It Should be Sought
Trey Little | 31-Jan-10
"It Should Be Sought"
It is good to be back in the pulpit today--and I thank you for the opportunity to serve the Lord in Haiti. Also, I want to thank John Tate for preaching last Sunday in my absence.
This morning, we will pick up again our study of the Kingdom. And to do so I want to invite you to turn with me to Matthew 6: 25-34 (pg. 960 in your pew Bibles). We will find that the Kingdom of God is not simply something we wait around for--but instead, it should be sought.
Listen now to the word of God!
Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman has a song out on radio entitled "Heaven is the Face." It is a song he wrote in the aftermath of the death of his adopted daughter who was accidentally run over by Chapman's son in the driveway of their home. The lyrics go like this, "Heaven is the face of a little girl with dark brown eyes that disappear when she smiles. Heaven is the place where she calls my name and says, "Daddy please come play with me for awhile." He goes on to say: "God, I know, it's all of this and so much more, but God, you know, that this is what I'm aching for. God, you know, I just can't see beyond the door. But in my mind's eye I can see a place where your glory fills every empty space. All the cancer is gone, every mouth is fed, and there's no one left in the orphan's bed. Every lonely heart finds their one true love, and there's no more goodbye, and no more not enough, and there's no more enemy. Oh God, I know, it's so much more than I can dream. It's far beyond anything I can conceive. So God, You know, I'm trusting You until I see heaven in the face of my little girl."
Every time I hear Chapman's love song to his daughter and his Lord, it brings tears to my eyes. What an image to think that heaven could be expressed in the face of another person.
As I continue to process what the Lord was and is up to in Haiti I can't help but see heaven in the face of each of those 24 other people with whom I boarded a chartered 737 bound for Port au Prince last Thursday morning. People from all different parts of the country, with all different family backgrounds, from different denominations, but all there because they were seeking first the Kingdom. I saw heaven in the face of the doctors and nurses and volunteers who cared for the hundreds of people who were seeking healing. I saw heaven in the face of the pilots of the planes we flew on as they used their gifts to transport us to and from Haiti. I saw heaven in the face of Karl Rathjen as he tirelessly organized and led our team. I saw heaven in the face of the Haitian people who took the trash out and mopped the floors of the hospital. I saw heaven in the face of so many of you who were at the church supper on Wednesday night prior to my leaving as you gathered around me and prayed for our team and our trip. I see heaven in the face of all of you now, knowing that you remained committed to praying for us every day while we were gone.
You see, the Kingdom of God is in you--we learned that a couple of weeks ago. And today we hear the words of Jesus that remind us to: "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness."
The Kingdom of God is not something that we spend our lives waiting to experience and see--the Kingdom of God must be sought and experienced now!
As many of you know by now, I spent most of my time in the OR trying my best to assist the doctors and patients in any way I could. Many of you also know that prior to this trip to Haiti I had ZERO medical experience--in fact I had never stepped foot into an operating room. But I can tell you without a doubt that the Kingdom of God was present in that operating room. Before every surgery we would take a "time out" and we would lay hands on each patient. We would pray for the doctors to have wisdom and steady hands; we prayed for healing both physically and spiritually for each of the patients; we prayed that if they did not know Jesus Christ that He would use this situation to penetrate their hearts in such a way that they would come to know Him and they would begin to SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS and in turn that would impact their families and the people of Haiti.
The Kingdom of God should be sought--by you and by me.
Interesting to consider the context in which Jesus commanded His disciples to seek the Kingdom. It came in the midst of His "Sermon on the Mount." But more specifically it came right after Jesus had been teaching His disciples not to worry about "what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear."
Just before our trip to Haiti we had many unanswered questions: What will we eat? Where will we sleep? Will there be bathrooms? Will we be safe? What exactly will we be doing? Questions that many of you had and all of our families had. Questions that we could not answer with complete certainty. But nevertheless, we went--He said, "Whom shall I send?" and we said, "Here am I, Lord, send me."
And although we ate strawberry pop-tarts, peanut butter crackers and an occasional MRE--we were provided for. Although we slept on the roof of the hospital--out in the open--we were provided for. Although we got a cold shower every couple of days we were provided for. Although there were riots around us our safety was provided for. Although we didn't have all the answers we knew the ONE who did--and we remained committed to SEEKING HIM FIRST and in so doing we had picture after picture of the face of heaven.
I wonder--be honest--are you more prone to worry or SEEK?
Little Johnnie--a 5-year-old orphan boy who had sat outside by himself for ten days--without food--without a mother or father comforting him--was found and brought to the hospital. Our doctors operated on him--fixed his leg--provided him with food and shared the GOSPEL MEDICINE with him. And I kid you not; through the tears in my eyes I was able to see heaven in his face.
A 60 year-old-woman unfortunately breathed her last breath on one of the operating tables late one night. Our doctors did everything they could to revive her--they used all the gifts the Lord had given them and all the resources available to them but the Lord had a different plan. I saw heaven in the face of those doctors with tears in their eyes as they wondered "Why?"
Greg Bellig, an anesthesiologist from Sacramento, a true brother in Christ who was on our team, I saw heaven in his face. We were sitting in the OR--the doctors were operating on the arm of a young man and Greg said, "Trey, what is your home number?" I gave it to him, thinking he was just adding me as a contact in his Iphone. The next thing I heard was him saying, "Mrs. little--hold on for a minute, I have someone here you might want to talk to." He then handed me the phone and I was able to hear the voices of Leslie, Layne and Luke."
Friends, the point is this--when our hearts are set on seeking the Kingdom it completely transforms our mind set. We begin to recognize that we don't have to be in a third world country to make a difference for the Kingdom of God. We begin to look for opportunities to show others the heaven on our faces. We begin to grasp the magnitude of the hurt and pain of the people that are right here--in Albany, Texas. We begin to allow the Spirit of God to move us. We begin to say every day, "Here I am, Lord, send me!" We begin to understand how trivial we can be at times--always worrying about the "what ifs" when the Lord simply wants us to surrender to being His servant and allow Him to handle the "ifs" that are inevitable in life.
This morning I want to ask you: "Are you seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness?"
Let me close with this--a quote a friend of mine gave me just before I departed for Haiti--one I read over and over again while I was there. "Live your life in such a way that when your feet touch the floor every morning, Satan shudders and says, 'Oh no--he's awake!'"
Heaven is the face...look around--fill in the blank--begin with yourself by fixing your eyes on the face of Jesus.
The Kingdom--it should be sought.
AMEN.
It is good to be back in the pulpit today--and I thank you for the opportunity to serve the Lord in Haiti. Also, I want to thank John Tate for preaching last Sunday in my absence.
This morning, we will pick up again our study of the Kingdom. And to do so I want to invite you to turn with me to Matthew 6: 25-34 (pg. 960 in your pew Bibles). We will find that the Kingdom of God is not simply something we wait around for--but instead, it should be sought.
Listen now to the word of God!
Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman has a song out on radio entitled "Heaven is the Face." It is a song he wrote in the aftermath of the death of his adopted daughter who was accidentally run over by Chapman's son in the driveway of their home. The lyrics go like this, "Heaven is the face of a little girl with dark brown eyes that disappear when she smiles. Heaven is the place where she calls my name and says, "Daddy please come play with me for awhile." He goes on to say: "God, I know, it's all of this and so much more, but God, you know, that this is what I'm aching for. God, you know, I just can't see beyond the door. But in my mind's eye I can see a place where your glory fills every empty space. All the cancer is gone, every mouth is fed, and there's no one left in the orphan's bed. Every lonely heart finds their one true love, and there's no more goodbye, and no more not enough, and there's no more enemy. Oh God, I know, it's so much more than I can dream. It's far beyond anything I can conceive. So God, You know, I'm trusting You until I see heaven in the face of my little girl."
Every time I hear Chapman's love song to his daughter and his Lord, it brings tears to my eyes. What an image to think that heaven could be expressed in the face of another person.
As I continue to process what the Lord was and is up to in Haiti I can't help but see heaven in the face of each of those 24 other people with whom I boarded a chartered 737 bound for Port au Prince last Thursday morning. People from all different parts of the country, with all different family backgrounds, from different denominations, but all there because they were seeking first the Kingdom. I saw heaven in the face of the doctors and nurses and volunteers who cared for the hundreds of people who were seeking healing. I saw heaven in the face of the pilots of the planes we flew on as they used their gifts to transport us to and from Haiti. I saw heaven in the face of Karl Rathjen as he tirelessly organized and led our team. I saw heaven in the face of the Haitian people who took the trash out and mopped the floors of the hospital. I saw heaven in the face of so many of you who were at the church supper on Wednesday night prior to my leaving as you gathered around me and prayed for our team and our trip. I see heaven in the face of all of you now, knowing that you remained committed to praying for us every day while we were gone.
You see, the Kingdom of God is in you--we learned that a couple of weeks ago. And today we hear the words of Jesus that remind us to: "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness."
The Kingdom of God is not something that we spend our lives waiting to experience and see--the Kingdom of God must be sought and experienced now!
As many of you know by now, I spent most of my time in the OR trying my best to assist the doctors and patients in any way I could. Many of you also know that prior to this trip to Haiti I had ZERO medical experience--in fact I had never stepped foot into an operating room. But I can tell you without a doubt that the Kingdom of God was present in that operating room. Before every surgery we would take a "time out" and we would lay hands on each patient. We would pray for the doctors to have wisdom and steady hands; we prayed for healing both physically and spiritually for each of the patients; we prayed that if they did not know Jesus Christ that He would use this situation to penetrate their hearts in such a way that they would come to know Him and they would begin to SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS and in turn that would impact their families and the people of Haiti.
The Kingdom of God should be sought--by you and by me.
Interesting to consider the context in which Jesus commanded His disciples to seek the Kingdom. It came in the midst of His "Sermon on the Mount." But more specifically it came right after Jesus had been teaching His disciples not to worry about "what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear."
Just before our trip to Haiti we had many unanswered questions: What will we eat? Where will we sleep? Will there be bathrooms? Will we be safe? What exactly will we be doing? Questions that many of you had and all of our families had. Questions that we could not answer with complete certainty. But nevertheless, we went--He said, "Whom shall I send?" and we said, "Here am I, Lord, send me."
And although we ate strawberry pop-tarts, peanut butter crackers and an occasional MRE--we were provided for. Although we slept on the roof of the hospital--out in the open--we were provided for. Although we got a cold shower every couple of days we were provided for. Although there were riots around us our safety was provided for. Although we didn't have all the answers we knew the ONE who did--and we remained committed to SEEKING HIM FIRST and in so doing we had picture after picture of the face of heaven.
I wonder--be honest--are you more prone to worry or SEEK?
Little Johnnie--a 5-year-old orphan boy who had sat outside by himself for ten days--without food--without a mother or father comforting him--was found and brought to the hospital. Our doctors operated on him--fixed his leg--provided him with food and shared the GOSPEL MEDICINE with him. And I kid you not; through the tears in my eyes I was able to see heaven in his face.
A 60 year-old-woman unfortunately breathed her last breath on one of the operating tables late one night. Our doctors did everything they could to revive her--they used all the gifts the Lord had given them and all the resources available to them but the Lord had a different plan. I saw heaven in the face of those doctors with tears in their eyes as they wondered "Why?"
Greg Bellig, an anesthesiologist from Sacramento, a true brother in Christ who was on our team, I saw heaven in his face. We were sitting in the OR--the doctors were operating on the arm of a young man and Greg said, "Trey, what is your home number?" I gave it to him, thinking he was just adding me as a contact in his Iphone. The next thing I heard was him saying, "Mrs. little--hold on for a minute, I have someone here you might want to talk to." He then handed me the phone and I was able to hear the voices of Leslie, Layne and Luke."
Friends, the point is this--when our hearts are set on seeking the Kingdom it completely transforms our mind set. We begin to recognize that we don't have to be in a third world country to make a difference for the Kingdom of God. We begin to look for opportunities to show others the heaven on our faces. We begin to grasp the magnitude of the hurt and pain of the people that are right here--in Albany, Texas. We begin to allow the Spirit of God to move us. We begin to say every day, "Here I am, Lord, send me!" We begin to understand how trivial we can be at times--always worrying about the "what ifs" when the Lord simply wants us to surrender to being His servant and allow Him to handle the "ifs" that are inevitable in life.
This morning I want to ask you: "Are you seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness?"
Let me close with this--a quote a friend of mine gave me just before I departed for Haiti--one I read over and over again while I was there. "Live your life in such a way that when your feet touch the floor every morning, Satan shudders and says, 'Oh no--he's awake!'"
Heaven is the face...look around--fill in the blank--begin with yourself by fixing your eyes on the face of Jesus.
The Kingdom--it should be sought.
AMEN.
