Summary: 100 Days of Preaching the Gospel #40 | with Daniel Whyte III <br><br> TEXT -- Revelation 22:1-5: "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever." <br><br> Some people think that talking about heaven and the afterlife is a waste of time. They say that we should focus on things that are more practical. However, I think that if God did not want us to be concerned about Heaven, He would not have written so much about it in the Bible. He would not have given us the beautiful descriptions of Heaven like the one we just read together. <br><br> The story is told of a boy who stood on a windy hillside, flying a kite. He continued to release the string of the kite and it went higher and higher until it was completely out of sight. One of his friends walked up and asked how he knew there was still a kite on the other end. He replied. "I know it's there because I feel it tugging on the line." <br><br> Like the kite, we can't see Heaven right now, but we can feel it tugging at our souls! We want to be there because somehow we know that Heaven is infinitely better than earth. We know that God, the Creator of the universe, is in Heaven. In Deuteronomy 26 the people of Israel pray to God, "Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people." In Genesis 17, we read that God "went up" when He was finished talking with Abraham. <br><br> Today, I want us to take a glimpse beyond Heaven's gates and see what we can learn from the Bible about what God is doing in Heaven. <br><br> I. First of all, we know that God listens to prayers in Heaven.<br> II. Secondly, we know that in Heaven, God is observing all that we do and say. <br> III. Third and finally today, we know that God is keeping records in his books. <br><br> + Plus, listen to Walter Hawkins singing "I'm Going Away" and Deitrick Haddon singing "Sinner's Prayer"
