318. about our feelings. He'll let us have them, but he

  319. won't let us live in them. And some of you are out of step

  320. with what God wants to do because you've got stuck in a

  321. feeling. You've got stuck in an emotion.

  322. You got stuck in something that happened.

  323. And today God wants to get you unstuck because there's

  324. something greater for your life, but you can't get to the greater

  325. until you let go of what you're in right now.

  326. There's a story in the Bible where there's a potential woman

  327. that's about to get stuck. She loves Jesus, She followed

  328. Jesus, she went with Jesus and the disciples to many places.

  329. This woman's name is Mary, and we're about to bump into this

  330. story that Mary is in, in John 20.

  331. And we're about to see that Mary has got stuck and she needs a

  332. little help to get unstuck. Mary, who loves Jesus, has just

  333. a few days earlier, before we jump into John 20, just a few

  334. days earlier, Mary has had the greatest loss.

  335. She just watched Jesus be crucified.

  336. I mean, Jesus was everything he was.

  337. He was her hope for the future. Jesus, she knew was a good man.

  338. She knew there was nothing bad in Jesus.

  339. And yet she had watched him be brutally crucified.

  340. She'd watch people accuse him of things that he was not guilty

  341. of. She was distraught.

  342. And so she is deep in her grief, and she's grieving, and she is

  343. crying, and she is overwhelmed with the loss she is facing.

  344. And so now, after the Sabbath has passed, she knows I can now

  345. go to the body. I can go to where the body is

  346. laid. I just need to go grieve some

  347. more. I just need to go cry some more.

  348. And she even was going to the tomb with embalming fluids to

  349. embalm the body. I'm going to go embalm the body.

  350. I'm going to build a monument here at the body.

  351. I'm going to build a memorial at the body.

  352. She was on her way to grieve a little longer.

  353. And I sense when I was putting this message together, I sense

  354. the Holy Spirit say, there are so many of you that entered this

  355. year going to embalm the body from last year, going to embalm

  356. and going to cry a little more about what happened last year,

  357. about what happened three years ago.

  358. Going to the side of the tomb to go and grieve a little longer

  359. over the thing that happened so far back in your past.

  360. You are crying still about what happened.

  361. And I just need you to know that maybe God's going to ask you a

  362. few questions today because Mary was about to be asked some

  363. questions. It says Mary is at the tomb in

  364. John 20. So now Mary stands outside the

  365. tomb and she's crying. And as she wept, she bent over

  366. to look into the tomb and she saw 2 angels in white seated

  367. where Jesus body had been, one at the head and the other at the

  368. foot. Here comes the first question.

  369. And they asked her woman, why are you crying?

  370. It feels an insensitive question.

  371. I mean, really. I mean, just a few days earlier,

  372. I watch Jesus be beaten, I watch Jesus be mocked.

  373. I watch Jesus be crucified. I watch Jesus take his final

  374. breath. And I'm just a few days on from

  375. my grief and you, I have the audacity to ask me why I'm

  376. crying. That's why.

  377. We don't like sometimes keeping in step with the Spirit because

  378. he feels insensitive to our emotions, but he's asking the

  379. question because he's trying to help her move from where she was

  380. to where she now is. See, I need you to understand

  381. something. All throughout Scripture, when

  382. this story is recorded, there is no recording of anyone asking

  383. Mary why she is crying at the cross.

  384. No one asks her why are you crying at the cross?

  385. Because at the cross the tears make sense.

  386. At the cross, the tears are an offering.

  387. At the cross, the tears are beautiful.

  388. At the cross, the tears are appropriate.

  389. Ecclesiastes 3 says everything is beautiful in its time, even

  390. grief, even pain, even anger. It's beautiful in its time, but

  391. out of time it's no longer beautiful.

  392. And I know over here there were tears because of your loss, but

  393. we're not over here anymore. We're now over here, and this is

  394. not the cross. This is an empty tomb.

  395. That should be a clue, Mary. We don't need to cry because

  396. there's no body in the tomb. There's something took place

  397. between where you were and where you now are.

  398. But your emotions are keeping you in the past, and some of you

  399. are in the present, but you're living in your emotions of the

  400. past. And you can't see the miracle

  401. that God's trying to do because you're trying to embalm the body

  402. of what what happened last. Why are you crying?

  403. Maybe the question is not why are you crying?

  404. Maybe the question is this, why are you still offended?

  405. Get over it. But you don't know what they

  406. said. I don't need to know what they

  407. said. All I know is your life is stuck

  408. at a place called offence, which means you can't move into the

  409. blessing of your future because you're parked up at a fence.

  410. The enemy loves it when we get stuck in our feelings, get stuck

  411. in our emotions, But everything is beautiful in its time and out

  412. of time. It is ugly, and right now some

  413. of the ugly in your life is not to do with anyone else, but it's

  414. to do with you because you've got out of step with the Spirit

  415. of God. The best way I can describe this

  416. moment is by telling you a story of what happened in our lives

  417. several years back. We were in England, it was

  418. Christmas Eve, we were all having fun as a family upstairs

  419. hanging out. But it came to the point in the

  420. evening where the kids were going to bed and mum and dad

  421. needed to go and be Father Christmas's helpers, if you know

  422. what I'm saying. There were things to do, there

  423. were presents to bring, there was organization that needed to

  424. happen. So the kids go to bed and we go

  425. down to the basement where everything is stashed.

  426. There's a, there's a living area down there, there's a games

  427. console and couch, sofa down there.

  428. So we'd hidden stuff down there. So we go down to the basement.

  429. I take a step down into the basement, but as I go to put my

  430. foot on the step, my foot hits water.

  431. I'm like, wait a minute, there shouldn't be water on the

  432. basement step. And it's not just a little bit

  433. of water, it's all the way up to my ankles.

  434. And I suddenly begin to have the horrific realisation that while

  435. we've been upstairs with our family having a good time, a

  436. pipe had burst in our basement and everything was ruined.

  437. This is 11:00 PM on Christmas Eve.

  438. There is no rescuing Christmas. There is no fixing this problem.

  439. Every present is destroyed, everything is gone.

  440. I would like to stand here and tell you that I stood on that

  441. step and said the joy of the Lord is my strength.

  442. He is my provider, He is my waymaker.

  443. But I did not say any such thing.

  444. I would be a liar if I told you that I stood on that step and

  445. said things that I should not have said.

  446. I said words that I had to repent from saying after I had

  447. said them because I was angry and I was frustrated and I was

  448. mad. Our whole Christmas was ruined.

  449. Everything was ruined. I went to bed crying.

  450. I woke up crying. I didn't stop crying the next

  451. day or the day after that. I was getting madder and I was

  452. crying more tears. A week gone. 7 days gone. 10

  453. days gone. Two and a bit weeks after this

  454. happened. There's a knock on the door.

  455. I go down the stairs. I open the door.

  456. There's a gentleman standing there in a suit with a

  457. briefcase. He said, are you Mrs. Gamble?

  458. I said, yes, I am. He said, well, I'm so sorry.

  459. It's taken me a while to get here.

  460. It's been the holiday season, people on vacations.

  461. We've been down a few staff members, but I'm here now and I

  462. believe you had a flood. I'm like, yes, he goes, oh, I'm

  463. from your insurance company, He said.

  464. They sent me because my job brief is I'm the loss adjuster

  465. and my job today is to come and see what you lost so I can write

  466. you a cheque for what we owe. How many of you know I ain't

  467. crying anymore. I ain't crying One tear.

  468. I'm thinking to myself, I hated that sofa that my granny gave

  469. me. I'm thinking to myself, we

  470. bought our kids some cheap rubbish, we're about to get a

  471. whole upgrade on what they're getting for Christmas.

  472. I'm thinking to myself, we didn't light Nintendo.

  473. We're about to get a PS4. I'm thinking to myself, things

  474. are about to go up in this household.

  475. Why? Because the loss adjuster just

  476. showed up. So when God asks you a question

  477. that seems insensitive, I need you to remember the knock.

  478. Because what he's saying is hello.

  479. I just need to ask you, why are you crying?

  480. Because I'm from your insurance company.

  481. You have a policy. You have a policy in heaven.

  482. And last time I checked, there is no loss that he did not

  483. adjust at the cross. There is no pain, there is no

  484. shame, there is no sin, there is no betrayal, there is no

  485. offence, there is no hurt. There is nothing that he did not

  486. fully pay the price to adjust the loss in your life.

  487. So I'm just asking you, Mary, why are you crying?

  488. Because the loss has already been adjusted that you are

  489. crying over. Why are you crying?

  490. Why are you angry? Why are you frustrated?

  491. He's asking you the question because he's trying to move you

  492. into your future. It gets worse because when you

  493. act crazy and think crazy, you say crazy things and some of you

  494. are Cray Cray in the house today and you need a deliverance today

  495. from your craziness. And you need to get in your

  496. right mind and stop saying the wrong things because your

  497. feelings are driving your tongue.

  498. And instead let faith begin to speak instead out of your mouth.

  499. And so Mary has already been asked this question once, but

  500. God himself sends Jesus to ask the question again.

  501. And so now as she's standing there and she's asked this

  502. question, she says, well, they've taken my, the Lord away

  503. and I don't know where they put it.

  504. At this, she turns around and Jesus is standing there.

  505. But she did not realise that it was Jesus.

  506. Why? Because when your head's in the

  507. wrong space, you can't even see who's in front of your eyes.

  508. So now he asks her. Sounds familiar, woman, why are

  509. you crying? He's going at it a second time.

  510. Why are you crying? I'm going to repeat the

  511. question, but watch this second part of the question.

  512. And who? Who is it?

  513. What is it that you are looking for?

  514. She says. Well, watch this thinking He was

  515. the gardener. How in the world can you think

  516. that Jesus is a gardener? I have no idea.

  517. He didn't have a what? Wheelbarrow and Wellington boots

  518. on that. This is like her crazy mind is

  519. imagining crazy things. She can't even recognise the one

  520. she knows so well. So thinking he was the gardener,

  521. she says, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where

  522. you put him and I will get him back.

  523. She's accusing Jesus of stealing.

  524. Jesus. This makes no sense.

  525. And some of you make no sense right now.

  526. The plan makes no sense. What you're saying makes no

  527. sense. What you're accusing makes no

  528. sense. And Jesus is asking her, what

  529. are you looking for, woman? What is it you think is going to

  530. fix this situation? That's what he's asking her.

  531. She's like, I need a body. I need I need a body.

  532. I need the body and I need to take control.

  533. Hello to all my control freak friends in the house this

  534. morning. You are bastard God does not

  535. need you to control the situation.

  536. You need to resign from your control freak tendencies.

  537. I don't know who told you that you have to fix everything, but

  538. I have good news for you today. You can't fix everything, so you

  539. ought not to keep trying to fix everything.

  540. And he's asking her in this moment, what is it that you

  541. think will make this better? Like, what is it that you're

  542. looking for, Mary? Because I'm right here talking

  543. to you. And it seems that you're looking

  544. for something that that you think somehow is better than the

  545. one that's talking to you right now.

  546. She's like, I need the body. Tell me where it is and I'll go

  547. get it. I'll fix it.

  548. I remember when we were going through a crazy season in our

  549. church back in England, COVID had just happened.

  550. And COVID in England was a whole different scenario than it was

  551. over here. I mean, we were locked down, not

  552. allowed to leave our home for 19 months.

  553. It was crazy. People were crazy.

  554. I remember pastoring through that scenario and people were

  555. just posting stuff and being weird and saying crazy stuff

  556. like they've lost their minds. And I remember just being so

  557. angry and frustrated thinking what is wrong with you all?

  558. And I remember some people posted some stuff that was

  559. personally offensive. And I remember just in that

  560. moment, everything in me, the control freak in me, wanted to

  561. sort it out. And I remember God saying,

  562. Charlotte, what is it you want right now?

  563. And my honest answer that I gave to God because I don't know any

  564. other way but to be honest, I'll tell you God exactly what I

  565. want. I want them to crawl on broken

  566. glass to my feet and say they're sorry for the lie they just

  567. posted. I want them to admit to their

  568. sin. I want them to put this right.

  569. And I felt God say to me, Charlotte, I'm asking you a

  570. question. Do you want a resolution or do

  571. you want a solution? Well, those words sound similar,

  572. so I had to go to the dictionary and look up the difference.

  573. But a resolution means when I get the outcome that satisfies

  574. me, a resolution is well, they stole from me, so I want them to

  575. pay me back. Well, they lied about me, so I

  576. want them to tell the truth. Well, you know what?

  577. They betrayed me, so I want them to apologise.

  578. You know what? They said some mean things.

  579. I need them to unsay the mean things.

  580. You know what? They were the one that were

  581. wrong, so they need to say sorry first.

  582. That's a resolution. And I heard God so clearly say

  583. to me, Charlotte, I never promised you a resolution, never

  584. promised your resolution. I never promised they'd say

  585. sorry. I never promised they'd pay you

  586. back. I never promised that it would

  587. all be put right. I never promised it would go

  588. back to the way it was. I never promised you a

  589. resolution because people don't often do what they should do.

  590. But I did send you a solution. So you can either spend the rest

  591. of your life waiting for the resolution that you feel will

  592. justify the situation, or you can realise like Mary needed to

  593. in that moment. I know you want a resolution,

  594. but you're talking right now to the solution.

  595. That's why when you read your Bible, he gives you solutions.

  596. I know we don't like them because I'd rather have as a

  597. resolution, but he gives you solutions like hey, I know you

  598. want a resolution where they say they're wrong, but here's the

  599. solution. Forgive.

  600. Anyway, I don't like that solution any more than you do,

  601. but it is the solution because you know what it does?

  602. It moves you on from the offence into the life that God has

  603. waiting for you. Your resolutions keeping you

  604. stuck in your past whilst your present is calling you into your

  605. future, but you're stuck. You're camped out.

  606. I know. So we want a resolution that

  607. says, hey, that person that was mean to me that they're going to

  608. come and they're going to do good to me.

  609. But the Bible says I've got a solution for you.

  610. Even the person that is your worst enemy.

  611. Wrap up your best coat and give it to them as a gift.

  612. You're like, what in the world is that?

  613. It's a solution. It's a solution to free your

  614. life from where you've been stabbed for so long.

  615. Why are you crying? Why are you angry?

  616. Why are you frustrated? And you might have a million

  617. answers to that question, but after you've given me all the

  618. answers, after you've given God all the answers, I'm just

  619. wondering whether you're willing to say I don't care about the

  620. resolution as much as I care about the solution.

  621. I want to put my head on the pillow tonight and have peace

  622. back. I want to have joy back.

  623. I want to get that sense of vision for my future back.

  624. You'll only ever get that when you get back in step with the

  625. Spirit that can lead you to it. So in her crazy mind with her

  626. crazy mouth accusing Jesus of stealing, Jesus, not seeing that

  627. the answer is right there in front of her, Jesus does one

  628. thing and this is the one thing He does.

  629. He simply says her name, Mary, And the minute that she hears

  630. her name on those lips, she realizes in an instant, Jesus

  631. Rabboni teacher, it's you. It's me, Mary.

  632. This whole while while you've been freaking out, I've been

  633. right here This whole while while you're looking for a body,

  634. I'm hearing my resurrected glory.

  635. This whole while while you're trying to solve it, I already

  636. have brought the solution to it. And my prayer today for you as

  637. individuals and as families is that you would be centred again,

  638. that you would reconnect again, that you get back In Sync again

  639. with the Holy Spirit and you would hear your name on his lips

  640. calling you today back to centre, calling you today.

  641. Out of all of the feelings and the emotions, it's Mother's Day.

  642. And for some of you it's just another year where you feel your

  643. headache has got deeper and your pain has got worse.

  644. And I'm just asking you today, maybe you need to talk to the

  645. solution instead of holding on for your A resolution.

  646. Maybe today you have to pick up a phone or let something go or

  647. have a conversation. Maybe today you need to free

  648. yourself from the trap that you've allowed yourself to live

  649. in for the last 5-6 years. God has so much for you, but He

  650. can't lead you to it unless you get in step with Him.

  651. Which means you're going to have to step out of step with some

  652. feelings that you've become very attached to.

  653. It's all across the house today. I'm going to ask us to stand to

  654. our feet and just right where you're at.

  655. I'm just going to ask you to close your eyes and just think

  656. of that picture that I started with that illustration of

  657. joining your life to another, of attaching your heart to another,

  658. of letting the Spirit lead you. Where are you out of step today?

  659. Where do you need to answer the question?

  660. Why are you still upset? Why are you still offended?

  661. Why are you still grieving? Why are you still angry?

  662. Where do you need to answer the question today?

  663. What is it you're looking for? Where is it today that you need

  664. to let go of your desired resolution and instead say, God,

  665. I receive your solution, I'll love anyway.

  666. I'll forgive anyway. I'll move anyway.

  667. I'll believe anyway. I'll dream anyway.

  668. Your loss adjuster is in the room and I don't care how bad

  669. the loss is. He paid for every single one of

  670. them on that cross. So God, I pray for healing

  671. today. I pray today for conversations

  672. that would lean to the solution instead of the resolution.

  673. I pray today for families to find a peace again.

  674. I pray today for marriages to find a space where they can have

  675. a conversation that moves things forward.

  676. I pray today that there would be a reawakening of some things

  677. that have been dormant for too long.

  678. I pray today that we would wipe the tears and we would let go of

  679. the anger. We would let you be our loss

  680. adjuster and there's eyes are closed in every location.

  681. If in this moment you know that you are not where you should be

  682. with God, that you've been drifting or maybe you've never

  683. asked him to be Lord. Maybe he got dragged here on

  684. Mother's Day, but God brought you here not just because it's

  685. Mother's Day, but because He has a plan for your future.

  686. He wants to adjust the loss. Without Him, we're going to

  687. hell. With Him, our eternity is secure

  688. in heaven. He does not want the loss of

  689. your life in sin. He wants to redeem it with His

  690. grace and His goodness. And today all he asks is that we

  691. say yes to him, the loss of justice.

  692. So as eyes are closed, if today you know, I need God to be first

  693. in my life, I need to come home today.

  694. I need to make Him Lord. I've been a prodigal today.

  695. I adjust that loss. If that's you, his eyes are

  696. closed, just lift your hand at right where you are.

  697. I'm going to see it. That hand saying that's me

  698. today. Include me in this prayer that

  699. you're about to pray. I know I need to adjust some

  700. things today. I love these moments because I

  701. know what's at the other side of this.

  702. Obedience feels like just a hand, but I'm telling you, it is

  703. more than a hand. It's acknowledgement that God, I

  704. don't want to do this my way anymore.

  705. My way is not working. Put that same hand on your heart

  706. and I'm going to pray this prayer and I pray you make it

  707. your prayer right now. God, I thank you that you love

  708. me and I thank you even though I don't deserve it.

  709. Your grace flows towards me and I thank you that you have

  710. adjusted every loss that I have faced.

  711. And so today I receive your grace, and God, I ask for your

  712. forgiveness. Would you adjust the loss of my

  713. sin and my shame? Would you adjust the loss of my

  714. grief? And my Baroness, would you

  715. adjust the loss in my heart of rebellion and anger?

  716. God, today I receive from you a new beginning, a fresh start.

  717. Thank you Jesus, that you went to the cross to adjust the loss

  718. for my eternity. Today I receive you as Lord.

  719. Today I come home. Today I say thank you God for

  720. seeing me and receiving me. And God will give you all the

  721. glory. And all God's people said Amen

  722. and Amen.