We can glean from this that both of these men were men who, when they saw value, they recognized it. And Jesus was teaching, using parables to teach the value that we as believers have.

We are so blessed and highly favored of God to be a part of the kingdom of God, to call God our Father, to call Jesus Christ our Lord, to accept his finished work on the cross. Yes. And not only that, but he’s coming back soon. He’s coming back.

And We don’t have to remain the same. We don’t have to remain the same anymore. But we can shift gears and walk differently. And even though we’re saved and we’re sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost, God is always calling us higher. He’s always putting his finger on the next thing so that we can continue to bring glory to his name.

So the kingdom of heaven is so great, and we don’t even recognize and see the magnitude of it all. It is so wonderful. There’s nothing that we can compare to the kingdom of heaven to.

Sometimes we as believers may not even comprehend the worth. Sometimes we don’t see the worth and the value of certain things, whether it’s a person, whether it’s something.

Do we value the people in our families? Husbands, do you value your wives? Wives, do you value your husbands? Children, do you value your parents?

Sometimes those of us in the kingdom need to see the kingdom as the Lord sees it. We need a touch. We need a supernatural touch.

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, as I read, hidden in a field, and it’s not obvious to the naked eye. We can’t always look around and see it with the naked eye. We need to have spiritual discernment.

We were once lost, and how many of us know that? Yes. We were searching for something and we didn’t even know what we were looking for, but we knew something was missing.

And that’s what the world is looking for. The world is seeking. They’re looking here, there, and everywhere, and they don’t even know what it is. They think it’s in the next signature bag or signature dress, or they’re looking for that perfect person. But to tell the truth, what we are really looking for is Jesus Christ.

Aren’t you glad that he leaves the 99 and goes after that one? Aren’t you glad that he came looking and seeking? He comes to seek and to save those who are lost.

So in the first parable, as I read, the man sold all he had to buy the field. Why? Because there was treasure hidden there. And Pastor Rod asked the question, what is the kingdom worth to you?

And that’s a question that we all have to ask individually. Would you be willing,to sell all that we have to buy this field?

In the second parable, the merchant was in search of one pearl of great value, which was worth more than all the other pearls he had. He found that pearl, and he sold all that he had to buy that one pearl.

Again, how much is the kingdom of God worth to us? Our relationship with the Lord is not common. It is extraordinarily uncommon. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not common. Jesus Christ paid for it with his precious blood.

So the kingdom is worth everything.

Yesterday afternoon I was trying to take a nap, and I was told, somebody is at the door for you. And I came downstairs, and when I came and opened the door, I didn’t see anyone. I looked around. I didn’t see anyone.

But in the screen, in between the screen and the door, I pulled out what looked like a tract. So many of you are familiar with the KJs, right? KJs, KJs. They left the tract in my door for me.

I’m so glad I know Jesus and I have discernment to know what’s of God and what’s not.

But are we willing to sell all we have? Forget about I’m shy, or I may be rejected or whatever. We have such a precious gospel that we need, as Pastor Bev and Pastor Rod always tell us, to find a creative way.

Someone left the tract in my doorway. But thank God for BBI. Thank God we have a ministry where we can discern between those that need to come out of darkness, and we need to be able to share the word of God.

We should know enough of the word of God that we can share it with others. If you don’t know too much, if you’ve just been saved, you can share your testimony.

And then our pastor went on to talk about Zacchaeus.

He discerned by the Spirit of God that Jesus was coming his way. He heard about Jesus, and his curiosity caused him to run ahead of the crowd to see a tree he could climb up into, a sycamore tree, because he was short of stature and he wanted to see this Jesus.

Little did he know that there was going to be a divine appointment, a meeting. Jesus was passing by, yes. But when he got to that sycamore tree, he looked up. He knew Zacchaeus was there, and he had a conversation with Zacchaeus. Jesus stopped. He looked up and said, come down because I must come to your house today.

And Zacchaeus, from the scriptures in Luke 19, says he was a chief tax collector and he was a rich man, very rich. He received Jesus joyfully, and of course there were those who already began to mutter and complain. What is he doing going to his house?

But Zacchaeus’ posture changed when he had that encounter with Jesus. No doubt right away conviction hit him, and he began to tell Jesus he was willing to give what he had to the poor and give back what he had taken.

And because of his attitude and his perception, he was willing to give what he had because he realized that this encounter, this person he encountered, was so valuable. And that very day salvation came.

This text shows us, that God is interested in those who are far from him. It doesn’t matter if you’ve stolen money. It doesn’t matter what you’ve stolen. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. Jesus is looking. He is pursuing you.

And that’s why we can come to the Lord with confidence when we pray for our loved ones who are pursuing other things. That we don’t have to be stressed out. Put them on the altar. God is pursuing them.

If Zacchaeus could change his perspective on finances and you know that was a stronghold, if he could stop cheating people, if he could give to the poor and give to the needy because he recognized value, who are we to hold back from the Lord?

Will we obey him? Will we recognize value? Will we obey the Lord? Obedience looks different to all of us.

Here’s what Paul said in Philippians 3:7 – “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yet doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them but dung that I may win Christ.”

And he went on to say, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

And let us therefore, as many as be mature, be thus minded. And if in anything you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

Nevertheless, whereunto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule and let us mind the same thing.”

So let’s, even like our brother Paul said, forget the things that are behind. Let’s press this morning toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

He said that I may know him. May this be the prayer of each one of us, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection, that I may share in his sufferings.

Jesus did not consider his sufferings and death too costly a price to pay for us. He paid it all.