Back to School With Holy Spirit II, Graduate School

If you would please, to John chapter 7, John's Gospel chapter 7, we're finishing really just a very brief two-part series called Back to School with the Holy Spirit. That doesn't mean when today's over that school's out, just means that I trust you're starting on a personal journey to be refreshed and renewed in the rivers of living water. And people often ask me, how do you know that you're really hearing what the Lord has to say on a Sunday or a weekend message? I don't always know, but I do wait on Him and seek Him for it. And always is a blessing when I open up my 23-year companion in devotion, Oswald Chambers, same book by the way, the same copy. Yeah, well it is. He wrote it by hand, I think. And the subtitle of today is, Rivers of Living Water, John chapter 7 and verse 38. So that's where we are. Let's read it together, John chapter 7. Let's begin in verse 37. On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams or rivers of living water will flow from within him. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. These are days and seasons of tremendous change in our culture, wouldn't you agree? I know I stand on tiptoes, as it were, to watch and see what's going to happen in the landscape of our culture in these next months. Literally, I believe this election coming in November represents two almost diametrically opposed political ideologies in our nation. And there's some important decisions about to be made in that arena. In the economy, things are changing. What was hoped to be a great recovery is stumbling along, and who knows where it's going to go, given the deficits and all. The world scene is changing dramatically. Who would have thought that just a couple of years ago we would see today the changes that we have? The meltdown of the Iron Curtain, the demise of the Soviet Union, the slow eradication of communism. And how many of you are praying that just as in the Soviet Union communism fell, so in China, where Ken and Lisa are going to be, that that same communism is going to go down the drain, and that a billion people will be free to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are all kinds of things happening. The riots in LA, all these kind of changes. And I want to say to you, there are significant changes happening in the Spirit of God as well. These are days of transition. Next week, I'm going to detail for us what I believe is the essence of some of the transitions that are going to be happening around here in our church. We're not just starting a new fall program. We don't have any new fall programs, but we sense the Holy Spirit is saying to do some things different than we've been doing them in the past. And we're going to begin next week to outline that. We're kind of just waiting for everyone to come back, so we can all be on the same page. But I believe that God established something prior to that for us, and that is to know this. As Jesus said in John 6.63, the flesh profits nothing. It's the Spirit that gives life. And folks, it doesn't matter what the changes are. It doesn't matter what we're going to try to do in the fall. It doesn't matter what's happening in the world around us. If you're not in the Spirit of God, I can already tell you what your net profit's going to be. Zero. The flesh profits nothing, Jesus said. And I'll talk about what that means today, just a bit. And so what I want to do today is to talk about what it means to live life in the Spirit, to live life enthusiastically. Now, how many of you know what the word enthusiasm means? What image do you have in your mind? What's enthusiasm? It's excitement, it's zeal. I went to a football game on Friday night, a high school game. I saw some enthusiasm there, certain choice moments. I saw people doing things there. Had they done them here, they'd have been considered fanatics, but they got to do them there. I had a multi-level marketing person come to me, and he sure was enthusiastic about his product. But you know what the definition in the dictionary is of enthusiasm? It's people who receive revelations of the Holy Spirit. That's in Webster's dictionary. That's the first definition of being enthusiastic. It's having God breathing into your life and receiving revelations. And I believe the Lord wants us not to live life just kind of clawing and scraping and hanging on and hoping to get to the end, but living life enthusiastically, receiving revelations of the Holy Spirit of God for our daily life. Far more profound than any sporting event or personal sales quote. The Lord has purpose for us, and we're called to live life enthusiastically in Him. Jesus said it this way, there's going to be a river, and He even said rivers of living water flowing through us. Now, last week I talked about the Holy Spirit in three images, and here's a little test. I always kind of like to know how I'm getting through. Who remembers the three simple images we used last week? Tell your neighbor if you think you know. Oh, I hate these tests. It makes me nervous. Oh, I wasn't here. Plead ignorance. What was one of them? Rivers, right. Anyone know another one? Wind, and what was the third one? Dove. Oh, excellent, excellent. God be praised. It's not a total loss. Much better than Saturday night, I'll tell you that. They were stumped in the third. Today, I want to simply talk about the rivers that Jesus mentioned. Let's focus on just one of those images of the Holy Spirit. And setting this scene here in John 7. Now, you can read these words, and they mean nothing if you don't understand the background. Here's what Jesus was talking about. On the last and greatest day of the feast. Now, the feast He's talking about is the Feast of Tabernacles, which took place annually. And on that day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed the truth about the Holy Spirit. Now, what was the Feast of Tabernacles? Just a little background. Well, annually, the Jews celebrated three major feasts. This was the last one, the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Booths. And what they would do, dads, they'd go out, and they'd clip off branches from fruit trees, and little boughs, and so on. And they'd fashion them into little booths, or little tents. And it was like, you know, a big Israeli campout. I mean, they went and literally slept under these things. How many know someone that's camping this weekend? I know a lot of people. I mean, they were going to be out getting wet. I blessed them for it. The Israelis did it for a purpose. The Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles, was to commemorate God's provision for them through the wilderness. And on the last day of the Feast, they came back to the temple, and the priests stood up on the temple steps, and they had these huge cisterns, or pots, and they filled them up with water. And then they took them at a sort of climactic moment, and they spilled the pots over, and the water came cascading down the steps of the temple. And all the people shouted and praised God for the symbol of His provision of water, as they sojourned through the desert to the promised land. It was a commemoration. I just want to say, moms and dads of children, young children, help your kids commemorate things that God's done in your family. Leave little pictures on the walls, and little, you know, symbols of art, and so on. Just put them around the house, and remind kids, remember, that's when the Lord did this, and that's how the Lord provided for us in that way. Because it helps to be reminded, doesn't it? Well, at that moment, on that last day of the Feast, Jesus stood up and proclaimed these words, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. And whoever believes in Me, streams or rivers of living water will flow from him. Dear ones, it's so important that on this day we understand, just like the Israelis did in those days, that what God was doing in delivering them from the bondage of the Egyptians, which is a symbol of our life in sin, was bringing them not just to a destination, not just to a promised land, but God was also providing for them the expression of their destiny. I want everyone to say those two words, destination, say them, destination and destiny. Can we flash that up, please, Lee? Two words, but very important distinctions. And my own conviction is that in America today, and even in this church today, there are a lot of people who are living life with a sense of, well, I have a destination. Who knows what their ultimate destination is going to be? Who thinks they know? I'm not so sure now that no one else put their hand up, are you? Take a guess. Heaven! I hope you know that. If you don't know that, don't leave here today without coming to terms with it. Many people know that as you trust in the Lord Jesus, you'll have eternal life, and your destination will be heaven. And by the way, I'm pretty happy about that. I mean, in the perspective of life, you know, when the car breaks down, when the refrigerator blows up, at least you know one thing. Can't take it anyhow, but you've got a new one waiting, right? God's going to provide for you. But very few people know what their destiny in life is all about. Destiny is such a critical issue, and it really begins to distinguish what happens in the church. My own conviction is the reason why so many of us feel unfulfilled, undirected, unsatisfied, is because, well, we have a destination, and I'll go into heaven and praise God, and that's wonderful, but I don't know what my destiny is. I don't know why I was really placed here. I can't figure it out. Rather than discovering how the Holy Spirit wants to give a life-quickening sense of direction, and purpose, and people, knowing why they married a certain person, knowing why God gave them kids, knowing why they have a vocation that they do, knowing why God's put them right where they are, people just kind of drift through life, unaware of their destiny. I don't think we really could capture it in a moment, but the couple that you saw up here just a few moments ago, Ken and Lisa, Wednesday night they came, and they had about 15 or 20 minutes to kind of share their heart. And there's a couple, as Ken said on Wednesday night, who've discovered God's vision for their life. And there's got to be at least one person thinking, I know, if I say, God, show me your vision for my life, it'll be China, and I hate that. I don't want to go there. You know what? You'll be much happier in China, or India, or Somalia, or Argentina, in the will of God, than you will be here sitting in the United States, in the North Hills, out of the will of God. But they have a sense of their vision, a sense of their destiny. And when Ken says, folks, get a hold of that purpose, I want to urge you to listen, because you know what? There's lots of people who will drift through life, and never really say, I found it. I found my destiny. And one of the ingredients of where we're going beginning next week is a recommitment to helping every person in this church discover that destiny, and move in according to God's grace. Dear ones, Jesus cried out, Those who believe in me, they will have rivers of enthusiasm, of living water flowing through them, a pipeline of divine grace, a fountain of water flowing down through them out to others around them. I just want to talk about in just three short little paragraphs today what those rivers represent here among us. I figure three rivers is kind of appropriate, don't you? It's kind of where we live. So let's look at just three. I could have probably talked about eight or nine different rivers in Scripture, but there's three I want to highlight. Just to show you what Jesus meant here when he talked about the Holy Spirit coming, hold your hand there and flip over to Acts 2. Moving along, verse 33 of Acts 2. What Jesus said was going to happen in John 7 is now fulfilled in Acts 2. And people have received the Holy Spirit, and they've seen the release of the Spirit, and people have been glorifying God in other tongues and so. And a lot of people are checking this out, and they can't figure it out. And Peter stands up and gives a tremendous sermon, and here's what he says. Let's start in Acts 2. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, and has poured out what you now see and hear. In other words, what Jesus promised would happen has now happened, and the Holy Spirit has been poured out. And what they're seeing and hearing is evidence that Jesus has been raised, and the Holy Spirit has been given. Now let's investigate. What was it that they saw and heard? Well, look back in verse 4 of Acts 2. For all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them. Now how many here have ever in your life wondered, what's this speaking in tongues stuff all about? Let me see your hand. If every hand doesn't go up, you're not being honest today. What's this speaking in tongues stuff all about? There are people who will categorically stay away from a local church, if they hear that someone there speaks in tongues. There are people here who will discount an entire ministry. Not here necessarily, but there are people in our city who would discount an entire ministry, because they heard someone spoke in tongues here. What is it all about? Well, one thing it's all about is described in verse 11. We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues. What people usually don't say is that the message of tongues was to glorify God. It was to praise God. Now there's two reasons why God wants us to understand that the first river, the first river coming from the throne is a river of praise, a river of praise. Let's talk about that. You see, God gives a river of praise basically for two specific reasons. First of all, to enable us to give expression to our love for God. Now how many of you loved the worship this morning? Wasn't it great? And I just appreciated the instruments, and I appreciated your participation. But you know what? I felt this morning, like I do often, Lord, I wish I could go beyond. I wish I could express more freely how much I love you. You ever feel that way? Charles Wesley did. Former Methodists, listen to this. Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King, the... How many Methodists are here? You don't remember this? Four of you. The triumphs of His grace. Charles Wesley knew that desire. I know you feel this. Lord, I just can't... I don't know how to say it any other way. I love you. And by the way, we were talking over a little bit of coffee last night. When you tell your spouse you love them, how many know it's nice to say it a different way now and then? If you say it the exact way, you write the same exact thing on the card. It's not like that with the Lord. I believe He loves for us to be just a little bit spontaneous and creative. And when we speak in an unknown tongue, God lets a new expression, a new release come through us. And it's an exciting thing. And by the way, praise, the Bible says, becomes the upright. In other words, praise makes you a more beautiful person. Turn to someone right now and say, Well, it would be good for you to keep praising the Lord. No, no. Well, tell them you must be praising a lot. Tell them some. Okay. There's a second purpose of the river of praise, though, and this is very important. The second purpose of the river of praise is that it's an awesome expression of the dynamic power of God to the frustration and the confounding of the princes of darkness. Dear ones, the Bible is clear that praise is an instrument. Listen up. Praise is an instrument of the casting down of strongholds and principalities and powers that Ephesians 6 talks about. Praise frustrates the schemes of hell and repulses the legions of darkness that want to come and rob and kill and destroy in our lives. Dear ones, praise works. It just simply works to stop the flow of garbage in the world. Because what? Psalm 22, 3? Because God inhabits the praise. God comes in and lives in the praises of His people. If you want to shake up a demonic situation or a place where you feel that there's this oppression, just begin to praise. Just begin to praise. I mean, what would happen if you just started to praise God in the situation you find yourself today? Instead, what we find is not praise of God, but on a billion lips today, you'll hear God's name not praised, but cursed. You'll hear the name of Jesus dragged through the mud. I mean, why is that? Ever wondered about that? I never hear anyone say, you know, someone takes their parking place and they go, Buddha. No, I never hear that. I mean, it's the name of our God. Does that escape you? And the sad truth is here in America, a quote, quote, Christian nation, far more people will blaspheme the name of Jesus than praise Him. The devil loves this, you see, because he knows when the name of Jesus is praised, it's going to frustrate his purposes. Why is it that when something awful happens, when a hurricane comes through, and I forget, I read it last night, 90,000 homes destroyed, a quarter million people or more out of their homes, 33 killed, 20 billion, when that happens, we decide to label it an act of God. You know what? God, you did this. Now, make no mistake, there are thousands, millions of people in this nation who would say that. God did this. And that's what they'll tell you, that's the reason why they can't believe in Him. Well, God would let this happen? I won't believe in a God like that. And the devil just, I love this. I want to see God defamed, blasphemed, blamed for things. I don't want to see Him praised. I don't want to see people praying to this God. And folks, Jesus said there's a river that's going to rise up, and those, His people, a river of praise that will come and begin to drive back that darkness, that negativity, that ugliness, that the devil wants to plant in the people of God, let alone the community around us. People who are letting that river flow out of them know that heaven will come. The kingdom of God will come, because the presence of God will be there, and it'll crowd out the strategies of hell. And so that's the first river. It's the river of praise. And can I say, I don't know anything that Pittsburgh needs more. I don't know anything that the North Hills needs more. I don't know anything that this church needs more than a river, a river, a river of praise. Now remember last week I asked you to imagine a river, and some of you saw this wide meandering, and some of you had this white water thing, and a couple of you had this little... How many of you would like just to believe God that there can be a river that would flow from this place of praise, and the message would begin to get out that God was doing some great things? Right through this place. And you know what it takes for a river? What makes a river rise? Say it. Rain. Lord, bring the rain. Bring the rain of your Holy Spirit, and cause this river to rise once again, because what we need here is the praise of God, the river of God. In fact, why don't we do that right now? In fact, why don't we just stand right now, and let's speak that praise. Let it flow for just a minute. Go ahead. Lord, we praise you today. Lord, we exalt the name of our God. Lord, we praise you. We extol you, Lord, in your majesty and dominion. Lord, we exalt you. Lord, we lift your name up, God, for you have blessed us with your presence and your power. We exalt you, God. We worship you. Lord, you are more precious than silver. Lord, you are more costly than gold. Lord, you are more beautiful than diamonds and nothing I desire compares with you. ...that were just as exciting as this place is, just as full as this place is, they're gone now, because people didn't realize it wasn't just a destination, it was a destiny, that they had to pursue with all their heart. Very quickly, go ahead and be seated. Let me just touch on the other two places that I see these rivers flowing. The second is the river of the spirit of prayer. You see, whatever good, whatever good has come out of North Way Christian Community over the last 11 years, whatever is going to come out in the years ahead, I attribute it not to cleverness or schemes or great ideas. You know what I attribute it to? In fact, I've often said, when I stand before God, He may not be able to say a whole lot good about stuff I've done, except one thing that we have done here, and that is we've learned to pray. And there's a praying core of people, and we haven't learned it perfectly, we're still growing, but there's a core of people that are praying people here. I want to say thank you to the many of you who are interceding, praying regularly. Nancy Mason prepared some wonderful prayer notes for today. Pick them up on the way out. Be part of the praying fabric of this church. And I need to say, some of us who are newer, maybe you never knew this, maybe you've come in and said, well, this is great. How did all this happen? It happened because someone cared enough to pray regularly. Every opportunity that they had. You know, we still pray every Tuesday and Friday at six in the morning. But a lot of new people, and maybe you're new to the area, or maybe new to all this kind of stuff, and you're saying, well, gee, that's wild. And I know we need to do some re-education. Did you know, by the way, that because of the transient nature of our society, and the fact that people just change, and many people aren't committed anyhow in the first place, in a normal year, we need to see 200 new people come into the church just to replace the 200 who left, because they moved away, or whatever. That's amazing, isn't it? Just to stay even, let alone to grow. And over the last several years, it's possible that five, six, eight hundred of you don't really even have a vision for what prayer is all about here. We want that to change, because I believe there's a great strength as the river of prayer. Notice what it says, and we don't have time to really dig into this this morning like I'd like to, but in the book of Acts, the church was powerful because it was praying. I mean, flip to Acts 1. What was the church doing in Acts 1.14? Oh, I don't know. Why don't you look? Okay. Oh, there you go. What were they doing? Praying. In Acts 2, what were they doing? They were at prayer, and the Holy Spirit came. Acts 3, they were on their way to prayer, and they healed a man that had been crippled, and a great miracle occurred. In Acts 4, a crisis arose, and they were being persecuted. What did they do? They prayed. In Acts 5, they started bickering within, and there was some authority crisis going on. What did they do? They smacked each other and fought it out, right? No, what did they do? They prayed. Acts 6, there was a need to administrate things differently, so they prayed. You see, all through the book of Acts, prayer, prayer, prayer, prayer, prayer. Church prayer is where that liver gives expression to God for that which God would do to bring about His release, and I could go into this at length. Praying people are people who don't see it as a sentence, like, well, I'm a prisoner of prayer, and I'm relegated to the dungeons of intercession. No, they see the joy of the Lord as their strength, that prayer is the source of life. And by the way, I don't pretend to have a real great handle on this, but I know one thing. When a person finally breaks through in their prayer life, it's the most treasured aspect of their walk with God, because they experience communion with Him. Who understands prayer? I can remember nearly 35 years ago, and that sounds scary to say it, driving along on Ohio River Boulevard in the back seat of my parents' car with my brother and my sister, coming home from visiting my grandparents, probably 8, 9 o'clock at night, some of you may remember those moments, when on the Billy Graham radio program, at the end of the program, they would say, in the words of Alfred Lord Tennyson, more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Remember that? That was their closing statement on the Billy Graham program. But then Tennyson went on to write, therefore, let your voice rise like a fountain, day and night. I mean, Tennyson grabbed it, let it rise up, let the river flow of prayer, day and night, because things can change as you pray. On Wednesday, I had a very difficult day because I received news that some of you are aware of, many of you are probably not quite yet, that a companion in ministry, a dear friend, a senior pastor of one of the seven churches that I fellowship with on a regular basis, a man in his early 40s, a man with five children, who'd been having some digestive problems through the summer, went to see a doctor and discovered that he had a malignancy. And this is, as many of you might know, Mike Henning of St. Stephen's Church. And we called the church, and right away when I heard the message, Mike called back, and the message was, we just need you to pray. We want your church to pray. And we're going to do that before we leave today. We're going to pray for Mike, that God would arrest this cancer that's in his body. Because we want our river, you see, to flow with the stream that's coming from the other churches. And I believe, dear ones, I believe that that's what it's going to take, is a stream flowing into another stream, into another stream, until a mighty river begins to flow of prayer to wash that cancer out of his body. What is it that you brought in today that's just too difficult for you to figure out? Anyone have something? Is it your loneliness? Is it your financial lack? Is it your struggle in your marriage? Is it your problems with your kids? Can I say to you, there's nothing that the river of God can't wash through. There's nothing that God won't do in answer to prayer. And don't be disheartened. I know I look in some of your eyes, and you say, you know, Jay, I get angry when you say that, because I've been praying for ten years, and I haven't seen a change. Well, you know, sometimes God's river just works a little more slowly than we'd like. But it's working. I want you to think of the hardest rock you can think of right now. Is it a hard heart that's just like a rock, and you go to, and you share, and poom, and the gospel falls? Think about it. What is it? Is it something physical? Is it a heart? I can take you to a place. Many of you have been there, about 2,500 miles southwest of here. There was a hard rock plateau ages ago, and a river started flowing. And now that hard rock plateau is a mile deep, and I don't know how many miles wide, and it's called the Grand Canyon. Why? Did someone dynamite that in there? What was it? A meteor? No, what was it? It was the Colorado River, just flowing. And it's what God will do as a river of prayer comes from our lips. And I know, just like many of you, it gets discouraging and saying, yeah, I know, Jay. And sometimes it's like carving through rock, isn't it? But be assured, church, God will have his way for people who continue to pray and submit themselves to him. Jesus said, let a river rise up, a river of prayer. Let me end with this very quickly. The third river is a river of restoration. Let's conclude by just, this is going to be tough for some, flipping back to Ezekiel. I don't think we've been there in 10 years. The prophet Ezekiel, by the way, it's probably a good idea when you come to church to bring your Bible. I say this every week. And it's also a good idea to leave it open. We don't have to fumble so much. Ezekiel chapter 47. The whole book of Ezekiel, of course, is an incredible prophetic word. And starting in chapter 40, Ezekiel is prophesying about a temple that's going to be built. Now, how many of you believe, I'd like to see your hand, that one day there will be a literal, physical temple in Jerusalem that will be rebuilt? If you don't know about all that, you may want to read something about prophetic word and fulfillment. As I said several weeks ago, prophecy is fulfilled in multiple levels. It can be fulfilled once, and then again in a different form, and then again in another form. That's the nature of it. And here the prophet Ezekiel is talking about a temple in the same way that maybe Jesus talked about a temple. Jesus said, Destroy this temple, and I'll rebuild it in three days. What was He talking about? Himself, His own body, that He raised up again from the dead. But here He's talking about the temple of the church. Ephesians 2.20, 1 Peter 2.5. Ezekiel sees that something's going to happen in this temple. Look at it with me. Chapter 47. The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the temple faced east. And the water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. And He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate, facing east. And the water was flowing from the south side and then out toward the east. And we can't take the time to read all this, but what I want you to know is, let me just describe it to you. Maybe you can read it later. As that water flowed, Ezekiel saw that it started out at their feet, and then about a quarter of a mile later, a thousand cubits, it was up to their ankles. And then another quarter of a mile, it was up to their knees. Another quarter of a mile, it was up to their waist. And you see, Ezekiel is describing the last days flow of the stream of the Holy Spirit, increasing as God, as the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God. And he's describing how the Spirit as a stream is mounting and increasing and flowing through people. And look what it says down in verse 12. And fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river, and their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Now here's the very incredible thing, and I want to end with this. Who knows what body of water lies at the east of the temple in Jerusalem? Mack? The Dead Sea. The Dead Sea sits off to the east of where the temple will be constructed. And that Dead Sea, in case you're unaware, is the most minerally concentrated water in the face of the earth. It is so heavy. I mean, the evaporation creates such a density of minerals that you can literally walk out into the Dead Sea and sit. Can you picture that? You can sit there and read a book. Put a hat on, you know, drink a Coke, whatever. But all around the perimeter of the Dead Sea is barrenness because nothing can grow. The water doesn't do its nourishing thing because the mineral content, it's so thick that it can't support life. And what Ezekiel is saying, now catch this picture. He's saying that the stream coming from the sanctuary is going to so change that lifelessness that, what did it say? The leaves won't wither and the fruit won't fail and every month they will bear because the river of God is flowing into that Dead Sea and changing what's happening. Do you see the picture? The Lord's saying, let that river flow in your life and the most barren thing about you, the most hopeless situation, the most pained circumstance, God can change by the power of His Spirit bringing life into that little wedge. And dear ones, make no mistake, hundreds of us this morning have a little wedge in our heart where we've been hurt, pained, barren. God wants to change that. In the coming weeks, I want to share with you how I believe the Holy Spirit is going to be doing that work among us as we seek to be a river flowing out to the needs of people. A people here at North Way who learn to worship the Lord with a river of praise, to call out to Him in a river of prayer and to see a river of restoration, of wholeness happening in everyone that God sends to us. We'll become a people not just on our way to Heaven, not just with a destination, but a people who know our destiny and are moving in it. Let's stand right now, shall we? And let's say, Lord God, let that river come. We're going to sing a little chorus wi